JP4728037B2 - Removal equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a removing device for removing a fallen container among containers.

  In a packaging facility that fills a container such as a beer bottle with a liquid such as beer, the container can be transported in multiple rows or in a single row. In general, cleaning, heating, etc. of containers are performed by arranging the containers in a plurality of rows, and inspections such as filling the containers with a liquid, applying labels to the containers, and taste inspection are performed with the containers in a single row. obtain. When the containers are supplied in a tilted state with respect to the aligning device for aligning the plurality of rows of containers in a single row, the fallen containers block the places where the rows of the containers are aligned in one row. The container or the surrounding container may be damaged by excessive force. In addition, the fallen container can cause problems not only in the alignment apparatus but also in other various apparatuses or transport mechanisms.

Note that Patent Document 1 discloses an article alignment apparatus that aligns a plurality of rows of containers into one row, but this document does not mention handling of a collapsed container. In addition, the applicant is not aware of prior art documents relating to an apparatus for removing a fallen container on a conveyor at the present time.
JP 2002-308415 A

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above problem recognition, and provides a removal device that removes a fallen container on a conveyor, and more preferably a removal that can remove such a container with a simple configuration. An object is to provide an apparatus.

The removal apparatus of the present invention relates to a removal apparatus that removes a fallen container, and is disposed on a first side of a moving path of a container conveyed by the conveyor, and a conveyor that supports and conveys the container from below. And a drainage mechanism for rejecting a fallen container among the containers on the conveyor toward a drainage portion disposed on the second side of the movement path, and the container has a frictional force between the container that has not fallen and the conveyor The container has a shape in which the frictional force between the container that has fallen and the conveyor becomes weaker, and the evacuation mechanism is configured to move the movement path of the container on the conveyor from the transport direction of the container by the conveyor itself to the second side. A guide member that guides the containers on the conveyor so as to change to the side, a first support member that pivotally supports the guide member so as to be rotatable around an axis substantially orthogonal to the transport surface of the conveyor, Guide section A restoring force generating mechanism for applying a restoring force to the guide, and the guide member rotates to the first side according to a force received from the container on the conveyor by guiding the container on the conveyor. The restoring force generating mechanism generates the restoring force on the second lateral side by the rotation, and the amount of rotation of the guide member by the force received from the container on the conveyor It is smaller when a container that has fallen down is guided by the guide member as it is conveyed by the conveyor than when it is guided by the guide member as it is conveyed by the conveyor. The movement path of the container that has fallen more than the amount by which the path is changed to the second side by the guide member is changed to the second side by the guide member. Is large towards the amounts, thereby, not the container not falling exclusion, fallen container is expelled to the second lateral side by the guide member.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the restoring force generating mechanism may include a spring disposed between the guide member and the second support member.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the removing device includes a first guide mechanism that guides a container on the conveyor in the first side of the movement path and in a downstream direction of the evacuation mechanism, and the movement. And a second guide mechanism for guiding containers on the conveyor in the second side of the path and in a downstream direction of the evacuation mechanism. Here, it is preferable that the second guide mechanism guides the container while pressing the container toward the first side.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second guide mechanism includes a second guide member, and the second guide member is pivotally supported around a substantially horizontal axis and is substantially horizontal. It is preferable that it is extended.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second guide member is arranged so as not to prevent a container falling on the conveyor from being discharged to the discharge portion by the discharge mechanism. preferable.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the removing device may be configured as part of an aligning device that aligns a plurality of rows of containers into a row of vessels.

  According to the present invention, the fallen containers on the conveyor can be removed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3 are diagrams schematically showing a configuration of a removal apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The removal apparatus 100 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is configured to remove the fallen container 1 ′ from the plurality of containers 1 to be transported. In this embodiment, the removal device 100 is configured as a part of an aligning device that aligns a plurality of rows of containers in a row.

  The removing apparatus 100 includes a conveyor 10 that supports and conveys the container 1 from below. The conveyor 10 can be typically configured by arranging a plurality of conveyors 12 having different conveyance speeds in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction. Here, of the plurality of conveyors 12, the conveyor closer to the downstream side (alignment side) in the conveyance direction (the conveyor described in the lower side in FIGS. 1 and 2) can be set to have a higher conveyance speed.

  The containers 1 transported by the conveyor 10 are slightly inclined from the original transport direction by the conveyor 10 itself (the direction from right to left in FIGS. 1 and 2) by being guided by the guide members 80, 22, 30 and the like. It is conveyed so as to pass through the movement path 14 that has been made.

  The removal apparatus 100 includes a waste removal mechanism 20 disposed on the first side A side of both sides of the transport path 14 of the containers 1 transported by the conveyor 10. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the evacuation mechanism 20 includes a evacuation unit (for example, an evacuation unit) arranged on the second side B side of the movement path 14 with respect to the container 1 ′ that falls down among the containers 1 on the conveyor 10. (Tray, waste conveyor, etc.)

  The evacuation mechanism 20 guides the container 1 so as to change the movement direction of the container 1 on the conveyor 10 (that is, along the movement path 14 of the container 1), and the guide member 22 of the conveyor 10. A support member (rotation shaft) 24 that is pivotally supported around an axis substantially orthogonal to the conveyance surface, and a restoring force generation mechanism that applies a restoring force to the guide member 14 are included. The restoring force generation mechanism may include a spring 26 disposed between the support member 28 and the guide member 22. The spring 26 can be held by the sliding member 23, for example. The sliding member 23 is slidably supported by a support member 28, and one end is connected to the guide member 22.

  The guide member 22 rotates or moves according to the force received from the containers 1 on the conveyor 10 conveyed by the conveyor 10. The rotation angle or movement amount of the guide member 22 is determined by the balance between the moment acting on the guide member 22 by the container 1 and the moment acting on the guide member 22 by the restoring force of the spring 26.

  A container 1 having a cylindrical portion such as a beer bottle and having the bottom surface of the cylindrical portion as a bottom surface is a container 1 in a state of being tilted more than the friction force between the container 1 in an unfallen state (upright state) and the conveyor 10. And the conveyor 10 have a shape in which the frictional force becomes weaker. That is, the container 1 such as a beer bottle generates a relatively strong frictional force with the conveyor 10 in a state where it is not collapsed, and generates a relatively weak frictional force with the conveyor 10 in a state where it is collapsed. Let

  Therefore, when such a container 1 is transported, the amount of rotation of the guide member 22 has fallen more than when the container 1 in a state of not being tilted is guided by the guide member 22 as it is transported by the conveyor 10. It is smaller when the container 1 ′ in the state is guided by the guide member 22 as it is conveyed by the conveyor 10. Therefore, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it can be seen that the correction of the movement path by the guide member 22 is larger in the container 1 ′ in the collapsed state than in the container 1 in the unfolded state. Further, the guide member 22 tends to rotate toward the evacuation part 70 by the restoring force of the spring 26 at the moment when the force received from the container 1 becomes small. Therefore, when the container 1 ′ that has fallen down is pushed to the guide member 22 so as to push out the container 1 that has not fallen down, the container 1 ′ that has fallen down is moved toward the evacuation part 70 by the guide member 22. And will be rejected by the rejecting part 70.

  A first guide mechanism (guide member) 30 that guides the containers 1 on the conveyor 10 that has passed through the evacuation mechanism 20 and a first guide mechanism (guide member) 30 that passes through the evacuation mechanism 20 on the first side A side of the movement path 14 and the downstream side of the evacuation mechanism 20. A second guide mechanism 40 that guides the containers 1 on the conveyor 10 that has passed through the rejection mechanism 20 is provided on the second side B side and in the downstream direction of the rejection mechanism 20. Here, the second guide mechanism 40 may include a guide member 42 that guides the container 1 while pressing the container 1 toward the first side A side. By pushing the container 1 to the first side A side by the guide member 42, the movement path widened in accordance with the rotation amount of the guide member 22 of the evacuation mechanism 20 when passing the evacuation mechanism 20 is converged, and the container 1. Can be aligned within a narrow path of travel.

  The guide member 42 moves in a position higher than the width of the container 1 (1 ′) so as not to prevent the container 1 ′ that has fallen on the conveyor 10 from being discharged into the discharge portion 70 by the discharge mechanism 20. It is preferable to be configured to do so. As a result, the collapsed container 1 ′ can move under the guide member 42 and move to the evacuation unit 70.

  For example, the guide member 42 can be supported by an arm 44 that is pivotally supported around a substantially horizontal axis by a shaft support member 46 and can move on a circular track. The weight of the movable part including the guide member 42 and the arm 44 is preferably determined so that the container 1 can be pressed with an appropriate pressing force by the weight. Of course, the pressing force can be provided to the guide member 42 by an actuator such as a motor or an air cylinder, a spring, or the like.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the container 1 that has fallen on the conveyor 10 can be discharged to the discharge portion 70 by the discharge mechanism 20 having a very simple configuration. In addition, since the restoring force generating mechanism of the evacuation mechanism 20 is configured by the spring 26, an actuator and a device for controlling the actuator are not required, and electric power for operating them is not required. Further, according to the method of selectively rejecting a container that has fallen using the difference in frictional force between the container 1 and the conveyor 10 (the force received by the guide member 22) between the collapsed state and the unfallen state. Further, an electrical sensor such as a CCD camera or an image processing device is not necessary, and a removal device can be configured at a very low cost.

It is a figure which shows schematically the structure of the removal apparatus of suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows roughly the structure of the removal apparatus of suitable embodiment of this invention (operation which excretes the fallen container). It is a figure which shows the structural example of a 2nd guide mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

1, 1 'container (1' is a collapsed container)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Conveyor 14 Container movement path | route A The 1st side B of a container movement path | route The 2nd side 20 of a container movement path | route 20 Exhaust mechanism 22 Guide member 23 Slide member 24 Shaft support member 26 Spring 28 Support member 30 1st guide Mechanism (guide member)
40 Second guide mechanism 42 Guide member 44 Arm 46 Axle support member 50 Guide member 60 Guide member 70 Exhaust part 80 Guide member

Claims (6)

A removal device for removing a fallen container,
A conveyor that supports and conveys containers from below;
Dispose of the fallen containers disposed on the first side of the movement path of the containers conveyed by the conveyor toward the discharge section disposed on the second side of the movement path. An exclusion mechanism,
The container has a shape in which the frictional force between the container that has fallen and the conveyor is weaker than the frictional force between the container that has not fallen and the conveyor,
The evacuation mechanism includes: a guide member that guides the containers on the conveyor so that the movement path of the containers on the conveyor is changed from the conveyance direction of the containers by the conveyor itself to the second lateral side; A first support member pivotally supported around an axis substantially orthogonal to the conveyor surface of the conveyor, and a restoring force generating mechanism for applying a restoring force to the guide member, the guide member comprising: By guiding the containers on the conveyor, the container is rotated to the first side according to the force received from the containers on the conveyor, and the restoring force generating mechanism is moved to the second side by the rotation. Generating the restoring force,
The amount of rotation of the guide member due to the force received from the container on the conveyor is such that the container that has fallen is transported by the conveyor as compared to when the container that is not tilted is guided by the guide member along with the transport by the conveyor. The guide path is smaller when guided by the guide member, and therefore the movement path of the container that has fallen than the amount by which the movement path of the unfallen container is changed to the second side by the guide member is The amount that is changed to the second side by the guide member is larger, so that the unfallen container is not rejected, and the fallen container is rejected to the second side by the guide member.
The removal apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The removal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restoring force generating mechanism includes a spring disposed between the guide member and the second support member. A first guide mechanism for guiding containers on the conveyor in the first side of the movement path and in a downstream direction of the evacuation mechanism;
A second guide mechanism for guiding the containers on the conveyor in the second side of the movement path and in the downstream direction of the evacuation mechanism;
The second guide mechanism guides the container while pressing the container toward the first side.
The removal apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The second guide mechanism includes a second guide member, and the second guide member is pivotally supported around a substantially horizontal axis and extends in a substantially horizontal direction.
The removal apparatus according to claim 3. The second guide member is arranged so as not to prevent a container that has fallen on the conveyor from being discharged into the discharge portion by the discharge mechanism.
The removing apparatus according to claim 4.   6. The removing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the removing apparatus is configured as a part of an aligning apparatus that aligns a plurality of rows of containers into one row of containers.

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