JP2501352B2 - Article removing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for taking out articles, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for taking out small capsule-shaped articles stored in a tray conveyed by a conveyor. .

[Prior Art] A small capsule in which a liquid fragrance is enclosed is conveyed by a conveyor while being placed in a tray.

There are various means for taking out the small capsules from the tray being transported.

For example, there are means for retrieving the small capsule by reversing the tray and allowing it to fall naturally, means for sucking the small capsule from the tray by suction, means for inserting a pin into the hole of the tray bottom plate, and pushing out the small capsule from the tray.

[Problems to be Solved by the Present Invention] However, such means must reverse the tray itself, supply suction to the tray, or insert pins while the tray is intermittently stopped. Therefore, it is difficult to match the timing of taking out the small capsules, and there are drawbacks such that the small capsules cannot be completely taken out from the tray, and it cannot be said that the usability is excellent.

Further, in the device provided with these take-out means, the small capsule cannot be automatically taken out while the tray is in the transporting state, so that a special mechanism is indispensable for taking out the small capsule and cannot be easily installed.

For example, when the tray is inverted during transportation, the conveyor must be improved and a special mechanism for inverting the conveyor itself must be provided.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an article taking-out method and an apparatus for taking out articles from a tray with a simple configuration without stopping the conveyance of the tray. To do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the article taking-out method according to the first aspect of the invention, compressed air is blown to a position corresponding to a through hole on a bottom surface of a tray in which a concave portion for accommodating an article having a through hole on the bottom surface is formed, and a concave portion is formed. The gist is to take out the articles from the tray by blowing the articles stored in the tray upward.

The article take-out device according to the second aspect of the invention is intended for a tray having a large number of recesses for accommodating articles arranged on the upper surface and through holes penetrating from each of the recesses to the bottom surface, and is arranged below the tray transport path. An air chamber, a compressor connected to the air chamber and supplying compressed air,
An electromagnetic valve that is inserted between the air chamber and the compressor and controls the supply of compressed air from the compressor to the air chamber, and is arranged in a line across the transfer path on the upper surface of the air chamber. While the compressed air is being supplied, the blowout nozzle row that discharges the compressed air upward, and the control signal that opens the solenoid valve when the tray is passing above the blowout nozzle row as the tray is transported And a collecting unit that is arranged above the blowing nozzle row across the transport path and that collects the articles blown upward from the concave portion of the tray.

[Operation] According to the first invention, the articles on the tray are blown off by the compressed air blown from the bottom surface of the tray through the through hole.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the tray starts to pass through the blowing nozzle row along with the transportation of the tray, the control signal is output from the detector, the compressed air is supplied from the compressor to the air chamber, and The compressed air in the air chamber is blown toward the bottom surface of the tray, that is, the opening end of the through hole from the blowing nozzle array, and blows the articles stored in the recessed portion of the tray upward. The articles blown off from the tray are received by the collecting means. When the tray passes the blowing nozzle row, the output of the control signal from the detector is stopped and the solenoid valve is closed, supplying compressed air from the compressor to the air chamber, that is, blowing the compressed air from the blowing nozzle row. Is stopped.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the article take-out device according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the article take-out method according to the present invention blows compressed air toward the through-hole 1 opened on the bottom surface 3a of the tray 3, and the through-hole 1 is communicated to store the article. By introducing the compressed air into the concave portion 2 for use, the small capsule 4 housed in the concave portion 2 is blown upward and the small capsule 4 is taken out from the tray 3.

Blowing compressed air, for example, the length of the article 13.8mm,
For a small capsule with a diameter of 6 mm and a weight of 0.36 g, the discharge speed should be about 50 m / sec.

The discharge pressure in this case is about 0.5 to 0.7 kg / cm ² .

Here, regarding the blowing of compressed air, the conveyor 5
During the transport of the tray 3 above, when the through holes 1 of the tray 3 are positioned coaxially with respect to the corresponding blowing nozzles 6 of the blowing nozzle row, that is, when they match each other,
Although the compressed air is blown out from the blow-out nozzle 6, the compressed air may be blown out before and after a slight match.

Further, in addition to the vertical blowing direction, the compressed air may be blown out in a tilted manner in combination with the carrying direction of the tray 3 when the carrying direction of the tray 3 is vertically inclined. .

The tray 3 used here, as shown in FIG.
The whole is in the shape of a flat plate with a square frame 31 around it.
Is attached.

The tray 3 includes recesses 2 which are regularly arranged vertically and horizontally.
In addition, the small capsule 4 can be stored.

 Next, the article take-out device according to the present invention will be described.

The take-out device includes an air chamber 7 having a blow nozzle 6 for compressed air, a compressor 8 for supplying compressed air to the air chamber 7, and a connecting pipe 9 between the air chamber 7 and the compressor 8 (indicated by a chain line in the figure). (1) A solenoid valve 10 for controlling compressed air supply, which is attached in the middle of (1), and a detector 11 which sends a control signal to the solenoid valve 10 when the approach of the tray 3 is detected. The blowing nozzle 6 and the air chamber 7 are arranged below the conveyor 5.

A plurality of blowing nozzles 6 are attached so as to project from the upper surface of the air chamber 7. More specifically, the blowout nozzles 6 are arranged in a row in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the conveyor 5 to form a blowout nozzle row. That is,
The blowout nozzle row extends parallel to the roller shaft of the conveyor 5.

The distance between the blow-out nozzles 6 is equal to the distance between the through holes 1 in the rows of the tray 3 when viewed in the transport direction of the tray 3, and the upper end of each blow-out nozzle 6, that is, the tip thereof is between the rollers 51 of the conveyor 5. It is located at a position that is inside and slightly lower than the upper surface of the roller 51 of the conveyor 5.

Guides 12 that define the passages of the tray 3 are arranged in a row just above the conveyor 5 on both sides thereof, and the trays are provided between the guides 12 located immediately above the air chamber 7 in one row. A detector 11 for detecting the approach of 3 is provided.

The detector 11 outputs a control signal when detecting the approach of the tray 3, the electromagnetic valve 10 is opened in response to the output of the control signal, and the compressed air is blown out from each of the blowout nozzles 6 of the blowout nozzle row.

On the other hand, a recovery mechanism for the small capsules 4 is arranged above the conveyor 5, and the recovery mechanism includes a guide block 13 for restricting the protruding direction of the small capsules 4,
A cover 14 for preventing scattering is provided.

The guide block 13 has a thin plate shape as a whole, and the lower surface thereof faces the blowing nozzle row and extends along the blowing nozzle row. In the guide block 13, a through passage 13a corresponding to the size of the small capsule 4 is formed corresponding to the concave portion 2 of the tray 3, that is, each blowing nozzle 6 of the blowing nozzle row.

Although not shown, instead of the guide block 13, for example, a pipe having an inner diameter that matches the size of the small capsule 4 is aligned with the position of each blow nozzle 6 in the blow nozzle row
They may be arranged in a line.

The cover 14 extends from the upper end surface of the guide block 13 to the through passage 13a.
Is formed in a semicircular dome shape extending so as to cover the upper part of the.

The recovery mechanism further includes a chute 16 located below the cover 14, and the chute 16 is guided to the storage container 15 arranged on the side of the conveyor 5.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned article take-out device will be described.

The tray 3 on which the small capsules 4 are mounted is guided on the conveyor 5 by the left and right guides 12 and is transported while maintaining a constant transport interval.

When the detector 11 detects the approach of the tray 3 as the tray 3 is conveyed, the electromagnetic valve 10 is opened by the control signal from the detector 11, and the compressed air is sent from the compressor 8 to the air chamber 7.

The air chamber 7 includes the blowout nozzles 6 of the blowout nozzle row.
Send compressed air evenly to.

When the through hole 1 of the tray 3 is positioned coaxially with the corresponding blow nozzle 6 in a state where the compressed air is blown from each blow nozzle 6 toward the bottom surface 3a of the tray 3, the through hole 1 of the tray 3 is arranged in the recess 2 of the tray 3. At its lower end, the small capsule 4 that is being received receives the compressed air introduced into the through hole 1 and is pushed upward by this compressed air.

As a result, the small capsules 4 on the tray 3 are pushed out sequentially from the tray 3 so that the small capsules 4 on the horizontal line are blown upward, whereby the small capsules 4 are taken out from the tray 3.

The small capsule 4 pushed out from the tray 3 is pushed up vertically in the through passage 13a of the guide block 13 and jumps out from the upper end opening thereof.

The small capsule 4 jumping out of the guide block 13 moves along the inner surface of the cover 14 and then drops on the chute 16.

The small capsules 4 dropped on the chute 16 are successively taken into a predetermined storage container 15.

When the small capsule 4 is taken out from the tray 3 and the empty tray 3 passes through the detector 11, the passage is detected by the detector 11.
Is detected by That is, at this point, the output of the control signal from the detector 11 is stopped, the solenoid valve 10 is closed,
The supply of compressed air from the compressor 8 to the air chamber 7, that is, the blowing of the compressed air from each of the blowing nozzles 6 in the blowing nozzle row is temporarily stopped.

Then, when the detector 11 detects the approach of the next tray 3, compressed air is again blown out from each of the blowing nozzles 6, and the small capsules 4 of the tray 3 are pushed up by the compressed air and taken out from the tray 3. Be done.

In this way, the compressed air is blown out from each of the blowout nozzles 6 only when the tray 3 is passing the detector 11, and the compressed air is blown out intermittently.

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention is as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

Compressed air is blown onto the bottom surface of the tray to blow the article upward from the tray, so that the article can be reliably taken out, which is excellent in usability.

In the case of a take-out device, it is possible to reliably and easily take out articles from the tray by simply blowing compressed air to the bottom surface of the tray in the course of conveyance without stopping the tray conveyance, and the taken-out article is taken out. Since it can be collected with a simple configuration, it can be easily installed on the transfer route.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1: Partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of an article take-out device according to the present invention FIG. 2: Partially omitted vertical sectional front view of the essential parts of FIG. 1 FIG. 3: Partially cutaway perspective view of a tray Fig. 1 ... Through hole, 2 ... Recessed portion, 3 ... Tray, 4 ... Small capsule, 5 ... Conveyor, 6 ... Blowing nozzle, 7 ... Air chamber, 8 ... Compressor, 10 ... Solenoid valve, 11 ... Detector, 13 ... Guide block, 14 ... Cover 15 ... Storage container, 16 ... Chute

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Bibliographic references Sho 53-129670 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A compressed air is blown to a position corresponding to the through hole on the bottom surface of the tray where a concave portion for accommodating an article having a through hole is formed on the bottom surface, and the article accommodated in the concave section is blown upward to blow the article from the tray. A method for taking out an article, comprising taking out an article. 2. A tray having a plurality of recesses for accommodating articles arranged on the upper surface and a through hole penetrating from each recess to the bottom is transported along a predetermined transport path, and in the transporting process, the recesses of the tray are conveyed. In the article take-out device for taking out articles stored in the air chamber, an air chamber arranged below the transport path, a compressor connected to the air chamber for supplying compressed air, and a space between the air chamber and the compressor. And a solenoid valve that controls the supply of compressed air from the compressor to the air chamber, and is arranged in line on the upper surface of the air chamber in a direction that traverses the transfer path and compresses the air chamber. During the air supply, compressed air is discharged upward, and when the tray is passing above, it is discharged. The compressed air is blown into the through holes on the bottom of the tray,
A blowout nozzle row that blows up the articles stored in the recessed portion, and a control signal that opens the solenoid valve when the tray is passing above the blowout nozzle row when the tray is conveyed. And a collecting unit that is arranged above the blowout nozzle row across the transport path of the tray and that collects the blown-off articles from the tray.