JPH0829832B2 - Automatic stacking device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic stacking device for stacking a large number of box-shaped molded products such as a polystyrene foam box.

[Conventional technology]

BACKGROUND ART Box-shaped foam-molded articles formed by foam-molding using a foamable thermoplastic resin, for example, Styrofoam boxes, are generally used in distribution stages such as wholesale and retail for the purpose of keeping cold and transporting fresh food. However, when storing and transporting a large amount of such box-shaped foam molded articles, it is relatively easy to stack because the weight of each piece is small, but it takes up a large occupied space and is easy to collapse. It is difficult to handle. Therefore, conventionally, a large number of stacked box-shaped foam-molded products have been packaged together with a synthetic resin film or the like, and the package is used as a unit for storage and transportation to make it easier to handle.

At the manufacturer of the foamed molded product, a large number of such packages are stacked and stored, and then shipped.

However, when attempting to manually stack a large number of the above-mentioned packages in a temporary storage area before shipping, it is necessary to have a high level of skill in the work of accurately aligning the four corners of the packages and stacking them at a height of 4 to 5 m. Are required, or work efficiency becomes poor. Further, as the weight of the package increases, the risk of work increases in correlation with it.

Therefore, for example, JP-A-56-56427, JP-A-57
-180529, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-22219, and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-1
No. 78025, No. 59-130471, No. 4-19525, No. 4-19525 have proposed various automatic stacking devices that can automatically perform the above-mentioned stacking work and save labor. There is.

The working method adopted by these proposed devices is to transfer the target objects that need to be stacked to the lift table, lift the target object by the lift table, and maintain the height and posture of the lifted target object. It is common in that when the next target object is transferred, it is released from holding and stacked. In addition, when the height and the posture of the lifted target object are maintained, the target object moves forward and backward simultaneously 1
It is also common in that a pair of holding members is used.

On the other hand, the structure of the holding member is generally classified into two types. The holding members classified in the first group are the actual Kaisho 59
As disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 130471 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 4-19525, it is configured to contact a bottom surface of a target object lifted by an elevator to support the target object. On the other hand, the holding members classified into the second group are disclosed in
56-56427, JP 57-180529 A, JP 58
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 22219 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-178025, it is configured to abut on both side surfaces of a target object and clamp the target object.

However, the holding members belonging to the first group have more problems than the holding members belonging to the second group in the following points. First, since the holding members of the first group are in contact with the bottom surface of the target object, friction occurs between the holding member and the bottom surface of the target object, and as a result, a lateral force is applied to the target object. It is more difficult than the second group of holding members in terms of positioning.

Further, in order to support the bottom surface of the target object, it is necessary that the holding member has a certain length from the end portion of the bottom surface toward the center of the bottom surface. Therefore, the movement stroke of the holding members of the first group is There is no choice but to make it larger than that of the second group, which only needs to contact the side surface of the target object.

Furthermore, when lifting and approaching the next target object to the bottom surface of the target object supported by the holding member, releasing the support after bringing the bottom surface of the target object and the upper surface of the next target object into contact with each other, This is impossible because the holding member itself interferes. As a result, the distance to drop the supported target object on the upper surface of the next target object is inevitably larger than that of the second group, and it becomes difficult to obtain a proper stacking state due to the impact of the drop.

Considering these points, the automatic stacking device is
It can be said that it is advantageous to have the second group of holding members over the group of holding members.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, since the holding members of the second group are provided in pairs so as to advance and retreat simultaneously with respect to the target object, a drive mechanism for driving the respective holding members is required. This increases the number of parts of the automatic stacking device, resulting in high cost. In addition, since power has to be applied to each drive mechanism, the power consumption of the automatic stacking device increases, which causes an increase in running cost.

Furthermore, if the pair of holding members are not in contact with the target object at the same time, the target objects will be biased toward the one holding member side. However, it is necessary to control the timings of both drives so as to move forward and backward simultaneously. Also,
Not only that, it is also necessary to increase the mounting accuracy and mechanical accuracy of the pair of holding members and each drive mechanism. These points also cause the cost increase of the automatic stacking device.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic stacking apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 is provided with a supply means, such as a belt conveyor, for supplying target objects to be stacked, for example, a polystyrene foam box, and a supply position of the target objects. , Vertical moving means for moving up and down at least from the height of the bottom surface of the target object to the height of the upper surface of the target object or more, and vertically moving the target object upward while keeping horizontal, for example, at least the height of the target object or more A lifting table and an air cylinder, and holding means for holding the target object lifted by the vertical moving means in its height and posture, for example, a sandwiching device, are provided, and the holding means are provided on the side of the lifted target object. A movable gripping hand that moves forward and backward, and a fixed gripping hand that is fixed to sandwich the lifted target object between the movable gripping hand that has advanced It is characterized in that it comprises.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic stacking device according to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, engages with the movable gripping hand and guides the advance / retreat of the movable gripping hand. It is characterized by the fixed guide rails.

[Operation] According to the structure of claim 1, the stacking target objects supplied by the supply means are vertically upward while keeping horizontal by the vertical moving means, and are at least higher than the height of the target objects. Can be lifted. The object to be lifted is held by the holding means in its height and posture.

At this time, the movable pinching hand of the holding means advances toward the target object, and pinches the target object with the fixed pinching hand. Since the fixed gripping hand is fixed and does not move,
Even if there is a slight gap between the target object and the fixed gripping hand, the target object is positioned so as to be pressed against the fixed gripping hand.

After this, the vertical moving means returns to the initial position. The supply means supplies a new target object directly below the lifted target object, and the holding means releases the holding operation of the lifted target object. That is, the movable gripping hand retracts so as to separate from the first target object. At this point, the target objects are stacked in two stages.

The two-stage target object group is vertically moved upward by at least one of the target objects while keeping the horizontal position again by the vertical moving means.
Can be lifted above the height of an individual piece. Then, the target object at the lowermost stage is pinched by being pressed against the fixed pinching hand by the advancing of the movable pinching hand, and is held at that height and posture. Hereinafter, by repeating the same operation as described above, a large number of target objects are accurately and automatically stacked.

As described above, in the automatic stacking device of the present invention, since only the movable gripping hands need to be driven, the drive mechanism conventionally provided on the fixed gripping hand side can be omitted. As a result, the number of parts can be reduced, and the cost of the automatic stacking device can be reduced. Furthermore, by omitting the drive mechanism on the side of the fixed gripping hands, it is possible to reduce the power that must be frequently supplied during the stacking work, so that it is possible to reduce the running cost of the automatic stacking device.

Further, when a pair of movable gripping hands is provided, the timing control of both drives required to bring the pair of movable gripping hands into contact with the target object at the same time is controlled by one movable gripping hand. By doing so, it is not necessary, and in comparison with the case where a pair of movable pinching hands is provided, it is possible to relax the mounting precision and mechanical precision required for the movable pinching hands and the drive mechanism. Therefore, also from this point, the cost of the automatic stacking device can be reduced.

According to the structure of claim 2, the guide rail guides the forward / backward movement of the movable gripping hand, so that the movement of the movable gripping hand can be further stabilized and a part of the weight of the movable gripping hand is guided. Since it is supported by the rails, it is possible to reduce the mechanical strength of the member that supports the weight of the movable gripping hand, and to reduce the weight of the drive mechanism of the movable gripping hand, for example.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The box-shaped foam molded article handled in this example is a polystyrene foam box having a width x height x length of, for example, 285 x 485 x 50 (mm). FIG. 4 shows a package 1 as a target object to be stacked, in which 20 styrofoam boxes are stacked and packaged collectively with, for example, a synthetic resin film. W × H × L in the figure is, for example, 285 × 485 × 1000
(Mm), and the weight per package 1 is about
It is 1.5 kg. In addition, an arrow A in the drawing indicates the supply direction of the package 1 to the automatic stacking device.

In the automatic stacking apparatus according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, belt conveyors 2 and 3 as a supply means that are sufficiently longer than the length L of the package 1 are provided on the downstream side of the automatic stacking apparatus. While being driven by the geared motor 20 provided, it is laid so as to run side by side with respect to the pedestal 30 at the same height from the floor. The distance between the belt conveyors 2 and 3 is substantially equal to the width W of the package 1. The main part of the gantry 30 is a beam 302 perpendicular to the traveling direction of the belt conveyors 2 and 3 with respect to four columns 301 supporting the entire automatic stacking device.
-It has a structure in which beams 303 and 303 parallel to the traveling direction of 303 and the belt conveyors 2 and 3 are installed. Package 1
Elevating table 4 for lifting a little higher than its height H
Is provided so as to move up and down by the operation of a first air cylinder 5 (described later) attached near the center of the area surrounded by the beams 302 and 303 and the belt conveyors 2 and 3. The lifting table 4 and the first air cylinder 5 constitute a vertical moving means. The lifting platform 4 is a middle frame 401 of a figure 8 shape.
And a pair of side plates 402 and 403 fixed to the middle frame 401 in parallel with the traveling direction of the belt conveyors 2 and 3. The lengths of the side plates 402 and 403 are set to be substantially equal to the length L of the package 1.

On the other hand, horizontal guide pipes 6 and 7, which are parallel to the traveling direction of the belt conveyors 2 and 3 and are about the length of the belt conveyors 2 and 3, are provided slightly above the outer edges of the belt conveyors 2 and 3. The width of the inner portion of the horizontal guide pipes 6 and 7 is set to be equal to the width W of the package 1, and thereby the package 1 supplied to the lift 4 is positioned in the width direction. However, the upstream guide portions of the horizontal guide pipes 6 and 7 are bent slightly outward.

Further, upstream of the automatic stacking device, an upstream stopper 8 is provided as a supply stopping means for temporarily stopping the supply of the packages 1 during the operation of the lifting table 4. On the downstream side, the downstream stopper 9 for stopping the package 1 supplied to the lifting table 4 and positioning the package 1 in the longitudinal direction.
Is provided.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the automatic stacking device. In the upstream stopper 8 and the downstream stopper 9 described above, the vertical cross-sections of the portions that can protrude beyond the height of the upper surfaces of the belt conveyors 2 and 3 are plate-shaped, as shown in FIG. The upstream side stopper 8 and the downstream side stopper 9 are vertically moved by the operation of the upstream side air cylinder 10 (supply stopping means) and the downstream side air cylinder 11, respectively. In addition, a sensor (for example, a photoelectric tube) (not shown) that detects that the package 1 transported by the belt conveyors 2 and 3 has been supplied onto the lifting table 4 is provided near the downstream stopper 9. There is.

On the other hand, in the central portion of the middle frame 401 of the lifting table 4, the above-mentioned first
The tip of the piston of the air cylinder 5 is fitted. In addition, the support bars 12 and 13 for allowing the lifting platform 4 to be horizontally and stably lifted from the center of the middle frame 401 toward the upstream side and the downstream side without shaking or rotation.
The front end portions of are fixed to the back surface of the middle frame 401, respectively.
The first air cylinder 5 and the bar guides 14 and 15 respectively inserted through the support bars 12 and 13 are attached to the back surface of the substrate 16 which is installed on the beams 302 and 303 (not shown in FIG. 2). ing. The first air cylinder 5 has a built-in proximity switch (not shown) that detects that the lift 4 has been raised to a predetermined height.

FIG. 3 shows a side view of the automatic stacking device as seen from the downstream side. The holding device 40 as a holding means has a function of holding the height and posture of the lifting table 4 not shown in FIG. 3 when the lifting body 4 lifts the packing body 1 slightly higher than the height H of the packing body 1. have. Therefore, the holding device 40 has the package 101 that is lifted slightly higher than the height H of the package 1.
It has a movable holding hand 41 and a fixed holding hand 42 which hold both side surfaces along the longitudinal direction. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the configuration in which both side surfaces of the package 101 are sandwiched, and the package 1 such as supporting the bottom surface of the package 101 is used.
Any configuration may be used as long as 01 is held in that height and posture.
Further, in the present embodiment, the configuration is shown in which the movable sandwiching hand 41 is driven to press the package 101 toward the fixed sandwiching hand 42 side, but both the movable sandwiching hand 41 and the fixed sandwiching hand 42 are interlocked. It may be configured to be driven by.
It is desirable for maintaining the posture that the lengths of the movable gripping hand 41 and the fixed gripping hand 42 are substantially equal to the length L of the package 1 (101).

By the way, at least two groove portions are formed on the bottom surface of the movable gripping hand 41 along the moving direction of the movable gripping hand 41, and as shown in FIG. 1, the guide rails 43 engaging with the respective groove portions are formed. -43 are formed at a predetermined interval. As shown in FIG. 3, the driving unit of the holding device 40 is composed of a second air cylinder 44 and a hinge 45 that opens and closes with the tip of the second air cylinder 44 as a fulcrum. One of the hinges 45 is fixed to the frame 30, the other is a movable gripping hand.
It is attached to the center of 41. The second air cylinder
44 has a built-in proximity switch (not shown) that detects whether the hinge 45 is open or closed.

Vertical alignment of the package 101 is performed by four vertical guide poles 17 (arrangement is shown in FIG. 1).
The vertical guide pole 17 is attached to each of the columns 301. The height of the vertical guide pole 17 is
It is sufficient that the height of the package 1 from the upper surface of 3 is 5 to 6 times. Further, it is preferable that a guide plate 18 is provided near the upper surface of the package 1 supplied to the lifting table 4 so as to perform vertical alignment when the lifting table 4 lifts the package 1. .

The operation of the automatic stacking device having the above configuration will be described below. However, the automatic stacking apparatus according to the present invention includes an operation panel (not shown) for the operator to input operation instructions, a sequence controller (not shown), and a counter (not shown) as counting means, and the operation panel of the operator is used. In response to the instruction, the sequence controller causes the automatic stacking device to perform the following operations according to a certain program.

The package 1 introduced into the automatic stacking device by the upstream conveyor (not shown) is moved downstream by the belt conveyors 2 and 3 until stopped by the downstream stopper 9 which is raised by the operation of the downstream air cylinder 11. Be transported. When the package 1 is stopped by the downstream stopper 9 while being positioned in the width direction by the horizontal guide pipes 6 and 7, the center of the bottom surface of the package 1 is the center of the lift table 4 (that is, the first air cylinder). 5 mounting position). When the package 1 stops in this way and at the same time the above-mentioned sensor provided in the vicinity of the downstream stopper 9 detects the package 1, the second air cylinder 44 of the holding device 40 rises. At the same time, the upstream stopper 8 is lifted by the operation of the upstream air cylinder 10 to prevent new supply of the package 1.

Next, when the proximity switch built in the second air cylinder 44 detects the closed state of the hinge 45, that is, the open state of the movable holding hand 41, the first air cylinder 5 is detected by this detection signal.
Will be started. When the first air cylinder 5 lifts the package 1 placed on the lift table 4 to a predetermined height slightly higher than the height H, the proximity switch built in the first air cylinder 5 detects the state. To do. The second air cylinder 44 is actuated by this detection signal to activate the hinge.
Since the intersection of 45 is pushed down, the movable pinching hand 41 moves along the guide rail 43, and the movable pinching hand 41 presses the lifted package 1 (hereinafter referred to as the package 101) to the fixed pinching hand 42. . As a result, the package 101
Is held in its height and posture.

Next, when the proximity switch built in the second air cylinder 44 detects the closed state of the movable gripping hand 41, the first air cylinder 5 is actuated by this detection signal to lower the elevating table 4 and the upstream stopper 8 Also descends. In this way, the new package 1 is supplied directly below the package 101. Package 1
Since the height of the bottom surface of 01 is slightly higher than the height H of the package 1, it is possible to smoothly supply a new package 1. The new package 1 is the downstream stopper 9
When it comes into contact with and stops, the sensor detects a new package 1, so that the second air cylinder 44 operates again and the package 10
The pressure of 1 is released, and the package 101 is placed on the new package 1. After that, the package 101 and the package 1 are lifted by the elevating table 4 while being stacked, and a new package 1 is further supplied under the package 101. In this way, the same operation is repeated until the packages 1 are stacked in 12 stages, for example.

On the other hand, the counter is the first air cylinder 5 or the second air cylinder.
Based on the detection signal output from the proximity switch built into the air cylinder 44, the number of stacked packages 1 can be counted. When the predetermined count number is reached, the downstream stopper 9 descends, and, for example, a group of packing bodies 1 stacked in 12 stages is transported to the shipping space by a conveyor (not shown) provided on the downstream side. The conveyor provided on the downstream side can also be effectively used as a shipping space.

The number of stages of the package 1 group is not limited to 12 but can be set to a desired number of stages. Furthermore, the counter is a stack of stacked packages 1
It is possible to display and record by totalizing the total number of. As a result, the total number of stacked packages 1 can be surely grasped at the same time, which facilitates shipping management.

While the group of packages 1 is conveyed from the automatic stacking device, the upstream stopper 8 is raised in association with the lowering of the downstream stopper 9 to prevent the supply of new packages 1. . When the sensor detects that the package group 1 has been unloaded, the downstream stopper 9 moves up again, the upstream stopper 8 moves down in conjunction with this, and the next stacking operation continues.

The configuration of the present invention has any shape, volume,
And objects having a weight.

〔The invention's effect〕

The automatic stacking apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 is, as described above, a supply means for supplying the target objects to be stacked,
At the supply position of the target object, ascend or descend at least from the height of the bottom surface of the target object to the range of the height of the top surface of the target object,
Vertically moving the target object vertically upward while holding it horizontally, at least above the height of the target object, and a holding means for holding the target object raised by the vertical moving means in its height and posture. In addition, the holding means is fixed and fixed so as to sandwich between the movable holding hand that moves forward and backward with respect to the side of the raised target object and the movable holding hand that has advanced the raised target object. It is a configuration provided with a gripping hand.

Therefore, as a result that the drive mechanism conventionally provided on the side of the fixed gripping hand can be omitted, the number of parts can be reduced, and the cost of the automatic stacking device can be reduced. Further, by omitting the drive mechanism on the side of the fixed gripping hands, it is possible to reduce the power that must be frequently supplied during the stacking work, so that the running cost of the automatic stacking device can be reduced. further,
When a pair of movable gripping hands is provided, the timing control of both drives required to bring the pair of movable gripping hands into contact with the target object at the same time makes the movable gripping hands one. This eliminates the need for it, and in comparison with the case where a pair of movable pinching hands is provided, it is also possible to relax the mounting precision and mechanical precision required for the movable pinching hands and the drive mechanism. This also brings about an effect that the cost of the stacking device can be further reduced.

As described above, the automatic stacking device according to the invention of claim 2 is, in addition to the configuration of claim 1, a guide rail that engages with the movable gripping hand and guides the movement of the movable gripping hand. Is a fixed structure.

Therefore, the movement of the movable gripping hand can be further stabilized, and part of the weight of the movable gripping hand is supported by the guide rails, so that the mechanical strength of the member that supports the weight of the movable gripping hand. Can be reduced and, for example, the drive mechanism of the movable pinching hand can be reduced in weight.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of a main part of an automatic stacking device. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of the automatic stacking device. FIG. 3 is a side view of a main part of the automatic stacking device. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of stacked packages. 1 is a package (target object), 2 and 3 are belt conveyors (supplying means), 4 is a lift (vertical moving means), 5 is a first air cylinder (vertical moving means), 8 is an upstream stopper (supply stop) Means), 10 is an upstream air cylinder (supply stopping means), 40 is a holding device (holding means), 41 is a movable holding hand, 42 is a fixed holding hand, and 43 is a guide rail.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-22219 (JP, A) JP-A-57-180529 (JP, A) JP-A-56-56427 (JP, A) Actual development Sho-59- 130471 (JP, U) Actually open 57-1778025 (JP, U) Actually open 4-19525 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A supply means for supplying a stack of target objects, and a lifting position at least at a supply position of the target objects, which is at least higher than the height of the bottom surface of the target object to the height of the upper surface of the target object,
A vertical moving means for moving the target object vertically upward while keeping it horizontal and at least higher than the height of the target object, and a holding means for holding the target object raised by the vertical moving means in its height and posture. In addition to the above, the holding means is fixedly fixed so as to sandwich the movable holding hand that moves forward and backward with respect to the side portion of the lifted target object and the movable holding hand that has advanced the lifted target object. An automatic stacking device having a gripping hand. 2. The automatic stacking device according to claim 1, further comprising a guide rail fixedly engaged with the movable gripping hand to guide the movable gripping hand from moving forward and backward.