JP2592140B2 - Article transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention has a mechanism for automatically removing a fallen article on a transport line that simultaneously transports bottles, cans, and the like in a food plant or a cosmetics plant in a plurality of rows. The present invention relates to an article transport device.

(Prior Art) FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples of a conventional article conveying apparatus having a mechanism for automatically removing fallen articles from a conveying line. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the same device, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

This article conveying device is, for example, a device that conveys a bottle 101, and the downstream conveyor 102 and the upstream conveyor 105 are driven independently while adjusting the speed, respectively.
Have some overlapping portions arranged in parallel. 103 and 104 are guides for guiding the bottle 101 arranged along the conveying direction on both sides of the conveyor, and these guides 103, 1
Reference numeral 04 denotes an overlapping portion of the upstream conveyor 105 and the downstream conveyor 102. The bottle 101 obliquely crosses the bottle 101 in order to transfer from the upstream conveyor 105 to the downstream conveyor 102.

Further, in order to remove the bottle 101a that has fallen down for some reason from the conveyance line during the conveyance, a part of the guides 103 and 104 provided on the downstream conveyor 102 is curved in parallel, and the guide 104 that has come off the downstream conveyor 102 is bent. The lower part is cut off at a height high enough for the inverted bottle 101a to pass through as shown in FIG.

With such a configuration, the bottle 101 is transported from the upstream conveyor 105 to the downstream conveyor 102 on the way while being guided between the guides 103 and 104. During this time, the bottle 101a falls over for some reason, and in that state the guides 103 and 104
When the bottle 101a reaches the curved portion, the bottle 101a is pushed out from above the downstream conveyor 102 by the guide 103, passes through the lower notch of the opposite guide 104, and is discharged out of the conveyor. At this time, the bottle 101 conveyed in another normal posture is
It is guided by 3,104 and is aligned without being separated from the downstream conveyor 102 and transported to the next process.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, a transport device provided with a mechanism for removing an overturned article has been practically used.

However, as is apparent from the above mechanism, in order to remove an overturned article from the conveyor, it is necessary to transport the article in a state of being arranged in a single row as shown in FIG. .

In other words, there is a problem that if the conventional transport device attempts to transport the articles in a double row, the fallen articles cannot be completely and reliably removed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a transport device having a function of automatically and reliably removing an overturned article from a transport line in the course of transporting such easily overturned articles in a plurality of rows. is there.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve this object, the present invention conveys articles in a plurality of rows, each of which has a guide and a drive source, and is arranged partly in parallel as a transfer section for the articles. In an article conveying apparatus including two sets of conveying sections, a falling article detecting section provided in the preceding conveying section, a falling article discharging section provided in the succeeding conveying section, and an input signal from the detecting section.
A control unit for controlling a transfer speed between a pair of transfer units is provided, and this is a means for solving the above-mentioned problem.

(Operation) Now, when an article to be turned over occurs in articles transported in a plurality of rows in the preceding conveying section, the detecting section detects the overturned article and outputs a signal to the control section. The control unit sends a control signal to any one of the driving sources of the upstream transport unit or the downstream transport unit based on the signal from the detection unit so that the transport speed in the downstream transport unit is higher than the transport speed in the upstream transport unit. Provide a relative speed difference between the two transport units.

As a result, in the part where the articles are transferred from the previous transport section to the subsequent transport section, the articles transported in multiple rows are changed to a single row aligned state, and the discharging means functions in the downstream transport section to remove the overturned articles. Eliminate automatically.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 show a bottle conveying apparatus according to a typical embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, and FIG. It is an AA arrow line view.

1 is a bottle which is a conveyed article, and guides 6 on a conveyor 2;
While being guided by 7, they are arranged in a double row and conveyed in an upright state.

The conveyor 2 is independently driven by a driving device 5. Above the conveyor 2, a sensor 4 for detecting the bottle 1a in the overturned state is installed.
Is connected to the control panel 8, and a signal is sent to the control panel 8 when the sensor 4 detects the inverted bottle 1a. When the signal is sent from the sensor 4 to the control panel 8, a speed control signal is output from the control panel 8 to the driving device 5 of the conveyor 2, and the driving device 5 is speed-controlled for a predetermined time.

Further, on the downstream side of the conveyor 2, a part of another conveyor 3 is overlapped and juxtaposed. The conveyor 3 is also driven by a driving device (not shown), usually in synchronization with the conveyor 2 on the upstream side, and conveys the double-row bottles 1 conveyed from the upstream to the downstream side as it is. As shown in FIG. 3, the downstream conveyor 3 is slightly inclined downward in the guide direction of the guides 6 and 7 at a portion where the upstream conveyor 2 is juxtaposed.

The two guides 6 and 7 are arranged diagonally so that the bottle 1 can be transferred from the upstream conveyor 2 to the downstream conveyor 3 at the juxtaposed portion of the upstream conveyor 2 and the downstream conveyor 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the guide 7 provided on the side surface of the conveyor 3 in the inclined direction has a notch 9 formed at a lower portion thereof, which is high enough to allow the inverted bottle 1a to pass therethrough. Also,
A gutter 10 is attached to the side of the downstream guide 3 where the notch 9 is formed.

Next, the operation of the illustrated embodiment apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

When all the bottles 1 are transported in a normal state,
The upstream conveyor 2 and the downstream conveyor 3 are driven at substantially the same speed.

When the inverted bottle 1a is generated on the conveyor 2 on the upstream side, the sensor 4 detects the inverted bottle 1a and outputs a detection signal to the control panel 8. Based on this signal, a deceleration command is output from the control panel 8 to the driving device 5 to decelerate the upstream conveyor 2.

As a result, the speed of the upstream conveyor 2 becomes lower than the speed of the downstream conveyor 3, and the bottles 1 conveyed in multiple rows by the upstream conveyor 2 are arranged in a single row at the transfer section to the downstream conveyor 3. To be transported.

The tipping bottle 1a in the bottle 1 conveyed in a single row in this manner, when it moves from the upstream conveyor 2 to the downstream conveyor 3, rolls to the side of the conveyor due to the inclination of the downstream conveyor 3, Gutter passing through lower notch 9 of guide 7
Drops to 10 and is automatically removed from the transport line.

Thereafter, the speed of the upstream conveyor 2 is substantially equal to the speed of the downstream conveyor 3 until the deceleration by the driving device 5 is released and a new deceleration command signal is output from the control panel 8 thereafter. Is done.

In the illustrated embodiment, the upstream conveyor 2 is decelerated due to the occurrence of the overturned bottle 1a, but the point is that a relative speed difference is generated so that the downstream conveyor speed is higher than the upstream conveyor speed. Since it is enough, it is also possible to make the upstream conveyor speed constant and to control the downstream conveyor speed to increase in the range that does not hinder the conveyance, in which case the line speed does not change Therefore, productivity is not reduced.

Also, it is clear that the means for removing the overturned articles from the conveyor is not limited to the means exemplified above.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when an overturned article occurs, a speed difference is generated between the two conveyors by controlling the speed of the side-by-side conveyors, and a double-row arrangement is performed until then. It is possible to automatically switch over to the single row arrangement of the articles conveyed by, and to automatically remove the overturned articles, and realize the double row conveyance which was conventionally impossible for the conveyor conveyance of the easily fallable articles, This enables a significant increase in productivity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of a bottle conveying apparatus according to a typical embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus, FIG. The figure is an overall plan view of a conventional bottle conveying apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. Description of main parts in the figure 1a: falling bottle, 2 ... upstream conveyor 3 ... downstream conveyor, 4 ... sensor 5 ... drive device, 6, 7 ... guide 8 ... control panel, 9 ... … Notch

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An article transport apparatus for transporting articles in a plurality of rows, each of which has a guide and a drive source, and comprises two sets of transport sections partially arranged in parallel as a transfer section for the articles, A falling article detecting section provided in the transport section, a falling article discharging section provided in the subsequent transport section, and a control section controlling a transport speed between the two sets of transport sections based on an input signal from the detecting section. An article conveying device, comprising: