JP4914696B2 - Robot hand with ear folding device and boxing device using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a robot hand with an ear fold device and a boxing device using the same, and more particularly to a technique suitable for performing a process of packing a package in which an ear is folded into a box.

  There are a wide variety of forms of the package, and one of them is a package with a gusset in which a fold is formed at a predetermined position on the side surface used when packaging sheep yolk, tea, or the like. And in order to manufacture such a package, generally it uses a pillow packaging apparatus, and forms by pushing a film side surface inward with a gusset nail | claw before giving an end seal.

  By the way, since a plurality of such packaging bodies are usually stored in a single box, the ears and the like related to the storage are obstructive, and the storage operation is complicated and the storage efficiency is lowered. Therefore, the ear portion and the film portion that is not in contact with the object to be packaged around the ear part are closely attached to the object to be packaged by bending downward, so that the shape of the package is substantially the same as the shape of the object to be packaged. In some cases, the portion protruding to the outer periphery is reduced.

In order to perform such processing, a folding device for bending the ear portion downward is provided on the carry-out side of the packaging device for manufacturing the package, and the ear portion bent on the carry-out side of the folding device is further paired with an endless belt. The sheet is conveyed while being sandwiched between and is heated in the middle of conveyance so that a crease is attached so that the ear can be maintained in a folded state after being unloaded from the endless belt. As the said bending apparatus, there exists a thing disclosed by patent document 1, for example.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-294304

  The above-described conventional apparatus is complicated because it is manually boxed. In addition, a separate ear folding device is required, and processing such as heating or temporary fixing with an adhesive is required to maintain the folded state even after passing through the ear folding device, and a mechanism for such processing is also provided. As a result, the ear folding device becomes large.

  The present invention relates to a robot hand with an ear folding device capable of automatically supplying a packaging body in a simple configuration and folded together with the ear portion of the packaging body or its peripheral portion to a packaging box, etc., and boxing using the same An object is to provide an apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a robot hand with an ear fold device according to the present invention includes a suction means for sucking and holding a package, and an ear folding means for bending both ends of the package sucked and held by the suction means. The suction means has a hollow suction box provided such that the position of the suction surface can be moved closer to and away from the attachment surface of the suction means, and the lower surface of the suction box penetrates A hole is formed and the surface thereof becomes the suction surface, and the suction box is sucked and held by the suction surface when the inside of the suction box is sucked with the package closing the through hole. In addition, the suction surface is configured to move relatively close to the mounting surface, and the ear folding means includes a pair of ear folding claws, and forward and reverse with the ear folding claws as the center of rotation. Rotate And a pair of ears when the earfolding claws are closed. The interval between the lower ends of the folding claws is narrowed so as to be in contact with both ends of the package and bend.

  The mounting surface corresponds to the lower surface of the tip of the robot arm in the embodiment. The suction box corresponds to a cylindrical main body in the embodiment. In order to move the suction surface relatively close to and away from each other, the upper cylindrical body 13 and the lower cylindrical body may be connected to each other so as to be movable in the axial direction between the upper cylindrical body 13 and the lower cylindrical body as in the embodiment. A member that expands and contracts such as a bellows may be mounted. Further, since at least the position of the suction surface only needs to be moved, it may be moved from the middle (the lower cylinder) as in the embodiment, or a bellows or the like is attached to the upper end of the suction box, and suction is performed. The entire box may be moved, or only the suction surface may be moved.

  Preferably, an injection nozzle is disposed in the suction box, and is configured to receive a biasing force in a direction in which the suction surface relatively moves downward by the gas injected from the injection nozzle. Further, it is preferable that the suction surface is controlled to move upward while the earfolding claw is open. Further, the suction box may include a lower cylinder and an upper cylinder, and may be configured so that one end of the other cylinder is movably inserted into one end of the one cylinder. Furthermore, it is preferable to dispose a second injection nozzle in the adsorption box so that a force in the detaching direction is applied to the packaging body that contacts the adsorption surface by the gas injected from the second injection nozzle.

  A boxing apparatus according to the present invention comprises the above robot hand with an ear folding device and means for supporting the robot hand with an ear folding device and moving between a plurality of points. In the embodiment, the means for moving a plurality of points corresponds to a robot arm and a device for driving the robot arm. As long as the robot hand can move the package body between the suction position of the package and the supply position of the package to the box, the configuration can be realized by various devices.

  Further, the boxing device includes a suction means for sucking and holding the package, ear-folding means for bending both ends of the package sucked and held by the suction means, a support member (robot arm) for supporting the suction means, Means for moving the adsorbing means and the ear folding means between a plurality of points as an integral part of the package. The suction means has a hollow suction box provided so that the position of the suction surface can be moved closer to and away from the support member, and a through hole is formed on the lower surface of the suction box. The surface was made to be the adsorption surface. Further, the suction box is linked to a suction device, and when the inside of the suction box is sucked by the suction device with the package closing the through hole, the package is sucked and held on the suction surface. In addition, the suction surface is configured to move relatively close to the support member, and the ear fold means is a pair of ear fold claws and a pair of ear fold claws with the ear fold claw as a rotation center. A drive mechanism that rotates in a reverse direction, and when the earfolding claw is in an open state, the lower ends of the earfolding claw are cross-shaped toward each other, and when the earfolding claw is in a closed state, You may make it comprise so that the space | interval of the lower end of a pair of ear folding nail | claw may become narrow, and it may bend | fold by contacting the both ends of the said package.

  The robot hand is positioned above the package so that the suction surface is in contact with or close to the surface of the package. In the embodiment, the robot hand side is moved downward on the package at a predetermined position, but the package may be moved upward.

  In this state, for example, a suction device (suction pump) is operated, or the suction box is suctioned by connecting to a suction device or the like that is operating. Then, the package is sucked and held on the suction surface of the suction box. At this time, since the inside of the suction box becomes negative pressure, the suction surface moves (moves upward) toward the attachment surface.

  Next, the robot hand is moved to a predetermined position (above the box for supplying the package). Thereby, the sucked package can be moved from the suction position onto the box. At any timing (in the embodiment, before the movement) during the movement and after the movement is stopped before the movement start, the ear-folding claw that is opened in the letter C is closed. Thereby, the both ends (the ear | edge part by which the end seal | sticker was carried out, and the film site | part of the circumference | surroundings) of a package body are bend | folded (ear fold).

  When the robot hand moves down into the box with the earfolding claws closed, the package folded in the ear is supplied into the box. Thereafter, when the suction of the robot hand and the closed state of the claw for folding the ear are released, the package is detached from the robot hand and packed in the box. Further, when the gas is jetted from the second jet nozzle, the suction state can be easily released and the robot hand can be smoothly detached.

  In the present invention, it is possible to automatically pack a packaging body in a simple configuration with the ear portion of the packaging body or its peripheral portion folded together with respect to a packaging box or the like, and a separate ear folding device is unnecessary. As a result, the equipment space is reduced.

  1 to 5 show a main part (a robot hand part of a boxing device) according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the boxing device 1 according to the present embodiment has a structure in which a robot hand 10 capable of holding a package 3 is attached to the lower surface of the front end of a robot arm 2 that moves along a locus when set in advance. It has become.

  The robot hand 10 includes a cylindrical main body 11 for sucking and holding the package 3 and an ear fold 12 that bends the ear 4 of the package 3. The cylindrical main body 11 includes a cylindrical upper cylindrical body 13 and a lower cylindrical body 14 mounted below the upper cylindrical body 13, and a lower portion of the upper cylindrical body 13 is inserted into the lower cylindrical body 14. Adopted configuration. The lower surface of the lower cylindrical body 14 is a flat rectangular suction portion 15 that comes into contact with the packaging body 3, and the suction portion 15 is formed with a plurality of through holes 16 penetrating vertically. The lower surface of the suction part 15 becomes the suction surface.

  The outer diameter of the upper cylinder 13 and the inner diameter of the lower cylinder 14 are substantially equal so that air does not leak from the contact surfaces of both the cylinders 13 and 14. In order to make the airtightness between the upper cylinder 13 and the lower cylinder 14 more reliable, for example, an O-ring is attached, the contact surface is covered with silicon rubber, or grease is interposed. The method can be taken. The upper cylinder 13 is linked to a suction pump (not shown) via the robot arm 2.

  1 and 2, when the suction portion 15 is in contact with the upper surface of the packaging body 3 and closes the through-hole 16, suction is generated in the cylindrical main body 11 and packaging. The body 3 is adsorbed by the adsorbing unit 15. If the suction process is further continued in this state, the negative pressure in the cylindrical main body 11 increases, and the lower cylindrical body 14 moves upward relative to the upper cylindrical body 13 (moves closer to the robot arm 2). ). Therefore, if the position of the upper cylinder 13 is constant, the packaging body 3 sucked and held by the lower cylinder 14 (adsorption portion 15) also moves up.

  Further, inside the cylindrical main body 11, a first injection nozzle 18 extending in the axial direction is arranged at the center, and a plurality of second injection nozzles extending in the axial direction are arranged around the first injection nozzle 18. The lower end of the first injection nozzle 18 is inserted into a cylindrical portion 20 that is open upward and is formed upward at the center of the inner bottom surface of the lower cylindrical body 14. Further, the lower side of the second injection nozzle 18 is opposed to the through hole 16 provided in the suction portion 15. Furthermore, the first injection nozzle 18 and the second injection nozzle 19 are both linked to another system of injection pumps (not shown), and air can be injected downward from the injection nozzles 18 and 19.

  With this configuration, when air is ejected from the first ejection nozzle 18, the air is blown toward the inside of the cylindrical portion 20, and the lower end of the cylindrical portion 20 is closed. (Lower cylinder 14) is urged downward. Thereby, the lower cylinder 14 once raised can be moved downward.

  Further, the air sprayed from the second spray nozzle 19 strikes the package 3 through the through hole 16. Therefore, the package 3 adsorbed by the adsorbing portion 15 can be detached by stopping the suction in the cylindrical main body 11 and also injecting air from the second injection nozzle 19.

  Further, a long hole 21 extending in the vertical direction is formed on the side surface of the upper cylindrical body 13, and a guide pin 22 inserted into the long hole 21 is provided on the inner side surface of the lower cylindrical body 14. Since the guide pin 22 moves along the long hole 21, the upper limit and the lower limit of the lower cylindrical body 14 are restricted.

  On the other hand, the ear fold 12 includes a pair of ear fold claws 25 and an opening / closing mechanism 26 that opens and closes the ear fold claws 25. The opening / closing mechanism 26 includes a cylinder 30, a cam plate linked to the cylinder 30, and a cam follower 33 that contacts the cam plate, and the cam follower 33 is linked to the ear-folding claw 25. As a result, when the cylinder rod of the cylinder 30 is reciprocated, the cam plate moves up and down, whereby the cam follower 33 moves along a predetermined locus, whereby the ear folding claw 25 can be opened and closed.

  Next, the operation of the robot hand 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6A, the suction portion 15 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the package 3. In this state, the suction pump is operated, and the package 3 is adsorbed to the adsorbing portion 15. The operation of the suction pump may be started before the package 3 is brought into contact with the suction unit 15.

  When the package 3 is adsorbed by the adsorbing portion 15 and closes the through hole 16, the lower cylinder 14 is automatically raised as shown in FIG. 6 (b) and then as shown in FIG. 6 (b). . At this time, the upper cylindrical body 13 and the ear fold 12 do not move up and remain in the position of FIG. 6A, so that the ear 4 of the package 3 has an ear-folding claw 25 opened in a C shape. To be directed downward.

  Next, the cylinder 30 is operated, the cam follower and the cam mechanism of the cam plate are used to convert the linear motion of the cylinder 30 into a rotational motion, and the ear folding claw 25 is closed. Thereby, as shown in FIG.6 (c), the ear | edge part 4 of the package 3 is folded.

  The robot arm 2 moves along a preset trajectory while maintaining the state where the ear 4 is folded. That is, the robot hand 10 is raised (see FIG. 7A), the robot hand 10 is moved above the supply position of the package (see FIG. 7B), the robot hand 10 is lowered, and the package 3 Into a packaging box 40 (see FIG. 7C).

  Next, the electromagnetic valve of the cylinder 30 serving as a drive source for opening and closing the earfolding claw is opened, and the earfolding claw is brought into a free state. Here, the free state is a state in which the force for pressing the ear part 4 to the main body side of the package 3 is released, and the open state is maintained (maintained) or the closed state is maintained (maintained). There is no state. Then, the suction is stopped and air is jetted from the second jet nozzle 19 to release the suction state (see FIG. 7D)).

  Next, air is injected from the first injection nozzle 18 to move the lower cylinder 14 downward (see FIG. 8A)). At this time, the tip side of the robot arm 2 is also moved up. Further, the robot hand 10 is raised, and the robot hand 10 is completely removed from the packaging box (see FIG. 8B). And the robot hand 10 is moved to the adsorption | suction position of a package (refer FIG.8 (c)). During this movement, the cylinder 30 is operated to open the ear folding claw 25.

  In the present invention, the earfolding nail may be opened and closed in two stages, and the robot hand may be pulled out in a half-open state.

It is a front view which shows suitable one Embodiment of the boxing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a side view which shows suitable one Embodiment of the boxing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows suitable one Embodiment of the boxing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the inside of a cylindrical main body (adsorption box). It is a figure explaining an effect | action. It is a figure explaining an effect | action. It is a figure explaining an effect | action. It is a figure explaining an effect | action.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Box packing apparatus 2 Robot arm 3 Packaging body 4 Ear part 10 Robot hand 11 Tubular main body 12 Ear folding part 13 Upper cylinder body 14 Lower cylinder body 15 Adsorption part (adsorption surface)
16 Through-hole 18 First injection nozzle 19 Second injection nozzle 20 Tube portion 21 Long hole 22 Guide pin 25 Earfolding claw 26 Opening / closing mechanism 30 Cylinder 33 Cam follower

Claims (6)

Suction means for sucking and holding the package;
Ear folding means for folding both ends of the package body sucked and held by the suction means,
The suction means has a hollow suction box provided so that the position of the suction surface can be moved closer to and away from the attachment surface of the suction means;
A through hole is formed on the lower surface of the suction box, and the surface becomes the suction surface.
The suction box is sucked and held by the suction surface when the inside of the suction box is sucked in a state where the package closes the through hole, and the suction surface is relative to the attachment surface. Configured to move closer together,
The ear-folding means includes a pair of ear-folding nails and a drive mechanism that rotates the ear-folding nails forward and backward with the upper part as a rotation center, and the ear-folding nails are in an open state. When the ear folding claws are closed, the gap between the lower ends of the pair of ear folding claws is narrowed and comes into contact with both ends of the package to bend. A robot hand with an ear fold device, characterized by being configured as described above.   A first injection nozzle is disposed in the adsorption box, and the gas injected from the first injection nozzle receives a biasing force in a direction in which the adsorption surface relatively moves downward. The robot hand with an ear folding device according to claim 1.   3. The robot hand with an ear folding device according to claim 1, wherein the suction surface is controlled to move upward while the ear folding claw is open.   2. The suction box includes a lower cylindrical body and an upper cylindrical body, and is configured so that one end of the other cylindrical body is movably inserted into one end of one cylindrical body. 4. A robot hand with an ear folding device according to any one of items 1 to 3.   A second jet nozzle is disposed in the suction box, and a force in a detaching direction is applied to the packaging body that contacts the suction surface by a gas jetted from the second jet nozzle. The robot hand with an ear fold device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A robot hand with an ear fold device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
And a means for supporting the robot hand with the ear fold device and moving between a plurality of points.

Images