JP2020070175A - Merging device - Google Patents

Abstract

To accurately rearrange articles transferred in multiple rows from an upstream to a downstream transfer path.SOLUTION: There is provided a merging device 1 that adsorbs a set of confectionery boxes P from above on an upstream line 2 in two rows and spaced at equal intervals lin a traveling direction, and places them in a line on a downstream line 3, including: suction units of the same shape having two suction cups 24 separated by lin a radial direction, arranged in rotational symmetry and rotating around a rotary shaft 13; a motor 14 for rotating the rotary shaft 13 to place the confectionery boxes P one after another directly under the suction cups 24 when the radial direction of each suction unit is in a direction of a line connecting a center of gravity; a master gear 12 and a slave gear 22 to set a line connecting the two suction cups 24 of each suction unit to be oriented in the traveling direction of the downstream line 3 and returned in the radial direction; and a suction control unit 25 that adsorbs a set of confectionery boxes P directly below the suction cups 24 and opens when reaching a place above the downstream line 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a merging device that picks up articles transferred from upstream in two or more rows in a row direction, rearranges the articles in another row in one row, and sends the articles downstream.

  Conventionally, a merging device is known as an example of rearranging a confectionery box and other articles. This is used, for example, when the packing line is on the upstream side, the printing line is on the downstream side, and the packing line is rate-determining, so that there are two rows and the one row is arranged on the downstream side to increase the processing speed.

  There are various ways of merging.For example, push the boxes in one row between the boxes in the other row with pushers, or if the rows are assembled vertically, drop the articles in the top row at the end. There is a method such as inserting it in the lower row.

However, the conventional techniques have the following problems.
In the alignment by pushing the pusher and the alignment by dropping the upper line to the lower line, the accuracy of the box position, orientation, spacing, etc. is not necessarily good, and if the downstream is an inkjet printing line, printing errors are likely to occur. There was a problem.
Further, in such an alignment method, it is necessary to make the upstream transfer direction and the downstream transfer direction the same, and there is a problem that the degree of freedom in line design is low.

JP2011-88749A JP, 2017-222483, A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-180020

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and is a confluence in which articles transferred from upstream in a plurality of rows are accurately rearranged in a row and placed on a downstream transfer path in an arbitrary direction. The purpose is to provide a device.

  In the merging device according to claim 1, two articles that are separated by a predetermined distance form a set, and a direction orthogonal to a line connecting the centers of gravity of the articles is a traveling direction, and the articles are in two rows from the upstream side and are equally spaced in the traveling direction. A set of articles are sequentially transferred, the set of articles are adsorbed from the sky, and are placed in a line on another transfer path in a line. A suction unit of the same shape having a suction cup, the suction unit being arranged rotationally symmetrically and rotating around a rotation axis, and the suction cup of the suction cup when the radial direction of each suction unit faces in the direction of the line connecting the centers of gravity. A cup that orients the line connecting the two suction cups of each suction unit with the synchronous drive means that rotates the rotating shaft so that the articles are sequentially positioned immediately below and is oriented in the traveling direction of the transfer path, and returns in the radial direction. The orienting means and the pair of articles are adsorbed directly under the adsorption cup, A suction control means for opening when reaching high over the sending passage, characterized by comprising a.

In the invention according to claim 1, the articles transferred from the upstream in two rows are rearranged in one row and placed on the downstream transfer path in any direction. Since the rotation mechanism is used for synchronization, accurate placement is realized. If the transfer speed of the transfer path is adjusted, evenly-spaced transfer of all articles can be realized downstream.
Even if articles are transferred in three or more rows on the upstream side, the same mechanism can realize merging and one-row placement on the downstream side. It becomes the configuration of item 1.

The same shape is in a broad sense, and if two suction cups are set as a group and each set has a structure in which the same movement is ensured, it is considered to be the same shape. From this point, it can be said that the suction portion has the same shape even if the outer shapes are not uniform.
The synchronous drive means adjusts the rotation speed of the rotary shaft to control the timing of arrival of the articles of the set and arrival of the suction portion, and easily performs angular velocity control such as constant angular velocity motion.
The radial direction can also be referred to as the arrangement direction of the initial positions of the suction cups.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the merging device according to the first aspect, further comprising cup rotating means for rotating the respective suction cups so that the articles are aligned in phase on the transfer path.

  The invention according to claim 2 enables one-row placement with higher accuracy including the orientation direction.

  The phase means the direction. The method of aligning the phases is not particularly limited, and in addition to an example in which the orientation of each article is detected during adsorption and individual adjustment is performed, when the postures are aligned on the upstream side, the phase can be aligned by simply rotating at a constant angle. realizable.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the merging device according to the second aspect, wherein the suction portion is attached to a disc body, a torus body, or an arm body having a rotation axis as a center, and the cup orientation means is a two-piece device. It is characterized by comprising a base body to which one suction cup is attached and a base body rotating means for axially rotating the base body.

  The invention according to claim 3 can simplify the device configuration.

  A merging device according to a fourth aspect is the merging device according to the third aspect, in which the articles of the set are transferred in phase with respect to the traveling direction before adsorption, and the parent has the same axis as the rotation axis. A gear and a child gear that has the same axis as the rotation axis of the base body and meshes with the parent gear, and the child gear rotates via the parent gear by the rotation of the rotation shaft by the synchronous drive means and is transferred. It is characterized in that articles can be placed on the road in a line and in phase.

  In the invention according to claim 4, by adjusting the gear ratio, a highly accurate one-row arrangement in which the phases are aligned is realized only by the mechanical configuration.

  The master gear may be fixed to the rotary shaft and rotate together, or the master gear may be immobile and the rotary shaft may rotate. Similarly, the slave gear may be fixed to the rotating shaft and rotate together, or the slave gear may rotate separately from the rotating shaft. The point is that if the articles are placed on the transfer path in one row and in phase via the two gears, the rotational or rotational relationship between the shaft and the gears can be designed arbitrarily. .. Depending on the mode of specification, the master gear may be composed of a plurality of gears, and similarly, the slave gear may be composed of a plurality of gears. Further, it is possible that one gear may be provided with teeth of different pitches by changing the position in the inside and outside or in the axial direction.

  A merging device according to a fifth aspect is the merging device according to the fourth aspect, further comprising a revolving gear having the same axis center as a rotation shaft for rotating the suction cup, and a revolving gear via a master gear or a slave gear. By rotating the gears, the articles can be placed on the transfer path in line and in phase.

  The invention according to claim 5 can provide a merging device in which the degree of design freedom in the position of the suction opening and the direction of the transfer path is further enhanced by adjusting the gear ratio only by the mechanical configuration.

  The grandchild gear may be fixed to the rotation shaft and rotate together therewith, or the grandchild gear may rotate separately from the rotation shaft. Depending on the mode of specifications, a plurality of gears may constitute a grandparent gear, and one gear may be provided with teeth of different pitches by changing the position in the inner or outer direction or the axial direction.

  Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a merging device that accurately rearranges articles transferred in a plurality of rows from an upstream in one row on a downstream transfer path in an arbitrary direction. Become.

It is the top view (a) and side view (b) of the merging line centering on the merging device of this invention. It is the top view which drew the state (a) at the time of adsorption | suction of the merging device which took the transfer direction of the downstream line perpendicular | vertically with respect to the upstream line, and the state of adsorption | suction opening (b). It is the top view (a) and side view (b) of the joining line which added the mechanism which rotates the suction cup.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Here, a merging device that joins the confectionery boxes coming in two rows to form one row will be described. The two lines of supply lines are referred to as an upstream line, and a line after being combined into one line is referred to as a downstream line, and a configuration including an upstream line, a downstream line, and a merging device is appropriately referred to as a merging line.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view (a) and a side view (b) of a merging line centered on the merging device. Note that the drawing of the gear teeth is omitted for convenience. Further, in FIG. 1A, the locus of the child gear is partially drawn by a dotted line, and the state of rotation of the gear is shown by ●. In addition, the confectionery box attached to this is also drawn with a dotted line. Further, although the confectionery box P is the same, one of the confectionery boxes P is drawn in gray to show the state of transfer. Further, in FIG. 1B, for convenience of description, the parent arm and the child gears following the parent arm only show the portion extending to the right in FIG. 1A.

The merging line L is composed of a merging device 1, an upstream line 2 and a downstream line 3.
The upstream line 2 has a two-row configuration, and the endless transfer belt 31 and the transfer belt 32 are driven at the same speed (speed V ₁ ) by rotating rollers (not shown) to continuously transfer the confectionery box P. ..

The confectionery box P is sequentially transferred with the direction (phase) and the intervals aligned. In the illustrated example, the confectionery boxes P are arranged and transported at equal intervals (interval l ₁ ) in the traveling direction, with their longitudinal directions oriented in the traveling direction.
The confectionery boxes P are also arranged in the lateral direction, and two confectionery boxes P are arranged one by one on the transfer belt 31 and two on the transfer belt 32 at a predetermined interval l ₂ . That is, the two confectionery boxes P are placed so that the line connecting the centers of gravity of the two confectionery boxes P is in the lateral direction and the orthogonal direction is the longitudinal direction and the traveling direction. Hereinafter, the two pieces (two pieces arranged in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction) when viewed in the lateral direction will be appropriately referred to as a “set of confectionery boxes P”.

  The merging device 1 adsorbs a set of confectionery boxes P, which is located at the tip of the upstream line 2 in the traveling direction, from above and places them in the downstream line 3 in one row.

Specifically, the merging device 1 is largely composed of a base body 10 and a driven body 20.
The base body 10 has four parent arms 11 having the same shape and arranged in a 90 ° rotational symmetry, and a parent gear 12 that is immovable with respect to the installation surface of the merging device 1 and has its axis center vertically. And a rotation shaft 13 that shares a center axis with the parent gear 12 and rotates a parent arm, and a motor 14 that rotates the rotation shaft 13 at a desired rotation speed.

The driven body 20 includes a child arm 21, a child gear 22 that attaches the child arm 21 and meshes with the parent gear 12, and a rotating shaft 23 that freely rotates the child gear 22 by an internal bearing (not shown). , And two suction cups 24 attached to both ends of the child arm 21. The rotating shaft 23 is fixed to the outer end of the parent arm 11. Further, the distance between the center positions of the two suction cups 24 is set to the distance l ₂ between the pair of confectionery boxes P. Further, the center points of the two suction cups 24 are located at the axial center of the slave gear 22.
Hereinafter, the two suction cups 24 attached to each child arm 21 will be referred to as “a pair of suction cups 24” as appropriate, and the direction of connecting the two suction cups 24 will be referred to as “a pair of suction cups 24”. "Direction" will be referred to as appropriate.

  The suction cup 24 can be vertically moved up and down as appropriate to suck up the confectionery box P from the sky or open the suction cup. This adsorption control is performed by the adsorption controller 25.

  The number N1 of teeth of the parent gear 12 and the number N2 of teeth of the child gear 22 are N1: N2 = 2: 1.

The driving state of the merging device 1 is as follows.
When the parent arm 11 is in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the upstream line 2, the pair of suction cups 24 also faces the vertical direction, and is directly below the pair of suction cups 24 on the upstream line 2. It is assumed that the positioning is performed so that the first set of the confectionery boxes P is located. Further, the downstream line 3 is provided immediately below the parent arm 11 which is ahead by 90 °.

The merging device 1 causes the motor 14 to rotate the rotating shaft 13 at an angular velocity ω = (V ₁ π) / (2l ₁ ). With this angular velocity, when the pair of confectionery boxes P reaches the suction position, the parent arm 11 also sequentially reaches the suction position.

  The suction control unit 25 controls the suction cup 24 of the parent arm 11 to suck the confectionery box P immediately below at the suction position. Then, after rotating 90 °, the confectionery box P is adsorbed and opened and placed on the downstream line 3 immediately below.

Here, for convenience, the parent arm 11 of interest is the first parent arm 11, and the parent arm that arrives subsequently is the second parent arm 11.
When the first parent arm 11 adsorbs the set of confectionery boxes P and the second parent arm 11 reaches the adsorption position, the first parent arm 11 comes to a position advanced by 90 ° in plan view. At this time, since N1: N2 = 2: 1, the direction of the first parent arm 11 and the direction of the suction cup 24 of the set of the first parent arm 11 are just aligned. Here, it is adsorbed and opened, and the two confectionery boxes P are placed on the downstream line 3. That is, they are automatically placed in one row.

In the downstream line 3, the endless transfer belt 33 is driven by a rotating roller (not shown) at a speed V ₂ to transfer the confectionery box P. Here, V ₂ = (l ₂ / l ₁ ) · V ₁ is set, and all the confectionery boxes P sequentially placed are transferred at equal intervals of l ₂ .

With the above configuration and control or initial setting, the confectionery boxes P, which are continuously transferred in two rows from the upstream side, can be accurately rearranged and placed in one row and at equal intervals. ..
The longitudinal direction of the confectionery box P is oriented in the upstream line 2, and the lateral direction is oriented in the downstream line 3 due to the revolution and rotation of the child gear 22 after adsorption.

In this example, the upstream line 2 and the downstream line 3 have the same transfer direction although they are out of place. The merging device 1 can make the transfer direction of the downstream line 3 different from the transfer direction of the upstream line 2. When the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 13 (parent arm 11) from the suction position is θ ₁ , the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 23 with respect to the parent arm 11 becomes 2θ ₁ due to the gear ratio, and the rotation angle of the pair of suction cups 24 from the suction position. The rotation angle θ ₂ is θ ₂ = 3θ ₁ .
Therefore, for example, when the adsorption control unit 25 opens the adsorption when θ ₁ = π / 3, θ ₂ = π and the transfer direction of the downstream line 3 can be made orthogonal to the upstream line 2. At this time, ω = (V ₁ π) / (3l ₁ ). FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing this state.
By controlling in this way, the merging device 1 also realizes merging in which the degree of freedom of design in the transfer direction of the downstream line 3 is increased.

  In the above example, the confectionery box P on the downstream line 3 is placed and transferred with its lateral direction as the traveling direction, but the confluence device 1 further rotates the adsorption cup 24 to rotate the confectionery box P. The orientation direction of can also be arbitrary.

  FIG. 3 is a plan view (a) and a side view (b) of a merging line centered on a merging device having a mechanism for rotating the suction cup. Note that, as in FIG. 1, the drawing of the gear teeth is omitted for convenience. Further, in FIG. 3A, the loci of the child gear and the grand gear are partially drawn by dotted lines, and the rotation position of the gear is shown by ●. In addition, a part of the confectionery box attached to this is also drawn with a dotted line. Also, in FIG. 3B, for convenience of description, the parent arm and the child gears following the parent arm only show the portion extending to the right in FIG. 3A.

As shown in the drawing, the two suction cups 24 are fixed to the two grandchild gears 26, respectively, and their grandchild gears 26 have their rotation shafts 27 attached to both ends of the slave arm 21 and mesh with the slave gear 22. While allowing rotation. In this example, the child arm 21 extends around the side circumference of the child gear 22.
Further, a holding rod 28 for keeping the distance between the master gear 12 and the grand gear 26 constant is provided between the rotating shaft 13 and the rotation shaft 27. In the example of the drawing, one end of the holding rod 28 smoothly penetrates the rotation shaft 27 through a hole formed at the tip of the child arm 21, and the other end passes through a hole formed at the tip of the parent arm 11. And smoothly penetrates the rotary shaft 13.

  Here, assuming that the number of teeth N3 of the grandchild gear is N3: N1 = 1: 1, as shown in FIG. 3, when the parent arm 11 rotates 90 ° from the suction position, the confectionery box P of the set is in the suction position. While the direction of is kept on the installation surface of the merging device 1, it becomes one row. That is, it is placed on the downstream line 3 with the longitudinal direction as the traveling direction.

As described above, the merging device 1 can simply merge two rows into one row by using a gear mechanism, adjust the number of teeth, and direct the downstream line 3 in an arbitrary direction. Since the orientation direction can also be adjusted, the degree of freedom in designing the merging line L can be increased.
By using the merging device 1, it is possible to pack the confectionery, which is the rate-determining method, on the upstream line 2 and to merge the downstream line 3 for high-speed printing, thereby increasing the processing capacity of the entire process.

  The invention is not limited to the above examples. Instead of the grandchild gear 26, a sensor and a rotation motor can be used to align the phases of the candy box P. In particular, it can be suitably mounted when the orientation of the confectionery box P is different in the upstream line 2.

  Further, instead of the parent arm 11, the rotating shaft 23 may be attached to a disc or an annulus. In this case as well, the position of the rotary shaft 23 is arranged symmetrically with respect to the rotary shaft 13.

The suction unit in the claims is composed of the suction cup 24, the rotary shaft 13, the parent arm 11, and the like. The synchronous drive means is composed of the rotary shaft 13, the motor 14, and the like. The cup orientation means is composed of a master arm 11, a master gear 12, a slave arm 21, a slave gear 22, a rotary shaft 23, and the like. The adsorption control unit is configured by the adsorption control unit 25 and the like.
The cup rotation means is composed of a grand gear 26, a rotation shaft 27, a holding rod 28, a child gear 22, a parent arm 11, and the like.
The base body is composed of the child arm 21, etc., and the base body rotating means is composed of the rotating jig 23, the parent arm 11, the parent gear 12, the child gear 22, etc., respectively.

  The present invention can also be used as an equal-distance flow dividing line by reversing adsorption and release.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Merging device 2 Upstream line 3 Downstream line 10 Base body 11 Parent arm 12 Parent gear 13 Rotating shaft 14 Motor 20 Follower 21 Child arm 22 Child gear 23 Rotating shaft 24 Suction cup 25 Adsorption control unit 26 Son gear 27 Rotation shaft 28 Holding bar 31 Transfer belt 32 Transfer belt 33 Transfer belt L Merging line P Confectionery box

Claims (5)

Two articles separated by a predetermined interval form a set, and the direction orthogonal to the line connecting the centers of gravity of the articles is set as the traveling direction, and the articles of the group are sequentially transferred in two rows from the upstream and equally spaced in the traveling direction, A merging device for adsorbing a set of articles from the sky and placing them in a line on another transfer path,
A suction unit of the same shape having two suction cups that are separated from each other in the radial direction at the same interval, and a suction unit that is arranged rotationally symmetrically and rotates around a rotation axis,
Synchronous drive means for rotating the rotating shaft so that the articles in the set are sequentially positioned immediately below the suction cup when the radial direction of each suction portion is oriented in the direction of the line connecting the centers of gravity,
A cup orientation means for orienting a line connecting the two adsorption cups of each adsorption section in the traveling direction of the transfer path, and for returning it in the radial direction,
Adsorption control means for adsorbing a set of articles directly below the adsorption cup and opening when reaching the sky above the transfer path,
A merging device comprising:   The merging device according to claim 1, further comprising a cup rotating means for rotating each suction cup so that the phases of the articles are aligned on the transfer path. The suction part is attached to a disk body, a torus body, or an arm body with the rotation axis as the center,
The merging device according to claim 2, wherein the cup orientation means includes a base body to which the two suction cups are attached and a base body rotation means for axially rotating the base body. The set of articles are transferred in phase with the traveling direction before adsorption,
A parent gear with the same axis as the rotation axis,
A child gear having the same axis as the rotation axis of the base body and meshing with the parent gear,
Equipped with,
4. The joining device according to claim 3, wherein the child gear is rotated via the parent gear by the rotation of the rotation shaft by the synchronous driving means, and the articles can be placed on the transfer path in a line and in phase. .. Furthermore, it is equipped with a sun gear that has the same axis as the rotation axis that rotates the suction cup.
The merging device according to claim 4, wherein articles can be placed on the transfer path in line and in phase by rotating the grandchild gear via the master gear or the slave gear.