JPH0246358B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in an article delivery device for delivering an article having a smooth surface, such as a package filled with contents and sealed, between predetermined locations.

An example of a conventional device will be described using a package delivery device shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 as an example.

1 is a package; 2 is a filling device for filling and sealing the package; 3 is operated in synchronization with the filling device 2;
A conveyor 4 that intermittently conveys the package 1 is installed perpendicular to the conveyor 3, is operated in synchronization with the conveyor 3, and is a tray conveyor that conveys the package 1 intermittently according to the grid pitch of the tray 5. 5
6 is a tray having four rows of squares formed therein, 6 is a position regulating lever provided on the tray transport conveyor 4 at a predetermined interval, and 7 is a package delivery device 4 that can be moved on the arrow A as shown in FIG. It consists of four vacuum suction cups 8, and four trays 5 are placed on the conveyor 4 at the same time.
The package 1 is delivered to the recipient.

As mentioned above, the conventional package delivery device 7
By suctioning the package 1 with a vacuum suction cup 8 and moving it along the line of arrow A, the package 1 is transferred from the conveyor 3 to the tray 5 on the tray conveyor 4. Like a suction cup 8 and packaging body 1
When attempting to suction by pressing, the periphery of the lip 8a of the suction cup 8 rises at a steep angle as shown by the two-dot chain line, causing creases on the outer surface of the package 1 corresponding to the outer diameter of the lip 8a. In addition, there was a risk that a gap would occur between the lip 8a and the package 1, causing a suction error.

Furthermore, when the vacuum suction cup 8 sucks the package 1 on the conveyor 3, if one or more of the four packages 1 is missing, the suction force of the vacuum suction cup 8 will decrease. , the predetermined suction ability may not be achieved, and suction errors may occur. Therefore, when a missing tooth detecting means (not shown) (phototube, detection rod, etc.) is attached to the delivery device 7 and there is a missing tooth, the detecting means is activated to stop the operation of the delivery device 7.
Although the problem had been corrected to normal, there was a problem in which the entire line had to be stopped each time a tooth was missing, resulting in a decrease in productivity.

The present invention was proposed in view of the above points, and
The purpose of this is to prevent suction errors caused by gaps between the package and the suction cup, as well as to prevent the package from folding and wrinkled due to the suction cup.
An object of the present invention is to provide an article delivery device that enables stable and reliable delivery of packages.

A vacuum chamber connected to a vacuum source and equipped with a plurality of article suction devices is moved between predetermined positions, and a sealed package filled with the contents adsorbed by the article suction devices is received from one predetermined position to the other. In the article delivery device, each of the article suction devices is constantly urged downward by a spring, and due to the presence of the package to be suctioned, the article suction unit provided below the center and the vacuum A plunger communicating with the chamber, a suction cup surrounding the article suction part attached to the lower part of the plunger, and an article holding member positioned slightly above the lip of the suction cup and covering the entire outer periphery of the suction cup are provided. , the article delivery device is characterized in that a supply section for supplying compressed air is connected to the article suction section, and the article holding member provided to cover the outer periphery of the suction cup allows Since it is possible to press the package evenly over a wide range, it is possible to prevent suction errors due to the occurrence of gaps and the occurrence of folds and wrinkles in the package, thereby ensuring reliable and stable delivery of the package.

The present invention will be explained below based on the embodiments shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a vacuum chamber, on which a predetermined number of article suction devices 12 are mounted as shown in FIG. 4, and the article suction devices 12 are moved along the line indicated by arrow A in the same manner as in FIG. 2 by a drive device (not shown).

Reference numeral 12 denotes an article suction device, and as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a connecting member 16 is fixed to the vacuum chamber 11 with a bolt 15, a flanged guide pin 17 is screwed into the connecting member 16, and a bolt 18 is attached to the guide pin 17. The guide pin 17 includes an outer cylinder 19 fixed to the outer cylinder 19, a plunger 20 slidable on the guide pin 17, and the like.

The connecting member 16 connects to the opening 21 of the vacuum chamber 11.
It has a vertical hole 22 connected to the nut 2.
3, the flanged guide pin 17 is positioned in the vertical direction.

The flanged guide pin 17 has a bottomed hollow hole 24
A plurality of holes 26 are formed at the bottom of the outer peripheral wall 25.

The plunger 20 has a sliding cylinder 27 made of synthetic resin that slides on the outer periphery of the guide pin 17 fixed to an upper cylinder 29 by a pin 28, a spacer 30 screwed to a lower cylinder 31, and a flanged guide with a flange 32. A compression spring 33 is held between the pin 17 and its downward movement is restricted by a retaining ring 34 provided on the outer cylinder 19. Note that the space 35 formed by the guide pin, the outer cylinder, and the plunger is communicated with a space 37 inside the plunger through a communication hole 36.

30 is a spacer whose upper part is screwed into the lower tube 31 of the plunger 20, and a perforated plate 38 made of punching metal or the like is attached to the article suction part at the lower part; 39;
is attached to the lower end of the plunger 20, and its lip 40 protrudes downward from the lower end of the spacer 30; 43 is attached to the lower end of the plunger 20;
an article holding member 41 mounted so as to be located slightly above the lower end of the suction cup 39 and cover the outer periphery of the suction cup 39;
is connected to a compressed air source (not shown) via a main pipe 42, and supplies compressed air into the bottomed hollow hole 24 when the package 1 is released.

In the above configuration, when the package 1 is conveyed to a predetermined position by the conveyor 3, the vacuum chamber 11 is lowered by a predetermined distance in the direction of arrow B by a drive device (not shown). When the lip 40 of the suction cup 39 comes into contact with the package 1 on the conveyor 3 and the lip 40 is bent upward, then when the presser member 43 comes into contact with the package 1, the plunger 20 moves upward against the compression spring 33. The hole 26 of the flanged guide pin 17 communicates with the space 37, and the negative pressure inside the vacuum chamber 11 passes through the vertical hole 22, the hollow hole 24 with a bottom, the hole 26, the space 37, and the perforated plate 38 to the package 1. The package 1 is sucked by the suction cup 39 as shown in FIG. At this time, the lip 40 of the suction cup 39 adsorbs the package 1 while the pressing member 43 is pressing the package 1 evenly, so that the package 1 and the lip 40 do not swell up at a steep angle. There will be no gap between the two, and the package 1 will not be folded or wrinkled.

In this state, the vacuum chamber 11 is moved along the arrow A shown in FIG. 2 by its driving device (not shown) and stopped at a predetermined position on the tray transport conveyor 4. Here, the negative pressure in the vacuum chamber 11 is stopped by a switching valve (not shown), compressed air is supplied to the air pipe 41, and the compressed air is supplied to the bottomed hollow hole 2.
4. By acting on the package 1 from the hole 26 and the space 37 via the perforated plate 38, and by acting on the collar 32 via the communicating hole 36 to push down the plunger 20 together with the compression spring 33, the package 1 is transported on the tray. It is discharged onto the conveyor 4.

By repeating the above operations, the packages 1 are sequentially packed into the trays 5 on the tray transport conveyor 4.

Moreover, if there is a missing tooth in the package 1 supplied from the filling device 2 to the conveyor 3,
Even if the vacuum chamber 11 is lowered in the direction of the arrow B, the package 1 is missing and does not exist.
The holding member 43 maintains the state shown in FIG. 5 without contacting the package 1, and does not have any influence on the suction operation of the other suction devices 12. Therefore, there is no need to temporarily stop the production line.

Therefore, the above embodiment provides the following effects.

(1) Even if a tooth falls out of the package 1 on the filling device 2 side, the production line can continue to operate without stopping, so productivity can be significantly improved compared to the past. This can have a positive effect.

(2) By attaching the presser member 43 to the plunger 20 so as to cover the outer periphery of the suction cup 39,
It is possible to press the package 1 evenly over a wide range, and there is no gap between the package 1 and the lip 40, preventing suction errors, and the package 1 is stable without folding and wrinkles. It becomes possible to obtain a package 1 of high quality.

(3) Since the plunger 20 is attached to each suction cup 39, the capacity (capacity) of the vacuum source side, such as a blower, can be minimized, resulting in an energy saving effect. In other words, in the past, measures were taken to increase the capacity of the blower, etc. so that even if one or two teeth were missing, other packages could be adsorbed, but if the rate of missing teeth exceeded a certain level ( For example 30%
(above), which had the disadvantage of being impossible to deal with with larger-capacity blowers, etc., has now been made possible with small-capacity blowers.

Note that instead of the air pipe 41 in the above embodiment, a compressed air intake port 44 may be provided in the outer cylinder 19 as shown in FIG. 7, and in this case, the plunger 20
The pressing down and release of the package 1 will be faster.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional one;
The figure is a view taken in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a drawing showing the suction state by the conventional one, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the main part showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is the same as in Fig. 4. - A cross-sectional view, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which an article is suctioned, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment. 11... Vacuum chamber, 12... Adsorption device, 3
9... Suction cup, 40... Lip, 43... Article holding member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum chamber connected to a vacuum source and equipped with a plurality of article suction devices is moved between predetermined positions, and a sealed package filled with the contents adsorbed by the article suction devices is moved from one of the predetermined positions to the other. In the article delivery device, each of the article suction devices is always urged downward by a spring, and due to the presence of the package to be suctioned, an article suction section provided at the lower center counteracts the spring force. A plunger communicating with the vacuum chamber, a suction cup surrounding the article suction section attached to the lower part of the plunger, and an article holding member positioned slightly above the lip of the suction cup and covering the entire outer periphery of the suction cup are provided. An article delivery device further comprising: a supply section for supplying compressed air to the article suction section.