JP2009120289A - Food container feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food container feeding device, taking out a food container from a row of stacked plastic food containers such as lunch boxes, dishes, and bowls not by manual, and surely taking a food container out of a row of stacked food containers. <P>SOLUTION: The food container feeding device comprises: a carrying conveyer carrying a row of food containers; a plurality of guide bars arranged to be movable in a horizontal surface for positioning the row of the food containers at a predetermined position; a food container handling mechanism taking a food container out of a row of food containers; and a food container turnover mechanism receiving the taken food container, turning it over, and arranging it at a predetermined position. A separator separating the stacked food containers from each other by hooking edge parts of food containers is disposed to at least one of the guide bars. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a food container supply device for taking out a single food container from the stacked food container row and supplying it to the next process.

  Conventionally, when food is placed in a food container such as a plastic lunch box, a dish, or a bowl, the operation of taking out a single food container from the stacked food container row has been often manual. In this way, when the operation of taking out a single food container from a row of food containers stacked manually, not only the labor cost is increased, but also the burden on the operator is large because it is a simple repetitive operation. It was not desirable from the viewpoint of occupational health and safety.

  In addition, there was a device that took out a single food container by machine without relying on human hands. However, when many food containers are stacked, the upper and lower containers are in close contact with each other, so that a single food container can be removed. Often, two or more containers were taken out at the same time where the container had to be taken out.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and removes a single food container from a stacked plastic food container row such as a lunch box, a dish, or a bowl without relying on human hands. It is another object of the present invention to provide a food container supply device that can remove one food container from a stacked food container row.

  Furthermore, in this food container supply device, it is an object to reduce the cost of taking out a single food container from the stacked food container row by shortening the takt time for taking out one food container at a time. It is.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention according to the food container supply device described in claim 1 is an apparatus for supplying a single food container, and conveys stacked food container rows. A plurality of guide bars arranged to be movable in a horizontal plane in order to position the stacked food container rows conveyed by the conveyer in a predetermined position, and the stacked food containers A food container handling mechanism for taking out a single food container from a row, wherein a food container handling mechanism provided with a suction portion at the tip and arranged to be movable up and down and swiveled, and the food container handling mechanism A food container reversing mechanism for receiving, reversing and placing a single food container in place, the guide bar At least one of the food containers is provided with a separator for separating the stacked food containers by hooking the edge of the food container.

  Further, in the invention relating to the food container supply device according to claim 2, in the food container supply device according to claim 1, the separator is configured by a hook protruding from the surface of the guide bar. did.

  Further, in the invention relating to the food container supply device according to claim 3, in the food container supply device according to claim 1, the separator is composed of a first hook and a second hook, The hook and the second hook are integrated with each other and are pivotally supported on the guide bar so as to be rotatable in a predetermined angle range.

  Further, in the invention relating to the food container supply device according to claim 4, in the food container supply device according to claim 3, the separator is integrally formed with the first hook and the second hook. A spring is provided to bias the force that restores the separator to a predetermined position when it rotates.

  Further, in the invention relating to the food container supply device according to claim 5, in the food container supply device according to claim 3, the first hook and the second hook of the separator are rotated together. In this case, the position of the center of gravity of the separator is set so that the separator is restored to a predetermined position.

  Further, in the invention relating to the food container supply device according to claim 6, the food container supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plurality of guide bars are four guide bars. Was made up of.

  Further, in the invention related to the food container supply device according to claim 7, the food container supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein two sets of the container handling mechanism and the food container reversing mechanism are provided. The two food container handling mechanisms are configured to alternately take out a single food container from the stacked food container row.

  Furthermore, in the invention according to the separator described in claim 8, in the food container supply device, by hooking the edge of the food container, the separator used to separate the stacked food containers one by one, The separator is composed of a first hook and a second hook, and the first hook and the second hook are integrated and pivotally supported so as to be rotatable in a predetermined angle range. It was set as the structure.

  Further, in the invention according to the separator described in claim 9, in the separator according to claim 8, when the first hook and the second hook rotate together, the separator is restored to a predetermined position. In this configuration, a spring for energizing a large force is provided.

  In the present invention, by adopting the above-described configuration, a single food container can be taken out from a stacked plastic food container row such as a lunch box, a dish, or a bowl without relying on human hands. In addition, it has become possible to provide a food container supply device that can reliably take out one food container from the stacked food container row.

  Furthermore, in this food container supply device, it was possible to reduce the cost of the operation of taking out a single food container from the stacked food container row by shortening the takt time for taking out each food container one by one.

  An embodiment of a food container supply device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a food container supply apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The food container supply device 1 according to the present invention positions a transporting conveyor 20 for transporting the stacked food container rows 10 and the stacked food container rows 10 transported by the transporting conveyor 20 at predetermined positions. Four guide bars 30 movably arranged in a horizontal plane, a food container handling mechanism 40 for removing a single food container 12 from the stacked food container row 10, and a food container handling mechanism 40 The food container reversing mechanism 50 for receiving, reversing and placing in place a single food container 12 taken out by means of the food bar 12 and the edge 12a of the food container 12 A separator 60 is provided for separating the stacked food containers 12 one by one by hooking them.

  This conveyor 20 is for moving the stacked food container row 10 carried by hand or other devices to a position X for taking out a single food container 12 by the food container handling mechanism 40. is there. It is desirable that the transport conveyor 20 has a size that allows a plurality of food container rows 10 to be arranged side by side, and that the plurality of food container rows 10 are aligned with the central portion of the transport conveyor 20. The guide plates 22 and 24 may be disposed on both sides of the conveyor. The distance between the guide plates 22 and 24 can be freely adjusted with one handle according to the shape and size of the target food container row 10. In the case where a plurality of food container rows 10 are arranged side by side on the transport conveyor 20, a second transport conveyor 26 is provided on the downstream side of the transport conveyor 20, whereby the food container row 10 is You may make it move to the position X for taking out the single food container 12 one by one.

  The food container row 10 transported to the vicinity of the position X by the transport conveyor 20 or the second transport conveyor 26 is centered by moving in the horizontal plane with the four guide bars 30 standing upright, and the position X Is accurately positioned so that the center of the food container row 10 comes to the center. For example, by using a synchronous gear or the like, the four guide bars 30 may be moved in a horizontal plane by two or four guide bars 30 together, or four guide bars 30 The food container row 10 may be centered by moving in the horizontal plane while controlling the bars 30 independently. Here, four guide bars 30 have been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and three or five or more guide bars may be used according to the shape of the food container. good.

  The food container handling mechanism 40 is a handling tool for taking out a single food container 12 from the stacked food container row 10 placed at the position X. The food container handling mechanism 40 is moved up and down and swiveled using an electric motor or the like. It is arranged to be movable. The food container handling mechanism 40 includes a support 42, an arm 44, and a grip portion 46 disposed at the tip of the arm 44. The gripping part 46 is composed of a suction plate connected to a negative pressure source such as a vacuum pump (not shown), and grips the food container 12 by the negative pressure inside the suction plate. As the support column 42 moves up and down by a drive source such as an electric motor and rotates around the central axis of the support column 42, the gripping portion 46 can move up and down and turn.

The food container handling mechanism 40 adsorbs the food container 12 from the stacked food container row 10 placed at the position X, and reliably removes only one food container 12 by the separator 60 described later. . The food container 12 adsorbed by the gripping part 46 is transferred to the upper side of the food container reversing mechanism 50, and the food container 12 is gripped by returning the negative pressure inside the suction plate constituting the gripping part 46 to atmospheric pressure. Thus, the food container 12 is arranged in the food container reversing mechanism 50. Further, by arranging two sets of food container handling mechanisms 40 on both sides of the food container supply device 1 (see FIG. 1), the tact time for supplying the food container 12 can be greatly reduced.

  The food container reversing mechanism 50 is for receiving a single food container 12 taken out by the food container handling mechanism 40, inverting it, and placing it in a predetermined position. The plate member 52 is provided.

  The food container reversing mechanism 50 is configured to intermittently rotate around the center where the radially extending plate members 52 intersect, and the food container 12 received from the food container handling mechanism 40 is reversed and transferred. be able to. The movement of the food container reversing mechanism 50 intermittently rotating is interlocked with the movement of the food container handling mechanism 40. Here, the plate member 52 has been described as having a comb-like surface. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plate as a general continuous body may be used.

  If a conveyor belt (not shown) is arranged on the output side lower surface of the food container reversing mechanism 50, the food containers 12 separated one by one can be supplied to the next process.

  A separator 60 is disposed in the vicinity of the tip of the guide bar 30 described above. The separator 60 prevents two or more food containers from being taken out together when the food container handling mechanism 40 takes out the food containers 12 from the food container row 10 one by one. In addition, the edge 12a of the food container 12 is hooked to give a resistance in the take-out direction so that the stacked food containers 12 can be separated and taken out one by one. The separator 60 may be constituted by a hook 62 protruding from the surface of the guide bar 30 as shown in FIG. In this case, the hook 62 is fixed to the guide bar 30. Therefore, when the food container handling mechanism 40 lifts the food container 12 from the food container row 10, the food container 12 directly gripped by the food container handling mechanism 40 also adheres to the lower side of the food container 12 that is lifted together. However, the gripping force from the food container handling mechanism 40 is acting on the uppermost food container 12, and the gripping force is set to be larger than the resistance force. In this case, only the uppermost food container 12 can be taken out. At this time, it is necessary to set the protrusion amount of the hook 62 so that the resistance force exerted on the food container 12 by the separator 60 overcomes the adhesion force between the food containers 12.

  FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the separator 70. The separator 70 includes a first hook 72 and a second hook 74, and is pivotally supported on the guide bar 30 through a hole 76 provided in the separator 70. Further, the separator 70 is further provided with a stopper portion 78. When the separator 70 rotates by a predetermined angle, the separator 70 comes into contact with the protruding portion of the guide bar 30 and does not rotate any more (see FIG. 3). A leaf spring 82 and a leaf spring presser 80 for fixing the leaf spring to the guide bar 30 are disposed at the tip of the guide bar 30. The tip of the leaf spring 82 abuts on the upper surface of the separator 70, and when the separator 70 rotates counterclockwise as shown in FIG. 3, a restoring force is urged on the separator 70 by the leaf spring 82. (The restoring force in the clockwise direction in FIG. 3).

  By using the separator 70 having such a configuration, when the food container 12 is gripped and lifted by the food container handling mechanism 40, the food containers 12 are in close contact with each other so that a plurality of food containers 12 are gripped simultaneously. In this case, only one food container 12 on the upper side passes through the position of the separator 70 and is lifted upward by this separator. As described above, it can be prevented from lifting upward.

  Hereinafter, the operating state of the separator 70 will be described in detail. Consider a case where two food containers are lifted simultaneously when the food container 12 is gripped by the food container handling mechanism 40. When the two food containers 12 gripped by the food container handling mechanism 40 try to pass the tip of the guide bar 30, first, the edge 12a of the upper food container 12 protrudes from the outer surface of the guide bar 30. When the food container 12 on the upper side comes into contact with the first hook 72 of the separator 70 and moves further upward, the separator 70 rotates counterclockwise, and the upper food container 12 moves upward with almost no resistance. It is possible to escape. When the separator 70 rotates counterclockwise, the edge portion 12a of the lower food container 12 comes into contact with the second hook 74 of the separator 70. At this time, the stopper portion 78 of the separator 70 is a protrusion of the guide bar 30. Therefore, the separator 70 can no longer rotate. As a result, the edge portion 12a of the lower food container 12 cannot be pulled upward while being in contact with the second hook 74 of the separator 70. When the two food containers 12 stacked and adhered in this manner are pulled apart, the upper food container 12 is carried to the food container reversing mechanism 50 by the food container handling mechanism 40. Further, the food container 12 located on the lower side falls onto the food container row 10 by its own weight. As a result, the separator 70 is rotated clockwise by the force of the leaf spring 82 and restored to the initial state.

  Further, instead of using the leaf spring 82, the same restoring force as the restoring force that the leaf spring 82 applies to the separator 70 can be applied to the separator 70 by adjusting the position of the center of gravity of the separator 70 with respect to the hole 76.

  In the above description, the separator 70 has been described as being disposed at the tip portion of the guide bar 30, but is not limited thereto. You may make it arrange | position in the position which descended below the front-end | tip part of the guide bar 30. FIG.

  The separators 70 may be installed on all the guide bars 30, but the separators 70 may be installed only on some of the guide bars 30.

  The food container handled by the food container supply apparatus 1 according to the present invention may be a plastic lunch box, a dish, or a bowl containing noodles, but is not particularly limited. Further, the shape of the food container may be any type such as a round type, a square type, and an irregular type.

FIG. 1 shows a front view, a side view, and a plan view of a food container supply apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the separator according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the separator according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Food container feeder
10 Food container row
12 Food containers
12a edge
20 Conveyor
22,24 Guide plate
26 Second conveyor
30 Guide bar
40 Food container handling mechanism
42 Prop
44 arms
50 Food container reversal mechanism
52 Plate member
60, 70 separator
62 hook
72 First hook
74 Second hook
76 holes
78 Stopper section
80 Leaf spring retainer
82 leaf spring

Claims (9)

An apparatus for supplying a single food container,
A transport conveyor for transporting stacked food container rows;
A plurality of guide bars that are transported by the transport conveyor and arranged to be movable in a horizontal plane in order to position the stacked food container rows in a predetermined position;
A food container handling mechanism for taking out a single food container from the stacked food container row, wherein the food container handling mechanism is provided with a suction portion at the tip and arranged to be movable up and down and swivel,
A food container reversing mechanism for receiving, reversing and placing in place a single food container removed by the food container handling mechanism;
Consisting of
A food container supply device, wherein a separator for separating stacked food containers is provided on at least one of the guide bars by hooking an edge of the food container.   2. The food container supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the separator is configured by a hook protruding from a surface of the guide bar.   2. The food container supply device according to claim 1, wherein the separator includes a first hook and a second hook, and the first hook and the second hook are integrated in a predetermined angle range. A food container supply device, characterized in that it is pivotally supported by the guide bar so as to be rotatable.   4. The food container supply device according to claim 3, wherein a force is applied to the separator to restore the separator to a predetermined position when the first hook and the second hook are rotated together. A food container supply device comprising a spring for biasing.   4. The food container supply device according to claim 3, wherein when the first hook and the second hook of the separator are rotated together, the position of the center of gravity of the separator is restored so that the separator is restored to a predetermined position. Is a food container supply device.   6. The food container supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of guide bars are constituted by four guide bars.   7. The food container supply device according to claim 1, wherein the food container handling mechanism and the food container reversing mechanism are each provided in two sets, and the two sets of food container handling mechanisms are stacked. A food container supply device, wherein a single food container is alternately taken out from a food container row.   In a food container supply device, a separator used for separating the stacked food containers one by one by hooking the edge of the food container, the separator from the first hook and the second hook A separator comprising: the first hook and the second hook are integrally pivotally supported so as to be rotatable in a predetermined angle range.   9. The separator according to claim 8, wherein the separator is biased with a force that restores the separator to a predetermined position when the first hook and the second hook rotate together. A separator, characterized by being provided with a spring.

Images