JPS6125606B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an article conveying device that loads articles from a supply side and changes direction while conveying them to a discharge side.

Regarding the above-mentioned article conveyance devices, there have been various types depending on the type of article to be conveyed and the purpose of conveyance, but when conveying relatively lightweight and easily damaged articles at high speed in a limited space. In many cases, conventional devices are unable to achieve sufficient results and are unable to achieve their goals.

In other words, conveyance while performing direction change operation is
Although it is possible to operate the machine reliably at low speeds, it results in extremely poor work efficiency and lacks the agility that is the primary purpose of mechanization, resulting in a decrease in production.

Therefore, in order to increase work efficiency through mechanization, it is necessary to operate at high speed, but with conventional equipment, the time required for various operations is long, and at high speed, the conveyance distance is long. The overall size of the device becomes larger than necessary, and although the overall size of the device can be reduced by simply performing various operations faster and shortening the conveyance distance, reliable operation cannot be expected, and In some cases, the inertial force of the operation acts during the various operations, causing the article to jump out of the conveyance path, or the various operations are not carried out sufficiently, which may unnecessarily cause malfunctions.

The above-mentioned problems are especially noticeable when the article is related to pharmaceutical products.

Needless to say, pharmaceuticals are used for treatment and health maintenance, and they are not allowed to have any negative effects on the person taking them.Also, pharmaceutical packaging is different from general consumer goods.
The concept of hygiene, such as product quality, maintenance, and guarantee, has been abolished, and products are subject to various regulations and restrictions under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and various laws and regulations.

For this reason, sufficient care must be taken in handling, and the environment in the handling workplace must be strictly controlled.
When it comes to maintaining the environment in the workplace, if the workplace is too large, it will be difficult to provide sufficient air conditioning and other equipment and hygiene management, so it is desirable to keep the workplace as small as possible, and as a result, it is desirable to keep the workplace as small as possible. The packaging of pharmaceutical products is designed to be easily opened by patients with weakened physical strength, so rough handling is strictly prohibited, and in the unlikely event that the packaging is damaged, If so, it cannot be used at all as a machine for pharmaceuticals.

Therefore, by installing the present invention in a production line, each mechanism can control the posture of an article to a state where the next process can be easily carried out in a limited space and over a short distance without applying excessive force to the article. This invention was achieved after many years of experimentation and research with the aim of ensuring that each process is carried out efficiently and transported within the range that allows safe and reliable operation without adding any additional damage. First, the gist will be explained as follows.

That is, this invention allows articles to be continuously conveyed to
In an article conveyance device provided with a series of conveyance paths for loading from a supply side and conveying to a discharge side, a carry-in mechanism and a conveyor mechanism are provided at arbitrary positions on the conveyance path to convey the article in a predetermined direction via transfer claws, respectively. , is equipped with a direction changing mechanism consisting of a feeding mechanism and a loading table equipped with a locking claw for holding articles, and a row increasing mechanism designed to increase the conveyance path, and each of the above mechanisms simultaneously performs one stroke each time an article is placed on top of the article. The direction changing mechanism and the sending-out mechanism are arranged to operate on articles at the same position on the conveyance path, and the direction changing mechanism The direction change mechanism completes the direction change operation in about one-fourth of a stroke in one conveyance stroke, and remains in an inactive state in about three-quarters of the way, and the direction change mechanism maintains an inoperative state in about three-quarters of the way. This article conveying device is characterized in that the delivery mechanism completes the delivery operation in just one stroke, thereby completing the direction change and the delivery operation over a predetermined distance all at once in one stroke.

In order to further clarify the above-mentioned gist of the present invention and to specifically explain the structure and effects of the present invention, an article conveying device according to the present invention will be described.
An example of conveying a PTP-wrapped sheet (hereinafter simply referred to as "sheet") is given below and will be described in detail using drawings.

It goes without saying that this invention is not limited to the following examples.

The article conveyance device according to this embodiment includes a conveyor mechanism 1, a direction change mechanism 2, a row increasing mechanism 3, and a delivery mechanism 4, each of which, together with a carry-in mechanism 5 and a carry-out mechanism 6, forms a series of conveyance paths R. The rotation of the motor 7 causes each mechanism to operate in a predetermined manner via a chain group 8.

The rotation of the motor 7 is transmitted to the gibbox 10 via a chain 81, a clutch mechanism 9 that controls the operation of transmitting or stopping the rotation of the motor 7 to each mechanism, and further a chain 82.

The conveyor mechanism 1 has two conveyance paths 11 and 12.
, four chain wheels 13 that move in parallel under the conveyance paths 11 and 12, a driving wheel 14 and a driven wheel 15 that cause the four chain wheels 13 to perform the same movement, and the chain wheels 13, etc. The drive wheel 14 is rotated by the rotation transmitted from the gearbox 10 through the chain 83, and along with the movement of the chain wheel, The transfer claw 17 moves and the transfer path 1
The sheets S on 1 and 12 are transported from the left to the right in FIG.
Guide rods 18 are provided on both sides of each of the conveyance paths 11 and 12 in parallel with the conveyance paths 11 and 12 in order to correctly convey the sheet S on the conveyance paths 11 and 12,
At the end of each of the conveyance paths 11 and 12, there is a wedge-shaped guide plate 19 that gradually transports the article obliquely upward, and a wedge-shaped guide plate 19 is provided in the center of the conveyance path 11 and 12, and the sheet S is stabilized at the final end of the guide plate 19. The support plate 19 is inserted into the conveyance paths 11 and 12 in order to horizontally transfer the
1 are provided protrudingly on the guide rods 18, respectively, and are placed on a mounting table 20, which will be described later, from above. The direction changing mechanism 2 has a mounting table 2 at the upper end.
0, consists of a pair of vertically elongated rotating shafts 23 and 24 to which gears 21 and 22 are attached to the lower ends, respectively, and a Geneva mechanism 25, and the Geneva mechanism 25 has a number of grooves in the Geneva gear 26. is 4, and the number of rollers 28 provided on the rotating disk 27 that mesh with this groove is 1, and the Geneva gear 26 makes a reliable intermittent rotation of 1/4 rotation each time the rotating disk 27 rotates once. The Geneva gear 26 is attached to one of the rotating shafts 23 and 24, and the other rotating shaft 24 is connected to the rotating shaft 23 by the gears 21 and 22. They are supposed to rotate at the same time.

Note that a locking claw 29 is provided on the upper surface of the mounting table 20 to stably hold the sheet placed thereon. The rotating disk 27 includes a chain 84 and a gearbox 10.
1. It is rotated by the rotation transmitted from the gearbox 10 via the chain 85, and the Geneva gear 26 is rotated by a quarter of a stroke in one rotation of the gearbox 10, and the sheet S on the mounting table 20 is rotated by a quarter of a stroke. It is designed to change the direction by a fraction of a rotation.

The row increasing mechanism 3 is installed across branch paths 32 and 33, which are provided one each in parallel with the conveyance paths 30 and 31, and is a crank mechanism that moves in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance path R. 34, a Geneva mechanism 35, a seat stop mechanism 36, and a transmission mechanism 37.
Due to the rotation of the crankshaft 341, the tip 343 of the connecting rod 342 moves while drawing an elliptical trajectory via the link 344, and in the upper half of the elliptical trajectory, between the transport path 30 and the branch path 32, and between the transport path 31 and the branch path 33. The sheets S on the transport paths 30 and 31 are transported to the branch paths 32 and 33, respectively, by a transport claw 345 attached to the tip of the connecting rod 342.

Rotation of gearbox 10 is transmitted to Geneva mechanism 35 via chain 86.

The Geneva mechanism 35 is similar to the direction changing mechanism 2 described above.
The mechanism operates in the same way as the one shown in FIG.
The rotation of the Geneva gear 363 is further doubled in speed by the transmission mechanism 37 and transmitted to the crankshaft 341.

Therefore, the transfer claw 345 attached to the tip 343 of the connecting rod 342 performs a transfer operation in one quarter stroke in one revolution of the gearbox 10,
The next rotation causes the return operation to be performed alternately over a quarter stroke.

Further, the rotation of the rotating disk 361 in the Geneva mechanism 35 is reduced by half by the transmission mechanism 371 to rotate the rotating disk 372, and the operating pin 373 provided on the rotating disk 372 is rotated. The sheet stop mechanism 36 is actuated to accurately stop the sheets S sent out from the direction changing mechanism 2 at the row addition position _P7 every other stroke.

The sending mechanism 4 is installed across the direction changing mechanism 2 and the row increasing mechanism 3 so as to operate on both mechanisms, and has chain wheels 41 that are provided in parallel on both sides of the conveyance path R and move. 42 and the chain wheel 41,
A driving wheel 43 and a driven wheel 44 are fixed to the two chain wheels 41 and 42 at both ends and are mounted at equal intervals perpendicular to the conveyance path R. Horizontal rods 45, 46 that move with the movement of 42, and these horizontal rods 45, 46
Transfer claws 4 fixedly attached at equal intervals to
7 and transfer claws 48 fixedly attached to the horizontal rod 45 at equal intervals. Of these, the transfer claws 47 are arranged on the mounting table 20 of the direction changing mechanism 2 and the expansion mechanism 3. In order to operate on the sheet S at the row position _P7 , the transfer claw 48 is moved to the row increasing mechanism 3.
The branch path 32 transferred by the transfer claw 345,
It is designed to operate on the seat S on 33,
The transport claws 48 are attached only to every other horizontal rod 45 so as not to interfere with the operation of the row increasing mechanism 3 and to transport the sheets S at the same time as the sheets S on the transport paths 30 and 31.

The rotation of gearbox 10 is controlled by chain 8.
7. The clutch mechanism 91 is transmitted to the drive wheel 43 via the chain 88 to perform a feeding operation, and the clutch mechanism 91 is rotated in the first quarter rotation by one rotation of the boy box 10. It does not transmit the rotation, but after one quarter rotation, the remaining three quarter rotation is transmitted.

Note that the feed mechanism 4 is movable up and down with the drive shaft 49 as a fulcrum, making maintenance on the transport path R etc. easy.

The carry-in mechanism 5 is constructed across the transport routes 11 and 12, and has chain wheels 51 and 52 that are provided and move in parallel on both sides of the transport routes 11 and 12.
, a driving wheel 53 and a driven wheel 54 that cause the chain wheels 51 and 52 to perform the same movement, and the two chain wheels 5
1, 52 at both ends and transport paths 11, 12.
The chain wheel 5 is installed at equal intervals perpendicular to the
The drive wheel 53 is rotated via a chain 89. Then, the sheet S is transported to the supply position _P1 by the transport claw 56 which moves with the movement of the chain wheels 51 and 52, and sent out to the transport paths 11 and 12.

The carry-in mechanism 5 is movable around the drive shaft 57, and like the feed-out mechanism 4, it facilitates maintenance on the conveyance paths 11, 12, etc., and a phototube 5 for sheet confirmation is installed at the supply position _P1 .
8 is provided.

The unloading mechanism 6 is composed of a driving wheel 61, a driven wheel 62, and a string belt 63, and transmits the rotation of the gearbox 10 to the driving wheel 61 via a chain 80, and transfers the sheet S on the string belt 63. It is meant to be transported.

Each of the above mechanisms operates according to the time chart shown in FIG.

Next, the operating procedure of the article conveyance device according to this embodiment will be explained in order.

Although two conveyance paths are provided in parallel, since they each perform the same operation, only one will be explained.

When the first sheet S ₁ that is continuously fed reaches the feeding position P ₁ (FIG. 6), it is sensed by the phototube 58 provided at the feeding position P ₁ , and the sensing signal triggers the clutch. The mechanism 9 is released and the rotation of the motor 7 is transmitted to each mechanism.

The clutch mechanism 9 transmits only one revolution of the motor 7 with one signal, and transmits one revolution each time a signal is issued.

S ₁ is transferred from P ₁ to P ₂ by the operation of the carrying mechanism 5 (Fig. 7), and the same operation is performed by the next supplied S ₂ , and S ₂ is transferred from P 1 to P ₂ . to P ₂ , S ₁ to P ₂
are transferred to P ₃ respectively, and furthermore, by the supply of S ₃ and S ₄ , S ₁ passes through P ₄ and goes to P ₅ , S ₂ passes through P ₃ and goes to P ₄ , and S ₃
S ₄ is transferred from P ₁ to P ₂ via P ₂ to P ₃ on the conveyance path R, respectively. (Figure 8).

Next, by supplying S ₅ , S ₂ , S ₃ , and S ⁴ are each transported one step at a time on the conveyor path R, and S ₁ is transported by the guide plate 19 and the support plate 191 at the end of the conveyor mechanism 1 . Then, it is gradually transferred diagonally upward and horizontally, and is securely placed vertically on the mounting table 20 from above onto _P6 . (Fig. 9) Below, only the operating procedures of _S1 and _S2 will be explained.

S ₁ is supplied with S ₆ and is converted into a quarter direction by the rotation of the mounting table 20 in the first quarter stroke, and S ₂
moves a quarter of the way on the conveyance path R (Fig. 10)
In the following three-quarter stroke, S ₁ is transferred to the row increasing position P ₇ by the operation of the feeding mechanism 4, and at the time of being transferred to the row increasing position P ₇ , the sheet stopping mechanism 36 is operated to increase the number of S ₁ . Make sure to stop at column position P ₇ , and S ₂ is at P ₆ of the mounting table 20.
placed in position. (Fig. 11) Furthermore, by supplying S ₇ , S ₂ in the first quarter stroke
is converted into one-quarter direction by the rotation of the mounting table 20, and _S1 is transferred from the row-increasing position P7 to the branching path _P8 by the row-increasing mechanism ₃ (Fig. 12). in the process
S ₂ is moved to the additional row position P ₇ , and S ₁ is moved due to the missing transfer claw 48.
remains at P ₈ , (Fig. 13) S ₁ , due to the supply of S ₈
S ₂ is also sent to the unloading track P ₉ . (FIG. 14) When the article conveyance device is constructed as described above, this article conveyance device has the following excellent functions and effects.

(1) In one stroke, the direction change operation is performed in a quarter stroke, and the sending operation is performed in three quarter strokes, so the two operations are efficiently combined and completed in one conveyance stroke, reducing the number of work strokes. This allows work to be carried out quickly over short distances.

(2) Since the loading table is equipped with a locking pawl, even if the object is relatively lightweight, it can be operated reliably at high speed without the need for a pressing or clamping mechanism, and there is no risk of damaging the transported object. Furthermore, since no complicated accessory mechanism is required, the entire device can be made compact and can be installed in a small space.

(3) Since the operations of the direction change mechanism, row increase mechanism, and delivery mechanism are efficiently combined and completed in one stroke, the motor can rotate at a maximum of 200 revolutions per minute.
In other words, each stroke can be operated reliably at 200 times per minute, and work efficiency can be improved.

(4) Each time the goods are supplied, each operation according to the time chart is performed intermittently, one stroke at a time.
Even if the articles are supplied at arbitrary intervals at a proper time, an alignment effect is achieved in which the articles are discharged at constant intervals.

It should be noted that the article conveying apparatus of the embodiment described above is configured so that in order to correctly convey the sheet S on the conveying path R,
Guide rods (not shown) are provided not only in 1 and 12 but also in all conveyance paths, and the guide rods
It is designed to support the structure from the sides and top.

Further, the seat stop mechanism 36 is configured to move up and down by means of an operating pin 373.

Furthermore, in this invention, the shapes and structures of the conveyor mechanism, direction changing mechanism, row increasing mechanism, carrying-in mechanism, carrying-out mechanism and drive mechanism, Geneva mechanism, etc. are such that the above-mentioned objects and effects of this invention can be achieved. It goes without saying that each may be determined as appropriate within the range.

As will become clear from the above description, it must be said that the benefits brought about by this invention are significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the main parts of the article transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG.
The figure is a right side view showing the main parts of the direction changing mechanism, Figure 4 is a right side view showing the main parts of the row increasing mechanism, and Figure 5 is a right side view showing the main parts of the direction change mechanism.
The figure is a time chart showing the operating states of the motor and each mechanism, and FIGS. 6 to 14 are explanatory diagrams showing the operating procedure of the apparatus. The main symbols in the drawings are explained as follows. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Conveyor mechanism, 2... Direction changing mechanism, 3... Row addition mechanism, 4... Delivery mechanism, 5... Carrying-in mechanism, 6... Carrying-out mechanism, 7... Motor, 8... Chain group, 9 ...clutch mechanism,
10... Gear box, 20... Mounting table, R...
Conveyance path, S... Sheet.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an article conveyance device provided with a series of conveyance paths for loading articles to be continuously conveyed from a supply side and conveying them to a discharge side, a conveyance claw is provided at an arbitrary position on each of the conveyance paths. a conveyor mechanism, a direction changing mechanism consisting of a feeding mechanism and a loading table provided with a locking claw for holding articles, and a row increasing mechanism designed to increase the number of conveyance paths. Each time an article is placed on top of the article, each of the mechanisms simultaneously performs a predetermined operation one stroke at a time, so that the articles can be conveyed and delivered in sequence, and the direction changing mechanism and the delivery mechanism are located at the same position on the conveyance path. The direction changing mechanism is disposed to operate on a certain article, and further, the direction changing mechanism completes the direction changing operation in about one quarter of the way in one conveyance journey, and remains inactive for about three quarters of the way, By allowing the feed-out mechanism to complete the feed-out operation only during approximately three-quarters of the stroke during which the direction-change mechanism remains inactive, the direction change and the feed-out operation for a predetermined distance are completed at once in one transport stroke. An article conveying device characterized in that it has become an object. 2 Claims in which the conveyor mechanism is provided with a guide at the end connected to the direction changing mechanism to transport the article while holding it horizontally and to ensure that it is placed on the direction changing mechanism. Item conveyance device according to item 1.