Alignment Method

Abstract

To provide a method for aligning left and right end positions of a plurality of sheet-like articles during conveyance of an accumulated product in which the sheet-like articles are stacked with their positions shifted in the width direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction.CONSTITUTION: A bending conveyance device 12 reduces contact resistance between sheet-like articles by conveying an accumulated article 2 in which the sheet-like articles 1 are stacked with their positions shifted in the width direction, and moving an intermediate part in an orthogonal direction to a conveyance direction of the accumulated article upward relative to the left and right ends while conveying. Then, in this state, end parts of the sheet-like articles are brought into contact with a side guide 46 arranged on the left and right sides of a conveyance surface of the conveyance device, and predetermined sheet-like articles are moved in a left and right direction to align the end positions.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a folding and feeding device and an aligning method for folding and feeding a stack of, for example, sheet-like articles. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, when packaging an accumulation of long, thin sheet-like articles, if each sheet-like article is unfolded and packaged in the overlapping state, the package will have a large surface area. To avoid this, there is a package in which a predetermined number of overlapping sheets are folded in half and packaged. In order to manufacture such a package, conventionally, sheet-like articles conveyed one by one from the upstream side are stacked in a predetermined number of sheets by a stacking device, for example, to form an accumulation, and the accumulation is folded in half by hand. The folded sheets are then manually fed in sequence to a packaging machine for packaging. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4497400 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When attempting to automate the above-mentioned manual tasks of folding the stacked products in half and feeding the folded products to a predetermined position in the packaging machine, the following problems arise. An example of a device for folding elongated items in half is the folding and feeding device disclosed in Patent Document 1. This folding device folds a single towel, and is difficult to apply to folding a stack of multiple stacked elongated items.

[0005] In addition, when stacking thin sheet-like products, they may not be stacked neatly one above the other, but may be misaligned in the horizontal plane perpendicular to the stacking direction (vertical direction). If such a stack of products is folded in half, it may not be possible to fold them correctly or neatly, or it may not be possible to fold them at all.

[0006] Furthermore, if the elongated sheet-like article is, for example, soft and easily deformed or bent, and if a shift in the stacking occurs as described above when multiple articles are stacked, the sheet-like articles will fold if the side edges are simply pressed, and it is then complicated to correct the relative positional shift and align them. On the other hand, if the articles are stacked with precision to prevent the stacking shift, the range of options for stacking devices and mechanisms is narrowed, and high-speed processing may become difficult.

[0007] The above-mentioned problems are described as being independent of each other, and the present invention does not necessarily have to solve all of the problems described, but it is sufficient if it can solve at least one of the problems. In addition, we intend to obtain rights to the configuration for solving this problem separately through divisional applications, amendments, etc. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the folding and supplying device is (1) a folding and supplying device that folds and supplies a stack of stacked sheet-like articles, and is equipped with a conveying means for conveying the stack, and a transfer robot for lifting and transferring the stack that has reached the discharge portion of the conveying means, the conveying means has a conveying surface that is formed in a mountain shape in cross section perpendicular to the conveying direction, and the apex portion of the mountain shape gradually becomes higher toward the downstream side in the conveying direction, and the angle formed by the inclined surfaces on both the left and right sides of the apex portion becomes smaller on the downstream side, so that the stack is folded along the conveying surface by conveying the stack, and the transfer robot has a support member that supports a portion of the folded stack that faces the apex portion, and is configured to raise the support member supporting the stack to lift the stack, thereby folding the stack in half from the supported portion.

[0009] In this way, as the pile moves along the conveying surface, it deforms according to the mountain-shaped shape of the conveying surface, that is, it bends in a mountain shape based on the part facing the apex part of the conveying surface. Then, as it moves downstream, the bending angle becomes larger, it stands steeply, and the left and right surfaces become closer. Since the change in shape progresses gradually with conveying, it is bent smoothly. Then, the transfer robot supports the part of the bent pile facing the apex part of the conveying surface, that is, the bent part, with a support member, and lifts the support member to lift the pile. Then, the pile moves away from the conveying surface and is no longer supported by the conveying surface, so both ends of the pile hang down, for example, due to its own weight, and it is folded in two around the part supported by the support member. Therefore, the transfer robot supplies and transfers the pile in a folded state to a predetermined place.

[0010] (2) It is preferable to provide side guides on both the left and right sides of the conveying surface with which the left and right ends of the stack can come into contact, and the side guides have inclined surfaces that open diagonally outward. In this way, if the stacked sheet-like items are misaligned in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, either the left or right end of the sheet-like items will come into contact with the side guides and move them toward the center in the width direction. The outward-opening inclined surfaces, combined with the fact that the sheet-like items are lifted by the apex of the conveying surface, reduce the contact resistance between the side guides and the sheet-like items, preventing excessive force from being applied to the sheet-like items and bending them, while correcting the lateral misalignment.

[0011] (3) A plurality of feed fingers are arranged in the front and rear along the conveying direction, and the plurality of feed fingers each move back and forth between a first position and a second position downstream of the first position, moving from the first position to the second position while protruding above the conveying surface, and moving below the conveying surface from the second position to the first position, the second position being configured to be located at the same position as or downstream of the first position of the feed finger that is one position downstream in the conveying direction, and a stopper member is provided so as to come into contact with the front end of the accumulated product being pushed by at least one of the plurality of feed fingers when it reaches the second position, and the stopper member is configured to be in a state where it protrudes above the conveying surface and a state where it is located below the conveying surface.

[0012] In this way, the stacked products are sequentially fed by the multiple feed fingers arranged at the front and rear to move forward on the conveying surface. Then, at the position where the stopper member is arranged, when the feed fingers reach the second position, the feed fingers and the stopper member sandwich the front and rear of the stacked products. This sandwiching corrects and aligns the stacked sheet-like products if they are overlapping, for example, in the front-to-rear direction along the conveying direction. It is preferable to provide the stopper member at least at one location in the conveying direction, but if the stopper member is provided at multiple locations in the front-to-rear direction, it is preferable that the correction of the overlapping misalignment in the front-to-rear direction can be performed multiple times, making the correction more reliable.

[0013] (4) The stopper member may be configured to be positioned below the conveying surface by tilting forward in the conveying direction from a state where it protrudes above the conveying surface. In this way, the stopper member can be positioned below the conveying surface in a short time compared to, for example, lowering the stopper member while keeping it upright so that the entire stopper member is positioned below the conveying surface, and conveyance by the next feed finger can be performed smoothly and quickly. In addition, by tilting forward, conveyance may be possible even before the entire stopper member is positioned below the conveying surface.

[0014] (5) The conveying means may have a planar entrance portion, and the sheet-like articles may be fed one by one to the entrance portion to form the stack, with the mountain-shaped conveying surface being located downstream of the planar entrance portion. In this way, the sheet-like articles can be stacked in an open state at the planar entrance portion, and by transferring the stacked open sheet-like articles to the mountain-shaped conveying surface as they are, the stacked open sheet-like articles can be smoothly transferred to the mountain-shaped conveying surface and folded.

[0015] (6) The transfer robot may include a sheet holding unit that holds the stack between the support member and the stack from above and below to fix the stack. In this way, the stack can be moved to a specified supply location while being firmly held. Therefore, the stack will not fall even if it is moved at high speed, and the individual sheet-like articles will not shift relative to each other during movement.

[0016] (7) The alignment method of the present invention is a method for aligning the left and right end positions of a stack of sheet-like articles in a state where the sheet-like articles are misaligned in the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction during conveyance, and the stack is conveyed and while conveying, the middle part of the stack in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction is moved upward relatively to the left and right end positions to reduce the contact resistance between the sheet-like articles, and in this state, the end positions of the sheet-like articles are brought into contact with side guides arranged on the left and right of the conveying surface, and a specific sheet-like article is moved in the left and right direction to align the end positions. In this way, the contact resistance between the overlapping sheet-like articles is reduced, so that, for example, a sheet-like article that is misaligned to the left or right contacts the side guide on the misaligned side and moves smoothly by receiving a force in the direction toward the center in the left and right directions and the left and right ends are aligned. And, since the force applied to the sheet-like articles to correct the misalignment is small, even if the sheet-like articles are soft and easily bent, they can be aligned without bending. Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the present invention, a stack of overlapping sheet-like articles can be folded in half and supplied to a predetermined position. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] 1 is a front view showing an example of a packaging system in which a folding supply device according to the present invention is implemented; [Diagram 2] FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of a sheet-like article. [Figure 4] 3 is a schematic plan view showing a conveying surface, a feed finger, and a stopper of the folding and conveying device. FIG. [Diagram 5] 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating the corrective action of a feed finger and a stopper. [Figure 6] 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A in FIG. 2. [Figure 7]3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B in FIG. 2. [Figure 8] 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line C in FIG. 2. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram (part 1) for explaining the action of the second transfer robot. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a second diagram for explaining the action of the second transfer robot. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various changes, modifications, and improvements can be made based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0020] 1 and 2 show an example of a packaging system in which the folding and supplying device according to the present invention is implemented. In this embodiment, the device folds an accumulated product 2, which is a stack of a predetermined number of elongated sheet-like products 1 (for example, 10 sheets), in half at the center in the longitudinal direction. The sheet-like product 1 to be used in this embodiment is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a sheet-like poultice 4 is attached to both the left and right sides of one side of an elongated rectangular transparent film 3, with a predetermined distance between the left and right poultices 4. This results in a layout in which the poultice 4 does not exist in the longitudinal center. Furthermore, a perforation 5 is formed in the transparent film 3 at the center position in the longitudinal direction, extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. In this way, for example, when one of two poultices 4 is used and the other is used later, the transparent film 3 can be cut at the perforation 5.

[0021] The packaging system 10 comprises a transport conveyor 11 which cuts sheet-like goods 1 by a cutting machine on the upstream side, separates them into individual sheet-like goods 1, and transports them aligned front to back and left to right, a folding transport device 12 for stacks of sheet-like goods arranged downstream of the transport conveyor 11, a pillow packaging machine main body 13 arranged downstream of the folding transport device 12, a first transfer robot 14 which picks up the sheet-like goods 1 transported by the transport conveyor 11 and supplies them to the entrance area of ​​the folding transport device 12, and a second transfer robot 15 which supplies the folded stack 2 which has reached the exit area of ​​the folding transport device 12 to a supply conveyor 16 of the pillow packaging machine main body 13.

[0022] The transport conveyor 11 is a finger conveyor, and includes, for example, fingers 21 arranged at a predetermined pitch along the transport direction on the surface of an endless belt 20 that constitutes the transport surface. Each sheet-like article 1 produced by being cut by an upstream cutter is positioned in the front-rear direction by the fingers 21 and transported, as shown in Fig. 1 and other figures. The transport conveyor 11 also transports the sheet-like articles 1 in a row of four (see Fig. 2 and other figures).

[0023] An appearance inspection camera 22 is disposed at a predetermined position above the conveying surface of the conveyor 11. This appearance inspection camera 22 photographs the sheet-like article 1 moving on the conveyor 11. A predetermined control unit judges the quality of the sheet-like article 1 based on image data photographed by this appearance inspection camera 22, and a sheet-like article 1' judged to be defective (NG) is not picked up by the first transfer robot 14 but is carried out directly from the conveyor 11. It then moves along a chute guide 23 disposed below the discharge side of the conveyor 11 and is discharged.

[0024] The first transfer robot 14 has a suction head 26 attached to the tip of a robot arm 25, and operates to move the suction head 26 back and forth between an upper position on the discharge end side of the transport conveyor 11 and an upper position on the input end side of the folding and transporting device 12 in response to the movement of the robot arm 25. The suction head 26 has four pairs of suction nozzles 27 that suction one sheet-like article 1. Each pair of suction nozzles 27 contacts and suctions the elongated sheet-like article 1 at a portion facing the left and right poultices 4, for example. As a result, the elongated sheet-like article 1 is lifted up from the transport surface of the transport conveyor 11 in an open state, and is moved to an upper position on the input end side of the folding and transporting device 12 by the movement of the robot arm 25, where suction is released, thereby supplying the sheet-like article 1 to the folding and transporting device 12. Then, for example, by repeating the above process several times while the conveyance in the folding and conveying device 12 is temporarily stopped, a plurality of sheet-like articles 1 are stacked one on top of the other to form the stack 2.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, the folding conveying device 12 has a conveying lane member 32 attached and fixed to a frame supported on a support column 31 erected on the upper surface of a stand 30. As shown in FIG. 2 and other figures, the conveying lane member 32 has four conveying lane sections 33 arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction on its upper surface. Each conveying lane section 33 has the same structure and constitutes a conveying surface for conveying each of the four stacked products 2 supplied by the first transfer robot 14. The folding conveying device 12 has a feed finger 34 that moves forward while protruding above the conveying surface of the conveying lane section 33. The feed finger 34 comes into contact with the rear end edge of the stacked products 2 on the conveying lane section 33 in the traveling direction, and moves forward as it is to convey the stacked products 2 forward.

[0026] Four pairs of feed fingers 34 are arranged in a front-to-rear direction on one conveyor lane section 33. The pair of left and right feed fingers 34 aligned in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor direction are arranged, for example, symmetrically with respect to the center line in the width direction of the conveyor lane section 33, and when, for example, the elongated sheet-like article 1 and the pile 2 are arranged to extend in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor direction, the pair of feed fingers 34 come into contact with the rear end edge of the sheet-like article 1, etc. When the sheet-like article 1 is arranged at an angle from the direction perpendicular to the conveyor direction, one of the pair of feed fingers 34 comes into contact with the rear end edge of the sheet-like article 1.

[0027] The four sets of feed fingers 34 are arranged at equal intervals in the front and rear and move forward and backward as one body. That is, for example, the four sets of feed fingers 34 are attached in an upright position at a predetermined pitch to the upper surface of a base plate 36. The tip of a cylinder rod 37a of a cylinder 37 is attached to the lower surface of this base plate 36. As a result, the tip of the cylinder rod 37a rises and falls with the operation of the cylinder 37, and the base plate 36 and therefore the feed fingers 34 rise and fall. And, at least in the uppermost orientation, the feed fingers 34 are configured to protrude above the conveying surface of the conveying lane section 33, and at least in the lowermost position, the feed fingers 34 are configured to be located below the conveying surface of the conveying lane section 33.

[0028] Further, the cylinder 37 is fixed in an upright state on the upper surface of the base plate 38. The base plate 38 may be linked to, for example, a linear guide, etc., so as to be capable of linearly reciprocating along the conveying direction. For example, a rail 39 constituting a linear guide is arranged so as to extend along the conveying direction, and a block 40 is attached so as to be movable along the rail 39. The base plate 38 is then connected to the block 40. As a result, the block 40 and the base plate 38 perform a stable linear reciprocating motion along the rail 39. For example, the base plate 38 is linked to a motor or other driving source, and is driven by the driving source to move along the conveying direction, at which time the block 40 moves forward and backward while being guided by the rail 39. In conjunction with this movement, the feed finger 34 moves forward and backward.

[0029] Then, by controlling the operation timing and movement distance of the reciprocating linear motion along the conveying direction using the linear guide and the lifting movement using the cylinder 37, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, each feed finger 34 waits at a first position at the rear end in the advancing direction, protruding upward from the conveying surface, and moves forward at a predetermined timing while maintaining the raised position. As a result, each feed finger 34 moves to a second position downstream by a predetermined distance from the first position. Accordingly, the stacked products 2 located just in front of each feed finger 34 are pushed by each feed finger 34 to reach the second position. Next, the cylinder 37 operates, and each feed finger 34 moves downward to a position below the conveying surface. As a result, each feed finger 34 moves away from the stacked products 2, the pushing force is released, and the stacked products 2 that reached the second position of each feed finger 34 in the above process remain in that position.

[0030] Thereafter, each feed finger 34 moves backward while maintaining its lowered position, reaches a first position on the upstream side, and rises at that position to wait in a state where it protrudes above the conveying surface. In this embodiment, the second position of each feed finger 34 is configured to be located at the same position as or downstream of the first position of the preceding feed finger 34 along the conveying direction. As a result, the feed finger 34 that moves backward to the first position and rises there is positioned behind the stack 2 that has been conveyed by the feed finger 34 on the upstream side and is temporarily stopped.

[0031] Therefore, when the feed finger 34 moves forward again in the next process, it transports the accumulated products 2 transported by the feed finger 34 one step upstream in the previous process, and moves to the second position. By repeating the above process thereafter, the accumulated products 2 supplied by the first transfer robot 14 are transported sequentially by the feed fingers 34 arranged before and after, and reach the discharge end of the transport lane section 33.

[0032] Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 4, 6 to 8, etc., a long hole-shaped guide hole 35 that penetrates vertically and extends along the conveying direction is formed in the conveying lane section 33, and the feed finger 34 penetrates inside the guide hole 35, protrudes above the conveying surface, and moves forward along the guide hole 35. Also, the feed fingers 34 arranged at the front and rear are not arranged immediately above the same one, but are arranged at positions shifted in the width direction. Note that, for convenience of illustration, some members such as the guide hole 35 are omitted in Figure 2.

[0033] Furthermore, at a predetermined position downstream of the second position of each feed finger 34, a stopper member 42 (see Figs. 1, 4, etc.; not shown in Fig. 2) capable of protruding onto the conveying surface is disposed. The distance between the second position and the stopper member 42 is set to a length equal to the front-to-rear length (length of the short side) of the sheet-like article 1. Furthermore, the stopper member 42 is displaced by a predetermined drive mechanism between an operating position where it protrudes above the conveying surface and a standby position located below the conveying surface. The switching between the operating position and the standby position may be performed, for example, by moving up and down at the same position in the front-to-rear direction, but in this embodiment, it is preferable that the stopper member 42 rotates forward and backward within a predetermined angle range (for example, 90 degrees or more) with the lower position of the stopper member 42 as the rotation center, so that the operating position is reached when the stopper member 42 is in an upright position, and the standby position is reached when the stopper member 42 is in a tipped forward position from the upright position.

[0034] The stopper member 42 is configured to be in the operating position at or before the timing when the feed finger 34 reaches the second position, and when the stack 2 is pushed by the feed finger 34 to reach the second position, the front end edge of the stack 2 comes into contact with the stopper member 42, and the stack 2 is sandwiched between the feed finger 34 and the stopper member 42. As a result, for example, when a plurality of sheet-like articles 1 stacked on the input end side of the folding and conveying device 12 by the first transfer robot 14 are not stacked neatly but are shifted in the front-rear direction (see the dashed line in FIG. 5(a)), or are arranged obliquely inclined from a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, the pair of stopper members 42 and feed fingers 34 sandwich each of the sheet-like articles 1 constituting the stack 2 from the front and rear, and correct the relative positions (see FIG. 5(b)). In other words, the positional shift or tilt in the front-rear direction is corrected, and the individual sheet-like articles 1 extend in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and are stacked in a uniform front-rear direction.

[0035] In this embodiment, the stopper members 42 are disposed downstream of the second positions of the first, second and third feed fingers 34, respectively, in that order from the upstream side. This allows the above correction process to be performed three times, so that the posture and front-rear position of each sheet-like article 1 can be corrected more reliably.

[0036] Furthermore, each stopper member 42 is tipped over and displaced to a standby position when or before the feed finger 34 on the front side in the conveying direction returns to the first position and conveyance of the accumulated product 2 begins. As a result, when the accumulated product 2 is pushed forward by the feed finger 34 and moves further forward, the stopper member 42 is in the standby position and is controlled not to inhibit the movement. The stopper member 42 may be connected to the base plate 36 or the like via a link mechanism or the like so that the stopper member tipped over occurs as the feed finger 34 moves forward. After the stopper tipped over, it may be set up at an appropriate timing when the accumulated product 2 passes over the stopper member 42, and returned to the operating position.

[0037] The conveying surface of the conveying lane section 33 has an inlet area where the sheet-like goods 1 are supplied by the first transfer robot 14, a conveying section following the inlet area where the stacked goods 2 are conveyed while being folded, and an outlet area following the downstream side of the conveying section. The inlet area is a flat horizontal surface perpendicular to the up-down direction, and its area is preferably slightly larger than the sheet-like goods 1. In this way, even if the supplied sheet-like goods 1 are misaligned horizontally or placed at a slight angle within the horizontal plane, they will be positioned on the horizontal and flat inlet area, and the sheet-like goods 1 will be stacked in a flat position.

[0038] The conveying section has a conveying surface formed in a mountain-like cross section perpendicular to the conveying direction, with an apex 43 of the mountain shape in the center of the width direction gradually rising toward the downstream side in the conveying direction and an angle between inclined surfaces 45 on both the left and right sides of the apex 43 gradually decreasing, changing from a gentle mountain to a gradually steep mountain. The guide hole 35 into which the feed finger 34 can be inserted in a penetrating state is provided in the inclined surface 45.

[0039] In this way, the sheet-like article 1 and thus the stack 2 supplied to the carry-in section is pushed by the feed finger 34, and as it proceeds downstream in the conveying section, it is folded in two from the longitudinal center along the left and right inclined surfaces 45, with the portion facing the apex portion 43 as a reference. And as the angle between the left and right inclined surfaces 45 becomes smaller as it proceeds downstream, the angle between the left and right sides of the sheet-like article 1 and thus the stack 2 moving along the inclined surfaces also becomes smaller, and it displaces into a steeply rising mountain shape. And as the angle becomes gradually smaller as it proceeds along the conveying direction, the flat sheet is smoothly folded with the portion facing the apex portion 43 as a reference.

[0040] Furthermore, in this embodiment, side guides 46 are provided outside the left and right inclined surfaces 45. The side guides 46 are inclined surfaces that open diagonally outward, and their tips are vertical surfaces that stand up in the vertical direction. The total widthwise length of the left and right inclined surfaces 45 combined is equal to the length of the long side of the sheet-like article 1. In this way, for example, when the sheet-like article 1 is placed at an appropriate position in the longitudinal direction when it is supplied to the carry-in area, the center of the longitudinal direction of the sheet-like article 1 faces the apex portion 43 in the conveying section, and both left and right side edges are contained within the inclined surfaces 45. On the other hand, when the sheet-like article 1 is misaligned in the lateral direction, the side edge in the misaligned direction protrudes outside the inclined surfaces 45 and comes into contact with the side guides 46.

[0041] Since the side guides 46 are inclined so as to open outward, the side edges of the sheet-like article 1 that have shifted laterally do not bend upward but gently come into contact with the side guides 46. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the peaks of the conveying surface gradually become higher and the center of the sheet-like article 1 is lifted, so that the contact between the left and right edge portions of the sheet-like article 1 and the left and right side guides 46 is weak, and the contact resistance generated between them during conveyance is also small. Since the sheet-like article 1 advances with such low contact resistance, the side guides 46 do not apply excessive force to the sheet-like article 1 to push it toward the center, and instead, even if the product is prone to bending, it can be pushed toward the center without bending the edges. Furthermore, the center of the accumulated product 2 is lifted, so that the sheet-like articles 1 can be pushed toward the center with reduced contact resistance between them.

[0042] The discharge section is mountain-shaped like the conveying section, with left and right inclined surfaces 45, and the apex 43 is formed at the same height, i.e., horizontally along the conveying direction. In this way, the stacked products 2 that have reached the discharge section are corrected for positional deviations in the front-rear and left-right directions that were formed at the downstream end position of the conveying section, and are maintained in the position bent into a steep mountain shape from the center in the width direction.

[0043] Furthermore, a through hole or a recess extending in the conveying direction is formed at apex portion 43 of the discharge portion, so that a space is formed at a position corresponding to apex portion 43 on the underside of stacked product 2 waiting at the discharge portion (see FIG. 8, etc.).

[0044] The second transfer robot 15 includes a robot arm 49 and a robot hand 50 attached to the tip of the robot arm 49, and operates to move the robot hand 50 back and forth between above the loading portion of the folding conveyor device 12 and above the supply position of the pillow packaging machine main body 13 in accordance with the movement of the robot arm 49. The robot hand 50 includes four lifting sections 51 corresponding to the arrangement pitch of the four conveyor lane sections 33 in the conveyor lane member 32.

[0045] Each lifting section 51 has a pair of lifting hook sections 52 and a sheet pressing section 53. The pair of lifting hook sections 52 are arranged in front and behind along the conveying direction, and the L-shaped bent tip sections 52a are arranged so as to approach each other. The lifting hook sections 52 are configured to move toward and away from each other with the operation of a predetermined driving section, and in the open state, the distance between the tips of the tip sections 52a is longer than the length of the short side of the sheet-like article 1. In the closed state, the distance between the tips of the tip sections 52a is shorter than the length of the short side of the sheet-like article 1, and more preferably, the distance between the upwardly extending portions of the lifting hook sections 52 is equal to or approximately equal to the length of the short side of the sheet-like article 1.

[0046] With this configuration, when the lifting hook parts 52 are open, the robot arm 49 operates to move the pair of lifting hook parts 52 downward so as to straddle the longitudinal center part of the stacked product 2 waiting at the discharge site, and position the tip part 52a below the bottom surface of the stacked product 2. In this state, the lifting hook parts 52 are closed to cause the tip part 52a to enter the space below the stacked product 2 as shown in FIG. 5(b) and other figures. Thereafter, the lifting hook parts 52 are raised to lift the stacked product 2 as shown in FIG. 5(c) and other figures. As a result, the stacked product 2 moves away from the inclined surface 45 of the transport lane part 33, and since there is no longer a member supporting the bottom side, the stacked product 2 is folded in half by its own weight, hanging down to the left and right around the lifting hook parts 52.

[0047] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the sheet pressing portion 53 is movable up and down, and the distance between the sheet pressing portion 53 and the tip 52a of the lifting hook portion 52 is adjustable. In this way, as shown in Fig. 8 and other figures, when the lifting hook portion 52 closes and supports the accumulated products 2 from below with the tip 52a, the sheet pressing portion 53 moves downward at a predetermined timing to approach the accumulated products 2 and sandwich the accumulated products 2 from above and below between the tip 52a and the accumulated products 2. By sandwiching the accumulated products 2 in this manner, the lifting portion 51 can hold the accumulated products 2, and the accumulated products can be prevented from falling during the time from when they are lifted up to when they are supplied to the pillow packaging machine main body 13.

[0048] Then, after the four stacked products 2 have been lifted up by the four-series lifting units 51 in this manner, the robot hand 50 moves above the pillow packaging machine main body 13 in accordance with the operation of the robot arm 49, and as shown in Fig. 9, the leading ends of the folded stacked products 2 are brought into contact with the conveying surface 62 between the front and rear fingers 61 of the supply conveyor device 60 of the pillow packaging machine main body 13, and the lifting units 51 are moved relatively forward to position the folded parts supported by the lifting hook units 52 downstream in the conveying direction of the supply conveyor device 60 from the leading ends of the stacked products. As a result, the four stacked products 2 assume a position inclined diagonally forward and upward along the conveying direction, and by opening the lifting hook units 52 in this state, the folded stacked products 2 can be transferred and supplied to the conveying surface of the supply conveyor device 60.

[0049] In addition, in this embodiment, a sheet holding down section 53 is provided, so that even if the robot hand 50 is moved at high speed, the accumulated items 2 will not fall from the lifting section 51, and therefore the movement during transfer can be performed at high speed, thereby improving the processing speed.

[0050] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a downwardly inclined chute guide plate-like portion 48 is provided on the outside of the discharge end of the transport lane portion 33. When the accumulated product 2 is waiting at the discharge site, if the second transfer robot 15 does not lift the accumulated product 2 and the feed finger 34 is operated, the feed finger 34, which is in the first position at the discharge site, sends the accumulated product 2 forward and drops it from the discharge site, thereby discharging it. The dropped accumulated product 2 is then guided downward by the chute guide plate-like portion 48 and is discharged outside the system.

[0051] In the above-described embodiment, the inclined surface 45 constituting the conveying surface of the folding and conveying device 12 is a flat plane as a whole, but may have a non-flat portion such as a curved portion or the whole portion. In addition, the apex portion of the conveying surface may be a point or may have a certain width when viewed in the width direction, and if it has a certain width, it may have a low portion such as a depression or a space such as a hole.

[0052] In the above-mentioned embodiment, the sheet-like product 1 has two poultices 4 arranged on the left and right with a gap between them, so there is no poultices 4 in the center of the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the portion of the sheet-like product 1 corresponding to the apex of the conveying surface has only the transparent film 3, which is preferable because it is easy to bend. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the perforations 5 of the transparent film 3 are located in the portion facing the apex of the conveying surface, which is preferable because it is easier to bend. However, the perforations 5 may not be provided, and the poultices may be present in the center. Furthermore, one poultices may be attached to the transparent film. Furthermore, the sheet-like product is not limited to poultices, and may be any type of elongated product.

[0053] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the sheet-like items 1 are stacked by pick-and-place using the first transfer robot to form the stacked product 2, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various methods can be used, for example, in addition to stacking the sheet-like items by dropping them sequentially from above the loading area.

[0054] In the above embodiment, the folding and conveying device 12 is provided with an alignment mechanism for aligning the end positions of the sheet-like products 1 in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, but this is not necessarily required. For example, if there is little or no misalignment between the sheet-like products 1 of the stacked products 2 supplied to the entrance portion of the folding and conveying device 12, an alignment mechanism may not be provided. If the direction of misalignment is fixed, a configuration may be adopted in which the stopper member 42, which is a part of the alignment mechanism in the front-rear direction, or the side guide of the alignment mechanism in the left-right direction is not provided. In the present embodiment, four sets of feed fingers 34 arranged in the front and rear and the stopper member 42 are provided to align the front-rear direction, but the number of stages or the number of stopper members 42 may be reduced depending on the degree of misalignment. Furthermore, the mechanism for applying a conveying force to the stacked products may be a finger that moves over the entire length of the conveying path, instead of a multi-stage feed finger.

[0055] The folding device may be used as an alignment device. For example, the folded stack 2 aligned in the front-rear or left-right direction may be transported without being picked up by the second transfer robot 15, flattened, and handed over to a downstream process. In this case, for example, a transport surface may be provided downstream of the upwardly inclined transport surface of the folding device, the cross section of which in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction is a mountain-shaped apex whose angle gradually increases and which eventually becomes flat. In this case, the downstream transport surface may be inclined upward or downward with respect to the transport direction.

[0056] In addition, the conveying path (folding conveying device) in the folding device and the alignment device having the left-right alignment function is not limited to the above, and may be configured in various ways, such as arranging a rod-shaped body so as to be inclined diagonally upward at a position corresponding to the apex of the mountain shape, forming a plate-shaped body with an uphill upper end face standing on the conveying surface, or forming a horizontal conveying surface such that both left and right sides of the sheet-like article hang down outside the conveying surface in a tapered shape, thereby conveying the accumulated products and moving the middle part of the accumulated products in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction relatively higher than the left and right ends. In the case of the alignment device, it is better to configure it so that, for example, the center part rises along the conveying direction to lift the accumulated products.

[0057] Various aspects of the present invention have been described above using embodiments and modifications. However, it should be noted that these embodiments and descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but are provided to aid in the understanding of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is not limited to the configurations and manufacturing methods explicitly described in the specification, but includes combinations of various aspects of the present invention disclosed in the present specification. Although the configurations of the present invention that are to be patented are specified in the appended claims, it is noted that even if the configurations are not currently specified in the claims, the configurations disclosed in the present specification may be claimed in the future. In this case, the invention based on the configurations disclosed in the present specification may not have some or all of the invention-specifying elements of the invention currently described in claim 1, and the problem of the invention is not limited to the problem described in the "Problem to be Solved by the Invention" column. [Explanation of symbols]

[0058] 1: Sheet-like items 2: Accumulation 3: Transparent film 4: Poultice 5: Perforation 10: Packaging system 11: Transport conveyor 12: Folding conveyor device 13: Pillow packaging machine body 14: First transfer robot 15: Second transfer robot 16: Supply conveyor 32: Transport lane components 33: Transport lane section 34: Feed finger 42: Stopper part 43: Vertex part 45: Inclined surface 46: Side guide 49: Robot arm 50: Robot Hand 51: Lifting section 52: Lifting hook part 53: Sheet retainer

Claims

[Claim 1] A method for aligning left and right end positions of a plurality of sheet-like articles during conveyance of an accumulated product in which the sheet-like articles are stacked while being misaligned in a width direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction, comprising the steps of: The stack is transported, and while being transported, a central portion of the stack in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction is moved upward relatively to the left and right ends, thereby lifting the central portion of the stack and folding it in half into a mountain shape, and the height of the folding position of the central portion increases as the stack progresses in the transport direction, thereby reducing contact resistance between the sheet-like articles; An alignment method in which the ends of the sheet-like objects are brought into contact with side guides arranged on the left and right sides of a conveying surface while reducing the contact resistance between the sheet-like objects, and a predetermined sheet-like object is moved left and right to align the end positions.

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