JP2001206314A - Article transfer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size of an apparatus such as a caser using an article transfer apparatus, and to use a long holding head having a large number of bottle grippers. SOLUTION: A portal frame 10 is installed across a bottle conveyor 4 and a case conveyor 8 which are disposed parallel to each other, and a first drive shaft 18 and a second drive shaft 18 parallel to both conveyors 4, 8 are rotatably supported on the frame 10. The drive shafts 18, 20 are independently rotated by separate motors 22, 24. An upper end of a first link 32 comprising upper and lower link members 32a, 32b connected to each other is fixed to the first drive shaft 18, and a lower end thereof is rotatably connected to a holding head 28. Similarly, an upper end of a second link 34 is fixed to the second drive shaft 20, and a lower end thereof is connected to the holding head 28. Two sets of link mechanisms 30 having the first link 32 and the second link 34 are provided on both ends of the drive shafts 18, 20 and the holding head 28.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article transfer apparatus for holding articles and transferring them from one position to another. For example, in a caser or an anchor, an article in a case is held and taken out or held. The present invention relates to an article transfer device that inserts an inserted article into a case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Articles such as bottles conveyed by a conveyor are held by grippers (article holding means) attached to a holding head in a predetermined arrangement, and inserted into a case conveyed by another conveyor. Conventionally, there have been various configurations of a caser, an anchor that removes an article held in a case by holding the article by a gripper, or another article transfer apparatus that holds an article at a certain position and moves it to another position. Known from.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-1004410 discloses a caser (container box packing device) using an articulated robot. In the caser described in this publication, the articulated robot is installed on the side of an article transport conveyor and a box conveyor that are arranged in parallel, and a grip head having a large number of grippers is moved to move the gripper on the article transport conveyor. Is inserted into a box on a box conveyor.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-67481 discloses that
An elevating device mounted to the boxing device main body so as to be able to move up and down, a horizontally moving vehicle horizontally moving on rails of the elevating device, a mounting table attached to the horizontally moving vehicle, and a gripper provided on the mounting table. A box packing device having a grip block having the same is described. In this box packing device, the grip block is lowered, the group of articles is gripped by the gripper, and after ascending, it is horizontally moved and moved above the box of the box conveyor,
At this position, the article descends to insert the article into the box.

[0005] In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-132013, a support plate is provided on a transfer head that can reciprocate in the horizontal direction.
An air cylinder is fixed to this support plate, and a plurality of suction cups are connected to the tip of an operating rod of the air cylinder to move up and down so as to move up and down.
In this box packing device, the suction cup is lowered to hold the article, and after ascending, the transfer head is horizontally moved to move on the box conveyor, and the suction cup is lowered at this position and inserted into the box. It has become.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-39696 discloses a "grip head drive for a caser and an anchor" having a grip head arranged to reciprocate along a guide groove between a bottle conveyor and a box conveyor. Apparatus "is described. When this grip head drive device is used as a caser, the bottle on the bottle conveyor is transferred into a box on the box conveyor, and when the grip head drive device is used as an anchor, the bottle in the box on the box conveyor is transferred onto the bottle conveyor. It has become.

[0007]

The container box packing apparatus using an articulated robot described in the first publication (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-1004410) has a robot main body installed on a side of a conveyor. Therefore, there is a problem that a large space is required. In addition, since the central part of the grip head is attached to the robot, a long head that holds a large number of bottles at one time cannot be used because both ends are bent.

Further, the second publication (Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-674)
No. 81) and a third publication (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-132013).
In any of the boxing devices described in (1), a vertical or horizontal drive mechanism must be provided on a member that moves in another direction (horizontal or vertical).
There is a problem that the moving member becomes heavy and high-speed handling cannot be performed.

Further, the fourth publication (Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 58-3)
No. 9696).
Since the grip head is reciprocated along the guide groove,
There has been a problem that the moving trajectory is fixed and lacks flexibility.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can be installed in a small space.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article transfer device that can use a long holding head. It is another object of the present invention to provide an article transfer device in which a movable portion for operating a holding head is reduced in weight and speed is increased. It is another object of the present invention to provide an article transfer apparatus that can freely control the operation of the holding head and can operate on a variable trajectory.

[0011]

An article transfer device according to the present invention includes a holding head having a plurality of article holding means, and holds and moves articles by the holding means. , A first drive shaft and a second drive shaft arranged in parallel, drive means for rotating each of the drive shafts, and a first link and a second link formed by rotatably connecting ends of a pair of link members. And one end of the first link is fixed to the first drive shaft, and one end of the second link is fixed to the second drive shaft. The other ends of the first link and the second link are A link mechanism is constituted by being rotatably connected to the holding head, and a plurality of sets of the link mechanism including the first link and the second link are provided and arranged at predetermined intervals.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. 1 is a plan view of a caser provided with an article transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the article transfer apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. is there.

A bottle conveyor 4 for transporting a large number of bottles 2 in a predetermined number of rows (three rows in this example) from the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 and a predetermined number of bottles 2 (four rows in this example) Twelve (12) cases 6 are arranged in parallel with a case conveyor 8 that transports the cases 6 in the direction of arrow C in FIG.

A gate-shaped frame 10 is installed across both of the conveyors 4 and 8.
An article transfer device (indicated by reference numeral 12 as a whole) on the upper part of 0
Is provided. The article transfer device 12 holds the bottle 2 on the bottle conveyor 4 and inserts it into the case 6 on the case conveyor 8.

The structure of the article transfer device 12 will be described. At the upper end of the portal frame 10, support plates 14, 16 are provided on the upstream side (right side in FIGS. 1 and 3) and on the downstream side (left side in FIG. 3), respectively, across the conveyors 4, 8. A first drive shaft 18 and a second drive shaft 20 are rotatably supported in parallel between the pair of support plates 14 and 16. The first drive shaft 18 and the second drive shaft 20
Each is connected to the motors 22 and 24 so that it can rotate independently.

The two drive shafts 18 and 20 are connected to a holding head 28 provided with a bottle gripper (article holding means) 26 in a predetermined arrangement by a plurality of link mechanisms 30. In this example, a pair of link mechanisms 30, 30 are provided near both the upstream end and the downstream end of both the drive shafts 18, 20 and the holding head 28, respectively. Since these two link mechanisms 30, 30 have the same configuration, only the configuration of one link mechanism 30 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The link mechanism 30 includes a first link 32 in which a lower end of a first upper link member 32a and an upper end of a first lower link member 32b are rotatably connected, and a lower end of a second upper link member 34a. Part and second lower link member 34b
And a second link 34 rotatably connected to an upper end of the first link 32. An upper end of the first link 32 (an upper end of the first upper link member 32 a) is fixed to the first drive shaft 18, and the first The lower end of the link 32 (the lower end of the first lower link member 32b) is rotatably connected to a mounting member 36 fixed on the holding head 28, and the second link 3
4 (upper end of the second upper link member 34a) is fixed to the second drive shaft 20, and a lower end of the second link 34 (a lower end of the second lower link member 34b) is rotatably connected to the mounting member 36. Have been.

The first upper link member 32a and the second upper link member 34a have the same length, and the first lower link member 32b and the second lower link member 34b have the same length. I have. And the first link 32 and the second link
The distance between the connection positions of the link 34 to the mounting member 36 matches the distance between the drive shafts 18 and 20.
The lengths of the upper link members 32a and 34a and the lower link members 32b and 34b may be the same or may be different.

Further, the link mechanism 30 includes a lower end of the third upper link member 38a and a third lower link member 38b.
A third link 38 rotatably connected to an upper end of the third link 38. An upper end of the third link 38 (an upper end of the third upper link member 38a) is rotatably connected to the second drive shaft 20, Lower end of the third link 38 (third lower link member 38
b at the same position as the connection position of the second link 34 of the mounting member 36 fixed on the holding head 28. The third upper link member 38a is connected to the first and second upper link members 32.
a, 34a, and the third lower link member 38b is connected to the first and second lower link members 32.
b, 34b.

Further, the connection between the connecting portion 32c of the upper and lower link members 32a and 32b of the first link 32 and the connecting portion 38c of the upper and lower link members 38a and 38b of the third link 38
The first and second upper link members 32a and 38a and the first and lower link members 32b and 32b are rotatably connected by an intermediate link 40 having a length equal to the distance between the drive shafts 18 and 20. 3 lower link member 3
8b always maintains a parallel state.

In this embodiment, the bottles 2 conveyed in three rows by the bottle conveyor 4 are simultaneously inserted into the case 6 containing twelve bottles for two cases at a time. Is provided with 3 × 8 = 24 bottle grippers 28. The holding head 28 is connected to both drive shafts 18 and 2 via the link mechanism 30.
0, and moves up and down and moves in the lateral direction according to the rotation of the drive shafts 18 and 20.

The operation of the article transfer device 12 according to the above configuration will be described. The bottles 2 conveyed in three rows by the bottle conveyor 4 are provided by a bottle gripper 26 provided on the holding head 28 for two cases (24 bottles).
) Are simultaneously held and inserted into two cases 6 at a time, and the bottle 2 at the head on the bottle conveyor 4 is the bottle located at the most downstream side of the article transfer device 12. When the bottle conveyor 4 reaches a position below the gripper 26 (26A) (see FIG. 3), the bottle conveyor 4 is stopped.

After the bottle conveyor 4 stops, the first and second drive shafts 1 are driven by the two motors 22 and 24.
8 and 20, respectively, to swing the first upper link member 32a and the second upper link member 34a,
The holding head 28 is moved laterally on the bottle conveyor 4 and lowered toward the bottle 2 below. When the holding head 28 is lowered, each bottle gripper 2
6 each hold a bottle 4. Both drive shafts 18, 20
Rotation of the first and second upper link members 32a,
When the holder 34a is swung outward (in the direction in which the lower end is separated), the holding head 28 is raised, and both link members 32a,
When the holder 34a is swung inward (in the direction in which the lower end approaches), the holding head 28 is lowered. Further, by making the swing angles of the upper link members 32a and 34a different, or making the swing angles and directions different, the holding head 28 can be used.
Can also be moved laterally.

The first upper link member 32a and the first upper link member 32a
The first link 32 including the lower link member 32b is provided with a third link 38 including a third upper link member 38a and a third lower link member 38b in parallel with the link members 32a and 32b. Swings while maintaining the state parallel to the first link 32 via the, so that even when the holding head 28 is moved in the lateral direction, the holding head 28 can always be moved while maintaining the horizontal state.

The case conveyor 8 provided in parallel with the bottle conveyor 4 has a total of four bottles 12 in three rows.
The cases 6 that can accommodate the books are conveyed, and the two cases 6 stop when they reach a position where the front and rear coincide with the holding head 28 to which the bottle gripper 26 is attached.

By operating the motors 22 and 24 again, the first and second drive shafts 18 and 20 are rotated, respectively, and the holding head 28 is raised, so that the bottle 2 is suspended by the bottle gripper 26. Next, the holding head 28 is moved laterally upward of the two cases 6 on the case conveyor 8 and then lowered to hold the 24 bottles 2 held by the two cases 6. 6
Insert 12 at a time.

In this embodiment, a gate-shaped frame 1 spans a parallel bottle conveyor 4 and a case conveyor 8.
0, and the article transfer device 12 is provided above the portal frame 10, so that a large installation space is required as in the conventional box packing device using a robot (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-104410). Instead, the entire device (the caser in this embodiment) can be made compact. Also, since two sets of link mechanisms 30 are provided and these link mechanisms 30 are respectively coupled to both ends of both the drive shafts 18 and 20 and the holding head 28, it is possible to support the holding head 28 at one central portion. Since there is no possibility of bending, a large number of bottles 2 can be transferred simultaneously using the long holding head 28.

Therefore, the drive shafts 18 and 20 and the holding head 2
By further increasing the number of link mechanisms 30 between the two, it is possible to support the holding head 28 that is longer than in the above-described embodiment. It can also be inserted. In this case, it is preferable to arrange the plurality of link mechanisms 30 at equal intervals. Needless to say, the number of rows of the bottles 2 conveyed by the bottle conveyor 4 and the arrangement of the bottles 2 accommodated in the case 6 are not limited to those described above.

The drive shaft 1 is driven by the motors 22 and 24.
Since the link mechanism 30 is operated by rotating 8, 20, the movable portion is lightweight and can be operated at high speed. Further, since the two drive shafts 18, 20 are independently rotated by separate motors 22, 24, the operation of the holding head 28 can be arbitrarily controlled, and the variable trajectory can be controlled similarly to the case of using the robot. Operation is possible.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the article transfer device 12 is applied to a caser has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the caser, but may be applied to an anchor for taking out an article such as a bottle housed in a case. Can be applied. Further, it can be used as another article transfer device.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided an article transfer apparatus which includes a holding head having a plurality of article holding means, and moves an article held by the holding means.
A first drive shaft and a second drive shaft arranged in parallel, a drive means for rotating each of the drive shafts, and a first link and a second link formed by rotatably connecting ends of a pair of link members. And one end of the first link is fixed to the first drive shaft, and one end of the second link is fixed to the second drive shaft, and the other ends of the first link and the second link are held. A link mechanism is rotatably connected to the head to form a link mechanism, and a plurality of sets of the link mechanism including the first link and the second link are provided and arranged at predetermined intervals. A mounting device can be obtained. In addition, by appropriately arranging a plurality of link mechanisms, even when a long holding head is used, the rigidity of the holding head can be increased, so that the casing and the like can be formed with high accuracy.
Moreover, high-speed operation is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an entire configuration of a caser provided with an article transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the article transfer device.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Article (bottle) 12 Article transfer device 18 First drive shaft 20 Second drive shaft 22 Drive means (motor) 24 Drive means (motor) 26 Article holding means (bottle gripper) 28 Holding head 30 Link mechanism 32 First link 34 Second link

Continued on front page F-term (reference) 3E003 AA01 AB02 BA03 BB03 BC06 BD04 CA01 CA02 CA04 CB03 CB05 CB06 DA02 DA07 3E054 AA15 CA08 DC03 DC12 EA02 FA04 FE03 GA01 GA07 GB02 GC02 GC03 HA04 HA07 3E058 AA02 CB02 DA01 EA04

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An article transfer device comprising a holding head having a plurality of article holding means, and holding and moving an article by the holding means, comprising: a first drive shaft and a second drive shaft arranged in parallel; A drive unit configured to rotate each of the drive shafts; and a first link and a second link rotatably connecting ends of the pair of link members. One end of the first link is driven by the first drive. While fixing one end of the second link to the second drive shaft,
The other ends of the first link and the second link are rotatably connected to the holding head to form a link mechanism, and
An article transfer device, wherein a plurality of sets of this link mechanism including a first link and a second link are provided and arranged at predetermined intervals.