JP2017088193A - Container supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a container supply device capable of always smoothly and smoothly delivering a container group to a container accommodation magazine regardless of the number of container groups taken out from a packing box and the number of rows of container accommodation magazines.
A container supply device takes out a plurality of container groups E accommodated in a packaging box B from the packaging box B and supplies them to a container accommodation magazine 13. The container supply device includes a plurality of gripping mechanisms 33 that grip the container group E. The gripping mechanism 33 is moved between the take-out position from the packing box B and the supply position to the container housing magazine 13 by the moving device 30. The control unit 50 tilts at least one of the plurality of gripping mechanisms 33 independently of the other gripping mechanisms 33 with respect to the vertical axis, thereby accommodating only the container group E gripped by the gripping mechanism 33. Supply to magazine 13.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a container supply device that takes out a plurality of container groups, which are accommodated in a packaging box and formed by stacking cup-shaped containers, and supplies them to a container accommodation magazine.

  Conventionally, the structure described in patent document 1 is known as such a container supply apparatus. In this container supply device, a plurality of container groups formed by stacking cup-shaped containers are fitted into a movable guide in an inclined state, and then moved forward with the movable guide in a vertical state, so that a fixed guide for the container storage magazine It is comprised so that it may supply.

Utility Model Registration No. 2550527

  In the operation of taking out a plurality of container groups from the packing box and supplying them to the container storage magazine, if the number of rows of the container storage magazine is an integer multiple of the number of gripping rows of the robot hand that grips the plurality of container groups, depending on the integer The robot hand needs to transfer the container group to the magazine as many times as necessary. However, if the number of rows of container storage magazines is other than an integral multiple of the number of rows gripped by the robot hand, it is necessary to transfer only a part of the container group gripped by the robot hand to the container storage magazine. It was difficult to do.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a container supply device that can always deliver a container group smoothly to the container storage magazine regardless of the number of container groups taken out from the packing box and the number of columns of the container storage magazine. Yes.

  The present invention is a container supply device that takes out a plurality of container groups formed by stacking cup-shaped containers accommodated in a packaging box and supplies them to a container accommodation magazine. The container supply device of the present invention includes a plurality of gripping means for gripping a group of containers, a moving means for moving the gripping means between a take-out position from the packing box and a supply position to the container storage magazine, and a plurality of gripping means. A tilting means for tilting at least one of the means independently of the other gripping means with respect to the vertical axis; and a control means for controlling the gripping means and the tilting means. Further, only the container group is supplied to the container storage magazine by tilting only the gripping means that holds the container group to be supplied to the container storage magazine.

  Preferably, the container storage magazine includes detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a container group, and the control means controls the operation of the gripping means based on a signal from the detection means.

  According to the present invention, regardless of the number of container groups taken out from the packing box and the number of rows of container storage magazines, the container groups can always be smoothly transferred to the container storage magazine.

It is a top view which shows the container conveyance system to which one Embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a side view which shows a support mechanism and a moving apparatus schematically. It is a figure which shows the state in which a holding | grip mechanism supplies a container group to a container storage magazine. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of a container supply apparatus.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments.
FIG. 1 shows a container transport system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. In this figure, the conveyor 11 extends in the left-right direction, and conveys the packaging box B in the direction of arrow A (rightward in the figure). The packaging box B is placed on the conveyor 11 with the opening D facing upward, and a large number of cup-shaped containers C are accommodated in each packaging box B. The containers C are stacked on each other to form a container group E, and are accommodated in a packing box B. Although four container groups E are exposed in the opening D, in this embodiment, layers of the four container groups E are stacked in three stages in the packing box B. That is, twelve container groups E are accommodated in the packing box B.

  A placement unit 12 on which the packing box B is placed is provided in the middle of the conveyor 11. The transport conveyor 11 is a roller conveyor configured by arranging a large number of rollers, and the mounting portion 12 has a support mechanism having an elongated bottom support member 21 (see FIG. 2) that can pass through a gap between the rollers. 20 is provided. As will be described later, the support mechanism 20 rolls over the packing box B on the transport conveyor 11 by 90 ° so that the surface of the opening D is substantially perpendicular to the surface of the mounting portion 12. Support in the state. In the vicinity of the support mechanism 20, there is provided a moving device (moving means) 30 for taking out and holding the container group E from the packaging box B and delivering it to the container housing magazine 13. The moving device 30 simultaneously holds the four container groups E exposed in the opening D of the packaging box B, rotates in a horizontal plane, and transfers them to the container storage magazine 13. This delivery operation is controlled by a control unit (control means) 50.

  A schematic configuration of the support mechanism 20 and the moving device 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The support mechanism 20 includes a plurality of bottom support members 21 extending in parallel with the rollers of the conveyor 11 and a horizontal support member 22 extending in a direction perpendicular to the bottom support member 21. The bottom support member 21 and the horizontal support member Reference numeral 22 denotes a rotation drive device (not shown) that can rotate 90 ° around the support shaft 23. That is, when the packaging box B containing the container group E is conveyed toward the placement unit 12, the bottom support member 21 is in a horizontal state and is located below the upper surface of the roller, and the lateral support member 22. Is upright and parallel to the side surface of the packaging box B (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 2). When the packaging box B is transported onto the mounting portion 12, the bottom support member 21 and the lateral support member 22 are driven to rotate and rotate 90 ° counterclockwise in FIG. 2 (the state of the solid line in FIG. 2). Thereby, the packaging box B will be in the state which the surface of the opening D turned to the side, and opposes the moving apparatus 30, and the container C will be in the state piled up in the perpendicular direction.

  The moving device 30 has a support arm 31, and the support arm 31 can protrude in the horizontal direction. The support member 32 fixed to the tip of the support arm 31 is provided with a plurality of gripping mechanisms (grip means) 33 for gripping the container group E. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, four container groups E face the opening D of the packaging box B, and in order to simultaneously remove these container groups E from the packaging box B, the support arm 31 has four Two gripping mechanisms 33 are provided.

  The gripping mechanism 33 has a movable member 34 attached to the support member 32. The lower end portion of the movable member 34 is rotatably supported by the support member 32 via the pivot member 35, and the upper end portion of the movable member 34 is connected to the support member 32 via the air cylinder (tilting means) 36. The air cylinder 36 is controlled by the control unit 50, whereby the piston 36a (see FIG. 3) moves forward and backward, and the inclination angle of the movable member 34 with respect to the support member 32 changes. Although the movable member 34 is normally in a vertical state, as will be described later, when the container group E is supplied to the container housing magazine 13, the movable member 34 is tilted by the operation of the air cylinder 36 under the control of the control unit 50.

  An intermediate member 37 is fixed to the movable member 34, and a first claw 38 is provided on the upper end of the intermediate member 37. A second claw 39 and a suction member 40 are provided at a lower position of the intermediate member 37, and the suction member 40 is connected to a negative pressure source (not shown). The first and second claws 38 and 39 are opened and closed by the control unit 50 and sandwich the upper end and the lower end of the container group E. Specifically, the first claw 38 engages with the opening edge of the container C positioned at the upper end of the container group E, and the second claw 39 engages with the bottom of the container C positioned at the lower end of the container group E. Thus, the container group E is gripped.

  FIG. 3 shows a state in which the gripping mechanism 33 supplies the container group E to the container storage magazine 13. As shown in this figure, the container housing magazine 13 is provided with a vertical guide 41 and an inclined guide 42. The vertical guide 41 extends in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane, supports the periphery of the container group E, and holds it stably. The inclined guide 42 is provided above the vertical guide 41. The lower end portion of the inclined guide 42 is close to the upper end portion of the vertical guide 41, and the upper end portion of the inclined guide 42 is inclined to the side far from the gripping mechanism 33 so that the container group E can be smoothly guided to the vertical guide 41. Has been.

The moving device 30 moves the gripping mechanism 33 between the take-out position from the packing box B and the supply position to the container storage magazine 13. The take-out position is the moving device 30.
Are the positions facing the opening D of the packaging box B, and at this time, the gripping mechanism 33 is in a vertical state. The supply position is a position where the four gripping mechanisms 33 of the moving device 30 face the container storage magazine 13, and the gripping mechanism 33 holding the container group E to be supplied to the container storage magazine 13 is as shown in FIG. 3. Tilted with respect to the vertical axis.

  In the present embodiment, six container storage magazines 13 are provided, and these container storage magazines 13 are aligned in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the transport conveyor 11 (see FIG. 1). A sensor (detecting means) 43 that detects the presence or absence of the container group E is provided in the vicinity of each container housing magazine 13 (see FIG. 4). These sensors 43 output signals corresponding to the presence / absence of the container group E to the control unit 50, and the control unit 50 grips the container group E to be supplied to the container storage magazine 13 based on the signal from the sensor 43. Only the predetermined container group E is supplied to the container housing magazine E by tilting only the mechanism 33 and opening and closing the claws 38 and 39.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
When the packaging box B containing the container group E is transported by the transport conveyor 11 and reaches the placement unit 12, the support mechanism 20 rotates 90 ° around the support shaft 23, whereby the packaging box B is supported by the bottom support member 21. And the side surface is set to a substantially horizontal state by the lateral support member 22 (the state of the solid line in FIG. 2). In this state, an operation of taking out all the four container groups E located on the opening D side of the packaging box B and supplying them to the container storage magazine 13 is executed.

  That is, the negative pressure is generated in the suction member 40 and the support arm 31 moves forward, so that the suction member 40 is placed on the side surface of the container C located at the lowermost end with respect to the four container groups E located at the top in the packaging box B. Adsorb. When the support arm 31 moves backward, each container group E protrudes from the opening D of the packaging box B. Almost simultaneously with this operation, the first and second claws 38 and 39 rotate to sandwich the upper and lower ends of the container group E and hold the four container groups E. As the support arm 31 is further retracted, the container group E gripped by the gripping mechanism 33 is pulled out of the packaging box B (see FIG. 4A).

  The container group E held by the gripping mechanism 33 is transferred to the container housing magazine 13 side when the moving device 30 rotates in a horizontal plane. As the support arm 31 moves forward, the piston 36a of the air cylinder 36 protrudes and the movable member 34 tilts, so that the container group E contacts the tilt guide 42 (see FIG. 3). Thereafter, when the claws 38 and 39 are opened, the container group E falls along the inclined guide 42, and the four container groups E are transferred to the vertical guide 41 of the container storage magazine 13. In the example of FIG. 4A, the container group E is stored in the lower four container storage magazines 13 among the six container storage magazines 13 arranged in the vertical direction, and the upper two container storage magazines 13 are empty. .

  Next, the moving device 30 rotates to the packaging box B side, performs the above-described operation again, and pulls out the four container groups E located at the head in the packaging box B from the packaging box B. Then, the moving device 30 rotates toward the container housing magazine 13 and the support arm 31 moves forward. In this operation, among the four gripping mechanisms 33, the piston 36a of the air cylinder 36 protrudes from the two gripping mechanisms 33 facing the two container housing magazines 13 positioned on the upper side in FIG. Tilts. Therefore, the container group E held by the two gripping mechanisms 33 comes into contact with the inclined guide 42. Then, the claws 38 and 39 of these gripping mechanisms 33 are opened, and the two container groups E fall along the inclined guide 42 and are transferred to the vertical guide 41. The example of FIG. 4B shows that the container group E held by the two gripping mechanisms 33 located on the right side of the four gripping mechanisms 33 is supplied to the container housing magazine 13.

  Thereafter, when the next container storage magazine 13 in which the container group E is not yet stored is conveyed, the two container groups E that are still held by the gripping mechanism 33 are delivered to the container storage magazine 13. . Then, the moving device 30 rotates again to the packing box B side, takes out the next four container groups E, and delivers them to the container storage magazine 13 by the same operation as described above.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, a part of the four gripping mechanisms 33 is tilted independently of the other gripping mechanisms 33 with respect to the vertical axis, that is, the container group E to be supplied to the container storage magazine 13. Only the container group E is supplied to the container housing magazine 13 by tilting only the gripping mechanism 33 that grips the container. Therefore, even if the number of container groups E taken out from the packing box B and the number of rows of the container storage magazines 13 are different, the container group E can always be transferred to the container storage magazine 13 smoothly.

  Note that the operation of supplying the container group E to the container housing magazine 13 in the description of the operation with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B is merely an example, and is located, for example, above FIGS. 4A and 4B. The supply operation for the container housing magazine 13 to be performed may be executed first. Further, the gripping mechanism 33 to be tilted can be freely selected. For example, two container groups E gripped by the two gripping mechanisms 33 located on the left side in FIG. 4B are shown in FIG. 4B. It can also be controlled to supply the two container storage magazines 13 located on the upper side.

13 Container storage magazine 30 Movement device (movement means)
33 Gripping mechanism (gripping means)
36 Air cylinder (tilting means)
50 Control unit (control means)
B Packing box E Container group

Claims (2)

A container supply device that takes out a plurality of container groups formed by stacking cup-shaped containers accommodated in a packing box and supplies them to the container storing magazine,
A plurality of gripping means for gripping the container group;
Moving means for moving the gripping means between a take-out position from the packing box and a supply position to the container housing magazine;
Tilting means for tilting at least one of the plurality of gripping means independently of other gripping means with respect to a vertical axis;
Control means for controlling the gripping means and the tilting means,
The control means tilts only the gripping means that grips the container group to be supplied to the container storage magazine among the plurality of gripping means, thereby supplying only the container group to the container storage magazine. Container supply device.   The said container storage magazine is provided with the detection means which detects the presence or absence of the said container group, The said control means controls operation | movement of the said holding means based on the signal of the said detection means. Container feeder.

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