JPH07257520A - Folding box opening mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The structure is simplified by synchronously rotating a plurality of plates for opening a folding lid of a folding box by one driving means. [Structure] Flap opening unit 25 of cardboard box 23
In, a pair of shafts 36 and 37 arranged in parallel with each other and a shaft 38 arranged so as to be orthogonal to both shafts are provided. The flaps 23a, 23c, 23c of the corrugated cardboard box 23 are expanded by the plates 39, 40, 41 fixed to the shafts, respectively. The shaft 36 is rotated by the rotary actuator 43, and the shaft 36 is rotated by the right angle changing means using the bevel gears 52, 57, 58 and 63.
Is transmitted to the shafts 37 and 38 one after another to synchronously rotate the plates 39, 40 and 41.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a novel folding box opening method for a folding box, in which a plurality of lid opening members for opening the folding box of the folding box can be synchronously rotated by one driving means to simplify the construction. It is intended to provide a mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cartoning device is known in which a corrugated cardboard in a folded state is shaped into a box and the work of packing articles into the carton is automated. For example, the cartoning process is performed through steps shown in FIG. Is done.

That is, articles b, b, ...
.. are conveyed, the articles b, b, ... Are piled up as the elevator c descends. When the number of articles reaches a predetermined value, the pushing mechanism d horizontally moves the articles to stack e. Goods are accumulated in. Partition plates f, f, ... Are inserted in a timely manner between the stacked article groups.

When the stack e is full, the article group is horizontally moved by the filling mechanism g and packed in the cardboard box h. A sliding mechanism using a cylinder or the like is used for the pushing mechanism d and the filling mechanism g.

The cardboard boxes h are first stacked in a folded state, and are taken out and shaped by a dedicated supply mechanism.

When filling the shaped cardboard box h with a group of articles, the flaps i, i, ...
The flaps i, i, ... Are separately pushed open by the plates j, j, ... As shown in FIG.

When the packing mechanism g packs the group of articles in the corrugated board box h, the corrugated board box h is transferred to another place to perform the sealing operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 24, a tape attaching mechanism for moving the kraft tape k to close the flap, a hot melt mechanism for applying the adhesive to the flap and performing thermocompression bonding, which are not shown, are used.

The corrugated cardboard box h whose one end is sealed is further transported, raised by being rotated at an angle of 90 ° around an axis along the transport direction, and then sent to a label attaching step and an inspecting step.

[0009] As described above, the box packing work is a series of operations of loading articles, transferring to a stack, taking out and shaping cardboard, packing articles into a cardboard box, closing the cardboard box, and raising the cardboard box. Is performed by a mechanism arranged at each place.

[0010]

By the way, in the conventional boxing device, the plates j, j, which individually open the flaps i, i, ... Of the corrugated cardboard box h before the articles are stored in the corrugated cardboard box h. .. are driven by separate drive sources and rotating mechanisms, the mechanism is complicated and the plates j,
There is a problem that synchronous control for j, ... Is required.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the folding lid opening mechanism of the folding box of the present invention has a pair of shafts arranged in parallel with each other and is orthogonal to both shafts. In the folding lid opening mechanism of the folding box, which has a shaft arranged in such a manner that the lid opening member fixed to each shaft separately pushes the folding lid of the folding box, one rotation for rotating the shaft. A means is provided, and a right angle changing means is provided between both shafts to change the rotation axis of the adjacent shafts at a right angle, and the rotational force of the shaft by the rotating means is sequentially transmitted to the adjacent shafts by the right angle changing means. It is something that is done.

[0012]

According to the present invention, each shaft is synchronously rotated by transmitting the rotational force of the shaft by one rotating means to the adjacent shafts one after another by the right angle diverting means. Since the lid opening member is rotated, the structure of the mechanism for rotating the lid opening member is simplified, and the synchronization control of the rotating means is unnecessary.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the folding lid opening mechanism of the folding box according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

1 to 4 show the outline of a box packing device, and the illustrated embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a flap opening unit of a box packing device for a compact disc (hereinafter referred to as "CD"). It is a thing.

Reference numeral 1 is a box packing device, and CDs 2, 2, ...
Are transported on the conveyor 3 and stacked by the stacking unit 4 as indicated by an arrow A in FIG.

The stacking unit 4, as shown in FIG.
The elevator 5 is provided, and the elevator 5 descends each time the CD 2 is conveyed by the conveyor 3, whereby the CDs 2 are sequentially stacked.

A pushing mechanism 6 is provided for pushing the CD group 7 stacked up to a certain height in the horizontal direction and transferring it to the stack 8.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a partition plate insertion unit, which is used to transfer the CD group 7 to the stack 8 by the pushing mechanism 6 between the CD group 7 and the previously transferred CD group 7.
0 is inserted.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a filling mechanism (see FIGS. 1 and 2), which when the stack 8 is full, the CD group 7,
It is provided to move 7, ... Horizontally and store them in a cardboard box.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a horizontal articulated robot, which is in charge of main work of the box packing work. As shown in FIG. 2, the horizontal articulated robot 12 includes a base shaft portion 14 fixed to a base 13 of the boxing device 1 and a first arm rotatably provided with respect to the base shaft portion 14. 15 and the first
The second arm 16 is provided so as to be rotatable with respect to the arm 15, and the hand 17 provided at the tip of the second arm 16 rotates the first arm 15 and the second arm 16. Along with this, the robot is moved into the horizontal plane (the range 18 shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 1 shows the work area of the horizontal articulated robot 12). The hand 17 is configured to be rotated around a vertical axis and to be slid in the vertical direction by a driving unit (not shown) provided on the second arm 16. Uses a vacuum suction hand with a roller.

A cardboard supply unit 19 (see FIGS. 1 and 4) comprises a conveyor 20 and a lift 21. The corrugated cardboard group 22 stacked vertically in the folded state, as shown by the arrow B in FIG.
A part of it is conveyed by the conveyor 20 to a position that enters the work area 18 of the horizontal articulated robot 12, and then lifted to a predetermined supply position by a lift 21.

The horizontal articulated robot 12 takes out the corrugated cardboard at the highest position with the hand 17, moves it to the position indicated by the rectangle R of the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, and then shapes the cardboard into a box shape.

FIG. 5 shows the corrugated cardboard box 23 after shaping. The upper flaps 23a, 23a, the lower flaps 23b, 23b, the left and right side flaps 23c, 23c, provided on the edges of the openings 24, 24, respectively. ..Neither of them has been bent yet.

25 is a flap opening unit (see FIG. 1).
reference. ), A CD group 7, 7, ...
Is provided to secure one opening 24 of the cardboard box 23 by opening the flap of the cardboard box 23 so that the flap of the cardboard box 23 does not get in the way when it is inserted into the cardboard box 23.

26 is a flap folding unit,
a and 26a are side flaps 23c and 23 of the cardboard box 23.
c is respectively bent, and 26b is provided for bending the lower flap 23b of the cardboard box 23.

Reference numeral 27 is a rotary table (see FIG. 2) on which the cardboard box 23 is placed. The rotary table 27 is rotatable around its vertical axis, and is vertically moved by a driving means (not shown).

Reference numeral 28 denotes a sealing unit (see FIG. 1), which is provided to close the flap of the cardboard box containing the CD group with a tape or an adhesive. still,
The sealing unit 28 is located between the rotary table 27 and the base shaft portion 14 of the horizontal articulated robot 12 and is slidable along a horizontally extending guide member 28a.

Reference numeral 29 denotes an auxiliary roller for assisting the raising of the cardboard box by the horizontal articulated robot 12, which is provided near the flap folding unit 26b.

The cardboard box 23 has the hand 1 of the horizontal articulated robot 12 so that the sealed surface faces the vertical direction.
7 and the auxiliary roller 29, the sheet is placed on the conveyor 30 and conveyed as shown by an arrow C in FIG.

Reference numeral 31 is a label sticking device, which is used for the conveyor 3
It is provided to attach a label to the side of a cardboard box that is carried by a zero.

The cardboard box 23 is transferred to the discharging conveyor 32 after the label is attached, and is conveyed and discharged in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the conveyor 30, as shown by the arrow D in FIG. 1, and sent to the inspection process. To be

The heights of the conveyors 20, 30 and the discharge conveyor 32 and the height of the rotary table 27 are substantially the same.

33 is an operation panel, 34 is a control panel, the operation panel 33 is provided near the filling mechanism 11 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and the control panel 34 is shown in FIG. As described above, it is provided near the lower end of the side surface of the device.

Reference numeral 35 is a robot controller for controlling the horizontal articulated robot 12, which is arranged at the bottom of the apparatus as shown in FIG.

6 to 9 show the flap opening unit 25.
Is shown.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the flap opening unit 25 includes three plates 36, 37 and 38 assembled in a gate shape and separate plates 39 and 4 respectively.
0, 41 are fixed, and shafts 36, 37, 38
Each plate 39, 40, 41 is configured to be rotated by the rotation of the.

The shaft 36 extends in the vertical direction, and its lower end is connected to the rotary actuator 43 via a coupling member 42. The shaft 36 is rotatably supported by a bearing 45 in a bearing holder 44 at a portion near the lower end thereof. The bearing holder 44 is fixed to the upper surface of the base 47 via a plate 46, and the rotary actuator 43 is fixed to the lower surface of the base 47 by a mounting member 48.

The plate 39 is provided to push open one of the side flaps 23c and 23c of the cardboard box 23, and has a sideways trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. The plate 39 has a sandwiching portion 4 provided on its mounting member 49.
It is fixed to the shaft 36 by pinching the shaft 36 with 9a and 49a.

A portion of the shaft 36 near the upper end is rotatably supported by a bearing 51 in a bearing box 50, and a bevel gear 52 is fixed to the upper end of the shaft 36.

The shaft 37 extends horizontally, one end of which is rotatably supported by a bearing 53 attached to the side surface of the bearing box 50, and the other end of which is provided in the bearing box 54. It is rotatably supported by 55. The bearing boxes 50 and 54 are, as shown in FIG.
Only 6 is shown. ) Are supported by columns 56, 56 (only one of which is shown in the figure).

Bevel gears 57 and 58 are fixed near the ends of the shaft 37, and one bevel gear 57 is meshed with the bevel gear 52 of the shaft 36 in the bearing box 50.

The plate 40 is provided to open the upper flap 23a of the cardboard box 23, and the shaft 37
It is fixed to the shaft 37 by a mounting member 59 (see FIG. 8) positioned in the middle.

The shaft 38 and the plate 41 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the shaft 36 and the plate 39. That is, the shaft 38 extending in the vertical direction is rotatably supported by the bearing 61 in the bearing holder 60 whose lower end is fixed to the base 47 through the plate 46 ', and the portion near the upper end is the bearing. It is rotatably supported by a bearing 62 provided in the box 54. The bevel gear 63 is provided on the upper end of the shaft 38.
Is fixed, and the bevel gear 63 is attached to the bearing box 5
4, the gear 37 is meshed with the bevel gear 58 of the shaft 37.

The plate 41 provided to push and open the side flap 23c has a laterally inverted trapezoidal shape like the plate 39, and the plate 41 is provided with a sandwiching portion 64a, 64a provided on a mounting member 64 thereof for supporting the shaft. 38
It is fixed to the shaft 38 by sandwiching and tightening.

In the flap opening unit 25, when the shaft 36 is rotated by the rotary actuator 43 in the direction indicated by the arrow L, as shown schematically in FIG. And the bevel gear 57 are transmitted to the shaft 37 so that the shaft 37 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow M. Further, the engagement between the bevel gear 58 and the bevel gear 63 causes the rotational force to be transmitted to the shaft 38 so that the shaft 38 is indicated by the arrow. It is rotated in the direction indicated by N. Therefore, the shafts 36, 37, 38
The plates 39, 40, and 41 move with the rotation of the shaft 3
With respect to the plane including the central axes of 6, 37 and 38, the rotation is synchronized with the same side.

The flow charts of FIGS. 10 and 11 and the schematic diagrams of FIGS. 12 to 23 illustrate the box packing operation.

As shown in FIG. 10, in the box packing work, the stacking work of the CD group in the stack 8 and the preparation work of the corrugated board box 23 are carried out in parallel.

Steps S1 to S5 are the corrugated cardboard box 23.
In the step S1, the horizontal articulated robot 12 takes out and conveys the corrugated board prepared by the corrugated board supply unit 19. That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the horizontal articulated robot 12 adsorbs the corrugated cardboard box 23 folded by the hand 17, pulls it up, and then rotates the arm to a predetermined position (shown in FIG. 1). Move to rectangle R).

Then, in the next step S2, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, the cardboard box 23 is shaped like a box. Figure 1
Reference numeral 4 schematically shows the state, and the hand 17 has suction parts 17a and 17a (only one of them is shown in the drawing).
And a roller 17b. The folded corrugated cardboard is adsorbed by the adsorbing portions 17a, 17a as shown by the solid line in the figure, but the supporting member of the roller 17b can be rotated about the rotation fulcrum 17c by a driving means (not shown). Roller 1 as indicated by the chain double-dashed line
When the side surface of the corrugated board is pushed down by 7b, the corrugated board that has been folded into a parallelogram until then seen from the side is shaped into a rectangular shape.

In step S3, the corrugated cardboard box 23 is shown in FIG.
Positioning is done so that it will come to the position shown in the square R of
In the next step S4, as shown in FIG. 15, one opening 2 of the cardboard box 23 is opened by the flap opening unit 25.
The four flaps 23a, 23b, 23c, 23c are pushed open. That is, when the shafts 36, 37, 38 are synchronously rotated by the rotary actuator 43, the plates 39, 40, 41 push out the flaps 23a, 23c, 23c of the cardboard box 23, respectively. For example, in FIG. 8, the opening operation of the upper flap 23a by the plate 40 is shown by an arrow P.

As for the lower flap 23b of the cardboard box 23, as shown in FIG. 15, another flap opening member 25 'is used, or the lower flap 23b is pushed downward by the taper surface of the filling mechanism 11 or the like. However, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.
The bevel gear 67 provided on the shaft 65 and the bevel gear 68 provided on the shaft 65 may be meshed with each other to transmit the rotational force of the shaft 38 to the shaft 65, and the plate 66 may push down the lower flap 23b. Also,
The deflection means provided between the adjacent shafts is 1
Instead of a mechanism using a pair of bevel gears, a mechanism using a pair of pin gears, a mechanism using a pair of pulleys and a transmission belt suspended between the pulleys in a twisted state, or
There are various modes such as a mechanism using a pair of spiral gears, a worm and a mechanism using a worm gear.

In step S5, as shown in FIG. 16, the side flap 23 on the side opposite to the side where the flap is opened is shown.
c and 23c are respectively folded by the flap folding units 26a and 26a, and the preparation for filling the CD group 7 into the cardboard box 23 is completed.

On the other hand, regarding the stacking work of CDs, as shown in steps S6 to S10, horizontal feeding of the CD group and insertion of the partition plate 10 are performed a plurality of times to temporarily collect the CD group in the stack 8. (See FIG. 17).

That is, in step S6, the CDs 2 carried on the conveyor 3 are stacked by the stacking unit 4, and the elevator 5 is lowered accordingly.

In the next step S7, it is asked whether or not the stack 8 is empty. If it is not empty, the process proceeds to step S8, and if it is empty, the process jumps to step S9.

In step S8, when the CD group is transferred to the stack 8, the CD group and the CD previously transferred are transferred.
The partition plate 10 is inserted between the group and the partition plate insertion unit 9.

In the next step S9, when the number of CDs stacked by the stacking unit 4 reaches a predetermined number, the CD group is moved to the stack 8 by the pushing mechanism 6 as shown in FIG.

In step S10, it is asked whether or not the stack 8 is full, and if it is full, step 1
1; otherwise, return to step 8.

At step 11, as shown in FIG.
The CD group accumulated in the stack 8 is stored in the cardboard box 23 by the filling mechanism 11. At this time, the plates 39, 40, 41 of the flap opening unit 25 serve as guides for guiding the storage of the CD group in the cardboard box 23.

Then, in the next step S12, as shown in FIG. 19, the upper flap 23a on the side opposite to the side where the flap is opened in step S4 is bent by the roller 17b of the hand 17, and the lower flap 23b is flapped. It is folded by the folding unit 26b.

In the following step S13, one side of the cardboard box 23 is closed by the sealing unit 28.
For example, as shown in FIG. 20, the craft tape 69 is attached to the cardboard box 23 by the horizontal movement of the sealing unit 28.

In the next step S14, the cardboard box 23 in which the CD is stored is rotated 180 ° around the vertical axis.
That is, as shown in FIG. 21, the horizontal articulated robot 12
The hand 17 descends and the upper surface of the cardboard box 23 is sucked by the suction portion 17a, and the cardboard box 23 is rotated 180 ° around the axis of the hand 17 along the vertical direction. At that time, the flap opening operation by the flap opening unit 25 is of course canceled.

In step S15, the cardboard box 23
After the positioning is performed so as to come to the position shown by the rectangle R in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 22, the other flap of the cardboard box 23 is closed and sealed.

That is, in step S16, the side flaps 23c, 23c of the corrugated board box 23 are bent, then the upper and lower flaps are bent in the next step S17, and then in step 18, the corrugated tape box 2 is formed by the craft tape 69.
Seal the remaining 3 sides. Then, in step 19, the cardboard box 23 is rotated 180 ° around the vertical axis.

In step 20, the cardboard box 23 is raised so that its sealing surface faces the vertical direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 23, the auxiliary roller 29 is raised and the cardboard box 23 is rotated by the hand 17 of the horizontal articulated robot 12, and one of the sealing surfaces of the cardboard box 23 is received by the auxiliary roller 29. The auxiliary roller 29 is lowered.

Then, in step S21, the corrugated board box 23 is conveyed by the conveyor 30, and in the next step S22, the label sticking device 31 sticks a label on one side of the corrugated board box 23 and the conveyor 32 ejects the corrugated board box 23. Boxing work of is completed.

In the above example, the upper and lower surfaces of the corrugated cardboard box 23 are sealed, but if only one side is sealed due to the necessity of inspection, steps S14 to S19 are omitted.

[0068]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the folding lid opening mechanism of the folding box of the present invention, the turning force of the shaft by one rotating means (corresponding to the rotary actuator in the above embodiment) is used. The shafts are synchronously rotated by transmitting the signals to the adjacent shafts one after another by means of the right-angled direction changing means (corresponding to a pair of bevel gears in the above-mentioned embodiments), and the lid opening member (in the above-mentioned embodiments, respectively) is synchronously rotated. (Corresponding to the plate) is rotated, so that the structure of the rotation mechanism of the lid opening member and the control relating to the rotation means can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a box packing device.

FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the boxing device.

FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing a boxing device.

FIG. 4 is a side view mainly showing a cardboard supply unit of the box packing device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a cardboard box.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a flap opening unit according to the present invention, showing a state before rotating the plate.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a flap opening unit according to the present invention, showing a state after rotating the plate.

FIG. 8 is a central enlarged vertical sectional view showing a flap opening unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a flap opening unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the boxing work together with FIG. 11, showing the first half of the work.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the box packing work, showing the latter half of the work.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a corrugated board removing process by a robot.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a corrugated board shaping process by a robot.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining shaping of a cardboard box.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a flap opening process of the cardboard box.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a flap folding step of the cardboard box.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing a CD integrating process.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a step of storing a CD group in a cardboard box.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing a flap closing step of the cardboard box.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a step of sealing a cardboard box.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing rotation of a cardboard box.

FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing a step of sealing the cardboard box.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing a carton box raising process.

FIG. 24 is a perspective view for explaining a conventional boxing device.

FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

23 Cardboard Box (Folding Box) 23a, 23b, 23c Flap (Folding Lid) 25 Flap Opening Unit (Folding Box Folding Lid Opening Mechanism) 36, 37, 38, 65 Shaft 39, 40, 41, 66 Plate (Lid Opening Member) 43 Rotary Actuator (Rotating means) 52, 57, 58, 63, 67, 68 Bevel gear (right angle changing means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A folding box having a pair of shafts arranged in parallel with each other and a shaft arranged so as to be orthogonal to both shafts, and a lid opening member fixed to each of the shafts of the folding box. In a folding lid opening mechanism for a folding box configured to push and open the folding lid, one rotation means for rotating the shaft is provided, and
Right angle diverting means is provided between both shafts for diverting the rotation axes of the adjacent shafts at right angles, and the rotational force of the shaft by the rotating means is sequentially transmitted to the adjacent shafts by the right angle diverting means. A folding lid opening mechanism for a folding box. 2. The folding lid opening mechanism for a folding box according to claim 1, wherein the right-angle turning means is constituted by bevel gears which are separately fixed to adjacent shafts and meshed with each other. mechanism.