JP5227575B2 - Alignment transfer equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an aligning / transferring apparatus mainly used for aligning and transferring food such as confectionery (for example, bread, Japanese confectionery).

Conventionally, when the food fed from the upstream conveyor is transferred on the downstream conveyor while changing the alignment mode, the downstream conveyor is continuously driven at a constant speed without intermittent driving. There is already known a food transfer device that can be transferred by using a method (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-8-133463 (paragraphs 0023 and 0024 and FIG. 1)

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, foods fed from the upstream conveyor are once arranged on the intermediate conveyor, and then transferred from the intermediate conveyor to the downstream conveyor. Need an intermediate conveyor.

  The present invention provides an aligning / transferring apparatus that can directly align and transfer from an upstream conveyor to a downstream conveyor without stopping or intermittently driving the downstream conveyor without providing such an intermediate conveyor. The purpose is to provide.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, with respect to a transport conveyor for transporting a transported object, the transported object is transferred from an aligned transfer belt conveyor extending in the conveyor width direction to the transport conveyor for transporting the transported object. An alignment transfer device that aligns and transfers in a row, a support member that supports the alignment transfer belt conveyor, a first position and a second position along a transfer direction of the transfer conveyor, A first moving means for moving the support member, a speed detecting means for detecting the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor, and a signal from the speed detecting means, and corresponding to the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor. Control means for controlling the first moving means to move the support member from the first position to the second position in synchronism with the carrying operation of the carrying conveyor. .

  If it does in this way, the said movement means will be controlled according to the conveyance speed of a conveyance conveyor, and the said supporting member will be moved from the said 1st position to the said 2nd position synchronizing with the conveyance operation of the said conveyance conveyor. Therefore, the objects to be conveyed are aligned and transferred directly from the upstream alignment transfer belt conveyor onto the downstream transfer conveyor without intermittently driving or stopping the transfer conveyor. That is, the objects to be conveyed are transferred onto the conveying conveyor in a row in the width direction of the conveyor.

  In addition, since the width of the conveyor belt of the alignment transfer belt conveyor can be made narrow and a cantilever support structure, the conveyor belt can be easily removed and cleaning can be performed easily.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the alignment transfer belt conveyor includes a tip member disposed above the transport conveyor, a conveyor belt wound around the tip member, and a third position along the conveyor width direction. And a fourth position, and a second moving means for moving the tip member, and by moving the tip member, the objects to be conveyed are aligned and transferred in a row in the conveyor width direction. On the other hand, the movable member is supported by the support member so as to be movable in the conveyor width direction, and the tip member is supported by the movable member so as to be movable in the vertical direction. It is desirable to have a configuration in which it can be moved in the vertical direction via Here, the air cylinder means includes an electric cylinder that includes a ball screw, a linear guide, an AC servo motor, and the like and operates in the same manner as the air cylinder.

  If it does in this way, a tip member can be moved smoothly at the time of alignment transfer of a to-be-conveyed object by an air cylinder means.

  According to a third aspect of the invention, the first moving means includes a frame, a slider provided on one of the frame or the support member, and the slider provided on the other of the frame or the support member. It is desirable to include a rail member that can be engaged, and a drive motor that is provided between the frame and the support member and moves the support member relative to the frame.

  If it does in this way, since it moves smoothly, it can move quietly and stably and synchronize with conveyance of a conveyance conveyor, and can move a support member forward and backward.

  The control means controls the first and second moving means so that when the support member reaches the second position, the control means moves the support member to the first position. The tip member is returned to the third position, the support member is subsequently moved from the first position to the second position, and the tip member is moved from the third position to the fourth position. It is set as the structure which repeats a movement.

  If it does in this way, a to-be-conveyed object will be smoothly transferred one by one by repeating fixed movement operation about a support member and a tip member.

  In this case, as described in claim 5, the speed at which the support member is returned from the second position to the first position is faster than the speed at which the support member is moved from the first position to the second position. It is desirable that the speed at which the tip member is returned from the fourth position to the third position is set faster than the speed at which the tip member is moved from the third position to the fourth position.

  In this way, since the return operation not related to the transfer of the object to be transferred is quickly performed, the alignment transfer can be performed efficiently.

  In the present invention, as described above, the support member that supports the alignment transfer belt conveyor is moved in synchronization with the transfer operation of the transfer conveyor. On the downstream conveyor, the objects to be conveyed can be directly aligned and transferred without intermittently driving or stopping the conveyor.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1A is a schematic front view of a food alignment / transfer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. The schematic side view and FIG. 3 are the schematic plan views.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the food alignment transfer apparatus 1 includes an alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 that conveys the food S that is the object to be conveyed, and food in the conveyor width direction of the alignment transfer belt conveyor 2. A transport conveyor 3 for transporting S (for example, a transport conveyor of a caterpillar oven or a steel band oven) is provided, and the food S is aligned and transferred from the alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 to the transport conveyor 3.

  The alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 is located between the first position on the upstream side in the transport direction of the transport conveyor 3 and the second position on the downstream side in the transport direction of the transport conveyor 3 in the Y direction (see FIGS. 2 and 3). It is supported by a support member 11 that can reciprocate. The alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 has a tip member 2A that is disposed above the transport conveyor 3 and is movable in the vertical and horizontal directions. A conveyor belt 2B having a narrow belt width for conveying the food S is wound around the distal end member 2A, and the distal end member 2A is along the conveyor width direction of the conveyor 3 (the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 3). Thus, it moves back and forth between a third position closer to the center and a fourth position closer to the side edge.

  This tip member 2A repeats the operation of lowering and moving (retracting) between the third position and the fourth position, so that the objects to be conveyed on the conveyor belt 2B are sequentially conveyed to the conveyor of the conveyor 3. On the belt 3A, it is arranged and transferred in a line in the conveyor width direction. 3B is a driven pulley on which the conveyor belt 3A is wound.

  The support member 11 is provided with first moving means 31 for moving the support member 11 back and forth between the first position and the second position along the transport direction Y of the transport conveyor 3. That is, the support member 11 has sliders 32 on both sides of the transport conveyor 3, and each slider 32 is on a base 33 provided on the floor surface and guide rails 34 extending along the transport direction of the transport conveyor 3. It is slidably engaged. The base 33 is provided with drive and driven sprockets 35 and 36 at intervals in the transport direction of the transport conveyor 3. Although not specifically shown, a chain wound around both sprockets 35 and 36 is provided. A support member 11 is attached and fixed to 37. In this way, the first moving means 31 is configured. Note that a so-called linear guide can be used for the slider 32 and the guide rail 34.

  Therefore, the support member 11 moves forward and backward along the transport direction Y of the transport conveyor 3 by the rotational drive of the chain 37.

  The shaft portion of the drive sprocket 35 is rotatably supported by a bearing 39, while the drive sprocket 36 is rotationally driven by a servo motor 38 with a speed reducer 38a. The servo motor 38 is driven to rotate by a control means (not shown) so that the moving speed of the support member 11 and the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor 3 substantially coincide with each other based on the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor 3 when the food S is transferred. Is done. That is, the conveyance speed of the conveyance conveyor 3 is detected by a speed detection unit (not shown) (for example, a rotary encoder), and the first moving unit 31 is controlled in accordance with the conveyance speed to change the first position to the second position. The support member 11 is moved in synchronization with the transport speed of the transport conveyor 3. The support member 11 returns to the first position, which is the initial position, when the support member 11 moves a certain distance from the first position to the second position.

  The tip member 2A is attached to a movable member 13 as shown in FIG. 1 (b), and this movable member 13 is attached to a mounting plate 15 via an air cylinder 14 in order to suppress vibration during transfer. It has been. The attachment plate 15 is attached to a slider 17 slidably engaged with a guide rail 16 provided on the support member 11. A connecting member 18 protrudes from the side of the mounting plate 15 opposite to the end member 2A. The connecting member 18 is connected to a chain (or a toothed belt) (not shown), and the chain is driven to rotate. As a result, the movable member 13 can move in the conveyor width direction (X direction) of the transport conveyor 3. Thus, the 2nd moving means to reciprocate the front-end | tip member 2A between the said 3rd position and the 4th position along the conveyor width direction of the conveyance conveyor 3 is comprised.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 includes two pulleys 22 </ b> A and 22 </ b> B, and these two pulleys 22 </ b> A and 22 </ b> B are supported by a movable member 24. Along with the movement of the tip member 2A, the movable member 24 is lowered by a driving means (not shown) in synchronization with the movement of the tip member 2A, so that the bending of the conveyor belt 2B is absorbed. If the tip member 2A is raised, the movable member 24 is also raised in synchronization therewith, so that an unreasonable load is not applied to the conveyor belt 2B. A pair of guide rollers 25 and 25 having a vertical axis for guiding the food S onto the conveyor belt 2A are arranged on the upstream side of the alignment transfer belt conveyor 2.

  Therefore, the support member 11 that supports the alignment transfer belt conveyor 2 moves from the first position to the second position in synchronization with the transport conveyor 3, so that the tip member 2A moves from the third position to the fourth position. When the food S is transferred onto the conveyor belt 3A of the conveyor 3, the food S is transferred so as to be arranged in a line on the conveyor. A plurality of foods S are arranged at intervals on the conveyor belt 2B wound around the tip member 2A.

  Here, when the transfer of the tip member 2A reaching the fourth position and being arranged in a row is completed, the tip member 2A is returned to the third position, and the same operation is repeated to perform the transfer operation for the next row. This transfer operation is repeated until the support member 11 reaches the second position.

  And when the conveyor 3 is what is used for a caterpillar type oven or a steel band type oven, it moves to an oven in an aligned state and is baked.

  When the support member 11 reaches the second position, the support member 11 stops moving and returns to the original position (first position). During the return of the support member 11 from the second position to the first position, the tip member 2A is also returned to the third position. The speed at which the support member 11 is returned from the second position to the first position is set to be faster than the speed at which the support member 11 is moved from the first position to the second position. The speed at which the tip member 2A is returned from the fourth position to the third position is also set to be faster than the speed at which the tip member 2A is moved from the third position to the fourth position. As a result, a return operation that is not related to the transfer of the object to be transferred is promptly performed.

  When the support member 11 returns to the first position and the tip member 2A returns to the third position, the support member 11 moves again from the first position to the second position, and the third of the tip member. The operation of sequentially transferring the food S by the movement from the position to the fourth position is repeated.

  In this way, the same operation is repeated, and the foods S from the conveyor belt 2A are sequentially arranged in a row in the conveyor width direction on the conveyor belt 3A.

  In the above-described embodiment, the transfer is carried and transferred from the direction perpendicular to the transfer conveyor. However, another aligned transfer belt conveyor is provided in parallel with the transfer direction of the transfer conveyor, and the entire system is provided. Can be made compact. In addition, it is possible to transfer the object to be transferred from both the left and right sides of the transfer conveyor so that the transfer amount per unit time can be doubled. Specifically, as shown in a schematic configuration in FIG. 5, two alignment transfer belt conveyors 2 are arranged on the left and right sides at regular intervals in the transfer direction of the transfer conveyor 3. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the food S from the two wrapping machines 41 is conveyed via separate communication conveyors 43, curve conveyors 44, and the like. In this case, like the communication conveyor 43 shown in FIG. 6, the communication conveyor 43 has conveyor parts 43A and 43B supported by the movable frame 45, and the movable frame 45 is fixed to a base frame (not shown). Sliders 47, 47 that are slidably engaged with the rail 46 are fixed, and are not specifically shown, but are connected to another chain that is rotationally driven by a servo motor 37, and advance and retract in synchronization with the support member 11. It is supposed to move.

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, another communication conveyor 42 having movable parts (pulleys 42 </ b> Aa, 42 </ b> Ab) can be provided at a fixed position on the upstream side of the communication conveyor 43. The communication conveyor 42 has a frame 42A that supports a movable part. The frame 42A is connected to the movable frame 45 by a link 48 or the like, and moves forward and backward together. This frame 42A also has sliders 50, 50 that are slidably engaged with rails 49 that are fixed to the base frame, so that the frame 42A moves forward and backward smoothly.

  Although not specifically illustrated, the width of the conveyor belt of the alignment transfer belt conveyor is widened, and the objects to be conveyed are conveyed in a state of being arranged in two or more rows on the conveyor belt. It is also possible to transfer them one by one or a plurality at a time on the conveyor.

Fig.1 (a) is a schematic front view of the foodstuff arrangement transfer apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention, FIG.1 (b) is a schematic sectional drawing in the AA line of Fig.1 (a). It is the same schematic side view. It is the same schematic plan view. It is a schematic block diagram of an alignment transfer belt conveyor. It is explanatory drawing of other embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure, such as a communication conveyor in the same embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS S Food 1 Alignment transfer equipment of food 2 Alignment transfer belt conveyor 2A Conveyor belt 3 Conveyor 3A Conveyor belt 31 Moving means 47 Slider 49 Rail

Claims (5)

An alignment transfer device for transferring and transferring the objects to be conveyed in a row in the conveyor width direction from an alignment transfer belt conveyor extending in the conveyor width direction with respect to a conveyor for conveying the objects to be conveyed ,
A support member for supporting the alignment transfer belt conveyor;
First moving means for moving the support member between a first position and a second position along a conveying direction of the conveying conveyor;
Speed detecting means for detecting the transport speed of the transport conveyor;
In response to the signal from the speed detecting means, the first moving means is controlled corresponding to the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor, and the conveying operation of the conveying conveyor is performed from the first position to the second position. And a control means for moving the support member in synchronization with each other. The alignment transfer belt conveyor includes a tip member disposed above the transport conveyor, a conveyor belt wound around the tip member, and a third position and a fourth position along the conveyor width direction. And a second moving means for moving the tip member, and by moving the tip member from the third position to the fourth position, the objects to be conveyed are aligned in a row in the conveyor width direction. While it is supposed to be configured to transfer,
The movable member is supported by the support member so as to be movable in the conveyor width direction, the tip member is supported by the movable member so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and the movable member is moved in the vertical direction via an air cylinder means. The alignment transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein   The first moving means includes a frame, a slider provided on one of the frame or the support member, a rail member provided on the other of the frame or the support member and engaged with the slider so as to be slidable, The alignment transfer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a drive motor that is provided between the frame and the support member and moves the support member relative to the frame.   The control means controls the first and second moving means so that when the support member reaches the second position, the support member is set to the first position, and the tip member is set to the third position. Respectively, and then the movement of the support member from the first position to the second position and the movement of the tip member from the third position to the fourth position are repeated. The alignment transfer apparatus according to claim 2. The speed at which the support member is returned from the second position to the first position is faster than the speed at which the support member is moved from the first position to the second position.
The speed at which the tip member is returned from the fourth position to the third position is set faster than the speed at which the tip member is moved from the third position to the fourth position. Alignment transfer equipment.

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