JP2001294205A - Packing device and direction changing means - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] A highly efficient packing device capable of smoothly and quickly transporting articles to be packed and capable of appropriately changing the direction of the articles to be packed without abruptly changing the trajectory of the articles. I will provide a. A supply-side transport unit for sequentially transporting a plurality of articles to be packed, a direction changing unit for changing the direction of the articles to be transported by the supply-side transport unit, and a packaged article. And a stacking unit 6 for stacking, and the direction changing unit 4 is disposed at a rear end position of the supply-side transport unit 3 and has a rotating frame 1 in which four support arms 18 are formed in a cross shape.
2 and a rotation driving means 13 for rotating the rotation frame 12 by 90 ° in a predetermined rotation direction. Each support arm 18 is provided with a trajectory A drawn by the package
Is set so as to stop in a state along a position taking a direction along the path and a position taking a direction perpendicular to the trajectory A.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a packing apparatus and a direction changing means, and more particularly, to a packing apparatus provided with a direction changing means for changing the direction of an article on a transport path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a packing apparatus for relatively soft articles such as a package for water-absorbing articles such as disposable diapers,
The articles are sequentially conveyed by a belt conveyor, the articles are erected by twisting the belt conveyor, and the articles are piled up by being inserted between the partition plates that run one pitch at a time, and the plurality of piled articles are bundled. Then, there is a device for storing and sealing in a packing bag 7 'as shown in FIG.
When such an apparatus is used, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), when carrying out another type of packing in which the vertical and horizontal directions of the articles in the packing bag are different from the above-mentioned packing form, a belt conveyor is used. It was necessary to change the direction of the article to be conveyed from the initial state. Therefore, there is a demand for a packing apparatus including means for changing only the vertical and horizontal directions of an article in such an article transport mechanism.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-3298 discloses an alignment apparatus for changing the direction of articles to be conveyed and aligning them.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12 is known. This alignment device places an article (packing box) conveyed from a supply unit on a rotary table that performs an elevating operation and a rotating operation. After rotating the rotary table by 90 °, the conveying direction in the supply unit is changed. An operation is performed in which articles are conveyed in a direction making a right angle and articles are sequentially stacked on the elevating plate. The article whose direction has been changed by the rotary table is pushed out by a subsequent article sent from the supply unit.

[0004]

In the aligning device, the relationship between the direction of the articles and the transport direction is the same between the supply unit and the elevating plate, and the direction of the articles is changed on the rotary table in order to change the transport direction. It is made to let. Therefore, in this conventional apparatus, the transport direction in the supply unit and the transport direction from the rotary table to the lifting plate are at right angles, so that it is necessary to temporarily stop the transport of the article on the rotary table.

Further, in order to increase the transport speed of articles by the aligning device, it is necessary to perform a series of operations combining the rotating operation of the rotary table and the elevating operation at a speed higher than the transport speed. For this reason, this conventional device
For example, it is suitable for transporting relatively large and structurally rigid articles such as packing boxes, and is not suitable for transporting soft articles and further high-speed transport. In addition, since the following article is configured to push out the preceding article, the delivery distance varies depending on the length of the article, so that every time the conveyed article changes, the stroke setting of the delivery mechanism is changed, and in some cases, the delivery mechanism is replaced. Had to do.

In the aligning device, since the rotation axis of the article placed on the rotary table passes through the inside of the article, the inertia of the article caused by being conveyed by the supply unit is attenuated on the rotary table. Therefore, it is not suitable for smooth and high-speed change of direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a highly efficient packing apparatus capable of smoothly transporting various articles to be packed at a high speed and capable of appropriately changing the direction of the articles to be packed without abruptly changing the trajectory of the articles. It is intended to provide.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a supply-side transport section for sequentially transporting a plurality of articles to be packed, an orientation changing means for changing the direction of the articles to be transported in the supply-side transport section, A packing device provided with an accumulating section for accumulating the articles to be packed, wherein the direction changing means rotationally moves the articles to be packed so as to substantially follow an extension of a locus drawn by the articles to be packed as the articles are conveyed by the supply side conveyance section. I tried to make it.

Further, the present invention relates to an orientation changing means,
The article conveyed along the predetermined conveying direction from the upstream is rotated 90 ° around a rotation axis located outside the article, and the direction of the article is changed in the downstream direction along the conveying direction in a state where the direction of the article is changed. It has a configuration for carrying.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a packing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment supplies and conveys articles to be packed (hereinafter simply referred to as articles) 2 from upstream in a predetermined conveying direction. Unit 3, a rotating unit 4 as a direction changing means for changing the direction of the article 2, and a payout conveying unit 5 for paying out the article 2 whose direction has been changed by the rotating unit 4 along the above-described conveying direction.
An accumulating unit 6 for capturing and accumulating the articles 2 paid out from the dispensing / conveying unit 5; and a final conveying unit 8 for conveying a predetermined number of the articles 2 accumulated in the accumulating unit 6 to a packing position in a packing bag 7. It is roughly composed of Although a relatively soft article such as a package of a water-absorbent article such as a disposable diaper is applied as the article to be packed, a boxed article having a structural rigidity may be applied.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of transport belts 9 and 10 are opposed to each other from the supply-side transport section 3 to the pay-out transport section 5 at a distance slightly shorter than the thickness of the article 2. It is provided as follows. The pair of transport belts 9, 10
Along a pair of traveling rollers 11, 11, each of which is a plurality of standing rollers 11, which are provided upright on both left and right sides of a transport path (ie, an extension of the trajectory A drawn by the article 2 during the transport shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). The belt is driven so as to run synchronously at a constant speed by a belt driving device (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, on the upstream side of the supply-side transport section 3, the long side of the article 2 is transported in a state where it is placed horizontally so as to be parallel to the transport direction. A well-known device such as a belt conveyor (not shown) that twists just before the entrance of the supply-side transport unit 3 such that the long side of the article 2 at the entrance of the side transport unit 3 stands while keeping the longer side parallel to the transport direction. Means.

Next, the configuration of the rotating unit 4 will be described. Figure 1
As shown in FIG. 2, the rotating unit 4 includes a cross-shaped rotating frame 12, a motor (rotation driving unit) 13 for rotating the rotating frame 12, and a pair of article detection units disposed immediately upstream of the rotating frame 12. The motor 13 is controlled based on the detection signals from the sensors 14 and 15 and the other article detection sensor 15.
, And a suction device 17 rotatably connected to the rotating frame 12.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
2 has a structure in which four support arms 18 are arranged on the same plane so as to form a cross shape, and the base ends of these support arms 18 are integrally connected. And
The support arms 18 adjacent to each other are set to form a right angle. In addition, the rotating shaft 1 of the rotating frame 12
The drive shaft 19 of the motor 13 is coaxially coupled to 2A. And the rotating shaft 12A of the rotating frame 12 is
It is arranged outside the article 2 transported by the supply-side transport section 3 (slightly below the lower end of the transported article 2).
Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a state in which the rotating frame 12 waits for the article 2 to be conveyed from the supply-side conveying section 3, the two support arms 1 are disposed at a horizontal position.
The upper surface of each of the articles 8 and 18 is the article 2 conveyed by the supply side conveyance section 3.
Is set to be approximately the same height as the locus drawn by the lower end of the.

Each support arm 1 of the rotating frame 12
Rotation direction 8 (direction indicated by arrow a in FIG. 3A)
A plurality of suction nozzles (suction means) 20 are opened intermittently from the base end to the front end on the surface on the opposite side. Inside each support arm 18, an orifice 21 communicating with the suction nozzle 20 is formed, and these orifices 21 communicate with each other through a rotating shaft 12A. Further, the suction device 17 is connected to communicate with the orifice 21 in the rotating shaft 12A of the rotating frame 12 via a communication coupling member (not shown) that can rotate at a connecting portion such as a swivel joint.

Further, the suction device 17 is connected to the control unit 16 and is set to perform a suction operation, a suction stop operation, and the like in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 16. With such a configuration, in the rotating frame 12, the article 2 transported from the supply-side transport unit 3 is transferred to the two support arms 18, 1.
8 can be held. That is, it is possible to place the article 2 on the horizontal support arm 18 and to suck and hold the article 2 by sucking the article 2 with the suction nozzle 20 of the support arm 18 standing upright. By rotating the article 2 by 90 ° while holding it with the two support arms 18, 18 in this manner,
The article 2 can be supplied to the paying-out conveyance section 5 side.
In particular, since the suction nozzle 20 is formed on the surface opposite to the rotation direction of the support arm 18, when the rotating frame 12 is rotated, the article 2 is moved to the suction nozzle 2 on the rotation direction side.
0, there is an action of pulling, so that the article 2 at the time of rotation
Can be held stably.

In the dispensing / transporting section 5, the rotating frame 12
The article 2 rotated by 0 ° is transported by a pair of transport belts 9 and 1.
The sheet is transported toward the stacking section 6 while being pinched at 0. At this time, since the article 2 has been rotated by 90 °, the article 2 is conveyed in a state in which the long side stands up and the short side lies horizontally.

Next, the configuration of the accumulation unit 6 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the stacking unit 6 has an article capturing belt 24 attached to a rotating drum 22 arranged near the end of the payout conveying unit 5 and a rotating drum 23 arranged laterally at a predetermined distance. It is suspended. A plurality of partition plates 25 are provided at equal intervals on the outer surface of the article capturing belt 24. The space between the partition plates 25 is set to be substantially the same as the thickness of the article 2. In such a configuration, by rotating the rotating drums 22 and 23, the article capturing belt 24 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow b in FIG. 1 (counterclockwise direction).
Is moved to the position where the final transport unit 8 is disposed with the articles 2 sandwiched between the partition plates 25. In addition, the accumulation | aggregation part 6 performs the driving | operation operation | movement of the belt 24 for article capture | acquisition, and the movement operation | movement of the partition 25.
It is controlled by a control device (not shown).

The final transport section 8 includes a known transport device having a function of gripping the article 2 by, for example, a belt method. Then, the bundle of the plurality of articles 2 in a state of being accumulated in a predetermined number at the end of the final transport unit 8 is set so as to be arranged in two front and rear rows and stored in the packing bag 7 as shown in FIG. I have.

Next, the operation and operation of the packing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described.

First, for example, the article 2 transported from the production line to the entrance of the supply-side transport section 3 is, as shown in FIG.
The paper is supplied to the supply side transport unit 3 with the long side lying down and the short side standing up. The supply side transport unit 3 transports the article 2 to the rotating unit 4 while maintaining the attitude of the article 2. The control unit 16 controls the motor 13 based on the article detection signal output from the article detection sensor 15. Specifically, when the article 2 is detected at the detection position, the suction device 17 is operated to start suction by the suction nozzle 20 of each support arm 18, and after a predetermined time, the drive shaft 19 of the motor 13 is moved. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, control is performed to rotate 90 ° clockwise. Then, 90
Immediately after the rotation by an angle of ° is performed, control is performed to stop the suction operation of the suction device 17 so that the dispensing / transporting unit 5 can easily pick up the article 2 rotated by 90 °.

Next, the article 2 conveyed to the end position of the paying-out conveyance section 5 is inserted between the partition plates 25 of the stacking section 6, and the pair of rotary drums 22 and 23 are driven to rotate so that each of the partition plates 25 is rotated. 25 is moved by one pitch. The articles 2 sequentially accumulated in this manner are gradually conveyed to the position of the final conveying section 8 and a predetermined number of articles 2 are put together to form a partition plate 25.
The operation of taking out from the space and storing it in the packing bag 7 is performed. After the article 2 is stored in the packing bag 7, the entire open process is completed by sealing the open end of the packing bag 7. In addition, as another control method, the quality / defectiveness of the article 2 conveyed by the supply-side conveyance unit 3 is detected, and if the article 2 is detected to be defective, the article 2 is held on the rotating frame 12. It is also possible to set so that after rotating by 180 °, the suction is stopped and the defective product (NG product) is dropped and discharged below the rotating unit 4. The pitch of the articles 2 flowing through the supply-side transport unit 3 is usually equal to the payout pitch in the pay-out transport unit 5, but the pitch between the supply-side transport unit 3 and the payout transport unit 5 is controlled by so-called chase control or delay. By controlling, the payout pitch can be set to the same pitch.

In the above-described embodiment, even if the pitch of the articles 2 flowing in the supply-side transport section 3 is not constant, the article detection sensor 1
Since the operation of the rotating unit 4 is controlled by the control unit 16 according to the detection signals 4 and 15, the direction of the article 2 can be smoothly changed. In addition, since the rotary drums 22 are disposed at the end of the pay-out transport unit 5, the partition plates 25 at this position are in a state of spreading in a C-shape, so that the article 2 is placed between the partition plates 25. It can be inserted securely.
Furthermore, when it is desired to convey the article 2 without changing its direction,
By removing the rotating frame 12 or a part thereof, the article 2 can be transported from the supply-side transport unit 3 to the pay-out transport unit 5 in the same posture.

Further, since the trajectory A of the article 2 flowing in the supply-side transport section 3 and the trajectory of the article 2 flowing in the pay-out transport section 5 are located substantially on the same line, the article 2 can be transported smoothly. Furthermore, since the rotation center axis of the rotating frame 12 is located outside the article 2, it is possible to change the direction by utilizing the inertia of the article 2 when carrying at high speed.

Although the embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various changes accompanying the gist of the configuration are possible.

For example, in the above embodiment, when packing the article 2 using the packing bag 7, that is, when creating a compact (small) packing bag 7 as shown in FIG.
Although the present invention has been applied, it is also possible to apply the present invention to various kinds of packages such as boxes, and to create a packing bag 7 ′ as shown in FIG. In this case, only the orientation (vertical and horizontal) of the article 2 when packing the article 2 into the packing bag 7 ′ is different, and there is no need to change the apparatus side.
All that is required is to change the direction of the article 2 to be transported. By doing so, it is possible to easily change the packing mode of the article 2.

In the above embodiment, the rotating frame 1
Although the means for sucking and holding the article 2 is provided on the second support arm 18, such a suction means may be omitted.
For example, unless the transport speed is extremely high, the direction of the article 2 can be easily changed by the rotating frame 12 having no suction function. Further, the accumulating unit 6 is connected to the rotating drum 22,
The configuration may be such that an article capturing belt 24 is hung on 23, and gears are used instead of the rotating drums 22 and 23, and a chain is used instead of the article capturing belt 24.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the rotating frame 12 as shown in FIG. 3A is used. However, even if the direction of the article 2 changes as shown by a dashed line c in FIG. In order to be able to convey without changing the flow core (movement trajectory at the center of the article), the support arms 18 located at a position forming 180 ° may be formed with a step of the distance d on the same side. . In the case of the rotating frame 12 having such a structure, since the flow core of the article 2 is the same before and after the rotating frame 12, the flow of the article 2 can be stabilized.
Further, in the above embodiment, the cross-shaped rotating frame 12 is used.
The direction of the article 2 was changed using the method described above. However, as shown in FIG. 6, a rotating unit having a pair of belts 30 arranged on both sides so that the article 2 draws a fan shape from the end position of the supply-side transport unit 3 (Orientation changing means) The orientation of the article 2 may be changed at an angle of 90 ° using 4 ″.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of opposed conveying belts 9 and 10 are used from the supply-side conveying section 3 to the pay-out conveying section 5, but FIG. As shown in a rotating part (direction changing means) 4 ′, a supply-side conveying part 3
It is also possible to provide a pair of different transport belts 26, 27, 28, 29 respectively for the discharge transport unit 5 and the delivery transport unit 5. In this case, the friction area between the article 2 held by the rotating frame 12 and the transport belt can be suppressed.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the article to be packed is rotated by the direction changing means so as to substantially follow the extension of the locus drawn by the article to be packed. Thereby, the vertical and horizontal directions of the articles to be packed can be changed, and the directions of the articles to be stacked in the stacking unit can be appropriately set according to the packing form. In addition, it is possible to move according to the inertia involved in the transport at the supply side transport unit, so that the direction can be changed smoothly and at high speed, and packing can be performed with high efficiency.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the rotating frame rotates by 90 °, the length and width of the article to be packed can be changed on the upstream and downstream sides of the rotating frame. The orientation can be changed without applying extra force to the article to be packed without greatly changing the core.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the suction means is provided on the surface of the support arm with which the article to be packed comes into contact, it is possible to prevent the article to be packed from coming off when the orientation is changed. It is possible to change the direction reliably.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the supply-side transport section opposes and arranges a pair of transport belts on both sides of the transport path, the article to be packed is sandwiched between the transport belts. This allows the article to be packed to be transported to the direction changing means while maintaining the attitude of the article to be packed. in this way,
Since the initial orientation of the packaged articles can be determined, the orientation and attitude when the packaged articles that have passed through the orientation changing means are accumulated in the accumulation section can be made constant.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that the direction of the article conveyed from upstream to downstream by the direction changing means can be changed smoothly and at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a packing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a supply-side transport unit, a rotation unit, and a pay-out transport unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of a rotating frame used in the embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the rotating frame.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a packaging bag created by the packaging device of the embodiment, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view showing a conventional packaging example.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a modified example of a supply-side transport unit and a pay-out transport unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modification of the rotating unit of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Packing apparatus 2 Article (packed article) 3 Supply-side conveyance part 4,4 ', 4 "Rotating part (direction changing means) 6 Stacking part 9,10 A pair of conveyance belt 12 Rotation frame 12A Rotating shaft 13 Motor (Rotation drive) Means) 18 support arm 20 suction nozzle (suction means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3E054 AA01 CA08 DD01 DD13 EA02 FA03 FA07 FC03 FC08 FC14 FC15 GA01 GA08 GB02 GC02 HA03 HA08 3F072 AA30 JA02 KA01 KC02 KC05 KC07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A supply-side transport section for sequentially transporting a plurality of articles to be packed, a direction changing means for changing the direction of the articles to be transported conveyed by the supply-side transport section, and the articles to be packed are stacked. A packing device comprising: an accumulating unit; wherein the direction changing unit is configured to rotate and move the packaged article substantially along an extension of a locus drawn by the packaged article along with the transport by the supply-side transport unit. apparatus. 2. A rotation frame disposed at a rear end position of the supply-side transport section and having four support arms formed in a substantially cross shape, and a direction changing means for rotating the rotation frame by 90 °. 2. The packing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a rotation drive unit configured to rotate and move in a predetermined rotation direction. 3. The packing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein suction means for sucking and holding the article to be packed is provided on a surface of the support arm opposite to the predetermined rotation direction. 4. The packing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply-side transport section includes a pair of transport belts arranged to face each other along both sides of the transport path of the article to be packed. 5. An article conveyed along a predetermined conveyance direction from an upstream is rotated by 90 ° about a rotation axis located outside the article and rotated in the conveyance direction in a state where the direction of the article is changed. Direction changing means for transporting along the downstream side.