Bag-opening system and bag-opening container

Abstract

A bag opening system according to the present disclosure has high tolerance for the shape of a bag and comprises: a bag opening container which is formed to have an open upper portion so as to be capable of receiving a bag used to store powdered or granulated material and which has, on at least one of a side face and a bottom face thereof, a discharge window through which the powdered or granulated material can pass but the bag cannot; a cutting mechanism that inserts, into the discharge window, a bag cutter for cutting the bag, thereby forming, in the bag, a discharge opening through which the powdered or granulated material can flow out; and a swing mechanism that swings the bag opening container to cause the powdered or granulated material to flow out from the discharge opening and through the discharge window to the outside of the bag opening container.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a bag opening system and a bag opening container. [Background technology]

[0002] In various facilities, bag-opening work is required to feed bagged powdered or granular raw materials and the like into a predetermined processing facility. In order to automate this bag-opening work, a bag-opening system has been proposed in which a robot holds the bag, cuts the top of the bag held by the robot, and then inverts the bag using the robot to feed the contents into the predetermined processing facility (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-165223 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Even for the same raw material, the shape of the bag may differ depending on the raw material manufacturer. Also, there are cases where multiple types of raw materials need to be opened in order. In conventional systems, a head is designed for each bag shape, so there is a risk that the system will not be able to perform the operation if bags of different shapes are mixed. For this reason, a bag opening system with a high tolerance for bag shapes is desired. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A bag-opening system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a bag-opening container that is open at the top and configured to receive a bag containing powder or granular material, and has a discharge window on at least one of the side or bottom surface through which the powder or granular material can pass but the bag cannot; a cutting mechanism that forms a discharge outlet in the bag through which the powder or granular material can flow out by inserting a bag cutter that cuts the bag into the discharge window; and a swinging mechanism that swings the bag-opening container to cause the powder or granular material to flow out of the bag-opening container from the discharge outlet through the discharge window. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present disclosure, a bag opening system can be provided that has a high tolerance for the shape of the bag body. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a bag opening system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] 2 is a perspective view showing the bag-opening container of the bag-opening system of FIG. 1. FIG. [Figure 3] 1. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a bag-opening container different from that shown in FIG. 2 of the bag-opening system of FIG. [Figure 4] 3 is a flowchart showing the procedure of a bag opening process performed by the bag opening system of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a bag opening system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0009] The bag opening system 1 is a system for removing powder or granular material from a bag B containing the powder or granular material. In this embodiment, the bag B may be provided in a state where it is housed in a box C (for example, an A-type cardboard box) having flaps that are fastened with tape to form a bottom. The bag opening system 1 of this embodiment may be configured to ultimately feed the powder or granular material removed from the bag B into a predetermined inlet (not shown) of, for example, a tank for storing powder or granular material, a hopper of equipment for processing powder or granular material, or the like.

[0010] The bag-opening system 1 comprises a plurality of bag-opening containers (a first bag-opening container 10A shown in detail in Figure 2 and a second bag-opening container 10B shown in detail in Figure 3) each formed to be able to receive a bag body B containing powder or granular material, a cutting mechanism 20 that forms a discharge outlet E in the bag body B held in the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B through which the powder or granular material can flow out, a swinging mechanism 30 that swings the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, an intermediate container 40 that receives the powder or granular material flowing out of the bag body B held in the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, and an insertion mechanism 50 that inserts the bag body B into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B.

[0011] The bag-opening containers 10A and 10B are containers that hold a bag body B and are used to open the held bag body B and discharge the powder or granular material contained therein. The bag-opening containers 10A and 10B according to the present embodiment are each an embodiment of the bag-opening container according to the present disclosure.

[0012] The bag-opening containers 10A, 10B have one rectangular bottom plate and four rectangular side plates, are open at the top, and are formed like a box capable of receiving a bag B. The length and width of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B can be set to be 1.0 to 1.5 times the length and width of the bag B to be received (average values ​​when inserted into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B), respectively. The bag-opening containers 10A, 10B are provided with a connector 11 on one side (outside the side plate) for detachably attaching to the swinging mechanism 30, and have discharge windows 12A, 12B on at least one of the side and bottom to allow the powder or granular material to be discharged, through which the powder or granular material can pass but the bag cannot. The bag-opening system 1 has a high tolerance for the shape of the bag B because the powder or granular material is discharged from the discharge windows 12A, 12B of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, which are open at the top.

[0013] The first openable container 10A is used when the bag body B is made of a material with relatively high rigidity, such as kraft paper, aluminum vapor deposition or laminate sheet, and can maintain its general shape even after the powder or granular material is discharged. On the other hand, the second openable container 10B is used when the bag body B is made of a material with relatively low rigidity, such as vinyl film, and can easily deform when the powder or granular material is discharged.

[0014] The first bag-opening container 10A has a rectangular discharge window 12A located mainly in the horizontal center of one side surface, leaving the upper part of the side panel uncovered. To facilitate the discharge of powder or granular material, the discharge window 12A is preferably formed across the edge of the bottom panel, with at least a portion of the window opening onto the bottom surface of the first bag-opening container 10A. The height of the discharge window 12A of the first bag-opening container 10A is preferably between 1 / 2 and 3 / 2 of the thickness of the bag body B to be received, and more preferably between 2 / 3 and 1 / 1, to facilitate the discharge of powder or granular material. The width of the discharge window 12A of the first bag-opening container 10A is preferably between 1 / 4 and 2 / 3 of the length of the bag body B to be received, and more preferably between 1 / 3 and 1 / 2, to facilitate the efficient discharge of powder or granular material while retaining the bag body B within the first bag-opening container 10A.

[0015] The second bag-opening container 10B further has a plurality of pins 13 arranged upward on its bottom surface so as to pierce the bag B when the bag B is inserted from above. The pins 13 lock the bag B inside the second bag-opening container 10B to prevent the bag B from falling out through the discharge window 12B. The number of pins 13 can be, for example, four. The distances of the pins 13 from the side panels of the second bag-opening container 10B in the width and depth directions of the second bag-opening container 10B are preferably between 1 / 5 and 1 / 3 of the length of the second bag-opening container 10B in each direction, so as to reliably pierce the pins 13 into the bag B and maintain the shape of the bag B as much as possible. The length of the pins 13 is preferably between 1 / 5 and 2 / 3 of the thickness of the bag B so as to reliably pierce the bottom surface of the bag B without piercing the top surface of the bag B.

[0016] The second bag-opening container 10B has multiple discharge windows 12B formed on its bottom surface. The multiple discharge windows 12B preferably include four side discharge windows 121 formed to extend along at least the centers of the four sides of the bottom plate, and one or more central discharge windows 122 formed between the side discharge windows 121. The discharge windows 12B of the second bag-opening container 10B are preferably each formed in a slit shape to make it easier to hold the bag B. The width of the discharge window 12B of each second bag-opening container 10B can be 30 mm or more and 50 mm or less.

[0017] When bag B is a gusset type, i.e., has a gusset, and particularly when sheets are placed on top of each other on the bottom to form the gusset, the side discharge windows 121 are formed to efficiently discharge powder or granular material that has entered the triangular space formed between the sheets. The side discharge windows 121 are formed along each of the four sides of the bottom plate to discharge powder or granular material regardless of the orientation of bag B inserted into the second open-bag container 10B, particularly when the front width of bag B and the length (depth) of the gusset are approximately equal.

[0018] The central discharge window 122 is preferably formed so as to extend substantially across the second open-bag container 10B in at least one direction, either alone or together with the side discharge windows 121. The opening rate of the discharge windows 12B in this crosswise direction (the rate at which the discharge windows 12B exist on an imaginary line crossing the second open-bag container 10B) is preferably 80% or more. This allows the powder or granular material to be easily discharged through the discharge windows 12B by tilting the second open-bag container 10B in a direction perpendicular to the crosswise direction of the discharge windows 12B.

[0019] The cutting mechanism 20 has a bag cutter 21 that is inserted into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B through the discharge windows 12A, 12B and cuts the bag bodies B. The cutting mechanism 20 may have a holding structure that holds the bag cutter 21 immovably, or a simple holding mechanism that, for example, positions the bag cutter 21 above the intermediate container 40 when cutting the bag bodies B and retracts the bag cutter 21 when discharging the powder or granular material. However, it is preferable that the cutting mechanism 20 has a cutting robot 22 that can hold the bag cutter 21 and move it freely. A vertical articulated robot is typically used as the cutting robot 22, but other types of robots may also be used. The cutting mechanism 20 also preferably has a cutter confirmation unit 23 that detects chipping of the bag cutter 21, i.e., the risk of fragments of the bag cutter 21 being mixed into the powder or granular material.

[0020] The bag cutter 21 is preferably an ultrasonic cutter, which can reliably cut the bag body B and is less likely to chip. The cutting robot 22 preferably moves the bag cutter 21 so as to form a horizontal cutting line extending horizontally and a pair of vertical cutting lines extending upward from both ends of the horizontal cutting line. The flap-like portion defined by the three cutting lines is pushed open by the pressure of the powder or granular material, forming an outlet E through which the powder or granular material can be easily discharged. Furthermore, the bag body B is preferably cut by moving the bag cutter 21 from bottom to top, as in the order described above. This prevents the powder or granular material from contacting the cutting mechanism 20 and adhering or scattering if the powder or granular material flows out of the bag body B immediately after cutting. Furthermore, the cutting mechanism 20 preferably moves the bag cutter 21 horizontally or at an angle relative to the bag body to prevent the flowing powder or granular material from contacting the cutting mechanism 20 and adhering or scattering. The cutter checking unit 23 can be a system that takes an image of the bag cutter 21 and checks for chipping by image processing.

[0021] The cutting robot 22 can also be used to remove the empty bag body B from the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B after the powder or granular material has been discharged. In this case, the cutting robot 22 may further swing the bag body B to discharge the remaining powder or granular material.

[0022] The swinging mechanism 30 swings the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, causing the powder or granular material to flow out of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B through the discharge windows 12A, 12B from the discharge outlet E formed in the bag body B. The swinging mechanism 30 preferably swings the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B in multiple directions to promote the discharge of the powder or granular material from the discharge windows 12A, 12B. Furthermore, after the empty bag body B is removed from the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, the swinging mechanism 30 may invert the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B to discharge the remaining powder or granular material.

[0023] When the cutting mechanism 20 and the insertion mechanism 50 are operating, it is desirable that the swinging mechanism 30 hold the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B in a position and posture that is optimal for the operation of the cutting mechanism 20 and the insertion mechanism 50. In particular, when a discharge window 12A that opens on the side of the first bag-opening container 10A is used, it is desirable that the swinging mechanism 30 hold the first bag-opening container 10A at an angle so that the discharge window 12A is located relatively lower. This causes the bag body B to move by its own weight toward the discharge window 12A inside the first bag-opening container 10A, making it easier for the bag cutter 21 to approach and forming the discharge outlet E.

[0024] The swinging mechanism 30 may swing the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B at a position where the powder or granular material can be directly fed into a predetermined feed opening, but it is preferable to swing the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B above the intermediate container 40 so that the flowing powder or granular material is first fed into the intermediate container. This means that if the bag cutter 21 is chipped, for example, only the powder or granular material that has been fed into the intermediate container 40 needs to be rejected, minimizing the loss of powder or granular material.

[0025] The swinging mechanism 30 preferably has a swinging robot 32 having an engaging portion 31 at its tip that engages with the connector 11 of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B. A vertical articulated robot can typically be used as the swinging robot 32, but other types of robots may also be used. By using the swinging robot 32, it is possible to easily achieve the optimal bag-opening containers 10A, 10B and their swinging operation depending on the type of bag B to be opened, thereby improving the versatility of the bag-opening system 1.

[0026] The swinging robot 32 preferably also serves as a handling mechanism for handling the intermediate container 40. In other words, the swinging robot 32 is preferably configured to be able to selectively hold the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B and the intermediate container 40. The swinging robot 32 not only swings the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B to discharge the powder or granular material, but also feeds the powder or granular material in the intermediate container 40 into a predetermined inlet and rejects the powder or granular material in the intermediate container 40 if the bag cutter 21 is chipped, thereby reducing the equipment cost and installation space of the bag-opening system 1. Meanwhile, although it is not impossible for the swinging robot 32 to also serve as the cutting robot 22 of the cutting mechanism 20, it is preferable that the swinging robot 32 be provided separately from the cutting robot 22 in order to shorten the cycle time.

[0027] The intermediate container 40 temporarily stores the powder or granular material discharged from the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B. This minimizes the rejection of powder or granular material when, for example, the bag cutter 21 is chipped. As described above, the intermediate container 40 is preferably capable of being handled by the swinging robot 32 of the swinging mechanism 30, that is, it preferably has a connector 41 similar to the connector 11 of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B. The bag-opening system 1 may also be provided with a separate handling mechanism for handling the intermediate container 40 or a transport mechanism for transferring the powder or granular material in the intermediate container 40.

[0028] The insertion mechanism 50 inserts the bag B into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B from above. The insertion mechanism 50 of this embodiment has a table 51 that provides a mounting surface on which a box C that contains the bag B can be placed, a tape cutter 52 that protrudes from the mounting surface of the table 51 and cuts the tape attached to the bottom surface of the box C, a holding head 53 that holds the top of the box C, and an insertion robot 54 that moves the holding head 53.

[0029] As will be described later, even when the tape that holds the flap of the box body C is cut and the flap can be opened, the table 51 can prevent the flap from opening by using the placement surface to hold the flap of the box body C from below. The placement surface can be coated with a material that can reduce friction, such as PTFE, to allow the box body C to move while preventing the flap from opening, that is, to make it easier for the box body C to slide. The table 51 may also have a sensor for checking the position of the flap and tape of the box body C.

[0030] The tape cutter 52 protrudes from the mounting surface of the table 51 and does not move itself, but cuts the tape that fastens the flaps that make up the bottom of the box C as the box C moves over it. It is preferable to use an ultrasonic cutter as the tape cutter 52, similar to the bag cutter 21. It is also preferable that the tape cutter 52 be provided so that it can be retracted below the mounting surface so that the table 51 can be used for other processes.

[0031] The holding head 53 is preferably configured to be able to directly hold the bag B when the bag B is provided without being housed in the box C. Specifically, the holding head 53 may be configured to suck the upper surface of the box C or the bag B with a suction pad. The holding head 53 may have a sensor or the like for recognizing the position of the bag B or the box C.

[0032] The insertion robot 54 horizontally moves the box C held by the holding head 53 while it is placed on the table 51, thereby cutting the tape securing the flap forming the bottom of the box C with the tape cutter 52. The insertion robot 54 then horizontally moves the box C to above the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, which are positioned adjacent to the table 51 and below the placement surface. As a result, the support surface is no longer present, and the flap forming the bottom of the box C opens due to gravity, causing the bag B inside the box C to drop into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B. The insertion robot 54 preferably corrects its operation based on the detection results of a sensor provided on the table 51, etc., so that the tape cutter 52 passes through a cutting position that reliably opens the flap, depending on the position of the flap confirmed by the sensor on the table 51. A vertical articulated robot can typically be used as the insertion robot 54, but other types of robots may also be used.

[0033] Although it is self-evident from the above explanation, the procedure for bag opening processing (removal of powder or granular material) by the bag opening system 1 according to this embodiment will be explained again. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for bag opening processing by the bag opening system 1.

[0034] The bag-opening process by the bag-opening system 1 includes a step of checking whether the bag body B is rigid (S1: bag body checking step), a step of attaching a first bag-opening container 10A to the swinging mechanism 30 (swinging robot 32) if the bag body B is rigid (S2: first bag-opening container attaching step), a step of attaching a second bag-opening container 10B to the swinging mechanism 30 if the bag body B is not rigid (S3: second bag-opening container attaching step), a step of inserting the bag body B into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B (S4: bag body inserting step), and a step of cutting the bag body B with the cutting mechanism 20 to form a discharge outlet E. The method includes a step (S5: discharge outlet forming step), a step (S6: bag-opening container shaking step) of swinging the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B held by the swinging mechanism 30 in a swing pattern according to the type of container to cause the powder or granular material to flow out of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B from the discharge outlet E through the discharge windows 12A, 12B, and to the outside of the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B, a step (S7: bag body removal step) of removing the bag body from the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B by the cutting mechanism 20, and a step (S8: bag-opening container inversion step) of inverting the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B to discharge the remaining powder or granular material.

[0035] In this way, the bag-opening system 1 inserts the bag B into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B unmanned, and forms a discharge outlet E in the bag B to discharge the powder or granular material. Because the bag-opening system 1 inserts the bag B into the bag-opening containers 10A, 10B which are open at the top and have discharge windows 12A, 12B formed on the side or bottom, there is a high tolerance for the shape of the bag B, and powder or granular material can be removed from different bags B.

[0036] In the bag-opening system 1, even when the bag B is held by the pin 13, the pin 13 pierces the bag B by inserting the bag B from above, so that powder and granular material can be easily and reliably discharged from the small bag B. Furthermore, the bag-opening system 1 can reliably discharge powder and granular material from the gusset-type bag B by using the second bag-opening container 10B which has four side discharge windows 121 formed to extend along at least the center of the four sides of the bottom plate and one or more central discharge windows 122 formed between the side discharge windows 121.

[0037] Although the embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the effects described in the above-described embodiments are merely a list of preferred effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to those described in the above-described embodiments.

[0038] The bag-opening system according to the present disclosure may use a single bag-opening container, or may use three or more bag-opening containers with different shapes to fit the bag body. Also, the intermediate container and the insertion mechanism are not essential components of the bag-opening system according to the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 1. Bag opening system 10A,10B Open bag container 11 Connector 12 Swinging Robot 12A, 12B Discharge window 121 Side discharge window 122 Central exhaust window 13-pin 20 Cutting mechanism 21 Bag cutter 22 Cutting Robot 23 Cutter check section 30 Swing mechanism 31 Engagement part 32 Swinging Robot 40 Intermediate container 41 Connector 50 Insertion mechanism 51 Table 52 Tape cutter 53 Retaining Head 54 Insertion Robot B Bag body C box body E outlet

Claims

1. an openable bag container having an open top and configured to receive a bag containing powder or granular material, and having a discharge window on at least one of a side surface and a bottom surface through which the powder or granular material can pass but the bag cannot; a cutting mechanism that forms a discharge opening in the bag body through which the powder or granular material can flow out by inserting a bag cutter that cuts the bag body into the discharge window; a swinging mechanism that swings the bag-opening container to cause the powder or granular material to flow out of the bag-opening container from the discharge port through the discharge window; an intermediate container for receiving the powder or granular material discharged by the swinging mechanism; Equipped with the swinging mechanism has a swinging robot capable of selectively holding the bag-opening container and the intermediate container, The swinging robot holds and moves the intermediate container, thereby depositing the powder or granular material in the intermediate container into a predetermined inlet, in a bag opening system.

2. The bag-opening system according to claim 1 , wherein the bag-opening container has a plurality of pins disposed upward on a bottom surface thereof so as to pierce the bag when the bag is inserted from above.

3. The openable container has one rectangular bottom plate and four rectangular side plates, 3. The bag opening system according to claim 1, wherein the discharge window includes four side discharge windows formed to extend along at least the central portions of the four sides of the bottom plate, and one or more central discharge windows formed between the side discharge windows.

4. An insertion mechanism for inserting the bag into the opening container is further provided, The bag may be provided in a state housed in a box having flaps that are fastened by tape to form a bottom, the insertion mechanism includes a table providing a mounting surface on which the box body can be placed, a tape cutter protruding from the mounting surface to cut the tape, a holding head holding an upper portion of the box body, and an insertion robot moving the holding head; 4. The bag-opening system according to claim 1, wherein the insertion robot cuts the tape with the tape cutter by horizontally moving the box body while it is placed on the table, and then horizontally moves the box body to the outside of the table to open the flap by gravity, thereby dropping the bag body into the bag-opening container.

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