JP7308569B2 - METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SPACERS FROM FOOD LOGS - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing spacers from food logs from which the casing has been removed.

For example, in the case of ham food logs, the main body of the food is housed in a cylindrical casing made of a flexible sheet such as paper or synthetic resin, and the opening of the casing is sealed with a sealer.

For large-diameter logs, the casing is removed, the main body of the log is sliced into thin slices, and a predetermined number of slices (usually several to 10) are sealed in a synthetic resin bag. are sold at

Peeler machines are used to remove casings from food logs. For example, in the peeler machine described in Patent Document 1, after making a cut in a casing having a small diameter in the vicinity of one of the sealing members, the raw wood is rotated while the sealing member is held by a chuck to form a helical shape on the casing. Peel off while making cuts.

JP-A-11-127767

In recent years, logs have come to be used in which a plate-like spacer is inserted into one end of the food log so that the diameter does not change to the vicinity of the end. In the conventional raw wood for food, it was necessary to discard small-diameter slices in the vicinity of the sealer, but by inserting the spacer, it is possible to increase the number of slices that can be used as products.

However, when the food raw wood casing in which such spacers are inserted is removed using the raw wood peeler machine described in Patent Document 1, the spacers remain attached to the ends of the food main body.

Therefore, before slicing the food main body, an operator needs to remove the spacer from the food main body using a knife, which is labor intensive and reduces the working efficiency of casing removal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems. It is possible to remove the spacers without manual work, and furthermore, it is possible to achieve the same work efficiency as removing the casing of food raw wood without spacers. It is an object to provide a method and apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the method for removing the spacer from the food body according to the present invention comprises:
A food body is housed in a cylindrical casing made of a flexible sheet, and the opening of the casing is sealed with a spacer inserted into one end of the food body. a method for removing spacers from the food body after
moving the arm relative to the food body while pressing a roller attached to the tip of the arm against the food body from which the casing has been removed;
The spacer is peeled off from the food body by deforming the food body with the roller.

In the method for removing the spacer from the food body according to the present invention, it is preferable that the food body from which the casing has been removed is conveyed by a conveyor, and the roller is pressed against the food body being conveyed.

Further, the conveyor is composed of two small conveyors installed along the conveying direction of the food main body, and a gap is provided between the two small conveyors,
It is preferable that the spacers peeled off from the raw food material by the rollers fall through the gap and then are accommodated in the tray.

Further, the conveyor is composed of two small conveyors installed along the conveying direction of the food main body, and a gap is provided between the two small conveyors,
It is preferable that the spacers peeled off from the food raw wood by the rollers fall through the gap and are then accommodated in the tray.

Further, the device for removing the spacer from the food body according to the present invention, which achieves the above object, comprises:
A food body is housed in a cylindrical casing made of a flexible sheet, and the opening of the casing is sealed with a spacer inserted into one end of the food body. After removing the spacer from the food body,
a conveyor for conveying the food raw wood from which the casing has been removed;
It consists of a roller attached to the tip of the arm,
The log food against which the rollers are pressed is deformed as the log food is transported, and the spacer is peeled off from the log food due to the deformation.

According to the method for removing spacers from food logs according to the present invention, it is possible to automate the removal of spacers from food logs with a simple configuration, and as a result, work efficiency similar to that of casing removal from food logs without spacers can be achieved. realizable.

It is a top view which shows the structure of a log peeler machine. It is sectional drawing cut|disconnected by the AA line of FIG.1(b). FIG. 2 is a front view showing the configuration of the pulling means in FIG. 1; It is the same perspective view. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the configuration of the casing recovery means of FIG. 1; It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control system of a log peeler machine. FIG. 11 is a diagram (part 1) explaining the steps of casing removal by the raw wood peeler machine; It is a figure (2) explaining the step of the same casing removal. It is a figure (3) explaining the step of the same casing removal. It is a figure (4) explaining the step of the same casing removal. It is a figure (5) explaining the step of the same casing removal. It is a figure (the 6) explaining the step of the same casing removal. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the rotation of the food log and the shape of the removed casing. It is a figure explaining operation|movement of the spacer removal means which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the outline|summary of the operation|work which removes the casing of a food raw wood.

Hereinafter, a method and an apparatus for removing spacers from food logs according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the procedure for removing the casing from the raw food log, which is the premise of the present invention, will be described. However, the removal of the casing does not necessarily have to be performed using a log peeler machine. good.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a log peeler machine for removing the casing from the food log, FIG. (b) shows a state in which raw wood W is placed on each processing means.

As shown in FIG. 1, the log peeler machine 1 includes gripping means 2, log supply means 3, log rotation means 4, extrusion means 5, pulling means 6, casing recovery means 7 (see FIG. 5), transfer means 8, inspection. It is composed of means 9 and a controller 10 . Most of the constituent means are distributed on a grid-like frame 101 , and the gripping means 2 and the controller 10 are installed on a base 102 arranged adjacent to the frame 101 . However, the casing collection means 7 is installed at a position away from the frame 101 in order to secure a storage space for the casings.

In order to facilitate understanding of the raw wood peeler machine 1, an outline of the operation of removing the casing of the raw wood W will be described before describing the means of construction of the machine.

As described above, the raw wood W accommodates the food body such as ham in the cylindrical casing Ca, and the openings at both ends of the casing Ca are sealed with sealing tools such as strings and clips (clip Cl is used in the figure). It has stopped. Hereinafter, the small diameter portion of the raw wood near the clip will be referred to as the "small diameter portion", and the other columnar portion will be referred to as the "large diameter portion".

When removing the casing Ca from the raw wood W, as shown in FIG. A notch Sl is made in the small diameter portion near Cl by using a notching means (not shown).

Next, the clip Cl on the side with the notch Sl is gripped by the first chuck 23 attached to the tip of the gripping means 2, the raw wood W is kept stationary, the casing Ca is pulled, and the casing Ca is pulled along the dashed line. Make a cut and peel off from the main body of the food.

Further, the upper portion of the casing Ca peeled off by the first chuck 23 is gripped by the second chuck 24 of the gripping means 2, and the casing Ca is peeled off from the small diameter portion to the large diameter portion while rotating the raw wood W.

Subsequently, the peeled casing Ca is handed over from the chuck of the gripping means 2 to the pulling means 6, and the casing Ca is sandwiched between a pair of rollers 62a and 62b (see FIG. 3) of the pulling means 6 and pulled. Then, while rotating the raw wood W, the pulling means 6 is moved rearward along the raw wood W (to the left when facing the paper surface of FIG. 1(b)), so that the casing Ca is pulled as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. Peel off from the food body while making a spiral cut.

Finally, the clip Cl on the other sealing portion (on the left side of the paper) of the raw wood W is peeled off from the raw wood body to complete the removal of the casing Ca.

As described above, in the present invention, a spacer is inserted at one end to prevent the diameter from changing to the vicinity of the end of the food log. The shape of the left end of the log differs from the shape shown in FIG.

<Description of the structure of the log peeler machine and the function of each part>
Next, the configuration of the raw wood peeler machine 1 and the function of each part will be described. First, the gripping means 2 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1(a), the gripping means 2 comprises a pair of chucks 23 and 24 attached to the tip of an arm of an articulated robot 21. As shown in FIG. The articulated robot 21 is composed of a plurality of arms articulated with each other, and by rotating servo motors accommodated in the respective joints, the chucks 23 and 24 are moved along arbitrary trajectories in three-dimensional space. It can be moved, rotated and swiveled.

Two chucks 23 and 24 are used to peel off the casing Ca with the cut S1 from the food body. By changing the movement of the chuck according to the diameter of the raw wood and the outer curved surface of the small diameter part by the multi-joint robot 21, the casing Ca can be smoothly removed without being torn in the middle even if the diameter of the raw wood W is changed. The stripping of the casing by the chuck will be detailed later with reference to the drawings.

Next, with reference to FIG. 2, along with the flow of raw wood W, the configuration and function of each related member will be described. FIG. 2 shows members related to the raw wood supplying means 3, the raw wood rotating means 4, the transferring means 8 and the inspecting means 9 in the cross section taken along the line AA in FIG. 1(b). In the figure, oblique lines applied to the cross section are omitted for ease of viewing.

The log supply means 3 stores a plurality of logs W before the casings Ca are removed, and supplies new logs W to the log rotation means 4 each time the operation of removing the casings Ca by the log rotation means 4 is completed. supply. In the figure, three logs W are stored in the log supply means 3 .

The raw wood rotating means 4 removes the casing Ca from the raw wood W in cooperation with the gripping means 2, the pushing means 5 and the pulling means 6. After stripping the casing Ca from the small-diameter portion of the log using the gripping means 2, the removal of the casing Ca is advanced while rotating the log W by the log rotating means 4, and then the stripped casing Ca is handed over by the pulling means 6. , and the removal of the casing Ca is completed.

The transfer means 8 takes out the raw wood W from which the casing Ca has been removed from the raw wood rotation means 4 and transfers it to the inspection means 9 .

The inspection means 9 is a means for an operator to visually check whether or not the surface of the raw wood W from which the casing Ca has been removed has scratches or the like, and the raw wood W is placed on a pair of rollers 91a and 91b. Then, the operator manually rotates the raw wood W and checks whether the surface of the food body from which the casing Ca has been removed is scratched or the like.

Next, transfer of raw wood W will be described. The raw wood supplying means 3, the raw wood rotating means 4, and the inspection means 9 are arranged with different heights, and the raw wood is transferred between these means using its own weight.

After the removal of the casing Ca in the raw wood rotation means 4 is completed and the raw wood W is discharged from the raw wood rotation means 4, the location near the raw wood rotation means 4 among the three raw wood W stored in the raw wood supply means 3 is transferred to the log rotating means 4.

A plurality of stoppers 32 are installed on the stage 31 of the raw wood supply means 3 , and the stoppers 32 are configured to be opened and closed by an air cylinder (not shown) housed in the stage 31 . Under normal conditions, the stopper 32 is held in an upright position as shown in FIG.

Since the stage 31 is slightly tilted toward the log rotating means 4, when the operator instructs the controller 10 to knock down the stopper 32 near the log rotating means 4, the log W rotates by its own weight and moves to the log rotating means 4. are transferred onto a pair of rollers 41a and 41b.

After that, when the stopper 32 is returned to the upright state and the stopper 32 on the upstream side is knocked down, the next raw wood W is transferred to the downstream side and held by the stopper 32 . By repeating such operations, the raw wood W is supplied to the raw wood rotating means 4 .

As shown in FIG. 1(a), the raw wood rotating means 4 includes a pair of rollers 41a and 41b (hereinafter collectively referred to as "rollers 41") wound around the outer periphery of a long rotating shaft 42 at a constant interval. ), and by rotating the rollers 41a and 41b in the same direction, the raw wood W placed on the rollers can be rotated. Although not shown, a motor for rotating the shaft 42 of the roller 41 is housed in a housing 51 of the pushing means 5, which will be described later.

The raw wood W from which the casing Ca has been removed is discharged from the raw wood rotating means 4 by the transfer means 8 and then transferred to the inspection means 9 . A trough 81 for picking up the raw wood W placed on the pair of rollers 41 a and 41 b and transferring it to a slope 82 is installed below the raw wood rotating means 4 .

The trough 81 is formed by pressing a metal plate, has a V-shaped cross section, and is provided with a notch at a location facing the roller 41 . As shown in FIG. 2, a handle for turning is attached to one end of the trough 81 , and the tip of the handle is fixed to a rotating arm 83 . When the arm 83 is rotated by extending or shortening the piston rod 841 of the air cylinder 84 fixed to the frame 101 , the trough 81 attached to the arm 83 rotates around the axis of the arm 83 .

2, the trough 81 is bent in a V-shape so as not to hinder the rotation of the log W when the log W is placed on the rollers 41 of the log rotation means 4. is inserted into the gap between the rollers 41a and 41b. As described above, the notches are formed in the trough 81 at portions facing the rollers 41a and 41b, so that the rotation of the rollers 41a and 41b is not affected in this state.

On the other hand, when the removal of the casing Ca is completed and the raw wood W is to be discharged from the raw wood rotating means 4, the operator instructs the controller 10 to drive the air cylinder 84 so that the trough 81 is moved from the position indicated by the solid line to two points. When turned to the position indicated by the dashed line, the raw wood W is lifted by the trough 81 and dropped onto the slope 82 .

Since the slope 82 is inclined toward the inspection means 9 , the raw wood W dropped onto the slope 82 is rotated by its own weight and transferred onto the pair of rollers 91 a and 91 b of the inspection means 9 .

After that, an operator's visual inspection is performed on the rollers 91a and 91b. Since the roller 91a can move forward as indicated by the arrow, when the operator pushes the roller 91a forward after the inspection, the raw wood W falls onto the conveyor 92 and is then conveyed by the conveyor 92.

Next, the extruding means 5 and the cutting means (not shown) will be described along the procedure for removing the casing. First, the pushing means 5 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 1(b), the raw wood W placed on the pair of rollers 41a and 41b of the raw wood rotating means 4 is pushed by the pushing means 5 to the right as viewed in the drawing in order to remove the casing Ca. pushed in the direction

When removing the casing Ca of the raw wood W, the clip Cl of the raw wood W and the casing Ca are gripped by two chucks 23 and 24 attached to the tip of the arm of the articulated robot 21, and the chucks 23 and 24 are moved three-dimensionally. Move, rotate and orbit along arbitrary trajectories in space. At that time, if the raw wood W is on the roller 41, the chucks 23 and 24 cannot be moved, rotated, or turned along an arbitrary trajectory. For this reason, the tip of the raw wood W and its vicinity are pushed forward from a support plate (not shown) having a V-shaped groove to float in the air to secure a space in which the chucks 23 and 24 can work.

Next, the cutting means (not shown) will be described. As described above, before starting the operation of removing the casing of the raw wood W by the chucks 23 and 24, it is necessary to make a cut Sl in the small diameter portion of the raw wood W. As shown in FIG. The cutting means comprises a cutter for cutting the casing Ca of the raw wood W.

The cutter is held at a position away from the raw wood W before the casing removal work is started, and when preparations for removing the casing are completed, the cutter moves and cuts Sl into the small-diameter portion of the raw wood W (see FIG. 15). put in.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the construction and function of the pulling means 6 will be described. FIG. 3 is a front view of the tensioning means 6, and FIG. 4 is a diagonally upward view of the same means 6. As shown in FIG.

The pulling means 6 is used when removing the casing Ca from the large diameter portion of the raw wood W onwards. The casing Ca is removed from the raw wood W by pinching and pulling it. After that, it is transported through the storage box 65 and the duct 74 to the cane collection means 7 (see FIG. 5).

As indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 15, the pulling means 6 peels off the casing Ca along the spiral line in cooperation with the raw wood rotating means 2, and finally removes the clip Cl at the other end of the raw wood W. The removal of the casing Ca is completed by peeling it off from the raw wood body.

In the raw wood peeler machine described in Patent Document 1, the pulling means is fixed and the raw wood is moved forward when removing the casing of the large-diameter portion of the raw wood W. , Since the total length of the peeler machine is long, a large area is required for the installation location.

On the other hand, the peeler machine shown in FIG. 1 basically rotates the raw wood W at the same position and moves the pulling means 6 along the raw wood W. In comparison, the total length of the raw wood peeler machine can be greatly shortened.

The pulling means 6 is attached to the frame 101 of the raw wood peeler machine 1 and includes a transfer member 61 (see FIG. 1(a)), a pair of rollers 62a and 62b, an arm 63, an air cylinder 64, a casing storage box 65, a housing 66, It is composed of a rotation transmission shaft 67, a gearbox 68, and a frame that supports these members. The frame of the pulling means 6 employs a structure in which upper and lower plates 691 and 692 are connected by struts 693 and 694 .

As shown in FIG. 1( a ), the pulling means 6 is configured to be able to move left and right through the gap between the roller 41 b of the log rotating means 4 and the slope 82 of the transfer means 8 . As members therefor, a pair of long shafts 611 and 612 are arranged in parallel on the frame 101 of the machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of linear bushings 613 and 614 are attached to the lower portion of the plate 692 of the pulling means 6, and the shafts 611 and 612 described above are inserted into their respective hollow portions. Although not shown, a portion of an endless belt is attached to the upper surface of the plate 692, and both ends of the endless belt are supported by pulleys. When one of the pulleys is rotated by driving the motor accommodated in the housing of the transfer member 61 , the pulling means 6 moves left and right along the log rotating means 4 .

A motor (not shown) that rotates the roller 62b is housed in the housing 66 attached to one of the struts 694 of the pulling means 6, and the rotation of the motor is transmitted through the rotation transmission shaft 67 and the gearbox 68. is transmitted to the roller 62b. On the other hand, an air cylinder 64 and a casing housing box 65 are attached to the upper plate 691 .

A pair of rollers 62 a and 62 b are arranged on the upper part of the pulling means 6 to hold the tip of the casing Ca peeled off from the raw wood W and pull it into the casing housing box 65 . The lower roller 62b is rotated by a motor (not shown) contained within the housing 66. As shown in FIG. The upper roller 62a can be turned by an arm 63. During operation, the arm 63 turns downward to sandwich the casing Ca together with the roller 62b. located at the top of

The outer peripheral surfaces of the pair of rollers 62a and 62b are formed with grooves at regular intervals so as to prevent slippage when wound with the casing Ca therebetween. Openings are formed in the front and rear surfaces of the casing housing box 65, and a duct 74 of the casing collecting means 7 (see FIG. 5) for conveying the casings Ca by the wind generated by the negative pressure is attached to the rear opening. there is The casing Ca stripped from the raw wood W by the pair of rollers 62a and 62b and stored in the casing storage box 65 is conveyed to the casing recovery means 7 by the wind flowing through the duct 74. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, only the pillars 693 and 694 and the rotary drive shaft 67 are arranged in the vertical central portion of the pulling means 6 . This is because the pulling means 6 is moved using the narrow space (see FIG. 2) between the roller 41b of the raw wood rotating means 4 and the slope 82 of the transferring means 8. As shown in FIG. The pulling means 6 waits at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1(b) when not operating, and is transported to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line by an endless belt (not shown) when starting operation.

Next, the configuration and function of the casing collecting means 7 will be described with reference to FIG. The casing recovery means 7 is composed of a recovery box 71 , a blower 72 , a duct 73 connecting the recovery box 71 and the blower 72 , and a duct 74 connecting the casing storage box 65 of the pulling means 6 and the recovery box 71 .

A wind is generated from the duct 74 to the duct 73 by the negative pressure generated by rotating the fan of the blower 72, and the casing Ca stripped from the food raw wood W by the pulling means 6 is moved from the casing storage box 65 to the recovery box by this wind. 71 and stored in a container 710 in the collection box 71 . Since the sides of the container 710 are made of mesh, the movement of the air flowing toward the duct 73 is not hindered.

If the casing recovery means 7 configured as shown in FIG. 5 is used, the recovery box 71 and the blower 72 can be installed at a position away from the main body of the raw wood peeler machine 1, so that the layout of the members constituting the machine is not affected. do not have. Further, when it is desired to continuously collect casings Ca peeled from a large number of food logs W into the collection box 71, the capacity of the collection box 71 can be increased.

Furthermore, the pulling means 6 and the casing recovery means 7 are connected by a long flexible duct 74, and the duct 74 utilizes the space between the ceiling and the floor of the building in which the log peeler machine 1 is installed to create a three-dimensional structure. Since it can be arranged in a straight line, the empty space can be used effectively.

Regarding the arrangement of the duct 74, since the duct 74 also moves along with the movement of the pulling means 6, it is necessary to take this into consideration. Specifically, a method of installing a plurality of bars movably in the horizontal direction and hanging a duct on them like a clothesline, or a method of using an extendable duct like a bellows can be considered. Which method to use should be determined in consideration of the size of the space where the duct is installed, the cost required for installation, and the like.

<Configuration of control system of log peeler machine>
Next, referring to FIG. 6, the configuration of the control system of the raw wood peeler machine 1 will be described.

The control system of the log peeler machine 1 is basically composed of a robot controller 11 that controls the operation of the articulated robot 21, and a machine controller 15 that controls the operations of other constituent means. The machine controller 15 is connected with an I/O cable.

The robot controller 11 is composed of a control section 12 , an input display section 13 and a storage section 14 . The control unit 12 is composed of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc. A program for controlling the operation of the articulated robot 21 is stored in the ROM. A plurality of servo motors are driven, and the two chucks 23 and 24 attached to the tip of the arm 22 are controlled to follow predetermined trajectories.

The input display unit 13 is composed of a touch panel type liquid crystal display, and is used for inputting and displaying data necessary for controlling the articulated robot 21 . The storage unit 14 is composed of a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, and stores data relating to the trajectory of the arm acquired by learning.

On the other hand, the machine controller 15 controls the operations of machine components other than the articulated robot 21, and is composed of a control section 16, an input display section 17 and a storage section .

Each means such as the first chuck 23 and the second chuck 24 connected to the control unit 16 incorporates actuators such as motors and air cylinders, and sensors for detecting the positions and states of these actuators.

The control unit 16 is composed of a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, etc. Based on a program stored in the ROM, the control unit 16 detects the current position and state of the actuator from sensors provided in each means, and drives the actuator. to implement a predetermined operation.

The input display unit 17 is composed of a touch panel type liquid crystal display similarly to the robot controller 11, and is used for inputting and displaying data necessary for controlling each means. The storage unit 18 is also composed of a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory, like the robot controller 11, and stores data necessary for operating each means of the machine.

The control unit 12 of the robot controller 11 and the control unit 16 of the machine controller 15 mutually transmit and receive timing signals, operate the articulated robot 21 and other constituent means at predetermined timings, and perform planned functions and operations. Realize

<Steps for removing the casing>
Next, the method of removing the casing by the raw wood peeler machine 1 will be described with reference to the above drawings and new FIGS. 7 to 12. FIG. 7 to 12 are diagrams for explaining each step of removing the casing.

7(a), 9(a), 10 and 11 are views seen from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the raw wood W, and FIGS. 7(b), 8(a)(b) and 9( 12(a) and 12(b) are views of the pulling rollers 62a and 62b as seen from the side. In these figures, only tip portions of chucks 23 and 24 or chuck pieces 231 and 241 are shown for ease of viewing.

Each step of removing the casing is performed by the operator instructing the controller 10 to drive each means, but in the following description, instructions to the controller 10 will not be explained one by one in order to avoid complication.

As a preparatory work for removing the casing, after the raw wood W placed on the pair of rollers 41a and 41b has been removed from the casing and transferred to the inspection means 9 by the transfer means 8, a sensor (not shown) detects the removal of the casing. is detected, the stopper 32 on the downstream side of the raw wood supply means 3 falls down, and the raw wood W moves by its own weight and is placed on the pair of rollers 41 (see FIG. 1(b)).

Specifically, the operator pushes down the stopper 32 of the most downstream raw wood W stored on the stage 31 of the raw wood supply means 3 , transfers the raw wood W to the raw wood rotating means 4 , and rolls 41 Place on top (see Figure 2).

Next, the push rod 52 of the pushing means 5 is advanced to push the front end of the raw wood W to the position shown in FIG. 1(b). Subsequently, a cutter (not shown) of the cutting means is advanced to make a cut Sl in the small diameter portion of the raw wood W.

After the preparatory work is completed, the main work of removing the casing is started. First, the articulated robot 21 of the gripping means 2 is operated to move the first chuck 23 forward of the raw wood W, and the chuck pieces 231 of the first chuck 23 grip the clip Cl of the raw wood from the horizontal direction. At this stage, the pair of rollers 41 of the log rotating means 4 are not rotated, and the log W is merely placed on the rollers.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the first chuck 23 is moved along the outer curved surface of the small diameter portion of the raw wood W in a substantially horizontal plane in a direction opposite to the side on which the cut Sl is provided, and the clip Cl and The surrounding casing Ca is peeled off from the raw wood W.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, while rotating the first chuck 23 (indicated by a thin line arrow), it is moved in a spiral shape with respect to the axis of the raw wood W (indicated by a white arrow), and the chuck is moved from the small diameter portion. The casing Ca is peeled off from the raw wood W while making a cut in the casing Ca along the large diameter portion.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the chuck operation is stopped when the first chuck 23 moves above the raw wood W and is oriented substantially horizontally. After that, the chuck piece 241 of the second chuck 24 grips between the tip of the cut of the casing Ca and the casing Ca gripped by the first chuck 23 .

Thereafter, by rotating the pair of rollers 41a and 41b of the log rotating means 4 in the same direction, the log placed on the rollers is rotated, and the operation of stripping the casing Ca from the log body is continued.

After the tip of the peeled casing Ca is gripped by the chuck piece 241 of the second chuck 24, as shown in FIG. The casing Ca is moved obliquely rearward and obliquely upward with respect to the axis of the raw wood W, and is separated from the raw wood body while making spiral cuts in the casing Ca from the small diameter part to the large diameter part of the raw wood W.

Next, removal of the casing by the pulling means 6 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1(b), a pulling means 6 is arranged near the raw wood rotating means 4 and is configured to move along the rollers 41b.

When not in operation, the pulling means 6 waits at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1(b) and moves to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line before the casing removal operation is started. As shown in FIG. 10, when the casing Ca is removed by the gripping means 2 and the casing Ca is removed by the second chuck 24 from the small diameter portion to the large diameter portion of the raw wood W, the first and second gripping portions of the casing Ca are gripped. The chucks 23 , 24 are located above the rollers 62 b of the pulling means 6 .

In this state, the roller 62a is positioned above the casing housing box 65, and the opening is wide open (see FIG. 3). At that position, the chuck is opened and the tip of the casing Ca is placed on the roller 62b. After that, the chucks 23 and 24 are retracted to the standby position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 11, the arm 63 is pivoted downward to sandwich the casing Ca between the two rollers 62a and 62b, and then the roller 62b is rotated to pull the casing Ca into the casing housing box 65. As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 11, with respect to the casing Ca in the latter half (left side) of the log W, the pulling means 6 is moved backward (to the left when facing the paper surface) while the log W is rotated by the log rotating means 4, Rollers 62a and 62b cut the casing Ca spirally and peel it off from the main body of the food. This operation is continued until the clip Cl at the left end of the raw wood W is peeled off.

Although not shown, a displacement sensor is attached to the base of the arm 63 that supports the tension roller 62a to detect changes in the angle. While the casing Ca is being pulled as shown in FIG. 12(a), the angle of the arm 62 does not change. As shown in 12(b), the arm 63 is displaced upward to detect the change in angle.

When the controller 10 receives the displacement signal from the displacement sensor, it determines that the removal of the casing Ca is complete, and stops the rotation of the motor that drives the tension roller 62b.

In addition to the sensor for detecting the change in angle, the displacement detection of the pulling roller 62a includes a sensor for detecting the positional deviation of the arm 62 and vertical movement of the tip, and a sensor for detecting the impact of the arm when the clip Cl passes. may be used.

Furthermore, since the clip Cl is made of a metal such as an aluminum alloy, a metal sensor may be installed near the opening of the casing housing box 65 to detect the passage of the clip Cl. .

The casing Ca stripped off by the two rollers 62a and 62b of the pulling means 6 and stored in the casing storage box 65 is exposed to the wind generated by driving the blower 72 of the casing recovery means 7 to make the inside of the duct 74 negative pressure. are transported to the collection box 71 by riding the , and collected in the container 710 . After that, the door of the recovery box 71 is opened and the container 710 is taken out.

Next, the relationship between the rotation of the raw wood W and the shape of the removed casing Ca will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 shows a state in which the vicinity of the rear end portion of the casing Ca removed from the raw wood W is developed.

FIG. 13(a) shows the state of the casing Ca peeled off from the raw wood along the dashed line shown in FIG. 15, and the width of the casing Ca is narrowed near the clip Cl. Therefore, in some cases, as indicated by the chain double-dashed line Br, the clip Cl may be cut before the clip Cl, and the clip portion may remain attached to the raw wood W. In that case, the operator will have to remove the clip Cl from the raw wood W, which reduces the efficiency of the casing removal work.

In such a case, in the second half of the casing removing operation, stopping or reversing the rotation of the raw wood W by the raw wood rotating means 4 can prevent the casing Ca from being cut before the clip Cl.

FIG. 13(b) is an exploded view of the casing Ca when the rotation of the raw wood W is stopped at the position indicated by the dashed line, and FIG. 13(c) is the position indicated by the dashed line. 2 shows a developed view of the casing Ca when it is closed. As shown in FIGS. 13(b) and 13(c), by stopping or reversing the rotation of the raw wood W during the casing removal, it is possible to prevent the casing Ca from being cut during the casing removal work.

As shown in FIG. 2, the raw wood W from which the casing Ca has been removed by the steps described above is pushed out from the rollers 41a and 41b by turning the trough 81 of the transfer means 8 upward, and transferred on the slope 82. After that, it is placed on a pair of rollers 91 a and 91 b of the inspection means 9 .

The operator visually inspects the food body surface of the raw wood W after casing removal placed on the rollers 91a and 91b to confirm whether or not there are scratches or the like. The raw wood W that has been visually inspected is dropped onto the conveyor 92 by moving one roller 91a in a direction orthogonal to the shaft and widening the space between the rollers, and is conveyed to the pick-up position.

As described above, if the raw wood peeler machine 1 is used, the casing can be removed smoothly without the casing being torn off. Furthermore, since the box for collecting the casings removed from the raw wood can be installed at a position away from the main body of the raw wood peeler machine, the layout of the raw wood peeler machine is not restricted.

<Step of removing spacer from food log>
As described above, in the present invention, a disk-shaped spacer is inserted at one end and the diameter does not change to the vicinity of the end. . Hereinafter, a method for removing spacers from raw wood according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

After the raw wood peeler machine 1 removes the casing Ca, the spacer remains attached to the rear end of the raw wood W. Therefore, conventionally, an operator removes the spacers using a knife from the raw wood after the inspection of the casing Ca by the inspection means 9 has been completed. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the spacers are automatically removed from the logs that have been inspected.

FIG. 14(a) shows the raw wood W that has fallen onto the conveyor 92 after the inspection is completed. A spacer SP is attached to the rear end of the raw wood W. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, unlike the one shown in FIG. 1A, the conveyor 92 is divided into two small conveyors 92a and 92b, and a gap Ga through which the spacer SP can pass is provided between them. The small conveyors 92a and 92b operate in conjunction to convey the raw wood W in the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 14(a), the raw wood W that has been inspected by the worker passes between rollers 91a and 91b and falls to a position straddling conveyors 92a and 92b.

After that, as shown in FIG. 14(b), the spacer removing means 110 is installed above the raw wood W. Then, as shown in FIG. The spacer removing means 110 is composed of an arm 111 that can turn around a shaft 112 in a vertical plane including the axis of the raw wood W, and a roller 113 attached to the tip of the arm 111. The roller 113 is moved by its own weight. It is in contact with the upper part of the raw wood W.

As shown in FIG. 14(c), when the conveyors 92a and 92b are driven to convey the raw wood W rightward in this state, the raw wood W is deformed by the roller 113 being pressed against the raw wood W, and the deformation causes the spacers to move. The SP is stripped from the raw wood W. The peeled spacers SP fall through the gap Ga between the conveyors and are accommodated in the tray 114 .

As shown in FIG. 14(d), the raw wood W from which the spacers SP have been peeled off is transported leftward by reversing the conveyors 92a and 92b, and is unloaded from the peeler machine 1. As shown in FIG. At this time, the spacer removing means 110 retreats horizontally so as not to interfere with the loading of the next raw wood W on the conveyors 92a and 92b.

As described above, by simply adding a simple configuration in which the conveyor 92 is divided to form the gap Ga between them and the rotatable roller 113 is placed on top of the log W, it is possible to adhere to the ends of the log W. Therefore, the spacer SP can be reliably removed.

In this embodiment, the arm 111 is installed at a predetermined position and the raw wood W is conveyed by the conveyor 92. However, the arm 111 is moved relative to the raw wood W without moving the raw wood W. In this state, the roller 113 may be pressed against the raw wood W.

W Log Ca Casing Cl Clip Ga Gap Sl Slit SP Spacer 1 Log peeler machine 2 Grasping means 3 Log supply means 4 Log rotation means 5 Extruding means 6 Pulling means 7 Casing collection means 8 Transfer means 9 Inspection means 10 Controller 11 Robot controller 12, 16 Control Unit 13, 17 Input Display Unit 14, 18 Storage Unit 15 Machine Controller 21 Articulated Robot 23, 24 Chuck 31 Stage 32 Stopper 41a, 41b, 62a, 62b, 91a, 91b, 113 Roller 51, 66 Housing 61 Transfer Member 63, 111 Arm 64 Air Cylinder 65 Casing Storage Box 67 Rotation Transmission Shaft 71 Recovery Box 72 Blower 73, 74 Duct 68 Gear Box 81 Trough 82 Slope 92, 92a, 92b Conveyor 110 Spacer Removing Means 114 Tray

Claims (7)

A food body is housed in a cylindrical casing made of a flexible sheet, and the opening of the casing is sealed with a spacer inserted into one end of the food body. a method for removing spacers from the food body after
moving the arm relative to the food body while pressing a roller attached to the tip of the arm against the food body from which the casing has been removed;
A method for removing spacers from food logs, characterized in that the spacers are peeled off from the food by deforming the food by the rollers. 2. The method of removing spacers from food raw wood according to claim 1, wherein the food body from which the casing has been removed is conveyed by a conveyor, and the roller is pressed against the food body being conveyed. 3. The method of removing spacers from food logs according to claim 2, wherein said roller-mounted arm is pivotable in a vertical plane. The conveyor is composed of two small conveyors installed along the conveying direction of the food main body, and a gap is provided between the two small conveyors,
4. The method of removing spacers from food logs according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the spacers stripped from the food logs by the rollers fall through the gaps and are stored in a tray.
A food body is housed in a cylindrical casing made of a flexible sheet, and the opening of the casing is sealed with a spacer inserted into one end of the food body. After removing the spacer from the food body,
a conveyor for conveying the food raw wood from which the casing has been removed;
It consists of a roller attached to the tip of the arm,
An apparatus for removing spacers from food logs, wherein the food logs against which the rollers are pressed are deformed as the food logs are conveyed, and the spacers are peeled off from the food logs by the deformation. 6. Apparatus for removing spacers from food logs according to claim 5, wherein the arm to which the roller is attached is pivotable in a vertical plane. The conveyor is composed of two small conveyors installed along the conveying direction of the food log, and a gap is provided between the two small conveyors,
7. The apparatus for removing spacers from food logs according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the spacers stripped from the food logs by said rollers fall through said gaps and are then accommodated in a tray.

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