JPH0157008B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a conveying device for paper cups, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a conveying device for a paper cup, and more specifically, it is particularly suitable for positioning a paper cup on an inspection station and rotating it therein for inspecting the inner surface of the paper cup. This invention relates to an effective paper cup conveying device. Here, the term "paper cup" refers to a cup made of paper or a material having similar properties to paper, and includes a cup whose surface has been coated.

Paper cups are commonly used as containers for vending machines and are widely used as containers for various foods. In these applications, if there are insects, hair, oil, etc. on the inside of the container, it goes without saying that the container cannot be used as a food container, but even if there is generally harmless material such as chips, the container will be discouraged from being used. There is a tendency. For this reason, there is a high demand for inspecting the inner surface of molded paper cups for dirt, and visual inspections have been carried out by humans as necessary. Experienced people have a high degree of freedom in judgment, and even when there are a wide variety of test items, the processing time,
It has excellent accuracy and economy, but on the other hand, it varies from person to person, is easily influenced by preconceptions, is easily influenced by the mood of the moment, and must not overlook stains due to fatigue. There are drawbacks such as the inability to continue working at a constant pace for long periods of time. Therefore, automation of testing has been desired. This is because if automatic inspection equipment can be used instead of human visual inspection, a certain degree of accuracy and objectivity can be ensured in the inspection results.
At the same time, it can save labor and enable long-term continuous operation.

An automatic paper cup inspection device requires a transport device for transporting the paper cup and positioning it at an inspection position.

Therefore, considering the conveyance device, JP-A No. 50-57291, which is used in an automatic glass bottle inspection device that detects scattered light from scratches by shining a laser beam on the glass bottle while rotating it at the inspection position, A rotary table type conveying device as disclosed in the publication comes to mind. This rotary table type conveyor device is equipped with a feeder screw and a star wheel to feed the bottles to the rotary table, a friction belt to rotate the bottles placed on the rotary table, etc., all of which correspond to bottles. It is designed to make contact with a certain amount of force. However, paper cups have lower mechanical strength than glass bottles, and when contacted with such considerable force, they deform and, in extreme cases, break. Therefore, the conveying device must not apply strong force to the paper cup. On the other hand, in order to inspect the inner surface of a paper cup with a fixed surface detection device, it is necessary to always position the paper cup at a fixed position. You need to rotate the paper cup. However, the above-mentioned conveying device for glass bottles rotates the bottle by rubbing the side of the bottle with a friction belt.
The paper cup may be deformed or crushed, and even if it is not deformed, the tapered surface of the paper cup may cause it to float or its central axis to be greatly tilted. If the paper cup is deformed, lifted up, or has a large inclination, the surface of the paper cup cannot be accurately compared with the inspection pattern. As described above, conventional conveying devices cannot meet the special characteristics of paper cups and cannot be used for paper cups at all.

Furthermore, in the method of rotating the paper cup when it reaches the inspection station, it takes time for the paper cup to rotate at a predetermined speed. However, it is preferable that this acceleration time not be provided in order to speed up the surface inspection of the paper cup. Therefore, a method of accelerating in advance can be considered, but the conventional method is undesirable because the structure becomes complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a conveyance device that can accurately position a paper cup at an inspection position without deforming it, and that can rotate at a constant speed at the inspection position without requiring acceleration time. That is.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a conveying device that can reliably hold a paper cup without deforming the paper cup, causing eccentricity or lifting, both when the paper cup is being conveyed and when it is rotating.

That is, according to the present invention, there is provided a rotary indexing table that is driven intermittently, a rotary indexing table that is disposed around the indexing table, is supported so as to be able to rotate relative to the indexing table, and is configured to tightly hold the lower part of a paper cup. a cup holder having a recess for receiving the cup holder; a large sun gear that is rotatably and coaxially mounted on the rotation axis of the index table and continuously driven; and a large sun gear that is fixed to the rotation axis of the cup holder. A paper cup conveying device is provided, comprising a planetary gear meshing with the cup holder, a supply means for supplying a paper cup to the cup holder, and a discharge means for discharging the paper cup held in the cup holder from the cup holder.

Since the paper cup is held by a cup holder that has a recess that fits the bottom of the paper cup, there is no need to apply strong external force to the paper cup to deform it.The paper cup is transported to the inspection position by the cup holder and rotated there. can be done.
At that time, the paper cup does not lift up or become eccentric with respect to the axis of rotation.

Further, the paper cup held in the cup holder is rotated together with the indexing table due to the rotation of the indexing table and positioned at the inspection station, and the paper cup held by the cup holder is positioned at the inspection station through the continuous rotation of the sun gear. Since the paper cup is rotated at a constant speed independently of the rotation of the indexing table, there is no need for acceleration time for the rotation of the paper cup at the inspection position, and high-speed processing becomes possible.

In one embodiment of the conveying device according to the present invention, a hole communicating with the hollow chamber of the rotating shaft is formed in the bottom of the cup holder, and the hollow chamber of the rotating shaft communicates with a vacuum source. , the paper cup is reliably held by suction on the cup holder. A pushing mechanism is also provided for pushing and properly positioning a paper cup received in the cup holder. This paper cup pushing mechanism is constructed to include a piston cylinder device and a pushing disk that is driven up and down by the piston cylinder device.

In a preferred embodiment of the conveying device according to the invention, around the indexing table at least a supply station, an inspection station and a discharge station are provided, the supply means being provided at the supply station and at the bottom of the cup holder. a hole is formed in the cup holder, and a hollow chamber having a communication hole communicating with the hole in the bottom of the cup holder and extending in a radial direction is formed in the rotation axis of the cup holder;
A boss member that rotatably holds the rotation axis of the cup holder and has an annular chamber channel surrounding the radial hole is fixed to the index table; A first annular member having a hole that communicates with the channel is fixed, and a hollow that opens toward the first annular member and extends in the circumferential direction so as to selectively communicate with the hole of the first annular member. A second annular member having a chamber formed therein rotatably receives the revolution axis and is fixedly supported by the frame of the apparatus, and
The hollow chamber of the annular member extends circumferentially to correspond to the supply station and the inspection station and has a vacuum chamber connected to the vacuum source and extends circumferentially to correspond to the discharge station and is connected to the pressure source. When the paper cup is supplied to the cup holder at the supply station, the paper cup is suctioned and held by the cup holder, continues to be suctioned and held until the inspection station, and is discharged from the cup holder when it reaches the discharge station. It is done like this. By doing this, you can securely hold the paper cup by suction.
In addition, it can be reliably released using a release station. Additionally, a pushing station is provided between the supply station and the inspection station, and a pushing mechanism is provided there for pushing the paper cup suctioned and held into the cup holder and positioning it appropriately. It may also be positioned within the cup holder.

In addition, the discharge station is divided into a defective product discharge station and a non-defective product delivery station, and the high pressure chamber of the second annular member is expanded in the circumferential direction so as to correspond to the defective product discharge station and is connected to the first valve. The first high-pressure chamber is divided into a first high-pressure chamber connected to a pressure source via a second valve, and a second high-pressure chamber expanded in the circumferential direction and connected to a pressure source via a second valve so as to correspond to the good product delivery station. Paper cups may be sorted by selectively opening the first valve and the second valve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a conveying device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic paper cup inner surface inspection apparatus incorporating a conveying device according to the present invention.

This automatic surface inspection device includes a conveyance device 10 according to the present invention that receives a paper cup, conveys it to an inspection position, and rotates it there, and a conveyance device 10 that detects the inner surface of the paper cup and processes the detected data to determine pass/fail. The detection processing device 12 is also provided. The detection processing device 12 includes a surface detection device 14 that detects the inner surface of the paper cup, and a processing judgment device 16 that processes the detection data from the surface detection device 14 to determine the presence or absence of minute defects. However, since it is not directly related to the present invention, the explanation will be omitted.

The conveying device 10 is shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. Second
3 is a partially omitted front view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a top view of the conveyance device 110.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 2;

As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, the conveying device 1
0 has a cup holder 22 having a concave portion having an inner shape and size that is substantially the same as the outer shape of the paper cup 20. This cup holder 22 has a height that allows it to tightly hold a paper cup without causing any misalignment.
For example, it is preferable that the height is large enough to accommodate at least the lower half of a paper cup. If this cup holder 22 holds a paper cup, the cup holder 2
By rotating 2, the paper cup can be rotated together. Furthermore, since the concave portion of the cup holder 22 has the same shape and dimensions as the outer shape of the paper cup, the center of the cup holder can be accurately aligned with the central axis of the paper cup, and the paper cup can be rotated about its central axis. can be done.

As shown in FIG. 1, for example, six cup holders 22 are arranged around a circular indexing table 24 at equal angular intervals. The indexing table 24 is fixed to a rotating shaft 28 that is rotatably supported by the frame 26 of the conveying device 10. Six bosses 30 are fixed around the indexing table 24 at intervals of 60 degrees, and an autorotation shaft 34 is rotatably supported by the bosses 30 via bearings 32.
A flange 36 is formed at the upper end of the rotation shaft 34, and a cup holder 2 is attached to the flange 36.
2 is fixed with a screw 38. Therefore, the cup holder 22 can be replaced according to the size and shape of the paper cup. Also, cup holder 2
2 is rotatable around the index table 24.

In FIG. 2, I is a feeding station, is a pushing station for reliably pushing paper cups into the cup holder, is an inspection station, is a spare station, and V is a defective product. is an ejection station;
is the delivery station. Therefore, the cup holder 22 that has arrived at the inspection station due to the intermittent rotation of the indexing table must be rotated there, since the surface detection device described above is of the scanning type. On the other hand, for high-speed inspection, the time from when the cup holder 22 rotates on its own axis until it reaches constant rotation speed at the inspection station must be minimized as much as possible. Therefore, as described above, a method of accelerating the cup holder by giving it rotation on its own axis in advance at a station immediately before the inspection station can be considered. As one means for this, it is conceivable to provide a friction wheel similar to the friction wheel that rotates by frictionally contacting the periphery of the flange 40 of the cup holder 22 at the inspection station at one station in front of the inspection station. However, such a method is not preferable because the friction portion is worn out, requiring frequent replacement of the friction wheel, and the structure is complicated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the planetary gear 42 is attached to the cup holder, and the planetary gear 42 is attached to the fifth gear.
It is rotated by the large sun gear 44 in the positional relationship as shown in the figure. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a planetary gear 42 is fixed to the lower end of the rotating shaft 34, and a large sun gear 44 that meshes with the planetary gear 42 is mounted on the rotating shaft 28 via a bearing 46. A gear 48 that rotates together with the large sun gear 44 is also attached to the rotating shaft 28 via a bearing 46, and the large sun gear 44
and the gear 48 are rotatable with respect to the rotating shaft 28,
That is, it is made to be able to rotate independently from the rotating shaft 28. The gear 48 meshes with a gear 52 fixed to a rotating shaft 50 rotatably supported by the frame 26. Thus, the rotation axis 50
When the cup holder rotates, the sun gear 44 rotates independently of the rotating shaft 28 via the gears 52 and 48, and the cup holder rotates on its own axis via the planetary gear 42.

In this way, if the sun gear is rotated at a constant speed, the planetary gear 42, that is, the cup holder 22
rotates at a constant speed even during the intermittent rotation of the indexing table 24, and when the indexing table 24 comes to rest, rotates at the same constant speed at that station. Note that when the direction and rotational speed of the intermittent rotation of the indexing table 24 are the same as the rotational direction and rotational speed of the large sun gear 44, the planetary gear 42, that is, the cup holder 22, is rotated by the indexing table when the indexing table rotates. Although it does not rotate relative to the station, it still rotates at a constant speed, and when the indexing table comes to rest, it rotates at the same constant speed at that station. In this way, no acceleration time is required for the rotation of the cup holder, making high-speed inspection possible.

In such a conveying device, it is necessary to rotate the cup holder at least one revolution while the indexing table is stationary. To this end, a method is usually used in which the rotation of the indexing table and the rotation of the cup holder have a certain relationship. One means for this is to drive the rotary shafts 28 and 50 from the same drive source through gears with appropriate gear ratios so that the cup holder always rotates once during the period when the indexing table is stationary. According to this method, the number of driving sources can be reduced, and the mutual operational relationship between the indexing table and the cup holder can be accurately determined by the gear ratio, which is convenient.

However, when considering adjustment of the dirt detection sensitivity of the detection processing device 12 and other maintenance, it is preferable to be able to rotate the cup holder at the same speed as during actual inspection while keeping the indexing table stationary.
Therefore, in the illustrated embodiment, the rotating shaft 28
is a cam index mechanism 53 for intermittent drive.
a, drive shaft 53b, variable reduction ratio reduction mechanism 53
The rotary shaft 50 is connected to an AC motor 53e via a belt 53d and a reduction gear 54a, and a continuous rotation DC motor 54b. However, with the same drive source, the rotating shaft 5
0 and drive the rotary shaft 28 through another gear and a clutch, so that only the cup holder can rotate continuously by releasing the clutch.

A paper cup stacking cylinder 56 is arranged at the upper part of the supply station I. This paper cup accumulation cylinder 5
A set of four cup feed screws 58 are provided at the bottom of the cup 6 and are rotated synchronously by a shaft 60, a sprocket 62 and a chain 64. Furthermore, one cup feeding screw shaft 60
is driven via sprocket 66, chain 68, sprocket 70 and shaft 72 by motor 74 which is driven in synchronization with the movement of the index table. Thus, the four cup feeding screws 58 are rotated synchronously by the operation of the motor 74, and the upper end flange portion (indicated by reference numeral 76 in FIG. 4) of the paper cup in the paper cup stacking tube 56 is transferred to the valley portion of the screw. While winding up the paper cups, each paper cup is separated one by one and fed onto a cup holder stopped at the feeding station I.

In order to ensure that the paper cup fed to the cup holder by the cup feeding screw 58 is received and retained within the cup holder, in the illustrated embodiment, the paper cup is vacuum suctioned from the cup holder side. For this purpose, a hole 78 is formed in the bottom of the cup holder 22, and a hollow portion 80 is formed in the central shaft portion of the rotation shaft 34 so as to communicate with the hole 78.
Furthermore, holes 82 extend radially from the hollow portion 80.
is formed. An annular channel 84 surrounding the holes 82 is formed in the boss 30, and one end of a hose 86 is connected to the annular channel 84. The other end of the hose 86 is connected to holes 90 formed in an annular member 88 fixed to the rotating shaft 28 at equal angular intervals of 60 degrees. Another annular member 92 having an open hollow chamber formed on the side facing the hole 90 is attached to the rotating shaft 28 via a bearing 94 . This annular member 92
is fixed to the tip of a horizontal arm portion of an arm 96 fixed to the frame 26. As shown in FIG. 6, the hollow chamber of the annular member 92 includes a vacuum chamber 98 that extends in the circumferential direction so as to correspond to four stations: a supply station I, a pushing station, an inspection station, and a spare station, and a vacuum chamber 98 for discharging defective products. It is divided into a first high pressure chamber 100 located at a position corresponding to the station V and a second high pressure chamber 102 located at a position corresponding to the delivery station. The vacuum chamber 98 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) via a hose 104, the first high pressure chamber 100 is connected to a compressed air source (not shown) via a hose 106 and a solenoid valve 108, and 2
The high pressure chamber 102 is similarly connected to a compressed air source (not shown) via a hose 109 and a solenoid valve 110.

Thus, the hollow portion 80 of the rotation shaft 34 is in communication with the annular channel 84 via the hole 82 even when the rotation shaft 34 is rotating, and the hollow portion 80 of the rotation shaft 34 is in communication with the annular channel 84 through the hole 82
A hole 90 in the annular member 88 to which is connected communicates with the vacuum chamber 98 and either of the first and second high pressure chambers 100 and 102 according to the rotation of the indexing table. Therefore, the cup holder is located at the supply station I.
and the backup station,
Negative pressure is created in the cup holder via hole 78.
Therefore, at the feeding station I, the paper cup fed from the cup feeding screw 58 is
It is sucked into the cup holder to ensure that it is received and retained at least until the reject station.

Thus, the paper cup placed in the cup holder is pushed into the cup holder by the pushing mechanism 112 at the next pushing station. This is for, when the paper cup is not properly held in close contact with the cup holder, to position the paper cup in the cup holder correctly and bring it into close contact by pushing the paper cup. Therefore,
If the paper cup can be correctly positioned and brought into close contact within the cup holder by vacuum suction, the pushing mechanism may be omitted. Conversely, the supply station may simply drop the paper cup without vacuum suction, and the push station may push the paper cup into place to hold it in place.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, this pushing mechanism 112 has a triangular plate 118 fixed to a piston rod 116 of a piston cylinder device contained in a case 114, and a shaft 122 having a pushing disk 120 attached to its tip. Can be fixed and configured. The remaining two points of the triangular plate 118 are the case 114
A guide rod 126 fixed to the upper flange 124 of the
is slidably supported. Therefore, by operating the piston-cylinder device, the push-in disk moves up and down, and the paper cup in the cup holder can be reliably pushed to the bottom of the cup holder so that it can be properly held in close contact with the paper cup.

The paper cup that has passed through the push-in station is inspected at an inspection station, and further passes through a preliminary station to reach a defective product discharge station V. If the product is determined to be defective as a result of the inspection, the solenoid valve 108 is opened and compressed air is introduced into the bottom of the cup holder 22 through the first high pressure chamber 100, and as a result, the paper cup is ejected from the cup holder 22 and is not defective. The non-defective products are discharged through the discharge duct 128. On the other hand, if the paper cup is determined to be a good product as a result of the inspection, it passes through the defective product discharge station V and reaches the delivery station. The solenoid valve 110, which is energized every time the indexing table is inactive, is then opened to open the second high pressure chamber 10.
2 into the bottom of the cup holder 22, and the paper cup is delivered from the cup holder 22 through the delivery duct 130.

As described above, the above-described embodiment of the conveying device according to the present invention can accurately position the paper cup at the inspection position without deforming it, and can prevent the paper cup from being deformed, eccentric, or lifted at the inspection position. It can be rotated at a constant speed without any acceleration time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper cup inner surface inspection apparatus incorporating a conveying device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of the conveying device according to the present invention, and FIG. A partially omitted front view of the conveyance device, FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the Taiyo gear and the planet gear, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line -, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the paper cup pushing mechanism. 10... Conveyance device, 12... Detection processing device, 14...
Surface detection device, 16... Processing discrimination device, 20... Paper cup, 22... Cup holder, 24... Indexing table, 26... Frame of transport device, 28... Rotating shaft,
30...Boss, 34...Rotation axis, 42...Planetary gear, 4
4... Taiyo gear, 48, 52... Gear, 50... Rotating shaft, 53e, 54b, 74... Motor, 56... Cup accumulating cylinder, 58... Cup supply screw, 78...
Hole, 80... Hollow part, 82... Radial hole, 84... Annular channel, 86... Hose, 88, 92... Annular member, 90... Hole, 96... Arm, 98... Vacuum chamber,
100, 102...High pressure chamber, 108, 110... Solenoid valve, 112... Pushing mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary indexing table that is driven intermittently;
a cup holder disposed around the indexing table, supported so as to be rotatable relative to the indexing table, and having a recess that tightly receives the lower part of the paper cup; and a cup holder rotatable relative to the rotation axis of the indexing table. a large sun gear that is coaxially mounted and continuously driven; a planetary gear that is fixed to the rotation axis of the cup holder and meshes with the large sun gear; and a supply means for supplying paper cups to the cup holder; ejecting means for ejecting a paper cup held in the cup holder from the cup holder, the paper cup held in the cup holder revolves together with the indexing table as the indexing table rotates; A paper cup conveying device characterized in that the paper cup is rotated at a constant speed through the planetary gear by the continuous rotation of the sun gear, independently of the rotation of the indexing table. 2. The paper cup conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the indexing table and the large sun gear are each driven by independent motors. 3. A hole communicating with the hollow chamber of the rotating shaft is formed in the bottom of the cup holder, and the hollow chamber of the rotating shaft communicates with a vacuum source so that the paper cup is held by suction on the cup holder. A paper cup conveying device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: 4. The invention further comprises a pushing mechanism for pushing a paper cup received into the cup holder into the cup holder to properly position it during a period when the indexing table is not in use. The paper cup conveying device according to any one of items 3 to 3. 5. The paper cup conveying device according to claim 4, wherein the pushing mechanism includes a piston cylinder device and a pushing disk that moves up and down by being driven by the piston cylinder device. 6. At least a feeding station, an inspection station and a discharge station are provided around the indexing table, the feeding means is provided in the feeding station, and a hole is formed in the bottom of the cup holder, and a hole is formed in the bottom of the cup holder. On the rotation axis,
A hollow chamber is formed having a communication hole that communicates with the hole in the bottom of the cup holder and extends in a radial direction, and the index table rotatably holds the rotation axis of the cup holder and has a communication hole that communicates with the hole in the bottom of the cup holder. A boss member having a surrounding annular chamber channel is fixed to the axis of revolution of the indexing table;
A first annular member having a hole communicating with the annular channel is fixed, and a first annular member is opened to the first annular member side in a circumferential direction so as to selectively communicate with the hole of the first annular member. A second annular member having an extending hollow chamber rotatably receives the revolution shaft and is fixedly supported by the frame of the apparatus, and the hollow chamber of the second annular member corresponds to a supply station and an inspection station. The paper cup is divided into a vacuum chamber extending circumferentially and connected to a vacuum source to correspond to that of the dispensing station, and a high-pressure chamber extending circumferentially and connected to a pressure source corresponding to that of the dispensing station. When it is supplied to the cup holder, it is sucked and held by the cup holder and continues to be sucked and held until the inspection station.
3. The paper cup conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the paper cup is ejected from the cup holder when the paper cup reaches the ejection station. 7. Claims characterized in that there is a pushing station between the supply station and the inspection station, and a pushing mechanism is provided for pushing the paper cup suctioned and held in the cup holder into the cup holder and positioning it appropriately. The paper cup conveying device according to item 6. 8. The discharge station includes a defective product discharge station and a non-defective product delivery station, and
The high pressure chamber of the annular member extends in the circumferential direction to correspond to the defective product discharge station and is connected to a pressure source via a first valve, and the high pressure chamber extends circumferentially to correspond to the good product delivery station. and a second high-pressure chamber that extends in the direction and is connected to a pressure source via a second valve, so that paper cups can be sorted by selectively opening the first valve and the second valve. Claim 6 is characterized in that
7. The paper cup conveying device according to item 7. 9. The paper cup supplying means has a paper cup stacking cylinder disposed at the upper part of the supplying station, and a set of four paper cup supplying screws disposed at the lower part of the stacking cylinder, and the paper cup supplying screws are indexed. The paper cup is fed to the feeding station by rotating the paper cup synchronously with the table so that the flange portion of the upper part of the paper cup is wound into the valley portion of the feeding screw. A paper cup conveying device according to any one of the ranges 1 to 8.