JP5387891B2 - Sorting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sorting apparatus using shoes, and more particularly to a sorting apparatus that drives shoes without contact.

A sorting device using a slide shoe (Patent Document 1: JP2004-10218A, etc.) is known. In this apparatus, a slidable shoe is provided on a slat of a slat conveyor, the bottom of the shoe is guided by a guide rail, and the upper part of the shoe is protruded from the slat to push out the side surface of the load. A sorter using slide shoes is called a shoe sorter.
・ Since the load is forced out by the shoe, it can be reliably sorted,
-Since the load interval is enough for one shoe, the sorting ability is high, especially small loads can be sorted efficiently,
-If the guide rail that guides the shoe is movable left and right at both ends, it can be sorted to the left and right sides at the same location.

However, with a shoe sorter,
・ Since the shoe is guided by the guide rail, there are problems of noise, wear and dust generation.
・ If the guide rail switching timing is incorrect or if a shoe that cannot be moved due to foreign matter is moved by the guide rail, the device may be damaged.In addition, in order to change the branch position or orientation, It is necessary to modify the guide rail.

JP2004-10218A

  An object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for guide rails when sorting loads with shoes.

The present invention includes a conveyor for carrying a load ;
Provided on the conveyor, and by moving in a direction perpendicular the conveying direction and in a horizontal plane of the conveyor, a sorting apparatus having a plurality of shoes for moving the load in a direction different from the conveying direction of the conveyor ,
A magnetic body is provided at the bottom of the shoe to connect the shoe and the magnetic body ,
In order to move the shoe in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor in a horizontal plane by adsorbing the magnetic body, a plurality of electric elements are arranged in a plane below the magnetic body.

  Here, the surface shape is not limited to a rectangular shape or the like, but means that a plurality of electric elements are arranged in each of two directions, for example, a conveying direction of the conveyor and a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction in the horizontal plane. . In addition, the electric element is obtained by winding a coil around a magnetic core or air core, and has the same meaning as an individually controllable electromagnet. The magnetic body provided on the shoe is a ferromagnetic body or a permanent magnet. When a permanent magnet is used, it is possible to apply two forces of attraction and repulsion to the shoe from the electric element, and to control the movement of the shoe more efficiently. In the present invention, since the magnetic body of the shoe is moved by the magnetic field from the electric element, the shoe can be driven in a non-contact manner, and there is no noise, dust generation, or wear due to contact with the guide rail. Further, since the shoe can be driven in an arbitrary pattern within the range of the surface on which the electric elements are arranged, the degree of freedom in control is high. Furthermore, since an excessive force is not applied to the shoe, there is little risk of damage to the device.

Preferably, the shoe moving speed is made lower than other loads when sorting the handling precautions. In this way, it is possible to prevent the handling precautions from being overturned or damaged.

  Preferably, a controller for controlling the electric element is provided, and the plurality of shoes in contact with the load are sorted in parallel without moving the load, or the plurality of shoes in contact with the load are moved in the transport direction. By moving the shoe at the front and the shoe at the rear in the transport direction small, it is possible to switch between rotating and sorting the load. In the present invention, since the shoes can be driven in an arbitrary pattern, it is possible to freely control whether the loads are sorted without being rotated or sorted by being rotated.

The conveyor may be a roller conveyor, and the shoes may protrude from the gap between the rollers. However, the conveyor is preferably a slat conveyor, and the shoes are attached to the slats of the slat conveyor so as to be movable in the perpendicular direction. The lower magnetic body of the shoe is a permanent magnet, and a magnetic and non-magnetized connecting body is provided to connect the permanent magnet and the shoe, and the slat conveyor slat is not magnetized in a planar magnetic field. The body is arranged at a distance from the connection body on the permanent magnet side. Then , the permanent magnet and the planar magnetic body are magnetically separated such that the connecting body is positioned between the planar magnetic body and the permanent magnet. If it does in this way, the magnetic field from an electric element will be shielded by the planar magnetic body of a slat, and it will be hard to leak outside. When the planar magnetic material of the slat and the permanent magnet on the shoe face each other, the magnetic lines of force from the electric element are guided to the magnetic material on the slat side via the permanent magnet on the shoe side, and the shoe is attracted to the slat and moves. It becomes difficult. However, if a connecting plate is placed between the magnetic body of the slat and the magnetic body of the shoe, the magnetic body of the shoe and the magnetic body of the slat can be magnetically separated, and the magnetic body of the shoe can be fixed to the slat. Absent.

The top view which shows the decomposition | disassembly state of the sorting apparatus of an Example Cross-sectional view in the vertical direction of the main part of the sorting apparatus of the embodiment The figure which shows the magnetic force line from an electromagnet in an Example typically Diagram showing the trajectory of the shoe when sorting without changing the posture of the load Diagram showing the trajectory of the shoe when sorting by changing the posture of the load Diagram showing the difference in the trajectory of the sorting device between a load that tends to fall and a normal load The top view which shows arrangement | positioning of an electric element in the sorting apparatus of a modification The principal part top view of the sorting apparatus of the 2nd modification Main part vertical direction sectional drawing of the sorting apparatus of the 2nd modification

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

  1 to 9 show a sorting apparatus 2 according to the embodiment and its modification. 1 to 6, 2 is a sorting device, 4 is a slat conveyor, and a shoe 5 is attached to the slat 6 so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction and a horizontal plane. Although the guide mechanism of the shoe 5 with respect to the slat 6 is not shown, the movement of the shoe 5 may be guided by a guide groove provided in the slat 6, for example. A branch destination conveyor 8 is provided obliquely or perpendicularly to the conveying direction of the slat conveyor 4, and the type and number of the branch destination conveyors 8 are arbitrary. For example, the branch destination conveyors 8, 8 may be provided.

  Below the slat conveyor 4, an electric element array 10 is provided. For example, the electric elements 12 are two-dimensionally arranged in the conveying direction of the slat conveyor 4 and in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction. Among the electric elements 12, one that is energized in the direction of attracting a permanent magnet 24, which will be described later, is 14, and one that is energized in the direction of repulsion is 15, and the other electric elements are not energized, for example And The electric element 12 is an electromagnet, for example, a coil around a magnetic core. Then, one or a plurality of electric elements along the conveying direction of the conveyor 4 are energized so as to adsorb the shoes according to the trajectory serving as the shoe movement target. Also, in the left-right direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, the electric elements attracting the shoe, preferably the electric elements on both sides, at least the electric elements behind the moving direction of the shoe, are energized so as to repel the shoe, and the shoe moves from a predetermined locus. Try not to come off. Reference numeral 16 denotes a case that covers the bottom surface and four side surfaces of the electron array 10 and is made of, for example, a steel plate, and also serves as a magnetic shield in the direction of the side surface and bottom surface of the electron array 10. Reference numeral 20 denotes a power source such as a three-phase alternating current, which drives the individual electric elements 12, and the controller 22 controls the power source 20 in accordance with a sorting command from a host controller (not shown).

  The sorting command includes the timing of executing sorting, that is, the timing of which load on the slat conveyor 4 is sorted, the length of the load to be sorted, that is, the size of the load, the direction of sorting, and the handling of the load. Contains data on whether or not the product is a precaution. In the case of handling precautions, sorting is carried out more slowly than usual. In other words, the distance that the load is transported by the slat conveyor 4 from the start to the completion of the sorting is increased for the remnants being handled. Further, the sorting command includes a command for sorting by rotating the load or maintaining the posture on the slat conveyor 4. The magnitude of the load is represented by the number of slats 6 that support the load, and the controller 22 controls the shoes for the number of slats. Hereinafter, in this specification, the conveyance direction of the slat conveyor 4 is the x direction, and the direction perpendicular to the horizontal direction is the y direction.

  2 and 3 show the relationship between the electron array 10 and the slat conveyor 4. The electron array 10 is disposed below the slat conveyor 4, and a permanent magnet 24 is provided below the slat 6, and the permanent magnet 24 is connected to the shoe 5 by, for example, a C-shaped connecting plate 26. The slat 6 includes an aluminum portion 27 and a plate-like magnetic body 28, and the magnetic body 28 is provided inside the aluminum portion 27 so as not to come into direct contact with the permanent magnet 24 and the connection plate 26. The connection plate 26 and the magnetic body 28 are made of a magnetic material that is not magnetized, such as an iron plate or a ferrite plate, and the electric element 12 is located below the permanent magnet 24.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the permanent magnet 24 is attracted or repelled by the magnetic field from the electric element 12, and moves in the y direction. The magnetic lines of force that reach the permanent magnet 24 from the electric element 12 flow along the connection plate 26, and therefore do not reach the magnetic body 28. Therefore, the permanent magnet 24 can be prevented from adhering to the magnetic body 28, and the magnetic lines of force from the electric element 12 are double-shielded by the connection plate 26 and the magnetic body 28. Next, the magnetic lines of force that flow upward from the electric element 12 in parts other than the permanent magnet 24 flow into the other electric elements 12 through the magnetic body 28. For these reasons, the magnetic field passing from the electron array 10 to the upper side of the slat conveyor 4 can be reduced. The bottom surface and the four side surfaces of the electron array 10 are magnetically shielded by the case 16.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of sorting while maintaining the direction of the load 30, and FIG. 5 shows an example of sorting by changing the direction of the load 32. The sorting shown in FIG. 4 is suitable when, for example, a small load is conveyed at a small interval. In this case, the plurality of slats 5a to 5c that contact the load 30 operate in parallel with each other. As a result, the posture of the load 30 does not change during the sorting process, and the distance from the subsequent load 31 may be small.

  The sorting shown in FIG. 5 is suitable for sorting a large load, and the load 32 is rotated to reduce the width of the load 32 in the left-right direction perpendicular to the transport direction at the sorting destination conveyor. For example, when the load 32 is sorted by the slats 5d to 5g, the moving distance of the slats is made longer on the downstream slats 5g and 5f side than on the upstream slats 5d and 5e side. As a result, the trajectory of the slat is as shown in FIG. 5, and the angle θ between the trajectory and the x direction increases as the slat on the downstream side becomes larger. Accordingly, the direction of the load 32 changes, and the front surface of the load becomes the same surface in both the slat conveyor 4 and the sorting destination conveyor. And since the load 32 rotates with classification, the space | interval with a subsequent load is made larger than the case of FIG.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the controller 22 is designated the size of the load in the sorting command, and thereby the number of slats used for sorting is determined. When the sorting command designates whether to sort by rotating the load or keeping the posture, the control in FIG. 4 and the control in FIG. 5 are switched accordingly. In the embodiment, since the electric elements 12 of the electric element array 10 can be driven with an arbitrary pattern, an arbitrary shoe can be driven with an arbitrary trajectory. Therefore, the branching direction, the branching position, the distance to move the shoe to the branching, in other words, the lateral speed of the shoe can be arbitrarily determined. For example, when the branch destination conveyor 8 is added or moved, the slat conveyor 4 side does not need to be changed as long as the shoe can be driven by the electron array 10. It should be noted that a roller conveyor or the like may be used instead of the slat conveyor 4 in a portion not facing the electron array 10.

  FIG. 6 shows the difference in trajectories during sorting between items to be handled with care, that is, easily damaged items and easily fallen loads 50 and normal loads 51. Here, it is assumed that four sorting destination conveyors 46 to 49 are connected to the sorting device 4, and these conveyors may be slat conveyors, but may be roller conveyors or belt conveyors. When sorting the load 50 to be handled carefully, the length in the transport direction used for sorting is increased, the shoe is moved to the left and right at a low speed, and the impact applied to the load 50 during the sorting process is reduced. On the other hand, in the normal load 51, sorting is performed by moving the shoes at a higher speed over a short distance, thereby realizing efficient sorting. In FIG. 6, the conveyor for conveyance in a portion other than the sorting device 4 may be a roller conveyor.

  FIG. 7 shows a modified example 60 of the electron array. As shown in FIG. 1, a rectangular electron array 10 such as a rectangle can move the shoe 5 along an arbitrary locus in the xy plane. On the other hand, when the moving direction of the shoe 5 is fixed, the electron array 60 of FIG. 7 or the like may be used instead of the rectangular electron array 10. In the sorting unit 61, a plurality of electron elements 12 are arranged in a band shape along the x direction, and the shoe is moved in the y direction. The return unit 62 may return the shoes that have moved in the y direction and arrange the electric elements 12 linearly one by one along the x direction.

  You may arrange | position a shoe in the clearance gap between the rollers of a roller conveyor. Such an example is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, where 70 is a roller of a roller conveyor and is a power roller, but it may be a driven roller. A shoe 74 is disposed in the gap between the rollers 70 and 70, and the side surface of the shoe 74 is Cover with an elastic body 76 such as hard rubber. As shown in FIG. 9, the roller 70 is composed of an outer aluminum portion and an inner steel portion, and the steel portion 72 without magnetization acts as a magnetic shield. A guide 80 is provided below the shoe, and the permanent magnet 78 moves along the guide 80. The other points are the same as those of the embodiment of FIGS.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Since the shoe 5 is not guided by the guide rail, noise, wear and dust generation are unlikely to occur.
(2) By arranging the electric elements 12 in a rectangular shape or the like, the load can be sorted at an arbitrary position, in an arbitrary direction, and in an arbitrary locus.
(3) Since the shoe trajectory is variable, it is possible to control whether to sort without changing the posture of the load or to change the posture by rotating the load. Similarly, the sorting trajectory can be changed between a handling precaution product and another load.

2 Sorting device 4 Slat conveyor 5 Shoe 6 Slat 8 Conveyor 10 Electron array 12 to 15 Electron 16 Case 20 Power supply 22 Controller 24 Permanent magnet 26 Connection plate 27 Aluminum part 28 Magnetic body 30 to 32 Load 46 to 49 Branch destination conveyor 50 , 51 Load 60 Electron array 61 Sorting unit 62 Returning unit
70 Roller 71 Aluminum part 72 Steel part 74 Shoe 76 Elastic body 78 Permanent magnet 80 Guide

Claims (4)

A conveyor for carrying the load ;
Provided on the conveyor, and by moving in a direction perpendicular the conveying direction and in a horizontal plane of the conveyor, a sorting apparatus having a plurality of shoes for moving the load in a direction different from the conveying direction of the conveyor ,
A magnetic body is provided at the bottom of the shoe to connect the shoe and the magnetic body ,
In order to move the shoe in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor in a horizontal plane by adsorbing the magnetic body, a plurality of electric elements are arranged in a plane below the magnetic body, and the sorting apparatus is characterized in that . 2. The sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when sorting the handling precautions , the moving speed of the shoe is lower than that of other loads.   A controller for controlling the electric element is provided, and a plurality of shoes in contact with the load are sorted in parallel without moving the load, or among the shoes in contact with the load, shoes in front of the conveyance direction The sorting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the load is rotated so as to be switched by moving a shoe at the rear in the transport direction to a small size so as to be switched freely. The conveyor is a slat conveyor, the shoe is attached to a slat of the slat conveyor so as to be movable in the direction perpendicular to the slat conveyor, and the magnetic body is a permanent magnet, which is magnetic and magnetized to connect the permanent magnet and the shoe. A planar magnetic body that is not magnetized in the slats of the slat conveyor is disposed at a distance from the permanent magnet side connecting body, and the planar magnetic body and the permanent magnet The sorting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the connecting body is positioned between the permanent magnet and the planar magnetic body to be magnetically separated from each other. .

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