JP7718966B2 - Item transport device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an item transport device.

A solid formulation conveying device is known that conveys flat solid formulations, such as disc-shaped tablets, in an aligned state from a hopper that stores them randomly to a printing device, PTP packaging device, or the like (see Patent Document 1, etc.). When transferring solid formulations from the hopper to a first storage pocket of a supply drum, this solid formulation conveying device first aligns the solid formulations in the guide groove so that their maximum circular cross section is vertical. The guide groove is configured so that the solid formulations are transferred to the first storage pocket without changing its position, so that each first storage pocket always contains one solid formulation, and never more than two.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-271086

However, conventional solid formulation conveying devices are configured so that the width of the guide groove is smaller than the diameter of the maximum cross-sectional area circle of a disk-shaped solid formulation, and the disk-shaped solid formulations are aligned vertically in the guide groove portion at the bottom of the hopper. However, at the bottom of a hopper that stores a large number of disk-shaped solid formulations, the weights of the disk-shaped solid formulations loaded above interact with each other, raising concerns that the posture of the disk-shaped solid formulations may vary when they are transferred to the first storage pocket. If the posture varies, stable inspection accuracy may not be achieved.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above situation, and its purpose is to provide an item transport device that can correct the orientation of items that are loaded with different orientations when transported, ensuring stable supply to subsequent stages and improving inspection accuracy.

Next, we will explain how to solve the above problems with reference to the drawings corresponding to the embodiments.

The article transport apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is an article transport apparatus including a transport rotor 2 disposed below a supply means 6 that supplies thin, flat, small-block articles W, rotated on a horizontal shaft 7, and configured to receive the articles W dropped from the supply means 6 in a recess 8 on its outer periphery and transport them downward,
The recess 8 is characterized by having a posture correcting portion 12 that corrects the posture of the article W by clamping the article W so that the thickness direction of the article W is in an upright posture along the horizontal axis 7.

In this article transport device, the recess 8 has an attitude correction section 12 at the portion where the article W is introduced from the conveying rotor 2. The article W passes through this attitude correction section 12 when entering the recess 8. The attitude correction section 12 corrects (corrects) the attitude of the article W to a predetermined direction.
The article W is a flat lump such as a tablet. The flat lump may be disc-shaped, polygonal (triangle, pentagon, hexagon, etc.), or may be an R-shaped tablet having curved surfaces on both sides.
The posture correcting unit 12 corrects this flattened, small lump-like article W into an upright posture. An upright posture is one in which the thickness direction of the article W is along the horizontal axis 7 of the conveying rotor 2. Therefore, if the article W is disk-shaped, the axis passing through the center of the front and back circular surfaces will be in the same direction as the horizontal axis 7. In other words, the article W will be in an upright position within the recess 8. The article W will travel in an upright position along the downward conveying path of the conveying rotor 2 (the right half of the conveying rotor 2, which rotates clockwise, from approximately 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock).
By adopting this upright position, the article W can be transported without touching other members, and can be transferred, for example, by rolling to the next stage of the inspection means 4. As a result, in the inspection means 4, the article W is in a self-standing upright position that does not touch the side walls of the recess 8, etc., and therefore the accuracy during measurement can be improved.

The article transport apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to claim 1,
The posture correction section 12 is characterized by having a tapered section 13 formed at the opening portion of the recess 8 and gradually approaching the item W in the thickness direction as it enters the recess 8, with the separation distance at the closest point being greater than the thickness of the item W.

In this article transport device, the posture correcting section 12 has a tapered section 13. The tapered section 13 serves as a slope that corrects the posture of the article W as it falls.
As a result, when the article W that has fallen into the tapered portion 13 hits the slope of the tapered portion 13, the thickness direction of the lower portion is caught in the slit 14 in the recess 8 and falls. Because the diameter of the article W is larger than the groove width of this slit 14, the article W does not assume a prostrate position within the slit 14 with its axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis 7 of the conveying rotor 2.
In this way, the article W in the recess 8, whose position has been corrected by the tapered portion 13 and the slit 14, is moved by gravity to the portion of the recess 8 on the rotational direction side where the tapered portion 13 is not present. In the portion of the recess 8 where the tapered portion 13 is not present, the narrow slit 14 opens on the outer peripheral surface of the conveying rotor 2. By moving to the portion where only the narrow slit 14 remains, the article W moves from the state where it was standing up in the tapered portion 13 to a proper standing position. In other words, the portion without the tapered portion 13 functions to make the article W stand upright (to an upright position). In other words, if the tapered portion 13 is present along the entire length of the recess 8, the article W may not be able to stand upright. Furthermore, even if the article W falls from the tapered portion 13 into the slit 14 when the conveying rotor 2 is stopped, it will not reach an upright position. As the conveying rotor 2 rotates, the posture correcting section 12 moves the article W that has entered from the position of the tapered section 13 by gravity to the part only of the slit 14 in the tip direction, and at that time, the posture of the article W can be corrected to an upright posture.

An article transport apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to the first or second aspect,
The recesses 8 are provided in plurality at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the conveying rotor 2 .

In this article transport device, a plurality of recesses 8 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the transport rotor 2. Even if articles W are dropped into the recesses 8 from the supply means 6 at different times, they are pulled by gravity to the front wall 10 located at the bottom end of the recesses 8, so that they can always be transferred to the next stage at the same time.
The recesses 8 are formed with a predetermined length that allows the articles W to move in the direction of the outer periphery of the conveying rotor 2, so that even if the input position from the supply means 6 is shifted, the variation can be absorbed and the articles can be positioned at each recess 8 that is equally spaced and serves as a reference position. In other words, longer recesses 8 are prepared for each of the articles W that are supplied one after another, so that even if the input timing from the supply means 6 is shifted, the articles can fit properly into the recesses 8 and can be transported at the intervals of each recess 8.

The article transport apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The conveying rotating body 2 is characterized in that it receives the item W from the supply means 6 parallel to the horizontal axis 7 and above a horizontal plane including the horizontal axis 7, and discharges the item W circumferentially downstream in the conveying direction from the receiving position.

In this item conveying device, the conveying rotor 2 receives items W from the supply means 6 parallel to the horizontal axis 7 and above a horizontal plane including the horizontal axis 7. For example, in the case of a conveying rotor 2 that rotates clockwise, this receiving range is approximately the upper half of the conveying rotor 2, from approximately the 9 o'clock position to the 3 o'clock position. This makes it easy to feed items onto the outer periphery of the conveying rotor 2 using gravity. The discharge position of the items W is downstream in the conveying direction from the above-mentioned receiving position in the circumferential direction of the conveying rotor 2. In other words, it can be located approximately in the lower half of the conveying rotor 2, from the 3 o'clock position to the 9 o'clock position. This makes it easy to discharge the items W from the outer periphery of the conveying rotor 2 using gravity to correct the posture of the items W in the recesses 8.

The article transport apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The conveying rotor 2 is provided along its outer periphery to close the opening of the recess 8, and together with the recess 8 forms a conveying chamber 16, the end position 17 of which is the discharge position for the item W, and has a guide wall 3.

In this item conveying device, the posture correction section 12 corrects the flat, small, lump-shaped item W to an upright position, placing it in an upright position within the recess 8. The upright item W then moves in an upright position along the downward conveying path of the conveying rotor 2 (the right half of the conveying rotor 2, which rotates clockwise, from approximately 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock) due to gravity, while contacting the front wall 10 and guide wall 3 that make up the recess 8 within the conveying chamber 16. The item W moves in an upright position along the downward conveying path of the conveying rotor 2 (the right half of the conveying rotor 2, which rotates clockwise, from approximately 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock). This utilizes gravity to correct the posture of the item W in the recess 8, transport it along the guide wall 3, and allow the item W to be easily discharged from the terminal position 17.

The article transport apparatus according to claim 6 of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The object W is discharged from the rotating conveyor 2 to an inspection means 4.

In this article transport device, articles W are discharged from the transport rotor 2 to the inspection means 4. The articles W are stored in a transport chamber 16 formed by the guide wall 3 and the recess 8 of the transport rotor 2, and sent to the inspection means 4. The articles W are transferred to the inspection means 4 while in contact with the front wall 10 of the recess 8 that forms the transport chamber 16. The front walls 10 are provided at equal intervals on the outer circumferential surface of the transport rotor 2.
Therefore, the conveying rotor 2 rotates at a constant rotational speed, and the articles W are sent to the inspection means 4 at a constant discharge timing. The articles W are also sent to the inspection means 4 in an upright position. By sending the articles W at regular intervals, the inspection means 4 can inspect the stationary articles W after damping the fluctuation of the articles W.

An article transport apparatus according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is the article transport apparatus according to the sixth aspect,
A sorting unit 5 is provided next to the inspection means 4 to sort the items W based on the inspection results of the inspection means 4.

In this item conveying device, when inspection of an item W is completed by the inspection means 4, the rear wall 11 of the recess 8 pushes the item W out, and the item W is sent from the inspection means 4 to the sorting unit 5. Before the item W arrives from the inspection means 4, the sorting unit 5 receives the inspection results from the inspection means 4. Upon receiving these inspection results, the sorting unit 5 switches the discharge path for the item W, for example, to a pass-good item path or a fail-good item path, using a sorting mechanism before the item W arrives. The item W that arrives at the sorting unit 5 is sorted to either the pass-good item path or the fail-good item path based on the inspection results.

The item transport device described in claim 1 of the present invention can correct the orientation of items that are loaded in a random manner when transported, and can then eject the items to the next stage in an upright position, thereby achieving stable supply and improving inspection accuracy.

The item transport device according to claim 2 of the present invention allows flat, small, lump-shaped items to be adjusted to an upright position using the tapered portion.

The item transport device according to claim 3 of the present invention can transport items whose drop position into the recess is not fixed at regular intervals through multiple equally spaced recesses, and can transfer the items to the next tier while always maintaining the same orientation when ejecting them from the recesses to the next tier.

The article transport device according to claim 4 of the present invention utilizes gravity acting on the articles to receive articles from the supply device onto the transport rotor, correcting the posture of each article to an upright posture before discharging it from the transport rotor to the next stage, thereby ensuring that the posture of the articles on the next stage is always constant.

The item transport device according to claim 5 of the present invention can correct the orientation of items that are loaded in a random manner and transport them, and by utilizing gravity within the transport chamber, can stably transport the items to a subsequent stage by adjusting their orientation, such as upright.

The article conveying device according to claim 6 of the present invention can discharge articles with corrected posture to the inspection means at regular intervals, regardless of the timing of their insertion into the conveying rotor, and by ensuring that the articles are always in a correct posture, high-precision inspection is possible.

According to the item conveying device described in claim 7 of the present invention, items discharged from the inspection means can be sorted into OK items, NG items, etc. by the sorting unit immediately after measurement based on the measurement results of the inspection means.

1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a main part of an article inspection device including an article transport device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the conveying rotating body shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the conveying rotating body shown in FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the examination table shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 5 is a side view of the examination table shown in FIG. 4 . FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the recess shown in FIG. 5 . 10A is a diagram illustrating the operation when an article is supplied to the conveying rotor, and FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating the operation after rotation of FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the state of an article being supplied from a supply means to a conveying rotor. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating the operation of the article before it hits the tapered portion at the AA cross section position in FIG. 8, and FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating the operation of the article after its posture has been corrected by the tapered portion at the same position. 10 is a partially cutaway explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of a conveying rotor that conveys articles together with a guide wall. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 10. 10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams illustrating the operation of articles being conveyed at equal intervals by the conveying rotor. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of an article at which weighing begins on the inspection table. FIG. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional side view of the main part of the inspection table after weighing has been completed. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a main part illustrating a situation during inspection in which an object is placed in a recess. This is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. 15. FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of a main part of the inspection table when the discharge of the article has started. FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of a main part of the inspection table in the middle of discharging an article. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the operation of a sorting unit into which an article is fed. FIG.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of an article inspection device 1 including an article transport device according to this embodiment.
The article inspection device 1 according to this embodiment includes an article transport device, an inspection means 4, and a sorting unit 5. The article transport device includes a transport drum 2 as a transport rotating body, and a guide wall 3.

The conveying drum 2 is positioned below the supply device 6, which serves as a supply means for supplying items W. It rotates on a horizontal shaft 31 and receives items W dropped from the supply device 6 in a recess 8 on its outer periphery.

In this embodiment, the supply device 6 is described as being drum-type, but the supply device 6 is not limited to this. The supply device 6 may also be, for example, a magazine type or a linear feeder type. In the supply device 6 of this embodiment, the supply drum 9 rotates around the horizontal axis 31, and items W are adsorbed onto the outer surface of the supply drum 9 by negative pressure and transported at predetermined intervals. The supply device 6 releases adsorption directly above the transport drum 2, and the items W are dropped onto the transport drum 2. The supply drum 9 rotates in the opposite direction to the transport drum 2 so that the drop position of the items W coincides with the recess 8. The transport drum 2 and supply drum 9 rotate at the same speed when the transport operation begins.

The items W to be inspected by the item inspection device 1 are relatively small in diameter, including items W with an outer diameter φ of several mm to several tens of mm that can be transported individually without packaging, bite-sized items W, and items W of a predetermined shape or molded products manufactured using existing manufacturing equipment or manufacturing equipment without inspection capabilities, especially items W whose shape does not change during transportation. Examples of such items W include tablets, capsules, lozenges, drops, and other pharmaceutical preparations, as well as candy and chocolate. Below, we will explain the inspection target item W using, as an example, an R-tablet or round tablet, which is circular in plan view, has a small, flat lump shape with a height (thickness) smaller than its diameter, has a cylindrical circumferential surface with bulging spherical surfaces on both sides, and is circular in shape.

Furthermore, in the case of an item W that is a small, flat lump that is circular in plan view, the posture of the item W during transport is referred to as an upright posture when the axis passing through the center of the front and back surfaces faces horizontally, and as a prostrate posture when the axis passing through the center of the front and back surfaces faces vertically. Furthermore, the thickness of the item W refers to the distance in the axial direction of the item W.

The recesses 8 are formed as slits of a predetermined length that allow the articles W to move in the outer circumferential direction along the rotational direction of the conveying drum 2. The recesses 8 have a front wall 10 that the articles W abut on at the front side in the direction of movement of the articles W due to gravity, and a rear wall 11 that pushes the articles W out of the inspection means 4 at the rear side in the direction of movement of the articles W. Multiple recesses 8 are provided at equal intervals around the circumference of the conveying drum 2.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the transport drum 2 shown in FIG.
The recess 8 has a posture correcting section 12 that corrects the posture of the article W by clamping the article W so that the thickness direction of the article W is in an upright posture along the horizontal axis 7. The posture correcting section 12 is formed at the opening of the recess 8 and has a tapered section 13 that gradually approaches the article W in the thickness direction as it enters the recess 8, with the separation distance at the closest point being greater than the thickness of the article W.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the conveying drum 2 shown in FIG.
The posture correcting section 12 consists of this tapered section 13 and a slit 14 carved radially inward of the tapered section 13 on the conveying drum 2. The slit 14 is recessed along the outer peripheral surface of the conveying drum 2 in the extension direction of the recess 8. That is, the slit 14 can be, for example, a curved groove along the outer peripheral surface. The groove width of this slit 14 is smaller than the diameter of the article W (including R tablets) which is molded into a flat, small, approximately disk-like shape. Furthermore, when the article W is an approximately polygonal shape such as a triangle, pentagon, or hexagon without corners, the groove width of the slit 14 is smaller than the diameter of its circumscribing circle.

The tapered portion 13 is provided on the opening side of the slit 14 (the outer peripheral surface side of the conveying drum 2) (see Figure 2). The tapered portion 13 is provided along most of the extension direction of the slit 14, but is not provided in a portion on the rotational direction side of the conveying drum 2. Therefore, in this portion, only the slit 14 is open to the outer peripheral surface. In other words, the length Lt of the tapered portion 13 in the rotational direction of the conveying drum 2 is shorter than the length Ls of the slit 14 in the same direction (Lt < Ls). Furthermore, it is preferable that the length (Ls - Lt) of the portion where the tapered portion 13 is not provided is slightly longer than the radius d of the article W (d < (Ls - Lt)). This allows the article W to stand upright (take an upright position) more reliably in the recess 8 compared to when the portion where the tapered portion 13 is not provided is shorter than the radius d of the article W (d > Ls - Lt).

The tapered portion 13 has a larger gap at the entrance side where it opens onto the outer circumferential surface of the conveyor drum 2 than the diameter D of the article W (see Figure 9(a) below). Furthermore, as the tapered portion 13 is carved, it gradually approaches the inclined surface, eventually matching the distance between the edges to the width of the slit 14. In other words, the distance between the tapered portion 13, which matches the width of the slit 14, is set to be larger than the thickness of the article W. The groove width spacing of the slit 14 is set, for example, to approximately 1.4 to 2 times the thickness of the article W. Therefore, the slit 14 has some play relative to the thickness of the article W. Furthermore, the depth of the recess 8, which is the sum of the slit 14 and the tapered portion 13, is longer than the diameter D of the article W, and the depth from the lower edge of the tapered portion 13 to the bottom of the slit 14 is set to be slightly longer than the radius of the article W. The tapered portion 13 of the posture correction unit 12 may also be a stepped portion with a gradually narrowing gap.

The recess 8 is formed with a predetermined length that allows the article W to move in the outer circumferential direction along the rotation direction of the transport drum 2. The inner wall of the recess 8 facing the rotation direction of the transport drum 2 forms the front wall 10. The front wall 10 has a flat surface Fs that is parallel to the radial direction of the transport drum 2. The inner wall of the recess 8 facing opposite the rotation direction of the transport drum 2 forms the rear wall 11.

The article conveying device is arranged so that the guide block 15 shown in Figure 1 faces the outside of the area where the rotation direction of the conveying drum 2 is generally downward. In this embodiment, the guide block 15 faces the conveying drum 2, which rotates clockwise, in the range from 1 o'clock to 5 o'clock, as an example. Note that, for ease of understanding, the rotational position of the rotating body may be described in this specification using the numerical positions on the dial of a clock with hour and minute hands as an example.

A guide wall 3 is formed on the surface of this guide block 15 facing the transport drum 2, following the outer circumferential surface of the transport drum 2. The guide wall 3 is provided along the outer periphery of the transport drum 2, and together with the recess 8, forms the transport chamber 16 (see Figure 7). In other words, the opening of the recess 8 of the transport drum 2 is blocked by the guide wall 3 as the transport drum 2 rotates, thereby forming the transport chamber 16, which is an enclosed space. The end position 17 of the guide wall 3 shown in Figure 1 (i.e., approximately the 5 o'clock position in the example above) is the discharge position for the item W.

The conveying drum 2 receives the item W from the supply device 6 parallel to the horizontal axis 7 and above a horizontal plane including the horizontal axis 7, and discharges the item W circumferentially downstream in the conveying direction from the receiving position. In the item inspection device 1, the item W is discharged from the conveying drum 2 to the inspection means 4.

The inspection means 4 is positioned below the conveying drum 2. The inspection means 4 receives the item W from the terminal position 17 of the guide wall 3. In this embodiment, the inspection means 4 is a weighing scale. However, the inspection means 4 is not limited to a weighing scale. In the item inspection device 1, the inspection means 4 may perform other inspections, such as external inspection using a camera, etc.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the examination table 18 shown in FIG.
The inspection means 4 has an inspection table 18 onto which the article W discharged from the transport chamber 16 is transferred. If the inspection means 4 is a mass inspection scale, this inspection table 18 serves as a weighing table. The inspection table 18 has a concave curved surface 19 that rolls the article W due to the inertia of the moving article W. The concave curved surface 19 conforms to the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 2. In other words, the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 2 conforms to the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18. In other words, the concave curved surface 19 and the guide wall 3 form a substantially continuous curved surface with the terminal position 17 in between.

A depression 20 is formed in the concave curved surface 19 midway in the rolling direction of the article W. The depression 20 consists of a gently sloping surface 21 on the side of the deepest part facing the direction of rotation of the conveying drum 2 (the side facing the direction of rolling of the article W), and a steeply sloping surface 22 on the side opposite the direction of rotation of the conveying drum 2 (the side opposite the direction of rolling of the article W). The gently sloping surface 21 and the steeply sloping surface 22 are set so that the included angle is an obtuse angle.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the examination table 18 shown in FIG.
Here, consider a vertical line 23 passing through the horizontal axis 7 of the conveying drum 2. This vertical line 23 passes through a center point 24 of the concave surface 19 of the inspection table 18 in the conveying direction of the article W. The deepest part of the recess 20 intersects with a radial extension line 25 of this vertical line 23 that is slightly rotated around the horizontal axis 7 and shifted by an amount δ. In other words, the recess 20 is positioned offset toward the rotation direction of the conveying drum 2 from the center of the concave surface 19 that corresponds to the lowest part of the conveying drum 2.

Consider the tangent at the point where this extension line 25 intersects with the concave curved surface 19. If this tangent is translated to intersect with the deepest part of the recess 20 to form tangent line 26, the angle between tangent line 26 and the gentle slope 21 is U, and the angle between tangent line 26 and the steep slope 22 is Q. In this case, the relationship between gentle slope 21 and steep slope 22 is U<Q. Furthermore, the relationship U+Q≧90° is also satisfied. The item W is supported in an upright position in the recess 20 of the inspection table 18, with only two points of contact, the gentle slope 21 and the steep slope 22 (see Figure 16).

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of the recess 20 shown in FIG.
In the article inspection device 1, a sorting unit 5 that sorts articles based on the inspection results of the inspection unit 4 is provided next to the inspection means 4. The recess 8 has a rear wall 11 that pushes the article W toward the sorting unit 5 on the rear side in the direction of movement of the article W. As shown in Figure 6, the rear wall 11 has a scraping inclined surface 28 whose inclined lower end 27 abuts below the vertical center of the article W when the article W is in an upright position with its thickness direction aligned with the horizontal axis 7.

Next, we will explain the operation of the item inspection device 1.

7A is a diagram illustrating the operation when articles are supplied to the conveying drum 2, and FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating the operation after the rotation of FIG.
In the article inspection device 1, when the transport of an article W begins, the transport drum 2 rotates (clockwise rotation in FIG. 7 , for example). The article W is fed (dropped by gravity) onto the transport drum 2 from the supply device 6, which rotates synchronously, when the tapered portion 13 of each recess 8 reaches the upper end. This operation is performed continuously as the transport drum 2 rotates for the recesses 8, which are provided at equal intervals around the circumference of the transport drum 2. Therefore, the transport drum 2 stores the article W in the recesses 8 in the range from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock (the range in the right half of the figure).

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the articles W being supplied from the supply device 6 to the conveying drum 2.
As shown in Fig. 1, the supply device 6 transports the articles W by suctioning and holding them by their sides with their axis horizontal so that both sides can be seen from the front, but as shown in Fig. 8, the articles W may be suctioned to the outer circumferential surface of the supply drum 9 with their axis oriented in the radial direction of the supply drum 9. Therefore, the articles W are in a prone position at the bottom end of the supply drum 9 that supplies the articles W to the transport drum 2. The articles W fall into the recessed portion 8 of the transport drum 2 while remaining in this prone position.

9A is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the article W before it hits the tapered portion 13 at the A-A cross-sectional position in FIG. 8, and FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the article W whose posture has been corrected by the tapered portion 13 at the same position.
The article W that has fallen from the supply drum 9 strikes the tapered portion 13 of the posture correction section 12 in any posture. The article W that strikes the tapered portion 13 is guided so that only the lower portion enters the slit 14, thereby correcting its posture to an almost upright position.

FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway explanatory diagram of the operation of the conveying drum 2 that conveys the article W together with the guide wall 3.
The article W, whose posture has been corrected to a nearly upright position, falls due to gravity and hits the front wall 10 in the downward rotation area of the conveying drum 2 (for example, the range from 1 o'clock to 5 o'clock).

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG.
Furthermore, in the range from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock, the article W hits the front wall 10 and the guide wall 3. That is, the article W, under the action of gravity, descends while being supported by the front wall 10 and the guide wall 3. Particularly in this range, the object supporting the load of the article W shifts from the front wall 10 to the guide wall 3. At a position near 5 o'clock shown in FIG. 10 , the load supported by the guide wall 3 for the article W becomes greater than the load supported by the front wall 10. That is, the article W rolling on the guide wall 3 leans against the front wall 10.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the articles W being transported at equal intervals on the transport drum 2. In FIG.
When the article W reaches the terminal position 17 of the guide wall 3, it rolls by gravity onto the inspection table 18, which has the same curvature. In the article inspection device 1, the distance between the two front walls 10 where two adjacent articles W in the rotational direction abut, just before the article W rolls onto the inspection table 18, becomes the conveying interval Hk of the articles W that supply the articles W to the inspection means 4. In other words, the recess 8 is set so that the distance between the front walls becomes this conveying interval Hk, which is the timing for discharging the articles W from the terminal position 17.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of an article W at which weighing begins on the inspection table.
After rolling onto the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18, the object W passes through the recess 20, then changes direction and returns in the opposite direction to the rolling direction, stopping at the recess 20. At this time, the object W does not come into contact with either the front wall 10 or the rear wall 11. In this state, the mass inspection scale operates to complete weighing before the next object W is placed on the inspection table 18.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional side view of the main part of the inspection table 18 after weighing.
When the inspection is completed, the rear wall 11 of the conveying drum 2, which is rotating at a constant speed, approaches the article W located in the recess 20 from behind in the conveying direction. At this time, the next front wall 10, which is located behind the rear wall 11 approaching the article W, moves onto the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18. As a result, the next article W rolls onto the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18.

FIG. 15 is an enlarged view of the main part showing the state during inspection when the object W is placed in the recess 20.
In the article inspection device 1, the length Ls of the slit 14 in the rotation direction of the conveying drum 2 is set to a length that prevents the rear wall 11 of the rotating conveying drum 2 from coming into contact with the article W being weighed.

In the article transport device, an article W is loaded into the transport chamber 16, moved along the guide wall 3 while still contained within the space, and sent to the inspection table 18. At the inspection table 18, the article W is measured on the inspection table 18 while being separated from the front wall 10 and rear wall 11 of the transport chamber 16. The article W is then ejected from the inspection table 18 by the rear wall 11. The article inspection device 1 performs these operations at regular intervals. "Regular intervals" does not refer to the distance between the front wall 10 and rear wall 11, but rather refers to the regular intervals between ejections by the respective rear walls 11 of each transport chamber 16. If the first and second articles W get too close, sorting will not be possible in time. In other words, an accurate judgment result will not be obtained, and sorting will not be possible. Therefore, in the article inspection device 1, the article W moving on the concave curved surface 19 hits the front wall 10, achieving transport at regular intervals.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG.
The article W being weighed does not come into contact with the groove inner wall surface 29 of the slit 14, the tapered portion 13, or the opposing inner wall surface 30 of the recess 20, even in a cross section parallel to and including the axis. In other words, the article W stands upright with its lowest part in line contact only with the recess 20 of the inspection table 18. The article W makes line contact with two points in the recess 20, the gentle inclined surface 21 and the steep inclined surface 22, allowing it to be weighed in a stable, stationary state.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the main part of the inspection table 18 when the discharge of the article W has begun.
As the conveying drum 2 rotates, the lower inclined end 27 of the inclined surface of the rear wall 11 of the weighed article W comes into contact with the rear of the weighed article W in the conveying direction. At this time, the next article W is in contact with the front wall 10 of the next recess 8 formed at the back of the rear wall 11.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of a main part of the inspection table 18 when the article W is being discharged.
The inclined lower end 27 pushes the article W below the center of the article W so as to scrape it out of the recess 20. The rear wall 11 pushing the article W pushes the article W up against the gently inclined upward surface 21, and then ejects the article W from the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the sorting unit 5 to which the article W has been fed.
The items W discharged from the inspection table 18 are sent to the sorting unit 5. When the sorting unit 5 receives the inspection results from the inspection means 4, it switches the discharge path for the items W connected to the inspection table 18, for example, to a pass-good item path or a fail-good item path, using a sorting mechanism before the items W arrive. As a result, the item inspection device 1 sorts the items W that have arrived at the sorting unit 5 into pass-good items and fail-good items based on the inspection results, and ends the inspection of one item W.

Next, we will explain the operation of the above configuration.

In the item transport device according to this embodiment, items W are supplied from the supply device 6 to the recessed portion 8 of the transport drum 2. The items W stored in the recessed portion 8 are moved downward by the rotation of the transport drum 2, and then, due to gravity, hit the front wall 10 at the front of the transport direction, and are then discharged along the guide wall 3 to the inspection means 4 for the next process.

The recess 8 is formed as a slit in the direction of the outer periphery of the conveying drum 2, with a predetermined length that allows the item W to move. That is, the item W stored in the recess 8 can move in the longitudinal direction of the recess 8 due to gravity, and as a result of this movement, it hits the front wall 10 located forward in the direction of movement and stops moving within the recess 8 (i.e., is supported). As a result, the item W is positioned at multiple reference positions in the circumferential direction of the rotating conveying drum 2, i.e., for each front wall 10.

The support position (stop position within the recess 8) is adjusted so that the item W can be discharged at regular intervals by moving any distance from the drop position to the front wall 10 in each recess 8. As a result, the item W can be inspected at regular intervals regardless of the timing of its delivery.

In this item transport device, multiple recesses 8 are provided at equal intervals around the circumference of the transport drum 2. Even if items W are dropped into the recesses 8 from the supply device 6 at different times, gravity will pull them toward the front wall 10 located at the bottom of the recesses 8, ensuring that they can be transferred to the next inspection table 18 at the same time.

The recesses 8 are formed in a predetermined length in the direction of the outer periphery of the conveying drum 2 so that the items W can move. Therefore, even if the input position from the supply device 6 is off, the variance can be absorbed and the items can be positioned on the front wall 10, which serves as the reference position. In other words, longer recesses 8 are provided for each item W that is supplied one after another, so that even if the input timing from the supply device 6 is off, the items will fit neatly into the recesses 8. As a result, the items W are supported by gravity on the front wall 10 of the recesses 8, so that even if the items W are supplied loosely and their drop position is unstable, they can be transported at regular intervals and handed over to the next inspection means 4.

In addition, in this article transport device, a flat surface Fs parallel to the radial direction of the transport drum 2 is formed on the rotational direction side of the recess 8 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 2. The end of the flat surface Fs facing the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 2 moves in sliding contact with or facing the guide wall 3. The article W is moved to the inspection means 4 by gravity, with its relative position in the rotational direction relative to the transport drum 2 being constant while in contact with the flat surface Fs and the guide wall 3.

Because the flat surface Fs is parallel to the radial direction of the conveyor drum 2, gravity can continue to act on the item W stored in the recess 8 in the direction of impact with the front wall 10 in the half of the conveyor drum 2 that faces the rotation direction (the half from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock in the clockwise direction). As a result, the recess 8 can position the item W by biasing it in the conveying direction. In other words, because the flat surface Fs is flat, it can support the item W in the most stable orientation given its external shape, ensuring that the orientation of the item W is always the same when it is discharged to the next level.

In the item inspection device 1, the inspection means 4 is a mass inspection scale. The item W is contained in a transport chamber 16 formed by a guide wall 3 and a recess 8 in the transport drum 2, and is sent to the mass inspection scale. The item W is transferred to the mass inspection scale while in contact with the front wall 10 of the transport chamber 16. The front walls 10 are provided at equal intervals around the circumference of the transport drum 2.

As a result, the transport drum 2 rotates at a constant speed, and the items W are sent to the mass inspection scale at a constant discharge timing. By sending the items W at regular intervals, the mass inspection scale can dampen the fluctuations of the items W and then weigh the stationary items W with high precision. As a result, all of the items W handed over from the transport drum 2 can be individually inspected for weight, such as whether they are heavy, light, or correct.

In addition, in this item inspection device 1, once inspection of an item W is completed by the inspection means 4, the item W is sent from the inspection table 18 to the sorting unit 5. The inspection results from the inspection means 4 are input to the sorting unit 5 from the inspection table 18 before the item W arrives. When the sorting unit 5 receives these inspection results, it switches the discharge path for the item W, for example, to a pass/fail path or a fail path, using a sorting mechanism before the item W arrives. An item W that arrives at the sorting unit 5 is sorted into a pass/fail path or a fail path based on the inspection results. As a result, an item W discharged from the inspection means 4 at the rear wall 11 can be sorted into a pass/fail item by the sorting unit 5 immediately after measurement, based on the measurement results of the inspection means 4.

In addition, in this item conveying device, the recess 8 has an attitude correction section 12 at the input section of the item W from the conveying drum 2. The item W passes through this attitude correction section 12 when entering the recess 8. The attitude correction section 12 corrects (corrects) the attitude of the item W to a specified direction.

Item W is a small, flat lump such as a tablet. The small, flat lump may be disc-shaped or polygonal (triangle, pentagon, hexagon, etc.). The small, flat lump may also be an R-shaped tablet with curved surfaces on both sides.

The posture correction unit 12 corrects this flat, small lump-like item W into an upright posture. An upright posture is one in which the thickness direction of the item W is aligned with the horizontal axis 7 of the conveyor drum 2. Therefore, if the item W is disc-shaped, the axis passing through the center of the front and back circular surfaces will be in the same direction as the horizontal axis 7. In other words, the item W will be in an upright position within the recess 8. Due to gravity, the upright item W will move in an upright position along the downward conveying path of the conveyor drum 2 (the right half of the conveyor drum 2, approximately from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock as it rotates clockwise), while in contact with the front wall 10 of the recess 8 and the guide wall 3.

By adopting this upright position, the item W can be transferred to the inspection means 4 while rolling, without touching other components. This allows the inspection means 4 to adopt a freestanding upright position that prevents the item W from touching the side walls of the recess 8, improving measurement accuracy. As a result, items W that are in random orientations when brought in can be transported with their orientation corrected, achieving stable inspection accuracy.

In this article transport device, the posture correcting section 12 has a tapered section 13. The tapered section 13 serves as a slope that corrects the posture of the article W as it falls.
As a result, when the article W that has fallen into the tapered portion 13 hits the slope of the tapered portion 13, the thickness direction of the lower portion of the article W is pinched between the slits 14 and falls. Because the diameter of the article W is larger than the groove width of the slits 14, the article W does not assume a prostrate position within the slits 14 with its axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis 7 of the conveying drum 2.

In this way, the article W, whose posture has been corrected by the tapered portion 13 and slit 14, is moved by gravity to the portion of the conveyor drum 2 on the rotational direction side where there is no tapered portion 13. In the portion of the recess 8 where there is no tapered portion 13, a narrow slit 14 opens on the outer surface of the conveyor drum 2. As the article W moves to the portion where there is only the narrow slit 14, it stands upright from the state where it was standing upright in the tapered portion 13. In other words, the portion without the tapered portion 13 functions to make the article W stand upright (take the article W to an upright position). In other words, if the tapered portion 13 is present along the entire length of the recess 8, the article W may not be able to stand upright. Furthermore, even if the article W falls from the tapered portion 13 into the slit 14 while the conveyor drum 2 is stopped, it will not take an upright position. With the conveyor drum 2 rotating, the posture correction unit 12 moves the article W that entered from the tapered portion 13 to the portion where there is only the slit 14 toward the tip by gravity, and at that time, the posture of the article W can be corrected to an upright position.

In addition, in this item conveying device, the conveying drum 2 receives items W from the supply device 6 parallel to the horizontal axis 7 and above a horizontal plane including the horizontal axis 7. For example, in the case of a conveying drum 2 that rotates clockwise, this receiving range is approximately the upper half of the conveying drum, from approximately the 9 o'clock position to the 3 o'clock position. This makes it easy to insert items W onto the outer periphery of the conveying drum 2 using gravity. Furthermore, the discharge position of the items W is downstream in the conveying direction from the above-mentioned receiving position in the circumferential direction of the conveying drum 2. In other words, it can be located approximately in the lower half of the conveying drum, from the 3 o'clock position to the 9 o'clock position. This makes it easy to discharge items W from the outer periphery of the conveying drum 2 using gravity. As a result, by utilizing gravity acting on the items W, the items W can be received by the conveying drum 2 from the supply device 6 and discharged from the conveying drum 2 to the inspection means 4.

In the item inspection device 1, items W are discharged from the conveying drum 2 to the inspection means 4. The items W are stored in a conveying chamber 16 formed by a guide wall 3 and a recess 8 in the conveying drum 2, and sent to the inspection means 4. The items W are transferred to the inspection means 4 while in contact with the front wall 10 of the conveying chamber 16. The front walls 10 are provided at equal intervals on the outer circumferential surface of the conveying drum 2.

Therefore, the items W are sent to the inspection means 4 at a fixed discharge timing from the conveying drum 2, which rotates at a constant rotational speed. By sending the items W at regular intervals, the inspection means 4 can inspect the stationary items W after damping the fluctuations of the items W. As a result, regardless of the timing of their insertion into the conveying drum 2, the items W can be discharged to the inspection means 4 at regular intervals, enabling highly accurate inspection.

In this article inspection device 1, the inspection means 4 has an inspection table 18 with a concave surface 19. This concave surface 19 has a depression 20 formed midway in the rolling direction of the article W. If the inspection table 18 were configured as it was with the concave surface 19, the upright article W, shaped like a small flattened lump, would roll into one end of the concave surface 19 and move in a pendulum motion (damped vibration) going back and forth in the direction of travel. This damped vibration, such as a pendulum motion, will be referred to as "sway" in this specification. If the article W continues to move in this pendulum motion, it will take time for it to dampen.

If the object inspection device 1 waits until the pendulum motion converges in order to increase mass inspection accuracy, it will not be able to achieve high capacity (increase in the number of inspections that can be processed). Furthermore, if the device wants to increase capacity and starts inspection before the pendulum motion converges, it will not be able to increase mass inspection accuracy.

The article inspection device 1 is therefore designed so that the inspection table 18 has a recess 20 in the concave curved surface 19 to converge and stop the movement.

In other words, the depth, shape, and angle of the inclined surface of the recess 20 dampen the inertial energy of the item W. The position and shape of the recess 20 on the inspection table 18 have been designed in such a way that the item W, which has inertial energy, falls into the recess 20, quickly reducing the damped vibration to zero, allowing it to stop precisely in the recess 20. The inspection table 18 can quickly converge the oscillation of the item W. As a result, the item W, which is about to transition to pendulum motion, can be stopped early and inspected.

In this article inspection device 1, the recess 20 is not located in the center of the inspection table 18, but is positioned slightly off to the side in the direction of rotation of the transport drum 2 (the direction in which the article W travels). Note that the center of the inspection table 18 is the position on the inspection table 18 that corresponds to the lowest part of the transport drum 2. In other words, it is the position directly below the center of rotation of the transport drum 2.

If a depression 20 is provided in the center of the concave surface 19, the object W rolling along the concave surface 19 will move back and forth more (the amplitude of the pendulum motion is less likely to decrease). If the depression 20 is located in the center, the damping effect of gravity is weak. Furthermore, if the depression 20 is deep, it will apply an external force to the inspection table 18 when removing the object W. On the other hand, if the depression 20 is located slightly beyond the center, the object W will fit snugly into the depression 20 due to the force of gravity when its rolling speed decreases from its maximum, resulting in almost no back and forth movement. This allows the inspection table 18 to eliminate the swaying of the object W and quickly stabilize it. As a result, the force of gravity acting on the object W can be used to more quickly stop the swaying of the object W. Note that while this specification uses "rolling" as an example of one form of movement of the object W, "sliding" may also be used as a form of movement for an object W with a triangular shape without corners, for example.

In addition, in this article transport device, the transport drum 2 is a so-called drum type. The outer peripheral surface of the drum-type transport drum 2 has a curvature that roughly matches the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18. In other words, the center of the radius of curvature of the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18 is the horizontal axis 7 of the transport drum 2. A small gap is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the transport drum 2 and the concave curved surface 19 of the inspection table 18 to prevent interference between them.

As a result, the conveying drum 2 can feed the item W stored in the recess 8 from one end of the concave surface 19 (upstream in the conveying direction) onto the inspection table 18, and roll the item W, which is not in contact with the recess 8, to the other end of the concave surface 19 (downstream in the conveying direction). As a result, the upright item W received from the conveying drum 2 can be rolled by gravity from one end of the concave surface 19, and then rolled against gravity toward the other end, allowing the inertial energy to be quickly dissipated and the item to come to a standstill.

In this item conveying device, the item W is stored and conveyed between the front wall 10 (front side in the direction of travel) and rear wall 11 (rear side in the direction of travel) of the recess 8 on the rotating drum. More specifically, the item W is supported by gravity while in contact with the guide wall 3 and the front wall 10 and conveyed. The recess 8 is formed with a predetermined length that allows the item W to move in the outer circumferential direction. These recesses 8 are formed at equal intervals around the circumference of the conveying drum 2. Therefore, the item W transferred to the inspection table 18 by the front wall 10 rolls on the inspection table 18 while contacting the front wall 10, which moves in the rotational direction, and comes to rest in the depression 20 of the inspection table 18. Once inspection on the inspection table 18 is completed, the rear wall 11 of the same recess 8 approaches and abuts the stationary item W as the conveying drum 2 rotates, and is pushed and discharged to the sorting section 5 as the rear wall 11 moves. As a result, the timing for supplying material to the inspection means 4 is determined by the front wall 10 of the recess 8 of the rotating transport drum 2, and the timing for discharging material from the inspection means 4 is determined by the rear wall 11, making it possible to determine the time for inspection.

In addition, in this article conveying device, the rear wall 11 has a scraping inclined surface 28 whose inclined lower end 27 abuts below the vertical center of the article W. The rear wall 11 inserts the inclined lower end 27 of the scraping inclined surface 28 circumferentially downward (between 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock clockwise) into the article W stationary in the recess 20 of the inspection table 18, scraping the article W up and ejecting it from the inspection table 18. As a result, by inserting the inclined lower end 27 of the rear wall 11 into a position below the center of the article W stuck in the recess 20, an ejection force can be applied to lift the article W, thereby reducing impact and load on the scale and article W.

In the inspection means 4 of this item inspection device 1, the recess 20 consists of a gently sloping surface 21 on the side facing the direction of rotation and a steeply sloping surface 22 on the side opposite the direction of rotation, with the deepest part sandwiched between them.

When the inspection means 4 is a mass inspection scale, the inspection table 18 is a weighing table. With a mass inspection scale, the less vibration the item W has, the more accurate the mass inspection. One way to reduce vibration is to slow down the rotation speed of the conveying drum 2. Extending the time it takes for the item W to hit the front wall 10 of the recess 8 against the rear wall 11 will improve accuracy, but will also reduce processing capacity (number of items per minute). In contrast, with the item inspection device 1, there is a demand for improving accuracy while maintaining capacity. To achieve this, it is necessary to stop the item W from vibrating as quickly as possible.

In other words, we want to quickly converge the pendulum-like oscillation (also called swing) of the object W moving back and forth in front of and behind the concave curved surface 19.

As described above, the item W on the concave surface 19 rolls along the concave surface 19 from the position where it was transferred, undergoing pendulum motion (damped oscillation) that swings back and forth on the concave surface 19. Gravity eventually reduces the amplitude and the item comes to rest, but it is desirable to speed up this damping. Providing a depression in the concave surface 19 can hinder the item W's amplitude and reduce its amplitude, but if the depression is located in the center of the concave surface 19, gravity makes it difficult to reduce the amplitude. On the other hand, if the depression 20 is located slightly beyond the center of the item W, the item W will hardly swing back and forth. In other words, an external force other than that of gravity will be applied to the pendulum motion, accelerating damping. Additionally, by providing a gently inclined surface 21 in the direction of travel of the item W, the item W will experience an uphill slope relative to the curve of the concave surface 19, thereby consuming its inertial energy. Additionally, by providing a steep inclined surface 22 on the opposite side of the rotation direction of the recess 20, the item W can be received as it descends the concave surface 19 and returns. The item W can be firmly fitted into the recess 20 by the force of these two inclined surfaces and gravity. The back-and-forth pendulum motion of the item W can be quickly stopped. This allows the inspection table 18 to eliminate the swaying of the item W and quickly stabilize it. As a result, by making the angle between the gentle inclined surface 21 and the steep inclined surface 22 an obtuse angle, the item W can be allowed to roll, and by providing the gentle inclined surface 21 on the rotation direction side (front side) of the conveyor drum 2 and the angled steep inclined surface 22 on the opposite side of the rotation direction of the conveyor drum 2 (rear side), the swaying item W can be converged and stopped more quickly.

2...Transportation rotating body (transportation drum)
3: Guide wall 4: Inspection means 5: Sorting section 6: Supply means (supply device)
7: Horizontal shaft 8: Recess 12: Posture correction section 13: Tapered section 16: Transport chamber 17: End position W: Article

Claims (7)

An article transport device comprising a transport rotor (2) disposed below a supply means (6) for supplying thin, flat, small lump-shaped articles (W), the transport rotor (2) being rotated on a horizontal shaft (7) to receive the articles dropped from the supply means in a recess (8) on the outer periphery and transport the articles downward,
The article transport device is characterized in that the recess has a posture correction section (12) that corrects the posture of the article by clamping it so that the thickness direction of the article is in an upright posture along the horizontal axis. The article transport device described in claim 2, characterized in that the posture correction section has a tapered section (13) formed at the opening of the recess, which gradually approaches the article in the thickness direction as it enters the recess, with the separation distance at the closest point being greater than the thickness of the article. An item transport device as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that multiple recesses are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the transport rotor. An item transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the transport rotor receives the item from the supply means above a horizontal plane parallel to and including the horizontal axis, and discharges the item circumferentially downstream in the transport direction from the receiving position. An item transport device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it has a guide wall (3) that is provided along the outer periphery of the transport rotor, closes the opening of the recess, and together with the recess forms a transport chamber (16), the end position (17) of which is the discharge position for the item. An item transport device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the destination of the item from the transport rotor is an inspection means (4). An item transport device as described in claim 6, characterized in that a sorting unit (5) is provided next to the inspection means to sort the items based on the inspection results of the inspection means.