JPH08324754A - Conveyor control device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] When branching a product to be transferred from a main conveyor to a branching conveyor, the delay time until the converter is started is not unnecessarily lengthened, and the transfer efficiency is improved. [Constitution] When the conveyed goods detection means S0 detects that the conveyed goods 3 on the main conveyor 1 have arrived at the position of the converter 4, the heights of the conveyed goods are detected by the height detecting means S1 to SN. The delay time setting means 52 variably sets the delay time TM according to the height of the conveyed product detected by the height detection means. Then, the operation control means 53 stops the main conveyor when the conveyed goods detection means detects the arrival of conveyed goods, and then delays the delay time set by the delay time setting means to start the conversion machine to convey the conveyed goods. Branch control is performed to branch to the branch conveyor side and then restart the main conveyor. In this way, the delay time from the stop of the main conveyor to the start of the converter is variably set according to the height of the conveyed product, and the operation efficiency of the conveying line is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveyor control device for controlling operation of a main conveyor and a branch conveyor branching from the main conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a branch conveyor is connected to a main conveyor like an automated warehouse, and the goods to be fed onto the main conveyor are branched and carried in various directions by the branch conveyor, in order to automate this carrying, The conventional conveyor control device installs a converter at the connection point between the main conveyor and the branch conveyor, and temporarily stops the main conveyor when the conveyed product on the main conveyor arrives at the position of the converter. Is raised to slightly lift the conveyed product from the main conveyor, the direction is changed to be sent to the branch conveyor side, and then the main conveyor is restarted.

[0003]

However, such a conventional conveyor control device has the following problems. That is, when the main conveyor is temporarily stopped in order to branch and convey the conveyed product to the branch conveyor side, the main conveyor is normally controlled to start / stop by turning on / off the AC motor and not to control the speed. Therefore, the stop becomes a sudden stop, and the conveyed product shakes. If the transfer direction is changed to the branch conveyor direction by the conversion machine before the shaking of the conveyed product is stopped, there is a risk that the load collapses or falls. Therefore, it is necessary to set a delay time between the stop of the main conveyor and the activation of the converter, until the shaking of the conveyed product is stopped, and then activate the converter.

However, in the conventional conveyor control device, since the delay time from the stop of the main conveyor to the start of the converter is fixed, a case where the condition of the conveyed product is the worst is assumed. A delay time must be set, and in the case of goods with good stability such as goods with low bulk or heavy goods, the converter starts after waiting a long time after shaking has stopped. Therefore, there is a problem in that the efficiency of transportation is poor as a whole due to the waste of time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and detects the height of a conveyed product and determines the delay time from the stop of the main conveyor to the start of the converter according to the height. It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor control device that can variably set a stable conveyance of a conveyed product and improve the operation efficiency of a conveyance line.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveyor control device comprising: a main conveyor; a branch conveyor branching from the main conveyor; and a converter for changing the carrying direction of the goods from the main conveyor to the branch conveyor. , The conveyed goods detection means for detecting that the conveyed goods on the main conveyor have reached the position of the converter, the height detecting means for detecting the height of the conveyed goods, and the height of the conveyed goods detected by the height detecting means The delay time setting means for variably setting the delay time according to the length, and when the conveyed goods detection means detects the arrival of the conveyed goods, the main conveyor is stopped, and then the delay time set by the delay time setting means is delayed. Equipped with operation control means for carrying out conveyor start / stop control for starting the converter to branch the conveyed product to the branch conveyor side, then stopping the converter and restarting the main conveyor. It is intended.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the conveyor control device according to the first aspect of the invention, the height detecting means is constituted by sensors arranged at a plurality of points having different height positions.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the conveyor control device according to the first aspect of the invention, the height detecting means is constituted by an analog sensor.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the conveyor control device controls the transfer direction of the transfer product from the main computer, the main conveyor, the branch conveyor branching from the main conveyor, and the main conveyor to the branch conveyor. A conversion machine to be converted, a conveyed product detection means for detecting that a conveyed product on the main conveyor has arrived at the position of the conversion device, and a delay time based on the height information of the conveyed product sent from the host computer. When the delay time setting means that variably sets and the conveyed goods detection means detect the arrival of conveyed goods, the main conveyor is stopped, and then the delay time set by the delay time setting means is delayed and the converter is started and conveyed. It also comprises operation control means for branching the product to the branching conveyor side, then stopping the converter and restarting the main conveyor to perform conveyor start / stop control. It is.

[0010]

In the conveyor control device according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the conveyed goods detection means detects that the conveyed goods on the main conveyor have reached the position of the converter, the height of the conveyed goods is detected by the height detecting means. The delay time setting means variably sets the delay time according to the height of the conveyed product detected by the height detecting means. Then, when the conveyed goods detection means detects arrival of the conveyed goods, the operation control means stops the in-conveyor, and then delays the delay time set by the delay time setting means to start the conversion machine to branch the conveyed goods. After branching to the conveyor side, the converter is stopped, and the conveyor start / stop control is performed to restart the main conveyor.

Thus, the delay time from the stop of the main conveyor to the start-up of the converter is variably set according to the height of the conveyed product, so that the stable conveyance of the conveyed product and the improvement of the operation efficiency of the conveying line are achieved.

According to the conveyor control device of the invention of claim 2,
The heights of conveyed articles are detected stepwise by sensors arranged at a plurality of different height positions, and the start delay time of the converter is variably set stepwise according to the detected heights.

In the conveyor control device according to the invention of claim 3,
The height of the conveyed product is detected by an analog sensor in an analog manner, and the start delay time of the converter is continuously variably set according to the detected height.

In the conveyor control device according to the invention of claim 4,
When the conveyed goods detection means detects that the conveyed goods on the main conveyor have arrived at the position of the converter, the delay time setting means variably sets the delay time based on the height information received from the host computer. When the conveyed product detection means detects the arrival of the conveyed product, the operation control means stops the main conveyor, and then delays the delay time set by the delay time setting means to start the converter and branch the conveyed product. After branching to the conveyor side, the converter is stopped, and the conveyor start / stop control is performed to restart the main conveyor.

In this way, the delay time from the stop of the main conveyor to the start of the converter is variably set according to the height of the conveyed product, so that the stable conveyance of the conveyed product and the improvement of the operating efficiency of the conveying line are achieved.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are functional block diagrams of a common embodiment of the inventions of claims 1 and 2. In the transfer line, the branch conveyor 2 is connected to the main conveyor 1, and at the connection point Z, the end of the branch conveyor 2 is slightly lifted to lift the conveyed product 3 from the main conveyor 1 and transferred to the branch conveyor 2 side. A converter 4 is installed to allow the main conveyor 1, the branch conveyor 2, and the converter 4 to be started and stopped by the drive motors 1a, 2a, and 4a, respectively.

Above the converter 4 at the connection point Z, a conveyed product arrives which is composed of a sensor such as a photoelectric sensor or an ultrasonic sensor that detects the presence of an article in the forward direction of the sensing signal emission direction. The sensor S0 and the height sensors S1 to SN at a plurality of different positions (where N is an arbitrary integer, for example, three stages of low, middle, and high, or 5
It is preferable to set in stages).

A sequencer 5 is provided for performing sequential control of starting / stopping the drive motors 1a, 2a, 4a in response to signal inputs from these sensors S0 to SN. The sequencer 5 receives, as its functional components, signals from the conveyed product arrival sensor S0 and the height sensors S1 to SN, detects the arrival of the conveyed product 3 at the connection point Z, and detects the arrival of the conveyed product 3 A height detection unit 51 that detects the height, a delay time setting unit 52 that sets a delay time until the conversion machine 4 is activated in accordance with the height detected by the height detection unit 51, and a conveyance from the height detection unit 51. Upon receiving the product arrival detection signal, the driving motor 1a of the main conveyor 1 is stopped, and after the delay time set by the delay time setting unit 52 is delayed, the driving motor 4a of the converter 4 is activated to turn on the converter 4. A sequence control unit 53 is provided which performs sequence control to raise and simultaneously start the drive motor 2a of the branch conveyor 2 and then restart the drive motor 1a of the main conveyor 1.

Next, the operation of the conveyor control device having the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3 and FIG. It is assumed that the conveyed articles 3 having various heights are intermittently conveyed on the main conveyor 1 in the X direction. Now
One conveyed product 3 arrives at the connection point Z with the branch conveyor 2, the conveyed product arrival sensor S0 outputs an arrival detection signal to the sequencer 5, and the sensor at the lowest position among the height sensors S1 to SN. It is assumed that M sensors output detection signals from S1 to the sensor SM at a height position corresponding to the height of the conveyed product.

The height detector 51 of the sequencer 5 receives the signals from the sensors S0 and S1 to SM, determines that the conveyed product 3 has arrived at the connection point, and informs the sequence controller 53 of the sequence controller 53. Outputs a stop signal to the driving electric motor 1a to stop the main conveyor 1 (steps S1 to S3).

The height detector 51 of the sequencer 5 is further provided with
It is determined that the height of the conveyed product 3 that has arrived upon receiving the signals from the height sensors S1 to SM belongs to the Mth stage and notifies the delay time setting unit 52. In response to this, the delay time setting unit 52 calculates the delay time TM corresponding to the height M, and transmits it to the sequence control unit 53. Upon receiving this delay setting time TM, the sequence control unit 53 sets it in a timer to start time counting, and delays the start-up of the converter 4 until the time is up (steps S41 to S4M,
S5M, S6).

When the delay set time TM has elapsed, the sequence control unit 53 activates the driving electric motor 4a to raise the converter 4 (steps S7 and S8), and the conveyed article 3 stopped at the connection point Z is moved. It is slightly floated from the main conveyor 1, and a start signal is output to the driving electric motor 2a to start the branch conveyor 2, the conveyed product 3 is transferred to the branch conveyor 2 side, and is carried out in the Y direction by the branch conveyor 2. Yes (step S9).

After that, the sequence control unit 53 outputs a start signal to the driving motor 1a to restart the main conveyor 1 and restarts the transfer of the other transfer products 3, 3, ... In the X direction (step S10). ).

Thereafter, every time the conveyed product 3 arrives at the connection point Z, the direction change and the carry-out of the conveyed product 3 to the branch conveyor 2 side are repeated by the procedure of steps S1 to S10.

In this way, in this first embodiment, the stage of the height of the goods conveyed on the main conveyor to the connection point with the branch conveyor is detected, and the height of the goods is relatively low. The shaking that occurs when the conveyor is stopped is small, and the delay time is set short for conveyed goods that settle quickly. For tall conveyed goods, the shaking that occurs when the main conveyor is stopped is large, and it takes until the shaking stops. Since the time is long, the delay time is also set long, and after stopping the main conveyor for the set delay time to reduce the shaking that occurs when the conveyed goods are stopped, it is transferred to the branch conveyor side and carried out, When carrying a conveyed product by branching it from the main conveyor to the branch conveyor, when there is a delay rather than when setting the delay time uniformly regardless of the height of the conveyed product as in the past The total can be shortened, it is possible to increase the much transport efficiency.

In the common embodiment of the inventions of claims 1 and 2, a plurality of height sensors detect the height level of the conveyed product and the delay time corresponds to the height level. However, as a common embodiment of the inventions of claims 1 and 3, for example, if the arrival of the conveyed product 3 is detected at the position of the sensor S0 at the connection point, it rises. The height position of the light receiver that starts moving and rises, emits an optical signal from the light transmitter, receives the reflected light signal that is reflected back to the conveyed product 3 and returns to the receiver, and stops receiving the reflected signal. Using an analog scanning type height detecting means for measuring the
Further, the delay time setting unit 52 of the sequencer 5 can be configured to set the delay time in an analog manner corresponding to the detected height, that is, to set it to a continuous value instead of stepwise. With the configuration, the delay time can be further shortened and the transport efficiency can be further improved. As the height detecting means of the analog scanning method, a method of picking up the image of the conveyed product 3 and performing image processing to detect the height can be used.

Next, an embodiment of the invention of claim 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The feature of this embodiment is that the products 3 and 3 carried on the main conveyor 1 are controlled in advance by the host computer 6, and the products 3 and 3 are included in the control data. Height data is also incorporated, and on the other hand, at the branch connection point Z between the main conveyor 1 and the branch conveyor 2, only the conveyed goods arrival sensor S0 for detecting the arrival of conveyed goods is installed.
The point is that the conveyed product arrival sensor S0 transmits the height information of the conveyed product 3 corresponding to the sequencer 5 at the timing when the arrival of the conveyed product is detected.

The sequencer 5 receives an arrival signal from the goods arrival sensor S0 to detect arrival of the goods, and an arrival detection signal from the arrival detector 54 to receive an arrival detection signal from the host computer 6. Receive the height information of the conveyed product 3,
Similarly to the first embodiment, the delay time setting unit 55 that sets the corresponding delay time receives the arrival detection signal from the arrival detection unit 54, and stops the driving motor 1a of the main conveyor 1 to set the delay time. After delaying by the delay time set by the unit 55, the drive motor 4a of the converter 4 is activated to raise the converter 4, and at the same time the drive motor 2a of the branch conveyor 2 is activated, and then the main conveyor 1 is driven. And a sequence control unit 53 that executes sequence control for restarting the electric motor 1a.

In the conveyor control device of the second embodiment, the conveyed articles 3 having various heights are intermittently conveyed on the main conveyor 1 in the X direction, and the height information of each conveyed article is It is incorporated in the tracking control data of the host computer 6.

Therefore, when one conveyed product 3 arrives at the connection point Z with the branch conveyor 2 and the conveyed product arrival sensor S0 outputs an arrival detection signal to the sequencer 5, the sequencer 5
The arrival detection unit 54 receives the signal from the sensor S0, determines that the conveyed product 3 has arrived at the connection point, and notifies the sequence control unit 53 that the sequence control unit 53 outputs a stop signal to the driving electric motor 1a. Then, the main conveyor 1 is stopped.

The arrival detection unit 54 of the sequencer 5 further includes
The arrival detection signal is also transmitted to the delay time setting unit 55. In response to this, the delay time setting unit 55 inquires about the height information of the conveyed product 3 that has arrived from the host computer 6. Then, a delay time Td corresponding to the obtained height information is calculated and transmitted to the sequence control unit 53.

Upon receiving this delay setting time Td, the sequence control unit 53 sets it in a timer to start time counting, and delays the start-up of the converter 4 during that time. When the delay set time Td elapses, the sequence control unit 53 activates the driving electric motor 4a to raise the converter 4, and the conveyed product 3 stopped at the connection point Z is slightly lifted from the main conveyor 1. Then, a start signal is output to the driving electric motor 2a to start the branch conveyor 2, the conveyed product 3 is transferred to the branch conveyor 2 side, and is conveyed in the Y direction by the branch conveyor 2. After that, the sequence control unit 53 outputs a start signal to the driving electric motor 1a to restart the main conveyor 1, and restarts the conveyance of the conveyed products 3, 3, ... In the X direction.

Thereafter, every time the conveyed product 3 arrives at the connection point Z, the direction of the conveyed product 3 is changed to the side of the branch conveyor 2 and carried out by the above processing procedure.

In this way, in the second embodiment, the height information of the goods conveyed on the main conveyor to the connection point with the branch conveyor is received from the host computer, and the height information corresponding to the height information is received. , The height is relatively low, so the shaking that occurs when the main conveyor is stopped is small, and the delay time is set short for conveyed goods that are easy to settle, and for tall conveyed goods, it occurs when the main conveyor is stopped. Since the shaking is large and the time it takes for the shaking to subside is long, set a long delay time, stop the main conveyor for the set delay time to stop the shaking that occurs when the conveyed product stops, and then branch the conveyor side. When a large number of conveyed products are diverted from the main conveyor to the branch conveyor by transferring and unloading them to the conveyor, it does not depend on the height of the conveyed products as in the past. Can shorten the total delay time than when setting the delay time law, it is possible to increase the much transport efficiency.

[0035]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1,
When it is detected that the conveyed product on the main conveyor arrives at the position of the converter, the height of the conveyed product is detected, and the delay time is variably set according to the detected height of the conveyed product to detect the arrival of the conveyed product. By stopping the main conveyor at the time of starting, after that, by delaying the set delay time and starting the converter to control to branch the conveyed product to the branch conveyor side,
Since the height is relatively low, the shaking that occurs when the main conveyor is stopped is small, and the delay time is set to a short value for conveyed goods that can be settled quickly, and the shaking that occurs when the main conveyor is stopped for tall conveyed goods. Is large and it takes a long time for the shaking to subside, so set a long delay time and stop the main conveyor for the set delay time to stop the shaking that occurs when the product is stopped. Since it is designed to be transferred and unloaded, the total delay time can be shortened when a large number of conveyed products are conveyed, compared to the case where the delay time is set uniformly regardless of the height of the conveyed products as in the past. The transport efficiency can be improved accordingly.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the height of the conveyed product is detected stepwise by the sensors arranged at a plurality of different height positions, and the start delay time of the converter is determined according to the detected height. Is set in a stepwise manner, the delay time setting process is relatively simple, and the software can be simplified.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the height of the conveyed product is detected in an analog manner by the analog sensor, and the start delay time of the converter is continuously variably set according to the detected height. The total delay time can be shortened and the transport efficiency can be further improved.

According to the invention of claim 4, when it is detected that the conveyed product on the main conveyor arrives at the position of the converter, the start delay time of the converter is changed based on the height information received from the host computer. By setting it, the height is relatively low, and therefore the shaking that occurs when the main conveyor is stopped is small, and the delay time is set short for conveyed goods that can be settled quickly, and for tall conveyed goods, the main conveyor Since the shaking that occurs at the time of stop is large and the time it takes for the shaking to stop is long, set a long delay time, and after stopping the main conveyor for the set delay time to stop the shaking that occurs when the product is stopped. Since the transfer is carried out to the branch conveyor side and carried out, the delay time is uniform when transporting a large number of products, regardless of the height of the products as in the past. Setting can be shortened total delay time than when it is possible to increase correspondingly the transport efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a common embodiment of the inventions of claims 1 and 2. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a converter unit of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the invention of claim 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Conveyor 1a Driving Electric Motor 2 Branch Conveyor 2a Driving Electric Motor 3 Conveyed Goods 4 Converter 4a Driving Electric Motor 5 Sequencer 6 Host Computer 51 Height Detecting Section 52 Delay Time Setting Section 53 Sequence Control Section 54 Arrival Detection Section 55 Delay Time Setting section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Seiji Suzuki No.1 Toshiba-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo Toshiba Corporation Fuchu factory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A main conveyor, a branch conveyor that branches from the main conveyor, a converter that changes the transport direction of the conveyed product from the main conveyor to the branch conveyor, and a conveyed product on the main conveyor is the converter. Conveyed goods detecting means for detecting arrival at a position, height detecting means for detecting the height of the conveyed goods, and delay time variably set according to the height of the conveyed goods detected by the height detecting means And a delay time setting unit that stops the main conveyor when the conveyed product detection unit detects arrival of the conveyed product, and then delays the delay time set by the delay time setting unit and starts the conversion machine. Then, the conveyed product is branched to the branch conveyor side, and then the operation control is performed to perform conveyor start / stop control for stopping the converter and restarting the main conveyor. And a conveyor control device. 2. The conveyor control device according to claim 1, wherein the height detecting means is constituted by sensors arranged at a plurality of points having different height positions. 3. The conveyor control device according to claim 1, wherein the height detecting means comprises an analog sensor. 4. A host computer that manages the transfer of the transferred product, a main conveyor, a branch conveyor that branches from the main conveyor, a converter that changes the transfer direction of the transferred product from the main conveyor to the branch conveyor, Conveyed goods detecting means for detecting that the conveyed goods on the main conveyor have arrived at the position of the conversion machine, and a delay for variably setting the delay time based on the height information of the conveyed goods sent from the host computer. When the time setting means and the conveyed goods detection means detect the arrival of the conveyed goods, the main conveyor is stopped, and then the conversion machine is started with a delay of the delay time set by the delay time setting means. The conveyor is branched to the branch conveyor side, and then the converter is stopped, and the conveyor start / stop control for restarting the main conveyor is performed. A conveyor control device comprising an operation control means.