JP2006298433A - Commodity feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity feeding apparatus which can surely feed such commodities as cakes which are hardly gripped and sucked to a packaging container side. <P>SOLUTION: The commodity feeding apparatus 1 for feeding the commodities S accumulated on a table face 10 to a carton 100 is constituted by providing sprockets 29 and 30, sprockets 39 and 40 separated from the sprockets 29 and 30 and arranged in the vicinity of the carton 100, roller chains 31 and 32 respectively wound and hung between the sprockets 29 and 39 and between the sprockets 30 and 40, and a bar member 12 whose one end is fixed to a part of the roller chain 32 and which can be brought into contact with the back end of the commodities S on the table face 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a product supply apparatus for supplying an integrated product to a packaging container side.

  In order to collectively store a plurality of products in a packaging container at once, it is generally performed to collect the products in one place. The accumulated products are conveyed to the packaging container by being gripped by a robot chuck or sucked and held by a suction pad, and are stored in the packaging container (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei. 8-301247).

  On the other hand, with the recent increase in the number of products on the market, there is a demand for automatically transporting various products to packaging containers by machines. However, in the conventional apparatus, since it is necessary to grip or hold the product, a soft object such as a confectionery or a surface with unevenness on the surface may be deformed by gripping or suction, There is a risk of falling off the suction pad.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a product supply device that can reliably supply products such as confectionery that are difficult to grasp and adsorb to the side of the packaging container.

  A product supply device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a product supply device for supplying an integrated product to a packaging container, wherein the product supply device is separated from the first rotating member and the first rotating member. A second rotating member arranged in the vicinity, a table surface that extends between the first and second rotating members and on which goods to be supplied are placed, and is wound around the first and second rotating members One end is fixed to a part of the winding member, the driving means for rotationally driving the wound member, the first or second rotating member, and the axial direction of the first and second rotating members. And a bar member that extends along the table surface and can come into contact with the rear end of the product on the table surface.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the winding member is driven to start traveling by driving the driving means to rotationally drive the first or second rotating member. Then, the bar member having one end fixed to the winding member starts to move together with the winding member. On the other hand, the stacked products are placed on the table surface, and the bar member comes into contact with the rear end of the products on the table surface by the movement of the bar member. When the bar member further moves from this state, the product moves to the packaging container in the vicinity of the second rotating member while sliding on the table surface while being sent from the rear by the bar member, and is stored in the packaging container. Is done.

  In this case, without gripping or adsorbing the stacked product, the bar member is brought into contact with the rear end of the product on the stacked table surface, and the bar member is moved to move the product. As it slides on the table surface and moves to the side of the packaging container, it can be deformed by gripping or sucking, or soft products such as confectionery that may fall off the suction pad during transportation or uneven surface shape Certain products can be reliably supplied to the side of the packaging container.

  In the invention of claim 2, the bar member is composed of two members provided at two places on the winding member, and each member is arranged at a position that equally divides the member length of the winding member into two.

  In this case, since the supply of the product by the other bar member is started immediately after the supply of the product to the packaging container by the one bar member, the supply of the product to the packaging container can be performed efficiently.

  In the invention of claim 3, the bar member is coupled to the winding member via a coupling member that is offset from the track of the winding member and extends toward the inner peripheral side of the winding member.

  In this case, the height position of the bar member can be set to an appropriate height position according to the height dimension of the product by appropriately adjusting the offset amount of the connecting member.

  In the invention of claim 4, the offset amount of the connecting member is substantially equal to the radius of the second rotating member.

  In this case, when the bar member moves from the linear lower span of the winding member extending between the first rotating member and the second rotating member to the linear upper span, the bar member The center rotates around the center in a state where the center coincides with the center of the rotation axis of the second rotating member. Thus, before the product is stored in the packaging container, the bar member is always in contact with the same height position of the product without causing the bar member to push the rear end of the product upward. become. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the product from being damaged such as being out of shape or the product from falling.

  In the invention of claim 5, the first and second rotating members are sprockets, and the rotating member is a chain.

  In the invention of claim 6, an openable / closable shutter member is provided above the packaging container in the vicinity of the second rotating member.

  In this case, the required number of products can be efficiently dropped into the packaging container by interlocking the opening / closing operation of the shutter member with the travel of the bar member.

  According to the present invention, the bar member is brought into contact with the rear end of the product on the accumulated table surface, and the bar member is moved to move the product to the side of the packaging container while sliding on the table surface. Therefore, it becomes possible to reliably supply commodities such as confectionery, which may be deformed by gripping or suction, or dropped from the suction pad during transportation, to the packaging container.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
1 is a schematic plan view of a product supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the product supply device, FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. FIG. 5 is a view showing the trajectory of the bar member.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the product supply apparatus 1 is for supplying a plurality of products S collected on a table surface 10 to a carton 100 as a packaging container, and includes a front-rear direction (the left-right direction in the figure). The bar member 12 is movable. The bar member 12 is a bar-like member extending in the horizontal direction in parallel with the table surface 10, and is provided so as to be in contact with the rear end of the product S. On the table surface 10, a partition plate 13 for partitioning each product S is provided.

  A product accumulation device 15 is provided in front of the product supply device 1. The product accumulation device 15 has a plurality of product storage units 16. The product stacking device 15 stores a plurality of products S introduced from the arrow A direction or the B direction in the corresponding product storage units 16 and moves the product storage units 16 to a state of being arranged close to each other. A desired number of products S is configured to be accumulated. The product stacking device 15 is composed of a plurality of buckets respectively attached to two conveyor chains provided side by side, but other well-known mechanisms may be used.

Next, the drive mechanism of the bar member 12 of the product supply apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG.
A motor 21 as a driving means is attached to the upper part of the base plate 20 extending in the vertical direction. A sprocket 22 is fixed to the output shaft 21 a of the motor 21. On the other hand, a rotatable shaft 25 extending in a direction parallel to the motor output shaft 21 a is provided below the base plate 20, and a sprocket 26 is fixed to the end of the shaft 25. A roller chain 27 is wound around the sprockets 22 and 26. A tensioner 28 for maintaining tension is engaged with the span of the roller chain 27 between the sprockets 22 and 26.

  On the shaft 25, a pair of sprockets (first rotating members) 29 and 30 are fixed so as to face each other at a predetermined interval. Roller chains (winding members) 31 and 32 are wound around the sprockets 29 and 30, respectively. The roller chains 31 and 32 are connected to each other via a plurality of connecting bars 33. The bar member 12 is a member extending in parallel with the arrangement direction of the shaft 25, and one end thereof is attached to a link constituting the roller chain 32 via a connecting member 34. The connecting member 34 is a member extending toward the inner peripheral side of the sprocket 30, and the bar member 12 is attached at a position offset by Δ from the pin center of the roller chain 32 (that is, the locus of the roller chain 32 during traveling). Yes. This offset amount Δ is a factor that determines the height position of the bar member 12 from the table surface 10, and is thus set appropriately according to the height dimension of the product.

  Further, a bar member 12 'similar to the bar member 12 is attached to the link via a similar connecting member 34' at a position away from the bar member 12 on the roller chain 32. The bar members 12 and 12 ′ are respectively arranged at positions where the chain length of the roller chain 32 is equally divided into two.

  On the other hand, a pair of sprockets (second rotating members) 39 and 40 are arranged in the vicinity of the carton 100 so as to face each other at a predetermined interval, and the roller chain 31 is wound between the sprockets 39 and 29. A roller chain 32 is wound between the sprockets 40 and 30. Each sprocket 39, 40 is fixed to a shaft 45 that extends in the arrangement direction of the shaft 25 and is rotatably supported.

  Here, when the radius of the sprocket 40 is R and the radius of rotation when the bar members 12 and 12 ′ rotate around the shaft 45 is r (see FIG. 5), the radius of rotation r of the bar members 12 and 12 ′. Is represented by r = R−Δ.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the table surface 10 extends between the sprockets 29 and 39 and between the sprockets 30 and 40. Further, an openable / closable shutter member 48 is provided above the carton 100. The shutter member 48 has a table surface so that it can take a closed position (a solid line position in FIG. 2) covering the upper side of the opening of the carton 100 and an open position (a dashed line position in the same figure) opening the upper side of the opening of the carton 100. 10 is provided so as to be movable in the front-rear direction (the left-right direction in the figure). Although the drive mechanism of the shutter member 48 is not shown, for example, a slide block is provided so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, the shutter member 48 is fixed to the slide block, and the slide block is reciprocated by a cylinder or motor rotation. It is constituted by providing a reciprocating motion by a crank mechanism that changes into motion.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the carton 100 is disposed on a belt conveyor 50 that extends in the vertical direction of the figure. The belt conveyor 50 is configured to convey the carton 100 loaded from the direction of arrow a toward the direction of arrow c from the direction of arrow b. Further, the carton 100 is carried into the belt conveyor 50 with the lid (flap) 100a being opened (see FIG. 2).

Next, the product supply operation according to this embodiment will be described.
A plurality of products S (see FIG. 1) accumulated by the product accumulation device 15 are carried onto the table surface 10 of the product supply device 1. Next, the motor 21 (FIG. 3) of the product supply apparatus 1 is driven. The rotation of the output shaft 21a of the motor 21 is transmitted to the sprockets 29 and 30 via the sprocket 22, the roller chain 27, the sprocket 26 and the shaft 25, whereby the roller chain 31 between the sprockets 29 and 39 and the sprocket 30, The roller chain 32 between 40 is driven to start traveling in the direction of the arrow in FIG. In FIG. 2, among the linear spans of the roller chain 32 disposed between the sprockets 30 and 40, the upper span is represented by reference numeral 32a and the lower span is represented by reference numeral 32b.

  By driving the roller chains 31, 32, the bar members 12, 12 ′ whose one ends are fixed to the links of the roller chain 32 via connecting members 34, 34 ′ start moving together with the roller chain 32. As a result, the bar member 12 comes into contact with the rear end of the product S on the table surface 10 (see FIGS. 1, 2, and 4).

  When the bar member 12 further moves from this state, the product S slides on the table surface 10 in the direction of arrow C (FIG. 1) while being sent from the rear by the bar member 12, and reaches the upper position of the carton 100. Moving. At this time, the shutter member 48 is disposed at the closed position (solid line position in FIG. 2), and the upper part of the opening of the carton 100 is closed. For this reason, the product S is introduced onto the shutter member 48. After that, the product S is introduced into the carton 100 by driving the shutter member 48 to move to the open position (the one-dot chain line position in FIG. 2) (see FIG. 1). Although not shown, a cylinder for reliably pushing the product S introduced into the carton 100 into the carton 100 may be provided above the carton 100. After the introduction of the product, the shutter member 48 moves again to the closed position (solid line position in FIG. 2), and the upper part of the opening of the carton 100 is closed.

  The carton 100 in which the product introduction has been completed is transported in the direction of the arrow c by the belt conveyor 50 and moves to the next-stage cartoning machine (packaging machine) side. Further, a carton 100 to be introduced next is carried in the vicinity of the sprockets 39 and 40.

  On the other hand, on the table surface 100, a plurality of products S to be supplied to the carton 100 next is carried from the product stacking device 15, and the bar member 12 'is applied to the rear end of these products S. By moving in contact with each other, the product S is similarly introduced into the carton 100. In this way, product introduction into the carton 100 is continuously performed.

  In this case, the bar members 12, 12 ′ are brought into contact with the rear ends of the products S on the collected table surface 10 without gripping or adsorbing the stacked products, By moving 12 ', the product S is moved to the carton side while sliding on the table surface 10, so that there is a risk that the shape may be lost due to gripping or suction, or it may fall off from the suction pad during transportation. Soft products such as varieties and products having uneven shapes on the surface can be reliably supplied to the carton side.

  In this case, the bar members 12 and 12 ′ are arranged at positions where the chain length of the roller chain 32 is equally divided into two. Thereby, immediately after the product supply to the carton 100 by one bar member is completed, the product supply by the other bar member is started, so that the product supply to the carton 100 can be efficiently performed.

  Further, in this case, when the bar members 12 and 12 ′ rotate around the shaft 45, the rotation radius r is smaller than the radius R of the sprocket 40 by the offset amount Δ of the bar members 12 and 12 ′. It has become. That is, r = R−Δ. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the bar members 12, 12 ′ rotate around the shaft 45 and move from the lower span 32b of the roller chain 32 to the upper span 32a as the roller chain 32 travels. The bar members 12, 12 ′ move along the locus of the two-dot chain line 12a from the locus of the two-dot chain line 12b in FIG. (See the dashed line in the figure).

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, when the product S is conveyed by the bar members 12, 12 ′, the force that pushes up the rear end of the product S by the arc-shaped movement of the bar members 12, 12 ′. Can be suppressed, and the product S can be prevented from being damaged such as being out of shape or falling of the product.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, as the offset amount Δ ″ of the bar members 12 and 12 ′ becomes smaller than Δ, the bar members 12 and 12 ′ move from the locus of the two-dot chain line 12b. When moving to the locus of 12a, an arcuate locus having a large turning radius r ′ (r ′> r) is drawn, and when the product S is conveyed by the bar members 12, 12 ′, A large upward force due to the arcuate motion of the bar members 12, 12 ′ will act on the rear end for a long time.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the offset amount Δ of the connecting members 34 and 34 ′, and hence the bar members 12 and 12 ′ is Δ <R has been described as an example, but the application of the present invention is not limited thereto. It is not limited. As shown in FIG. 7, the offset amount Δ ′ of the bar members 12, 12 ′ may be equal to the radius R of the sprocket 40.

  In this case, as the roller member 32 travels, the bar member 12, 12 ′ rotates around the sprocket 40 and moves from the lower span 32 b to the upper span 32 a of the roller chain 32. , 12 ′ move from the locus of the two-dot chain line 12b in FIG. 7 along the locus of the two-dot chain line 12a, and the center of the bar member 12, 12 ′ coincides with the center of the shaft 45 at the position of the shaft 45. Thus, the bar members 12 and 12 'rotate around the center (see the alternate long and short dash line in the figure). In other words, the turning radius r around the axis 45 of the bar members 12, 12 'can be made zero.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, when the product S is conveyed by the bar members 12, 12 ′, the bar members 12, 12 ′ are always in contact with the same height position of the product S. Therefore, the bar members 12, 12, and 'do not apply an upward force to the rear end of the product S. Thereby, it is possible to reliably prevent the product from being damaged such as being out of shape or the product from falling.

  In the above embodiment, the first and second rotating members have been described by taking a sprocket as an example, and the roller member as an example of a winding member. However, the present invention is applied to a timing pulley and a timing belt wound around the timing pulley. Can be applied similarly.

1 is a schematic plan view of a product supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the front schematic of a goods supply apparatus (FIG. 1). FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2. It is the IV-IV line arrow directional view of FIG. It is a figure which shows the locus | trajectory of the bar member of a goods supply apparatus (FIG. 1). It is a figure for demonstrating the motion of the goods accompanying the locus | trajectory of a bar member in FIG. It is a figure which shows the locus | trajectory of the bar member of the goods supply apparatus by the other Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the motion of the goods accompanying the locus | trajectory of a bar member in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the locus | trajectory of a bar member in case the rotation radius of a bar member is large in a goods supply apparatus, and the motion of goods accompanying it.

Explanation of symbols

1: Product supply device

10: Table surface 12, 12 ': Bar member 21: Motor (driving means)
25: Axis (rotary axis)
29, 30: Sprocket (first rotating member)
31, 32: Roller chain (wrapping member)
34, 34 ': Connecting member 39, 40: Sprocket (second rotating member)
48: Shutter member 100: Carton (packaging container)

S: Product R: Sprocket radius

Claims (6)

A product supply device for supplying an integrated product to a packaging container,
A first rotating member;
A second rotating member disposed in the vicinity of the packaging container apart from the first rotating member;
A table surface extending between the first and second rotating members and on which goods to be supplied are placed;
A winding member wound around the first and second rotating members;
Drive means for rotationally driving the first or second rotating member;
One end of the winding member is fixed to the bar member, the bar member extends along the rotation axis direction of the first and second rotating members, and can come into contact with the rear end of the product on the table surface;
Product supply device equipped with. In claim 1,
The bar member is composed of two members provided at two positions on the winding member, and each member is arranged at a position that equally divides the member length of the winding member into two parts.
A product supply apparatus characterized by that. In claim 1,
The bar member is coupled to the winding member via a coupling member that is offset from the track of the winding member and extends toward the inner peripheral side of the winding member.
A product supply apparatus characterized by that. In claim 3,
An offset amount of the connecting member is substantially equal to a radius of the second rotating member;
A product supply apparatus characterized by that. In claim 1,
The first and second rotating members are sprockets, and the winding member is a chain;
A product supply apparatus characterized by that. In claim 1,
A shutter member that can be opened and closed is provided above the packaging container in the vicinity of the second rotating member.
A product supply apparatus characterized by that.

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