JP5122409B2 - Supply material supply equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a supply device that supplies a material to be supplied to a predetermined supply position, and more particularly to a supply device that supplies a thin material to be supplied.

  As a conventional supply device for supplying such a thin material to be supplied, the material to be supplied at the lowest stage of the storage unit is extruded along the transport surface by a kicker from a storage unit in which a plurality of supply materials are stacked. There is known an apparatus that feeds a supplied material to a supply position by sandwiching and feeding the supplied material by a pair of feed rollers arranged downstream in the supply direction.

  In the case of such an apparatus, if warping occurs in a thin material to be supplied, a gap is formed between the material and the conveyance surface, so that the kicker is swung away and the material to be supplied is reliably pushed out. There is a problem that can not be. Further, when the material to be supplied is warped, the material to be supplied hits a gate that is provided downstream of the accommodating portion and allows passage of only one material to be supplied, and clogs. There is.

  In order to solve such a problem, as described in Patent Document 1 or 2, it is known that the material to be supplied is vacuum-sucked to eliminate the warp. For example, in these documents, a large number of openings are provided on the transfer surface, an air chamber is defined below the openings, the air chamber and the suction means are communicated via a duct, and the suction means is driven to move the air chamber. The structure which adsorb | sucks and holds a to-be-supplied material in a horizontal state as a negative pressure is disclosed.

  In addition, in the case of a supply device that supplies a material to be supplied in a vertical direction, it is known from Patent Document 3 that the material to be supplied is supplied by suction by negative pressure.

  In the configuration of Patent Document 3, a suction head for sucking a material to be supplied is provided, and a suction / feed pipe is connected to the suction head. Is connected to a vacuum pump that is an air suction source, and the other is connected to a blower that is an air supply source via an exhaust pipe, and a switching valve for switching intake and exhaust is provided in each of the intake pipe and the exhaust pipe. Yes.

  Then, by operating the vacuum pump, the supply material (packing) is sucked by the suction head, the supply material is moved downward in the vertical direction, and mounted in a predetermined position (mounting groove in the cap C). Then, the compressed air is supplied to the suction head by the blower.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-22740 JP-A-1-187132 JP-A-8-47827

  However, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1 or 2, it is necessary to feed by the feed roller pair so as to overcome the attraction force, although the warp of the supplied material can be eliminated by adsorbing the supplied material. Therefore, while it is necessary to have a moderate shape and a certain size that can be fed by a pair of feed rollers as a material to be supplied, multiple feed roller pairs are used if the size of the material to be supplied is large Therefore, there is a problem that the feed timing is shifted between the plurality of feed roller pairs, and the material to be supplied is inclined.

  Further, in Patent Document 1, if the holding force of the pair of feed rollers is increased so as to overcome the attracting force, there is a risk of damaging the supplied body. Therefore, the attracting force is turned on and off, and switching means therefor However, there is also a problem that such a switching operation by the switching means cannot cope with a high-speed supply operation.

  Similarly, in a device for supplying a material to be supplied by suction by a vacuum pump as described in Patent Document 3, after supplying the material to be supplied to a predetermined position, switching is performed to stop the suction by the vacuum pump. Although a switching operation using a valve or the like is required, there is a problem that a high-speed supply operation cannot be performed because a high-speed switching operation using a switching valve is difficult.

  This invention is made | formed in view of this subject, and it aims at providing the supply apparatus which can supply the to-be-supplied material with curvature correctly, and can respond to the high-speed supply.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a supply device that supplies a thin material to be supplied to a predetermined supply position, and includes a tubular vertical guide portion that guides the material to be supplied vertically downward. An extruding member that reciprocates to extrude the material to be supplied in the vertical direction along the vertical guide portion, and a suction port is formed on the extruding surface of the extruding member that contacts the material to be supplied. A negative pressure is always maintained by a suction action by a blower, and the push-out member pushes the inside of the pipe of the vertical guide portion downward while sucking the supply material and supplies the supply material to the supply position.

The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the apparatus described in claim 1 , when the material to be supplied is pushed out to the supply position, the upper portion of the suction port is opened to the atmospheric pressure.

Invention of Claim 3 is a supply apparatus which supplies a thin to-be-supplied material to a predetermined supply position, Comprising: The accommodating part which can accommodate one or more to-be-supplied materials in the lamination | stacking state in the orthogonal | vertical direction, and an accommodating part A first extruding member that reciprocates in order to extrude the lowermost material to be supplied in the horizontal direction along the conveying surface and supply it to the intermediate supply position, and the material to be supplied that has reached the intermediate supply position downward in the vertical direction. A tubular vertical guide portion for guiding, and a second push-out member that reciprocates to push the material to be supplied in the vertical direction along the vertical guide portion and supply the material to the final supply position. A suction port is formed, and a second suction port is formed on the extrusion surface of the second pushing member that comes into contact with the material to be supplied, and the lower side of the suction port and the upper side of the second suction port are respectively blown by a blower. The negative pressure is always maintained by the suction action. The features.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the thin material to be supplied according to the third aspect includes a foam sheet.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the first pushing member according to claim 3 or 4 passes over the suction port while pushing the material to be supplied and supplies the material to be supplied to the intermediate supply position. And

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, when the second push-out member according to any one of the third to fifth aspects pushes the material to be supplied to the final supply position, the upper side of the second suction port is at atmospheric pressure. It is characterized by being opened to

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if warpage has occurred in the material to be supplied, due to the negative pressure due to the suction action by the blower, the material to be supplied is attracted to the extrusion surface of the extrusion member, and the warpage is corrected, Without being dropped by its own weight, it can be correctly pushed out by the pushing member. Since the negative pressure is generated by the suction action by the blower, the material to be supplied can be pushed out smoothly, and the negative pressure can be constantly generated without switching the negative pressure on and off. It is possible to cope with high-speed supply. Further, since the clearance can be provided between the vertical guide portion and the material to be supplied without affecting the suction action by the blower, the material to be supplied can smoothly move in the pipe of the vertical guide portion. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the extruding member is moved to extrude the material to be supplied to the supply position, since the upper portion of the suction port is opened to the atmospheric pressure, the suction force to the material to be supplied is reduced. Therefore, the material to be supplied can be reliably stored in the supply position.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even if warping has occurred in the material to be supplied, the material to be supplied is sucked to the lower surface of the housing portion by the negative pressure due to the suction action by the blower, and the warpage is corrected. In addition, the material can be correctly extruded by the first extruding member, and the material to be supplied is sucked by the extruding surface of the second extruding member to correct the warp, and is correctly extruded by the second extruding member without falling by its own weight. be able to.

  Since the negative pressure is generated by the suction action by the blower, the material to be supplied can be pushed out smoothly, and the negative pressure can be constantly generated without switching the negative pressure on and off. It is possible to cope with high-speed supply.

According to invention of Claim 4 , even if it is easy to generate | occur | produce a curvature like a foam sheet, it can supply reliably.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the first pushing member passes through the first suction port while pushing the material to be fed and feeds the material to be fed to the intermediate feeding position, thereby warping the first pushing member itself. Even if this occurs, the warp can be corrected when the first pushing member moves on the first suction port.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, when the second push-out member moves and pushes the material to be supplied to the final supply position, the upper side of the second suction port is opened to the atmospheric pressure. The suction force can be reduced, and the material to be supplied can be reliably stored in the final supply position.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be made.

  1-3 is a figure showing the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention.

  The supply device 10 according to this embodiment is a device for mounting a packing material 14 as a material to be supplied inside a cap 12 made of synthetic resin.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the cap 12 according to this example has a rib 12a formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof, and the supply device 10 supplies the packing 14 to the bottom portion inside the rib 12a. To do. The packing material 14 according to this example is also referred to as a wadding membrane, and when the cap 12 is attached to a container mouth portion of a container (not shown), the container opening is sealed and serves as a filling. The diameter is 100 mm or less and the thickness is 2 mm or less (about 1.1 to 1.5 mm). The packing material 14 includes a main body 16 and a metal foil 18 bonded to the main body 16 with a small adhesive force. When the cap 12 is attached to the container, the metal foil 18 is bonded to the container mouth. It is like that. The main body 16 can be composed of a foam sheet such as a paper sheet or a polystyrene foam, but in the case of using a foam sheet, warping inevitably occurs. The present invention is directed to an apparatus for supplying a material to be supplied having such a thickness that warp can occur, that is, a thin thickness.

  In the figure, the supply device 10 is roughly provided with a lateral supply unit 22, a vertical supply unit 24, and a drive unit 26.

  The lateral supply unit 22 includes a stack unit 30 serving as a storage unit waiting in a state where a plurality of packing materials 14 to be supplied are stacked, and a kicker 32 serving as an extruding member. Each of the packing materials 14 positioned in the vertical direction is pushed out one by one along the conveying surface 34 and supplied to the intermediate supply position P1 in the vertical direction supply unit 24.

  A gate 31 is provided between the stack unit 30 and the intermediate supply position P1, and the gate 31 is set so that only one packing material 14 passes through at a time. A conveyance surface 34 extends horizontally from the gate 31 toward the vertical supply unit 24. Further, a guide unit 35 (see FIG. 3) for guiding the movement of the kicker 32 is provided.

  The kicker 32 is a plate-like member having the same thickness as the packing material 14 or thinner than the packing material 14 so that only the packing material 14 positioned at the lowermost stage can be pushed out. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, one side of the outer contour of the packing material 14 (that is, the packing material has a circular outer contour as in this example) so that the packing material 14 can be pushed out as a whole. In the case of a semicircular portion corresponding to half of the outer contour, and in the case where the packing material 14 has a rectangular outer contour, the entire straight portion corresponding to one side of the outer contour), in other words, in the supply direction It has the receiving part 32a which can carry out surface contact to the substantially whole packing material 14 in the crossing direction. A pair of guided portions 32b extend in the supply direction from both sides of the receiving portion 32a.

  The receiving portion 32a of the kicker 32 is reciprocated by the drive unit 26 from the front of the stack unit 30 to the point where the packing material 14 reaches the intermediate supply position P1 along the transport surface 34 beyond the gate 31. During this reciprocation, the guided portion 32 b of the kicker 32 is guided to the guide portion 35.

  A suction port 36 as shown in FIG. 8 is formed on the lower surface of the stack portion 30, and a space below the suction port 36 is a suction chamber 38, and the suction chamber 38 communicates with the blower 42 through a duct 40. However, the negative pressure is always generated by the suction action by the blower 42 during the supply operation.

  Next, the vertical supply portion 24 includes a tubular vertical guide portion 52 that guides the packing material 14 downward in the vertical direction (that is, the vertical direction) from the intermediate supply position P1, and a pusher 54 as an extrusion member. The packing material 14 located at the supply position P1 is pushed out in the vertical direction (that is, in the vertical direction) along the pipe of the vertical guide portion 52 and supplied to the final supply position P2 in the cap 12 waiting below the vertical guide portion 52. To do.

  Below the vertical guide portion 52, the cap 12 serving as a final supply position for supplying the packing material 14 stands by. The cap 12 is also supplied to the standby position in synchronization with the supply of the packing material 14 by a supply device (not shown), and is discharged after the packing material 14 is mounted. Since any known device can be used for the mechanism, its description is omitted.

  The vertical guide portion 52 is a tube for guiding the vertical movement of the packing material 14 and the pusher 54, and includes a first guide portion 52a in which the packing material 14 and the pusher 54 below the intermediate supply position P1 move, The pusher 54 above the intermediate supply position P1 moves and has a second guide portion 52b having a slightly smaller diameter than the first guide portion 52a. The first guide portion 52a has an inner diameter that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the packing material 14 to such an extent that the packing material 14 can move smoothly. A clearance is provided between the material 14. Similarly, in the second guide portion 52b, a clearance is provided between the inner surface of the tube of the second guide portion 52b and the pusher head 54a so that the pusher head 54a described later can smoothly move.

  The pusher 54 has a pusher head 54a having an extrusion surface that directly contacts the packing material 14. The pusher head 54a includes a plurality of pusher heads 54a that vertically penetrate the pusher head 54a as shown in FIG. The suction port 54c is formed. The pusher head 54a is connected to a piston 54b located above the piston rod 54d via the piston rod 54d, and the piston 54b is driven by the drive unit 26, whereby the pusher head 54a causes the packing material 14 to move to the intermediate supply position P1. It reciprocates from a certain position to a position at the final supply position P2. The pusher 54 operates in synchronization with the kicker 32.

  The space above the pusher head 54a is a suction chamber 56. The suction chamber 56 communicates with the blower 42 via a duct 58, and is constantly at a negative pressure by the suction action of the blower 42 during the supply operation. .

The blower 42 has a characteristic that the suction air volume is large and the suction force is low (for example, the suction force is −8 kPa (actual measurement value), and the air volume is 1000 L / min to 140 L / min). For example, a ring blower type pneumatic blower is used. Can be used. A duct is connected to the suction port of the blower 42, and the duct is branched into the duct 40 and the duct 58.

  The drive unit 26 includes a drive motor 60, a crank plate 62 to which the rotational force from the drive motor 60 is transmitted via the gear box 61, and a crank shaft that transmits the rotational motion of the crank plate 62 to the kicker 32 in a reciprocating motion. 64, a timing belt 66 to which the rotational force from the drive motor 60 is transmitted via the gear box 61 and the pulley 65, a crank plate 68 connected to the output pulley 67 of the timing belt 66, and the rotational motion of the crank plate 68 And a crankshaft 70 that transmits the pusher 54 in a reciprocating motion.

  The operation of the supply device 10 configured as described above will be described.

  A plurality of packing materials 14 are stacked on the stack portion 30. At this time, if the packing material 14 is warped, a gap is formed between the adjacent packing materials 14. When the mass of the packing material 14 is large, the generation of a gap can be prevented to some extent by the mass of the packing material 14 placed on the packing material 14, but when the mass of the packing material 14 is small, or the packing laminated on the stack portion 30. When the remaining amount of the material 14 is reduced, the gap remains formed.

  However, the packing material 14 in the lowermost stage is above the suction port 36 formed on the lower surface of the stack portion 30 and receives the suction force from the blower 42, so that the warp is corrected and becomes a flat shape. be able to. For this reason, the packing material 14 in the lowest stage can be surely pushed out without the kicker 32 swinging.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the kicker 32 passes through the gate 31 together with the packing material 14 and supplies the packing material 14 to the intermediate supply position P <b> 1 along the conveyance surface 34.

  The suction force from the blower 42 is not so great as to impede the supply of the kicker 32, and the receiving portion 32a of the kicker 32 presses one side of the packing material 14 as a whole. Can be reliably supplied. Rather, the suction force from the blower 42 gives a certain amount of braking force to the packing material 14, so that the packing material 14 is not pushed away by the impact of the kicker 32 and is properly pushed out while being in contact with the kicker 32.

  Furthermore, when the kicker 32 pushes out the packing material 14, the kicker 32 itself receives a suction force from the blower 42 to reciprocate above the suction chamber 38 and the suction port 36. For this reason, even if the kicker 32 itself is warped because the kicker 32 is thin, the warp of the kicker 32 itself can be corrected, and the kicker 32 itself can be prevented from coming into contact with the gate 31. Can do.

  Thus, when the packing material 14 is supplied to the intermediate supply position P1, the packing material 14 is pushed downward by the pusher 54. At this time, the packing material 14 is overlapped with the suction port 54c of the pusher head 54a. In order to receive the suction force from the blower 42, the warp is corrected and the pusher head 54a follows the pusher head 54a without falling by its own weight. It is pushed out, moves along the pipe of the vertical guide 52, and is pushed into the cap 12 waiting under the vertical guide 52.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a clearance between the first guide portion 52a of the vertical guide portion 52 and the packing material 14 so that the packing material 14 can smoothly move as described above. Although the airtightness of the suction chamber 56 is not completely maintained, the suction force in the suction chamber 56 is hardly reduced, so that the suction of the packing material 14 to the pusher head 54a is not affected.

  The pusher head 54a is inserted into the cap 12, and feeds the packing material 14 over the rib 12a in the cap 12 to the final supply position P2. When the packing material 14 reaches the final supply position P2, the pusher head 54a protrudes downward from the vertical guide portion 52, and there is a gap between the upper end of the pusher head 54a and the lower end of the vertical guide portion 52. Is formed. The suction chamber 56 is opened to the atmospheric pressure through this gap, and the suction force of the packing material 14 is reduced at this point.

  Thus, since the pusher head 54a restrains the packing material 14 with the suction force until it reaches the final supply position P2, the posture of the packing material 14 is not disturbed and is supplied to the final supply position P2 in the correct posture. can do. Further, since the suction chamber 56 is opened to the atmospheric pressure when the final supply position P2 is reached, the packing material 14 can be correctly stored in the final supply position P2.

  In the above example, the packing material 14 which is a material to be supplied has a small circular shape. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be similarly applied to a large and thin material to be supplied. Even in this case, in the lateral supply, the material to be supplied is reliably conveyed without being tilted by the kicker 32 almost pushing the non-supply side surface of the material to be supplied to the supply position, thereby eliminating the need for a feed roller. be able to. Further, the warp of the material to be supplied and the kicker 32 can be corrected and the gate 31 can be passed through both.

  Further, in the vertical supply, the material to be supplied is restrained by the suction force, so that the material to be supplied is reliably conveyed without being disturbed in its posture and falling by its own weight. Moreover, it is possible to release the restraint of the material to be supplied by opening the suction chamber to atmospheric pressure at a desired position.

  In both the lateral and vertical supply described above, the suction force uses the suction force of the blower and is different from vacuum suction. Therefore, the suction force is small compared to the suction force by vacuum, but there is no need to consider airtightness, and there is no need to switch the suction force on / off. Since the suction force can be released by opening the switch, the switching valve or the like can be dispensed with, and a device suitable for speeding up can be obtained.

It is a schematic sectional drawing of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing showing the effect | action of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing showing the effect | action of the supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing and a perspective view of a packing material which is a material to be supplied by this embodiment, and a cap to which the packing material is supplied. It is a top view of a kicker. It is the figure seen along the 8-8 line of FIG. It is the figure seen along the 9-9 line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Supply device 14 Packing material (supplied material)
30 Stack part (container)
32 Kicker (Extruded member)
32a Receiving portion 34 Conveying surface 36 Suction port 42 Blower 52 Vertical guide 54 Pusher (pushing member)
54c Suction port P1 Intermediate supply position P2 Final supply position

Claims (6)

A supply device for supplying a thin material to be supplied to a predetermined supply position,
A tubular vertical guide for guiding the material to be supplied vertically downward;
An extruding member that reciprocates to extrude a material to be supplied along a vertical guide portion in a vertical direction;
A suction port is formed on the extrusion surface of the extrusion member that comes into contact with the material to be supplied, and the suction port is constantly under negative pressure by the suction action by the blower.
The supply device, wherein the push-out member pushes the inside of the pipe of the vertical guide portion downward while sucking the supply material, and supplies the supply material to the supply position. When extruded to be supplies material to the supply position, the suction port upper supply apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it is opened to the atmospheric pressure. A supply device for supplying a thin material to be supplied to a predetermined supply position,
An accommodating portion capable of accommodating one or more materials to be supplied in a stacked state in a vertical direction;
A first extruding member that reciprocates to extrude the lowermost material to be supplied in the housing portion along the conveying surface in a lateral direction and to supply the intermediate supply position;
A tubular vertical guide for guiding the material to be supplied that has reached the intermediate supply position vertically downward;
A second extruding member that reciprocates to extrude the material to be supplied along the vertical guide portion in the vertical direction and supply the material to the final supply position;
A suction port is formed on the lower surface of the housing portion, and a second suction port is formed on the extrusion surface that contacts the material to be supplied of the second extrusion member. A supply device characterized in that a negative pressure is always maintained above the mouth by suction action by a blower. The supply apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the thin material to be supplied includes a foam sheet. Wherein the first pusher member, said suction Prompt, supply device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the supplying the feed material passes while extruding the feed material to said intermediate supply position. When the second pusher member is extruded to be supplies material to the final supplying position, the second suction port upwards according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that it is opened to the atmospheric pressure Feeding device.

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