JPS6160523A - Palletizer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase a speed of transferring any burden by a palletizer as well as miniaturize a gripper device and make it inexpensive by rotatably arranging a pallet table on an elevator base disposed vetically movabldy and thereby reducing a vertical and horizontal operation stroke of the article gripper device. CONSTITUTION:An article 40 is transferred onto a conveying-in table 31 by means of a conveyor 32, and positioned with the aid of a positioning bar and a stopper. Elevator bases 12a, 12b are adjusted such that the upper surface of a pallet P placed on a pallet table 17 gets substantially the same level as the upper surface of the conveying-in table 31. An article gripper device 20 is adapted to position a hand mechanism 26 upwrdly of the article 40 placed on the table 31 by adjusting positions of a movable frame 22 and a movable body 23. The article gripper device then forces the mechanism 26 to be lowered by operating a cylinder 24, and thereby a bar member 26b to be turned by 90 deg. and placed at a grip position, and further it forces the mechansim 26 to be lifted for moving the frame 22 and the movable body 23, whereby the article 40 is positioned upwardly of a prescribed position of the pallet P placed on the table 16, while it forces the mechanism 26 to be lowered to rotate the bar mechanism 26b by 90 deg. for releasing the article 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a palletizer for loading articles onto pallets. In particular, the invention relates to a palletizer for automatically stacking articles onto pallets.

(Prior art) A method for loading articles onto a pallet that can be lifted and transported by a forklift is to stack the articles one above the other in a column shape, and then arrange the columns of the stacked articles on the pallet. There are two types: a so-called column stack in which articles are placed on top of each other, and a so-called interlock stack in which upper and lower articles are stacked on top of each other alternately. Devices for loading such items include:
In addition to semi-automatic devices that have palletizers do the heavy lifting and manually perform work related to article positioning, such as loading patterns, we also have semi-automatic devices that operate article gripping devices by robots that rotate left and right, up and down, and around vertical axes. A fully automatic palletizer has also been developed.

The article gripping device uses a suction method using a vacuum pad, holds one side of the article with a rod-shaped hand, and the other side with an L-shaped hand to grasp the article, and prevents the article from falling downward with a hook-shaped part at the bottom end. There is the so-called LI method, which uses a fork-like hand to grip the object from both sides, and the suction method is used for gripping round metal cans, while the LI method is used for gripping cardboard cases, wooden boxes, etc. This method is suitable for gripping bags.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) In the conventional fully automatic palletizer using a robot,
Since the robot that constitutes the gripping device is adapted to perform all necessary movements, the gripping device can perform movements in a horizontal plane over an area from the article inlet to the entire surface of the pallet;
It is necessary to perform a vertical movement corresponding to the stacking height of the items on the pallet, which increases the operating stroke of the robot. The loading speed of the palletizer is determined by the operating speed of the robot, and as the operating stroke of the robot increases, the loading speed inevitably decreases.

In addition, in order to increase the operating stroke of the robot, the robot must be made larger, which increases the price and occupies a large space.

Furthermore, all conventional article gripping devices grasp and release by moving the hand in the width direction of the article. There is a risk of causing

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a palletizer in which the movement range of the article gripping device is small and the collection and loading speed thereof can be increased.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a palletizer equipped with an article gripping device that does not require moving the hand in the width direction when releasing the article.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, the platform on which the pallet is placed is provided with an elevator that can be moved up and down, and a platform that rotates around a vertical axis on the elevator. It consists of a freely arranged pallet stand, and the pallet is placed on the pallet stand. The article gripping device is similar to conventional devices in that it can move in the left and right direction and rotate around a vertical axis, but it is arranged to be movable by a fixed distance in the vertical direction. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the article gripping device has a plurality of gripping rods each having a hook-shaped lower end, and positions the gripping rods located on both sides of the article in a gripping position where the hook-shaped lower ends face each other. , means are provided for rotating the lower ends of the hooks into a released position parallel to each other.

(Function) According to the above structure of the present invention, since the lifting platform on which the pallet is mounted is movable in the vertical direction, the height of the pallet is adjusted and loaded by the lifting platform, and the article gripping device can be moved up and down. The directional actuation stroke can be a relatively small constant distance. In addition, by rotating the pallet stand, for example, by two rotations, the movement range required for the article gripping device is only 2 of the area of the pallet, and the horizontal operation stroke of the article gripping device can be greatly shortened. . Therefore, the overall working time required for loading can be significantly shortened. Additionally, the article gripping device can be relatively small and simple. Furthermore, when using the gripping bar according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to grip and release the article simply by rotating the gripping rod without any movement in the width direction of the article. This eliminates the risk of the load collapsing due to the gripping rod hitting the handle.

(Effects) In the present invention, the platform on which the pallet is placed is constituted by a lifting platform that can be moved up and down, and a pallet platform that is rotatably arranged around a vertical axis on the lifting platform, and the article gripping device is arranged on the left and right sides. Since the structure is configured to allow for directional movement, rotation around a vertical axis, and vertical movement over a certain distance, the overall operating stroke required for the article gripping device can be reduced, increasing the loading speed. It becomes possible to make the device relatively small and inexpensive.

(Example) In FIGS. 1 to 3, the parequiser according to the present invention includes a pallet support section 10, an article gripping device 20, and an article loading section 30. The palletizer has 4 pillars 1
a, ib, 2a, 2b and a beam IC1 that is stretched between the supports 1a and 1b, and a beam 2C that is stretched between the supports 2a and 2b. 20 and the article loading section 30 are provided with support columns 1a and lb.

It is provided between 2a and 2b.

In order to configure the pallet support section 10, the supports 1a, ib
A column 1) a paired with the column 1a and a column 1) b paired with the column 1b are provided between them, and their upper ends are connected to the beam IC. The struts 1as1)a both have a U-shaped cross section, and the openings of the cross sections are arranged to face each other.

An elevating table 12a is arranged between the columns 1a and lla, and a pair of rollers 13 are provided at both ends of the elevating table 12a, respectively.
are mounted at intervals in the vertical direction, and each pair of rollers 13 engages with a guide groove formed by the U-shaped cross section of the support columns 1a and lla, respectively.

A hydraulic cylinder 14 is arranged along each of the struts 1a and lla. The hydraulic cylinder 14 has a pulley 15 at the upper end of the piston rod, and one end of the pulley 15 is connected to the lifting platform 1.
A belt 16 whose other end is fixed to the cylinder 14 is hung on the belt 2a.

Therefore, due to the operation of the hydraulic cylinder 14, the lifting platform 12
a can be moved up and down.

The pillars 1b, llb are similarly constructed, and the pillars 1b, 1)
An elevating table 12b is arranged between b and is driven up and down by a mechanism consisting of a hydraulic cylinder 14, a pulley 15, and a belt 16 having the same configuration as described above. The rollers 13 attached to each end of the lifting tables 12a, 12b are arranged at intervals in the vertical direction and engage with guide grooves formed in the pillars, so that the rollers 13 attached to each end of the lifting tables L2a, 12b
is held in a horizontal position.

As shown in FIG. 1, a circular pallet stand 17 is rotatably arranged around an axis O on the lifting table 12b. A gear 17a is formed on the periphery of the pallet stand 17.
A drive gear 18 provided on the output shaft of the servo motor meshes with 7a. Although not shown in Figure 1, the lifting platform 12
A rotatable pallet stand 17 is also provided on a and is driven by a servo motor. A pallet P is placed on the valet table 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. As shown in FIGS. In order to position the pallet P, lifting platforms 12a, 1.
Stoppers 19 are arranged on three sides on 2b.

The article gripping device 20 has a rectangular frame 21 installed across the beam ICs 120, and the frame 21 has a beam I.
An X-direction movable frame 22 is attached to be movable in the C12C direction, that is, the X direction.

The X-direction movable frame 22 is a rectangle that is elongated in a direction perpendicular to its movement direction, that is, in the Y direction, and a Y-direction movable body 23 is movably attached to this X-direction movable frame 22. Although not shown in the figure, the movable frame 22 and the movable body 23
A gear mechanism and a servo motor are respectively provided to drive the .

A pneumatic cylinder 24 is attached to the Y-direction moving body 23 so as to extend downward, and a rotary block 25 is attached to the tip of a square piston rod 24a of the pneumatic cylinder 24 so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis. Although not shown in the figure, a gear mechanism and a step motor for rotating the rotating block 25 with respect to the piston rod 24a are provided within the rotating block 25.

Hand mechanisms 26 for gripping articles are provided on both sides of the rotating block 25, respectively. The hand mechanism 26 includes a straight rod member 2 extending vertically downward from the rotation block 25.
6a, and a rod member 26b whose lower end is bent into a hook shape, as shown in FIG. and the fifth
It can be rotated to a released position where the barbs at the lower end are laterally parallel to each other as shown. As shown in FIG. 2, the upper end of the rod member 26b is also bent into a hook shape.
Although not shown in the figure, the rotary block 25 is provided with an actuator that operates the hooked portion at the upper end to move the bar member 26b between the gripping position and the release position.

The carry-in section 30 includes a carry-in table 31 provided on one side of the pallet support section 10 so as to be located between the lifting tables 12a and 12b, and a feed conveyor 32 for feeding articles 40 to the carry-in table 31. 1 storage table 31 includes a plurality of rollers 33 arranged in the article feeding direction and articles 40.
It consists of a positioning bar 34 that positions the article by abutting on both sides of the article, and a stopper 35 provided at the end in the article feeding direction, and the positioning bar 34 can be retracted left and right from the contact position shown in FIG. can.

The feeding conveyor 32 includes a plurality of rollers 36 arranged in the feeding direction, a guide bar 36 arranged along both sides of the conveyor, and a stopper 37 retractably arranged at the end of the conveyor.

In operation, the articles 40 to be loaded are conveyed by the conveyor 32 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 and transferred onto the carry-in table 31. On the carry-in table 31, the article 40 is positioned by a positioning bar 34 and a stopper 35, and then the positioning bar 34 is retracted from side to side. Lifting platform 1
The heights of the pallets 2a and 12b are adjusted in advance so that the top surface of the pallet P on the pallet stand 17 is approximately at the same level as the top surface of the carry-in table 31. Here, the article gripping device 20 positions the hand mechanism 26 above the article 40 on the carry-in table 31 by adjusting the positions of the X-direction movable frame 22 and the Y-direction moving body 23.

Next, by operating the cylinder 24, the hand mechanism 26 is lowered, the bar member 26b is rotated 90 degrees and placed in the gripping position, and the cylinder 24 raises the hand mechanism 26 again, moving the X-direction movable frame 22 and the Y-direction. The body 23 is moved to position the article 40 above a predetermined position of the pallet P on the pallet stand 17. Thereafter, after the hand mechanism 26 is lowered by the cylinder 24, the rod member 26b is rotated 90 degrees and placed in the release position, and the article 40 is released. In this way, the article 40 can be placed at a predetermined position on the pallet P. Since the pallet stand 17 is positioned in the vertical direction so that the upper surface of the pallet throat P is approximately at the same level as the upper surface of the carrying table 31, the cylinder 24 only needs to operate by a certain stroke in the vertical direction.

By repeating the same operation, the article 40 is placed in the section A on the pallet P that is closer to the loading table 31, and then the pallet table 17 is rotated so that the next section A is adjacent to the loading table 31. Position it accordingly.

During this time, articles are loaded onto the pallet P' on the other pallet stand 17 in the same way.
It is possible to eliminate idle time between rotations of 7. Furthermore, since the mechanism for rotating the pallet stand 17 suffices for loading only a part of the pallet P on the pallet stand 17, for example, section A, the horizontal operation stroke of the article gripping device 220 can be reduced. can.

After completing the first stage loading in this way, the cylinder 14
As a result of this operation, the lifting platform 12a or 12b is lowered by a distance corresponding to the height of one article 40, and the second stage is loaded. Thereafter, similar operations are repeated to load the required number of stages, and the loaded pallet is unloaded from the pallet stand 17 by a forklift, a new pallet is placed on the pallet stand 17, and the same loading operation is performed.

The operations described above can be carried out completely automatically by a suitably programmed computer, and both column stacks and interlock stacks can be carried out without any problems.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a palletizer showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion thereof, FIG. 3 is a side view, FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the gripping position of the hand mechanism, and FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the release position of the hand mechanism. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Pallet support part, 12a, 12b... Lifting table, 17... Pallet stand, 20... Article gripping device,
22...X direction movable frame, 23...Y direction moving body, 2
4...Hydraulic cylinder, 26...Hand mechanism, 26b
... Bar member, 30... Carrying-in section, 31... Carrying-in table,
32... Conveyor Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A lifting platform that is movable up and down, a pallet stand that is rotatable around a vertical axis provided on the lifting platform, and a loading platform that is placed on one side of the lifting platform to transport the articles to be loaded on the pallet. an article gripping device provided above the lifting platform and the carrying-in portion and capable of horizontal movement, rotation around a vertical axis, and vertical movement over a certain distance; and a movement for gripping and releasing the article in the article gripping device. A palletizer consisting of a gripping actuating device. (2) In the palletizer of item 1, the article gripping device has a plurality of gripping rods each having a hook-shaped lower end, and the gripping actuating device rotates the gripping rods located on both sides of the article into a hook-shaped shape. A palletizer comprising means for moving into a gripping position where the lower ends face each other and a release position where the hook-shaped lower ends are parallel to each other.