JPS595353B2 - Sorting and transferring equipment for plate-shaped objects - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention is a method of separating plate-like objects such as glass plates brought in by a conveyor or the like by appropriate sorting means for size, quality, etc., and sending the plate-like objects to a conveyance means such as a delivery conveyor. The present invention relates to a sorting and transfer device.

Conventionally, plate-shaped objects, such as glass plates, transported by a conveyor, etc., are sorted by size, quality, etc. at the end of the conveyor, and then transferred to a subsequent conveyor, etc., which requires manual work, and it is difficult to prevent damage to the glass plates. Therefore, it is inefficient because it requires careful handling, and the work is dangerous as the sharp edges can cause injuries to hands and arms, so improvements have been desired.

This invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an embodiment of the invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. A plurality of protrusions 3 for correcting the front edge of the conveyor belt perpendicular to the conveying direction are arranged on the lower surface of the carrying-in conveyor 1, and a carrying-in table 4 that moves up and down is arranged adjacent to the end of the conveyor 1. A large number of narrow endless belt conveyors 5 are arranged in parallel on the top surface of the table, and a limit switch 6 is disposed at the receiving end of the conveyor 5 on the conveyor path. A transfer device 7 is disposed adjacent to the transport end.

The transfer device 7 has arm rods 9a extending radially at 90° intervals around a rotation support shaft 8 that rotates around an upright axis.
9b, 9c, and 9d, and a plurality of suction tools 11 are added to the suction tool mounting rod 10 attached to the tip of each of these arm rods.

The rotation support shaft 8 is made to rotate intermittently by 90 degrees in the clockwise direction by a drive device 12 provided at the lower part thereof, and the loading table 4 and the loading table 4 are provided at the lower end of each arm rod. Similar vertically moving unloading tables 13, 14.1
5, and a large number of narrow endless belt conveyors 16, 17, 18 are disposed on the upper surface of the conveyor table 13.
, 14 and 15, there are discharge conveyors 19, 14 and 15, respectively.
20°21 is arranged.

A rotary joint 22 is formed on the upper end of the rotation support shaft 8, and as shown in FIG. The pivot shaft 8 is rotatably mounted around an upright axis via bearings 25 and 26 disposed at the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical body 23.

Annular grooves 27a, 27b, 27c, and 27d are bored in the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 23 at right angles to the axis of the rotating shaft 8, and vacuum is generated through the husbandry guide holes 28a, 28b, 28c, and 28d. The annular groove 2 communicates with a device (not shown).
A predetermined number of O-rings 29 are installed above and below the annular grooves 7a, 27b, 27c, and 27d so as to sandwich the grooves.

27d is designed to maintain sufficient airtightness.

Connection holes 30a, 30b, and 30c are formed at 90° intervals in the manufactured portion of the cylindrical body 23 of the rotation support shaft 8.

30C and 30d are bored in the axial direction, and guide holes 31 a, 3 l b, 31 are provided at the lower ends of the connecting holes, respectively.
c.

31d is bored toward the outer peripheral surface of the rotation support shaft 8, and the upper portions of the connecting holes 30a, 30b, 30c, and 30d are communicating holes 32a, 32b, and 32c, respectively.

32d through the annular grooves 27a, 27b, respectively.

27c and 27d, and the conducting holes 31a and 31b.

31c and 31d are the arm rods 9a, 9b and 9c, respectively.

It communicates with the suction tool 11 attached to the tip of the suction tool 9d, and is designed to impart suction force to the suction tool 11.

Now, a glass plate 2 cut into a predetermined size from a band-shaped plate glass continuously produced in a glass melting kiln is carried in by a carry-in conveyor 1, and at the terminal end of the conveyor 1, a protrusion 3 allows the edge of the glass plate 2 to be cut in the conveying direction. The glass plate 2 is corrected at right angles to the glass plate 2 and transferred to the endless belt conveyor 5 on the connected carry-in table 4, but the tip of the glass plate 2 comes into contact with the limit switch 6 and receives a pulse from a pulse transmitter (not shown). The number N of pulses from when the counting circuit counts until the end of the glass plate 2 turns off the limit switch 6 and stops transmitting is such that n pulses are transmitted for one revolution of the drive pulley of the belt conveyor 5. Therefore, the length of the glass plate 2 in the conveying direction is equal to the number of pulses, that is, N. Therefore, the distance from the limit switch 6 to the center position of the loading table 4 is M in terms of pulses.
If it is a pulse, the center of the glass plate 2 will have reached the center position of the table 4 when the end of the glass plate 2 is moved a distance equal to (-N+M) pulses from the position of the limit switch 6. Then, the belt conveyor 5 is stopped by an arithmetic circuit which is a control circuit which will be described later after counting the number of (N+M) pulses, and the center of the glass plate 2 is stopped at the center position of the carry-in table 4.

In addition, the width H of the glass plate 2 is measured by the number of photoelectric elements provided in the width direction at the terminal end of the conveyor 1, and the number of photoelectric elements shielded from light by the glass plate 2. I do.

Then, the measured value signals of the length and width in the transport direction are input to a plate size discrimination circuit, and the conveyor system to which the glass plate 2 is to be transferred is discriminated.

Then, at the same time as the belt conveyor 5 is stopped, the carrying-in table 4, which moves up and down, rises, and the glass plate 2 on the carrying-in table is a suction tool for the arm rod, for example, the arm rod 9a, which is waiting on the carrying-in table 4. 11 and is held by suction.

Then, the gate A is opened by a signal from the arithmetic circuit, and the counting circuit A counts the pulses from the standard pulse oscillator. When the set number of pulses is reached, a signal is issued, and the loading table 4 is lowered to return to the original standby state. At the same time, the belt conveyor 5 is driven again to complete preparations for receiving the next glass plate.

Then, in response to the signal from the counting circuit A, the drive device 12 that rotates the rotation support shaft 8 is also operated, and the arm rod is rotated by 90 degrees.
Rotate clockwise.

On the other hand, the signal from the arithmetic circuit simultaneously becomes an input to a switching circuit, and the switching circuit sequentially causes the output of the discriminating circuit to become a setting input for matching circuits I to (2).

Each of the coincidence circuits I to (2) is provided with a self-holding circuit, and is designed to hold the input from the discrimination circuit even if the switching circuit is sequentially switched by the output from the arithmetic circuit.

On the other hand, a limit switch (not shown) for detecting rotation of the arm rod is configured to emit a signal every time the arm rod rotates by 90 degrees, and the signal is waveform-shaped and then passed through gates I to (2). They are designed to serve as inputs to matching circuits 1 to ■, respectively.
As the gate opening signals for gates I to (2), the outputs of the board size discriminating circuit, which are sequentially transferred by the switching circuit, are used.

Then, an instruction signal indicating that the unloading table to which the glass plate 2 of the arm rod 9a holding the glass plate 2 by suction is to be transferred is, for example, the unloading table 15, is issued by the plate size determination circuit. The switching circuit, which is switched by the output of the circuit, sends the instruction signal to the matching circuit (2).

On the other hand, the instruction signal passes through a self-holding circuit to the gate I.
is opened, therefore, the output of the arm rod rotation detection limit switch becomes the input of the matching circuit after waveform shaping 'Ftk, and when the output of the arm rod rotation detection limit switch and the output of the plate size discrimination circuit become equal, The minus number circuit (2) issues a disconnection signal to the electromagnetic valve I that controls the suction device 11 of the arm rod 9a to release the suction, and the glass plate 2 is transferred onto the carry-out table 15.

The transferred unloading table 15 is transferred to another unloading table 1.
Similarly to 3.14, according to the next signal of the arm rod rotation detection limit switch, the lowering operation is performed by driving the glass plate by the thickness of the glass plate to be handled, to secure the placement margin for the next glass plate,
Like the conveyors 16, 17 on the other unloading tables 13° 14, the conveyor 18 of the unloading table 15 is arranged to be in the same plane as the conveying surface of the following unloading conveyor 21, and is arranged to carry a predetermined number of glass plates. When the unloading table 15 reaches the lower end position after being stacked flat, the conveyor 18
is driven, and the flat stacked glass plates 2 are sent to the following carry-out conveyor 21.

After the - number circuit I issues a disconnection signal for the solenoid valve I, when the next signal of the arm rod rotation detection limit switch is input, it again issues a connection signal for the solenoid valve I, and disconnects the adsorption tool 11 of the arm rod 9a. At the same time, the self-holding circuit is released by the connection signal of the solenoid valve I, and the gate ■ is closed, and the input of the matching circuit I is eliminated, and the next operation is not performed. It will be in a standby state.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the case where glass plates are sorted and transferred by size was described, but in order to sort and transfer glass plates by quality, a specific mark is placed on the glass plate according to the judged quality in the quality discrimination process, By reading the mark with a known reading device provided on the conveyor and performing sorting control similar to the above embodiment, it is possible to sort and transfer the glass plates according to their quality.

Further, the number of arm rods is not limited to four, and it goes without saying that a transfer device having a desired number of one or more arm rods can be realized with the same configuration as described above, and the same effects can be achieved. be.

This invention uses a discrimination circuit to electrically determine the size, quality, etc. of a glass plate brought in by a conveyor, and uses an arithmetic circuit and a switching circuit to attach the glass plate to a rotating arm and transfer it to a desired carry-out table. Since it is possible to issue a command to load and automatically sort and transport plate-shaped objects without manual intervention, this device can replace the dangerous work that conventionally injures the hands and arms of workers. This method has remarkable effects such as being more efficient and allowing for faster and more accurate sorting and transfer than by hand.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view, Fig. 3 is a partially sectional side view of a rotary joint portion, and Fig. 4 is a plate-like structure of an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical control method for determining the size of a body and transferring the body. 1... Carrying-in conveyor, 4... Carrying-in table, 13°14.15... Carrying-out table, 8
...Rotation shaft, 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d...
... Arm rod, 11 ... Adsorption tool, 19, 20, 2
1... Unloading conveyor, 22... Rotary joint.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A rotating shaft that rotates around an upright axis having 11 or more radial rods, and a plate-like suction tool attached to the tip of the arm rod;
A plate loading table having an endless belt conveyor connected to the loading conveyor on its upper surface, which is disposed below the rotation path of the suction device as the rotation support shaft rotates, and an endless belt connected to the loading conveyor. a plurality of plate-like object carrying-out tables each having a conveyor on the upper surface; a means disposed on the carrying-in route of the plate-like objects for determining the dimensions and quality of each carried-in plate-like object; The suction tool picks up the suction tool, rotates the pivot shaft around the upright axis, and releases the suction action of the suction tool on the unloading table that is instructed by the instruction signal from the discrimination means among the plurality of unloading tables. A device for sorting and transferring plate-shaped objects by size and quality.