WO2014192985A2

WO2014192985A2 - Method and device for aligning and conveying articles having absorbent component

Info

Publication number: WO2014192985A2
Application number: PCT/JP2014/073690
Authority: WO
Inventors: 細川　雅司
Original assignee: ユニ・チャーム株式会社
Priority date: 2013-09-10
Filing date: 2014-09-08
Publication date: 2014-12-04
Also published as: CN105358457A; JP2015054725A; WO2014192985A4; JP5707458B2; WO2014192985A3

Abstract

A method of aligning and conveying articles having an absorbent component, wherein a plurality of articles having an absorbent component are placed upon a conveyance path on the upper surface of a conveyance unit and vibrations are applied to the conveyance unit in order to align the plurality of articles in a single row while transporting the articles along the conveyance path. The articles are conveyed along the conveyance path while contacting a wall provided along one of the edges of the conveyance path. Gas is blown from gas blowing ports provided in the wall so that articles other than the bottommost article among articles that are being conveyed while stacked in the vertical direction are blown towards the other edge of the conveyance path. The gas blowing port is provided at a position above the contact position where the upper article in a stack of two vertically-stacked articles contacts the wall.

Description

Method of aligning and conveying articles having absorbent articles, and aligning and conveying apparatus

The present invention relates to a method for aligning and conveying an article having an absorbent article such as a panty liner, and an aligning and conveying apparatus.

Conventionally, as an example of an absorbent article, a panty liner 1 is known that is attached to underwear and absorbs falling items and the like (see FIG. 1A). The liner 1 is a thin member having an hourglass shape in plan view, for example. The liner 1 is provided to the user in the form of an individual package 11 (see FIGS. 1C and 1D). The individual wrapping body 11 folds the laminate of the wrapping sheet 5 and the panty liner 1 in the longitudinal direction of the liner 1 in a plurality of folds such as four folds and the like. The joint 7s is formed and sealed, and the outer shape thereof is a vertically long shape having a longitudinal direction (see FIG. 1C).

Such an individual package 11 is manufactured on an appropriate manufacturing line. The manufactured

individual packaging bodies

11, 11... Are basically transported to the final bagging process in a state of being aligned in a line (see FIG. 2). It is packed and shipped in a single bag.

However, due to various circumstances, the individual package 11 may be temporarily discharged out of the production line immediately before the bagging process. And, among the discharged

individual packaging bodies

11, 11,..., The non-defective product 11 is again put into the bagging process of the production line. In that case, the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11,. As described above, it is necessary to put them in a state of being aligned in a line (see FIG. 2).

Here, there is a parts feeder 20 as an apparatus that conveys the

articles

11, 11... In a stacked state in a line (see FIG. 3). Patent Document 1 discloses an example of the parts feeder 20. The parts feeder 20 includes a lid 21 having a substantially cylindrical shape with no lid and a vibration applying mechanism 41 that applies vibration to the bucket 21. The bottom surface 21 b of the bucket 21 is provided with a spiral conveyance path 24, that is, a conveyance path 24 in which the position in the radial direction Dr is displaced outward as it advances in the circumferential direction Dc of the bucket 21. Further, a wall 26e1 is provided along the outer edge 24e1 in the radial direction Dr in the transport path 24, and the transport direction Dt of the

articles

11, 11,... Is defined by contact with the wall 26e1. .

When the

bulk goods

11, 11... Are put into the bucket 21 and vibration is imparted to the bucket 21 from the vibration imparting mechanism 41, the plurality of

articles

11, 11 in the bucket 21. .. Are aligned and aligned in the process of being conveyed while being in contact with the wall 26e1 on the outside of the conveying path 24, as well as performing relative sliding, jumping, and the like. It is conveyed by.

10 shows a schematic longitudinal sectional view of the bucket 21, the wall 26e1 is provided with an injection port 131 for injecting air, whereby the

articles

11, 11 are stacked in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction. It is prevented from being sent in the state of. That is, while transporting the spiral transport path 24, air is ejected from the above-described ejection ports 131, thereby leaving only the first-stage article 11 in the transport path 24 and overlapping the article 11 above it. Are blown off from the conveying path 24.

JP 2000-247433 A

However, the individual package 11 of the absorbent article such as the panty liner 1 is generally extremely light with a small specific gravity. Therefore, depending on the position in the vertical direction in which the ejection port 131 is provided, not only the individual packaging body 11 of the second stage or more of the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11 of the plurality of stacks but also the individual packaging body 11 of the first stage is conveyed. There is a risk of blowing off from the road 24.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses the contents shown in FIG. That is, the position of the ejection port 131 in the wall portion 26e1 is set to a position directly beside the second-stage individual package body 11, that is, the contact position Pc11 where the second-stage individual package body 11 contacts the wall portion 24p1. Is disclosed.

However, when set in this way, the injected air flies while spreading at a predetermined spread angle θa, so that the air easily acts on the first-stage individual packaging body 11, Combined with the fact that the above-described individual package 11 is extremely light, the first-stage individual package 11 is also blown off from the transport path 24. And in that case, the supply capability of the

individual package bodies

11, 11,... To the next process will be reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and the object thereof is to transport articles such as individual packages having absorbent articles to the next process in a state of being aligned in a row. In addition, it is to surely eliminate the multi-tiered state while leaving the first-tiered product among the multi-tiered items in the conveyance path.

The main invention for achieving the above object is:
Placing a plurality of articles having absorbent articles on a transport path on an upper surface of the transport unit;
A method of aligning and conveying articles having an absorbent article, comprising: conveying the plurality of articles in a row while applying vibration to the conveying unit;
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting the gas from a gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is transferred to the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown off,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. This is an alignment conveyance method.

Also,
An article having an absorbent article is placed on the transport path on the upper surface, and a vibration is applied to the transport section having the transport path, thereby aligning the plurality of articles in a row and along the transport path. An apparatus for aligning and conveying articles having absorbent articles to be conveyed,
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting gas from the gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is taken from the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown down,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. This is an alignment transport device.

Other features of the present invention will be clarified by the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

According to the present invention, when an article such as an individual package having an absorbent article is transported to the next process in a state of being aligned in a row, the first-stage article among a plurality of stacked articles is left in the transport path. However, it is possible to reliably eliminate the multi-layered state.

1A is a schematic plan view of the panty liner 1, FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is a schematic plan view of the individual package 11 of the panty liner 1. 1D is a schematic plan view of a state in which the individual package 11 of the panty liner 1 of FIG. 1C is unwrapped. It is a schematic plan view which shows a mode that the

individual packaging bodies

11,11 ... are sent to the bagging process of the following process in the state arranged in a line. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a parts feeder 20. FIG. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the feeder 20 from the upper direction. 5A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the vicinity of entrance 24p1e of guidance way 24p1 from the upper part. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 6. 8A is an explanatory diagram of the chute portion 25, which is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 4, and FIG. 8B is a view taken along arrow BB in FIG. 8A. It is a schematic perspective view of the linear parts feeder 20a. It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the bucket 21 for demonstrating the conventional problem.

At least the following matters will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

Placing a plurality of articles having absorbent articles on a transport path on an upper surface of the transport unit;
A method of aligning and conveying articles having an absorbent article, comprising: conveying the plurality of articles in a row while applying vibration to the conveying unit;
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting the gas from a gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is transferred to the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown off,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. This is an alignment conveyance method.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, the injection port is provided at a position above the contact position of the second-stage article with the wall. Therefore, it is possible to exclusively hit the second-stage article while preventing the gas injected from the injection port from substantially hitting the first-stage article. As a result, only the second and higher articles can be blown off from the conveyance path by the gas without substantially affecting the conveyance of the first article. As a result, when the articles are transported to the next process in a state where they are aligned in a row, it is possible to reliably eliminate the multi-layered state while leaving the first-stage article among the multi-layered articles in the transport path. .

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
When the injection port is the first injection port, a second injection port for injecting gas is arranged corresponding to a position upstream of the arrangement position of the first injection port in the conveyance path,
The arrangement height of the second injection port from the conveyance path at the position of the second injection port is higher than the arrangement height of the first injection port from the conveyance path at the position of the first injection port. Is desirable.

According to the method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles, the second injection port is provided at a position upstream of the arrangement position of the first injection port in the conveyance path, and the second injection port. The arrangement height from the conveyance path is set to a position higher than the arrangement height from the conveyance path of the first injection port. Therefore, when an article that is overlapped by three or more stages passes through the position of the second injection port, the article that is overlapped above the second stage can be blown off from the conveyance path. As a result, at the time before reaching the position of the first injection port in the transport path, the articles that overlap the upper side of the second stage are blown off from the transport path. Therefore, the first injection port can be specialized exclusively for blowing off the second-stage article, and as a result, the second-stage article can be reliably blown off at the first injection port.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
A chute part that slides down the article is arranged at the downstream end of the conveyance path,
It is desirable to inject gas from an injection port provided above the chute portion toward the downstream side of the conveyance path.

According to the method for aligning and conveying an article having such an absorbent article, by injecting gas from the injection port provided above the chute portion toward the downstream side of the conveyance path, The second-stage article can be advanced to the downstream side of the first-stage article to eliminate the upper and lower two-stage stacking state. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the article from being stacked in two steps from being sent to the next process at the water's edge.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
The predetermined position of the transport path is provided with a portion where the width of the transport path is narrowed from the other edge side,
The road width of the narrowed portion is preferably set to a size such that at least a part of the article protrudes to the side of the narrowed portion.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, when a plurality of stacked articles pass through the narrowed portion in the transport path, the plurality of stacked articles of the stacked articles The posture tends to be unstable, such as being easily wobbled. Therefore, while passing through the portion, the article that overlaps the upper side can be dropped from the first-stage article, and as a result, the multi-tiered article can be reliably reduced.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
It is desirable that a third injection port for injecting gas toward the article passing through the narrowed portion is disposed above the narrowed portion.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, when a plurality of stacked articles pass through the narrowed portion, gas is jetted from the upper third ejection port toward the article. The article overlapping the upper side can be more reliably dropped from the first-stage article.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
The third injection port preferably injects the gas toward a portion of the article that protrudes from the conveyance path.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, when a plurality of stacked articles pass through the narrowed part, the part of the article that protrudes from the transport path from the upper third injection port Gas is injected toward Therefore, it is possible to more reliably drop the article overlapping the upper side from the first-stage article.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
The conveyance path is a spiral path whose radial position is displaced outward as it advances in the circumferential direction,
It is desirable that a storage unit is provided in the central portion in the radial direction of the transport unit to store the product before the product is transported.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, the articles can be transported to the next process in a state where the articles are aligned in a line by putting the articles into the central portion of the transport section.

A method for aligning and conveying articles having such absorbent articles,
The article is preferably an individual package in which the absorbent article is individually packaged by a packaging sheet.

According to the method for aligning and transporting articles having such absorbent articles, it becomes possible to transport individual packed bodies of bulk absorbent articles to the next step in a state of being aligned in a row.

Also,
An article having an absorbent article is placed on the transport path on the upper surface, and a vibration is applied to the transport section having the transport path, thereby aligning the plurality of articles in a row and along the transport path. An apparatus for aligning and conveying articles having absorbent articles to be conveyed,
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting the gas from a gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is transferred to the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown off,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. This is an alignment transport device.

According to the article conveying apparatus having the absorbent article, the injection port is provided at a position above the position where the second-stage article is in contact with the wall. Therefore, it is possible to exclusively hit the second-stage article while preventing the gas injected from the injection port from substantially hitting the first-stage article. As a result, only the second and higher articles can be blown off from the conveyance path by the gas without substantially affecting the conveyance of the first article. As a result, when the articles are transported to the next process in a state where they are aligned in a row, it is possible to reliably eliminate the multi-layered state while leaving the first-stage article among the multi-layered articles in the transport path. .

=== This Embodiment ===
The method for aligning and conveying an article having an absorbent article according to the present embodiment and the aligning and conveying apparatus 20 are used for aligning and conveying the individual package 11 of the panty liner 1 as an example of the article.

FIG. 1A is a schematic plan view of the panty liner 1, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 1A. 1C is a schematic plan view of the individual package 11 of the panty liner 1, and FIG. 1D is a state where the individual package 11 of the panty liner 1 of FIG. 1C is unpacked, that is, the packaging sheet 7 and the panty liner 1. It is a schematic plan view of the unfolded state which opened both of these together.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a panty liner 1 includes an absorbent body 2 formed by laminating liquid absorbent materials such as pulp fibers in a predetermined shape, and a liquid permeable top sheet 3 from both sides in the thickness direction. It is a thin sheet-like member covered with a liquid-impermeable back sheet 4 and its planar shape is, for example, a substantially hourglass shape. A non-slipping adhesive 5 used for fixing to the undergarment is applied to the surface of the back sheet 4 that forms the non-skin side surface of the liner 1. Further, for the purpose of protecting the adhesive strength of the adhesive 5 until the liner 1 is used, a release sheet 6 is provided so as to cover the slip-off preventing adhesive 5. The release sheet 6 is firmly bonded to the packaging sheet 7, and when the liner 1 is used, the release sheet 6 is quickly peeled off from the adhesive 1 for preventing the liner 1 together with the packaging sheet 7. .

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1D, the packaging sheet 7 provided for individual packaging of the liner 1 is, for example, a rectangular sheet in plan view. And in the state which piled up the panty liner 1 on the packaging sheet 7, the planar size of the sheet 7 is made into the planar size which protrudes outward from at least three sides of the four sides of the panty liner 1. . For example, in the example of FIG. 1D, the packaging sheet 7 protrudes on both sides of the panty liner 1 in the width direction and on one side in the longitudinal direction, but on the other side in the longitudinal direction, the liner 1 Protrudes from the packaging sheet 7. In the packaging sheet 7, three fold lines, which are a first fold line, a second fold line, and a third fold line, are set at different positions in the longitudinal direction. Then, the four-fold state of FIG. 1C is formed by folding the packaging sheet 7 together with the liner 1 three times in the longitudinal direction in the order close to the portion where the liner 1 protrudes, that is, in the order of the first, second, and third fold lines. In FIG. 5, a joint portion 7s such as a seal portion is provided at a predetermined portion or the like forming an outer contour. And the packaging sheet 7 is sealed in the state which accommodated the liner 1 by this joining part 7s, and the individual package 11 of FIG. 1C is formed by this.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1C, the individual package 11 is a vertically long thin member whose dimension L11 in the direction orthogonal to the folded direction is longer than the dimension W11 in the folded direction. Hereinafter, the direction of the long dimension L11 is referred to as “longitudinal direction”, and the direction of the short dimension W11 is referred to as “short direction”. Further, as described above, the absorbent body 2 is mainly composed of pulp fibers, and the material of the top sheet 3 is a non-woven fabric and the like, and the back sheet 4, the release sheet 6 and the packaging sheet 7 are also non-woven fabrics. Or a resin film. Therefore, the individual package 11 has a small specific gravity and is extremely light, and its weight is, for example, 0.5 (g) to 10 (g).

Such an individual package 11 of the panty liner 1 is manufactured on an appropriate manufacturing line. Then, as shown in the schematic plan view of FIG. 2, the manufactured

individual packaging bodies

11, 11... Are conveyed to the final bag filling process in a state of being aligned in a row. A predetermined number of sheets are stacked in a thickness direction and packed in one bag (not shown).

However, in some cases, it may be discharged out of the production line and collected in an appropriate collection box (not shown) just before being sent to the above-described bagging process. For example, the individual package 11 that is determined to be defective by online inspection on the production line is sent to the collection box. Further, when the device for the bagging process is stopped, even a non-defective product is sent to the collection box in an emergency evacuation manner.

Therefore, the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11... Are also included in the collection box, and the

non-defective products

11, 11... Are sent to the bagging process on the production line via the re-input route. However, in that case, the individual packed

bodies

11, 11... In the collection box are arranged in a line in the same manner as the regular input route to the bagging process in the above production line. Must be sent (Figure 2).

Therefore, the parts feeder 20 is also attached to the production line as an aligning and conveying device, and the

individual feeders

11, 11... In a stacked state are sent by the parts feeder 20 in an aligned state. .

3 is a schematic perspective view of the parts feeder 20, and FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the feeder 20 as viewed from above. 5A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. In addition, in FIG. 4, the

individual package bodies

11, 11,... Are not shown.

The parts feeder 20 in FIG. 3 is a so-called rotary type part feeder 20, which is a non-covered, substantially cylindrical body-shaped bucket 21 (corresponding to a transport unit), and a vibration applying mechanism that applies a predetermined vibration to the bucket 21. 41. Examples of the predetermined vibration include vibrations obtained by combining both vibrations mainly having a vertical component and vibrations mainly having a horizontal component along the transport direction Dt. Further, such vibration is generated by a cam mechanism provided in the vibration applying mechanism 41, a vibrating body formed by combining an electromagnet and a spring, or the like.

On the other hand, on the bottom surface 21 b of the bucket 21, a spiral conveyance path 24, that is, a conveyance path 24 in which the position in the radial direction Dr is displaced outward as it advances in the circumferential direction Dc of the bucket 21 is provided with an ascending gradient. Further, as shown in FIG. 5A, a wall portion 26e1 having a predetermined height is provided along the outer edge portion 24e1 of the transport path 24.

Therefore, the individual package 11 in a bulk state is introduced from above toward the central portion 21bc (corresponding to the storage portion) in the radial direction Dr on the bottom surface 21b of the bucket 21 and the vibration is applied to the bucket 21. Then, the plurality of

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11... In the bucket 21 slide relative to the transport path 24, jump, and the like while abutting against the wall portion 26e1. Thus, the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11... Are aligned in a line while climbing up the spiral conveyance path 24 while their own longitudinal directions are sequentially directed to the conveyance direction Dt. The

package bodies

11, 11... Are transported along the transport path 24. And while maintaining the state which aligned in this row, finally, the chute | shoot part 25 provided in the downstream end part 24end of the conveyance path 24 is slid down, Thereby, it falls on suitable conveyor CV, and the conveyor It is conveyed to the bagging process by CV.

On the other hand, in the bagging process, basically, the

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11... Aligned in a row are smoothly transferred on the premise that they are sent in a state in which they are not stacked in a plurality of layers such as two layers in the vertical direction. Receipt is guaranteed. However, in this respect, rarely, as shown in FIG. 5A, the

individual packaging bodies

11 and 11 may be transported from the parts feeder 20 in a state of being stacked in a plurality of stages. Contributes to trouble. Therefore, air (corresponding to gas) is provided on the wall portion 26e1 of the parts feeder 20, as shown in FIG. 5A, so that the

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11 are not conveyed to the bagging process in a multi-tiered state. ) Is provided. Then, by blowing air from the injection port 31, the individual packaging bodies 11 of the second or higher stage among the plurality of

individual packaging bodies

11, 11 are blown off from the conveyance path 24.

In other words, the transport path 24 has a road surface 24a having a predetermined size (hereinafter also referred to as a road width W24) in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction Dt (hereinafter referred to as the road width direction Dw) as a main body, and the upper surface of the road surface 24a. In addition, each

individual package

11, 11, ... is placed and conveyed. And the road width W24 of the road surface 24a is set to the dimension slightly larger than the dimension W11 of the transversal direction of the

individual package bodies

11 and 11. Therefore, the individual package 11 that has been hit by the air jetted from the jet port 31 of the wall 26e1 blows down from the road surface 24a of the transport path 24 to the inside of the road width direction Dw, that is, the inside of the bucket 21 in the substantially radial direction Dr. Thus, the center portion 21bc of the bottom surface 21b of the bucket 21 is returned. As described above, the radial direction Dr of the bucket 21 and the path width direction Dw of the transport path 24 are substantially in the same direction. Therefore, hereinafter, “inside of the radial direction Dr” is also referred to as “inside of the road width direction Dw”.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A, the injection port 31 is provided in a predetermined portion of the wall portion 26e1. In this example, the predetermined portion is set at a downstream position in the transport path 24. Moreover, the injection port 31 is a perfect circular hole, for example, and always injects air inside the road width direction Dw (inside the radial direction Dr of the bucket 21). Furthermore, the injection port 31 is set above the contact position Pc11 where the second-stage individual package body 11 of the upper and lower two-stage

individual package bodies

11, 11 contacts the wall portion 26e1. That is, the lowermost end portion 31d of the ejection port 31 is also located above the contact position Pc11.

Therefore, the injection port 31 can be set so that the air that is spread radially and sprayed at a predetermined spread angle θa acts only on the second-stage individual package 11. That is, it is possible to set the air so as to hit only the second-stage individual package 11 while preventing the expanded portion of the air from substantially hitting the first-stage individual package 11. As a result, the center of the bottom surface 21b of the bucket 21 is reliably transferred from the inner edge portion 24e2 of the transport path 24 to the center of the bottom surface 21b of the bucket 21 while the first-stage individual package 11 remains in the transport path 24. It can be blown off to the part 21bc.

In addition, the lower limit position and the upper limit position of the allowable range of the arrangement position of the injection port 31 are determined as follows, for example. That is, when the lowermost end portion 31d of the injection port 31 has the reference position as the arrangement position of the injection port 31 that coincides with the contact position Pc11, the position of the injection port 31 is gradually increased from the reference position. The position at which the lowermost end portion 31d begins to deviate from the contact position Pc11 is the lower limit position of the allowable range. The position of the ejection port 31 is further moved upward, and the position before the position where the second-stage individual packaging body 11 that has been struck with air stops falling from the conveying path 24 is the upper limit position. More specifically, the position where the lower end edge portion of the substantially radial shape of the air injected from the injection port 31 squeezes the inner end edge portion in the groove width direction Dr in the second-stage individual package 11. Is the upper limit position.

The air injection direction is a horizontal direction, and the direction toward the inside of the width direction Dw of the conveyance path 24 (inside the radial direction Dr of the bucket 21) is a basic direction. From this basic direction, You may incline in the range of +/- 5 degree | times to the up-down direction and a horizontal direction. For example, when spraying in the horizontal direction, the individual packaging body 11 in the first stage may be slightly tilted upward in the vertical direction as long as it is affected. Such adjustment of the injection direction is performed while observing the state of blow-off in an actual machine experiment or the like.

Similarly, the injection conditions such as the air volume (m ³ / min) and the injection pressure (Pa) are also determined through actual machine experiments and the like. For example, the air is injected from the injection port 31 while changing the air volume, the injection pressure, etc. at a plurality of levels, and the situation where the second-stage individual package 11 is blown off at that time and the conveyance situation of the first-stage individual package 11 The injection condition is determined by finding the optimum value by observing. Thus, the injection condition can be set to an optimum value that does not substantially affect the conveyance of the first-stage individual package 11 while reliably dropping the second-stage individual package 11. . The adjustment to the optimum value is, for example, adjusting the supply pressure (Pa) of air to the injection port 31 with a pressure reducing valve, a pressure adjustment valve, or adjusting the diameter (mm) of the injection port 31. Can be done by.

In the example of FIG. 5A, the injection port 31 is realized by the tube end opening 31pe of the straight tube 31p having a diameter of 1 mm. That is, the pipe end opening 31pe of the straight pipe 31p is passed through the through hole 26e1h formed in the wall part 26e1 and the pipe end opening 31pe is used as the injection port 31. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a nozzle (not shown) may be separately attached to the pipe end opening 31pe of the straight pipe 31p. In this way, it is possible to easily change the jetting characteristics such as the air spread angle θa and the air volume. Further, the diameter of the injection port 31 is not limited to 1 mm, and may be larger or smaller than 1 mm.

As shown in FIG. 5A, desirably, the road surface 24a of the transport path 24, that is, the surface 24a on which the individual package 11 is placed, is located on the inner edge 24e1 on the outer side of the transport path 24. It is preferable to have a gradient θ24 whose height is lower than that of the edge 24e2. And if it becomes like this, first, the individual packaging body 11 on the road surface 24a can be made into the attitude | position inclined from the horizontal direction, and it can approach to wall part 26e1, and, thereby, this individual packaging body 11 is made into a wall part. 26e1 can be surely contacted. Moreover, if the individual package 11 is in an inclined posture in this way, the air spreading portion is located inside the road width direction Dw (the radial direction Dr of the bucket 21) in the second-stage individual package 11. It becomes easy to make it fade in a part, and this makes it possible to reliably drop only the second-stage individual package 11 while leaving the first-stage individual package 11. However, the gradient θ24 as described above may not be present, that is, the road surface 24a may be horizontal with respect to the radial direction Dr of the bucket 21, and in other words, the outer edge 24e1 and the inner edge of the road surface 24a. The part 24e2 may have the same height as each other.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, in this example, when the above-described injection port 31 is the first injection port 31, the second injection port is positioned at a position different from the arrangement position of the first injection port 31 in the wall portion 26e1. A mouth 32 is arranged. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the second injection port 32 is arranged at a portion of the wall portion 26 e 1 corresponding to a position upstream of the arrangement position of the first injection port 31 in the transport direction Dt. Moreover, the arrangement height h32 of the second injection port 32 on the basis of the road surface 24a of the transport path 24 at the arrangement position of the second injection port 32 shown in FIG. 5B is the same as the arrangement position of the first injection port 31 shown in FIG. 5A. The arrangement height h31 of the first injection port 31 on the basis of the road surface 24a of the conveyance path 24 is set higher. More specifically, the height of the center position C32 of the second injection port 32 from the road surface 24a at the arrangement position of the second injection port 32 is equal to the first injection port from the road surface 24a at the arrangement position of the first injection port 31. The height h31 of the center position C31 of 31 is set higher.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5B, if the three-stage stacked

individual packaging bodies

11, 11, 11 are still conveyed on the conveyance path 24 up to the arrangement position of the second injection port 32, When the three-stage stacked

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11, 11 pass through the position of the second injection port 32, the air is constantly injected from the second injection port 32 so as to overlap the second stage. The individual package 11 (that is, the third-stage individual package 11) can be blown off from the conveyance path 24. As a result, the individual package 11 (third-stage individual package 11) that overlaps above the second stage at a time before reaching the position of the first injection port 31 in the transport path 24 is obtained. Then, it is surely blown off from the conveyance path 24. Therefore, the first injection port 31 of FIG. 5A can be specialized exclusively for blowing off the second-stage individual package 11, and as a result, the second-stage individual package at the first injection port 31. 11 can be surely blown off.

The second injection port 32 is also realized by, for example, passing the tube end opening 32pe of the straight tube 32p having a diameter of 1 mm through the through hole 26e1h of the wall 26e1. A nozzle (not shown) may be attached to the tube end opening 32pe. The air injection direction is the horizontal direction and the direction inside the road width direction Dw is the basic direction. Depending on the situation, the air injection direction is within a range of ± 15 ° in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. It may be tilted. Furthermore, the injection conditions such as the air volume (m ³ / min) and the injection pressure (kPa) are also determined through actual machine experiments. For example, it is optimal by injecting air from the second injection port 32 while changing the air volume, the injection pressure, etc. at a plurality of levels, and observing the falling state of the individual package 11 that overlaps above the second stage at that time. Finding the value determines the injection conditions. The adjustment to the optimum value is performed, for example, by adjusting the air supply pressure to the second injection port 32 using a pressure reducing valve or a pressure adjustment valve, or by adjusting the diameter of the second injection port 32. Can do.

Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 4, a portion 24 p 1 between the position of the first injection port 31 and the chute 25 in the conveyance path 24 includes not only the outer edge 24 e 1 of the conveyance path 24 but also the inner side. The edge portion 24e2 is also provided with a wall portion 26e2, whereby the portion 24p1 forms a guide path 24p1 for guiding the individual package 11 to the chute portion 25. Hereinafter, the wall portion 26e2 provided on the inner edge portion 24e2 is referred to as "inner wall portion 26e2", and the wall portion 26e1 provided on the outer edge portion 24e1 described above is referred to as "outer wall portion 26e1". Say.

Here, even if the individual package 11 that has reached the inlet 24p1e of the guide path 24p1 is in a single-stage state that is not a plurality of layers, the longitudinal direction of the individual package 11 is relative to the transport direction Dt. If it is tilted greatly, the individual package 11 may be caught on the inner wall portion 26e2 and clogged at the inlet 24p1e of the guide path 24p1.

Therefore, in the example of FIG. 4, in order to prevent such clogging of the individual package 11 at the inlet 24p1e, the longitudinal direction is slightly inclined from the transport direction Dt at a position slightly upstream from the inlet 24p1e. A device 24g is provided so that the individual package 11 is dropped from the conveyance path 24.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the device 24g, and is a schematic plan view of the vicinity of the entrance 24p1e of the guide path 24p1 as viewed from above.

As shown in FIG. 6, at a position slightly upstream of the inlet 24p1e in the transport path 24, a portion 24g (hereinafter referred to as a narrow section) where the path width W24 is narrowed from the inner edge 24e2 side of the transport path 24. A road width portion 24g) is also provided. In this example, the road width W24g of the narrow road width portion 24g is set to the same value as the dimension W11 in the short direction of the individual wrapping body 11, so that the posture is not inclined obliquely from the transport direction Dt. Even when the individual package 11 is passed through the narrow path width portion 24g, a part 11p of the individual package 11 protrudes to the inner side of the narrow path width portion 24g. Specifically, since the shape of the outer wall portion 26e1 of the conveyance path 24 is a substantially arc shape in plan view, 2 located outside the road width direction Dw of the four

corner portions

11c, 11c. When the two

corners

11c, 11c come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the outer wall portion 26e1, the side 11p located inside the road width direction Dw in the individual package 11 is more than the inner edge 24ge2 in the narrow road width portion 24g. It will be in the state which protruded inside. Moreover, the dimension L24g of the conveyance direction Dt of this narrow path width part 24g is set to the dimension longer than the dimension L11 of the longitudinal direction of the individual package 11, for example, and twice the length of the dimension L11.

Therefore, when the individual package 11 that is greatly inclined obliquely from the transport direction Dt passes through the narrow road width portion 24g, the individual package 11 is greatly increased from the narrow road width portion 24g to the inside of the road width direction Dw. As a result, the center of gravity of the individual package 11 tends to protrude beyond the inner edge 24ge2 of the narrow road width portion 24g. Therefore, the individual package body 11 that is greatly inclined to such an extent that it is likely to be clogged with the inlet 24p1e of the guide path 24p1 is quickly dropped from the narrow road width portion 24g during the passage of the narrow road width portion 24g. The clogging of the individual package 11 at the inlet 24p1e can be prevented beforehand.

In addition, when the multi-tiered

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11 pass through the narrow path width portion 24g, the multi-tiered

individual wrapping bodies

11, 11 are not inclined obliquely from the transport direction Dt. Of these, the posture of the individual package 11 that overlaps the upper side is likely to be unstable, such as being easily wobbling based on the narrow road width W24g. Therefore, the individual package 11 that overlaps the upper side can be quickly dropped from the first-stage individual package 11 during the passage of the narrow path width portion 24g. Contributes effectively to resolution.

In addition, in this example, although the road width W24g of the narrow road width portion 24g is set to the same value as the dimension W11 in the short direction of the individual package 11, it is not limited to this. For example, you may be smaller than the dimension W11 of the transversal direction of the individual package 11. However, considering that the center of gravity of the individual package 11 is located in the center of the individual package 11 in the short direction, the road width W24g of the narrow road width portion 24g is desirably set to the individual package 11 It is better that the value is larger than half the dimension W11 in the short direction.

In the above description, the size L24g in the conveyance direction Dt of the narrow path width portion 24g is set to be longer than the length L11 in the longitudinal direction of the individual package 11 and shorter than twice the length L11. However, it is not limited to this. For example, the length may be longer than twice the dimension L11.

FIG. 7 shows a sectional view taken along line VII-VII in FIG. Here, preferably, the third injection port 33 for injecting air toward the individual package 11 passing through the narrow road width portion 24g is preferably disposed above the narrow road width portion 24g, and more preferably. And the said air is good to be injected toward the part 11p which protrudes from the narrow path width part 24g among the individual package bodies 11. And if it is made in this way, the individual package 11 which is inclined so as to be clogged at the entrance 24p1e of the guide path 24p1 can be more reliably dropped from the narrow road width portion 24g. In addition, the individual packaging body 11 that overlaps the upper side among the plurality of

individual packaging bodies

11 and 11 can be more reliably dropped from the first-stage individual packaging body 11.

The third injection port 33 is also realized by, for example, a pipe end opening 33pe of a straight pipe 33p having a diameter of 1 mm, and the straight pipe 33p is supported by the wall 26e1 via an appropriate stay member (not shown). ing. A nozzle may be attached to the pipe end opening 33pe. Moreover, the injection conditions such as the air volume (m ³ / min) and the injection pressure (kPa) are determined through actual machine experiments and the like. For example, air is injected from the third injection port 33 while changing the air volume, the injection pressure, etc. at a plurality of levels, and the falling state of the upper individual packaging body 11 among the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11 in a plurality of layers at that time The optimum value is found by observing the above and the injection conditions are determined. Further, the adjustment to the optimum value can be performed by adjusting the air supply pressure to the third injection port 33 with a pressure reducing valve or a pressure adjustment valve, or adjusting the diameter of the third injection port, for example. it can.

8A and 8B are explanatory diagrams of the chute portion 25. FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 4, and FIG. 8B is a view taken along the line BB in FIG. 8A.

In this example, a fourth injection port 34 is separately provided above the chute portion 25, and air is constantly injected from the fourth injection port 34 toward the downstream side in the transport direction Dt. And if it does in this way, even if the

individual packaging bodies

11 and 11 of the upper and lower two-step stack | pile reach | attain to the chute | shoot part 25, the said two-step stack state can be eliminated rapidly. That is, by injecting air from above toward the second-stage individual package body 11 of the two-stage

individual package bodies

11, 11, the second-stage individual package body 11 is changed to the first-stage individual package body 11. It can be advanced to the downstream side in the transport direction Dt with respect to the packaging body 11, thereby eliminating the upper and lower two-stage stacking. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the two-stage

individual package bodies

11 and 11 from being sent toward the bagging process.

As shown in FIG. 8B, in this example, the fourth injection port 34 is provided at the center position of the chute portion 25 in the road width direction Dw, and thereby, two steps along the linear chute portion 25 are provided. The individual package 11 of the eyes can be extruded straight downstream in the transport direction Dt. However, the position of the injection port 34 in the road width direction Dw is not limited to this, and may be shifted from the center position in the road width direction Dw to the end side in a range of ± 20% of the road width W25 in the chute portion 25.

The fourth injection port 34 is also realized by, for example, a pipe end opening 34pe of a straight pipe 34p having a diameter of 1 mm, and the straight pipe 34p is connected to a wall portion of the chute portion 25 via an appropriate stay member (not shown). It is supported by 25k. A nozzle may be attached to the pipe end opening 34pe. Further, the injection conditions such as the air volume (m ³ / min), the injection pressure (kPa), and the injection direction are determined through actual machine experiments and the like. For example, air is injected from the fourth injection port 34 while changing the air volume, the injection pressure, the injection direction, and the like at a plurality of levels, and the progress of the second stage individual package 11 at that time is observed downstream. Thus, the optimum value is found and the injection condition is determined. Further, the adjustment of the air volume and the injection pressure to the optimum values is, for example, adjusting the air supply pressure to the fourth injection port 34 using a pressure reducing valve or a pressure adjustment valve, or adjusting the diameter of the fourth injection port 34. Etc.

=== Other Embodiments ===
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, said embodiment is for making an understanding of this invention easy, and is not for limiting and interpreting this invention. Further, the present invention can be changed or improved without departing from the gist thereof, and needless to say, the present invention includes equivalents thereof. For example, the following modifications are possible.

In the above-described embodiment, the rotary parts feeder 20 having the spiral conveyance path 24 is disclosed as an example of the alignment conveyance device, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a linear parts feeder 20a having a linear conveyance path 24 as shown in the schematic perspective view of FIG. 9 may be used. Specifically, the parts feeder 20 a includes a transport unit 21 having a linear transport path 24 on the upper surface, and a vibration applying mechanism 41 that applies a predetermined vibration to the transport unit 21. As the predetermined vibration, for example, a vibration obtained by synthesizing both a vibration mainly having a vertical component and a vibration mainly having a horizontal component along the transport direction Dt can be cited. Such vibration is generated by a cam mechanism provided in the vibration applying mechanism 41 or a vibrating body formed by combining an electromagnet and a spring.

On the other hand, the linear conveyance path 24 has an ascending slope whose height increases as it proceeds downstream in the conveyance direction Dt. The transport path 24 is provided with a wall portion 26e1 having a predetermined height along one edge portion 24e1.

Therefore, when vibration is applied to the transport unit 21, the

individual packaging bodies

11, 11... Placed on the transport path 24 of the transport unit 21 are brought into contact with the wall portion 26e1 while being transported. Relative sliding and jumping with respect to 24. Then, the

individual package bodies

11, 11... Are aligned in a line and climb up the transport path 24 with their longitudinal directions sequentially directed to the transport direction Dt. 11... Are transported along the transport path 24. The wall 26e1 is provided with an injection port 31. The injection port 31 is set at a position above the contact position Pc11 where the second-stage individual package body 11 of the upper and lower two-stage

individual package bodies

11, 11 contacts the wall portion 26e1. . Therefore, it is possible to make the air hit the second-stage individual package 11 exclusively while preventing the air injected from the injection port 31 from generally hitting the first-stage individual package 11. As a result, only the second-stage individual package 11 can be blown off from the other edge 24e2 of the conveyance path 24 by air while not substantially affecting the conveyance of the first-stage individual package 11.

In the above-described embodiment, the individual package 11 is illustrated as an example of articles to be aligned and conveyed, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the article to be aligned and conveyed may be an unwrapped absorbent article that is not wrapped with the packaging sheet 7. Further, the absorbent article may be other than the panty liner 1, and may be a sanitary napkin, a tampon, a disposable diaper, or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, air is exemplified as an example of gas ejected from the first to

fourth ejection ports

31, 32, 33, 34, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, any gas that does not have a chemical effect on the individual package 11 to be sprayed can be used. For example, nitrogen or the like may be used.

1 Panty liner (absorbent article),
2 Absorber, 3 Top sheet, 4 Back sheet, 5 Anti-slipping adhesive,
6 Release sheet,
7 Packaging sheet, 7s joint,
11 individual package, 11c corner, 11p part (protruding part),
20 parts feeder (alignment transport device), 20a parts feeder (alignment transport device),
21 bucket (conveyance part), 21b bottom face, 21bc center part,
24 transport path, 24a road surface, 24end downstream end,
24e1 outer edge (one edge), 24e2 inner edge (the other edge),
24g narrow width part, 24ge2 edge part,
24p1 taxiway, 24p1e entrance,
25 Shooting part,
26e1 outer wall (wall), 26e1h through-hole,
26e2 inner wall,
31 1st injection port (injection port), 31d The lowest end part,
31p straight pipe, 31pe pipe end opening,
32 second injection port, 32p straight pipe, 32pe pipe end opening,
33 third injection port, 33p straight pipe, 33pe pipe end opening,
34 4th injection port, 34p straight pipe, 34pe pipe end opening,
41 vibration applying mechanism,
CV conveyor,
C31 center position, C32 center position, Pc11 contact position,

Claims

Placing a plurality of articles having absorbent articles on a transport path on an upper surface of the transport unit;
A method of aligning and conveying articles having an absorbent article, comprising: conveying the plurality of articles in a row while applying vibration to the conveying unit;
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting the gas from a gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is transferred to the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown off,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. Alignment transport method.
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to claim 1,
When the injection port is the first injection port, a second injection port for injecting gas is arranged corresponding to a position upstream of the arrangement position of the first injection port in the conveyance path,
The arrangement height of the second injection port from the conveyance path at the position of the second injection port is higher than the arrangement height of the first injection port from the conveyance path at the position of the first injection port. A method for aligning and transporting articles having absorbent articles.
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to claim 1 or 2,
A chute part that slides down the article is arranged at the downstream end of the conveyance path,
A method for aligning and transporting articles having absorbent articles, characterized in that gas is jetted from an ejection port provided above the chute portion toward the downstream side of the transport path.
An article conveying method comprising the absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The predetermined position of the transport path is provided with a portion where the width of the transport path is narrowed from the other edge side,
The road width of the narrowed part is set to a size such that at least a part of the article protrudes laterally from the narrowed part. Alignment transport method.
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to claim 4,
Above the narrowed portion, a third injection port for injecting a gas toward the article passing through the narrowed portion is arranged. Alignment conveyance of the article having an absorbent article Method.
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to claim 5,
The said 3rd injection port injects the said gas toward the part which protrudes from the said conveyance path among the said articles | goods, The alignment conveyance method of the articles | goods which have an absorbent article characterized by the above-mentioned.
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to claim 1,
The conveyance path is a spiral path whose radial position is displaced outward as it advances in the circumferential direction,
A method for aligning and transporting articles having absorbent articles, characterized in that a storage section for storing the articles is provided in the central portion in the radial direction of the transport section, in which the articles before transport are placed. .
A method for aligning and conveying an article having the absorbent article according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The article is an individual packaging body in which the absorbent article is individually wrapped with a wrapping paper, and the article has an absorbent article.
An article having an absorbent article is placed on the transport path on the upper surface, and a vibration is applied to the transport section having the transport path, thereby aligning the plurality of articles in a row and along the transport path. An apparatus for aligning and conveying articles having absorbent articles to be conveyed,
The article is transported along the transport path while abutting against a wall provided along one edge of the transport path,
By injecting the gas from a gas injection port provided in the wall portion, the second or higher article among the articles conveyed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction is transferred to the other edge of the conveyance path. Blown off,
An article having an absorbent article, wherein the injection port is provided at a position above a contact position at which a second-stage article of upper and lower two-stage articles contacts the wall portion. Alignment transport device.