JP2008156016A - Article conveying apparatus and article conveying method - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an article conveying apparatus that can retain a soft article that has not been solidified in a solidifying apparatus and that does not require a rigid container such as a product platform.
Each of a plurality of articles 100 supplied in an unsolidified state is sequentially transported by a conveyor 20 with a clearance in the transport direction from the inlet to the outlet of a cooling device 11 by a transport unit 110. A restraint state in which the stopper 21a is protruded in the article conveyance path by the conveyor to prevent the article 100 from being carried out of the cooling device 11, and the stopper 21a is retracted from the conveyance path to allow the article 100 to be carried out from the cooling apparatus 11. The clearance G2 remains between the transport units 110 until the transport speed V2 of the conveyor 20 in the restrained state can be switched and the articles 100 loaded into the cooling device 11 are restrained by the stoppers 21a. Within the range, the transport speed in the released state is reduced.
[Selection] Figure 6B

Description

  The present invention relates to an article transport apparatus and an article transport method for transporting a plurality of articles on a conveyor while solidifying them.

  Carrying items such as chocolate, candy, cheese, butter, curry roux, stew, etc., in a soft and unsolidified state into a solidifying device such as a cooling device or a drying device, and transporting the items inside the solidifying device by a conveyor In the production line to be solidified, when the article on the front side (downstream side) is pushed with the article on the rear side (upstream side), the article may be deformed by the conveyance force. For this reason, it is difficult to retain the article group inside the solidification device, and a buffering device for article retention is installed downstream of the solidification device. And when an equipment stop etc. arise in the downstream of a solidification apparatus, the goods solidified with the solidification apparatus are made to stay in the inside of a buffering apparatus. However, when a buffering device is provided separately from the solidifying device, the introduction cost or installation space burden increases. Therefore, by installing a rigid product platform or bucket on the conveyor, and storing and transporting the articles in the product platform, etc., soft articles before solidification can be retained on the conveyor. An apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52-11581 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-81213 JP 2003-165620 A

  However, if a product platform or the like is installed on the conveyor, the configuration of the transport device becomes complicated, and extra costs are generated accordingly.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an article transport apparatus that can retain a soft article that has not been solidified within the solidification apparatus and that does not require a rigid container such as a product platform. To do.

  The article transport apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that each of a plurality of articles (100) supplied in a non-solidified state is composed of a predetermined number of articles from the entrance to the exit of the solidification apparatus (11). A conveyor (20) that sequentially conveys the sheet in a state where there is a gap in the conveying direction, a restraint position that protrudes from the conveying path of the article by the conveyor and prevents the article from being transported from the solidification device, and retreats from the conveying path And a stopper (21a) movable between a release position that allows unloading of the article from the solidifying device, and a conveying speed (V2) of the conveyor when the stopper is in the restraining position, The stopper is in the release position within a range in which a gap (G2) remains between the conveyance units until each article carried into the solidifying device is restrained by the stopper. And conveyance control means for decreasing than the conveying speed (V1) when (30), to solve the problems described above by providing a.

  In the article transporting apparatus of the present invention, when the stopper is in the release position, the articles sequentially pass through the inside of the solidification apparatus by the transport unit, and the solidified articles are sequentially carried out from the outlet of the solidification apparatus. On the other hand, when the stopper is moved to the restraining position, the article is prevented from being carried out from the solidifying device, and the article is restrained upstream of the stopper in the transport direction and inside the solidifying device. When the stopper is in the restraining position, the conveying speed of the conveyor is lower than when the stopper is in the release position. For this reason, the articles carried into the solidification device in a soft state that has not been solidified move inside the solidification device over a longer period of time from the loading until the article is restrained by the stopper. Thereby, the residence time of the articles | goods inside a solidification apparatus can be increased, and the inside of a solidification apparatus can be functioned as a buffering apparatus. Moreover, the conveying speed of the conveyor when the stopper is in the restraining position is set to a range in which a gap remains between the conveying units until the article is restrained by the stopper. Therefore, there is no possibility that the articles exceeding the conveyance unit will be pressed against each other during the conveyance until being restrained by the stopper, and a rigid container like a product platform is not required.

  In one form of the article transport apparatus of the present invention, the transport control means may stop the conveyor when the number of articles in the transport direction of the articles restrained by the stopper and stopped reaches a predetermined limit number. . When the stopper is in the restraining position, the articles conveyed by the conveyor are restrained by the stopper and stopped in contact with each other so as to form a row on the upstream side in the conveying direction. These articles are pressed against each other under the influence of the conveying force of the conveyor, and the pressing force increases as the number of articles in the conveying direction increases. On the other hand, when stopping the conveyor when the number of articles reaches a predetermined limit, the pressing force acting between the articles constrained by the stopper is limited to an appropriate range, and the pressing force Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the possibility that the article is deformed.

  In one form of the article conveying apparatus of the present invention, the conveyor may convey the article from an inlet to an outlet of a cooling device (11) as the solidifying device. According to this form, the article which has not solidified can be carried in from the inlet of the cooling device by the conveyor, the article can be cooled by the cooling device, and the solidified article can be carried out from the outlet. By preventing the article from being carried out by the stopper, the inside of the cooling device can substantially function as a buffering device.

  In the article transport method of the present invention, each of the plurality of articles (100) supplied in a non-solidified state is a transport unit (110) configured with a predetermined number of articles from the entrance to the exit of the solidification device (11). A method of conveying an article that is sequentially conveyed by a conveyer with a gap in the conveying direction one by one, and a stopper (21a) is projected on an article conveyance path by the conveyor to prevent the article from being carried out from the solidification device. It is possible to switch between a restraint state and a release state in which the stopper is retracted from the transport path to allow the article to be unloaded from the solidification device, and the transport speed (V2) of the conveyor in the restraint state is In the range where a gap (G2) remains between the transport units until each of the articles carried into the solidifying device is restrained by the stopper, Is lower than the conveying speed (V1) in it by, for solving the above problems.

  According to the article conveying method of the present invention, in the released state, the articles sequentially pass through the inside of the solidification device for each conveyance unit, and the solidified articles are sequentially carried out from the outlet of the solidification device. On the other hand, in the restrained state, the article is prevented from being carried out from the solidifying device, and the article is restrained upstream of the stopper in the transport direction and inside the solidifying device. And in a restraint state, the conveyance speed of a conveyor falls compared with a cancellation | release state. For this reason, the articles carried into the solidification device in a soft state that has not been solidified move inside the solidification device over a longer period of time from the loading until the article is restrained by the stopper. Thereby, the residence time of the articles | goods inside a solidification apparatus can be increased, and the inside of a solidification apparatus can be functioned as a buffering apparatus. In addition, the conveying speed of the conveyor in the restrained state is set to a range in which a gap remains between the conveying units until the article is restrained by the stopper. Therefore, there is no possibility that the articles exceeding the conveyance unit will be pressed against each other during the conveyance until being restrained by the stopper, and a rigid container like a product platform is not required.

  In the article transporting method of the present invention, in the restrained state, the conveyor may be stopped when the number of articles in the transporting direction that are restrained by the stopper and stopped has reached a predetermined limit number. Furthermore, the said conveyor is good also as what conveys the said articles | goods from the inlet_port | entrance of the cooling device as the said solidification apparatus.

  In addition, in the above description, in order to make an understanding of this invention easy, the reference sign of the accompanying drawing was attached in parenthesis, but this invention is not limited to the form of illustration by it.

  As described above, according to the article conveying apparatus and the article conveying method of the present invention, when the article is prevented from being unloaded from the solidifying device by the stopper, the conveying speed of the conveyor is adjusted according to this. Since it is lower than the permissible case, it moves inside the solidification device for a longer time from when the article carried into the solidification device in a soft state that is not solidified to being restrained by the stopper It becomes possible to make it. Thereby, the residence time of the articles | goods inside a solidification apparatus can be increased, and the inside of a solidification apparatus can be functioned as a buffering apparatus. In addition, the conveying speed of the conveyor when the carry-out of the article is blocked is set in a range in which a gap remains between the conveyance units until the article is restrained by the stopper. Therefore, there is no possibility that the articles exceeding the transport unit come into contact with each other and are pressed against each other in the middle of the transport until being restrained by the stopper, and a rigid container like a product platform is not required.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a production line in which an article conveying apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention is incorporated, and FIG. 2 shows an example of an article conveyed on the production line. An article 100 shown in FIG. 2 is obtained by packaging cheese formed in a rectangular parallelepiped state with an aluminum foil. The product 100 is supplied to the production line 1 shown in FIG. 1 in a state where soft cheese that has not yet been solidified after being molded is packaged with aluminum foil. The production line 1 is provided with a cooling system 2, a pillow packaging device 3, an X-ray inspection device 4, and a carton packaging device 5 from upstream to downstream in the conveyance direction of the article 100.

  The cooling system 2 cools the article 100 to solidify the cheese inside the article 100. Details of the cooling system 2 will be described later. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the pillow wrapping apparatus 3 arranges a predetermined number of articles 100 (four in the illustrated example) in a line and packages them together to form a pillow package 102 illustrated in FIG. 3B. To do. The X-ray inspection apparatus 4 inspects the pillow package 102 or the article 100 for defects such as contamination of foreign matter. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the carton packaging device 5 bundles a predetermined number (10 in the illustrated example) of the pillow package 102, and packs these together so that the carton package 103 illustrated in FIG. 4B is illustrated. Form.

  FIG. 5 shows details of the cooling system 2. The cooling system 2 includes two article conveying apparatuses 10 that convey the articles 100, a cooling apparatus 11 that serves as a solidifying apparatus that cools the articles 100 conveyed by the article conveying apparatuses 10, and a plurality of unsolidified states. Two supply devices 12 that sequentially supply the article 100 to each of the article conveyance devices 10 and two extraction devices 13 that take out the article 100 conveyed by the article conveyance device 10 are provided. The article conveyance device 10 has the same configuration. Each article conveying device 10 is arranged so as to penetrate the cooling device 11 and conveys the article 100 from the inlet to the outlet of the cooling device 11, and on the conveyor 20 to prevent the article 100 from being carried out of the cooling device 11. A stopper device 21 that can restrain the article 100 and a detection sensor 22 that detects the article 100 on the conveyor 20 and outputs a predetermined detection signal. Details of these will be described later.

  The cooling device 11 cools the article 100 conveyed by the conveyor 20 by sending cold air into the tunnel-shaped housing 11a. The cooling capacity of the cooling device 11 may be kept constant, but may be variable. The supply device 12 takes in the article 100 sent from the previous process and forms a transport set 110 in which two in the transport direction of the conveyor 20 and five in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction, that is, in the width direction of the conveyor 20 are combined. The conveyance set 110 is sent to the conveyor 20 in a state where three sets are arranged in the width direction of the conveyor 20. Thereby, the single conveyance set 110 corresponds to a conveyance unit of the article 100 on the conveyor 20. The take-out device 13 takes out the articles 100 carried out from the cooling device 11 from the conveyor 20, and sends out the articles 100 one by one in a row to a subsequent process. Note that the article 100 is directly placed on the conveyor 20, and a container having rigidity such as a product platform is not used on the conveyor 20.

  Details of the article conveying apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. The conveyor 20 includes a belt 20a on which the article 100 is placed, a driving roller 20b and a driven roller 20c around which the belt 20a is wound, and a motor 20d that rotationally drives the driving roller 20b. The belt 20a is formed in an endless track shape with rubber, resin, or the like, for example. The belt 20a travels by rotationally driving the driving roller 20b with the motor 20d. Various electric motors may be used as the motor 20d as long as speed adjustment is possible.

  The stopper device 21 is a drive that moves the stopper 21a up and down between a release position shown in FIG. 6A and a restraint position shown in FIG. 6B. The stopper 21a is installed above the conveyor 20 near the outlet of the cooling device 11. And a device 21b. As is clear from FIG. 5, the stopper 21 a is provided so as to cross the transport surface of the conveyor 20 in the width direction. In the release position shown in FIG. 6A, the stopper 21a is retracted upward from the conveying surface of the conveyor 20, and the article 100 is unloaded from the cooling device 11 without coming into contact with the stopper 21a. On the other hand, in the restraint position shown in FIG. 6B, the stopper 21a protrudes on the conveyor 20, more specifically, in the transport path of the article 100, whereby the article 100 is restrained by the stopper 21a and the article 100 is carried out from the cooling device 11. Is blocked.

  Further, the article conveying apparatus 10 is provided with a control unit 30 as a conveyor control means. The control unit 30 is connected to the detection sensor 22 described above as an input unit, and is connected to a motor 20d and a drive device 21b of the stopper device 21 as control targets. Further, the control unit 30 is connected as input means. The trouble signal generator 31 outputs a trouble occurrence signal when a trouble occurs downstream of the production line 1 and outputs a trouble release signal when the trouble is solved. The trouble signal generator 31 may output a trouble occurrence signal or a trouble release signal based on an operator's operation, or may detect the occurrence of trouble downstream and detect the trouble occurrence signal or the operation without the operator's operation. It may output a trouble release signal. The trouble here means a state where it is not appropriate to transport the article 100 downstream of the production line 1. Furthermore, a monitoring device 32 for monitoring the operation status of the production line 1 is connected to the control unit 30. The monitoring device 32 is configured by a monitor, a lamp, a speaker, or the like alone or in combination, and notifies the operator of information indicating the operating status of the production line 1.

  The control unit 30 controls the conveyance speed of the conveyor 20 and the operation of the stopper 21a based on the outputs from the trouble signal generator 31 and the detection sensor 22 as follows. First, when no trouble occurrence signal is output from the trouble signal generator 31, the control unit 30 controls the operation of the driving device 21b so that the stopper 21a is held at the release position in FIG. Set the speed to the normal speed V1. The normal speed V1 is set to a speed at which the cheese in the article 100 is sufficiently solidified while passing through the cooling device 11. Further, as is apparent from FIG. 5, the normal speed V1 is set so that a sufficient gap is generated between the transport sets 110 in the transport direction. By providing such a gap, there is no possibility of soft cheese before solidification being crushed by the conveying force acting on the article 100, and cooling of the article 100 is performed by sufficiently passing cold air between the conveying sets 110. Efficiency can be increased.

  On the other hand, when a trouble occurrence signal is output from the trouble signal generator 31, the control unit 30 executes the buffering process shown in FIG. In the buffering process, the control unit 30 first operates the driving device 21b so that the stopper 21a is lowered to the restraining position shown in FIG. 6B in step S1. In subsequent step S2, the control unit 30 controls the speed of the motor 20d so that the conveying speed of the article 100 by the conveyor 20 is reduced from the normal speed V1 (FIG. 6A) to the buffering speed V2 (FIG. 6B). The buffering speed V2 is set lower than the normal speed V1. Further, the buffering speed V2 is set to a range in which a gap remains between the transport sets 110 in the transport direction. That is, even when the article 100 is transported at the buffering speed V2, the transport speed is reduced within a range where the transport sets 110 do not contact each other.

  Next, the control unit 30 proceeds to step S3, and determines whether or not a trouble release signal is output from the trouble signal generator 31. When the trouble release signal is output, the control unit 30 proceeds to step S4 and operates the drive device 21b so that the stopper 21a is raised to the release position. Subsequently, the control unit 30 proceeds to step S5, and controls the speed of the motor 20d so that the conveying speed of the conveyor 20 returns from the buffering speed V2 to the normal speed V1. Thereafter, the control unit 30 finishes the buffering process.

  On the other hand, if the trouble release signal is not output in step S3, the control unit 30 proceeds to step S6 and determines whether or not the stay limit of the article 100 is detected based on the signal from the detection sensor 22. When the stopper 21a is in the restraining position, the article 100 is restrained by the stopper 21a, so that the article 100 stops sequentially with the article 100 in contact with each other on the upstream side of the stopper 21a as time passes. These articles 100 are pressed against each other by the conveying force of the conveyor 20. The pressing force increases as the number of the articles 100 increases, and eventually the article 100 may be deformed so as to be crushed. In order to prevent such deformation, in this embodiment, in the state where the conveyor 20 is operated at the buffering speed V2 while restraining the article 100 by the stopper 21a, the conveyance direction is more than the stopper 21a without deforming the article 100. The number that can be arranged on the upstream side (hereinafter referred to as the pressure limit number) is examined in advance. Then, the distance X (FIG. 5) in the conveyance direction between the stopper 21a and the detection sensor 22 is such that the detection sensor 22 detects the article 100 at the rear end in the conveyance direction when the articles 100 are lined up to the pressure limit number. Is set.

  Each time the article 100 passes the front surface of the detection sensor 22, a detection signal is output from the detection sensor 22 for a time length corresponding to the conveyance speed, but the detection is performed when the article 100 is stopped on the front surface of the detection sensor 22. The signal is output continuously. Therefore, in step S6, the control unit 30 first determines whether or not the detection sensor 22 is outputting the detection signal of the article 100, and if so, determines the duration. When the duration exceeds the time corresponding to the number of articles 100 arranged in the single conveyance set 110 (two in this embodiment), the control unit 30 arranges the articles 100 from the stopper 21a to the pressure limit number. It is determined that the operation has stopped at step S7, and the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, the control unit 30 controls the motor 20d so that the conveyor 20 stops, and in a subsequent step S8, outputs a line stop signal to the monitor 32 to notify the operator of the line stop. On the other hand, when the detection signal of the article 100 is not output, or when the duration of the detection signal is within the time corresponding to the number of arrangement of one set of the article 100, the control unit 30 indicates that the arrangement number of the article 100 is It is determined that it is still less than the pressure limit number, and the process returns to step S3.

  According to the above processing, when some trouble occurs in the process downstream from the cooling system 2 and a trouble occurrence signal is given to the control unit 30, the stopper 21a is lowered to the restraining position and the article 100 from the cooling device 11 is moved. Carrying out is blocked. Along with this, the conveying speed of the conveyor 20 is reduced from the normal speed V1 to the buffering speed V2, so that more articles 100 are placed in the cooling device 11 than in the case where the stopper 21a is in the release position. Be contained. Thereby, the inside of the cooling device 11 can function substantially as a buffering device.

  In addition, since the buffering speed V2 is set in a range in which a gap remains between the transport sets 110, the conveyor 20 is in the middle of transport from the time it is loaded into the cooling device 11 until it is stopped by being restrained by the stopper 21a. There is no possibility that the articles 100 are excessively pressed by the conveying force and the articles 100 are not deformed. The conveyor 20 stops when the number of articles 100 in the transport direction that are stopped by being restrained by the stopper 21a reaches the pressure limit number. For this reason, there is no possibility that the article 100 restrained by the stopper 21a is pushed and deformed by the succeeding article 100.

  The upper part of FIG. 8 shows the state of the articles 100 on the conveyor 20 immediately after the stopper 21a is moved to the restraining position, and the lower part of FIG. Shows the situation at times. In this example, the conveyor 20 stops when ten conveyance sets 110, that is, twenty articles 100 are arranged from the stopper 21a. If the distance from the start of the buffering process to the stop of the twelfth set of articles 100 is defined as the transport distance D, within the time D / V2 obtained by dividing the transport distance D by the buffering speed V2. Solidification can be advanced while moving the article 100 in the cooling device 11 without stopping the conveyor 20. As is clear from the A part of FIG. 8, the gap G2 between the conveyance sets 110 that have been decelerated to the buffering speed V2 and then conveyed onto the conveyor 20 is such that the conveyor 20 is operated at the normal speed V1. The gap G1 is narrower than the gap G1 between the transport sets 110 carried in, but the gap G2 is larger than zero. That is, the transport sets 110 are not in contact with each other.

  Note that when the conveyor 20 is driven at the buffering speed V2, the gap between the conveyance sets 110 is narrowed, and it becomes difficult for the cool air to spread around the article 100, and the cooling efficiency may be relatively lowered. However, the decrease in cooling efficiency is compensated for by increasing the time for each article 100 to pass through the cooling device 11 as the conveyor 20 decelerates. By combining the air volume control, the article 100 can be reliably cooled and solidified even during the buffering process.

  This invention is not limited to the form mentioned above, It can implement with a various form. For example, the conveyor 20 is not limited to a belt conveyor, and various conveyors such as a chain conveyor and a roller conveyor may be used. The article is not limited to chocolate, candy, cheese, butter, curry roux, stew roux, and the like, and various articles such as a pouch with a retort food can be used as long as a solidification step is involved during the production. The solidification device is not limited to a cooling device, and any solidification device can be selected as long as it solidifies the article using various means such as drying and ultraviolet irradiation. The means for detecting the number of articles in the transport direction that are stopped by being stopped by the stopper 21a is not limited to a sensor that detects articles that have reached the pressure limit number. For example, the pressure limit number is detected by detecting the pressure acting on the stopper 21a. It may be configured to detect that it has reached Or the structure which estimates having reached the pressure limit number from the relationship between the elapsed time after the stopper 21a moves to a restraint position and the buffering speed V2 may be sufficient. The conveyor stop process may be omitted when the possibility that the article is deformed during the buffering process is low. For example, when the number of articles reaches a limit, the articles may be retreated to an appropriate empty space. The stopper is not limited to the one driven by the driving device, and may be one in which the operator switches between the restraining position and the release position, for example. Even when the drive device 21b is provided, the operation may be switched in accordance with an instruction from the operator. The number and arrangement of articles constituting the conveyance unit may be set as appropriate, and the number of articles included in one conveyance unit in the conveyance direction may be selected as an arbitrary number of 1 or more.

The figure which shows an example of the production line with which the article conveyance apparatus which concerns on one form of this invention was integrated. The figure which shows an example of articles | goods. The figure which shows the state which arranged four articles in a line in preparation for packaging. The figure which shows pillow packaged goods. The figure which shows ten pillow packaging products before carrying out carton packaging. The figure which shows a carton package. The partially broken top view which shows the detail of a cooling system. The figure which shows an article conveyance apparatus when a stopper exists in a cancellation | release position. The figure which shows an article conveyance apparatus when a stopper exists in a restraint position. The flowchart which shows a buffering process. The figure which shows and contrasts a mode immediately after moving a stopper to a restraint position, and a mode when a conveyor is stopped.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Production line 2 Cooling system 10 Article conveyance apparatus 11 Cooling apparatus (solidification apparatus)
11a housing 12 supply device 13 take-out device 20 conveyor 21 stopper device 21a stopper 21b drive device 22 detection sensor 30 control unit (conveyance control means)
31 Trouble Signal Generator 32 Monitor 100 Article 101 Mount 102 Pillow Package 103 Carton Package 110 Transport Set (Transport Unit)

Claims (4)

A conveyor that sequentially conveys each of a plurality of articles supplied in a non-solidified state in a state where there is a gap in the conveyance direction for each conveyance unit composed of a predetermined number of articles from the entrance to the exit of the solidification device;
Between a restraint position that protrudes to the conveying path of the article by the conveyor and prevents the article from being carried out from the solidifying apparatus, and a release position that retreats from the conveying path and allows the article to be carried out from the solidifying apparatus. A movable stopper,
The conveyance speed of the conveyor when the stopper is in the restraining position is set so that a gap remains between the conveyance units until each of the articles carried into the solidifying device is restrained by the stopper. A transport control means for lowering the transport speed when in the release position;
An article conveying apparatus comprising:   2. The article transport apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport control unit stops the conveyor when the number of articles in the transport direction of the articles stopped by the stopper reaches a predetermined limit number. .   The article conveyor according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor conveys the article from an inlet to an outlet of a cooling device serving as the solidification device. Conveyance of articles that are sequentially conveyed by a conveyor with a gap in the conveying direction for each of a plurality of articles supplied in a non-solidified state from the entrance to the exit of the solidification device by a transport unit composed of a predetermined number of articles. A method,
A restraint state in which a stopper protrudes from the conveying path of the article by the conveyor to prevent the article from being carried out from the solidifying device, and the article is allowed to be carried out from the solidifying apparatus by retracting the stopper from the conveying path. The release state to be switched can be switched, and
The conveying speed of the conveyor in the restrained state is lower than the conveying speed in the released state within a range in which a gap remains between the transport units until each of the articles carried into the solidifying device is restrained by the stopper. Let
A method for conveying an article.

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