JP7529991B2 - Item sorting device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article sorting device that sorts articles into multiple transport paths.

For example, an article allocating device is known that provides parallel first and second transport paths on a single conveyor, and moves a portion of the articles transported in a line on the first transport path to the second transport path in units of a predetermined number, thereby allocating the articles into two lines (Patent Document 1). This article allocating device is equipped with a guide piece that extends outward in a section of the endless chain, corresponding to the number of articles to be allocated to the second transport path. The article allocating device is disposed diagonally to the side of the first transport path, and the circulating guide piece sequentially pushes a predetermined number of articles on the first transport path diagonally onto the second transport path at a constant timing. This allows the articles to be allocated to the first and second transport paths in units of a predetermined number.

JP 2000-153917 A

However, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, if the conveyor is suddenly stopped while an article is being moved from the first transport path to the second transport path by the guide piece, the article near the front will slide on the transport surface due to inertia and will be displaced from the transport path. If transport is resumed in this state, the displaced article will be located downstream separating the first and second transport paths and will come into contact with the downstream guide. Furthermore, if the guide piece is moved by the amount of the displaced article and then the conveyor is restarted, the corner of the guide piece will come into contact with the article, which may cause it to be scratched or to tip over.

The objective of the present invention is to prevent items from being damaged or falling over when restarting a device that distributes items between two parallel transport paths on a conveyor.

The first invention of the present invention is an article allocation device that includes a conveyor having a first conveying path along which articles are conveyed linearly and a second conveying path parallel to the first conveying path, a guide that engages with articles conveyed on the first conveying path and guides the articles to the second conveying path, and a guide travel means that moves the guide. In the article allocation device that uses the guide to allocate a predetermined continuous string of articles among the articles conveyed on the first conveying path from the first conveying path to the second conveying path, the device also includes a moving means that moves the guide travel means horizontally along the conveying direction, and a control means that controls the operation of the moving means, and the control means is characterized in that when the conveyor stops, the moving means moves the guide travel means in the conveying direction.

The second invention of the present invention is an article sorting device according to the first invention, characterized in that it includes a detection means for detecting the amount of deviation of an article guided by the guide from the first transport path to the second transport path, and the control means moves the guide travel means in the transport direction based on a signal from the detection means, and adjusts the position of the guide to match the position of the article.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent damage or tipping of objects when restarting a device that distributes objects between two parallel transport paths on a conveyor.

1 is a plan view showing the overall layout of an article sorting device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side view of the article sorting device of FIG. 1. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating the movement operation of an article to a second conveying path in the article sorting device. 1A is a diagram illustrating a deviation of an article from its path of movement when the transport conveyor stops, and FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating an operation to deal with the deviation of an article when the transport conveyor is restarted.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall layout of an article sorting device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof.

The article sorting device 10 of this embodiment includes a transport conveyor 12, which includes a first transport path (first transport conveyor) 14 and a second transport path (second transport conveyor) 16 arranged parallel to the transport direction. Articles M (e.g., containers) are continuously supplied in a line along the first transport path 14 on the transport surface of the transport conveyor 12. An article moving device (guide running means) 18 is arranged along the side edge on the first transport path 14 side of the transport conveyor 12.

The article moving device 18 is a device that moves articles being transported on the first transport path 14 in a row of articles of a predetermined number in sequence to the adjacent second transport path 16. The article moving device 18 includes, for example, an endless chain (guide running means) 24 that is looped around a driven sprocket 20 and a driving sprocket 22, and a number of guide guides 26 are provided adjacent to each other in a section of the endless chain 24. The number of guide guides 26 corresponds to the number of articles M that are sorted from the first transport path 14 to the second transport path 16 at one time.

Each guide 26 is equipped with a fixed rod 26A that extends vertically outward from the endless chain 24 by a fixed length, and a guide plate 26B is provided at the tip of the fixed rod 26A perpendicular to the rod axis. In the example of Figure 1, the guide 26 is provided over a section that roughly corresponds to one span of the endless chain 24, and the guide plates 26B of adjacent guide guides 26 located in the span section are in close contact with each other. With this configuration, the guide 26 moves continuously along the circulation path in accordance with the running of the endless chain 24, forming one guide surface in the span section.

In the article moving device 18, the driven sprocket 20 and the driving sprocket 22 are integrally attached to the base member 28, and the driving sprocket 22 is rotated by a motor 30 attached below the base member 28. The endless chain 24 (driven sprocket 20 and driving sprocket 22) is arranged diagonally with respect to the conveyor 12. That is, the endless chain 24 is arranged so that the guide surface formed by the guide 26 of the span on the conveyor 12 side diagonally crosses the first conveyor path 14 over the movement section P1P2 from the distribution start position P1 located on the side of the article moving device 18 on the upstream side of the first conveyor path 14 to the distribution end position P2 located on the side of the second conveyor path 16 on the downstream side of the first conveyor path 14.

A slider (moving means) 32 driven by a motor (moving means) 32A is provided at the bottom of the base member 28. That is, in the article moving device 18, the driven sprocket 20, the driving sprocket 22, the endless chain 24, and the guide 26 can move back and forth together along the conveying direction of the conveyor 12 (first and second conveying paths 14, 16). The article moving device 18 is installed on a pedestal 34 through the slider 32.

An article counter 36 is disposed on the first conveying path 14 upstream of the article moving device 18 to count the number of articles M being conveyed adjacently on the first conveying path 14. In addition, a camera (detection means) 38 is provided at a position where the first conveying path 14 is guided to the second conveying path 16 by the guide 26 to detect the conveying status of the articles M.

In the article moving device 18, the motor 30 that drives the driving sprocket 22 is controlled based on a signal from the article counter 36, and the motor 32A that drives the slider 32 is controlled based on the results of image analysis of the article counter 36 and the camera 38. These controls, as well as the overall control of the article sorting device 10, are performed by a control device (control means) 40.

The sorting operation of the row of items by the item moving device 18 will be described with reference to Figure 3. Figures 3(a) to 3(d) show in chronological order how the guide 26 moves the item M from the first conveying path 14 to the second conveying path 16.

Figure 3(a) shows the state immediately before the article moving device 18 starts sorting the rows of articles. The article moving device 18 is in a standby state, and the leading guide 26 in the direction of travel is located on the driven sprocket 20 just before the span start position on the first conveying path 14 side. In other words, the guide 26 is not present in the span on the first conveying path 14 side, and the guide 26 does not interfere with the articles M being conveyed on the first conveying path 14. Therefore, the articles M being conveyed on the first conveying path 14 next to the article moving device 18 during this time continue to be conveyed on the first conveying path 14 and are discharged from the downstream side.

When the leading item M1 to be sorted onto the second conveying path 16 is detected based on the number of passing items M counted by the item counter 36, as shown in FIG. 3(b), when the item M1 reaches the sorting start position P1, the driving sprocket 22 is rotated so that the guide plate 26B of the leading guide 26 abuts against its side as the item M1 reaches the sorting start position P1.

The driving sprocket 22 rotates at a speed that keeps the leading guide plate 26B in contact with the leading item M1 being transported on the transport conveyor 12. This causes the following guides 26 to move sequentially to the span on the first transport path 14 side, and a guide surface is formed by the multiple guides 26. The guide surface is arranged to cross the first transport path 14 diagonally toward the downstream side, so that as shown in Figure 3(c), the items M after item M1 are pushed sequentially by the guides 26 toward the second transport path 16 side as they are transported.

As shown in FIG. 3(d), when the leading guide 26 reaches the sorting end position P2, the leading item M1 is moved to the second conveying path 16, and the following items M are also moved to the second conveying path 16 before moving to the sorting end position P2. When the rearmost guide 26 forms a guide surface on the first conveying path 14, there is no guide guide 26 that pushes the items M downstream toward the second conveying path 16, so the following items M move on the first conveying path 14. Also, when the rearmost guide 26 moves to the sorting end position P2, the items M that come into contact with it are transferred to the second conveying path 16, completing the sorting of one cycle of the rows of items.

After passing the allocation end position P2, the guide 26 is rotated around the driving sprocket 22 and returned to the standby position in FIG. 3(a) via the opposite span, where it waits until the leading item M to be next allocated to the second transport path 16 is detected by the item counter 36. In the illustrated example, the guide 26 is provided over a section with the same length as the length of the span, but it may be provided over a section corresponding to a part of the span or over a section exceeding the length of the span depending on the number of items M to be allocated to the first and second transport paths 14 and 16. However, if it is arranged beyond the span length, the rearmost guide 26 needs to be in a position retracted from the first transport path 14 when the guide 26 is in the standby position.

Next, referring to Figure 4, the operation of the article moving device 18 of this embodiment when restarting will be described. Figure 4(a) shows a state in which the conveyor 12 is stopped while the leading article M1 of the row of articles to be sorted by the guide 26 to the second conveyor path 16 is being moved from the first conveyor path 14 to the second conveyor path 16. When the conveyor 12 is suddenly stopped, the article M being conveyed along the guide surface of the guide 26 may slide in the direction of movement on the conveyor surface (e.g., the top chain) of the conveyor 12 due to its inertial force, and its position may become displaced.

In particular, since there is no guide plate 26B downstream of the leading item M1, as shown in FIG. 4(a), it moves a distance D downstream in the conveying direction of the transport conveyor 12 and deviates from the movement path defined by the guide surface. In the movement section P1P2, the guide 26 moves diagonally toward the second transport path 16, so if the item moving device 18 is driven again in the state shown in FIG. 4(a), the corner of the leading edge of the leading guide plate 26B may hit the side of the item M1, causing the item M1 to fall over or scratch the side.

Therefore, in the article sorting device 10 of this embodiment, the control device 40 analyzes the image of the camera 38 to detect the distance D, which is the amount of deviation of the article M1 in the conveying direction, and drives the motor 32A to move the slider 32, i.e., the article moving device 18, in the conveying direction of the conveyor 12 by an amount corresponding to the distance D, to the state shown in FIG. 4(b). As a result, the guide surface of the leading guide plate 26B abuts against the side of the leading article M1. When the conveyor 12 and the article moving device 18 are then driven again, the article M is moved toward the second conveying path 16 along a new guide surface that has been moved in parallel by the distance D downstream, and is completely moved onto the second conveying path 16 at a position downstream by the distance D from the original sorting end position P1. Note that in FIG. 4(b), a part of the article moving device 18 on the driven sprocket 20 side in the original position (position before position adjustment) is shown by a dashed line.

When the conveyor 12 first restarts, the items M that are being moved toward the second conveying path 16 by the guide 26 other than the leading item M1 are slightly spaced apart from the guide plate 26B that forms the new guide surface. However, as these items M are moved in the conveying direction of the conveyor 12 by the conveyor 12, they come into contact with the corresponding guide plate 26B, and are then moved along the new guide surface.

When the movement of the row of items to be allocated to the second conveying path 16 is completed and the guide 26 moves to the standby position, the control device 40 drives the motor 32A to return the item moving device 18 to its original position.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in an article sorting device that sorts articles between two transport paths arranged in parallel on a conveyor, it is possible to prevent the articles from being damaged or falling over when restarting the device.

In this embodiment, the amount of misalignment (movement distance) of the item is detected using a camera, but any detection device capable of detecting the amount of misalignment may be used, and for example, a configuration in which fiber sensors or the like are arranged at predetermined intervals to detect the amount of misalignment may be used. Also, in this embodiment, the item moving device is moved in the conveyor transport direction based on the detected amount of misalignment, but it may also be configured to move a preset distance depending on, for example, the transport speed of the item. Also, the guide does not have to move along the circulation path, and may be configured, for example, to have a rod that can advance and retreat and reciprocate along the guide surface.

In this embodiment, two conveyors (i.e., two rows of top chains) are used for the first and second conveying paths of the conveyor 12, but a single conveyor may be provided with the first and second conveying paths. Also, in this embodiment, the amount of movement is adjusted according to the amount of misalignment, but a configuration in which a predetermined distance is moved when misalignment occurs may also be used.

10: article sorting device 12: transport conveyor 14: first transport path 16: second transport path 18: article moving device (guide travel means)
24 Endless chain (guide travel means)
26 Guide 32 Slider (movement means)
32A Motor (movement means)
40 Control device (control means)

Claims (2)

a transport conveyor provided with a first transport path along which an article is transported linearly and a second transport path parallel to the first transport path;
a guide that engages with an article transported on the first transport path and guides the article to the second transport path;
and a guide travelling means for moving the guide.
An article allocating device that allocates a predetermined continuous row of articles among the articles conveyed on the first conveying path from the first conveying path to the second conveying path by the guide,
a moving means for horizontally moving the guide traveling means along a conveying direction;
A control means for controlling the operation of the moving means,
The article sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the control means causes the moving means to move the guide travel means in the conveying direction when the transport conveyor stops. a detection unit for detecting an amount of deviation of an article guided by the guide from the first conveying path to the second conveying path,
2. The article sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the control means moves the guide travel means in the conveying direction based on a signal from the detection means, and adjusts the position of the guide to match the position of the article.

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