Conveyor system

Abstract

To intermittently unload a conveyance article from a conveyor device by appropriate weight.SOLUTION: A conveyor system 1 comprises: a conveyor device 10 that transfers a conveyance article from a dropping part 6 on a rear end 3 side to an unloading part 7 on a tip 2 side by driving force; a hopper 22 that is installed above the dropping part 6; a supply device 41 that supplies the conveyance articles to the hopper 22; weight detection means 29 that acquires a weight of the conveyance article accumulated in the hopper 22; a dropping device 21 that supplies the conveyance article accumulated in the hopper 22 to the dropping part 6; and control means 30 that controls operations of the dropping device 21, the supply device 41 and the conveyor device 10, wherein the control means 30 stops the supply of the conveyance article by the supply device 41 when the weight of the conveyance article accumulated in the hopper 22 reaches a predetermined value, and supplies the conveyance article to the dropping part 6, and controls the transfer of all the conveyance articles supplied to the dropping part 6 to the unloading part 7.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a conveyor system that appropriately introduces a conveyed object transported by a conveyor device into the next conveying means.

Background Art

[0002] Generally, a conveyor device is used as a means for transporting earth and sand, crushed stones, and other various conveyed objects. Examples of conveyor devices include a belt conveyor using an endless belt and a screw conveyor using a rotating screw shaft.

[0003] In a belt conveyor, an endless belt is wound between a driving pulley and a driven pulley, and the rotation of the driving pulley causes the belt to move, so that the conveyed object on the belt is transported from the rear end to the front end (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In a screw conveyor, a rotating shaft provided with spiral blades is provided inside a casing, and the rotation of the rotating shaft around its axis by a driving force causes the conveyed object to be pushed out and transported from the rear end to the front end in the axial direction in accordance with the rotation of the blades (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Furthermore, there is also a conveyor device that combines a belt conveyor and a screw conveyor (see, for example, Patent Document 3).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Patent Document 3

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] As described above, the conveyed object that has been transported by the conveyor device falls at the loading / unloading section of the conveyor device and is loaded onto the next conveying means. At this time, when the next conveying means is a transportation device such as a vehicle or a ship, it is necessary to load a conveyed object of an appropriate weight onto the transportation device. If the weight of the loaded conveyed object is less than the predetermined amount set for the transportation device, it will result in an increase in transportation costs. If it is more than the predetermined amount, it will cause the problem of overloading. Since the weight measurement is performed by a truck scale provided at a location separate from the loading / unloading section, if it is found that there is an excess or deficiency in the loading amount at the truck scale, it is necessary to return to the loading / unloading section and reload, which results in the problem of wasting time and labor.

[0006] In this regard, in Patent Document 3, the discharge amount of the article by the conveyor is measured based on the detection output of the load sensor. However, the technique of this Patent Document 3 only enables a constant supply to maintain a constant supply amount per unit time for the next process (see paragraph 0054 of the specification of Patent Document 3), and cannot solve the problem of how to load a conveyed object of an appropriate weight onto the successive intermittently arriving transportation devices.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to intermittently unload a conveyed object from the conveyor device by appropriate weights.

Means for Solving the Problem

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention a conveyor device that transfers a conveyed object from a throwing section on the rear end side to a loading / unloading section on the front end side by a driving force, a hopper installed above the throwing section, a supply device that supplies the conveyed object to the hopper, weight detection means that acquires the weight of the conveyed object accumulated in the hopper, a dropping device that supplies the conveyed object accumulated in the hopper to the throwing section, control means that controls the operations of the dropping device, the supply device, and the conveyor device, and is provided with When the weight of the conveyed material accumulated in the hopper reaches a predetermined value, the control means stops the supply of the conveyed material by the supply device, supplies the conveyed material to the dropping section, and controls to convey all of the conveyed material supplied to the dropping section to the unloading section, and a conveyor system is adopted.

[0009] Here, the conveyor device is provided with an access space for a transport device where the conveyed material is unloaded below the unloading section, and the unloading section can be configured to be located above the dropping section. When dropping from the unloading section to a loading platform such as a dump truck, a certain height is required. However, if the entire conveyor device is at a high position, it is necessary to install the hopper and the supply device at an even higher position, which increases the burden when supplying the conveyed material and deteriorates the balance of the entire system. For this reason, the dropping section where the conveyed material is dropped from the hopper is low, and a conveyor device having a rising section in the middle lifts the conveyed material to a high position and drops it from the unloading section.

[0010] The conveyor device is a belt conveyor provided with an endless conveyor belt. The conveyor belt can be configured to include a plurality of partition portions rising from its conveying surface along the conveying direction, and wall portions rising at both ends in the width direction of its conveying surface. Even if a rising section is provided such that the inclination of the conveyor belt is vertical or close to it, the conveyed material can be lifted by being supported by the wall portion and the partition portion.

Advantages of the Invention

[0011] This invention can intermittently unload the conveyed material from the conveyor device by appropriate weights and load it onto the transport device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0013] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is a conveyor system 1 that enables unloading appropriate weights of conveyed objects one by one to intermittently arriving transport equipment when unloading the conveyed objects from the conveyor device 10 to the transport equipment. Although various articles and materials can be handled as the conveyed objects, here, earth and sand are assumed as the conveyed objects. The earth and sand as the conveyed objects are supplied to the loading part 6 near the rear end 3 of the conveyor device 10, then transferred to the unloading part 7 at the front end 2, and loaded onto the loading platform of the dump truck 50 which is the next transfer means. Then, the earth and sand are transferred to the destination by the dump truck 50.

[0014] In the conveyor system 1 of this embodiment, a belt conveyor having an endless conveyor belt 11 is adopted as the conveyor device 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the configuration of the conveyor device 10 is such that an endless conveyor belt 11 is wound between a driving pulley 12 provided on the front end 2 side and a driven pulley 13 provided on the rear end 3 side. The conveyor belt 11 extends longitudinally with a certain width, and is formed in an annular shape by connecting both ends in its longitudinal direction. Due to the rotation of the driving pulley 12, the conveyor belt 11 moves in the longitudinal direction (conveying direction), and the conveyed object dropped onto the conveyor belt 11 from above at the loading part 6 near the position where the conveyor belt 11 is wound back from the upper surface side of the driven pulley 13 is transferred toward the driving pulley 12 side.

[0015] A driving device for operating the conveyor belt 11 along the longitudinal direction is provided on the driving pulley 12. The driving device includes a motor, a power source for supplying power to the motor, a device for transmitting the rotation from the motor, etc. Here, it is not particularly shown and the mechanism is not limited. On the other hand, the driven pulley 13 rotates following the movement of the conveyor belt 11 along the longitudinal direction.

[0016] The transported object falls at the reversing portion of the conveyor belt 11 near the drive pulley 12, and is unloaded onto the bed of the dump truck 50. The reversing portion is a place where the conveyor belt 11 turns 180 degrees from the sending belt to the returning belt, as shown in FIG. 1. Here, the reversing portion serves as the unloading portion 7 where the transported object transferred by the conveyor device 10 falls. The returning belt downstream of the reversing portion is provided with a scraper device that scrapes off the deposits on the surface of the conveyor belt 11. The scraper device presses a plate-shaped member made of rubber, resin, or the like against the surface of the conveyor belt 11 to scrape off the deposits. In addition, rollers 16 that support the conveyor belt 11 from below are provided on each of the sending belt and the returning belt.

[0017] A hopper 22 is provided above the dropping section 6 that drops the transported objects onto the conveyor belt 11. The hopper 22 can store the transported objects supplied from the supply device 41 and can drop the stored transported objects onto the conveyor belt 11 all at once.

[0018] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged front view of the hopper 22 and its vicinity. The dropping device 21 has a hopper 22 that extends in the longitudinal direction and narrows from the left to the right downward. FIG. 3 shows a plan view of the AA section of the hopper 22 as seen from the middle of the hopper 22. FIG. 4 shows a side view from the rear end 3 side. The dropping device 21 is provided below the hopper 22 to supply the transported objects to the dropping section 6. The dropping device 21 has a drop port 23 provided on the underside of the hopper 22 through which the transported objects pass, and a gate 24 that normally closes the drop port 23. The shaft 26 of the gate 24 is pushed by a cylinder 25 attached to the side (in the direction toward the back of the drawings in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2), and when a guide 27 pushed by the shaft 26 pushes the gate 24 to temporarily open the drop port 23, the transported objects stored in the hopper 22 fall through the drop port 23 into the drop section 6.

[0019] The hopper 22 is provided with weight detection means 29 for obtaining the weight of the conveyed material stored in the hopper 22. In the illustrated embodiment, as the weight detection means 29, it has load cells provided at a plurality of locations in the left - right direction near the upper end of the hopper 22. The load cells in this embodiment adopt a strain gauge type detection method. It is equipped with a strain sensor (strain gauge) for measuring the amount of strain of the member, and the strain sensor measures the amount of strain of the member that elastically deforms when the weight of the conveyed material stored in the hopper 22 is loaded, and detects the load acting according to the amount of strain. Information on the detected load is acquired by the control means 30 as the detected load.

[0020] The control means 30 includes an arithmetic means 31 for processing the output signal from the weight detection means 29, a determination means 32 for determining the information calculated by the arithmetic means 31, a display unit 33 for visually displaying that information, an instruction means 34 for sending an instruction to operate the dropping device 21 and a supply device 41 described later when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and other control units for performing control settings.

[0021] Above the hopper 22, a supply device 41 for dropping the conveyed material into the hopper 22 is provided. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, two supply devices 41a, 41b are provided directly above the hopper. Each of the supply devices 41a, 41b has hoppers 42a, 42b. Both of the hoppers 42a, 42b have dropping ports 43a, 43b and gates 44a, 44b for closing them and temporarily opening them, similar to the dropping device 21 of the hopper 22. Similarly, for the mechanism that moves the gates 44a, 44b, the shafts 46a, 46b are pushed by cylinders 45a, 45b attached beside the respective gates 44a, 44b, and the guides 47a, 47b pushed by the shafts 46a, 46b open the gates 44a, 44b. While the gates 44a, 44b are open, the conveyed material is continuously dropped from the hoppers 42a, 42b and accumulates in the hopper 22. The timing for opening and closing the gates 44a, 44b is controlled by the control means 30.

[0022] Also, if there are two supply devices 41a and 41b, while the conveyed material is being accumulated in one of the supply devices 41a and 41b, dropping to the dropping device 21 can be performed from the other. Thereby, the waiting time for dropping to the conveyor belt 11 can be reduced, and the working efficiency can be improved.

[0023] The control procedure performed by the control means 30 is as follows in the following example. When loading the conveyed material into the conveyor device 10, the instruction means 34 instructs the opening of either of the gates 44a and 44b of the supply devices 41a and 41b in which the conveyed material has already been accumulated. The supply of the conveyed material from the supply devices 41a and 41b with the gates 44a and 44b opened to the hopper 22 is started. While it is being supplied, the arithmetic means 31 processes the output signal from the weight detection means 29, and the determination means 32 repeatedly determines whether or not the weight of the conveyed material accumulated in the hopper 22 calculated by this processing reaches a predetermined value. Here, the predetermined value is set to a value corresponding to the predetermined loading weight (usually the maximum loading weight) of the conveyed material allowed for one dump truck 50. This predetermined value can be set to an arbitrary value at the operation unit according to the type of the dump truck 50 and other transfer means.

[0024] When the determination means 32 determines that the predetermined value has been reached, the instruction means 34 issues an instruction to close the opened gates 44a and 44b and stops the supply of the conveyed material. In addition, an instruction to open the gate 24 of the dropping device 21 is issued, and all the conveyed material accumulated in the hopper 22 is dropped to the dropping part 6 for supply. Note that an instruction to automatically open the gate 24 may be issued if the determined value is the predetermined value, or an instruction to open the gate 24 may be issued if the determined value is the predetermined value and other conditions are satisfied. Examples of other conditions include pressing a button indicating permission for dropping by a visually confirmed operator.

[0025] When gate 24 is opened and the conveyed material is dropped from hopper 22 to the dropping section 6, the weight value obtained from the output signal of the weight detection means 29 decreases. When the value becomes equal to or less than another predetermined value set as the empty weight of hopper 22, the determination means 32 determines that the conveyed material accumulated in hopper 22 has become empty. When it is determined that hopper 22 has become empty, the instruction means 34 closes gate 24 and drives the conveyor device 10. The driving of the conveyor device 10 continues until all of the conveyed material dropped into the dropping section 6 reaches the unloading section 7.

[0026] The conveyor system 1 of this embodiment has an entry space T below the unloading section 7 into which a dump truck 50, which is a transport device for unloading the conveyed material, can enter. For this purpose, the unloading section 7 is located above the dropping section 6, and between the dropping section 6 and the unloading section 7, at least a part has a rising section 8 where the conveyor belt 11 is inclined. The entire conveyor device 1 may be the inclined rising section 8, or a rising section 8 with a partially increased inclination angle may be provided. The figure shows an example in which a rising section 8 with a partially vertical inclination angle is provided. It is possible to lift the conveyed material to the height required for the unloading section 7 while minimizing the area required for the entire device. When a sufficient installation area can be secured, it may be an inclination with an appropriate angle instead of being vertical.

[0027] As the rising section 8, a deflection pulley 51 is provided which contacts the upper surface of the feed side belt on the rear end 3 side and directs the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 11 upward. The conveyor belt 11 directed upward is directed again in the horizontal direction by a plurality of rollers 52 attached so as to contact the lower surface of the feed side belt above the rising section 8, and the conveyed material is fed into the unloading section 7. On the other hand, the return side belt returning from the unloading section 7 has its conveying direction directed downward by a deflection pulley 53 that contacts the lower surface of the conveyor belt 11 above the rising section 8, and its conveying direction is directed in the horizontal direction by a deflection pulley 54 that contacts the upper surface of the conveyor belt 11 below the rising section 8 and continues to the rear end 3.

[0028] Note that although it depends on the angle of the ascending section 8, when the conveyed object falls due to the inclination angle, it is preferable that the conveyor belt 11 has a support structure for supporting the conveyed object. In this embodiment, as the support structure, a plurality of partition portions 57 rising from the conveyance surface are provided along the conveyance direction on the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt, that is, the upper surface of the feed side belt and the lower surface of the return side belt, and wall portions 56 rising at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance surface are provided. It is desirable that the wall portion 56 be made of a material that can expand and contract according to the bending when the conveyor belt 11 is redirected by the pulley. In FIG. 1, the wall portion 56 is erected on the outer periphery of the conveyor belt 11, and in FIG. 4, the partition portion 57 is erected between the wall portions 56, 56. In the ascending section 8, the partition portion 57 serves as the bottom to support the conveyed object, and the wall portion 56 also prevents the conveyed object from falling from the left and right in the conveyance direction, and lifts the conveyed object.

[0029] The conveyor belt 11, pulleys 12, 13, 51, 53, 54, rollers 16, 52, etc. of the conveyor device 10 are supported by a conveyor frame 14 built along the conveyance direction. The dropping device 21 is also supported by this conveyor frame 14 and installed above the dropping section 6. On the other hand, the supply devices 41a, 41b may be installed integrally with the conveyor frame 14 or may be provided separately.

[0030] In the above embodiment, a belt conveyor is adopted as the conveyor device 10, but a screw conveyor may be adopted instead. When a screw conveyor is adopted, the conveyor device 10 includes a screw shaft provided with blades continuously spirally in a cylindrical casing, and the screw shaft rotates around the axis by a driving force from a driving source such as a motor, so that the conveyed object is pushed out and conveyed from the rear end 3 to the front end 2 side of the conveyor device 10 along the axial direction in accordance with the rotation of the blades.

[0031] In this embodiment, a strain gauge type load cell is adopted as the weight detection means 29. However, various types of load cells with different operating principles can be adopted, such as load cells that utilize hydraulic pressure or pneumatic pressure, or load cells that utilize the magnetostrictive effect, piezoelectric effect, etc. In addition to load cells, various measuring instruments having a function of measuring the weight of the conveyed object can be adopted as the weight detection means.

[0032] In the above embodiment, a dump truck 50 is adopted as the next transfer means for the conveyed object. However, as the next transfer means, various transportation devices such as vehicles and ships can be adopted, or when installing a plurality of conveyor devices and selectively loading and unloading the conveyed object by a predetermined weight for each of the plurality of conveyor devices, the conveyor system of the present invention may be adopted.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0033] 1 Conveyor system 2 Tip 3 Rear end 6 Discharge part 7 Unloading part 8 Lifting part 10 Conveyor device 11 Conveyor belt 12 Driving pulley 13 Driven pulley 14 Conveyor frame 16, 52 Roller 21 Discharge device 22, 42a, 42b Hopper 23, 43a, 43b Discharge port 24, 44a, 44b Gate 25, 45a, 45b Cylinder 26, 46a, 46b Shaft 27, 47a, 47b Guide 29 Weight detection means 30 Control means 31 Calculation means 32 Judgment means 33 Display part 34 Instruction means 41a, 41b Supply device 50 dump trucks 51, 53, 54 deflection pulleys 56 wall part 57 partition part S conveyed object T entry space

Claims

1. A conveyor system (10) for transferring a conveyed object from a loading part (6) on the rear end (3) side to a removal part (7) on the front end (2) side by a driving force, A hopper (22) installed above the loading part (6), A supply device (41; 41a, 41b) for supplying the conveyed object to the hopper (22), A weight detection means (29) for obtaining the weight of the conveyed object accumulated in the hopper (22), A dropping device (21) for supplying the conveyed object accumulated in the hopper (22) to the loading part (6), A control means (30) for controlling the operations of the dropping device (21), the supply device (41), and the conveyor device (10), comprising: The control means (30) stops the supply of the conveyed object by the supply device (41; 41a, 41b) when the weight of the conveyed object accumulated in the hopper (22) reaches a predetermined value, supplies the conveyed object to the loading part (6), and performs control to convey all of the conveyed object supplied to the loading part (6) to the removal part (7). The conveyor system is provided with an entry space for a dump truck (50) where the conveyed object is unloaded below the removal part (7), The conveyor system in which the removal part (7) is located above the loading part (6).

2. The conveyor device (10) is a belt conveyor including an endless conveyor belt (11), The conveyor belt (11) includes a plurality of partition parts (57) rising from its conveying surface along the conveying direction, and wall parts (56) rising at both ends in the width direction of its conveying surface. The conveyor system according to Claim 1.

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