JP4684615B2 - Product accumulation / transfer equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a product stacking / transferring device for stacking products introduced from carry-in means in the vertical direction and transferring each product to the carry-out conveyor side while maintaining the accumulated state .

  Recently, tablets, capsules, troches and the like are often put on the market in a PTP (Press Through Package) package. In general, PTP packaging is a product in which drugs such as tablets and capsules are put in a plurality of pockets formed in a plastic sheet, and then aluminum is attached to the plastic sheet to seal the drugs in the pockets. Conventionally, when a sheet (PTP sheet) in which a drug is PTP-packed in this way is boxed or packaged, a plurality of PTP sheets are manually bundled by an operator and then put into a box or bag. For this reason, complicated work was required, and work efficiency was poor.

On the other hand, various types of product stacking apparatuses for stacking products have been proposed by the present applicant (JP-A-8-133228, JP-A-2003-72937, etc.). However, a plurality of products are accumulated on a plane, and each product is not accumulated vertically.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a product stacking apparatus capable of easily stacking products in the vertical direction (that is, stacking of products) for, for example, sheet-shaped products and flat products. is there.

The product stacking / transferring apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 is configured to stack a plurality of products introduced from the carrying-in means in the vertical direction and to transfer each product to the carry-out conveyor side while maintaining the stacked state. The product stacking / transferring device is provided in a vertical direction at the downstream end in the transport direction of the carry-in means, and supports one end of each product introduced from the carry-in means and stacked vertically from below. A circulatory first conveyor provided with a plurality of support portions at equal intervals and a downstream end in the transport direction of the carry-in means are arranged in the vertical direction opposite the first conveyor, and the carry-in means The second support part which supports the other end part opposite to the one end part of each product introduced from the top and bottom and is disposed from the lower side and spaced from the corresponding first support part is the first Each of the first support portions of the conveyor And includes a second conveyor circulating possible provided a plurality at equal intervals in response, first, a drive mechanism for operating synchronously the second conveyor. The carry-out conveyor is provided so as to be able to circulate below the carry-in means. The push-out conveyor is provided with a plurality of pusher members that are arranged at equal intervals in the conveyer conveying direction and extend upward, and each pusher member is loaded into the carry-out conveyor. As the conveyor travels, it abuts the side surface of each product and passes through the gap between the first and second support portions, so that a plurality of products stacked on the first and second support portions are collected. The first and second support portions are slid while being maintained, so that they are transferred from the first and second conveyors to the carry-out conveyor side.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the goods conveyed by the carry-in means are introduced into the first and second support portions corresponding to each other in the first and second conveyors, and are supported from below by the respective support portions. The The next product that has been transported by the carry-in means is introduced so as to overlap the product that has already been introduced to each support section. Similarly, a predetermined number of products are introduced into the same support portion. In this way, the product can be easily integrated in the vertical direction.

  Thereafter, the first and second conveyors are driven by the driving mechanism to be operated synchronously, so that the first and second support portions into which the product is to be introduced next are arranged close to the carry-in means. Thereafter, a predetermined number of commodities are similarly introduced from the carry-in means to these support portions, and commodities are collected.

Further, in this case, the first support portion is configured to support one end portion of the product, and the second support portion supports the other end portion facing the one end portion of the product. A gap is formed between the corresponding first and second support portions. The gap prevents the first and second support portions from interfering with each other.

Further, in this case, a carry-out conveyor for taking out and carrying out the products accumulated on the first and second support portions is provided below the carry-in means, and the carry-out conveyor includes the first and second carry-out conveyors. Since the plurality of pushers that are provided so as to pass through the gap between the support parts and abut against the side surface of the product are arranged at equal intervals, the gap formed between the first and second support parts is utilized. As a result, the products collected on each support part can be easily carried out to the next process.

In the invention of claim 2, the first and second conveyors are timing belts or chains.

  In the invention of claim 3, the carry-in means is provided with a counting means for counting the number of products. As a result, the required number of products can be accurately accumulated on each support portion.

In the invention of claim 4, when the commodity is introduced from the carry-in means, the first and second support portions are arranged at the introduction position below the transport surface of the carry-in means. From this state, a predetermined number of commodities from the carry-in means are introduced into the first and second support portions. Thereafter, the drive control of the drive mechanism causes the first and second conveyors to travel downward by one step, and then the first and second support portions to which products are to be introduced next move to the introduction position. In the same manner, product introduction / accumulation processing is performed. In this way, the product can be easily integrated in the vertical direction.

According to the present invention, the first and second conveyors that can be circulated including the first and second support portions into which the plurality of products conveyed by the carry-in means are sequentially introduced are provided. The stacking process in the direction can be easily performed, and the pusher provided on the carry-out conveyor is passed through the gap between the first and second support sections facing each other, whereby the first and second support sections Each product accumulated on the top can be easily carried out to the carry-out conveyor side while maintaining the accumulation state .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a product packaging line including a product stacking / transferring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the product stacking apparatus, taken along line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to the arrow view, FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the product packaging line 1 includes a carry-in conveyor 2 for carrying products 10 to be stacked, and a product 10 introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2 at the downstream end 20 in the conveyance direction of the carry-in conveyor 2. The product stacking device 3 for stacking in the vertical direction, that is, the vertical direction (the vertical direction in the figure), the unloading conveyor 4 for taking out the products 10 collected by the product stacking device 3 from the product stacking device 3, and the unloading conveyor 4 A bucket conveyor 5 that is arranged in parallel and conveys the product 10 to a carting machine (packaging machine) (not shown), and a robot 6 for transferring the product 10 on the carry-out conveyor 4 onto the bucket conveyor 5 are provided. Yes.

  In the product packaging line 1, on the opposite side to the carry-in conveyor 2 across the bucket conveyor 5, a carry-in conveyor 12 configured similarly to the carry-in conveyor 2, the product accumulation device 3, and the carry-out conveyor 4 and having the same function, A product accumulation device 13 and a carry-out conveyor 14 are provided. Also, a robot 16 configured to transfer the product 10 on the carry-out conveyor 14 onto the bucket conveyor 5 is provided in the same manner as the robot 6.

In FIG. 1, S ₁ indicates the movement stroke of the robot 6, and similarly S ₂ indicates the movement stroke of the robot 16. The The S ₂ was longer than S ₁ is in order to allow the adjustment in accordance with transfer status of products are transferred from the robot 6 in the bucket conveyor 5. Moreover, the arrow has shown the conveyance direction of the goods 10. FIG.

  Next, details of the product accumulation device 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. As described above, the product stacking apparatus 13 has the same configuration as that of the product stacking apparatus 3, and therefore only the product stacking apparatus 3 will be described here.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the product stacking device 3 is disposed opposite to the left and right sides of the downstream end 20 in the transport direction of the carry-in conveyor 2 and has endless first and second timings respectively disposed in the vertical direction. It has belts or chains (first and second conveyors) 30, 30 '.

  The first timing belt 30 is wound around timing pulleys 31 and 32 disposed above and below the carry-in conveyor 2, respectively. Similarly, the second timing belt 30 ′ is wound around timing pulleys 31 ′ and 32 ′ disposed above and below the carry-in conveyor 2, respectively. The opposing spans 30A and 30'A of the timing belts 30 and 30 'are disposed substantially in parallel.

  On the timing belt 30, a plurality of first support portions 33 for supporting the product 10 introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2 from below are attached at equal intervals (only a part is shown in the figure). Similarly, on the timing belt 30 ′, a plurality of second support portions 33 ′ for supporting the product 10 introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2 from below are attached at equal intervals corresponding to the support portions 33. (Only a part is shown in the figure). Each of the support portions 33 and 33 ′ is a plate-like member and extends so as to support the opposed end portions of the product 10. A fixed gap C is formed between the corresponding support portions 33 and 33 '. The gap C prevents the corresponding support portions 33 and 33 'from interfering with each other. Further, in this embodiment, as the product 10, a PTP sheet in which a plurality of medicines are PTP-wrapped is taken as an example, and a state in which four products 10 are accumulated in each support portion 33, 33 ′ is shown. .

  A driving mechanism 100 for driving each timing belt 30, 30 ′ includes a servo motor 101, a rotatable counter shaft 110 provided in parallel therewith, and a timing pulley 102 attached to the output shaft end of the servo motor 101. And a timing pulley 103 attached to the end of the countershaft 110, and a timing belt 104 wound around these timing pulleys.

  Bevel gears 111 and 112 are attached to the countershaft 110 at a predetermined interval. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two rotating shafts 113 and 114 are arranged at a predetermined interval in a direction orthogonal to the countershaft 110. A bevel gear 115 that meshes with the bevel gear 111 is attached to the end of the rotating shaft 113. Similarly, a bevel gear 116 that meshes with the bevel gear 112 is attached to the end of the rotating shaft 114.

  A timing pulley 31 ′ is attached to the rotating shaft 113, and a timing pulley 31 is attached to the rotating shaft 114. The timing pulley 32 is attached to the rotating shaft 35, and the timing pulley 32 'is attached to the rotating shaft 35' (see FIG. 2).

  With such a configuration, the drive of the servo motor 101 causes the countershaft 110 to rotate via the timing pulleys 102 and 103 and the timing belt 104, and the bevel gears 115 and 116 that mesh with the bevel gears 111 and 112 rotate. The timing belts 30 and 30 ′ are operated synchronously via the rotary shafts 113 and 114, respectively.

  Due to the drive control of the servo motor 101, the support portions 33 and 33 ′ of the timing belts 30 and 30 ′ are introduced into which the product 10 is introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2 indicated by the reference symbol D in FIGS. The position, the unloading position indicated by the reference symbol H, the unloading position where the product 10 is unloaded from the support portions 33, 33 ', and the reference position T, and the standby state between the introduction position D and the unloading position H It is possible to adopt the standby position T to be placed. At the introduction position D, the support portions 33 and 33 ′ are disposed at positions below the transport surface 2 a of the carry-in conveyor 2. The standby position T may be provided at a plurality of positions or may be omitted.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, at the downstream end 20 of the carry-in conveyor 2, the support portions 33 of the first and second timing belts 30 and 30 ′ pass through the downstream end 20 above the transport surface 2a. , 33 ′ is provided with a counter 25 for counting the number of products 10 introduced. A slope 26 is provided behind the downstream end 20 (to the right in the drawing) in order to smoothly introduce the product 10 from the carry-in conveyor 2 to the holding portions 33 and 33 ′.

  Below the timing pulleys 32 and 32 ', there is provided a circulatory conveyor chain 4 that extends in the same direction as the carrying direction of the carry-in conveyor 2 and carries the product 10 on the support portions 33 and 33'. ing. The conveyor chain 4 is configured by connecting a plurality of links 40 in an endless manner. The conveyor chain 4 is provided with a plurality of pushers 41 at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction. The pusher 41 is a bar-like member extending upward, and its lower end is fixed to the link 40. The upper end of the pusher 41 is disposed further above the uppermost product 10 on the support portions 33 and 33 ′ disposed at the carry-out position H. The pusher 41 is provided so as to pass through the gap C between the support portions 33 and 33 ′ and to come into contact with the side surface of the product 10 at the carry-out position H.

Next, the operation of the product stacking apparatus 3 according to this embodiment will be described.
The product 10 conveyed by the carry-in conveyor 2 is introduced from the downstream end 20 in the conveyance direction through the slope 26 to the first and second conveyors 30 and 30 ′. On the other hand, in the first and second conveyors 30 and 30 ′, empty support portions 33 and 33 ′ where the product 10 has not yet been introduced are arranged at the introduction position D and introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2. The product 10 is introduced onto the empty support portions 33 and 33 ′ and supported from below by the support portions 33 and 33 ′. The next product 10 introduced by the carry-in conveyor 2 is introduced so as to overlap the product 10 already introduced into the support portions 33 and 33 '. In the same manner, a predetermined number (four in this case) of products are introduced to the same support portions 33 and 33 ′. In this way, the product 10 can be easily integrated in the vertical direction.

  Here, the number of products 10 passing through the downstream end 20 of the carry-in conveyor 2 is counted by a counter 25. When a predetermined number of products 10 are counted, the first and second are driven by the servo motor 101. The timing belts 30 and 30 ′ are operated synchronously, and the support portions 33 and 33 ′ are moved downward by one step (that is, a distance corresponding to the interval between the adjacent support portions). The respective support portions 33 and 33 ′ arranged at the position D are moved to the standby position T.

  Thereby, empty support portions 33 and 33 ′ into which the commodity 10 is to be introduced next are arranged at the introduction position D. Hereinafter, a predetermined number of products 10 are introduced from the carry-in conveyor 2 in the same manner to the support portions 33 and 33, and the product 10 is collected.

  Next, when the support portions 33 and 33 ′ are further moved downward by one step by driving the servo motor 101, the support portions 33 and 33 ′ on which the products 10 are accumulated are arranged at the carry-out position H.

  On the other hand, at the carry-out position H, as shown in FIG. 3, the pushers 41 attached to the conveyor chain 4 are in front of the product 10 arranged at the carry-out position H (right side in FIG. 3) and behind (the same figure). It is arranged on the left.

  From this state, the conveyor chain 4 is driven to run the conveyor chain 4 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3 by one step (ie, a distance corresponding to the interval between adjacent pushers). Then, the pusher 41 pushes the end surface on the rear side (left side in FIG. 3) of the product 10 at the carry-out position H, thereby pushing the product 10 from the support portions 33 and 33 ′ and transferring it to the conveyor chain 4 side. . In this way, the product 10 is carried out from the product accumulation device 3. When the pusher 41 moves, the pusher 41 passes through the gap C between the support portions 33 and 33 'as described above.

  In the above-described embodiment, the PTP packaged product is taken as an example of the sheet or flat product to which the present invention is applied. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a pillow packaged product, a three-way or four-way sealed package product, and the like. The same applies to the above.

It is a top view which shows schematic structure of the goods packaging line containing the goods accumulation and transfer apparatus by one Example of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the product accumulation device (FIG. 1) and corresponds to a view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1. It is the III-III arrow directional view of FIG. It is the IV-IV arrow line view of FIG.

1: Product packaging line

2: Carry-in conveyor (carry-in means)
20: Downstream end in transport direction

25: Counter (counting means)

3: Product stacking device 30: First timing belt (first conveyor)
33: 1st support part 30 ': 2nd timing belt (2nd conveyor)
33 ': Second support

4: Unloading conveyor (unloading means)
41: Pusher

10: Product

100: Drive mechanism

C: gap

JP-A-8-133228 (see FIG. 2) JP 2003-72937 A (see FIG. 1)

Claims (4)

A product stacking / transferring device for stacking a plurality of products introduced from the carry-in means in the vertical direction and transferring each product to the carry-out conveyor side while maintaining the accumulation state ,
Together are arranged in the vertical direction in the conveying direction downstream end of the carrying means, first support part you support one end portion of each product that is integrated vertically introduced from said carrying means from below at equal intervals A plurality of circulated first conveyors,
In the conveying direction downstream end of the carrying means, wherein with oppositely disposed vertically to the first conveyor, opposite the other and the one end of each product that is integrated vertically introduced from said carrying means said first evenly spaced in correspondence with each of the first support portion of the second supporting portion arranged at a clearance from the support portion of the first conveyor corresponding supporting life and death the end from below A plurality of second conveyors that can be circulated,
And a drive mechanism for operating synchronously said first, second conveyor,
The carry-out conveyor is provided so as to be able to circulate below the carry-in means, and a plurality of pusher members arranged at equal intervals in the conveyer transport direction and extending upward are attached to the carry-out conveyor, and each pusher member However, as the carry-out conveyor travels, the plurality of pieces stacked on the first and second support portions are brought into contact with the side surfaces of the respective products and pass through the gap between the first and second support portions. The product is transferred from the first and second conveyors to the carry-out conveyor side by sliding on the first and second support portions while maintaining the accumulated state. ,
Product accumulation / transfer equipment characterized by the above . In claim 1,
It said first, second conveyor is a timing belt or chain,
Product accumulation / transfer equipment characterized by the above. In claim 1,
The carry-in means is provided with a counting means for counting the number of products.
Product accumulation / transfer equipment characterized by the above. In claim 1,
As each item is introduced from said carrying means, said first, than the conveying surface of the second supporting portion is the carry unit is disposed in the introduction position of the lower, first, second support after a predetermined number of products is introduced into parts, the first by driving the drive mechanism, traveling downwards only one step second conveyor, then the first of product is introduced, the second as support of the move to the introducing position, the drive mechanism is driven and controlled,
Product accumulation / transfer equipment characterized by the above.

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