JP4785182B2 - Rotary topper - Google Patents

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a rotary topper that adjusts the interval between articles such as containers conveyed by a conveyor and cuts them downstream at a predetermined pitch.

In a grouping apparatus such as a container, since an engaging member is inserted between articles and grouping is performed, it is necessary to supply the articles with a space therebetween. Conventionally, a rotary topper is provided on the upstream side of the grouping device to cut out articles at a predetermined pitch (Patent Document 1).
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-44334

  However, in the prior art, when the article is cut out by the rotary topper, the articles conveyed from the previous process are temporarily stored and pressed against each other, and then the stopper members are sequentially placed between the articles. A method has been adopted in which the engagement is applied and braking is performed, and an interval is provided to cut out at a predetermined pitch. In other words, in order to obtain an accurate cutting operation in the prior art, it is necessary to keep the articles on the upstream side of the rotary topper in a pressed state in contact with each other. Therefore, when each article is supplied from the upstream side with a space between them, it has not been possible to sequentially cut out at a predetermined pitch over the rotary topper as it is. In addition, since the interval between the locking claws of the rotary upper is constant, the adaptability to changes in the size and shape on the article side is low. To cope with this, a rotary upper with a different interval is prepared. It was necessary to keep.

  In view of the above-described conventional technical situation, the present invention provides a rotary wristper capable of cutting out articles at a predetermined interval without being restricted by the state of conveyance of the articles from the upstream side. With the goal. It is another object of the present invention to provide a rotary topper that is adaptable to changes in size and shape on the article side and that can be handled without preparing a rotary topper at a different interval as in the prior art.

In the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a stopper member that is disposed on a side of a conveyor on which an article such as a container is conveyed and that can protrude on the conveyor is provided, and the stopper member is formed on the article on the conveyor. In a rotary topper that engages and adjusts the conveyance interval of articles, a first rotating body and a second rotating body each provided with a stopper member around each are provided, and a first driving unit that rotates the first rotating body, A second driving means for rotating the second rotating body is provided, and a control means capable of individually controlling the operations of the first driving means and the second driving means is provided. The rotating shaft and the second rotation of the first rotating body are provided. with arranging the rotation axis of the body coaxially, by the control means, in a state where one of the rotating body of the stopper member with respect to those times of articles successively transported by the conveyor is multiplied by engaging brake The other rotating member is controlled to rotate so that the tip of the stopper member can be inserted between the current article and the next article, and both stopper members are moved between the stopper members. Technical means for adjusting the conveyance interval between the articles by controlling the timing of releasing the engaged state of the one rotating body with respect to the current article by rotating the stopper while holding the gap. It was adopted. In the case of the present invention, since two sets of stopper members are provided, the rotation of the other is performed independently of the engagement / release operation of the stopper member provided on one of the rotating bodies engaged with the article. The stopper member provided on the body can continue the cutting operation while being ready to engage and support the next article to be conveyed without being affected by the state of the article on the upstream side of the rotary wrist, Accurate cutting operation is possible. Furthermore, it is possible to flexibly cope with changes in the size and shape on the article side by adjusting the relative operation interval between the stopper members provided in both rotating bodies. In addition, you may comprise the said stopper member so that advance / retreat adjustment is possible .

  According to the present invention, since the cutting operation can be executed while being ready to engage and support the article to be conveyed next, the accurate cutting operation is not limited by the state of the article on the upstream side of the rotary wrist. Is possible. Furthermore, it is also possible to flexibly cope with changes in size and shape on the article side by adjusting the relative operation interval between the stopper members provided in both rotating bodies. Further, if the stopper member is configured to be able to advance and retract, the adaptability to changes in the size and shape on the article side can be further improved.

The present invention is suitable for cutting out containers conveyed by a conveyor at a predetermined pitch, but can also be widely applied to cutting out other appropriate articles. As for the specific configuration of the rotary wrist, the articles conveyed from the upstream side are engaged and supported by two sets of stopper members provided on the individually driven rotating body, and the engagement state is set at a set timing. There is no limitation on the specific configuration of the driving means and the rotating body, or the specific shape of the stopper member. Furthermore, the stopper member can be configured to be advanceable / retractable. The first rotor and the second rotor is but it may also be configured to be individually driven by separate drive means incorporated coaxially. As for the specific driving means, it is desirable that the servo motor is used to perform the engagement / release operation on the article by controlling the angular velocity, but the engagement / disengagement control is performed by using an appropriate motor. It is also possible to configure to perform the release operation.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part thereof . In the figure , reference numeral 1 denotes a conveyor, and the container 3 is conveyed by the movement of an endless traveling zone 2 composed of a belt or the like of the conveyor 1. During the conveyance, the container 3 is guided by the guide members 4 and 5 on both sides. The rotary topper 6 according to the present embodiment is installed on the machine casing 7. In the figure, reference numerals 8 and 9 denote drive servomotors, respectively. The servomotors 8 and 9 cause the first rotary shaft 16 to pass through the reduction gears 10 and 11, the drive gears 12 and 13, and the passive gears 14 and 15. The hollow second rotary shaft 17 coaxially fitted on the first rotary shaft 16 is individually rotated. A first rotating body 18 is provided at the upper end portion of the first rotating shaft 16, and an appropriate number, four stopper members 19 (only one is shown) are provided around the first rotating body 18 in this embodiment. Similarly, the 2nd rotary body 20 is provided in the upper end part of the 2nd rotating shaft 17, and the same number of stopper members 21 (only one is displayed) are provided in the circumference | surroundings.

  FIG. 3 is a main part enlarged view schematically showing a main part as the cutting mechanism of the above embodiment, and FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing the cutting operation. As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, four stopper members 19 a, c, e, and g provided around the first rotating body 18 that is rotationally driven by the servomotor 8, and the servomotor 9 rotate. A case where the cutting operation is performed using two sets of stopper members including four stopper members 21b, d, f, and h provided around the driven second rotating body 20 will be described. The two sets of stopper members 19a, c, e, and g and the stopper members 21b, d, f, and h rotate integrally with each other, and the servo motor 8 and the servo as described below. The container 3 is cut out at a predetermined pitch by the relative phase pattern repeated every rotation through the rotation drive control of the motor 9 regardless of the conveying state of the upstream article. Incidentally, the number of stopper members installed can be changed according to circumstances.

  State A in FIG. 4 shows a state in which the stopper member 19a provided in the first rotating body 18 is positioned in the vertical state in the figure (reference state for explanation), and the tip of the stopper member 19a. In this state, the current container 3a is engaged, and the tip of the stopper member 21b provided in the second rotating body 20 is inserted between the container 3a and the next container 3b. In this state A, the servo motors 8 and 9 are both in a low-speed rotation state, and the stopper member 19a and the stopper member 21b rotate at a low speed on an arc while maintaining a distance therebetween, and brake the container 3a. It is in the state where the action was given.

  State B shows a stage in which the stopper member 19a is rotated while gradually increasing the rotational speed as shown in the drawing to release the engaged state with the container 3a. Thereby, the container 3a starts to advance by the conveying force of the conveyor 1. When the engagement with the container 3a is released, a predetermined pitch is formed with the previous container 3h. In other words, the predetermined pitch between the articles is determined by the interval of the stopper member disengagement operation set through the rotation drive control of each servo motor and the conveying speed of the conveyor. In the meantime, the other stopper 21b continues to rotate at a low speed, and further enters so that the tip portion follows from the rear side of the current container 3a and engages with the front part of the next container 3b to be braked. .

  State C shows a state where the tip of the stopper member 19a is in the process of being separated from the article 3a. The servo motor 8 further increases the rotational speed and shifts to state D. Meanwhile, the servo motor 9 maintains the low speed rotation without increasing the rotation speed, and the stopper member 21b shifts to the state D while being engaged with the container 3b. Then, when the state D is reached, the stopper member 21b advances to a position about 6 degrees before the vertical state in the present embodiment set in advance as shown in the figure. In the meantime, the other next stopper member 19c can be loosely fitted with the stopper member 21b by the high speed rotation of the servo motor 8, and in this embodiment, at a position with an interval of about 18 degrees. It will be chased quickly. That is, a state in which the next stopper member 19c has a predetermined interval behind the stopper member 21b due to a relative speed difference between the servo motor 9 that continues to rotate at a low speed and the servo motor 8 that rotates at a high speed by increasing the rotation speed. Will catch up with. As a result, before the preceding stopper member 21b reaches the disengaged state, the rear stopper member 19c is prepared in a state where it can be engaged with the next container 3c. That is, according to the present invention, since the two sets of stopper members are used, the article can be cut out while maintaining a posture capable of engaging with the supply of the article from the upstream side.

  As described above, the stopper members 19a, c, e, g arranged on the first rotating body 18 side and the second rotating body 20 side are arranged by the operation of the states A → B → C → D → A ′. Although the relative positional relationship with the provided stopper members 21b, d, f, and h is reversed, the cycle of cutting out one article such as the container 3 is completed, and thereafter the longitudinal positional relationship of each stopper member is changed. The above operation is continued repeatedly while switching. Incidentally, every time the above operation is repeated two cycles, the original state is completely restored, including the relative context between the stoppers. Note that the states A to D illustrated in FIG. 4 are selected by paying attention to the change in the cutting operation, and do not indicate the operation states at regular intervals over time.

  Thus, when the container 3 is supplied from the upstream side at a desired predetermined pitch, the rotary topper 6 continues to rotate with little involvement. When the container 3 from the upstream side is supplied at an interval shorter than a predetermined pitch, the rotor wristper 6 is involved and cut out by expanding to a predetermined pitch. Further, when the containers 3 from the upstream side are supplied at intervals wider than the predetermined pitch, the containers 3 are cut out at a predetermined pitch timing as they are involved as soon as the containers 3 reach the rotary wrist 6. At that time, if the container 3 arrives before the previous container 3 is cut out, the container 3 is cut out by being reduced to a predetermined pitch. Further, in the above description, the case where the containers 3 conveyed from the upstream side are supplied at intervals is described. However, the same application is possible when the containers 3 are supplied in a pressed state. is there. When the interval at which the next container 3 does not reach is large, the rotary topper 6 continues to idle during that time, but when a sensor is provided and the non-arrival of the container 3 continues for a predetermined time. The servo motors 8 and 9 can be stopped and the operation of the rotary wrist 6 can be stopped until the next container 3 arrives.

  FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and the same reference numerals are given to the components common to the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, an example suitable for the case where the articles are supplied from the upstream side in a pressed state where they are in contact with each other is shown. As shown in the figure, the rotary topper 22 according to the present embodiment is supported so as to be able to advance and retreat in the direction of the conveyor 1 via the rail 23, and the rotary topper 22 according to the change in the size and shape of the target article such as a container. The stopper 22 can be adjusted to an optimum position. Further, in this embodiment, the height of the rotary wrist 22 can be adjusted via the lifting mechanism 24. FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view showing a portion of the rotary wrist 22 in an enlarged manner, FIG. 7 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory view concerning a stopper member advance / retreat adjusting mechanism. Also in the case of the present embodiment, the first rotary shaft 16 and a hollow second rotary shaft coaxially fitted by a separate servo motor via the same drive system as in the first embodiment. 17 can be individually driven to rotate. A first rotating body 25 is provided at the upper end portion of the first rotating shaft 16, and an appropriate number, in this embodiment, four stopper members 26 (only one is shown) are radially advanced and retracted around the first rotating body 25. Adjustable installation. Similarly, a second rotating body 27 is provided at the upper end portion of the second rotating shaft 17, and the same number of stopper members 28 (only one is shown) are installed around the second rotating body 27 so as to be able to advance and retract radially. (In FIG. 6, the stopper member 26 and the stopper member 28 are shown as being positioned in the same direction for the sake of convenience).

  Next, the advance / retreat adjustment mechanism of the stopper members 26 and 28 will be described. The advance / retreat adjustment mechanism of the stopper member 26 and the advance / retreat adjustment mechanism of the stopper member 28 are disposed in a state where the vertical direction is reversed. However, since there is no difference in the basic mechanism, the stopper of the first rotating body 25 will be described below. The advance / retreat adjustment mechanism of the member 26 will be described, and the description of the stopper member 28 of the second rotating body 27 will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 6, the first rotating body 25 includes a lower rotating plate 30 supported by a support member 29 fixed to the first rotating shaft 16, and an upper portion fixed integrally to the lower rotating plate 30. The rotating plate 31 and an advance / retreat adjusting plate 32 rotatably disposed between the upper and lower rotating plates 30 and 31 are configured. The lower rotating plate 30 is formed with four radial guide grooves, and a stopper member 26 is fitted in each of the guide grooves so as to advance and retreat in the radial direction.

  The upper rotating plate 31 is fixed to the lower rotating plate 30 at the outer peripheral portion, and a fixed gear 33 is provided on the inner peripheral edge of the central portion as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, an arc-shaped elongated hole 34 is formed at an appropriate position, and the screw shaft portion of the lock lever 35 is penetrated through the arc-shaped elongated hole 34 so that the advance / retreat adjusting plate 32 side is provided. Are threadedly engaged with the female thread formed on the surface. By loosening the lock lever 35, the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 can rotate relative to the upper and lower rotary plates 30, 31 within the range of the arc-shaped elongated hole 34. If the lock lever 35 is tightened after adjusting the rotation of the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 in this state, the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 is integrated with the upper and lower rotary plates 30, 31 and rotates together.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 is formed with four arcuate guide holes 36 corresponding to the number of stopper members 26 inclined, and each arcuate guide hole 36 has an incline. On the other hand, each stopper member 26 is configured to advance and retract all at once according to the rotation angle of the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 by inserting engagement pins 37 provided on the corresponding stopper members 26 respectively. On the other hand, a sun gear 38 is rotatably provided on the outer periphery of the support member 29, and is rotatably supported by a support shaft 39 installed on the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 between the sun gear 38 and the fixed gear 33. Three planetary gears 40 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The sun gear 38 is provided with a handle 41 for rotating operation as shown in FIG.

  Thus, when adjusting the amount of protrusion of the stopper member 26, that is, the position of the tip of the stopper member 26, the lock lever 35 is loosened and the sun gear 38 is rotated by the handle 41. is there. When the sun gear 38 is rotated, the three planetary gears 40 meshed with the sun gear 38 revolve along the inner periphery of the fixed gear 33 while rotating. Due to the revolution of each planetary gear 40, the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 rotates relative to the upper and lower rotary plates 30, 31 via the support shaft 39. In response to the rotation of the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32, the stopper members 26 extend along the guide grooves formed in the radial direction in the lower rotary plate 30 through the engagement pins 37 inserted through the arcuate guide holes 36. It will advance and retreat in the radial direction. Therefore, if the sun gear 38 is rotated through the handle 41, the stopper members 26 advance and retract all at once, and the position of the tip of the stopper member 26 can be adjusted simultaneously. As described above, in this embodiment, the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 can be rotated relative to the upper and lower rotary plates 30, 31 via the sun gear 38, the planetary gear 40, and the fixed gear 33. Therefore, the position of each stopper member can be adjusted easily and smoothly without requiring a large operating force.

  Next, an article cutting operation in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 exemplifies a time chart relating to article cutting operation control. A broken line A in FIG. 9 representatively shows the time course of the rotation angle control by paying attention to one of the four stopper members 26 installed on the first rotating body 25. A broken line B representatively shows a temporal process of the rotation angle control by paying attention to one of the four stopper members 28 installed on the second rotating body 27. As shown in the figure, the broken lines A and B are composed of the same control pattern, and the same control is performed in a state where the phase is shifted to 1/8 period, that is, 45 degrees with respect to the first rotating body 25 and the second rotating body 27. The pattern will be executed repeatedly. Α in the drawing indicates an angle between the stopper member 26 on the first rotating body 25 side and the stopper member 28 on the second rotating body 27 side that comes next in the cutting operation region. Β indicates a constant velocity section in the cutting operation region, and the angle β is set to about 1.5 times the angle α, for example. As illustrated, in the cutting operation region, the angular speed of the first rotating body 25 is set so that the stopper member 26 moves forward by the angle α during the phase shift between the stopper member 26 and the stopper member 28. The The angle β, which is a constant velocity section, is set to be larger than the angle α. Therefore, when the subsequent stopper member 28 reaches the cutting operation region, the same is applied to the second rotating body 27 earlier. Since there is a margin for executing the rotation angle control, the stopper member 28 can perform the operation of locking the subsequent article more smoothly. Through the above-described operation control, the stopper member 26 on the first rotating body 25 and the stopper member 28 on the second rotating body 27 side are accurately and smoothly locked to the articles continuously supplied alternately in the cutting operation region. This makes it possible to perform an intended cutting operation in which each article is sequentially cut out at a predetermined interval.

  10 to 12 are operation explanatory views showing operation states in the cutting region when the above-described cutting operation control is applied. 10 is applied as a rotary topper for a container 42 having a circular cross section in FIG. 10, a container 43 having a circular cross section and a diameter larger than the container 42 in FIG. 11, and a container 44 having a square cross section in FIG. Is shown. In these application examples, since the angle α and the angle β are respectively determined, the stopper members 26 and the first rotation members 25 of the first rotating body 25 and the first shape are selected according to the size and shape of the containers 42 to 44 as the target articles. By adjusting the amount of protrusion of each stopper member 28 of the two-rotor 27 by rotating the advance / retreat adjustment plate 32 that constitutes the aforementioned advance / retreat adjustment mechanism, the respective rotation radii are set to Ra to Rc, respectively, in the cutout region. It is set so that the containers 42 to 44 just fit between the stopper member 26 on the first rotating body 25 side and the stopper member 28 on the second rotating body 27 side adjacent thereto. In this case, according to the rotation radii Ra to Rc, the rotary upper 22 itself is adjusted to advance and retreat along the rail 23 so that the positions of the tip portions of the stopper members 26 and 28 can be smoothly cut out of the containers 42 to 44. Position it at a suitable position. Incidentally, the origin position shown in FIG. 9 is set to an appropriate position in the cutout region so that the cutout operation can be smoothly executed when applied to FIGS.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by adjusting the protruding amount of the stopper members 26 and 28 by adjusting the rotation of the advance / retreat adjusting plate 32, the positions of the tip portions thereof can be adjusted, or the rotary stopper 22 itself By adjusting the forward / backward movement along the rail 23, the operation interval between the stopper members 26 and 28 can be easily adapted to the containers 42 to 44 having different sizes and shapes. Therefore, the first rotating body 25 side can be prepared without preparing a rotary stopper with a different interval for the containers 42 to 44 having different sizes and shapes, which are continuously supplied to the cutting operation region. By adjusting the operation interval between the stopper member 26 and the stopper member 28 on the second rotating body 27 side and alternately locking them, it is possible to easily cut out each container at a predetermined interval. In the above application example, the case where the angle α is constant has been described. However, in the operation control pattern of FIG. 9, the size of the angle α is selected according to the size and shape of the article. By doing so, the adaptability can be further greatly expanded by the combination with the position adjustment of the tip portions of the stopper members 26 and 28 described above.

It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which showed 1st Example of this invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. It is the principal part enlarged view which showed roughly the principal part as a cutting-out mechanism of the Example of this invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which showed the cutting-out operation | movement of the Example. It is the principal part enlarged view which showed 2nd Example of this invention. It is the elements on larger scale which expanded and showed the part of the rotary topper. It is the top view which showed the part of the same rotary wrist. It is explanatory drawing regarding the advance / retreat adjustment mechanism of a stopper member. 6 is a time chart showing article cutting operation control. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which showed the example of application of the same cut-out operation control. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which showed the other application example of the cutout operation control. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which showed the other application example of the cutout operation control.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Conveyor, 2 ... Endless traveling belt, 3 ... Container, 4, 5 ... Guide member, 6 ... Rotary wrist, 7 ... Machine frame, 8, 9 ... Servo motor 10, 11, ... Decelerator, 12, 13 ... Drive gears 14, 15 ... passive gears, 16 ... first rotating shaft, 17 ... second rotating shaft, 18 ... first rotating member, 19 ... stopper member, 20 ... second rotating member, 21 ... stopper member, 22 ... Rotating wrist, 23 ... Rail, 24 ... Elevating mechanism, 25 ... First rotating body, 26 ... Stopper member, 27 ... Second rotating body, 28 ... Stopper member, 29 ... Supporting member, 30 ... Lower rotating plate, 31 ... Upper part Rotating plate 32 ... advance adjustment plate 33 ... fixed gear 34 ... arc-shaped long hole 35 ... lock lever 36 ... arc-shaped guide hole 37 ... engagement pin 38 ... sun gear 39 ... support shaft 40 ... Planetary gear, 41 ... Handle, 42 to 44 ... Container

Claims (2)

An article such as a container is disposed on the side of the conveyor to which the article is conveyed, and a stopper member that can protrude on the conveyor is provided, and the article is adjusted by engaging the stopper member with the article on the conveyor. In the rotary wrist, a first rotating body and a second rotating body each provided with a stopper member are provided around each, a first driving means for rotating the first rotating body, and a second driving means for rotating the second rotating body. And a control means capable of individually controlling the operation of the first drive means and the second drive means, and the rotation axis of the first rotation body and the rotation axis of the second rotation body are arranged coaxially, by the control means, those times of the stopper member of one of the rotating body in a state in which over engaged the braking against the article, the above stopper member of the other rotary member being sequentially conveyed by said conveyor The rotation control is performed so that the section moves to a position where it can be inserted between the current article and the next article, and both stopper members are rotated while maintaining the distance between the stopper members. A rotary topper configured to adjust a conveyance interval between articles by controlling a timing at which the stopper member of the one rotating body releases the engagement state of the current article.   2. The rotary topper according to claim 1, wherein the stopper member of the first rotating body and the stopper member of the second rotating body are configured to be able to advance and retract.

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