JPH0425120Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention is applicable to linen supply laundry transported at a laundry factory, such as sheets, wrappers, pillow cases, sheets, towels, wet towels, uniforms, mats, etc. The present invention relates to a linen gripping device that grips a piece of laundry for linen supply from among a mass of clothes.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, at a laundry factory, a plurality of types of linen supply laundry (hereinafter referred to as linen) are sent mixed together in bags or containers from hotels and the like. For this reason, in the factory, it was necessary to take out the linen one by one from the linen mass, sort it, and then put the same type of linen together into a tunnel washing machine or the like. However, conventionally,
There is no equipment that automatically sorts linen, and the linen sorting process relies solely on the manual labor of workers. However, this work is very hard work, and
There were problems in that it was not hygienic and it was difficult to control the amount of products received. Therefore, the present inventors have proposed a linen sorting device that can automatically sort linen without human intervention, reduces labor, is hygienic, and also facilitates the management of the amount of incoming goods. (Special Application No. 185543, Showa 60).

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Now, the important point in the above-mentioned linen sorting device is that one of the linen lumps that are piled up and conveyed on the conveyor even though it has been loosened to some extent.
It is to grasp a sheet of linen without double grasping. If only one piece of linen can be held, it becomes possible to transport it, determine the type of linen based on various linen information, and sort it.

One possible means of such a gripping mechanism based on the prior art is a means of gripping by air suction. However, in order to suction enough air to grip the linen, large-scale equipment is required, and double picking of the linen is unavoidable. Another possible method is to mechanically grip the linen using a chuck mechanism, but since the shape and position of the linen are uncertain, it is difficult to grip the linen safely, and it is impossible to prevent double picking. Ta. Moreover, even if one piece of linen can be grasped by any means, if the linen is entangled with other linens, there is a risk of damaging the linen when lifted with excessive force.

Therefore, the present invention is capable of automatically and stably gripping a piece of linen from a linen mass without double gripping without human intervention, and when the gripped linen is lifted, the linen may be damaged. It is an object of the present invention to provide a linen gripping device that is free from the risk of causing damage.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention consists of a suction nozzle that is attached to an arm that is movable vertically and horizontally and sucks up part of the linen by sucking up linen lumps, and a suction nozzle that is installed inside the suction port of this suction nozzle to prevent excessive linen suction. a perforated plate for preventing this, a chuck mechanism that is integrally formed at the suction port of the suction nozzle and grips a part of the linen sucked up into the suction port, and an arm that grips a part of the linen by the chuck mechanism. A detection mechanism that detects the lifting force applied to the linen when the chuck mechanism is raised, and a release means that releases the linen gripping state by the chuck mechanism when the detection mechanism detects an excessive lifting force. It is something that

[Effect]

With the present invention having such a configuration, when a linen lump is sucked by the suction nozzle, a part of the linen is sucked up to the perforated plate inside the suction port of the suction nozzle and is gripped by the chuck mechanism. The arm portion rises while gripping the linen, but if the gripped linen becomes tangled with other linen, etc., and excessive force is required to lift the linen,
The linen gripping state by the chuck mechanism is released.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a linen take-out machine to which the linen gripping device 1 of the present invention is applied, and FIG.
It is a sectional view taken along the arrow in the figure. Linen gripping device 1
The linen gripping device 1 sucks up and grips a part of the linen from the linen lump 3 conveyed by the conveyor 2, and as shown in FIG. It is attached to the tip of an arm section 11 that is attached so as to be movable in the vertical and horizontal directions. First, the configuration of the linen takeout machine main body 10 will be explained. The linen takeout machine main body 10 has two columns 13 and 14 fixed on a base 12, and these columns 1
Rails 15 and 16 are provided inside the rails 3 and 14. Further, a support plate 17 is attached between the rails 15 and 16 via a roller or the like, and this support plate 17 is connected to the rails 15 and 16.
It is possible to move up and down in the vertical direction while being guided by 16. The arm portion 11 is attached to the support plate 17, and this arm portion 11 is attached to the first air cylinder 1 provided between the support plates 17.
8, it is rotatable in the horizontal direction.

On the other hand, a plate 19 is fixed between the tops of the pillars 13 and 14, and a bracket 21 that pivotally supports a pulley 20 is fixed to this plate 19 with bolts or the like. One end of a second air cylinder 22 is connected to the other end of the bracket 21, and the other end (rod side) of the second air cylinder 22 is connected to a bracket 25 that pivotally supports pulleys 23 and 24. Further, the third air cylinder 26 has one end (rod side) connected to the bracket 25,
The other end is fixed to the base 12 and pulley 27
It is connected to the end of a bracket 28 which pivotally supports the. Between the pulleys 20 and 23 and between the pulleys 24 and 27, as shown in FIG.
Plate 29 fixed at one end to bracket 25
Cables 30 and 31 are wound around the support plate 17, and the other end is connected to the support plate 17.

Next, the configuration of the linen gripping device 1 of the present invention will be explained. First, the connection portion with the arm portion 11 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 4, a guide mechanism 41 is integrally fixed to the tip of the arm part 11, and this guide mechanism 41 guides the air suction nozzle 42 in a slidable manner in the vertical direction. . The air suction nozzle 42 is connected to a suction source such as a blower (not shown), and sucks up the linen mass 3 by suctioning air, and is stably held by a holder 43. An elastic member 44 made of a compression spring or the like is interposed between the holder 43 and the guide mechanism 41, and this elastic member 44 has a chuck 54, which will be described later.
The chucks 54 and 55 are compressed in response to the lifting force applied to the chucks 54 and 55 when the arm portion 11 rises while gripping the linen 3'. Further, a proximity sensor 45 is attached to the holder 43 to detect the amount of compression, that is, the gap between the proximity sensor 45 and the arm portion 11.

Here, the guide mechanism 41, the holder 43, the elastic member 44 and the proximity sensor 45 are connected to the chuck 54 and the proximity sensor 45 when the arm portion 11 is raised while gripping a part of the linen 3' by chucks 54 and 55, which will be described later. A detection mechanism is configured to detect the lifting force applied to the linen 3'.

Next, the gripping mechanism side will be explained. FIG. 5 is a front view of the gripping mechanism, and FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 7 and 8 are views taken from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 6, where FIG. 7 shows the suction state of a single linen 3', and FIG. 8 shows the gripped state of the single linen 3'. It shows. Figures 5 to 8
In the figure, 51 and 52 are chuck arms,
It is rotatably supported by a shaft 53 passing through the air suction nozzle 42, and sliding chucks 54 and 55 are respectively fixed to one end. These chucks 54 and 55 have a projected planar shape corresponding to the cross-sectional shape (circular in this case) of the air suction nozzle 42, and when the chuck arms 51 and 52 are rotated in opposite directions, the chucks 54 and 55 Suction nozzle 42
It is assembled to slide while keeping the gaps between the lower end arc of the chuck 55 and the arc of the chuck 55, and between the arc of the chuck 55 and the arc of the chuck 54 small. 56 and 57 are the above chuck 5
4 and 55, one end is connected to the air suction nozzle 42 side, and the other end is connected to the chuck arms 51 and 52, respectively. Further, 58 is a perforated plate,
It is provided inside the air suction nozzle 42 to prevent excessive suction of the linen 3'. This perforated plate 5
A distance sensor 59 is installed inside the linen block 8, and by detecting the position of the linen lump 3, the vertical movement timing of the gripping device 1 and the gripping timing by the chucks 54 and 55 are controlled. .

The operation of this embodiment configured in this way will be described below. It is now assumed that the linen gripping device 1 is stopped in the state shown by the broken line in FIG.
In this state, the linen mass 3 is transported by the conveyor 2.
When the linen lump is conveyed in a somewhat loosened state, the second and third air cylinders 22 and 26 are activated to lower the arm part 11, and the linen gripping device 1 is moved against the linen lump 3 by the detection signal from the distance sensor 59. When it descends to the optimal position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1), it stops. Next, the air suction nozzle 42
is activated to suck the linen mass 3, and immediately after that, the chuck driving air cylinders 56, 57 are activated and the chucks 54, 55 slide. Then, when suctioning, a part of the linen 3' is sucked up into the chucks 54 and 55 as shown in FIG. 7, and when sliding, the linen 3' is sucked up as shown in FIG.
A portion of it is gripped by chucks 54,55. After that, the second and third air cylinders 22, 26
moves in the opposite direction to raise the arm portion 11, and along with this, the linen gripping device 1 also rises. At this time, if the linen 3' gripped by the chucks 54, 55 becomes entangled with other linen or the like and the linen lifting force applied to the chucks 54, 55 becomes excessive, the elastic member 44 is compressed and the proximity sensor 45
The gap between the arm portion 11 and the arm portion 11 becomes narrower. Therefore, an abnormality in the linen 3' is detected in response to the detection signal from the proximity sensor 45, and the chuck driving air cylinders 56, 57 are activated to return the chucks 54, 55 to the state shown in FIG. 3' is released. (Release means) On the other hand, when the linen 3' is lifted smoothly, the first cylinder 18 is operated while the linen 3' is gripped, and the arm part 11 is rotated in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. However, by operating the second and third air cylinders 22 and 26, the linen 3' can be moved in the vertical direction, so that the linen 3' can be transported to a predetermined position.

In this way, according to this embodiment, air is sucked onto the surface of the linen mass 3 to suck in a part of the linen 3'.
Next, a portion of the linen 3' sucked in by the chucks 54 and 55 is grasped. Therefore, it is possible to automatically and reliably grip only one piece of linen 3' from the linen mass 3 without any manual intervention. Also, when air is sucked, the chucks 54 and 55 are open and form part of the suction port.
Suction pressure is not reduced. Moreover, a perforated plate 58 is provided in the middle of the air suction nozzle 42, so that the linen 3' is not sucked in too much.
There is no possibility that the linen 3' will be picked up twice or that the linen 3' will become entangled with the tip of the nozzle. Furthermore, if the gripped linen 3' becomes entangled with other linens and excessive force is required to lift the linen 3', the grip on the linen 3' is released, which may damage the linen 3'. Not at all. Also,
In this embodiment, the distance sensor 59 is connected to the air suction nozzle 4.
2 to detect the distance to the linen lump 3 to be gripped and control the closing operation of the chucks 54 and 55 and the movement of the arm part 11 in the vertical direction.
Regardless of the position or shape of the linen mass 3, it is possible to perform the gripping operation at a preferred position for taking out the linen 3'. Also,
Since the distance sensor 59 is located inside the perforated plate 58, there is no risk of it being damaged.

In this way, the linen 3' can be reliably and stably taken out one by one from the linen mass 3.
Application to an automatic sorting device for multiple types of linen in a laundry factory or the like can bring about great effects.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, chuck 5
In addition to metal, the material for the parts 4 and 55 may be a combination of metal and synthetic resin, or a combination of the same. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the cross-sectional shape of the lower end of the air suction nozzle 42 is not limited to a circular shape, and may be changed depending on the shape of the chucks 54 and 55. Further, as the distance sensor 59, a diffuse reflection photoelectric sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like may be used. It goes without saying that various other modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Effect of idea]

As detailed above, the present invention has a suction nozzle that sucks up part of the linen by suctioning the linen lumps, is attached to an arm that is movable in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the suction nozzle is installed inside the suction port of the suction nozzle. Provide a perforated plate to prevent linen from being sucked in too much. Further, a chuck mechanism is integrally formed at the suction port of the suction nozzle for grasping a portion of the linen sucked up by the suction port. Then, the linen lifting force applied to the chuck mechanism is detected when the arm part is raised while a part of the linen is gripped by the chuck mechanism, and if an excessive lifting force is detected, the chuck mechanism grips the linen. This is to release the status.

Therefore, according to the present invention, part of the linen is sucked up from the linen lump by the suction nozzle to the perforated plate inside the suction port of the suction nozzle, and part of the linen is sucked up by the chuck mechanism while being gripped. However, if the gripped linen becomes entangled with other linens and excessive force is required to lift it, the linen gripping state by the chuck mechanism is released, so the linen is automatically lifted without any human intervention. To provide a linen gripping device which can stably grip one piece of linen from a linen lump without double gripping, and which does not cause damage to the linen when the gripped linen is lifted.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 8 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows a linen gripping device 1 of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the arrow in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the elevating mechanism of the arm in the linen takeout machine, and FIG. 4 is the arm in the linen gripping device. 5 is a front view of the gripping mechanism side of the linen gripping device, FIG. 6 is a view taken from the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5, and FIGS. - It is an arrow view, and FIG. 7 is an adsorption state diagram of a single linen,
FIG. 8 is a diagram of a single linen gripping state. 1... linen gripping device, 3... linen lump, 3'
... Linen, 10 ... Linen take-out machine main body, 11
... Arm part, 41 ... Guide mechanism, 42 ... Air suction nozzle, 43 ... Holder, 44 ... Elastic member, 45 ... Proximity sensor, 51, 52 ... Chuck arm, 54, 55 ... Chuck, 56 ,57
... Air cylinder for chuck drive, 58 ... Perforated plate, 59 ... Distance sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A suction nozzle attached to an arm movable vertically and horizontally to suck up a part of the linen by sucking the linen lump, and a porous hole provided inside the suction port of this suction nozzle to prevent excessive suction of the linen. a chuck mechanism that is integrally formed with the suction port of the suction nozzle and grips a portion of the linen that has been sucked up into the suction port; a detection mechanism that detects the lifting force applied to the linen when the chuck mechanism is raised; and a release means that releases the linen gripping state by the chuck mechanism when the detection mechanism detects an excessive lifting force. A linen gripping device characterized by comprising: