JPH0152288B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sorting conveyor device that can improve the sorting capacity per unit speed of flat articles such as books and board materials, and can efficiently perform sorting operations in a narrow space. By conveying the articles to the sorting position in an upright position, the conveyance density of the articles can be increased, and the dropping operation of the articles at the sorting position can be performed using movement in the conveying direction.

Conventionally, a conveyor device for sorting flat articles has been designed to convey flat articles in a stable posture, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-3548, the flat articles are placed on a tray plate 15. A flat article is conveyed in a so-called lying state, with the surface facing up and down, and the release position of the article placed on each tray plate is selected by a command signal, and at the selected position, as shown in FIG. 3. Since the tray plate is tilted orthogonally to the conveyance direction to slide and release the articles, the conveyor chain 1 is of a horizontal type that is circulated on the floor. Not only does the installation area on the surface become larger, but also the area of the placement surface of each tray plate becomes larger because the flat articles are placed on each tray plate in a reclining position, which occupies the largest area. Therefore, since the mounting pitch length of the tray plate to the conveyor chain becomes large, the number of tray plates passing through the sorting position per unit speed decreases, and therefore,
This has led to a decline in the sorting ability for flat articles, and in addition, the conventional system described above requires a tilting operation mechanism in order to tilt the tray plate orthogonally to the conveyance direction at the sorting position without using movement in the conveyance direction. It has the drawback that the system is complicated, and interference and malfunction occur between the tilting operation mechanism and the tray plate, resulting in a significant decrease in sorting accuracy.Furthermore, the tilting mechanism for tilting the tray plate is arranged on the left and right sides at the same time. However, this mechanism allows the tray plate to be tilted to either side, and allows for an increase in the time the tray plate is held in an inclined position while reducing the mounting pitch of the tray plate. isn't it.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention has the following features:
The conveyor chain is disposed in a circular manner in the vertical direction, and the flat articles are conveyed in an upright state that is approximately orthogonal to the conveyance direction and has the smallest placement area, thereby reducing the conveyance pitch length of the flat articles, and at the same time, at the sorting position, the conveyor chain It also enables high-speed conveyance with a bottom plate opening operation mechanism that is operated using the movement of the
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a pair of guide rails R, R are spaced apart and arranged in parallel.
is arranged in a vertical circulation path formed by a descending path D, a lower horizontal path B, an upward path U, and an upper horizontal path T, and runs on the pair of guide rails R, R to circulate in the vertical direction. Each of a plurality of flat article conveyance cases (hereinafter simply referred to as conveyance cases) 1 is installed between a pair of driven roller chains C, C and fixed to the link plates of the roller chains at equal intervals.
Input conveyor F ₁ arranged along descending path D
and flat articles from F ₂ via chute S ₁ and S ₂
A ₁ and A ₂ are respectively charged, and furthermore, a flat article A ₃ is charged from an input conveyor F ₃ disposed along the lower horizontal path B via a chute S ₃ . In addition,
The conveyor chain C is driven by a caterpillar drive M in the direction of the arrow.

_A plurality _of sorting compartments P _{1 ,} P ₂ , _{P 3 .} The bottom plate opening operation mechanism of the transport case 1, which will be described later, O ₁ , O ₂ , O ₃ , O ₄ ...
Equipped with O _o . In the figure, the bottom plate opening operation mechanism O ₄ has moved upward to the bottom plate opening operation position, and the other bottom plate opening operation mechanisms O ₁ , O ₂ , O ₃ , . . . O _o are in the bottom plate opening non-operation position.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of one O ₄ of the bottom plate opening operation mechanism in the lower horizontal path B of FIG.
Other bottom plate opening operation mechanisms O _o have similar configurations. In the conveyance case 1, the left and right side plates 1a and 1b are fixed to the link plates Ca and Cb of the conveyor chain C, respectively, and the inner surface of the front plate 1c is tilted forward in the direction of movement to support the surface of the flat article, and is positioned at the article release position. The article discharge openings are attached to the conveyor chain C so that they are located at the outer lower part of the conveyor chain path, and the article discharge openings have bottom plates 1d on the left and right sides of the conveyance case 1 that open and close the openings and support the end surfaces of the flat articles. A pair of bottom plate holding rods 2, 2', whose upper ends are rotatably pivoted to the side plates 1a and 1b, are fixed to the lower ends of the bottom plate holding rods 2, 2' via support rods. Opening rods 3, 3' extending rearward in the direction of movement are attached, and the bottom plate 1d is connected to the front plate 1 of the transport case 1.
Since it is held at the rear from just below the center of rotation of the bottom plate holding rods 2, 2' by a stopper 4 protruding from the lower end of c, it is always urged by its own weight in the direction of closing the discharge port. . In addition, stoppers 5 are attached to the left and right side plates 1a and 1d of the transport case 1 to prevent excessive backward rotation of the bottom plate holding rods 2 and 2' when the transport case 1 travels on the upward path U. A cushioning material such as an elastic material is attached to the stopper surfaces of the stoppers 4 and 5.

The bottom plate opening operation mechanisms O ₁ , O _{2 .} . . O _o are provided at the lower left and right sides of the transport case, respectively, and include cylinder devices 6 and 6' that are selectively activated by a known sorting signal transmitted at the article loading position. cylinder device 6,
rollers 7, 7' mounted on a bell crank operated by a bell crank 6', the rollers 7, 7' being on the lower surface of the opening operating rods 3, 3' in the bottom plate opening operating position shown in FIG. is pushed up, and the bottom plate 1d is moved from the discharge port closed position to the open position using the progress of the conveyor chain. Therefore, by appropriately selecting the length l of the lower surface of the opening actuating rods 3, 3', it is possible to set the opening position holding time of the bottom plate, that is, the opening time of the release port to a desired value. Therefore, in the release position, the flat article A, whose surface is supported by the front plate whose surface is tilted forward and whose end face is supported by the bottom plate, is guided by the front plate 1c which is tilted forward by opening the bottom plate 1d, and is slid down by its own weight. , and fall into the sorting compartment P along the curved surface of the chute G. Therefore, the forward inclination angle of the front plate 1c must be made equal to the traveling speed of the conveyor chain C and the backward sliding force of the dropped article, or the chain If the advancing speed of is set high, the flat article A
will trace a trajectory of vertical fall, and the flat article A will be released in a natural fall state without sliding on the inner surface of the front plate, and the surface of the flat article will be damaged by friction with the inner surface of the front plate. The fear disappears.

Further, the bottom plate opening mechanism is not limited to the above embodiment, and the mounting positions of the opening operating rods 3, 3' and the rollers 7, 7' may be exchanged and changed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line X-X in FIG. The side plates 1a and 1b of the conveyor case 1 are attached to the link plates of the conveyor chain C by the rods 8,
8', and pivot shafts 9, 9' are protruded from both side plates 1a and 1b, respectively, and the upper ends of the bottom plate holding rods 2, 2' are rotatably supported on the pivot shafts 9, 9'. A bottom plate 1d is attached to the lower ends of the rods 2, 2' via support rods 10, 10' in such a manner as to close a discharge port opened at the lower end of the transport case 1. Opening rods 3, 3' are attached to the bottom plate holding rods 2, 2' alternately on the left and right. That is, when the opening operation rod 3 is attached to the bottom plate holding rod 2 of the left side plate 1a of the forward conveyance case 1, the right side plate 1a of the next conveyance case 1 is attached.
An opening operating rod 3' is attached to the bottom plate holding rod 2',
A bottom plate opening mechanism that operates the opening levers 3, 3'.
O ₁ , O ₂ . . . O _o are arranged in pairs 6 and 6' on the left and right, respectively.

Therefore, even if the installation pitch length of the conveyor case 1 with respect to the conveyor chain C is small, the movement of the bottom plate opening mechanism to the operating position and the non-operating position can be completed within a pitch length that is at least twice as long. Therefore, the bottom plate can be opened and closed reliably without limiting the conveyance speed.

In addition, the chute G ₁ of the sorting compartment P ₁ , P ₂ ...P _o ,
By appropriately selecting the curvature of G ₂ ...G _o ,
The released flat articles A can be stacked in the sorting compartment with their surfaces facing up and down.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which the discharge port of the conveyor case 1 is located inside the circulation path of the conveyor, and the same members as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. .

Therefore, the conveyor chain C is circularly driven in the direction of the arrow, and the article release position of the transport case 1 is below the vertical horizontal path T, so that the sorting compartments P ₁ , P ₂ . . .
P _o is provided below the upper horizontal path T, but it can also be placed to the side of the upper horizontal path T by bending the chute G ₁ , G ₂ . . . G _o laterally.

As described above, the present invention circulates and moves the flat article transport case in the vertical direction, sets the movement path of the discharge port of the transport case outside or inside the conveyor chain circulation path, and uses the discharge port opening/closing bottom plate to face the end surface of the flat article. Because it is transported in a so-called upright position, which supports Therefore, it is possible to greatly improve the sorting ability of transported goods.Especially during high-speed transport, if the installation pitch of the transport case is made smaller in an attempt to increase transport efficiency, the sorting efficiency of transported goods will decrease, and the sorting efficiency will be reduced. This solves the trade-off between increasing the mounting pitch of the transport case and reducing the transport efficiency in order to increase efficiency. Furthermore, by transporting flat objects in an upright position, we can further improve the efficiency of both transport and sorting. This is something that could be improved. Furthermore, since the bottom plate of the transport case is moved to the release port open position using movement in the transport direction, opening and closing operations of the release port can be performed smoothly and reliably without limiting the transport speed.

In addition, since the conveyance case circulates along the vertical conveyance path, it is possible not only to easily adopt various means such as feeding or dropping flat articles to the conveyance case, but also to release the flat articles. Since the sorting compartment can be installed directly below the sorting compartment, the entire sorting conveyor system becomes vertical, maximizing the installation space occupied on the floor.Furthermore, the storage of sorted products in the sorting compartment is automatically dropped from above. It has many excellent effects, such as being able to omit storage work because it is stored in layers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show embodiments of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a front view of main parts illustrating the opening and closing operation of the bottom plate of the transport case, and FIG. 3 is FIG.
- An X-ray side sectional view, and FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a second embodiment of the present invention. 1...Transportation case, 1c...Front plate, 1d...Bottom plate, 2,
2'... Bottom plate holding rod, 3, 3'... Opening operation rod, 6,
6', 7, 7', O _o ...Bottom plate opening operation mechanism, A... Flat article, C... Conveyor, G _o ... Chute.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A conveyor that is driven in circulation in the vertical direction is provided with a plurality of transport cases in which flat articles are housed in an upright position and each of which has a bottom plate that can be opened and closed at the lower end and is provided with a release port for the said product is placed in a conveyor that is driven to circulate in the vertical direction. At the releasing position, a plurality of bottom plate opening operation mechanisms are installed on the left and right sides, which actuate the bottom plate to an open position as the conveyor advances in response to a sorting signal, and regulate the holding time of the open position. A sorting conveyor device for flat articles, in which a sorting chute is arranged alternately on both sides, and a sorting chute is arranged below the discharge port to guide the flat articles to a predetermined position.