JP2001019154A - Article discharging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To discharge only the articles to be exhausted, without generating the interference with articles other than the articles to be exhausted, even when the conveying speed of a conveyer is high. SOLUTION: A pusher plate 15 made abut the articles 1 to be discharged, the first moving means 12, 13, 13a, 20 to 23, to move the pusher plate 15 forward and rearward along the conveying direction of a conveyer 2, and the second moving means 14 to move the pusher plate 15 along the direction to cross the conveyer 2, are provided. While the pusher plate 15 is moved in the conveying direction of the conveyer 2 at the same speed with the conveying speed of the conveyer 2, the pusher plate 15 is moved in the direction to cross the conveyer 2 in this moving condition, and the articles to be discharged are pushed out out of the line by the abutting force by the movement of the pusher plate 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article discharging apparatus for moving a specific one of articles continuously conveyed in a line by a conveyor out of the row and discharging the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing line or the like for continuously transporting articles such as containers in a single row, a specific article is moved out of the row and discharged (sampling) for the purpose of inspection or elimination of defective products.
The device which performs is provided. Conventionally, as the above-mentioned article discharge device, for example, a device of the type described below has been used.

(1) Method Using a Movable Board As shown in FIG. 5, in the discharge device according to this method, a movable board 54 is provided on one side of a conveyor 52, and the movable board 54 is swung by a predetermined angle by an actuator 53. By moving the container, the container 51, which is a conveyed object, is guided to the discharge conveyor 55 side. Such a discharging device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-161220.

(2) Method Using Pusher Plate As shown in FIG. 6, in the discharge device according to this method, a pusher plate 63 is provided on one side of a conveyor 62, and the pusher plate 63 is moved by an actuator 65 to the conveyor 62. The container 61 is pushed out toward the discharge conveyor 64 by projecting the container 61 in the direction crossing. Such a discharging device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-37248, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-83909, and the like.

(3) Method Using Brush Roller As shown in FIG. 7, in a discharge device according to this method, a brush roller 73 is provided on one side of a conveyor 72. The roller 73 is provided so as to rotate around a rotation axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor 72, and has a brush 73a at one end thereof in a direction along the rotation radius. According to this discharge device, the container 71 on the conveyor 72 is pushed out toward the discharge conveyor 74 by the contact pressure of the brush 73a. Such a discharging device is disclosed in
-104486.

[0006]

The above-mentioned conventional discharge device has the following problems. A. In the discharge device according to the method (1), the container is received by the board 54 that has been swung to a certain angle. In the direction of arrow D. For this reason, the discharge container 51 becomes unstable, and the container 51 easily falls over, particularly during high-speed conveyance. In addition, if the space between the containers 51 on the transport conveyor 52 is sufficiently secured and the speed of the transport conveyor 52 and the speed of the discharge conveyor 55 do not match, the success rate of discharge decreases.

B. In the discharge device according to the method (2), the container 61 is discharged to the discharge conveyor 64 by the combined force of the transfer force provided from the transfer conveyor 62 and the pressing force provided from the pusher plate 63. Is set to be large. Therefore, the container 61 may be deformed, damaged, and fall down.

C. Since the discharge device according to the method (3) uses the rotating brush roller 73 fixed to the frame side of the conveyor 72, the container 71 is decelerated by the contact of the brush 73a and becomes unstable, and the surface of the container 71 becomes unstable. Is damaged by brushing.

[0009] The problems of the discharge devices according to the above-mentioned methods become more remarkable as the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor increases. The discharge devices according to the above-described methods have the following common problems when the transport speed is high.
That is, when movable elements such as the board 54, the pusher plate 63, and the brush roller 73 move in the direction traversing the conveyor, the approaching upstream container collides with the tip of the movable element. The narrow gap formed between the guide and the
For this reason, inconveniences such as falling or damage of the container occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to prevent only the articles to be ejected by avoiding interference with articles other than the articles to be ejected even when the articles are not damaged or overturned and the conveyor speed is high. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article discharge device capable of reliably discharging.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article discharging apparatus for extruding a single article to be discharged out of a row of articles conveyed in a line by a conveyor, and discharging the article. A pusher plate for abutting the article to be discharged, first moving means for reciprocating the pusher plate along a conveying direction of the conveyor, and reciprocating the pusher plate along a direction crossing the conveyor. And a second moving means for moving the pusher plate in the conveying direction of the conveyor at the same speed as the conveying speed of the conveyor by the first moving means. The pusher plate is moved in a direction traversing the conveyor by a moving means, and the pusher plate is discharged by a contact force due to the movement of the pusher plate. So that push to the outside of the column yellow goods. In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the first moving means guides the slider for supporting the second moving means and the slider so as to be movable in a direction along a conveying direction of the conveyor. Guide means, a drive sprocket and a driven sprocket horizontally disposed at predetermined intervals in the direction of conveyance of the conveyor, a chain wound around these sprockets, a cam follower attached to the chain, and a slider formed on the slider. And a cam groove extending in a direction crossing the conveyor, wherein the cam follower is engaged with the cam groove to transmit the moving force of the chain to the slider. In a third aspect based on the first or second aspect, a fluid pressure cylinder is used as the second moving means. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, a supply track of the article is formed on an upstream side of the conveyor,
On the downstream side of the conveyor, a discharge truck positioned on the axis of the supply truck and a discharge truck adjacent to the discharge truck are formed, and the movement of the pusher plate by the first and second moving means is performed by the supply truck. And the carrying-out truck, so that the articles to be ejected pushed out of the row are introduced into the ejecting truck.

[0012]

1 and 2 are a plan view and a front view, respectively, of an article discharging apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2. In addition, this article discharge device is applied to the discharge of hard articles on the outer peripheral portion which are independently transported on a conveyor belt, and is particularly suitable for discharging containers such as bottles and cans.

In each figure, a container 1, which is a conveyed article,
It is conveyed by a conveyor 2 (a slat conveyor in this example) in the direction of arrow F shown in FIG. Conveyor 2
The supply guides 4A and 4B are arranged oppositely on the upstream side, the carry-out guides 5A and 5B are arranged oppositely on the downstream side, and the discharge guide 6 is arranged in a section from the upstream side to the downstream side.

The supply guide 4A and the unloading guide 5A are located on the same straight line along one side edge of the conveyor 2, and the supply guide 4B and the unloading guide 5B are located on the longitudinal center axis of the conveyor 2. are doing. The discharge guide 6 is provided along the other side edge of the conveyor 2. The supply guides 4A and 4B guide the truck L1 for guiding and supplying the container 1, and the unloading guides 5A and 5B support the container 1
Truck L2 for unloading the vehicle and the unloading guide 5
A forms a discharge track L3 for discharging the container 1 together with the discharge guide 6.

The guides 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B and 6 are respectively supported from above by brackets (not shown) fixed to the frame 3 of the conveyor 2. A photoelectric sensor 7 is provided near the rear end of the supply guide 4, and an encoder 8 that engages with the conveyor 2 is provided below the unloading guide 5.

The supply guides 4A and 4B and the carry-out guide 5
A discharge operation area B is formed between A and 5B. The discharge unit 10 is located in front of the discharge operation area B.
Are arranged. The discharge unit 10 includes a support frame 11 fixed to the frame 3 and the support frame 1.
1, two guide rods 12, both ends of which are supported, a slider 13 slidably supported by each of the guide rods 12 and having an L-angle side, and a longitudinal axis of the conveyor 2 on the lower surface of a horizontal portion of the slider 13. A cam groove 13a having a quadrangular cross section formed in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction, a fluid pressure cylinder 14 fixedly mounted on the upper surface of a horizontal portion of the slider 13, and the cylinder 1
4 has a vertically long pusher plate 15 fixed to the tip of the piston rod. The pusher plate 15 is prevented from rotating around the piston rod, and is provided with a cushioning material such as rubber on a contact surface with the article 1.

The discharge unit 10 further includes brackets 16 and 17 mounted on the frame 11,
A drive sprocket 18 and a driven sprocket 19 for a double-row roller chain rotatably mounted on the roller chain 20, a double-row roller chain 20 wound between the sprockets 18 and 19, an attachment 20a mounted on the roller chain 20, and a freely rotatable attachment 20a , A pulley 22 with teeth fixed to the shaft of the sprocket 18 on the driving side, a servomotor 23 fixed to the bracket 17, and an output shaft of the pulley 22 and the servomotor 23 fixed to the drive shaft. There is a toothed belt 24 wound around the toothed pulley 23a.

As described above, the cam follower 21 is connected to the roller chain 20 via the attachment 20a.
, It moves while drawing the trajectory C shown in FIG. 1 as the chain 20 is driven by the servo motor 23. Since the cam follower 21 is fitted into the cam groove 13 a of the slider 13, the slider 13 moves in the left-right direction while being guided by the guide rod 12 along with the movement of the cam follower 21 along the locus C. .

The operation of the article discharging apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4A shows discharge (sampling).
Is performed, the pusher plate 15 is stopped at the standby position. At this time, the cam follower 21 moves to the upstream limit position P of the movement path C.
1 and the cylinder 14 shown in FIG. 1 for driving the pusher plate 15 is in a retracted state. on the other hand,
In this normal state, the article 1 carried into the truck L1 is guided to the carry-out truck L2 through the discharge operation area B.

Here, when an instruction to discharge the container 1 is issued to a control device (not shown), the discharging operation to the indicated container 1 that first passes through the photoelectric sensor 7 is performed. The photoelectric sensor 7 detects the hatched discharge target container 1 and outputs a detection signal to the control device. on the other hand,
The control device recognizes the transport speed of the conveyor 2, that is, the moving speed of the discharge target container 1, based on the output signal of the encoder 8.

Therefore, the control device, when the photoelectric sensor 7 outputs the sensing signal, the container 1 to be discharged is
The time required to move from the position shown in FIG. 4A to the position shown in FIG. 4B is calculated based on the transport speed. Then, at the time point when the required movement time has elapsed, the cam follower 21 moves from the position P1 to the start end position P2 of the linear portion of the movement trajectory C (see FIG. 4B), and thereafter, the cam follower 21 The servo motor 23 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is controlled so as to linearly move at the same speed as the transport speed of the second transport speed.

On the other hand, when the pusher plate 15 and the target container 1 are aligned as shown in FIG. 4B, the control device operates the cylinder 14 shown in FIG. 1 to move the pusher plate 15 to the discharge guide 6 side. Extrude toward. As soon as the cylinder 14 extends to the maximum stroke position, the cylinder 14 is retracted to the minimum stroke position. Note that the cylinder 14 is extended to the maximum stroke position when the cam follower 21 moves to substantially the center of the linear portion of the locus C.

The dashed arrows shown in FIG. 4B indicate the movement trajectory of the pusher plate 15 as the cylinder 14 expands and contracts. The target container 1 is pushed toward the discharge guide 6 by the forward movement of the pusher plate 15 as shown by the dashed line, and is then conveyed by the conveyor 2 to the discharge track L3. The pusher plate 15
Moves to the right while pushing the target container 1 toward the discharge guide 6 side. However, since the moving speed matches the transport speed of the conveyor 2, the target container 1 is positioned before and after the pushed target container 1. There is no interference with the article 1.

FIG. 4C shows that the cam follower 21 has a locus C
Is moved to the last stream position P3. At this time, the pusher plate 15 has retreated to the original position, and the discharge target container 1 has been moved to the vicinity of the entrance of the discharge truck L3. After passing through the position P3, the cam follower 21 moves in the opposite direction and returns to the original position P1, so that the pusher plate 15 is also returned to the standby state as shown by the dotted arrow. Note that the reverse moving speed of the cam follower 21 does not have to match the transport speed of the conveyor 2, but in this example, it matches the transport speed of the conveyor 2. FIG. 4D shows a state in which the cam follower 21 has returned to the standby position P1.
At this time, the target container 1 is located in the discharge truck L3.

As described above, according to the discharge device according to the above-described embodiment, a specific container in the containers 1 continuously transported in a single line is moved out of the line and introduced into the discharge passage L3. Can be. In addition, this article discharge device is used for the purpose of inspection of sampling of articles, elimination of defective articles, and the like.

[0026]

According to the article discharging apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Even if the conveyor speed is high, it is possible to reliably eject only the articles to be ejected while avoiding interference with articles located before and after the articles to be ejected. (2) Since the above-mentioned interference is avoided, the article is not damaged, overturned, clogged, etc., and the lateral movement time of the article can be lengthened, thereby reducing the acceleration of the article and preventing the overturn. be able to. (3) Since the flow of goods is not stopped,
No scratching, label scratching, etc. occur, and the transport efficiency is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an article discharge device according to the present invention.

2 is a front view of a main part of a discharge unit of the article discharge device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an article discharging mode of the article discharging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a main part of a conventional article discharge device using a movable board.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part of a conventional article discharge device using a pusher plate.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part of a conventional article discharge device using a brush roller.

[Description of Signs] 1 Article 2 Conveyor 4, 5, 6 Guide 13 Slider 13a Cam groove 14 Cylinder 15 Pusher plate 18 Drive sprocket 19 Follower sprocket 20 Chain 21 Cam follower 23 Servo motor 24 Timing belt L1 to L3 Track

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An article discharging apparatus for extruding one article to be discharged out of articles conveyed in a row by a conveyor out of the row and discharging the article, wherein the article is brought into contact with the article to be discharged. A pusher plate; first moving means for reciprocating the pusher plate in a direction in which the conveyor is transported; and second moving means for reciprocating the pusher plate in a direction transverse to the conveyor. Moving the pusher plate in the direction of conveyance of the conveyor by the first moving means at the same speed as the conveying speed of the conveyor, and moving the pusher plate by the second moving means during the movement. The article to be ejected is pushed out of the row by the contact force caused by the movement of the pusher plate. Article discharge device being characterized in that the. 2. The conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the first moving means is a slider for supporting the second moving means, a guide means for movably guiding the slider in a direction along the conveying direction of the conveyor, and A drive sprocket and a driven sprocket horizontally disposed at predetermined intervals in the transport direction, a chain wound around these sprockets, a cam follower attached to the chain, and a direction traversing the conveyor formed on the slider. With a cam groove,
The article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cam follower is configured to engage with the cam groove to transmit a moving force of the chain to the slider. 3. The article discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a fluid pressure cylinder is used as said second moving means. 4. A supply truck for the articles is formed upstream of the conveyor, and a discharge truck located on the axis of the supply truck and a discharge truck adjacent to the discharge truck are formed downstream of the conveyor. Moving the pusher plate by the first and second moving means between the supply truck and the unloading truck to introduce the articles to be ejected pushed out of the row into the ejection truck. The article discharge device according to claim 1, wherein