JP2977020B2 - Article turning device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article direction changing apparatus, and more particularly, to an article direction changing apparatus in which an article can be rotated by a pair of moving magnets provided on the article and a fixed magnet provided on a frame. It relates to a conversion device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a pair of moving magnets, which are provided at regular intervals on an article and are conveyed integrally with the article, are provided as an article direction changing device that rotates an article using a magnet; There is known a conveyor provided with a conveyor for conveying the article and a plurality of fixed magnets provided on a frame supporting the conveyor and attracting a moving magnet of the article by the conveyor (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-45936). And JP-A-7-187355). Since such an article turning device can rotate an article by a plurality of fixed magnets, it does not require a driving means for directly rotating the article, and therefore has a configuration as compared with an apparatus provided with such a driving means. There is an advantage that can be simplified.

[0003]

On the other hand, on the other hand, the above-mentioned article direction changing device requires a plurality of fixed magnets to rotate the articles, and their arrangement is complicated and delicate. However, the adjustment work for adjusting the relative positions of the plurality of fixed magnets has been complicated. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides an article direction changing apparatus that has a simple configuration and that can be easily adjusted.

[0004]

That is, the present invention provides a pair of moving magnets which are provided at regular intervals on an article and are conveyed integrally with the article, and which are arranged parallel to each other and run at different speeds. that the first conveyor and the second conveyor, respectively et provided on the frame, the first of the first conveyor side of sucking the one of the moving magnet of the article to be conveyed across the upper Symbol first conveyor and the second conveyor stationary and a second fixing magnet of the second conveyor side for sucking the magnet and the other moving magnet, the
The transfer speed of the first conveyor is set higher than the transfer speed of the second conveyor.
And sets is fast, the first fixed magnet is arranged along the conveying direction of the article, obliquely to the second fixed magnet conveying direction of the article was or first fixed according to the downstream side from the upstream side It is arranged so that the distance from the magnet is reduced.

[0005]

According to the above construction, one of the moving magnets of the article supplied so as to straddle the first and second conveyors is the first fixed magnet, and the other moving magnet is the second fixed magnet. You will be sucked. Then, the first
Since the conveyor speed of the second conveyor is lower than that of the second conveyor, the article is rotated such that the moving magnet on the second conveyor is delayed behind the moving magnet on the first conveyor due to the speed difference. become. At the same time, the second fixed magnet that attracts the moving magnet on the second conveyor side is inclined with respect to the article conveyance direction so that the distance from the first fixed magnet decreases from upstream to downstream. With this arrangement, the second fixed magnet moves the moving magnet on the second conveyor side toward the first fixed magnet, thereby rotating the article in the same direction as the speed difference. The article rotated by the speed difference and the second fixed magnet is attracted together by the first fixed magnet when the pair of moving magnets is in a direction parallel to the conveying direction, so that the article is conveyed by the pair of moving magnets. It is rotated from a state facing in a direction perpendicular to the direction to a state facing in a parallel direction.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment. In FIG. 1, an article front-to-back aligning apparatus 1 for aligning the front and back of articles in the same direction is provided with a conveyor 2, and the conveyor 2 has predetermined vertical and horizontal directions. It comprises four rotating shafts 3 rotatably supported at a distance and an endless flat belt 4 made of a non-magnetic material and horizontally hung on the rotating shafts 3.
A flat nonmagnetic support frame 5 is provided below the upper horizontal portion of the flat belt 4, and an article 6 is placed on the flat belt 4 with the support frame 5 supporting the lower surface of the flat belt 4. The article 6 can be conveyed by placing it.
The flat belt 4 of the conveyor 2 is curved downward from the upper rotating shaft 3 and is respectively extended to the lower rotating shaft 3, and is further extended to driving means 7 from there, and is run by the driving means 7. It has become so. As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of movable magnets 8a and 8b having the same polarity are attached at a predetermined interval to the bottom of the article 6, and one fixed magnet 9 is attached to the lower surface of the support frame 5. Are mounted in parallel with the conveying direction of the conveyor 2. Therefore, the pair of moving magnets 8 a and 8 b provided on the article 6 are conveyed in a state parallel to the conveying direction of the conveyor 2 while being attracted by the fixed magnet 9. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the fixed magnet 9, two rows of fixed magnets 10a and 10b are provided at a predetermined interval from the fixed magnet 9 in parallel with the conveying direction of the conveyor 2, and a pair of moving magnets 8a, In a state where 8b is in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction, while one moving magnet 8a is attracted by one fixed magnet 10a and the other moving magnet 8b is attracted by the other fixed magnet 10b, the state is stable in that state. It can be transported.

Next, between the fixed magnet 9 on the upstream side and the fixed magnets 10a, 10b on the downstream side, the distribution magnet 1 for attracting the moving magnets 8a, 8b to rotate the article 6 forward or backward.
2 are provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the distribution magnet 12 is fixed to a central portion on the swing plate 13, and the moving magnets 8 a and 8 are provided on both sides of the distribution magnet 12.
A magnet 14 having the same polarity as b is arranged. Therefore, the moving magnets 8a and 8b are attracted only to the central distribution magnet 12 while receiving the repulsive force of the magnets 14 on both sides. The swing plate 13 can swing around the shaft 15 by rotatably supporting a shaft 15 attached to the lower surface on the fixed magnet 9 side of the frame 16. The fixed magnet 10 of the swing plate 13
One end of a link 17 is connected to the lower surface on the side of a, 10b, and the other end of the link 17 is connected to an eccentric pin 19 provided on a rotary plate 18. The rotary plate 18 is rotated in the normal and reverse directions by a servomotor 20, and the rotary plate 18 is rotated by the servomotor 20 to position the eccentric pins 19 at three positions shown in FIG. Thereby, the rocking plate 13 is rotated to the neutral position (the position shown by the solid line), then to the normal rotation position (the position shown by the one-dot chain line) which is rotated clockwise in FIG. (The position indicated by the two-dot chain line). The distributing magnet 12 is arranged so as to be aligned with the fixed magnet 9 when the swing plate 13 is located at the neutral position, and the swing plate 13 is moved from the neutral position to the normal rotation position or the reverse rotation position. Even if it is located, the right end of the distribution magnet 12 is always continuous with the left end of the fixed magnet 9. On the other hand, the right ends of the pair of fixed magnets 10a and 10b have inclined portions 10a ',
b ', and the inclined portion 10 of one fixed magnet 10a
a ′ is disposed so as to be continuous with the distribution magnet 12 when the distribution magnet 12 is located at the normal rotation position, and the inclined portion 10b ′ of the other second fixed magnet 10b
Is arranged so as to be continuous with the distribution magnet 12 when it is located at the reverse rotation position. And both inclined portions 10a ', 10
The right end of b 'is almost in contact, and when the distribution magnet 12 is at the neutral position, the left end of the distribution magnet 12 is connected to the center of both inclined portions 10a' and 10b '. I have.

A sensor 2 is provided on the side of the conveyor 2 for detecting the front and back surfaces of the article 6 in which the moving magnets 8a and 8b are in a state parallel to the conveying direction of the conveyor 2.
1 and that the moving magnet 8a forward in the transport direction is on one of the inclined portions 10a 'and 10b' and the movable magnet 8b backward in the transport direction is on the distribution magnet 12 (the state in FIG. 3). A sensor 22 is provided. The sensor 21 inputs the front and back of the article 6 to a control device 23. The control device 23 positions the sorting magnet 12 in the normal rotation position when the article 6 is the front surface, and on the other hand, If 6 is the back side, it is preset so that the distribution magnet 12 is located at the reverse rotation position.

Therefore, according to the article front-to-back apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration, when the pair of movable magnets 8a and 8b are conveyed in a state parallel to the conveyance direction while being attracted to the fixed magnet 9, both of these magnets are moved. The pair of moving magnets 8a and 8b are sequentially transferred from the moving magnet 8a in the transport direction to the sorting magnet 12 located at the neutral position and are attracted. In this state, upon receiving a signal from the sensor 21, the control device 23 determines to rotate the distribution magnet 12 in the normal rotation direction, for example, when the surface of the article 6 is detected. Then, the moving magnet 8a at the front in the transport direction attracted by the sorting magnet 12 is fixed magnet 10a,
When it is delivered to the central portion of 10b and sucked into the state shown in FIG. 3, the controller 23 receives a signal from the sensor 22 and controls the servomotor 20 to control the distribution magnet 12b.
Is pivotally rotated to the clockwise normal rotation position in FIG. Then, the rear moving magnet 8 attracted by the distribution magnet 12
b is moved to the fixed magnet 10a on the right side in the transport direction and is delivered to the fixed magnet 10a on the right side, while the moving magnet 8a on the front is replaced by the fixed magnet 10a on the right. With the counterclockwise rotation of the article 6 by being moved to the side, the fixed magnet 10 on the left side on the opposite side
It will be passed to b side. Thereby, the surface of the article 6 is directed forward in the transport direction, and the pair of moving magnets 8a and 8b are thereafter fixed to the fixed magnets 10a and 10a, respectively.
At 0b, each is sucked and transported in a state perpendicular to the transport direction.

On the other hand, the article 6 is detected by the sensor 21.
If the rear surface of the moving magnet 8b is detected, the reverse moving magnet 8b attracted by the distributing magnet 12 is rotated by rotating the distributing magnet 12 to the counterclockwise reverse position. The movable magnet 8a is moved to the fixed magnet 10b on the left side and is delivered to the fixed magnet 10b on the left side, while the movable magnet 8a on the front is moved to the fixed magnet 10b on the left side. With the rotation of the article 6 in the opposite direction to that described above, the article 6 is delivered to the opposite fixed magnet 10a on the right side. As a result, the surface of the article 6 is directed forward in the transport direction, and thereafter, the pair of moving magnets 8
a and 8b are attracted by the fixed magnets 10a and 10b, respectively, and are conveyed in a state perpendicular to the conveying direction.

In this embodiment, an article direction changing apparatus 25 according to the present invention is provided downstream of the article front-to-back apparatus 1 in order to rotate the article 6 by 90 degrees. The article direction changing device 25 is composed of a pair of first and second conveyors 26a and 26 having different conveyance speeds, which are arranged on the same straight line and in parallel with the conveyor 2 of the above-described article front and back liner 1.
b, and the first conveyor 26a and the second conveyor 26b are a pair of moving magnets 8a, 8 placed on the conveyor 2 and oriented in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction.
They are arranged in parallel so as to be divided at the center of b. On the other hand, the first conveyor 26a is composed of a total of four rotating shafts 27a rotatably supported at predetermined intervals in the vertical and horizontal directions and a non-magnetic material horizontally extending over the upper left and right rotating shafts 27a. Endless flat belt 28a, and a flat nonmagnetic support frame 29 is provided below the upper horizontal portion of the flat belt 28a.
With the support frame 29 supporting the lower surface of the flat belt 28a, the article 6 is placed on the flat belt 28a so that the article 6 can be conveyed. The first conveyor 26
The flat belt 28a is bent downward from the upper left and right rotation shafts 27a, is wound on the lower left and right rotation shafts 27a, is further wound on the driving means 30a, and travels by the driving means 30a. It is supposed to be. The other second conveyor 26b is also configured in the same manner as the first conveyor 26a, and the endless flat belt 28b made of a non-magnetic material of the second conveyor 26b is run by the driving means 30b. However, the support frame 29 is provided commonly to the first conveyor 26a and the second conveyor 26b. In this embodiment, the traveling speeds of the conveyor 2 and one of the first conveyors 26a are set to be the same, but the second conveyor 26b is connected to the conveyors 2 and 26a.
It is set to be relatively slower than the predetermined speed.

The supporting frame 29 has a first fixed magnet 31a for attracting one moving magnet 8a in the area of the first conveyor 26a and an other moving magnet 8b for attracting the other moving magnet 8b in the area of the second conveyor 26b. Second fixed magnet 31b
Is provided. The first fixed magnet 31a is arranged along the conveying direction of the first conveyor 26a, following the fixed magnet 10a on the upstream side. On the other hand, the second fixed magnet 31
b is a parallel portion 31 arranged along the transport direction of the second conveyor 26b continuously to the other fixed magnet 10b on the upstream side.
b 'and the downstream side of the parallel portion 31b',
An inclined portion 31b "is provided such that the distance from the first fixed magnet 31a becomes smaller from the upstream side to the downstream side, and the downstream end of the inclined portion 31b" is connected to the first fixed magnet 31a. The inclination angle of the inclined portion 31b ″ is
The speed difference is set in consideration of the relative speed difference between the first conveyor 26a and the second conveyor 26b. As will be described in detail later, the speed difference between the two conveyors 26a and 26b and the second fixed magnet 31b
Of the moving magnets 8a,
The article 6 is moved from a state in which the article 8b faces in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the two conveyors 26a, 26b to a state in which the article 6 faces in a direction parallel to the conveying direction of both conveyors 26a, 26b in FIG.
Can be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.

Further, a discharge conveyor 32 is provided downstream of the two conveyors 26a and 26b. The discharge conveyor 32 is provided with a total of four rotating shafts 33 (the right rotating shaft is not shown) rotatably supported at predetermined distances in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively. An endless flat belt 34 made of a magnetic material is horizontally stretched. A flat nonmagnetic support frame 35 is provided below the upper horizontal portion of the flat belt 34, and the article 6 is placed on the flat belt 34 with the support frame 35 supporting the lower surface of the flat belt 34. The article 6 can be placed and transported. Each of the moving magnets 8a and 8b is
Is provided, and the fixed magnet 36 is arranged to be continuous with the second fixed magnet 31 on the upstream side and in the same straight line therewith.

In the above configuration, the article 6 is placed on the conveyor 2
As a result, one moving magnet 8a becomes one fixed magnet 10a
And the other moving magnet 8b is conveyed while being attracted to the other stationary magnet 10b, respectively, and the first conveyor 26a and the second conveyor 26 of the article redirection device 25 on the downstream side are conveyed.
b. Then, the one moving magnet 8a attracted by the one fixed magnet 10a of the conveyor 2 becomes the other moving magnet attracted by the first fixed magnet 31a on the first conveyor 26a side and the other moving magnet 8a attracted by the other fixed magnet 10b. 8b
Is attracted to the parallel portion 31b 'of the second fixed magnet 31b on the second conveyor 26b side. In this state, the first conveyor 26a and the second conveyor 26b
This means that the article 6 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 2 by the speed difference because the second conveyor 26b is traveling slower than the first conveyor 26a. When the article 6 starts to rotate due to the speed difference, the article 6
Is transferred to the inclined portion 31b "through the parallel portion 31b 'of the second fixed magnet 31b.
The moving magnet 8b on the side of the second conveyor 26b, which is slow, has the inclined portion 3
1b "is sucked and moves above it,
The inclined portion 31b "is arranged such that the distance from the first fixed magnet 31a becomes narrower from the upstream side to the downstream side, so that the article 6 smoothly moves counterclockwise in FIG. When the moving magnet 8b on the second conveyor 26b side is moved from the inclined portion 31b "to the first fixed magnet 31a on the first conveyor 26a side, the article 6 is initially rotated. In this state, the movable magnets 8a and 8b of the article are both attracted to the first fixed magnet 31a. Thereafter, the article 6 is delivered onto the discharge conveyor 32, where the moving magnets 8a and 8b are both conveyed while being attracted by the fixed magnet 36.

The parallel portion 31b 'of the first fixed magnet 31a is not always necessary, and may be omitted.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the structure can be simplified as compared with a conventional apparatus provided with a driving means for directly rotating an article, and the first conveyor and the first conveyor can be used. Since the article can be rotated by utilizing the speed difference with the second conveyor, the adjusting action can be made easier as compared with a conventional apparatus in which the article is rotated only by a plurality of fixed magnets. The effect that it can be obtained is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view showing an arrangement state of fixed magnets 9 and distribution magnets 12 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the article direction changing device 25 of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... back-to-back equipment 2 ... conveyor 6 ...
Articles 8a, 8b ... Moving magnets 9, 10a, 10b
... Second fixed magnet 12 ... Distributing magnet 25 ... Article turning device 26a ... First conveyor 26b ... Second conveyor 31a ... First fixed magnet 31b ... Second fixed magnet 31b '... Parallel portion 31b "...
Inclined part 32: Discharge conveyor 36: Fixed magnet

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroaki Kobayashi 2-3-1 Bunka, Sumida-ku, Tokyo Kao Corporation Tokyo Research Laboratory (56) References JP-A-57-151523 (JP, A) JP-A JP-A-59-138519 (JP, A) JP-A-7-187376 (JP, A) JP-A-6-45936 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65G 47 / 24 B65G 47/31

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pair of moving magnets provided at a constant interval on an article and conveyed integrally with the article, and a first conveyor and a second conveyor arranged in parallel with each other and running at different speeds. , is al provided in each frame, the upper Symbol first
It has a first fixed magnet on the first conveyor side for attracting one moving magnet of an article conveyed across the conveyor and the second conveyor, and a second fixed magnet on the second conveyor side for attracting the other moving magnet. , The conveying speed of the first conveyor is changed to the conveying speed of the second conveyor.
And sets faster than, the first fixed magnet is arranged along the conveying direction of the article, obliquely to the second fixed magnet conveying direction of the article was or, the according to the downstream side from the upstream side 1 An article direction changing device, wherein the space between the fixed magnet and the fixed magnet is narrowed. 2. The article according to claim 1, wherein the second fixed magnet has a portion arranged along a conveying direction of the article on an upstream side of the obliquely arranged portion. Turn device. 3. A supply conveyor for conveying the article with a pair of moving magnets directed in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, on the upstream side of the first conveyor and the second conveyor, the supply conveyor comprising: A pair of fixed magnets for attracting each of the pair of moving magnets is provided, and the downstream ends of the pair of fixed magnets are continuous with the upstream ends of the first fixed magnet and the second fixed magnet. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein
An article direction changing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. A discharge conveyor for conveying the article with a pair of moving magnets directed in a conveying direction downstream of the first conveyor and the second conveyor, wherein the discharge conveyor includes the pair of moving magnets. 4. A fixed magnet for attracting both of them, and an upstream end of the fixed magnet is continuous with a downstream end of the first fixed magnet. An article direction changing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.