JP3198989B2 - Article accumulation 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 stacking apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a stacking device for stacking articles in a predetermined number is known (for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-67939 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-80546). Such a conventional apparatus has a transport mechanism for transporting articles, and a plurality of holding units rotatably provided downstream of the transport mechanism and holding the articles, and stands up the articles supplied from the transport mechanism. And a delivery wheel for delivering the articles to the stacking position, and the articles are vertically stacked from the horizontal state and stacked by the delivery wheel.

[0003]

By the way, the delivery wheel of the above-mentioned conventional apparatus has a rotating shaft which is supported in a direction perpendicular to the carrying direction of the carrying mechanism, and a pair of rotating shafts which are vertically connected to both ends of the rotating shaft. And wheels. In such a conventional apparatus, the article is transported by the transport mechanism such that the longitudinal direction of the article is orthogonal to the transport direction. Then, the pair of rotating wheels hold the articles supplied from the transport mechanism while being orthogonal to the transport mechanism and transport the articles to the stacking position. As described above, in the related art, the articles are transported such that the longitudinal direction of the articles is orthogonal to the transport direction. However, the articles are transported so that the longitudinal direction of the articles is the same as the transport direction of the transport mechanism. There is a case where it is requested that the sheet be conveyed. For example, there is a case where a predetermined number of plate-shaped blister packages are superimposed and grouped in a band by a band, and the predetermined number is collected at an accumulation position. As described above, since the conventional delivery wheel has a pair of rotating wheels attached to both ends of the rotating shaft, if the conventional delivery wheel is adopted in such a case, the articles put together in a block form become a pair of rotating wheels. The overlapping state of the parts held by the rotating wheel and the parts not held by the rotating wheel is disordered, and therefore, the overlapping state of the block-like articles accumulated at the accumulation position is disordered.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of such circumstances,
The present invention has a transport mechanism for transporting an article, and a plurality of holding units rotatably provided downstream of the transport mechanism and holding the article, and erects the articles supplied from the transport mechanism to a stacking position. And a delivery wheel for delivering to the article, the delivery wheel,
Fixed supported in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the transport mechanism
A cylindrical member rotatably fitted to a shaft and both of the cylindrical member;
A pair of rotating wheels connected to each other at the end
And provided at a plurality of locations in the circumferential direction of these two rotating wheels.
And a said holding unit, also, the holding portion, said two rotary
A support member provided over the opposed position of the wheel and supporting the end face of the article that is on the front side in the transport direction when the transport mechanism transports the article, and supports the same end face as the end face supported by the transport mechanism in the article, and An extruding member that advances and retreats along the support surface of the support member in conjunction with the cylinder mechanism , and further includes the fixed shaft and the cylindrical member;
To supply and discharge compressed air to each of the above cylinder mechanisms
The number of passages is formed, and the holding portion is stopped at a position adjacent to the stacking position, and then the articles are extruded to the stacking position by the extruding member and delivered.

[0005]

According to such a configuration, when a plurality of articles are superimposed into a block by a band and conveyed such that the longitudinal direction of the articles is the same as the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism. Also, the plate-like articles can be transferred to the collecting position without being cluttered by the transfer wheel. More specifically, an end face on the front side in the transport direction of the articles arranged in a block shape is supported by a supporting member constituting a holding unit, and one of the other end faces of the articles arranged in a block shape is an extruding member. Supported by Therefore, the superposed state of each of the articles constituting the block is not disturbed. Therefore, the superposed state of the block-shaped articles accumulated at the accumulation position is not disturbed. On the other hand, similarly to the conventional apparatus, even when individual articles are transported by the transport mechanism such that the longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the transport mechanism, the articles are transferred to the stacking position by the delivery wheel without any trouble. Can be integrated. Therefore, it is possible to provide an article accumulating apparatus having higher versatility as compared with the related art.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an accumulating device for accumulating a predetermined number of plate-like articles. The stacking device 1 includes a conveyor 3 on which a plate-shaped article 2 is placed and transported in the direction of an arrow, a transfer wheel 4 rotatably provided at a position adjacent to a downstream end 3a, and a stacking position adjacent thereto. A and a mounting table 5 provided horizontally. The conveyor 3 includes a pair of left and right chains 6, 6 ', and a number of rollers 7 rotatably provided therebetween. The mounting surface for supporting the plate-like article 2 is constituted by the upper surfaces of the rollers 7, and the mounting surface is formed by inclining the downstream end 3a in the transport direction so that the height gradually decreases. The mounting surface on the upstream side of the inclined portion is made horizontal. The plate-like article 2 of the present embodiment is a rectangular blister packaged product in which tablets are stored in a large number of concave portions, and then all concave portions are covered with an aluminum sheet. In the present embodiment, instead of supplying each plate-like article 2 made of the blister packaged articles one by one to the conveyor 3 and transporting them, a plurality of sheets are collectively supplied to the conveyor 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a predetermined number of plate-like articles 2 are sequentially superimposed so that their contours are aligned, and then a band 8 is wrapped around them to form one block B as a whole. Each block B composed of the predetermined number of plate-like articles 2 is set such that the longitudinal direction of each plate-like article 2 is the same as the conveying direction of the conveyor 3,
And three pairs of end faces (B1, B2, B
The block B is supplied to the conveyor 3 so that one of the largest end faces B3 of 3) is placed on the placement surface of the conveyor 3. Accordingly, each block B is conveyed by the conveyor 3 in that state and supplied to the transfer wheel 4.

As will be described in detail later, the delivery wheel 4
Since five holding portions 4A are provided at equally spaced positions in the circumferential direction and are configured to be intermittently rotated clockwise at a predetermined pitch, each holding portion 4A is moved from the conveyor 3 to the block B.
Are sequentially stopped at the supply position C to which is supplied. This allows
The block B is supplied from the downstream end portion 3a of the conveyor 3 to each holding portion 4A at the supply position C, and the block B held by each holding portion 4A is moved to a position adjacent to the accumulation position A by rotation of the transfer wheel 4. And is transferred to the stacking position A by the pushing member 17 provided in the holding section 4A. The mounting table 5 provided at the stacking position A
Is set to such a size that five blocks B transferred from the transfer wheel 4 can be placed at the same time.

Thus, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, the delivery wheel 4 of the present embodiment
A pair of rotating wheels 12 fitted to the outer peripheral portions on both end sides of the
12 and 5 provided between the rotating wheels 12 and 12.
And a holding portion 4A. A fixed shaft 14 is attached to the fixed frame 13 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 3 and horizontally, and the cylindrical member 11 is rotatably fitted on the fixed shaft 14. Each rotating wheel 12 is provided with five protruding portions 12a extending in the radial direction at circumferentially equal intervals, and connects the support members 15 over the mutually opposing protruding portions 12a of the left and right rotating wheels 12. ing. As shown in FIG. 9, the support member 15 is a 90-
Each of the left and right rotating wheels 1 is formed by bending both sides of an intermediate flat surface 15a among the three flat surfaces.
2 are connected to the mutually protruding protrusions 12a. In this embodiment, the flat surface 15 of the support member 15 is used.
a is a supporting surface that supports the end surface B of the block B. A cylinder mechanism 16 is connected to the back surface of the flat surface 15b, which is orthogonal to the flat surface 15a and is on the rear side in the rotation direction, orthogonal to the flat surface 15b. Flat surface 15a from through hole 15b
It can be protruded to the side. On the surface of the flat surface 15b, a plate-like extruding member 17 is arranged in parallel with the flat surface 15b, and the piston of the cylinder mechanism 16 is connected to the center of the extruding member 17. One end of a pair of guide shafts 18 is connected to the pushing member 17 at right angles to the longitudinal direction, that is, in parallel with the piston of the cylinder mechanism 16, and these guide members 18 are inserted into the guide holes 15 c of the flat surface 15 b. It is slidably penetrated. When the cylinder mechanism 16 is not operated, the pushing member 1
7 is located at the retreat end and overlaps with the flat surface 15b,
When compressed air is supplied to the cylinder mechanism 16 and the cylinder mechanism 16 is operated, the pushing member 17 is advanced along the flat surface 15a to an advanced end position separated from the flat surface 15b by a predetermined distance. The support member 15 and the pushing member 17 described above are disposed between the opposed protruding portions 12a of the pair of rotating wheels 12, respectively.
Each of the pushing members 17 has a cylinder mechanism 16.
Is linked. The holding member 4A is constituted by the support member 15 and the pushing member 17. Block B is a holding unit 4 stopped at the feeding position C from the conveyor 3.
A, and at this time, the block B is attached to the end surface B1 on the front side in the transport direction by the flat surface 15a of the support member 15.
And the end face B3 supported by the conveyor 3 is supported by an extruding member 17 (see FIG. 1).

Next, a description will be given of the relationship of passages for supplying and discharging compressed air to and from each cylinder mechanism 16. In the present embodiment, each cylinder mechanism 16 includes the two rotating wheels 12 and the holding unit 4.
Since it rotates together with A, the fixed shaft 14 and the cylindrical member 11 fitted thereto are used as a passage for compressed air. That is, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 10, ten annular grooves 14 a are formed at predetermined positions in the axial direction on the outer peripheral portion of the fixed shaft 14. In addition, the fixed shaft 14 has
A total of five sets of two axial communication passages 14b are formed extending from both end surfaces of the fixed shaft 14 to the center side, and the ends of these communication passages 14b on the center side are the annular grooves. 14
a, and the outer ends of these communication passages 14b are opened at the end face of the fixed shaft 14. In each pair of communication passages 14b, one of the pair is used as a compressed air supply passage, and the other is used as a compressed air discharge passage. Furthermore, each set of communication paths 14
The end of the supply passage b, which is opened at the end face of the fixed shaft 14, is connected to a compressed air supply source via a conduit (not shown). On the other hand, the end face of the fixed shaft 14 in the discharge passage of each set of the communication passages 14b communicates with the atmosphere as described above (see FIGS. 7 and 8). On the other hand, in the cylindrical member 11, one pair of two is formed so that a total of five pairs are formed so as to overlap with the ten annular grooves 14a on the outer peripheral portion of the fixed shaft 14.
Zero radial through holes 11a are formed. The supply conduit 21 and the discharge conduit 21 ′ of each cylinder mechanism 16 are connected to the through holes 11a of each set. Thereby, each cylinder mechanism 16 is connected to the supply conduit 21 connected thereto and the through hole 11 of the cylindrical member 11 communicating therewith.
a and a supply source of compressed air (not shown) through a supply passage of an internal space of the annular groove 14a and a communication passage 14b communicating therewith. Each cylinder mechanism 16 has a discharge conduit 21 'connected thereto, a through hole 11a of the cylindrical member 11 communicating therewith, and an annular groove 14 communicating therewith.
a, and communicates with the atmosphere through the discharge passage of the communication hole 14b communicating therewith. Each cylinder mechanism 1
6 is located at the retracted end in a non-operating state in which compressed air is not supplied from the compressed air supply source. At that time, the pushing member 17 is located at the retracted end and overlaps with the flat surface 15b of the support member 15. I have. On the other hand, when the compressed air is supplied from the supply source of the compressed air to each of the cylinder mechanisms 16 and the cylinder mechanism 16 is operated, the pushing member 17 moves the flat surface 1
It is designed to advance by a predetermined amount to the advance end position along 5a. When the supply of the compressed air to each cylinder mechanism 16 is stopped, the push-out member 17 retreats to the position of the retreat end.

Next, a driving source for intermittently rotating the transfer wheel 4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the cylindrical member 11 is linked to a motor 23 via a plurality of gears 22. When the motor 23 is intermittently driven, the two rotating wheels 12 are brought into contact with the adjacent protrusions 12a.
The (holding portion 4A) is intermittently rotated clockwise with a distance of 1 pitch. When both rotating wheels 12 are intermittently rotated and temporarily stopped, the holding unit 4
A is located at the supply position C, and the supply position C
The holding portion 4A on the front side in the rotation direction is located at a position adjacent to the stacking position A (FIG. 1). The holding portion 4A located at the supply position C is configured such that the pushing member 17 constituting the holding portion 4A is flush with the mounting surface of the conveyor 3. Further, the holding portion 4A located at a position adjacent to the stacking position A has its pushing member 17 supported in the vertical direction, the support member 15 supported horizontally, and the holding member 4A at the same level as the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A. It is configured to be. Further, a sensor 24 for detecting that the block B has been supplied to the holding portion 4A of the supply position C is provided on a side portion of the supply position C. Also, on the side of the conveyor 3 near the downstream end 3a of the conveyor 3,
A stopper (not shown) is provided movably. When the sensor 24 detects that the block B has been supplied from the downstream end 3a of the conveyor 3 to the holding portion 4A at the supply position C, the stopper is advanced and the succeeding block B is moved to the supply position C. It is configured to prevent supply.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a plate-shaped fall prevention member 25 is disposed on the opposite side of the conveyor 3 with respect to the delivery wheel 4. A guide member 26 having a guide hole is horizontally attached to an end of the mounting table 5, and two rod-like members 27 are slidably penetrated through the guide member 26, and the tips of the two rod-like members 27 are attached to the tipping prevention members 25
It is connected to. As a result, the overturn prevention member 25 is supported in the vertical direction, and in that state, can be translated in the same direction as the transport direction of the conveyor 3. A cylinder mechanism 28 is attached to the fixed frame 13 in parallel with the bar-shaped member 27, and a piston of the cylinder mechanism 28 is connected to the overturn prevention member 25 via a bracket. In the inoperative state of the cylinder mechanism 28, the overturn prevention member 25 is located at the retracted end shown by the solid line in FIG.
By actuating 8, the overturn prevention member 25 is advanced to the advanced end shown by the imaginary line in FIGS. In this state,
The overturn prevention member 25 is substantially supported at an end of the mounting table 5 on the side of the delivery wheel 4 or at a position slightly retracted therefrom. The overturn prevention member 25 advanced to the forward end in this manner is accompanied by the transfer of the plurality of blocks B from the holding portion 4A of the transfer wheel 4 to the mounting table 5 at the accumulation position A as shown in FIG. , One block B, that is, the pushing member 1 of each holding portion 4A
7 is pushed back. Therefore, the end face of the block B first sent onto the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A and the overturn prevention member 25 facing the end face are
The contact state is maintained until a predetermined number of blocks B are stacked on the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A.

(Explanation of Operation) In the above configuration, the overturn prevention member 25 is located at the forward end shown by the imaginary line, the delivery wheel 4 is stopped as shown in FIG. 2, and each cylinder mechanism 16 is inactive. The first block B conveyed by the conveyor 3 is supplied from the downstream end 3a of the conveyor 3 to the holding section 4A at the supply position C and held there. At this time, the block B is an end surface B on the front side in the transport direction.
1 is supported by the flat surface 15a of the support member 15, and the end surface B3 supported by the conveyor 3 is
Supported by Therefore, although the block B is formed by stacking a plurality of plate-like members 2 together, the block B held by the holding portion 4A at the supply position C
Does not shift or disturb the superimposed state of each plate-like article 2 constituting it. Next, block B
Is supplied to the holding portion 4A at the supply position C, the block B is detected by the sensor 24, so that the above-described stopper is advanced and the subsequent block B on the conveyor 3 is moved to the downstream end of the conveyor 3. Blocked from being transported.
Next, the transfer wheel 4 is rotated clockwise by one pitch and stopped. As a result, the leading block B held in the holding unit 4A is moved from the supply position C to the accumulation position A.
Is transported to a position adjacent to the mounting table 5 and is erected in the vertical direction from the rollover state. In addition, the mounting table 5
The block B located at a position adjacent to is located close to and opposes the overturn prevention member 25 waiting at the forward end.

Thereafter, the holding section 4A holding the block B
Since the compressed air is supplied to the cylinder mechanism 16 that is linked to the pushing operation, the pushing member 17 is advanced to the forward end. As a result, the block B is pushed out from the holding portion 4A onto the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A, and the end face of the block B comes into contact with the pushing member 17 opposed thereto, and the block B is placed while pushing the pushing member 17 back. It is placed on the table 5. Thereafter, the supply of the compressed air to the cylinder mechanism 16 is stopped, so that the push-out member 17 that has been advanced on the mounting table 5 is retracted to the original retracted end. Thereafter, since the stopper is retracted, the second block B is supplied from the conveyor 3 to the holding portion 4A at the supply position C by the conveyor 3. Then, since the block B is detected by the sensor 24, the stopper is advanced again, and the subsequent third block B is prevented from being conveyed to the downstream end 3a of the conveyor 3. At the same time, the transfer wheel 4 is rotated clockwise by one pitch and stopped. Thus, the second block B held by the holding unit 4A is transferred to a position adjacent to the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A. As a result, the entire second block B is erected in the vertical direction from the rollover state, and its end face is opposed to the end face of the first block B already mounted on the mounting table 5. Thereafter, since the compressed air is supplied to the cylinder mechanism 16 of the holding unit 4A holding the second block B, the pushing member 17 is advanced. by this,
The second block B is pushed out from the holding portion 4A onto the mounting table 5 so that the end face of the block B comes into contact with the end face of the leading block B facing it, and the two blocks B in the contact state are prevented from tipping over. The member 25 is further pushed back. Thereafter, the supply of the compressed air to the cylinder mechanism 16 is stopped, so that the pushing member 17 retreats from the mounting table 5 and returns to the original retreat end. The transfer wheel 4 intermittently rotates clockwise by one pitch as described above, sequentially holds the blocks B supplied from the conveyor 3 by the holding unit 4A, and then transfers the blocks B onto the mounting table 5 at the stacking position A to stack the blocks. I try to make it. For example, 5
When one block B is accumulated, the five blocks B are discharged from the mounting table 5 to another position by a take-out means (not shown). The stacking device 1 is configured to stack five blocks B sequentially at the stacking position A by repeating the above-described operation.

As described above, the transfer wheel 4 of the present embodiment includes the support member 15 and the pushing member 17 provided over the two rotating wheels 12. Therefore, although the block B is obtained by combining a plurality of plate-like articles 2 with a band, the state of polymerization of the plate-like articles 2 of the block B is not disturbed when the block B is held by the holding portion 4A. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the blocks B stacked at the stacking position A are aligned so that their corresponding end faces are on the same plane. In the above embodiment, the plurality of plate-like articles 2 are combined into one block B, and the block B is transported so that the plate-like article 2 is parallel to the transport direction of the conveyor 3. In the case where the individual plate-shaped articles 2 are sequentially conveyed by the conveyor 3 in such a manner that their longitudinal directions are orthogonal to each other, the transfer wheel 4 can be used to transfer the individual plate-shaped articles 2 without any trouble. A. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide the integrated device 1 having higher versatility as compared with the related art.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an article stacking apparatus having higher versatility as compared with the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1 with a part omitted;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a block B (plate-like article 2) on the conveyor 3 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a block B transferred to an accumulation position A by the transfer wheel 4 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing blocks B accumulated at an accumulation position A by the transfer wheel 4 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 6;

8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in FIG.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stacking apparatus 2 Plate-shaped article (article) 3 Conveyor 4 Delivery wheel 11 Cylindrical member (rotating member) 12 Rotating wheel 15 Support member 15a Flat surface (support surface) 17 Extruding member A Stacking position B Block (plate-shaped article) C Supply position

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshinobu Tanemura Hiruda 115, Oji-ri-Komaki, Kisogawa-cho, Haguri-gun, Aichi Pref. JP-A-3-264423 (JP, A) JP-A-4-12926 (JP, A) JP-A-54-159971 (JP, A) JP-A-5-5731 (JP, U) (58) Fields surveyed ( Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 47/84-47/86 B65G 47/22

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A transport mechanism for transporting the article;
It is provided rotatably on the downstream side and holds articles
Articles having a plurality of holding units and supplied from the transport mechanism
And the delivery wheel to deliver it to the stacking position.
In an apparatus for accumulating articles provided,The transfer wheel is directly connected to the transfer direction of the transfer mechanism.
Cylinder rotatably fitted on a fixed shaft supported in the cross direction
The member is connected to both ends of this cylindrical member so as to face each other.
Pair of rotating wheels and the circle of these two rotating wheels
And the above-mentioned holding portion provided at a plurality of positions in the circumferential direction,  In addition, the holding unit includes:At the opposite position of both rotating wheels
Along withThe transport mechanism transports the article
That supports the end surface of the article on the front side in the transport direction at the time of
Material and the same end face as the end face supported by the transport mechanism in the article
Support, andCylinder mechanismIn conjunction with the above support member
A pushing member which is moved forward and backward along the supporting surface ofFurther, each of the above-described series extends over the fixed shaft and the cylindrical member.
Forming a plurality of passages for supplying and discharging compressed air to the cylinder mechanism,  After stopping the holding unit at the position adjacent to the stacking position,
The articles are pushed out to the stacking position by the pushing member and received.
An article stacking device characterized by passing. 2. The rotating wheel according to claim 1, wherein the two holding wheels are intermittently rotated so that adjacent holding portions are sequentially stopped at positions adjacent to the stacking position. 2. The article stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article stacking apparatus is supported in an orthogonal state. 3. The above-mentioned article is a plate-like article, wherein a predetermined number of same-shaped articles are polymerized to form a block, and each of the plate-like articles has a mutually polymerized surface. 3. The article stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the articles are supplied to the transport mechanism in the same direction as the transport direction of the transport mechanism.