Quantitative article portioning device

Abstract

To provide a quantitative article portioning device that can be supplied at a relatively low cost with a simple configuration, prevents gripped articles from dropping, and enables quantitative portioning.SOLUTION: There is provided a device that portions a fixed quantity of articles by gripping them with a hemispherical shutter 11 that opens and closes. The hemispherical shutter 11 is composed of a plurality of divided shutters 12 divided into plural segments in the vertical direction. The outer end of a shutter opening / closing lever 15 is fixed to an upper edge corner of each divided shutter 12. Each divided shutter 12 pivots by a predetermined angle in accordance with the rotation of the shutter opening / closing lever 15, and the hemispherical shutter 11 performs its opening and closing operation. Each shutter opening / closing lever 15 is rotationally driven by engagement between a driven bevel gear 16 fixed to its inner end and a driving bevel gear 6 driven by a driving motor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a device for dispensing a fixed quantity of items, and more specifically to a device that is attached to the tip of a robot hand and that picks up a fixed quantity of food ingredients such as potato salad or other items to be held in a food factory or lunch box factory, for example, and dispenses the items into arranged plates, lunch boxes, or other containers. [Background technology]

[0002] Prior patent documents disclosing inventions related to the above-mentioned article dispensing device include Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-118999 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-135073 (Patent Document 2).

[0003] The robot hand disclosed in Patent Document 1 has six finger links whose tips are inclined so as to intersect with a plane passing through the base end and middle part, which are inserted into an object to be held, such as food, and then the spacing between the sides of the six finger links is narrowed to sandwich and hold the object. Patent Document 2 also discloses an article holding device in which three holding members whose tips are bent so as to face a central axis are inserted into a group of articles, such as food, which has been compressed by a pressing disk to increase its density, and then the action of the pressing disk drives them to narrow, so that the group of articles is sandwiched and held between the three holding members.

[0004] However, in the case of the robot hand of Patent Document 1, the side parts of each finger link compress the held object such as food, which means that the side parts of the finger links may damage the held object, and in the case of the device of Patent Document 2, the side parts of each holding member compress the group of items such as food, which means that the side parts of the holding member may damage the group of items such as food.

[0005] To solve this problem, an article dispensing device has been proposed that can dispense a predetermined amount of articles while minimizing damage to articles (JP 2022-75464 A (Patent Document 3)). This proposed article dispensing device includes a plurality of article holding members that are movable between at least an article holding position and an article release position, a base to which the plurality of article holding members are movably attached, and a drive mechanism (pinion gear) that drives the plurality of article holding members, and is characterized in that the shape of the article holding members at the article holding position is a shape (semicircular shape) that follows the movement trajectory of the article holding members.

[0006] The item holding member in the item dispensing device proposed above is a semicircular member with a connecting gear on the side of the upper half that engages with the pinion gear, and is a rod body with a square or circular cross section.As the pinion gear rotates, the connecting gear part moves in an arc, causing the item holding member to open and close, grabbing and dropping items. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-118999 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-135073 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-75464 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] As described above, in the case of the item dispensing device proposed above, the item holding member is a semicircular rod-shaped body with a connecting gear on the side of the upper half that engages with a pinion gear, and as the pinion gear rotates, the connecting gear part moves in an arc, opening and closing to pick up and drop items.However, not only is the configuration complex, but because the item holding member is a rod-shaped body, it is difficult for it to penetrate into the item, and since the item is picked up by, for example, four item holding members, there are large gaps between the item holding members, so it cannot be used for items such as pastes, powders, or granules.

[0009] The present invention has been made to overcome the drawbacks of the item dispensing device proposed above, and its objective is to provide an item dispensing device with a simple configuration that can be supplied at a relatively low cost and can handle items such as pastes, powders, and granules, as there is no risk of the picked-up items falling. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The invention described in claim 1 to solve the above problem is a device that is attached to the tip of a robot hand and picks up and dispenses a fixed amount of items using a hemispherical shutter that opens and closes, The hemispherical shutter is composed of a plurality of vertically divided shutter segments, and the outer end of a shutter opening / closing lever is fixed to the upper corner of each of the divided shutter segments. Each of the divided shutter segments rotates a predetermined angle in accordance with the rotation of the shutter opening / closing lever, thereby opening and closing the hemispherical shutter. This is an item quantity dispensing device characterized in that each shutter opening / closing lever is rotated by a driven bevel gear fixed to its inner end meshing with a drive bevel gear fixed to a drive shaft driven by a drive motor.

[0011] In one embodiment, the hemispherical shutter is positioned below a shaft tube connected to the underside of the motor case of the drive motor, and the shutter opening / closing lever is supported by a bearing installed on the peripheral wall of a shaft support plate attached to the underside of the shaft tube.

[0012] In one embodiment, the hemispherical shutter is formed by four divided shutters, and the divided shutters rotate in a range of 60 degrees to 80 degrees.

[0013] In one embodiment, a scraper blade is provided on the lower end surface of the pivot support plate, the scraper blade corresponding to the inner surface of the divided shutter.

[0014] In one embodiment, cutting edges are formed on the edges of the split shutters. [Effects of the Invention]

[0015] The device for dispensing a fixed quantity of goods according to the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, is simple in configuration and can be supplied at a relatively low cost, and since there are no gaps in the hemispherical shutter that picks up and holds the goods, it is possible to dispense a fixed quantity of goods such as paste, powder, granules, etc. Furthermore, if a cutting blade is formed on the edge of the divided shutter, part of the goods sandwiched between the divided shutters will be cut by the cutting blade, which has the effect of making it possible to more reliably pick up and dispense a fixed quantity. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B are front and bottom views of an embodiment of an article quantity portioning device according to the present invention. [Figure 2] 1A and 1B are a longitudinal cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view along line BB of one embodiment of an article quantitative portioning device according to the present invention. [Figure 3] 1A and 1B are front and bottom views showing the opening and closing operations of an embodiment of an item quantity dispensing device according to the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of a hemispherical shutter of an article quantity dispensing device according to the present invention. FIG. [Figure 5] 1 is a perspective view showing the movement of the divided shutter of the item quantity dispensing device according to the present invention. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The device for dispensing a fixed quantity of items (hereinafter referred to as "the device") according to the present invention is a device used, for example, in a food factory or a lunch box factory, to pick up a fixed quantity of items such as potato salad and dispense them into a number of plates, lunch boxes, or other containers arranged on a table. The accompanying drawings show the configuration of one embodiment, and as shown therein, the device comprises a motor case 1 attached to the tip of a robot hand (not shown), a shaft cylinder 2 connected to the underside of the motor case 1, and a hemispherical shutter 11 arranged below the shaft cylinder 2.

[0018] The motor case 1 is attached to the tip of a robot hand (not shown) via its upper connecting flange 1a, and the upper flange 2a of the shaft tube 2 is fixed to the lower connecting flange 1b, thereby connecting the shaft tube 2. The output shaft of the drive motor 3 mounted inside the motor case 1 is connected via a coupling 4 to a drive shaft 5 extending through the shaft tube 2. A drive bevel gear 6 is attached to the lower end of the drive shaft 5. A shaft support 7 is attached to the lower flange 2b of the shaft tube 2. The shaft support 7 is an inverted shallow, bottomed cylinder, and multiple bearings 9 are arranged at regular intervals on its peripheral wall 8. In the illustrated example, four bearings 9 are arranged at 90-degree intervals, corresponding to the number of split shutters 12 (described later). A scraper blade 17 (described later) is attached to the lower end surface of the shaft support 7.

[0019] Each bearing 9 horizontally supports a shutter opening / closing lever 15, which has at its inner end a driven bevel gear 16 that meshes with the drive bevel gear 6 at the lower end of the drive shaft 5. Thus, when the drive motor 3 starts, the drive bevel gear 6 at the lower end of the drive shaft 5 rotates horizontally, which in turn rotates each of the driven bevel gears 16 that mesh with it in the vertical direction, and as a result, each shutter opening / closing lever 15, while being supported by its own bearing 9, simultaneously rotates in the vertical direction.

[0020] A divided shutter 12 is fixed to the outer end of each shutter opening / closing lever 15. The divided shutters 12 are petal-shaped, with the hemispherical shutter 11 divided vertically into multiple sections, and a group of divided shutters 12 forms the hemispherical shutter 11. In the illustrated example, the hemispherical shutter 11 is divided into four sections, but the number of sections is not limited to this and may be more or less.

[0021] The outer end of each shutter opening / closing lever 15 is fixed to a corner of the upper side of the divided shutter 12, and each divided shutter 12 rotates around the shutter opening / closing lever 15 as an axis, but the movement trajectory does not go beyond the area of ​​the imaginary sphere formed by the hemispherical shutter 11 (see Figures 3(A) and 5(B)). In this way, the divided shutters 12 move in conjunction with each other, thereby opening and closing the hemispherical shutter 11. More specifically, a curved reinforcing member 12a is installed along the upper side of the divided shutter 12, and the outer end of the shutter opening / closing lever 15 is fixed to one end of the curved reinforcing member 12a (see Figures 2(B) and 4).

[0022] In a preferred embodiment, a cutting blade is formed on the edge (side) of the divided shutter 12. When an article is long, such as bean sprouts or noodles, and there is a risk that it may protrude from the hemispherical shutter 11 and hang down during handling, this cutting blade serves to cut off the protruding portion when the hemispherical shutter 11 is closed. This also prevents the article from hanging down, making it possible to grip an article in a range that is closer to a fixed quantity.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment, a scraper blade 17 is attached to the lower end surface of the shaft support 7. When the split shutter 12 moves upward, this scraper blade 17 slides relatively along the inner surface of the split shutter 12, and serves to scrape off articles adhering to the inner surface of the split shutter 12.

[0024] This device with the above configuration is attached to the tip of a robot hand (not shown) via the upper connecting flange 1a of the motor case 1. In use, the robot hand moves the hemispherical shutter 11, with the hemispherical shutter 11 in an open or closed state, over a container containing a group of items to be dispensed, and when the hemispherical shutter 11 is open, it remains open, or when it is closed, it opens and then lowers it into the group of items. The hemispherical shutter 11 is opened and closed by operating the drive motor 3 to rotate the drive shaft 5, which then simultaneously rotates and drives each shutter opening / closing lever 15 in the same direction via the drive bevel gear 6 and driven bevel gear 16.

[0025] As each shutter opening / closing lever 15 rotates simultaneously, each divided shutter 12 rotates upward, for example, by 70 degrees, around the shutter opening / closing lever 15 (see FIG. 3). As described above, the rotational trajectory of each divided shutter 12 follows the inner circumferential surface of the imaginary sphere formed by the hemispherical shutter 11, and does not leave the imaginary sphere. This makes it possible to efficiently pick up the group of articles, starting from the edge.

[0026] Many commonly known shutters of this type have a structure that grips products by opening and closing like a gull-wing door on a vehicle, but with such a configuration, the area of ​​the shutter is larger when it is open than when it is closed. As a result, the open shutter cannot get close to the inner wall of a hopper or the like to avoid interfering with it, which creates the inconvenience of not being able to pick up products near the wall. Furthermore, because the shutter opens and closes in a manner that crushes the products being gripped, when trying to grip a large quantity, the pressure of the products can prevent the shutter from closing completely.

[0027] However, in this device, the divided shutter 12 moves up and down without its rotational trajectory expanding beyond the virtual sphere formed by the hemispherical shutter 11. In other words, the area is the same whether it is open or closed, so it can be used to collect material while it is in contact with the inner wall of a hopper, etc., eliminating waste. Furthermore, because the divided shutter 12 opens and closes in a circular motion, it does not crush the product, and the tip of the divided shutter 12 approaches the paste-like product by inserting it, thereby reducing the torque required for closing. Furthermore, by inserting the hemispherical shutter 11 into the product up to the vicinity of its scraper blade 17 when open, it becomes possible to grasp a volume of product close to a fixed amount when the hemispherical shutter 11 is closed. [Industrial Applicability]

[0028] The device for dispensing a fixed quantity of goods according to the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, is simple in configuration and can be supplied at a relatively low cost, and since there are no gaps in the hemispherical shutter that picks up and holds the goods, it is possible to dispense a fixed quantity of goods such as paste, powder, or granular goods, and if cutting blades are formed on the edges of the divided shutters, part of the goods sandwiched between the divided shutters will be cut by the cutting blade, which has the effect of making it possible to more reliably pick up and dispense a fixed quantity, and therefore has great industrial applicability. [Explanation of symbols]

[0029] 1 Motor case 2 shaft cylinder 3 Drive motor 4 Coupling 5 drive shaft 6 Drive bevel gear 7 axis support plate 8 Peripheral wall 9. Bearings 11 Hemispherical shutter 12-segment shutter 12a Curved reinforcement 15 Shutter opening / closing lever 16 Driven bevel gear 17 Scraper Blade

Claims

1. This device is attached to the tip of a robot hand and uses a hemispherical shutter that opens and closes to pick up and separate a fixed amount of items. The hemispherical shutter is composed of a plurality of vertically divided shutter segments, and the outer end of a shutter opening / closing lever is fixed to the upper corner of each of the divided shutter segments. Each of the divided shutter segments rotates a predetermined angle in accordance with the rotation of the shutter opening / closing lever, thereby opening and closing the hemispherical shutter. This is an item quantity dispensing device characterized in that each shutter opening / closing lever is rotated by a driven bevel gear fixed to its inner end meshing with a drive bevel gear fixed to a drive shaft driven by a drive motor.

2. The item quantity dispensing device described in claim 1, wherein the hemispherical shutter is arranged on the underside of a shaft tube connected to the underside of the motor case of the drive motor, and the shutter opening / closing lever is supported by a bearing installed on the peripheral wall of a shaft support plate attached to the underside of the shaft tube.

3. 2. The apparatus for dispensing and distributing a fixed quantity of articles according to claim 1, wherein the hemispherical shutter is formed by four divided shutters.

4. 2. The device for dispensing a fixed quantity of goods according to claim 1, wherein the divided shutter rotates within a range of 60 degrees to 80 degrees.

5. 2. The apparatus for dispensing and distributing a fixed quantity of articles according to claim 1, wherein a scraper blade is provided on a lower end surface of the support base, the scraper blade corresponding to an inner surface of the divided shutter.

6. The apparatus for dispensing and distributing a fixed quantity of articles according to claim 1 , wherein cutting edges are formed on the edges of the divided shutters.

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