JP7627410B2 - Gate sorting device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a gate sorting device that prevents errors in sorting collected articles according to their delivery destinations.

Conventionally, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, there exists an article sorting equipment including an article sorting section divided into a plurality of compartments, in which designated articles are input into each compartment, a tray for accommodating the articles, and a tray placement table on which the tray is placed. That is, the article sorting section includes an opening/closing door provided in front of each compartment and an actuator for opening/closing the opening/closing door, an ID card having tray information specifying the compartment into which the designated articles are input and the number of articles written thereon is placed on the bottom of the tray, and the tray placement table includes an ID card reader for reading the tray information, a display unit for displaying the number of articles, an input completion switch and an input cancellation switch that are pressed when the opening/closing door is closed, and a controller for controlling the actuator and the display unit, and the controller opens the opening/closing door of the compartment specified by the tray information called by the ID card reader, displays the number of articles on the display unit, and closes the opening/closing door when the input completion switch or the input cancellation switch is pressed.

Patent No. 4119861

However, in the case of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the opening and closing door cannot be changed in elevation position for each section of the article sorting operation, so it is poor in recognition from an ergonomic point of view. Moreover, the width of the opening and closing door is not changed according to the width size of the article sorting section. In addition, a specific configuration for specifying the opening and closing position of the opening and closing door is not disclosed.

Therefore, the present invention has been devised in consideration of the various conventional circumstances described above, and has as its object to provide a gate sorting device which, when the number of stages of the item opening in the vertical direction is increased, makes it possible to set the elevation position of the gate at the item opening of each stage to a position that makes it easy to work with, thereby providing an ergonomic cognitive enhancement mechanism, particularly for item openings at lower stages, and further enables the width of the gate to be changed according to the horizontal size of the part opening.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, a rotating means capable of rotating a cylinder by a linear driving means is attached to each of a plurality of goods openings, and the gate of a predetermined goods opening is raised or lowered by applying a driving force to the linear driving means. A plate-shaped gate is arranged on the cylinder above the goods opening so that the contents of the goods opening can be seen, and a holding member is provided on the cylinder so that the width of the gate can be changed depending on the width size of the goods opening. This makes it possible to provide an ergonomic recognition enhancement mechanism that opens the gate wider at goods openings located in a lower step position compared to goods openings located in a higher step position.

A stopper with an elevation angle adjustment mechanism is provided on the cylinder to regulate the range of elevation movement of the gate.

At least one of the stoppers is either an elevation angle stopper having a protrusion that restricts the upper limit of the elevation angle, or a depression angle stopper having a protrusion that restricts the lower limit of the depression angle.

The gate is equipped with an afterimage effect mechanism using a lightweight, cushioning material with a dark front and a light back, which provides an ergonomic afterimage effect and makes it easy to recognize when elevated, and because it is lightweight and cushioning, no injury will occur even if the gate is accidentally bumped into.

According to the present invention, when the number of tiers of the item opening in the vertical direction is increased, the elevation position of the gate at the item opening of each tier can be set to a position that makes it easy to work, thereby providing a cognitive enhancement mechanism that utilizes ergonomics, and a gate sorting device can be provided in which the width of the gate can be changed according to the horizontal size of the part opening.

1 is a front view of an article entrance in which a gate sorting device is arranged, showing one embodiment for carrying out the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing the gate sorting device. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a cam follower mounting annular body portion in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of the cam follower portion of the gate pivot means. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a stopper portion in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of a cam follower portion of a gate pivot means. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a cylindrical cam cut from the front to the rear by a plane including a central axis.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A gate sorting device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the gate sorting device 1 of this embodiment comprises a vertical frame 3a, a horizontal frame, a pivoting means holding frame 3c provided on the front of the horizontal frame, and an article opening 5 formed of shelves with four vertical levels and four horizontal rows, and a pivoting means 11 attached to the pivoting means holding frame 3c is attached to the upper part of each article opening 5.

Further, a plate-shaped gate 7 is disposed on a cylinder 13 disposed above the goods opening 5 so that the contents of the goods opening 5 can be seen. The rotating means 11 makes the cylinder 13 rotatable by the linear driving means 40, is attached to each of the multiple goods openings 5, and performs the lifting and lowering operation of the gate 7 of a predetermined goods opening 5 by applying a driving force to the linear driving means 40.

As shown in Figures 3A and 4, a cam follower mounting ring 17 is provided on the cylindrical body 13, to which a cam follower 18 is attached, and a driving force for rotating the cylindrical body 13 is provided by a cylindrical cam 50 provided inside the cylindrical body 13 and performing linear motion in the axial direction of the cylindrical body 13 through the cam follower 18.

A cylindrical cam 50 is disposed in the cylindrical body 13, and the driving shaft 42 of the linear driving means 40 is connected to the rear end of the cylindrical cam 50. The central axis of the cylindrical cam 50 is aligned with the central axis of the cylindrical body 13 inside the rotatably held cylindrical body 13. The cylindrical cam 50 has a cam slope 52a that passes through the intersection with the central plane in the axial direction of the cylindrical cam 50 and is perpendicular to each partition surface perpendicular to the central plane on the tip side, and a cam slope 52b that is point-symmetrical with the cam slope 52a and a point on the central axis of the cylindrical cam 50. The linear driving means 40 is also provided with a rotation prevention means 44 that prevents the cylindrical cam 50 from rotating around the central axis. As a result, the cylindrical body 13 rotates while the cam follower 18 moves along the cam slopes 52a and 52b in accordance with the linear drive of the cylindrical cam 50.

An air actuator with an air piston, a linear motor actuator, or the like can be used as the linear drive means 40, but it is preferable to use an air actuator with a simple structure. Also, when an air actuator with a mechanism for preventing rotation of the drive shaft is used, the above-mentioned rotation prevention means 44 does not need to be installed.

At this time, the width of the gate 7 can be changed according to the width of the goods opening 5. That is, the holding members 6 are attached to the fixing rings 15 attached to both ends of the cylinder 13, and each gate 7 fits into a roughly U-shaped groove of the holding members 6 and is screwed in by the screw members 8. When changing the width of the gate 7, the screwed portion is removed and replaced with a gate 7 that corresponds to the width of the goods opening 5, and then screwed in.

As shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3B, the cylinder 13 is provided with two stoppers (31a, 31b) having a depression angle adjustment function to regulate the elevation range of the gate 7, one of the stoppers (31a, 31b) is an elevation angle stopper 31a having a protrusion 32a that regulates the upper limit of the elevation angle, and the other is a depression angle stopper 31b having a protrusion 32b that regulates the lower limit of the depression angle. The protrusions (32a, 32b) of the stoppers (31a, 31b) abut against the approximately U-shaped support 14 that holds both ends of the cylinder 13 to stop the rotation of the cylinder 13. In this case, an elastic sheet 33 is attached to the abutting surface of the support 14 so that no metallic sound is generated even if the stoppers (31a, 31b) abut against the support 14.

For example, two stoppers (31a, 31b) for specifying the elevation and depression positions are attached adjacent to the fixing ring 15. The positions of the gate at the elevation and depression angles can be set individually for each stopper (31a, 31b). Therefore, when the number of stages of the goods opening 5 in the vertical direction increases, it is possible to set the elevation and elevation positions of the gate 7 of the goods opening 5 of each stage to a position that is easy to work at. For example, it is possible to adjust the opening degree in an ergonomic way, such that the gate 7 is opened widely for the goods opening 5 located at a low position and opened narrowly for the goods opening 5 located at a high position.

The gate 7 is preferably made of a lightweight, cushioning material such as polystyrene foam with a black front and a light-colored back, which provides an ergonomic afterimage effect, further increasing awareness of which goods opening 5 to insert goods into when the gate is elevated, and prevents injury to workers if their hands hit the gate 7.

Next, the present embodiment will be described taking as an example a case where goods are sorted into each goods opening 5.

In Figure 1, when a goods container 20 containing goods is delivered, a worker reads the goods container identification information 21 using a reading means 24, and the control device 25 receives goods sorting information corresponding to the read goods container identification information 21 and starts the goods sorting work.

Next, when the reading means 24 reads the item identification information 23 of the item 22 removed from the item container 20, the control device 25 activates the rotating means 11 attached to the item opening 5 corresponding to the item sorting information, and opens the gate 7 of the corresponding item opening 5. At this time, the protrusion 32a that regulates the upper limit of the elevation angle of the elevation angle stopper 31a abuts against the elastic sheet 33 provided on the abutting surface of the support body 14.

The worker inserts the goods 22 into the goods opening 5 with the gate 7 open, and then steps on the foot switch 34 to send a confirmation signal to the control device 25 that the goods have now been inserted into the goods opening 5 .

After the completion signal is input, the gate 7 is closed and a message such as "thank you" is sent to the worker from the speaker 26. At this time, the protrusion 32b that restricts the lower limit of the depression angle of the depression angle stopper 31b comes into contact with the elastic sheet 33 provided on the abutting surface of the support 14. This allows the worker to fully recognize the progress of the item sorting work, and the item sorting work can be performed with less chance of errors.

To change the width of the gate 7 according to the width size of the goods opening 5, the gate 7 which fits into the roughly U-shaped groove of the retaining member 6 of the fixing ring-shaped body 15 attached to both ends of the cylinder 13 and is screwed in place with the screw members 8 is removed, and then replaced with a gate 7 which corresponds to the width size of the goods opening 5 and is then screwed in place again with the screw members 8.

Furthermore, a wearable reading means attached to a hand, a finger, or the front of the body can also be used as the reading means 24 for the item identification information 23. In particular, when the item is small, the item 22 can be removed from the container with one hand and the item identification information 23 can be read with the other hand or with a wearable reading means attached to the front of the body, making it possible to perform the item sorting work from start to finish at any location in front of the item opening 5, thereby shortening the distance the worker must travel and improving work efficiency.

1...Gate sorting device 3a...Vertical frame 3c...Pivoting means holding frame 5...Article opening 6...Holding member 7...Gate 8...Screw member 11...Pivoting means 13...Cylinder 14...Support 15...Fixing ring 17...Cam follower mounting ring 18...Cam follower 20...Article container 21...Article container identification information 22...Article 23...Article identification information 24...Reading means 25...Control device 26...Speakers 31a, 31b...Stopper (elevation stopper, depression stopper)
32a, 32b... projection 40... linear driving means 42... driving shaft 44... rotation prevention means 50... cylindrical cam 52a, 52b... cam inclined surface

Claims (3)

A plurality of product openings;
A cylindrical body disposed in each of the article openings, the cylindrical body having an annular body to which a cam follower is attached;
a cylindrical cam having a central axis coinciding with a central axis of the cylindrical body, the cylindrical cam having a pair of cam inclined surfaces at one end thereof, the pair being point-symmetric with each other;
A gate disposed on the cylinder;
a linear driving means provided in contact with the other end of the cylindrical cam opposite to the one end thereof to apply a linear driving force to the cylindrical body;
and a rotation means for converting a linear driving force applied by the linear driving means into a rotation force for rotating the cylindrical body,
the rotating means rotates the cylindrical body by causing the cam follower to move along the cam inclined surface when the linear driving means applies a linear driving force to the cylindrical body,
A gate sorting device characterized in that a stopper having an elevation angle adjustment mechanism is provided on the cylindrical body to regulate the elevation range of the gate so that the gate opens at a first angle for a first item opening that is at a higher level, and opens at a second angle larger than the first angle for a second item opening that is at a lower level than the first item opening. The gate sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper has at least one of an elevation angle stopper having a protrusion that regulates an upper limit of an elevation angle and a depression angle stopper having a protrusion that regulates a lower limit of a depression angle. The gate assortment device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gate is provided with an afterimage effect mechanism using a lightweight, cushioning material with a dark front side and a light back side, thereby providing an ergonomic afterimage function and making it easy to recognize at an elevation angle, and the gate is lightweight and cushioning, so that no injury will occur even if the gate is accidentally bumped into.

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