JPH10273207A - Accumulating system for lightweight bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an accumulating system for a light bottle which can accumulate the light bottle smoothly without overturning of the bottle and which has short processing time required for accumulating. SOLUTION: In an accumulating system for a light bottle which is a type that the light bottle B which has a neck ring NR transferred from a carrier device 1 is directly moved and accumulated on a gondola of a stopped accumulating device, the gondola is formed with hanging guide 20, 20 parallel arranged at space little smaller than outer diameter of the neck ring NR and bottle transfer line by the carrier device 1 is agreed in plan view with a center line of a space between relative hanging guide 20, 20 and top face of the hanging guide 20, 20 is set a little lower than height of the necking NR of the light bottle B on the carrier device 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a storage system for lightweight bottles (for example, similar to so-called PET bottles).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of the above-mentioned storage system, there is a storage system as shown in FIG. 7, and as shown in this figure, a storage device 90 having a plurality of gondola 90a.
And a transport device 91 for guiding the lightweight bottle B to the storage device 90, and a pusher 92 for moving the lightweight bottle B on the transport device 91 onto the gondola 90a of the storage device 90.

In this system, the movement of the lightweight bottle B onto the gondola 90a by the pusher is performed while the transport device 91 is temporarily stopped, and is repeated each time the gondola 90a is fed by one pitch.

However, this storage system has the following problems. When moving from the transport device 91 to the gondola 90a and accompanying the movement of the gondola 90a itself, there is a high risk that the lightweight bottle B will fall. Since the step of pushing out the lightweight bottle B by the pusher 92 is required, the gondola 90
The processing time required for the movement to “a” becomes long.

Therefore, in the industry using such a system, there is a demand for the development of a light-weight bottle storage system that can store light-weight bottles smoothly without falling over and that requires a short processing time for storage.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight bottle storage system that can store light-weight bottles smoothly without falling over and that requires a short processing time for storage.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transfer apparatus 1 comprising:
Is a storage system for a lightweight bottle of a type in which the lightweight bottle B having the neck ring NR transferred by the above is directly moved to and stored in the gondola 2a of the storage device 2 in a stopped state. And the hanging guides 20, 20 arranged in parallel at a slightly smaller interval than the outer diameter of the neck ring NR, and the bottle transfer line L 1 by the transport device 1 is located at the center of the gap between the hanging guides 20, 20. The upper surface of the suspending guides 20, 20 is set slightly lower than the height of the neck ring NR of the lightweight bottle B on the transporting device 1 so as to coincide with the line L2 in plan view.

[0008] Regarding the above-mentioned lightweight bottle storage system, near the gondola 2a at the bottle receiving position,
The air chamber 8 having the air ejection holes 80 is provided, and air is ejected from the air ejection holes 80 from the rear side to the front side in the bottle transfer direction by the transport device 1, and the ejected air is applied to the lightweight bottle B. Preferably, the upper surface of the suspension guide 20 is a sliding surface.

[0009] The function of the lightweight bottle storage system will be described in the following embodiments of the invention.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment is a lightweight bottle storage system. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a lightweight bottle B (for example, a PET bottle) having a neck ring NR transferred by a transport device 1 is used. The storage is performed by directly moving to the gondola 2a of the storage device 2 in the stopped state.

Hereinafter, the above-described transport device 1 and storage device 2
Will be described in detail. [Conveying Apparatus 1] The conveying apparatus 1 is a belt-type conveyor as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, and a guide 10 is provided a little before the area where the storage apparatus 2 is provided. A stopper 11 for temporarily storing the lightweight bottle B is provided in the vicinity of the end, and a sensor 12 for detecting the lightweight bottle B moving toward the storage device 2 is provided in the vicinity of the end of the guide 10. And this sensor 12
A counter 13 is provided for counting the number of lightweight bottles B moved to the storage device 2 by the output from the storage device 2.

The guide 10 is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3,
It consists of two round bars arranged in parallel along the transfer line of the transfer device 1, and the distance between the two round bars is
Is set slightly larger than the diameter.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the stopper 11 comprises a rotating shaft 11a, an arm 11b attached to the rotating shaft 11a, and a torque actuator 11c for rotating the rotating shaft 11a. It is configured. The stopper 11 moves the arm 11b to the transfer line area of the transfer device 1 when the count value of the counter 13 becomes "8" as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. When the gondola 2a in which the predetermined number of lightweight bottles B are stored moves and the next empty gondola 2a stops at the bottle receiving position, the arm 1 as shown by the solid line in FIG.
1b moves out of the transfer line area of the transfer device 1. [Regarding storage device 2] In the storage device 2, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of endless chains T, T are stretched using a plurality of sprockets S, and seven endless chains T, T are attached to the endless chains T, T. The gondola 2a is suspended. The above-mentioned sprocket S is rotatably supported by a stand (not shown) independently via a bearing unit, and two of the sprockets are synchronously driven by a geared motor GM.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the gondola 2a includes hanging guides 20, 20, a frame 21 bolted to the hanging guides 20, 20, and the frames 21, 21, respectively. It is composed of a lid 22 screwed in a manner of being bridged between them, and a suspending member 23 for suspending the above member integrally with the endless chain T.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the suspending guides 20, 20 are formed of long plates having a sliding surface on the upper surface. They are arranged in parallel at intervals slightly smaller than the diameter. The upper surfaces of the suspension guides 20, 20 are sliding surfaces, so that the lightweight bottle B can be moved smoothly.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the frames 21 and 21 are formed of hollow square members, and the interval between them is set wider than the neck ring NR.

The lid 22 is made of a plate material as shown in FIG. 2, and the lid 22 prevents foreign matter such as dust from entering through the upper opening of the lightweight bottle B. In FIG. 1, the lid 22 is omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the suspending members 23 are disposed at both ends of the frames 21, 21. Above the suspending members 23, the hanging members 23 are bolted to the endless chain T so as to be swingable. Bolt insertion hole 23a is formed. Note that the bolt insertion hole 23a is larger than the diameter of the male screw portion of the bolt b to be inserted so that the gondola 2a can swing freely, and two nuts N are provided in the bolt b so-called double nuts. It is screwed in the form. Also,
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, stoppers 3 each having a shield plate 31 attached to an output shaft of an air cylinder 30 are fixedly disposed on the opposing surfaces of the suspending members 23, 23, respectively. Is designed so that the movement area of the neck N of the lightweight bottle B can be shielded / unshielded by shortening / extending the output shaft of the air cylinder 30. In addition, the shielding plate 3
The timing of the shielded / unshielded state of 1 is the gondola 2a
Is rotated, the shielding plates 31 on both the inlet side (rear side in the bottle transfer direction) and the outlet side (front side in the bottle transfer direction) are in a shielded state, and the lightweight bottle B is accumulated in the gondola 2a. When going, the shield plate 3 on the entrance side
1 is in a non-shielding state, the exit side shielding plate 31 is in a shielding state, and when the lightweight bottle B is dispensed from the gondola 2a, the entrance side shielding plate 31 is in the shielding state, and the exit side shielding plate 3 is.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a non-shielding state. In FIG. 1, the stopper 3 is omitted.

Here, in this embodiment, FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 5, an air chamber 8 is arranged in a side area of the gondola 2a at the bottle receiving position. As shown in FIG. 2, the air chamber 8 is provided with an air ejection hole 80 for ejecting air from the rear side to the front side in the transport direction, and the lightweight bottle B is blown by the air ejected from the air ejection hole 80. The guides 20 are moved to the rear side along the trajectory of the suspension guides 20, and the payout from the gondola 2a is assisted. [Relationship between the transfer device 1 and the storage device 2] As shown in FIG. 4, the bottle transfer line L1 by the transfer device 1 is viewed from above on the center line L2 of the gap between the hanging guides 20, 20 in plan view. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper surfaces of the suspension guides 20 are set so as to be slightly lower than the height of the neck ring NR of the lightweight bottle B on the transfer device 1. is there. [About the usage mode (example) of this lightweight container storage system]
There are] The storage system is provided in the middle of the transport line of lightweight bottles B. If there is no problem on the transfer line i. The gondola 2a is positioned so as not to hinder the movement of the lightweight bottle B by the transport device 1. ii. With the gondola 2a at the bottle receiving position, the shielding plates 31 of the two stoppers 3, 3 are kept in an unshielded state. In this case, in the mode shown in FIG.
Pass the gondola 2a above. When trouble occurs downstream of the storage device 2 in the transport line, with the gondola 2a at the bottle receiving position, the shielding plate 31 on the entrance side is set to the non-shielding state, and the shielding plate 31 on the exit side is set to the shielding state. .

Here, the lightweight bottles B transferred by the transport device 1 sequentially enter the gondola 2a as shown in FIG. 3, and the lightweight bottles B are accumulated one after another. Then, at the stage where the eight lightweight bottles B are accumulated, the later lightweight bottles B are stopped by the stopper 11 and stored on the transport device 1 as shown in FIG.

Next, the endless chains T, T are driven to rotate by the geared motor GM, thereby driving the empty gondola 2a.
To the bottle receiving position. When the movement of the gondola 2a is completed, the stopper of the lightweight bottle B by the stopper 11 is released, and eight lightweight bottles B are accumulated in the same manner as described above. By repeating such an operation, it is not necessary to stop the work on the upstream side of the transport line until the trouble on the upstream side of the transport line is solved. When a trouble occurs on the transport line upstream of the storage device 2, the gondola 2 a in which the lightweight bottles B are stored is moved to the bottle discharge position (bottle receiving position and the bottle receiving position) by the reverse rotation drive of the endless chains T, T by the geared motor GM. To the same position). When the movement of the gondola 2a is completed, the exit side shield plate 31 is set to the non-shield state. Then
The light-weight bottles B stored in the gondola 2a are sequentially discharged by the transfer force of the transport device 1 and the air jet output from the air jet holes 80a in the air chamber 8 (see the arrow in FIG. 2). By repeating such an operation, the lightweight bottle B can be continuously sent to the downstream side of the transport line until the trouble on the upstream side of the transport line is solved. [Excellent effect of this light-weight container storage system] In this storage system, as in the conventional system, the passenger enters the gondola 2a as it is on the transfer surface of the transfer device 1 without applying an external force by a pusher. Therefore, there is almost no danger of falling when the gondola 2a moves from the transport device 1. Further, in the gondola 2a, the lightweight bottle B is held at the high position of the neck N, and therefore, there is almost no danger of falling.

That is, this storage system is used.
And the gondola 2 smoothly without the lightweight bottle B falling over
a. As described above, this storage system uses a conventional system.
Transfer equipment without applying external force such as pusher like
In the gondola 2a as it is on the transfer surface of the device 1
Go into. Therefore, with the conventional pusher
Since there is no need to extrude the lightweight bottle B, accumulation
Requires a short processing time. As is clear from the above description in this section,
In-operation becomes possible. [Other Embodiments] The air channel of the above embodiment
Remove the bag 8 and remove the lightweight bottle B with a pair of rotating belts.
It is also possible to adopt a form that discharges in a sandwiching mode.
You.

Although not directly related to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, a mountable gondola 2a having a plurality of overturn prevention guides 29 may be used instead of the above embodiment. . Also in this case, the falling of the lightweight bottle B can be considerably suppressed.

[0025]

Since the configuration of the present invention is as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

As is clear from the contents of the column of the embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a light-weight container storage system which can store even a vertically long light-weight container smoothly without falling over and which requires a short processing time for storage. did it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a lightweight container storage system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a gondola of a storage device in the storage system.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the storage system.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part of the storage system.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a relationship between the gondola and the lightweight bottle.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a gondola.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a conventional lightweight container storage system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 B Lightweight Bottle N Neck NR Neck Ring L1 Bottle Transfer Line L2 Central Line 1 Carrier 2 Storage 2a Gondola 8 Air Chamber 20 Suspension Guide 80 Air Outlet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A lightweight bottle (B) having a neck ring (NR) transferred by a transfer device (1).
Is a storage system for a lightweight bottle of a type in which is directly moved to a gondola (2a) of a storage device (2) at a bottle receiving position and stores the gondola (2a) outside a neck ring (NR). It consists of hanging guides (20) and (20) arranged in parallel at a slightly smaller interval than the diameter, and a bottle transfer line (L1) by the transport device (1) is arranged between the hanging guides (20) and (20). The upper surface of the hanging guides (20), (20) is aligned with the center line (L2) of the gap in plan view, and the height of the neck ring (NR) of the lightweight bottle (B) on the transfer device (1). A lightweight bottle storage system characterized by being set slightly lower than 2. A gondola (2) at a bottle receiving position.
In the vicinity of a), an air chamber (8) having an air ejection hole (80) is provided, and from the air ejection hole (80),
2. The lightweight bottle according to claim 1, wherein air is ejected from a rear side of the bottle transferring direction by the conveying device toward the front side, and the ejected air is applied to the lightweight bottle (B). Storage system. 3. The lightweight bottle storage system according to claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the suspension guide is a sliding surface.