JPH0940173A - Goods sorting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent damage of an article through collision of an article, delivered to a branch passage, with the front side wall of the branch passage. SOLUTION: An auxiliary side wall 24 is mounted on the front side wall 21 of a branch passage 20 in such a manner that the auxiliary side wall is positioned in parallel to the side wall 21 through the force of a mounting spring 25. An article W delivered by a diverter 12 is collided with the auxiliary side wall 24. Since the impact is absorbed by the mounting spring 25 and an impact exerted on the article W is relaxed, the article W is prevented from damage due to collision with the auxiliary side wall 24. Since the auxiliary side wall 24 is formed of a rigid substance, such as a metal, having a low friction factor, after collision with the auxiliary side wall 24, the article W is smoothly conveyed through a branch passage 20 without rubbing against and being hooked on the auxiliary side wall 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article sorting apparatus for swinging a diverter to change the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor and to dispense the article to a branch path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an article sorting device for sorting a large number of conveyed articles for each customer, a plurality of diverters swingable about a vertical axis are arranged to face a main conveyor and a diverter. It is known to have a branch path connected to the side of the main conveyor at the position. In this article sorting apparatus, when the article being conveyed on the main conveyor reaches a predetermined position, the diverter swings inward and protrudes onto the conveying surface of the main conveyor, and the article moves in the traveling direction along the diverter. It is changed and delivered to the branch road.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional article sorting apparatus, there is a risk that some articles may be damaged by colliding with the front side wall of the branch when they are dispensed to the branch. Particularly in the case of fragile articles such as cracks, it is necessary to reduce the transport speed of the main conveyor in order to prevent collision with the front side wall, and efficient sorting work cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent and prevent the articles discharged to a branch from being damaged by colliding with the front side wall of the branch. An object of the present invention is to provide an article sorting apparatus capable of performing efficient sorting work without the need to reduce the transport speed of the main conveyor even for easy articles.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 changes the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor by swinging a diverter to make the article a branch path. The article sorting apparatus is a payout article sorting apparatus, in which shock absorbing means for absorbing impact of articles is provided on the front side wall of the branch path.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the buffer means is
The auxiliary side wall is attached in parallel to the side wall via a shock absorbing cushioning member, and the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body such as metal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body having a small friction coefficient.

The present invention has the following functions. According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the article delivered from the main conveyor by the diverter collides with the front side wall of the branch path, the impact is absorbed by the cushioning means, so that the article receives the impact.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the article discharged from the main conveyor by the diverter collides with the auxiliary side wall, and the shock is absorbed by the cushioning member, so that the shock received by the article is reduced. Since the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body such as metal, the article is smoothly conveyed in the branch path without being caught after the collision with the auxiliary side wall.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the auxiliary side wall is made of a material having a small friction coefficient, the article is smoothly conveyed in the branch passage without being rubbed after the collision with the auxiliary side wall.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples without departing from the gist of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view schematically showing an article sorting apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a payout section, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the payout section. In this specification, the front is the lower side of FIG. 1, the rear is the upper side of the same figure, the right is the left side of FIG. 1, and the left is the right side of the same figure.

The article sorting apparatus is a carry-in conveyor 1 composed of a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor.
And a main conveyor 10 connected to the downstream side (front side) of the carry-in conveyor 1 and a plurality of branch paths 20 connected to the sides of the main conveyor 10. The supply of articles to the carry-in conveyor 1 is performed by using a robot (not shown) or the like installed upstream of the article.

In the middle of the carry-in conveyor 1, there is provided a photoelectric sensor 2 composed of a pair of a light emitting / receiving device which is shielded by the passage of the article W. The photoelectric sensor 2 is for detecting the length in the carrying direction of each article W carried on the carry-in conveyor 1. Further, on the downstream side of the photoelectric sensor 2 in the middle of the carry-in conveyor 1, a bar code reader 3 for reading the bar code attached to the upper surface of the article W is provided above the carry-in conveyor 1. The barcode reader 3 is for recognizing a sorting destination for each article W conveyed on the carry-in conveyor 1. The barcode may be attached to any surface of the article W, and the barcode reader 3 will be installed according to this position.

The main conveyor 10 is composed of a steel belt conveyor whose front and rear direction is the carrying direction, and has side walls 11 provided on both left and right sides along the carrying direction. The left and right side walls 11 have a plurality of discontinuous portions that are paired left and right at front and rear at predetermined intervals. The left and right discontinuous parts forming this pair are located substantially opposite to each other with the transport surface interposed therebetween,
A plate-shaped diverter 12 made of a rigid body such as metal is provided at one discontinuous portion, and a branch passage 20 is connected to the other discontinuous portion.

The diverter 12 includes an article contact portion 13 and a bent portion 14 bent outward from the article contact portion 13 toward the rear.
And the bent portion 1 by the rotation of the drive motor 15.
4 is swingable around the vertical axis 16 at the rear end.
In the standby state of the diverter 12, the inner side surface of the article contact portion 13 is flush with the inner side surface of the side wall 11, and the bent portion 14 is bent outward, so that the passing article W passes through the diverter 12. You won't get caught. Further, since the diverter 12 including the article contact portion 13 is made of metal such as metal having a small friction coefficient, the article W passing therethrough is also prevented from being rubbed and damaged by the diverter 12. In the example shown in the present embodiment, the article W is the side (right or left) on which the diverter 12 is facing in advance.
The impact on the article W due to the operation of the diverter 12 is reduced, and the article is reliably delivered to the branch path 20.

The branch path 20 is composed of a roller conveyor whose left-right direction is the carrying direction, and has side walls 21 provided on both front and rear sides along the carrying direction. That is, the branch passage 20 has a large number of rollers 22 provided between the front and rear side walls 21 so as to be rotatable left and right at predetermined intervals. The transport surface of this roller conveyor is the main conveyor 1
Roller 2 tilts down as it moves away from 0
The article W is conveyed in the branch path 20 by its own weight without the driving mechanism of No.2. Of the rollers 22, the one closest to the main conveyor 10 (first one) is a drive roller, and the articles W paid out from the main conveyor 10 can be reliably drawn into the branch passage 20 by this drive roller. In addition, all branch paths 20 are the main conveyor 1
It may be provided only on the right side or the left side of 0, and in such a case, the diverter 12 is all arranged along the side wall 11 on the left side or the right side.

In the vicinity of the main conveyor 10, the rear side wall 21 of the branch passage 20 gradually expands rearward as it approaches the main conveyor 10, and the front side wall 21 is made of a rigid body such as metal having a small friction coefficient. A cushioning means 23 is provided, which comprises an auxiliary side wall 24 and a mounting spring 25. The auxiliary side wall 24 is sized to cover at least the range in which the articles W delivered from the main conveyor 10 collide, and is made parallel to the side wall 21 by a plurality of mounting springs 25 arranged at appropriate positions. Is installed as. Side wall 21 and auxiliary side wall 24
And the spring coefficient of the mounting spring 25 are appropriately adjusted according to the impact due to the collision of the article W. The mounting spring 25 is a cushioning member that absorbs the shock received by the auxiliary side wall 24. Instead of the mounting spring 25, rubber, urethane,
Another elastic body such as a sponge may be used, and the side wall 2
A sheet-shaped elastic body may be interposed between the first side wall 24 and the auxiliary side wall 24.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the articles W having a bar code indicating the information including the sorting destination attached on the upper surface are sequentially supplied to the carry-in conveyor 1. Then, the article W conveyed on the carry-in conveyor 1 shields the light emitting / receiving device of the photoelectric sensor 2, and the length of the article W in the carrying direction is detected by the shielding time and the carry speed of the carry-in conveyor 1. After that, the article W passes below the bar code reader 3 on the further downstream side, and the bar code reader 3
The sorting destination of the article W is recognized from the reading result of the item. The articles W whose sorting destinations are recognized are moved to the diverter 12 side (right or left side) corresponding to the sorting destinations and supplied to the main conveyor 10, and are conveyed on the main conveyor 10 along the side wall of the sorting side. To be done.

When the article W on the main conveyor 10 is positioned beside the predetermined diverter 12, the diverter 12
Swings inwardly around the vertical axis 16. The diverter 12 swinging inward protrudes onto the conveying surface of the main conveyor 12, whereby the traveling direction of the article W is changed obliquely forward so as to follow the inner surface of the article contact portion 13 of the diverter 12, and the branch path 20 is formed. Be paid to. At this time, the article W is moved by the first drive roller 22 in the branch path 20.
Are drawn into the branch passage 20 without remaining on the main conveyor 10. Some articles W collide with the auxiliary side wall 24 when the articles W are paid out to the branch path 20, and the impact caused by the collision is absorbed by the mounting spring 25, and the impact received by the articles W is reduced. Therefore, the article W is not damaged. The article W that has collided with the auxiliary side wall 24 is transported in the branch path 20 by its own weight. At this time, since the auxiliary side wall 24 is made of a rigid body such as a metal having a small friction coefficient, the article W is smoothly conveyed without being rubbed or caught by the auxiliary side wall 24. Then, the article W conveyed to the terminal end of the branch path 20 is sent to the next step.

[0020]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
The following effects are obtained. In the invention according to claim 1,
Since the shock absorbing means absorbs an impact when the article collides with the front side wall of the branch path, the impact received by the article is mitigated. Therefore, the article is not damaged.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the shock when the article collides with the auxiliary side wall is absorbed by the cushioning member, the shock received by the article is alleviated. Therefore, the article is not damaged. Further, since the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body such as metal, after the collision with the auxiliary side wall, the article is smoothly conveyed in the branch path without being caught by the auxiliary side wall.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body having a small friction coefficient, the article can be smoothly conveyed in the branch path without being rubbed after the collision with the auxiliary side wall.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view schematically showing an article sorting apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a payout unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a payout unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W article 1 carry-in conveyor 10 main conveyor 11 side wall 12 diverter 20 branch path 21 side wall 22 roller 23 cushioning means 24 auxiliary side wall 25 mounting spring

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An article sorting device for swinging a diverter to change the traveling direction of an article on a main conveyor and paying out the article to a branch road, wherein the impact on the front side wall of the branch road due to the collision of the article. An article sorting device provided with a cushioning means for absorbing the. 2. The shock absorbing means has an auxiliary side wall attached in parallel to the side wall via a shock absorbing shock absorbing member, and the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body such as metal. Goods sorting equipment. 3. The article sorting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the auxiliary side wall is made of a rigid body having a small friction coefficient.