JPH0511220Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an apparatus for replenishing articles onto a conveyor.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a conveyor that conveys articles at predetermined feeding intervals, when an article on the conveyor is out of stock, an article replenishment device for replenishing the missing item on the conveyor has already been developed. Are known.

This type of conventional replenishment device detects the presence or absence of articles on a conveyor that conveys the articles at predetermined feeding intervals,
When a stockout occurs, a stockout detection signal is output and the sending means is activated to remove the bottommost replenishment product from the stocker, which is placed on the side of the conveyor and stores the replenishment products in a stacked state. The product is configured to be delivered to the product location.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional article replenishment device, as shown in FIG.
A support surface 22 that supports A is formed by a uniform horizontal surface that comes into contact with the entire lower surface of the article 21A.

Therefore, in order to send out the replenishment article 21A at the lowest stage onto the conveyor 23, the sending means 24, which is formed by a cylinder, for example, is connected to at least the article 21.
It is necessary to operate with a large stroke amount corresponding to the dimension l in the feeding direction of A.

The delivery means 24, which requires such a large stroke amount, naturally has the disadvantage of being large in size and requires a long time per cycle. If a shortage occurs, it becomes impossible to properly send out the replenishment articles 21A to 21N following the high-speed movement of the conveyor.

Therefore, the conveyance speed of the conveyor 23 is forced to decrease, causing a problem of lowering productivity.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and enables replenishment articles to be delivered with a small feed amount (stroke amount) of the delivery means, shortening the time required per cycle, and increasing speed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for replenishing articles onto a conveyor, in which the conveyor can be easily and appropriately replenished with articles, and a delivery means can be downsized.

(Means for solving the problem) The device for replenishing articles onto the conveyor according to the present invention has the following features:
A conveyor that conveys articles by sliding them on both left and right guide rails at predetermined feeding intervals, a detector that detects the presence or absence of articles on this conveyor, and a table surface that is connected to one of the guide rails. A stocker is installed above the conveyor and is arranged on the side of the conveyor to accommodate replenishment items in a stacked state. In an article replenishing device for replenishing a conveyor, the apparatus includes a sending means for sending out a replenishment article to an out-of-stock position on the conveyor by pushing the replenishment article from the side, wherein a support surface that supports the lower surface of the replenishment article at the lowest stage is provided. , formed by a horizontal support surface that is located flush with the table surface and supports the lower surface of the article with a length equivalent to (1/2) or less of the length of the replenishment article in the feeding direction. be.

(Function) According to the present invention having the above configuration, the replenishment item at the bottom of the items stacked in the stocker is detected by the missing item detection signal output from the detector that detects the presence or absence of the item on the conveyor. is pushed out from the side by the delivery means and sent to the out-of-stock position on the conveyor to replenish it. At this time, the bottom surface of the replenishment item on the lowest tier is (1/2) of the length of the item in the delivery direction. Since it is supported by the horizontal support surface only with a length corresponding to The means can be made smaller and the time required per cycle can be shortened.

(Embodiment) Fig. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention;
The figures show the same plan views, and in these figures, 1 is a conveyor, 2 is a stocker, 3 is a delivery means, and the conveyor 1 has push members 10 attached at a predetermined interval in the conveyance direction (arrow A). It consists of an endless chain conveyor, and as shown in FIG.
The guide rail 11 is inserted from both left and right sides with a passage gap of
A, 11B are provided, and the conveyed article 4 made of instant noodles, for example, is pushed along the guide rail 1 by the pushing member 10.
It is slid onto 1A and 11B and transported to the packaging process.

The stocker 2 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is installed on the surface of a table 12 connected to one guide rail 11A, and is arranged on the side of the conveyor 1, and is similar to the conveyed articles 4. Replenishment items 4A ₁ ~ 4A _o
are stored in piles.

As shown in FIG. 4, the stocker 2 is provided with an outlet 21 at its lower end on the side of the conveyor 1, from which the lowest replenishment article _4A1 is sent out by extrusion from the side. That is, in this embodiment, it is delivered by the operation of the delivery means 3 constituted by a cylinder device.

The lowest replenishment article 4A ₁ is the lowest replenishment article 4A ₁ in the area on the opposite side of the conveyor on its lower surface.
(1/2) or less of the length l in the feeding direction,
In this embodiment, a length Δl corresponding to approximately (1/3) is supported by the support surface 5 flush with the upper surface of the table 12. Then, from the end 5a of the horizontal support surface 5 on the conveyor side, the conveyor 1
It is formed on a sloped sliding surface 51 that slopes downward toward .

In FIG. 1, 6 is a detector, for example, a photoelectric switch, which detects the presence or absence of an article 4 on the conveyor 1, and outputs a detection signal to the sending means 3 when an item is missing on the conveyor 1. and the sending means 3
is operated to send out the lowest replenishment article _4A1 to the out-of-stock position on the conveyor 1.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained.

The articles 4 that are sequentially supplied from an article supplying means (not shown) between the adjacent pushing members 10 and 10 on the conveyor 1 shown in FIGS.
0 and is transported to the packaging process guided by guide rails 11A and 11B.

The article 4 conveyed on the guide rails 11A and 11B is finally detected by the detector 6.

On the other hand, for some reason, the adjacent pushing members 10,
If a shortage occurs within 10 minutes, the detection signal that should naturally be detected by the detector 6 will not be output. In other words, a missing item detection signal is output, and this signal is input to the sending means 3 via a control circuit (not shown),
The delivery means 3 is activated.

That is, the piston rod 3a of the delivery means 3 consisting of a cylinder device moves forward. In this case, the replenishment articles 4A ₁ -
At 4A _o , the replenishment article 4A ₁ at the lowest stage is pushed out from the outlet 21 toward the conveyor 1 side, and the end 4a of the replenishment article 4A ₁ on the side opposite to the conveyor reaches the position shown in FIG. When reaching the side end 5a, the inclined sliding surface 5
1, slides on the sliding surface 51, and is replenished at the out-of-stock position on the conveyor 1.

In other words, the feed amount (stroke amount) of the sending means 3
is reduced to Δl, which corresponds to about 1/3 of the length l of the replenishment article 4A ₁ in the sending direction. Therefore, since the predetermined time per cycle is shortened, it is possible to easily and appropriately replenish the high-speed conveyor with articles.

In addition, the replenishment article 4A ₁ on the bottom row is sent out,
When the piston rod 3a of the delivery means 3 returns,
The replenishment articles 4A ₂ to 4A _o in the stocker 2 fall, and the replenishment article 4A ₂ is supported on the horizontal support surface 5 as the lowest replenishment article, in preparation for the next shortage. If this occurs, the replenishment article 4A ₂ is delivered by the same operation as described above.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a configuration has been described in which an inclined sliding surface 51 is formed with a downward slope from the conveyor-side end 5a of the horizontal support surface 5 toward the conveyor 1 side, but the present invention is limited only to the above-mentioned embodiment. Instead, as shown in FIG. 6, a vertical surface 52 may be formed that continues downward from the conveyor side end 5a of the horizontal support surface 5. However, as in the embodiment described above, by forming the inclined sliding surface 51, the replenishment articles 4A ₁ to 4 can be moved without being subjected to a falling impact.
Since the conveyor 1 can be replenished with A _o , this is advantageous for products that are easily damaged, such as instant noodles.

(Effects of the invention) As described above, according to the invention, the support surface that supports the lower surface of the lowermost item among the replenishment items stacked in the stocker can be Since it is formed by a horizontal support surface that supports only the length equivalent to (1/2) or less of the width, the article is sent out by the sending means that pushes the replenishment item at the bottom from the side and sends it out onto the conveyor. It is now possible to reduce the required amount of operation in the direction to an amount equivalent to the length (1/2) or less, which makes it possible to downsize the delivery means and reduce the amount of time required for one cycle of the delivery operation. It is possible to shorten the time required for each item, and it is therefore possible to follow the high-speed movement of the conveyor and replenish goods to out-of-stock positions reliably and appropriately.
This has the effect of contributing to improved productivity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a side view showing one embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the same line, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operating state when replenishing articles, and FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory sectional view of a conventional example. 1...Conveyor, 2...Stocker, 3...Delivery means, 4...Articles, 4A ₁ to 4A _o ...Replenishment articles,
5...Horizontal support surface, 6...Detector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A conveyor that conveys articles by sliding them on both left and right guide rails at predetermined feeding intervals, a detector that detects the presence or absence of articles on this conveyor, and a table surface that is connected to one of the guide rails. A stocker is installed above the conveyor and is arranged on the side of the conveyor to accommodate replenishment items in a stacked state. In an article replenishing device for replenishing a conveyor, the apparatus includes a sending means for sending out a replenishment article to an out-of-stock position on the conveyor by pushing the replenishment article from the side, wherein a support surface that supports the lower surface of the replenishment article at the lowest stage is provided. , is formed by a horizontal support surface that is located flush with the table surface and supports the lower surface of the article with a length corresponding to (1/2) or less of the length of the replenishment article in the feeding direction. Features: A device for replenishing goods onto a conveyor.