JP6043509B2 - Boxing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a boxing apparatus for articles.

  2. Description of the Related Art As a boxing apparatus for articles, a type of article that is vacuum-adsorbed by an adsorption head and inserted into a packaging box from above is well known. An example of this type of boxing device can be seen in US Pat.

  However, some articles are not suitable for vacuum adsorption. In such a case, a gripping member that holds the article from the outside may be used. An example of a boxing device that uses a gripping member can be seen in US Pat.

  Even if an article that can be vacuum-sucked is thin, if it is supposed to be stacked and packed in a box because of its thin shape, it takes too much time because it is put in a packing box by a suction head one by one. In such a case, a technique may be employed in which articles stacked in a predetermined number of stages outside the packing box are collectively held by a holding member and inserted into the packing box. An example of such a boxing device can be seen in US Pat.

  Another example of the boxing device for articles not suitable for vacuum adsorption is described in Patent Document 4. In this apparatus, a plurality of articles are arranged within a predetermined range of the base, and a packaging box with the opening portion on the bottom surface is placed on the base, and the base is inverted in this state to transfer the articles from the base to the packaging box. I am going to do that.

JP 2004-314980 A JP 2004-315042 A JP2011-207529A JP 2009-234641 A

  In a device of a type that grips an article with a gripping member and inserts the gripping member into a packaging box, such as the boxing device described in Patent Documents 2 and 3, a gap for extracting the gripping member is defined between the outer side of the article and the inner surface of the packaging box. It is necessary to provide between. For this reason, the packing box must be made larger, and the space efficiency during transportation and warehouse storage is deteriorated. There is also a problem that the goods are rattling inside the packing box.

  If it is the boxing apparatus described in patent document 4, it is not necessary to consider the clearance gap for extracting a holding member. However, there is a problem that the mechanism for reversing the base and the packing box becomes a large scale, which increases the size of the apparatus and reverses the top of the article.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and can efficiently pack an article that is not suitable for a method such as vacuum suction and insertion from above into a packaging box, and can be packaged in a relatively compact structure. An object is to provide an apparatus.

The boxing device according to the present invention crosses when a packaging device having a pair of flaps facing each other at the lower surface opening portion is held in a state where the pair of flaps are opened, and enters the upper surface in that state. A pair of forks capable of placing an article on the lift, a lift device that supports the pair of forks, and a movement toward or away from the pair of forks on the lift device. An actuator to be applied, a folding device for folding the pair of flaps in a direction to close a lower surface opening of the packing box, and a folding device disposed at a position not interfering with a moving range of the pair of forks; A loader for placing an article on the pair of forks and a control unit for controlling the whole, and the control unit sequentially performs the following control steps. In which:
Bringing the pair of forks closer to each other by the actuator,
Placing an article with the loader on the pair of forks in a crossed state;
Raising the lift device and inserting the article into the packing box from its lower surface opening;
Folding the pair of flaps with the folding device;
Separating the pair of forks by the actuator and allowing the forks to escape from between the article and the flap;
Lowering the lift device after the pair of forks are completely out of the packing box.

  In the boxing device configured as described above, it is preferable that a guide for guiding the article supported by the pair of forks to the inside of the packing box is disposed.

  In the boxing device having the above-described configuration, it is preferable that a bottom plate supply device for placing the bottom plate remaining in the packaging box together with the article is placed on the fork prior to placing the article.

  According to the present invention, an article is placed on a pair of forks brought close to each other and crossed, the fork is raised, and the article is inserted into the packaging box from below. An article that is not suitable for a method of closing a pair of flaps with a folding device and then separating the fork to escape from between the article and the flap to the outside of the packaging box, so that it is vacuum-sucked and inserted into the packaging box from above. Even so, it can be packed efficiently. Since there is no need to provide a gap between the outer side of the article and the inner surface of the packaging box, there is no need to make the packaging box larger, and space efficiency during transportation and warehouse storage is improved. Goods do not rattle inside the packaging box. Since a large reversing device is not required, the device can be made compact. It can also be boxed while maintaining the correct top-to-bottom relationship.

It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the boxing system containing the boxing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a front view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the boxing apparatus concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a different state. It is a front view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a still different state. It is a top view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a different state. It is a front view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a still different state. It is a top view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of invention, and shows a different state further. It is a front view of the boxing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a still different state. It is a control block diagram of the boxing apparatus concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the articles | goods to be packed. It is a perspective view which shows the other examples of the articles | goods to be packed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The boxing system 1 shown in FIG. 1 packs a flat and thin article A such as a packaged patch into a cardboard packaging box B in a stacked state, and its schematic configuration is as follows.

  The articles A are arranged in a line at a predetermined interval on the article carry-in conveyor 10 and are sequentially sent. Two article carrying conveyors 10 are provided. A rotary table 11 is arranged at the end of the article carrying conveyor 10, and articles A are dropped one by one into a stacking guide cylinder 12 placed on the rotary table 11, and a predetermined number of sheets are stacked. When a predetermined number of articles A are dropped into the stacking guide cylinder 12, the rotary table 11 rotates 180 °, and the empty stacking guide cylinder 12 starts receiving the articles A. The full stack guide tube 12 is delivered from the rotary table 11 to the relay conveyor 13. The relay conveyor 13 carries the full stack guide tube 12 received from the two rotary tables 11 to the stacking unit 14.

  In the stacking unit 14, two full stacking guide cylinders 12 are arranged, and the pillars of the articles A stacked from there are pushed up. A cardboard partition C supplied from the partition supply unit 15 is inserted between the two pillars of the stacked articles A arranged side by side. Thereafter, the pillars of the two articles A together with the partition C are placed on the lift device 31 of the boxing device 30 by a loader 32 that also forms part of the boxing device 30. The lift device 31 receives the article A from the loader 32 at a position away from the work position for inserting the article A into the packing box B, and moves to the insertion work position.

  The boxing device 30 is provided with a bottom plate supply device 16. The bottom plate supply device 16 places the cardboard bottom plate D on the lift device 31 before the loader 32 places the article A on the lift device 31. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, when four columns of articles A are placed on the bottom plate D, the lift device 31 moves to the insertion work position.

  The packaging boxes B are supplied to the packaging device 30 one by one from the packaging box supply device 17. The packaging box B has a normal rectangular parallelepiped shape, and includes two pairs of flaps at the upper surface opening and the lower surface opening of the trunk. Although the packaging box B is held in the packaging box supply device 17 in a state of being folded flat, it is opened during the supply to the boxing device 30 and has a box shape with the upper and lower surfaces opened. The packaging box B is held in its shape by a holding device described later. The lift device 31 inserts the article A into the packing box B from the lower surface.

  After the article A is inserted into the packaging box B, a folding device described later folds one pair of the two pairs of flaps in the lower surface opening of the packaging box B so that the article A does not fall out. Thereafter, the packaging box B is conveyed to the document input device 19 by the relay conveyor 18. In the process, the remaining pair of flaps of the lower surface opening of the packaging box B is folded, and the lower surface opening of the packaging box B is closed.

  A document E such as a manual of the article A is input to the packaging box B that has arrived at the document input device 19 from the upper surface opening that is still open at this time. Thereafter, the packing box B is carried to the sealing device 20. In the process, the two pairs of flaps of the upper surface opening of the packaging box B are folded one by one in order, and the upper surface opening of the packaging box B is closed.

  In the sealing device 20, the adhesive tape F is affixed to the joint of the flap on the lower surface of the packaging box B and the joint of the flap on the upper surface, and the packaging box B is in a sealed state. The relay conveyor 18 carries the sealed packaging box B to the carry-out conveyor 21, and the carry-out conveyor 21 sends the packaging box B to the next process.

  Next, the structure of the boxing device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The boxing device 30 includes the following components in addition to the lift device 31 and the loader 32 described above. That is, the holding device 33 that holds the packaging box B, the guide 34 that guides the article A placed on the lift device 31 to the inside of the packaging box B, and the folding device 35 that folds the flap at the lower surface opening of the packaging box B. It is.

  As described above, the packaging box B includes two pairs of flaps in the upper surface opening Bb and the lower surface opening Bc of the rectangular parallelepiped body portion Ba. Of the two pairs of flaps provided in the upper surface opening Bb, one pair is the long side flap Bd and the other pair is the short side flap Be. Of the two pairs of flaps provided in the lower surface opening Bc, one pair is the long side flap Bf, and the other pair is the short side flap Bg.

  The short side flap Be is folded before the long side flap Bd, and the short side flap Bg is folded before the long side flap Bf. When folded, a gap is created between the tips of the pair of short side flaps Be, and a gap is also created between the tips of the pair of short side flaps Bg. On the other hand, when the pair of long side flaps Bd is folded, the tips contact each other, and when the pair of long side flaps Bf are also folded, the tips contact each other.

  The packaging box B that has undergone the hoisting process holds the body portion Ba with the long side flaps Bd and short side flaps Be on the upper surface and the long side flaps Bf and short side flaps Bg on the lower surface both open. It is held by the device 33. The guide 34 rises there.

  The guide 34 is composed of four members. As shown in FIG. 3, each member has an L-order when viewed from above. The four members are located at the four corners formed by the long side flap Bf and the short side flap Bg. The outer surfaces of the four members each have a shape obtained by cutting out a part of a quadrangular pyramid, and the four pieces gather to form a quadrangular pyramid-shaped virtual plane on the outer surface side of the guide 34. For this reason, when the guide 34 is pushed up by an actuator (not shown), the guide 34 pushes and expands the pair of long side flaps Bf and the pair of short side flaps Bg in a taper shape that expands downward. Since the long side flap Bf and the short side flap Bg are held in the open state in this way, the guide 34 also constitutes a part of the holding device 33.

  The four members of the guide 34 are made of sheet metal, and the inner surface side has a shape obtained by cutting off a part of the quadrangular pyramid. This inner surface serves as a guide surface for guiding the article A into the body Ba of the packaging box B.

  The lift device 31 supports a pair of forks 36 on the upper surface. The fork 36 is made of sheet metal, and when viewed from the side, it has an inverted L shape in which the horizontal portion extends from the upper end of the vertical portion. Three claws 36a are formed in the horizontal portion. The pair of forks 36 are arranged to face each other so that the claws 36a of one fork 36 and the claws 36a of the other fork 36 are alternately combined.

  The pair of forks 36 are supported so as to be linearly movable in the horizontal direction, in the left-right direction in FIG. One actuator 37 for one fork 36 is disposed on the upper surface of the lift device 31. The two actuators 37 in total give the pair of forks 36 movements that move toward each other or move away from each other. An air cylinder or a motor can be used as the actuator 37.

  FIGS. 2 and 3 show a state in which the actuator 37 has moved toward the pair of forks 36. As shown in FIG. 3, the claw 36 a of one fork 36 protrudes from between the claw 36 a of the other fork 36. This state is referred to herein as a “crossover state”. When the fork 36 is in the crossed state, the article can be placed on the upper surface thereof.

  FIGS. 7 and 8 show a state in which the actuator 37 moves the pair of forks 36 away from each other. As shown in FIG. 8, the claw 36a of the one fork 36 and the claw 36a of the other fork 36 are only combined with each other at a shallow end. This state is referred to as a “separated state” in this specification.

  The folding device 35 includes a pair of horizontal rotation shafts 35a disposed so as to be positioned outside the short side flap Bg, and claws 35b fixed to the horizontal rotation shaft 35a. Three claws 35b are provided in the same manner as the claws 36a of the fork 36, and are arranged at positions that do not interfere with the movement range of the claws 36a of the fork 36.

  The claw 35b is rotated from the angle shown in FIG. 2 to the angle shown in FIG. 5 and vice versa by rotating the horizontal rotation shaft 35a by an actuator (not shown). A rotary type air cylinder or motor can be used as the actuator.

  More precisely speaking, the actuator for operating the boxing device 30 and its attached equipment is controlled by the control unit 40 shown in FIG. FIG. 10 only shows the lift device 31, the loader 32, the holding device 33, the guide 34, the folding device 35, the actuator 37 of the fork 36, and the bottom plate supply device 16 as objects to be controlled by the control unit. Other components of the system 1 can also be controlled by the control unit 40.

  Next, the operation of the boxing device 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a state where the lift device 31 that supports the article A with a pair of forks 36 has arrived under the packaging box B held by the holding device 33. Before this, the controller 40 makes the actuator 37 approach the pair of forks 36 to bring them into a crossed state, and places the bottom plate D supplied from the bottom plate supply device 16 on the crossed fork 36. And the step of placing the article A by the loader 32 on the bottom plate D supported by the fork 36 has been performed.

  The article A at this time has a shape in which four columns of the article A are arranged on the bottom plate D as shown in FIG. Note that the document E described in FIG. 11 does not exist at this point. As shown in FIG. 12, a configuration in which two columns of the article A are arranged on the bottom plate D is also possible.

  Next, the control device 40 raises the lift device 31 as shown in FIG. Then, the article A is inserted into the trunk portion Ba through the lower surface opening Bc of the packaging box B. The guide 34 helps the article A to be smoothly inserted into the body portion Ba.

  Next, the control device 40 rotates the claw 35b of the folding device 35 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. As a result, the short side flap Bg is folded so as to be perpendicular to the body portion Ba, or in other words, to close the lower surface opening Bc of the packaging box B. The lift amount of the lift device 31 is set so that the upper surface of the short side flap Bg folded in this way is in contact with the lower surface of the claw 36a of the fork 36. At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the claw 35b of the folding device 35 overlaps the claw 36a of the fork 36 with the short side flap Bg therebetween.

  As described above, the pair of short side flaps Bg face each other with a gap between them, and the claw 36a of the fork 36 enters the packaging box B through this gap. The claw 36a is sandwiched between the bottom plate D and the short side flap Bg inside the packaging box B.

  Next, the control device 40 operates the actuator 37 to place the pair of forks 36 apart as shown in FIG. Then, the claw 36a of the fork 36 sandwiched between the bottom plate D and the short side flap Bg escapes out of the packaging box B through the gap between the tips of the short side flap Bg. Since the claw 36a is in contact with the bottom plate D but is not in contact with the article A, the article A is not damaged by such movement of the claw 36a. As shown in FIG. 8, the claw 35 b of the folding device 35 is arranged at a position that does not interfere with the movement range of the claw 36 a, and the movement of the fork 36 is not hindered by the folding device 35.

  When the claw 36a of the fork 36 escapes from the packaging box B, the fork 36 supports the packaging box B via the short side flap Bg, and the packaging box B is slightly lifted. The holding device 33 has a structure capable of lifting the packaging box B like this.

  Next, the control device 40 lowers the lift device 31 as shown in FIG. Then, the packaging box B is supported by the claws 35b of the folding device 35. Thereafter, the packaging box B is unloaded from the boxing device 30 and goes to the document input device 19.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  The present invention can be used for an article boxing apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Box packing system 16 Bottom plate supply apparatus 30 Box packing apparatus 31 Lift apparatus 32 Loader 33 Holding apparatus 34 Guide 35 Folding apparatus 36 Fork 37 Actuator A Article B Packing box Bg Short side flap

Claims (3)

A holding device for holding a packaging box having two pairs of flaps whose directions facing the lower surface opening are orthogonal to each other , with the pair of flaps facing each other and opened;
A pair of forks capable of placing articles on the upper surface in a crossed state when approached;
A lifting device for supporting the pair of forks;
An actuator for providing the pair of forks on the lift device with movements approaching or separating from each other;
A folding device that folds one pair of flaps of the two pairs of flaps in a direction to close a lower surface opening of the packing box, and is disposed at a position that does not interfere with a moving range of the pair of forks; ,
A loader for placing an article on the pair of forks in a crossed state;
It has a control unit that controls the whole,
The boxing device characterized in that the controller sequentially performs the following control steps:
Bringing the pair of forks closer to each other by the actuator,
Placing an article with the loader on the pair of forks in a crossed state;
Raising the lift device and inserting the article from the lower surface opening into the packing box in a state where the flaps paired with the holding device face each other and open ,
Folding one pair of flaps of the two pairs of flaps prior to the other pair of flaps by the folding device;
Separating the pair of forks by the actuator in a direction in which the one pair of flaps is opposed, and allowing the forks to escape from between the article and the flaps;
Lowering the lift device after the pair of forks are completely out of the packing box.   The boxing device according to claim 1, wherein a guide for guiding the article supported by the pair of forks to the inside of the packing box is disposed.   The boxing device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a bottom plate supply device for placing the bottom plate remaining in the packing box together with the article on the fork prior to placement of the article.

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