JPH0812089A - Palletizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate necessity for provision of any pallet supplying device and enable the palletizer to serve even in a small space by calculating the uppermost stage position of stacked pallets using the output signals from pallet sensors when the loading work is to be started. CONSTITUTION:A palletizer is equipped with pallet sensors S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 to sense existence of pallets in stack and a control means 4 to control the movement and opening/closing of a catching device. The control means 4 is fitted with an uppermost stage calculating means to calculate the uppermost stage position of stacked pallets from output signals of the sensors S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 when the loading work is to be started, and thus a palletizer is configured. The outputs of the sensors are judged from the uppermost one, and upon ascertainment of the emission of an On signal of an upper placed sensor, the emission of an Off signal of a lower placed sensor is checked, and if Off signal is emitted, 'Sensor Error' is indicated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a palletizer for stacking articles such as grain bags and cardboard boxes on a pallet in multiple stages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a palletizer is provided with a pallet feeder and an article feeder on the side of a palletizer body, and a device for discharging a pallet loaded with articles or a moving space for a forklift on one side. ing. Therefore, a large space is required around the palletizer.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention makes it possible to use pallets in a narrow space without the need for a pallet feeder by stacking pallets within the working range of the catching device of the palletizer and stacking articles thereon. It is a thing.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a pallet detection sensor S for detecting the presence of each of the stacked pallets 1 is provided.
Movement of 1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and catch device 3
A control means 4 for controlling the opening and closing is provided, and the pallet detection sensors S1, S2, S3 are provided in the control means 4 at the start of loading.
A palletizer is constructed by providing a pallet top stage calculating means 5 for calculating the top stage position of the pallet 1 according to the output signals of S4 and S5. In addition, the pallet detection sensors S1, S2
After determining the outputs of S3, S4 and S5 from the highest level and confirming the output signal of the upper sensor, the OFF signal output of the lower sensor is checked and if there is an OFF signal output, a sensor error is displayed. Further, the pallet detection sensors S1, S
2, S3, S4 and S5 are composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element,
The sensor poles 15 and 16 in which the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged in the vertical direction are arranged so as to monitor the stacked pallets 1 from the diagonal direction.

[0005]

In order to stack articles on the uppermost pallet 1 of the stacked pallets 1, the pallet detection sensors S1, S2, S3, S4, S5 and the control means 4 move the catch device 3 and open / close it. Control timing. When the packing is completed, the uppermost pallet 1 is carried out by a forklift or the like, and the articles are stacked on the next pallet 1.

Generally, articles are sequentially stacked on the stacked pallets 1 and carried out, and when the pallets 1 are exhausted, the stacked pallets 1 are supplied to the stacking position of the palletizer to perform the work. Even if a new pallet 1 is stacked before the pallet 1 at the stacking position is exhausted, the control means 4 is provided with the pallet top tier calculating means 5 for checking the top tier position of the pallet 1 at the time of starting the packing. , The catch device 3 is the pallet 1
There is no inconvenience such as collision with.

Further, the pallet detection sensors S1, S2, S
Since the outputs of 3, S4 and S5 are constantly checked, it is possible to prevent an accident such as stopping the movement of the catch device 3 and colliding with the pallet 1 if the sensor fails. Further, the pallet detection sensors S1, S2, S3, S
Since Nos. 4 and S5 monitor the presence of pallets in a diagonal direction, detection errors will not occur even if there is a forklift insertion hole.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The palletizer main body 10 has vertically elongated Z-axis guides 12 and 12 erected on bases 11 and 11 extending in the left and right directions.
A horizontally long Y-axis guide 13 is mounted on the Z-axis guides 12 and 12 so as to be vertically movable in the vertical direction, that is, in the Z direction, and an X-axis guide 14 projecting forward to the Y-axis guide 13 can be moved in the horizontal direction, that is, the Y direction. To the X-axis guide 1
A catch device 3 for holding an article is attached to the device 4 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, that is, the X direction and horizontally rotatable.

Reference numerals 15 and 16 denote pallet detection sensors S1,
Sensor pole with S2, S3, S4 and S5 attached,
A sensor including a light emitting element and a light receiving element monitors the operating range of the catch device 3 on the front side of the palletizer main body in a diagonal direction from the left and right, and outputs an ON signal when there is a pallet 1 or an article. On the side of the palletizer main body 10, an article supply device 9 including a conveyor belt that conveys articles to the article supply device of the palletizer is installed. Reference numeral 17 is a control operation box containing a control box base and the number of switches.

Next, the control circuit shown in FIG. 3 will be described. 18 is a power switch, 19 is its relay contact, 20
Is a breaker, 21 is a manual emergency stop switch, and 22 is a relay contact of a safety stop device that operates in the event of a control failure. 23 is a CPU which is each sensor and control means
4 is a power supply circuit for supplying a voltage of 200 V AC to 5 V DC. The CPU is a central processing unit that processes each input signal and outputs a drive control signal to each motor.

Inputs to respective switches for setting a stacking pattern provided on the operation panel 24 of the control operation box 17 are input to the CPU 4 via the waveform shaping inverter circuit 25. 31 is a rotary encoder, which is the X-axis guide 1
4, the Y-axis guide 13, the catch device 3, and the like, are used to detect the rotational speed of the output shaft of the drive motor and calculate the moving position. A large number of relays 26 are connected to the CPU 4 via the decoder / multiplexer 27 and control the relays 26 to be connected. Inverter control circuit 28 connected to CPU4
From here, the rotation direction and rotation speed of each motor 29 are controlled via the relay 26.

Reference numeral 30 is an electromagnetic brake, and each motor 29
It is attached to the output shaft of and provides braking force when stopped. Pallet detection sensor S1 provided on the sensor poles 15 and 16
ON / OFF signal from S2, S3, S4, S5 is CP
It is input to U4 and is used to detect the number of stacked pallets 1.

Next, the operation control state of the pallet uppermost operation means 5 will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. First, in step A, when the start switch provided in the control operation box 17 is pressed, the maximum number of pallets M that can be placed (for example, 5) is input to the variable N, and the uppermost pallet detection sensor S5 is turned on / off. Is confirmed, and if it is in the OFF state, 1 is subtracted from the variable N and the ON / OFF of the lower pallet detection sensor S4 is confirmed again. If it is in the ON state, the variable N is confirmed. That is, the variable N is the number of stacked pallets.

Next, in step B, before the start of packing of articles on the pallet 1, the pallet detection sensor below the number N of pallet stacks detected above is turned ON / OF.
The F state is confirmed. This is to confirm whether or not the pallet 1 has been removed after the variable N is determined, and to determine the failure of the lower pallet detection sensor. In step C, the ascending / descending range of the Y-axis guide 13 is calculated using the variable N, and the loading operation of the catch device 3 is performed based on this. In step D, the pallet detection sensor 2 is turned off to wait for the pallet 1 on which the articles are stacked to be unloaded, and when the unloading is completed, the state before the start switch is pressed again is restored.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of control.

FIG. 2 is a control circuit diagram.

FIG. 3 is an overall side view.

FIG. 4 is an overall plan view.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pallet 2 Pallet detection sensor 3 Catch device 4 Control means (CPU) 5 Pallet top-stage computing means

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Noriaki Nagata 1-2-5 Kinzan, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture Attex Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pallet detection sensor (S1), (S2), (S) for detecting the presence of each stacked pallet (1).
3), (S4), (S5) and a control means (4) for controlling the movement / opening / closing of the catch device (3) are provided, and the pallet detection sensor (S) is provided in the control means (4) at the start of loading.
1), (S2), (S3), (S4), (S5) The palletizer provided with the pallet uppermost stage calculating means (5) for calculating the uppermost stage position of the pallet (1) by the output signals. 2. A pallet detection sensor (S1), (S
2), (S3), (S4), (S5) output is judged from the highest level, the ON signal output of the upper sensor is confirmed, and then the OFF signal output of the lower sensor is checked and if there is an OFF signal output, a sensor error will occur. The palletizer according to claim 1, wherein the palletizer is for displaying. 3. A pallet detection sensor (S1), (S
2), (S3), (S4), and (S5) are composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and sensor poles (15) and (16) in which the light emitting element and the light receiving element are vertically arranged are stacked. 2. A palletizer according to claim 1, wherein the pallet (1) is arranged to be monitored diagonally.