JPH03212309A - Product centering mechanism and its sensing method in automatic product packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to align a product to the axial center of a packaging machine automatically to perform the most suitable packaging by a method wherein a motor controlling sensor, which stops a driving motor at a position where a stop position detecting sensor means the motor controlling sensor, is equipped. CONSTITUTION:A motor controlling 18 of the title device stays at a position where the previous detection is completed. When a new product is fed, and centering of the product X is completed by a centering cylinder 11, a stop position detecting cylinder 14 operates. During the operation, a stop position detecting sensor 13 outputs a signal when it passes by the motor controlling sensor 18. The signal is output in such a manner that when the width of a fed product is larger than the previous product, the sensor 13 is turned on only while the sensor 13 passes by the sensor 18, and before and after the moment, the sensor 13 is turned off. When the width of a fed product is equivalent to the previous product, the sensor 13 is off at first, and when the sensor 13 stops at a position where the sensor 13 meets the sensor 18, the sensor 13 is turned on, and the condition is kept until (t) seconds pass. Also, when the width of a fed product is smaller than the previous product, the cylinder body comes into contact with a stopper 12 and stops, and the sensor 13 stays under an off condition. Therefore, centering of products to the axial center of a packaging machine, while automatically corresponding with the width dimensions of products which change at random, can be done.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

In an automatic packaging machine for various products, the present invention expands and contracts symmetrically with respect to the axis of the packaging machine each time a product is fed, the product width dimension of which changes randomly in the direction perpendicular to the direction of travel of the packaging machine. This invention relates to an automatic centering mechanism and its sensing method.

[Prior art and its problems]

Conventionally, products with randomly varying widths were placed one by one by hand according to the center mark on the product placement table, or products with similar widths were processed in batches. Since there was no mechanism for automatically centering the packaging machine on each occasion, it was very inconvenient to use the automatic packaging machine, and the efficiency of using the packaging film was also poor.

[Purpose of the invention]

In response to the above-mentioned current situation, the present invention enables, for example, when several styrofoam molding machines are molding products of various shapes and therefore various width dimensions, an operator can mold any molded product from any molding machine. If you randomly feed the product to the packaging machine regardless of its width, the product will be automatically centered on the axis of the packaging machine each time, and optimal packaging will be performed. The present invention provides a product centering mechanism and a method for centering the product.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the problems of the prior art, the product centering mechanism in the automatic product packaging machine according to the present invention is provided with: A pair of side presser guide plates 3, which are arranged so as to be expandable and retractable on the product mounting table 1 along the guide bars 2, and sandwich the product X on the mounting table 1 from both sides; A centering chain Y that drives a pair of expansion and contraction devices, which are stretched across the centering sprockets 6a and 6b and each has a side presser guide plate 3 attached to its upper part; 8, the centering cylinder 11 holds the product from both sides with the side holding guide plates 3, and sets the product X at the center position of the product mounting table 1; A stop position detection sensor 13 that detects the stop position, and ■Guide bar 2
A drive shaft 16 is provided with a drive sprocket 19 and a drive motor 15 is disposed, and is threaded onto the chain moving shaft 16 and paired with the stop position detection sensor 13 to detect the stop position. It is equipped with a motor control sensor 18 that stops the drive motor 15 at a position that coincides with the sensor 13, and in the packaging part of the product The side roller conveyor 25.26 is freely arranged, and the film 3 that is fixed to the corresponding side roller conveyor 25.26 and wraps the product
Lower product side seal part C that seals the side part of 2
1, ■ an upper product side seal portion C2 corresponding to the lower product side seal portion C1, and ■ disposed between the side roller conveyors 25 and 26,
Left and right screws 41.44 are screwed together with left and right nuts 23.24 attached to the side roller conveyor 25.26,
(2) Consists of an intermediate sprocket 27a fixed to the left and right screws 41 and an intermediate chain 20 connecting the drive sprocket 19 of the drive shaft 16. In claim (2), in performing the centering, ■ in the centering mechanism of claim (1), ■ the product X placed on the product mounting table 1 is Side holding guide plate 3
After centering the product mounting table 1 and the product X by clamping the product at ■The stop position detection sensor 14 attached to the stop position detection cylinder 14 detects the motor control sensor 18 which is stopped at the centering position of the previous product X'. The previous product (2) After that, the drive motor 15 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions until the motor control sensor 18 matches the stop position detection sensor 13. , is adopted as a technical means.

【Example】

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of product packaging according to the present invention. Product X to be packaged is a styrofoam molded product,
For example, if we take a fish box as an example, an arbitrary number of fish boxes arranged horizontally within a certain width (that is, the distance between the side presser guide plates 3 of the product placement section 1) are supplied. The depth dimension W1 and the height dimension H in the product feeding direction are completely arbitrary as long as they are within the limits of the packaging machine of the present invention and the film material 32 used, and the number of products X to be packaged is L. . They can be arbitrarily selected as long as they are arranged within the range of W and H. For example, in this example, L = 950 to 1.300 m
m, W=500~700mm, H-330~550
As long as it is within the range of II11, products X with different dimensions may be supplied one after another. The packaging machine of the present invention wraps the film 32 while feeding the product X forward (the feeding direction is referred to as the front, and the supply side of the product , ■Product placement section A, ■Product rear end seal section B1, ■Product side seal section C1, and ■Packaged product discharge section.The flow of product X of the present invention will be roughly explained according to Fig. 1. After the products are placed side by side on the product placement section A and aligned with the center of the product placement section A, they are moved forward, wrapped in the packaging film 32 stretched vertically, and placed in the main body of the device for packaging. Finally, a main seal is made to seal the rear end of the product X.Subsequently, side seals are made at both ends of the product Since the invention relates to the product placement section A, the contents of this device will be explained with a focus on the product placement section A. First, in order to explain the main parts of the automatic product width detection of the present invention in the product placement section A. The centering mechanism for the product A supplied to be packaged will be explained with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. A pair of left and right side presser guide plates 3 are slidably supported by a plurality of guide bars 2 arranged so as to cross the mounting table 1, and are structured to be able to expand and contract left and right. As a mechanism for driving the side holding guide plate 3 in a freely expandable and retractable manner, there is a prism 4 with a rectangular cross section fixed in parallel with the guide bar 2 on the left and right side plates of the product mounting table 1. The square column 4
A pair of left and right transfer tables 5a that can be transferred left and right along the
5b is installed, and a side presser guide plate 3 is fixedly installed on the upper surface of each rolling table 5a, 5b. Also, the prism 4
A pair of centering sprockets 6 are installed near both ends of the
a, 6b are rotatably supported, and the centering sprockets 6a, 6b and each rolling table 5a, 5b
As shown in FIG. 3, a centering chain 8 is hung between four hooks 7 fixedly attached to the center ring. In addition, there is a fixed side bracket 9 fixedly installed on the lower surface of the prismatic column 4 at the packaging machine axis position, and one transfer table 5b (in this embodiment, the right transfer table 5b).
The head end and rod end of a centering cylinder 11 are respectively pivotally supported between the operating point bracket 10 fixedly installed on the lower surface of the centering cylinder 11, and each transfer table 5a, 5b is transferred left and right by the operation of the centering cylinder 11. It is now possible to move freely. That is, when the centering cylinder 11 extends its rod, the right rolling table 5b moves to the right and the left rolling table 5a moves the same distance to the left in FIG. 3. When the rod of the centering cylinder 11 is retracted, the right rolling table 5b moves to the left and the left rolling table 5a moves the same distance to the right. By moving the right rolling table 5b and the left rolling table 5a by an equal distance, the pair of left and right side presser guide plates 3 can also be moved by an equal distance symmetrically around the center of the packaging machine, allowing various widths to be moved. Products can be set symmetrically along the axis of the packaging machine. Next, the gap detection mechanism that transmits the equidistant movement amount related to the product width dimension to the main body of the apparatus, which is the packaging part, will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.3. A stopper 12 is fixed to the right transfer table 5b, and a stop position detection sensor 13 (for example, a light emitting element) corresponding to the stopper 12 is attached to the rod end of the stop position detection cylinder 14. The rod end of the stop position detection cylinder 14 is connected to the product mounting table 1.
When the detection cylinder 14 is activated, the cylinder side extends and stops when the bottom surface of the cylinder comes into contact with the stopper 12. The air pressure in the stop position detection cylinder 14 is not strong enough to push the stopper 12, but is adjusted to such an extent that the detection cylinder 14 stops at the stopper 12 position. Next, the drive motor 15 rotates, and the sensor screw nut 17 which converts the rotational movement of the drive shaft 16 into a linear movement moves the motor control sensor 18 fixed to the screw nut 17. The motor control sensor 18 is, for example, a light receiving element,
The drive motor 15 is stopped at the point where the light receiving element 18 coincides with the position of the stop position detection sensor (for example, a light emitting element) 13. At this time, the rotation of the drive motor 15 is transmitted via the drive sprocket 19 and the intermediate chain 20 to the main body of the apparatus, which is the packaging section, and the width of the side roller conveyors 25 and 26 is expanded and contracted. The interaction between the motor control sensor 18 and the stop position detection sensor 13 will be explained. (2) Hoe 14 position of the stop position detection sensor 13 The motor control sensor 18 remains at the position where the previous detection was completed. The stop position detection cylinder 14 is on standby with its rod retracted. Therefore, the stop position detection sensor 13 is stopped at a home position 13a near the left side of the packaging machine. ■New product is supplied and centering cylinder 11
As a result, the side presser guide plates 3 operate evenly on the left and right sides, and the centering of the product X is completed. (2) The stop position detection cylinder 14 operates and extends its rod, so that the cylinder tube moves forward, and when the bottom surface of the cylinder tube contacts the stopper 12, the operation of the stop position detection cylinder 14 stops. (2) The operation of the stop position detection cylinder 14 takes the longest time if the widest product comes, but the timer is set to t seconds, which is slightly larger than that. (About 1.52 seconds in the embodiment) ■During the operation of the stop position detection cylinder 14, the stop position detection sensor 13 moves from the home position H to the motor control sensor 18.
A signal is output from the stop position detection sensor 13, which is a light receiving element. (2) There are three types of signal output as shown in FIG. a) When the width of the newly supplied product X is larger than the previous one,
It is turned on only when the stop position detection sensor 13 passes the motor control sensor 18, and turned off before and after that. b) When the width of the newly supplied product X is the same as the previous one,
Initially, it is off, and when the stop position detection sensor 13 stops at a position that matches the motor control sensor 18, it is turned on and remains in that state until .times. seconds have elapsed. C) When the width of the newly supplied product It remains off and nothing is output. When these three types of discrimination signals are input to a control device (not shown), in case (a)...the drive motor 15 rotates normally in the direction of spreading the side roller conveyors 25 and 26. In case (b)... Since the widths of the products are the same, the drive motor 15 remains stopped. At the time of (C)...the drive motor 35 reverses in the direction of narrowing the interval between the side roller conveyors 25 and 26 to match the product width. , is applied to the drive motor 15. In cases (a) and (c), when the stop position detection sensor 13 reaches the position of the motor control sensor 18, the motor 15 stops. ■When the above operations are completed, the stop position detection cylinder 13
returns to the home position H and waits for the next product X to be supplied. Next, referring to FIG. 4, a mechanism for transmitting the rotation of the drive motor 15 to the main body of the apparatus, which is the packaging part of the product X, and expanding and contracting the width of the side roller conveyors 15 and 16 will be explained. A drive sprocket 19 is fixed to the drive shaft 16. On the other hand, two upper and lower left and right screws 21 and 24 are installed horizontally immediately behind the product rear end seal part B as an expansion/contraction device for the product side seal part C. The left and right threads 2L24 are symmetrically cut into right and left threads with respect to the axis of the packaging machine, and each has a lower nut 22 and an upper nut 23 that move in a straight line from side to side. The lower nut 22 allows the pair of side roller conveyors 25, 26 and the lower side seal portion C1 to expand and contract in the left and right directions, and the upper nut 43 expands and contracts the upper side seal portion C2 in the left and right directions. In order to expand and contract the upper and lower side seal parts C1 and C2 and the side roller conveyors 24 and 25 synchronously, an intermediate sprocket 26 and a lower driven sprocket 27 are installed at the left ends of the lower left and right screws 21, and an upper driven sprocket is installed at the left ends of the upper left and right screws 24. Sprocket 28 is installed. An intermediate chain 20 is stretched between the driving sprocket 19 and the intermediate sprocket 26, and a driven chain 3015 is stretched between the lower driven sprocket 27 and the upper driven sprocket 28. With the above configuration, when products with different width dimensions are placed one by one on the product placement table 1, each time the product Set symmetrically. The stop position detection cylinder 1 moves to the position of the stopper 12 fixed to the transfer table 5a, 5b that performed the centering action.
4 moves, the product width detection sensor 13 is activated, and it is determined (sensing) whether the product width is larger than, smaller than, or equal to the previous product width. Next, the drive motor 15 rotates forward or reverse until the motor control sensor 18 matches the position of the detection sensor 13, and rotates the upper and lower left and right screws 21° and 24 via the intermediate chain 20 and the driven chain 30. The upper and lower product side seal parts C1 and C2 and the side roller conveyors 25 and 26 are synchronously expanded and contracted. When the above operation is completed, the drive motor 15 stops, and the motor control sensor 18 remains at that position and responds to the next product X. In this way, the side roller conveyor 25 is adjusted according to the product width.
．． 26 is enlarged and contracted, and then product X is supplied, 6 main sealing (sealing the rear end of product

【Effect of the invention】

Since the product centering mechanism in the automatic product packaging machine according to the present invention has the structure as described in claim (1), the packaging machine automatically responds each time to products whose width dimension changes randomly. The product centering method in the automatic product packaging machine of the present invention is capable of centering the product with respect to the axis of the machine, and enables efficient and optimal packaging with the smallest packaging film. Since the configuration is as shown in item (2), it is possible to quickly center products with different widths.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the overall arrangement of the automatic packaging machine, FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the main parts of automatic product width detection, and FIG. Figure 3 is the second
A-A cross-sectional view in the figure, Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the mechanism that transmits the rotation of the drive motor to the side seal section at the rear of the packaging machine, and Fig. 5 is an explanation of how the signal is output from the light receiving element. It is a diagram. A...Product placement part B...Product rear end seal part C
...Product side seal section C1...Lower product side seal section C2...Upper product side seal section D)...Packaged product discharge section 1...Placement table 2...Guide bar 3...
Side presser guide plate 5a...Left transfer table 5b...Right transfer table 6a,
6b... Centering sprocket 7... Hook 8... Centering chain 11... Centering cylinder 12... Stopper 13... Stop position detection sensor 1
4... Stop position detection cylinder 15... Drive motor 16... Drive shaft 17... Sensor screw nut 18... Motor control sensor 19... Drive sprocket 20... Intermediate chain 21...・Lower left and right screw 22...Lower nut 23...Upper nut 24...Upper left and right screw 25...Side side roller conveyor 26...Side side roller conveyor 27a...Intermediate sprocket 27b... Lower driven sprocket 28... Upper driven sprocket 30... Driven chain 31... Central roller conveyor 32... Film

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A guide bar is placed on the underside of the product table to cross the table, and a guide bar is arranged on the product table along the guide bar so that the product placed on the table can be expanded and contracted. A side presser guide plate that is clamped from both sides, a centering chain that is stretched between a pair of centering sprockets and drives a pair of expansion and contraction devices each having a side presser guide plate attached to its upper part, and a centering chain that is attached to the centering chain. The centering cylinder drives the centering chain to sandwich the product from both sides with the side holding guide plates and sets the product at the center of the product mounting table, and detects the stop position of the expansion/contraction device that has centered the product. a stop position detection sensor, a drive shaft arranged in parallel with the guide bar, equipped with a drive sprocket, and provided with a drive motor; and a drive shaft that is screwed onto the drive shaft and paired with the stop position detection sensor to detect the stop position a motor control sensor that stops the drive motor at a position that matches the detection sensor; and a side roller conveyor that is expandable and retractable from both sides of the central roller conveyor for placing the product in the product packaging section. A lower product side seal part that is fixed to the side roller conveyor and seals the side part of the film that wraps the product, an upper product side seal part that corresponds to the lower product side seal part, and a space between the side roller conveyor and the side roller conveyor. It is composed of left and right screws that are screwed together with left and right nuts attached to the side roller conveyor, and a transmission chain that connects the intermediate sprocket fixed to the left and right screws and the drive sprocket of the drive shaft. Features a product centering mechanism in automatic product packaging machines. (2) In the centering mechanism of claim (1), the product placed on the product placement table is held between the side holding guide plates and the product placement table and the product are centered, and then the product is placed on standby at the home position. The stop position detection cylinder that was previously installed is extended and stopped in contact with the stopper attached to the side holding guide plate, and the stop position is detected with respect to the motor control sensor that is stopped at the centering position of the previous product. Detects whether the stop position detection sensor attached to the cylinder has stopped passing the motor control sensor, stopped coincident with the motor control sensor, or stopped before reaching the motor control sensor. The automatic product packaging is characterized in that the width of the previous product and the current product are compared, and then the drive motor is rotated in forward and reverse directions until the motor control sensor matches the stop position detection sensor. Product centering method on machine.