JPH0317684B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is applied to a packaging line for the production of confectionery. This invention relates to a device for collecting any number of confections and continuously and automatically supplying and arranging them on a tray, thereby saving labor in the packaging line.

Conventional Technology As is well known, in the rice cracker industry, the automation of production lines is being promoted year by year, but it has been a long-standing issue that the rice crackers can be packaged using small bag packaging machines to produce any number of trays of so-called small bag rice crackers. At present, the work of arranging the supplies on top is still done manually.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Conventionally, in the rice cracker industry, the rice crackers packaged in small bags by a small bag packaging machine were fed onto an arbitrary number of trays and lined up by a worker placed on the line.
It is extremely inefficient to manually count the number of confections wrapped in sachets and line them up on a tray, and it is extremely inefficient. There was a problem that it was undesirable from a sanitary perspective to touch the parts or to have people on the production line.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention solves the problems in the prior art by automating the manual work of supplying and arranging sachet rice crackers, which are rice crackers packaged in sachets, on an arbitrary number of trays in the prior art. This paper proposes a method that solves the problems and promotes labor saving on packaging lines not only for rice crackers but also for confectionery manufacturing, improving production efficiency and making the confectionery packaging process sanitary.

In other words, the confectionery packaged by the pouch packaging machine is transported by a conveyor belt conveyor, an automatic sorting device, and an introduction conveyor, and the rice crackers packaged in pouches are placed on a shutter and positioned. a device for moving the shutters to sequentially drop the bags onto a belt conveyor for intermittent transportation and arranging them in a half-stacked manner; and a device for arranging small bags in a half-stacked manner on the belt conveyor for intermittent transport. To provide a device for dispensing rice crackers using a oyster board, and a device for arranging sweets packaged in sachets on a tray. The present invention will be explained in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the process of arranging the sachet rice crackers 1 of the present invention on a tray along the flow of the sachet rice crackers 1.
As shown in Figure 1, the individual rice crackers 1 are conveyed continuously at regular intervals by a sachet packaging machine, and are sorted into arbitrary rows (three rows in this example) as shown in Figure 1b. The rice cracker bag 1 is placed in a fixed position on the first width board as shown in Fig. 1c, and then dropped, and the rice cracker bag 1 is placed in a fixed position on the second width board as shown in Fig. 1d. A number of small rice crackers 1 (in the case of this embodiment, 7 pieces in one row) are arranged in a so-called "zentsuki" shape in which approximately half of the rice crackers 1 are stacked on the small rice crackers 1 in the transportation direction, and arranged in arbitrary rows and in arbitrary numbers. Small bag of rice crackers 1
As shown in Fig. 1(e), the sheets are arranged on a third-width board, transferred, and placed on a tray prepared in advance as shown in Fig. 1(f) via a shutter.

Next, the apparatus of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of one embodiment of the present invention, in which 2 is a sachet packaging machine, and the sachet rice crackers 1 packaged in sachets by this sachet packaging machine 2 are continuously distributed at regular intervals. It is discharged.

At this time, the so-called empty bag that does not contain rice crackers,
It is removed by the air jet nozzle 3 in a known manner.

The small bag of rice crackers 1, which has been completely packaged in a small bag in this way, is transferred to the next conveyor belt 4.

The conveyor belt 4 is provided with a phototube 5 at a position where it can detect the small bag of rice crackers 1.
The rice crackers 1 in small bags can be detected individually.

6 is an automatic sorting device, and conveyor belt 4
The small bags of rice crackers 1 transported by the automatic sorting device 6 work together with the phototubes 5 into arbitrary rows (in the case of this embodiment, three rows) to be successively sorted one by one and transported. Ru.

7 is an introduction conveyor, which cooperates with the previous process, so as a general rule, it should be installed in the same number as the distribution rows of the previous process.

The introduction conveyors 7a, 7b, 7c each have two pairs of dish-shaped rotating rollers 8a, 8b on their side surfaces, and the rotating rollers 8a, 8b are dish-shaped and rotate in the same direction as the transport direction. The rotating rollers 8a, 8b are provided so that the upper half thereof protrudes above the surface of the belt 9.
are connected by shafts (not shown), and each shaft is connected by a belt (not shown). Further, the rotating rollers 8a and 8b are driven by an electric motor (not shown) via a drive belt 10.

In this way, the introduction conveyors 7a, 7b, 7c
The small bag of rice crackers 1 transported by the rotating roller 8
a and 8b, and are arranged in the transport direction and transported.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a pouch aligning and feeding device, which includes a first positioning mechanism 12 which is a device for arranging rice crackers packaged in sachets to be transported sequentially, and a second positioning mechanism 12 which is a device for arranging rice crackers in a half-stacked manner and in an arbitrary row. It is composed of a mechanism 13, a third positioning mechanism 14 which is a device for aligning the rice crackers arranged in the arbitrary rows and transferring them to a predetermined position, and a discharge mechanism 15.
Each mechanism works together to produce an arbitrary number of small bags of rice crackers,
This is a device for supplying small bags of rice crackers 1 onto a so-called tray, which collects and arranges them in arbitrary rows and supplies them on a tray, and each mechanism will be explained below.

As a general rule, the first positioning mechanisms 12 are installed in the same number as the rows into which the small bag rice crackers 1 are distributed by the automatic sorting device 6, and each of the first positioning mechanisms 12
6, a pair of width plates 17a, 17b, and a fiber sensor 18. As shown in FIG. 18
, and is placed on a flat plate-shaped first shutter 16 that has a moderate upward slope in the forward direction of transportation.

After the small bag of rice crackers 1 is placed on the first shutter 16, plate-shaped first width panels 17a, 17b are placed on both sides of the first shutter 16,
is narrowed to the same extent as the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1, and the small bag of rice crackers 1 is narrowed to the same extent as the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1.
centrally located.

After that, the first shutter 16 is moved by the first air cylinder 19 in the upward slope direction of the transportation direction, and the small bag of rice crackers 1 is dropped. After this, the first width panels 17a, 17b are again
Return to a position slightly wider than the width of sachet rice cracker 1, and
The shutter 16 is also closed to prepare for the next small bag of rice crackers 1. The first shutter 16 is connected to the first air cylinder 19, has an L-shaped plate shape, and also serves as a stop plate to prevent the small bag of rice crackers 1 from advancing further than necessary. Near the tip of
A spill prevention plate 20 is provided.

The first width parquet plates 17a, 17b are installed like walls on both sides in the transportation direction with as little spacing as possible above the first shutter 16, and are a pair of substantially trapezoidal shapes with the lower side slanted. The first width board 17a, 17
b has an arbitrary number of holes (two in the case of this embodiment) at appropriate positions, and these holes are made large enough for the two first shafts 21a and 21b to pass through. Two first shafts 21a through the holes,
21b, the first width panels 17a, 17b are positioned symmetrically, and the first width panels 17a, 17
b, second air cylinders 23a, 2, respectively.
3b is attached.

The time for the small bag of rice crackers 1 detected by the fiber sensor 18 to reach the shutter 16 is set in advance through a test, and this time is set by a timer (not shown). 17a,1
7b and the first shutter 16 are operated in this order to drop the small bags of rice crackers 1 into a fixed position.

In this way, the small bags of rice crackers 1 that are sequentially transported are aligned by the first positioning mechanism 12.

In principle, the second positioning mechanism 13 is installed in the same number as the rows into which the small rice crackers 1 are sorted by the automatic sorting device 6, and has a second belt conveyor 24 having a width equal to or greater than the total width of the same number in the transportation direction. It is.

The second positioning mechanism 13 has a pair of second width panels 2.
5a, 25b, and a second belt conveyor 24, as shown in FIG.
The small bag of rice crackers 1 dropped from 2 is placed on the second belt conveyor 24.

In this case, it is preferable that the falling distance from the first shutter 16 to the second belt conveyor 24 be short.

Since the dropped rice cracker bag 1 is in a slightly different position from the desired position due to the fall, a pair of second width panels 25a, 25 that move in the same manner as the first positioning mechanism 12 are used.
b), it is centered with respect to the transport direction. These second width panels 25a, 25b are
It is installed like a wall on both sides of the conveyor belt 24 with as few intervals as possible in the transport direction, has a substantially rectangular shape, and has an arbitrary number of holes (two in the case of this embodiment) at appropriate positions. This hole is made large enough for the two second shafts 26a, 26b to pass through, and the two second shafts 26 inserted through this hole are
a, 26b, and are installed symmetrically via the third air cylinders 27a, 26b, respectively.
27b is installed. 2nd belt conveyor 2
4 is designed to be transported intermittently, and the distance per transport is approximately half the length of one small bag of rice crackers 1 in the transport direction of the small bag of rice crackers 1.

Due to these functions, the second belt conveyor 24
The small bag of rice crackers 1 dropped onto the second width board 2
5a and 25b, the rice crackers are narrowed to the same extent as the width of the small bag rice crackers 1, and positioned at a desired position in the transport direction, and then transported by the second belt conveyor 24, so that the first rice cracker is flattened in the transport direction. However, the second and subsequent rice crackers (six in this embodiment) overlap approximately half of the previous rice cracker 1, forming a so-called "zentsuki" shape.

After this, the second width board 25a, 25b returns to its original position, which is slightly wider than the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1, and prepares for the next small bag of rice crackers 1.

These second positioning mechanisms 13 are performed continuously by a combination of a fiber sensor 18 and a timer (not shown).

Small bag rice crackers 1 are in the desired row (3 rows in this example),
By being detected by a desired number (seven in this example) of fiber sensors 18 and a timer, the second belt conveyor 24 transports the fibers a certain distance, and then transports them to the next third belt conveyor 28. The rice crackers packaged in sachets are arranged in a half-stacked manner by the second positioning mechanism 13 in this way.
They can be arranged in any column.

14 is a third positioning mechanism, which connects the third belt conveyor 28 and the third width board 29a, 29b, 29c, 2
As shown in FIG. 5, the small bags of rice crackers 1 transported from the second belt conveyor 24 are transported onto the third belt conveyor 28.

The width of this third belt conveyor 28 is 1 small bag of rice crackers.
It is preferable that the number of rows is slightly wider than the arbitrary number of rows (three rows in this example), and the length is slightly longer than the arbitrary number of rows (seven in this example).

In a state in which an arbitrary row and an arbitrary number of small rice crackers 1 are placed on the third belt conveyor 28, the third width board 29a has the same function as the second width boards 25a and 25b mechanically. ,29b,29c,
29d, each width is narrowed to the same extent as the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1 and adjusted to a desired position.

This third width board 29a, 29b, 29c, 29
d has an arbitrary number of holes (two in the case of this embodiment) at appropriate positions, and these holes are made large enough for the two third shafts 31a and 31b to pass through. The two third shafts 31
a and 31b have convex portions that are about the same width as the rice cracker bag 1 in order to position the rice cracker bag 1 in the center from the center position.
c, 29d, and between the two third shafts 31a, 31b, a sleeve-shaped member having a length comparable to the width of the rice cracker bag 1 is provided on the outside of the two third shafts 31a, 31b, respectively.

Respective third width panels 29a, 29b, 29
c, 29d are the fourth air cylinders 32a, 32
b, 32c, and 32d, and are mounted like a wall on the third belt conveyor 28 with as few intervals as possible in the same direction in the transportation direction, respectively, slightly wider than the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1. The shape is approximately rectangular. This third width board 29a, 29b, 29
c and 29d, the rice crackers 1 are arranged in a desired shape so that approximately half of the rice crackers 1 are overlapped, and each row (three rows in this embodiment) is arranged in a desired shape.

After this, the rake-like comb-tooth-shaped oyster filling plate 30 is lowered slightly behind the end of the small bag of rice crackers 1 and almost to the top of the third belt conveyor 28, and is transported to the discharge mechanism. 1
Place it on 5.

After this, the parts will return to their original positions, but the height of the oyster-filled board 30 in this state is slightly higher than the state in which the rice crackers 1 are stacked, and the length is set so that the rice crackers 1 are aligned. It is preferable to make it slightly longer than the original state.

The movement of the oyster board 30 is like drawing the outer line of a rectangle.

This oyster filling board 30 is connected by an air cylinder (not shown) and a slide roll (not shown).

After this, the third width board 29a, 29b, 2
The respective widths of 9c and 29d are returned to a position slightly wider than the width of the small bag of rice crackers 1, and are prepared for the next small bag of rice crackers 1.

All of these third positioning mechanisms are linked by a timer (not shown).

The small bags of rice crackers thus arranged in arbitrary rows by the third positioning mechanism 14 are arranged and transferred to a predetermined position.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a discharge mechanism, which includes a wall-shaped pool hopper 34 with a U-shaped border and a second shutter 3 that can slide on the bottom surface as shown in Fig. 6.
5, and the small bag of rice crackers 1 placed from the third belt conveyor 28 is placed on the second shutter 3 at the bottom.
5 is pulled in a direction perpendicular to the transportation direction, and is supplied and transferred onto a tray 36 that has been placed downward and aligned with the pool hopper 34 in advance.

This second shutter 35 is opened and closed by a fifth air cylinder 37, and its operation is synchronized with the previous process.

33 is an empty tray feeder, and the empty trays 36 stacked in multiple stages are dropped one by one by the empty tray feeder 33, and are stopped directly below the pool hopper 34 via the first belt conveyor 22. The first belt conveyor 22, which transports the trays, is synchronized with the second shutter 35 in the previous process and performs intermittent transport.

The small rice crackers 1 are placed on the tray 36 and transported to the next outer bag packaging process (not shown).

In this way, each mechanism works together to continuously supply and place the small bags of rice crackers 1 onto the tray 36.

Effects In the present invention, the following technical effects are used to arrange the confectionery packaged in sachets (in this example, sachet rice crackers 1) on the tray.

That is, rice crackers produced by a conventional method are packaged in small bags by a small bag packaging machine 2, and are continuously supplied as small bag rice crackers 1 at regular intervals, transported by a conveyor belt 4, and arranged in arbitrary rows by an automatic sorting device 6. While being sequentially distributed one by one,
With the introduction conveyor and two pairs of rotating rollers 8,
The small bag of rice crackers 1 is transported to the apparatus of the present invention while being arranged in the transport direction.

The small bags of rice crackers 1 that have been continuously transported in this way are moved by the first positioning mechanism 12 consisting of a first shutter 16, a pair of first width panels 17a and 17b, and a fiber sensor 18. The confectionery 1 is placed on the first shutter 16 and positioned in the center.

In order to place the small bag of rice crackers 1 on the first shutter 16 and position it in the center, when the transported small bag of rice cracker 1 is detected by the fiber sensor 18, the first shutter
The width panels 7a, 7b and the first shutter 16 work together to transport the rice crackers 1 in small bags transported into the first width panels 7a, 7b from both sides while gradually narrowing the width.
The shutter 16 scoops up the rice crackers 1 in the first width board 7a, 7b diagonally from above from the direction opposite to the transport direction of the rice crackers 1, so that the rice crackers 1 in the small bags are placed in the center of the first shutter 16. position. In order to arrange the rice crackers 1 in half stacks, the first shutter 16 on which the rice crackers 1 are placed is moved by the first air cylinder 19 and sequentially placed on the second belt conveyor 24, which is intermittently transported. and arrange them in a half-overlap pattern. The small bag of rice crackers 1 is dropped by the first shutter 16 to a predetermined position on the second belt conveyor 24. By the intermittent transportation of the second belt conveyor 24, which intermittently transports the rice crackers 1, the rice crackers 1 are sequentially arranged in a half-stacked manner. The small bags of rice crackers 1 thus arranged in a half-stacked manner are arranged in a desired row ( In this embodiment, they are arranged in three rows).

The second belt conveyor 24 is installed in the same number of rows as the rows into which the small bags of rice crackers 1 are sorted by the automatic sorting device 6, and the small bags of rice crackers 1 dropped onto the second belt conveyor 24 by the first shutter 16 are transferred to the second belt conveyor 24. By intermittent transportation of the conveyor 24, an arbitrary number of small bags of rice crackers 1 are placed in a half-stacked manner, and the second width board 25a, 2
5b are brought together from both sides of the small rice crackers 1 placed in a half-stacked manner and arranged in arbitrary rows.

The intermittent transportation of the second belt conveyor 24 of the second positioning mechanism 13 and the shifting of the second width plates 25a, 25b are continuously operated by detection by the fiber sensor 18 and a combination with a timer. The small bags of rice crackers 1 that are arranged and transported in this way are transferred to the third belt conveyor 28 and the third width board 29.
A, 29b, 29c, 29d and a third positioning mechanism 14 consisting of a cutting board 30 adjust the shape and transfer it to a predetermined position.

That is, the small bags of rice crackers 1 transported from the second belt conveyor 24 are transported to the third belt conveyor 28, and the small bags of rice crackers 1 placed on the third belt conveyor 28 are transferred to the third width board 29a, 29b, 29c. ,2
After being tied up again and adjusted by 9d,
The small rice crackers 1 arranged in a half-stacked manner in the third width board 29a, 29b, 28c, and 29d are arranged in a half-stacked manner with the rake-like oyster-filled boards 30 placed closer to the end of the small rice crackers 1 arranged in a half-stacked shape. Drop slightly backwards and reach the oyster board 30.
is moved and moved onto the tray 36 by the next ejection mechanism 15.

Effects Since the present invention is constructed as described above, a device for supplying and arranging an arbitrary number of confectionery packaged in small bags on a tray can be provided without the need for manpower, and can be installed on a packaging line in confectionery manufacturing. It is possible to realize the automation of

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically supply and arrange confectionery packaged in small bags onto any number of trays without requiring manual labor, so that the production efficiency of confectionery can be improved and the packaging of confectionery can be improved. This has the effect of making the packaging process more hygienic since it does not require any manpower.

It goes without saying that the present invention is applicable not only to confectionery packaging but also to devices for supplying and placing various other articles.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing the process until the small bag of rice crackers is placed on the tray, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the entire device, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the first positioning mechanism,
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the second positioning mechanism, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the third positioning mechanism, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the ejection mechanism. 1... Sachet rice crackers, 2... Sachet packaging machine, 3... Air jet nozzle, 4... Conveyor belt conveyor, 5... Phototube, 6... Automatic sorting device, 7a, 7b, 7c...
Introducing conveyor, 8a, 8b...rotating roller, 9...
Belt, 10... Drive belt, 11... Small bag alignment and supply device, 12... First positioning mechanism, 13... Second positioning mechanism, 14... Third positioning mechanism, 15... Discharge device, 16... First shutter, 17a, 17b...
1st width board, 18... fiber sensor, 19...
First air cylinder, 20... Spill prevention plate, 21
a, 21b...first shaft, 22...first belt conveyor, 23a, 23b...second air cylinder,
24...Second belt conveyor, 25a, 25b...Second width board, 26a, 26b...Second shaft, 27
a, 27b...Third air cylinder, 28...Third belt conveyor, 29a, 29b, 29c, 29d
...Second width board, 30...Kakikomi board, 31a, 31
b...Third shaft, 32a, 32b, 32c, 3
2d...Fourth air cylinder, 33...Empty tray feeder, 34...Pool hopper, 35...Second shutter, 36...Tray, 37...Fifth air cylinder.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device for placing and positioning small bags of rice crackers, which are packaged rice crackers, on a shutter to be sequentially transported; and a belt conveyor for moving the shutter and intermittently transporting the small bags of rice crackers. It consists of a device that sequentially drops the rice crackers and arranges them in a half-stacked manner, and a device that sends out the small bags of rice crackers arranged in a half-stacked manner onto the intermittent conveyor belt using a oyster board. A device for arranging sweets packaged in sachets on a tray. 2. A device for placing and positioning small bags of rice crackers on a shutter includes a shutter that moves back and forth in an upward slope direction with respect to the transportation direction of the small bags of rice crackers, and a device that moves the rice crackers in a direction perpendicular to the transportation direction of the small bags of rice crackers. 2. A device for arranging sweets packaged in sachets on a tray as claimed in claim 1, comprising a pair of width boards that can be slid a certain distance at the same time. 3 A belt conveyor that intermittently transports small bags of rice crackers that are transported by a shutter and falls one after another is a device that stacks and arranges small bags of rice crackers in a half-stacked manner.
The pair of rice crackers are arranged to be able to be transported intermittently by a distance shorter than the length of one of the small bags of rice crackers, and are slidable on a belt conveyor in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the small bags of rice crackers. An apparatus for arranging sweets packaged in sachets on a tray according to claim 1, comprising a width board. 4. A device for sending out small bags of rice crackers via a oyster board is arranged between a pair of width boards that are slidable on a belt conveyor in a direction perpendicular to the transportation direction of the small bags of rice crackers, and the width boards. 2. A device for arranging confectionery packaged in sachets on a tray as set forth in claim 1, comprising a movable oyster filling board so as to be able to feed the sachets of rice crackers from the rear.