Laundry turning system

Abstract

To provide a laundry inversion system suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth. [Solution] The laundry reversing system 100 includes a front-back reversing device 10 that reverses towels back and forth in the conveying direction, a front-back reversing device 20 that reverses towels back and forth in the conveying direction, and a reversing control device 30 that selectively operates the front-back reversing device 10 and the front-back reversing device 20. When the determination result of the determination unit is a first mode, the reversing control device 30 operates the front-back reversing device 10 to reversing the towels back and forth in the conveying direction, when the determination result of the determination unit is a second mode, and operates the front-back reversing device 20 to reversing the towels back and forth in the conveying direction, when the determination result of the determination unit is a third mode.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for inverting laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth, and more particularly to a laundry inverting system suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as a technique for reversing laundry, for example, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is known.

[0003] The technology described in Patent Document 1 is an input device that transports clothes that have been input into a process in a neat state to the next process, and is equipped with a conveyor that transports the input clothes to the next process.A push-up member is arranged on the conveyor to push the front end of the clothes up from the conveying surface of the conveyor.While the front end of the clothes pushed up above the conveyor's conveying surface is fixed, a pickup unit is arranged above the conveyor to move the rear part of the clothes ahead of the front end.A position detection sensor is arranged to detect the position of the front end of the clothes moving on the conveyor's conveying surface in order to operate the push-up member and pickup unit in the reverse mode. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-57832 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When washing towels bearing a company logo or the like, it is desirable to fold the towels so that the logo is exposed on the front of the washed towels. However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 has the problem that the laundry can only be turned over in the forward and reverse directions of the conveyance, making it impossible to correct the orientation of the towels after washing to the desired direction.

[0006] This problem is not limited to towels, but can also be expected to occur in laundry made of other rectangular pieces of cloth.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention has been made with a focus on the unresolved issues of the conventional technology, and aims to provide a laundry inversion system that is suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The following four patterns are assumed for the orientation of laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth. The first mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces forward and is upside down.

[0009] In the second mode, the logo or the like faces the back side, and is upside down. The third mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces the back and is oriented upside down.

[0010] The fourth mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces forward and is oriented upside down. After extensive research, the present inventors have found that it is necessary to invert the laundry in accordance with the above four modes. That is, in the first mode, it is necessary to invert the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. In the second mode, it is necessary to invert the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. This is because inverting the laundry from front to back also inverts the top and bottom. In the third mode, it is necessary to invert the laundry from front to back and from front to back in the conveying direction. In the fourth mode, inversion is not necessary. Therefore, the present inventors have conceived the present invention based on these findings in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.

[0011] [Invention 1] In order to achieve the above object, the laundry inverting system of Invention 1 comprises a front-to-back inverting means for inverting laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth from front to back in the conveying direction, a front-to-back inverting means for inverting the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction, and an inversion control means for selectively operating the front-to-back inverting means and the front-to-back inverting means.

[0012] With this configuration, the reversal control means selectively operates the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means. When the front-to-back reversing means operates, the laundry is reversed from front to back in the conveying direction. When the front-to-back reversing means operates, the laundry is reversed from front to back in the conveying direction.

[0013] Here, this system may be realized as a single device or may be realized by combining multiple devices.

[0014] [Invention 2] Furthermore, in the laundry reversing system of Invention 2, the reversal control means operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction, operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction, and operates the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back and front to back in the conveying direction.

[0015] With this configuration, the reversal control means operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. The reversal control means also operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. The reversal control means also operates the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry from front to back and from front to back in the conveying direction.

[0016] [Invention 3] Furthermore, in the laundry reversing system of Invention 3, when the determination result of the determination means for determining the front-to-back orientation and front-to-back orientation of the laundry in the conveying direction is a first orientation, the reversing control means operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry in front-to-back in the conveying direction, when the determination result of the determination means is a second orientation, and operates the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry in front-to-back in the conveying direction, when the determination result of the determination means is a third orientation, and operates the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means to reversal the laundry in front-to-back and front-to-back in the conveying direction.

[0017] With this configuration, when the determination result of the determination means is the first orientation, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. When the determination result of the determination means is the second orientation, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry from front to back in the conveying direction. When the determination result of the determination means is the third orientation, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means and the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry from front to back and from front to back in the conveying direction. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] As described above, according to the laundry inversion system of Invention 1, it is possible to selectively invert laundry front to back and front to back in the conveying direction, so that the orientation of laundry consisting of rectangular pieces of cloth can be corrected more easily than in the conventional method.

[0019] Furthermore, according to the laundry inverting system of the second aspect, the orientation of the laundry can be corrected in accordance with four modes. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0020] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire configuration including the laundry inverting system 100. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a top view of the entire configuration including the laundry inverting system 100. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversing mechanism of the front-rear reversing device 10. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a front view of the reversing device 20. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a top view of the reversing device 20. [Figure 6] This is the left side view of the front / back reversing device 20. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a control process executed by the reversal control device 30. [Figure 8] 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversing mechanism of the reversing device 20. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below, with reference to Figures 1 to 7 showing the embodiment. First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described.

[0022] FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire configuration including a laundry inversion system 100. FIG. 2 is a top view of the entire configuration including the laundry inverting system 100.

[0023] The structure for folding washed towels (hereinafter simply referred to as "towels") in a laundry factory is composed of an input conveyor 1, a towel input device 2, a laundry inversion system 100, and a towel folder 3, arranged in that order, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

[0024] The feeding conveyor 1 is connected to the towel feeding device 2 and transports towels from an upstream process to the towel feeding device 2.

[0025] The towel inserting device 2 is connected to the laundry reversing system 100, and divides the towels received from the inserting conveyor 1 into small portions and inserts them into the laundry reversing system 100 one by one.

[0026] The laundry reversing system 100 is configured to include a front-back reversing device 10 that reverses the towels received from the towel inserting device 2 from front to back in the conveying direction, a front-back reversing device 20 that reverses the towels received from the front-back reversing device 10 from front to back in the conveying direction, and a reversing control device 30 that selectively operates the front-back reversing device 10 and the front-back reversing device 20. The front-back reversing device 20 is connected to the towel folder 3.

[0027] Towel folder 3 folds the towels received from front / back reversing device 20. The folded towels are discharged from towel folder 3 and sorted by an operator.

[0028] The feeding conveyor 1, towel feeding device 2, and towel folder 3 can employ known technology, such as the technology described in JP 2017-185140 A.

[0029] Next, the configuration of the front-rear reversing device 10 will be described. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversing mechanism of the front-rear reversing device 10. As shown in FIG.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 3, the front-to-back reversing device 10 is configured to include three rollers 11a to 11c connected vertically, a lane 12a that guides towels between rollers 11a and 11b, a switchback lane 13 that stores towels discharged from rollers 11a and 11b and reverses the conveying direction to guide the towels between rollers 11b and 11c, and a lane 12b that guides towels discharged from rollers 11b and 11c downstream (toward the front-to-back reversing device 20).

[0031] The towels are transported between rollers 11a and 11b through lane 12a in the direction of arrow 14a. The towels discharged from rollers 11a and 11b are transported to switchback lane 13 in the direction of arrow 14b and temporarily stored in switchback lane 13. In switchback lane 13, the transport direction of the towels is reversed, and the towels are transported between rollers 11b and 11c in the direction of arrow 14c. The towels discharged from rollers 11a and 11b are transported downstream through lane 12b in the direction of arrow 14d. This causes the towels to be reversed in their transport direction.

[0032] Next, the configuration of the front / back reversing device 20 will be described. FIG. 4 is a front view of the reversing device 20. As shown in FIG.

[0033] FIG. 5 is a top view of the reversing device 20. As shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a left side view of the reversing device 20. FIG.

[0034] As shown in Figures 4 to 6, the front / back reversing device 20 is composed of a base 21, a cylindrical drum 22, a drive unit 23 that rotates and drives the drum 22, and two conveyors 24a and 24b that are connected vertically and sandwich and transport towels between them.

[0035] The drum 22 has flanges 22a at both the upstream and downstream ends in the conveying direction, and is installed on a base 21 with its rotation axis direction aligned with the conveying direction. The base 21 is equipped with two passive rollers 23a that receive the flange 22a at the upstream end, two passive rollers 23a that receive the flange 22a at the downstream end, and a drive roller 23b that comes into contact with the inner circumferential surface of the drum 22 and transmits a rotational drive force to the drum 22. The drive unit 23 is comprised of a motor or the like, and transmits the rotational drive force of the drive unit 23 to the drive roller 23b via a belt 23c, thereby driving the drum 22 to rotate.

[0036] The conveyors 24a and 24b are provided inside the drum 22 with their rotation axes aligned with the rotation axis of the drum. The conveyors 24a and 24b are connected to the inner circumferential surface of the drum 22 and rotate as the drum 22 rotates.

[0037] The towel is conveyed while being sandwiched between conveyors 24a and 24b. When conveyors 24a and 24b rotate 180 degrees in accordance with the rotation of drum 22, the towel is turned over in the conveying direction.

[0038] Next, the configuration of the reversing control device 30 will be described. Laundry reversing system 100 is provided with a camera (not shown) that photographs towels inserted from towel inserting device 2. Laundry reversing system 100 is configured with a determination unit (not shown) that acquires image data of the towels from the camera, recognizes logos and the like on the towels based on the acquired image data, and determines the front / back orientation and the front / back orientation of the towels in the conveying direction from the orientation of the logos and the like. The determination unit determines the orientation of the towels from the following four modes.

[0039] The first mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces forward and is upside down. In the second mode, the logo or the like faces the back side, and is upside down.

[0040] The third mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces the back and is oriented upside down. The fourth mode is a mode in which the logo or the like faces forward and is oriented upside down.

[0041] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the control process executed by the reversing control device 30. The reversal control device 30 is configured by connecting, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / F, etc. via a bus. When the control process is executed in the CPU, as shown in FIG. 7, the process first proceeds to step S100.

[0042] In step S100, the determination result is obtained from the determination unit, and the process proceeds to step S102 to determine whether the obtained determination result is the first mode.If it is determined to be the first mode (YES), the process proceeds to step S104 to operate the front-to-back reversing device 10 to reverse the towels front to back in the conveying direction, and the series of processes is completed.

[0043] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S102 that the first mode is not selected (NO), the process proceeds to step S106.

[0044] In step S106, it is determined whether the determination result obtained in step S100 is the second mode, and if it is determined to be the second mode (YES), the process proceeds to step S108, where the front / back reversing device 20 is operated to reverse the towel to the front / back in the conveying direction, and the series of processes is terminated.

[0045] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S106 that the second mode is not selected (NO), the process proceeds to step S110.

[0046] In step S110, it is determined whether the judgment result obtained in step S100 is the third mode, and if it is determined to be the third mode (YES), the process proceeds to step S112, where the front-to-back reversing device 10 is operated to reverse the towels front to back in the conveying direction, and the process proceeds to step S114.

[0047] In step S114, the towel reversing device 20 is operated to turn the towel over in the conveying direction, and the series of processes is completed.

[0048] On the other hand, if it is determined in step S110 that the third mode is not selected (NO), the series of processes ends.

[0049] Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Towels are transported from an upstream process by an input conveyor 1 and input into a laundry inverting system 100 by a towel input device 2. When the orientation of the input towels is in the first mode, a front-to-back rotation device 10 operates to invert the towels from front to back in the conveying direction.

[0050] When the orientation of the inserted towel is in the second state, the towel is turned over in the conveying direction by the operation of the front-back turning device 20.

[0051] When the orientation of the inserted towel is in the third mode, the front-to-back turning device 10 and the front-to-back turning device 20 operate to turn the laundry forward and backward in the conveying direction.

[0052] When the orientation of the inserted towel is in the fourth mode, the front-to-back turning device 10 and the front-to-back turning device 20 do not operate, and the towel is transported in the same orientation.

[0053] In this way, the front-to-back inversion device 10 and the front-to-back inversion device 20 are selectively operated depending on the orientation of the towels, and the towels are discharged in the same orientation (fourth mode) from the laundry inversion system 100. The discharged towels are folded by the towel folder 3 and sorted by an operator.

[0054] Next, the effects of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the laundry inversion system 100 includes a front-to-back inversion device 10 that inverts towels from front to back in the conveying direction, a front-to-back inversion device 20 that inverts towels from front to back in the conveying direction, and an inversion control device 30 that selectively operates the front-to-back inversion device 10 and the front-to-back inversion device 20.

[0055] This allows the towel to be selectively inverted forward or backward in the conveying direction, making it possible to correct the orientation of the towel more easily than in the past.

[0056] Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the judgment result of the judgment unit is the first mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the front-to-back reversing device 10 to reversal the towel from front to back in the conveying direction; if the judgment result of the judgment unit is the second mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the front-to-back reversing device 20 to reversal the towel from front to back in the conveying direction; and if the judgment result of the judgment unit is the third mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the front-to-back reversing device 10 and the front-to-back reversing device 20 to reversal the towel from front to back and front to back in the conveying direction.

[0057] This allows the orientation of the towel to be corrected in four ways. In this embodiment, the towel corresponds to the laundry of Inventions 1 to 3, the front-to-back rotating device 10 corresponds to the front-to-back rotating means of Inventions 1 to 3, the front-to-back rotating device 20 corresponds to the front-to-back rotating means of Inventions 1 to 3, and the rotating control device 30 corresponds to the rotating control means of Inventions 1 to 3. Also, the determination unit corresponds to the determination means of Invention 3.

[0058] [Modification] In the above embodiment and its modified examples, the front-rear reversing device 10 uses a switchback mechanism to reverse the towels in the conveying direction as shown in Figure 2, but this is not limited to this, and any reversing mechanism that reverses the towels in the conveying direction can be used.

[0059] In the above embodiment and its modifications, the reversing device 20 uses a drum mechanism to turn the towels over in the conveying direction as shown in Figures 4 to 6, but this is not limiting and any reversing mechanism that can turn the towels over in the conveying direction can be used. For example, the following configuration can be used.

[0060] FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversing mechanism of the reversing device 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in Figure 8, the front / back reversing device 20 is configured to include a roller 25, a lane 26 that guides the towel to the roller 25, and a lane 27 that rotates the towel 180 degrees along the roller 25 and guides it downstream (towards the towel folder 3).

[0061] The towel is conveyed through lane 26 in the direction of arrow 28a to roller 25. The towel rotates 180 degrees between roller 25 and lane 27 and is conveyed downstream through lane 27 in the direction of arrow 28b. This turns the towel over in the conveying direction.

[0062] 8, the reversing device 20 can be made smaller than the configurations of FIGS.

[0063] Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified examples, the front-to-back reversing device 10 and the front-to-back reversing device 20 are installed on the upstream side, but this is not limited to this, and the front-to-back reversing device 20 can also be installed on the upstream side.

[0064] In addition, in the above embodiment and its modified examples, the front-to-back inversion device 10 and the front-to-back inversion device 20 are installed immediately before the folding process, but this is not limited to this, and they can be installed in the washing process, spin-drying process, drying process, ironing process, or any other process.

[0065] Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified examples, towels are handled, but the invention is not limited to this and other laundry items made of rectangular cloth pieces can also be handled.

[0066] Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified examples, the logo or the like on the towel is recognized and the front / back orientation and the front / back orientation of the towel in the transport direction are determined from the orientation of the logo or the like, but this is not limited to this and any determination method can be adopted.

[0067] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments and their modifications (including their respective constituent technologies) can be applied to each other.

[0068] Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified examples, the present invention is applied to cases where towels are flipped over front to back or front to back in the conveying direction, but it is not limited to this and can be applied to other cases as long as it does not deviate from the spirit of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] 1...feed conveyor, 2...towel feed device, 3...towel folder, 100...laundry inversion system, 10...front / back inversion device, 11a, 11b, 11c, 25...roller, 12a, 12b, 26, 27...lane, 13...switchback lane, 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d, 28a, 28b...arrow, 20...front / back inversion device, 21...base, 22...drum, 22a...flange, 23...drive unit, 23a...passive roller, 23b...drive roller, 23c...belt, 24a, 24b...conveyor, 30...inversion control device

Claims

[Claim 1] a front-rear reversing means for reversing the laundry item in the conveying direction so that, among edges of the laundry item consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth, the upstream edge in the conveying direction faces downstream, the downstream edge faces upstream, and the left edge of the surface of the laundry item, as viewed in the conveying direction, faces right, and the right edge faces left; a front-back inverting means for inverting the laundry article from front to back in the conveying direction so that the upstream edge remains on the upstream side, the downstream edge remains on the downstream side, the left edge becomes the right edge, and the right edge becomes the left edge; a reversal control means for selectively operating the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means, The inversion control means When the determination result of the determination means for determining the front-back orientation and the front-back orientation in the conveying direction of the laundry is the first mode, the front-back reversing means is operated to reverse the laundry in the front-back orientation in the conveying direction, When the determination result of the determination means is the second mode, the front-back reversing means is operated to turn the laundry upside down in the conveying direction, When the determination result of the determination means is the third mode, the front-to-back reversing means and the front-to-back reversing means are operated to reverse the laundry from front to back and from front to back in the conveying direction, The front / back reversing means is With a base, A cylindrical drum; a drive unit that drives the drum to rotate; two conveyors provided inside the drum with their rotation axes aligned with the rotation axis of the drum, connected in a vertical direction to each other and sandwiching and transporting the laundry between them; the drum has flanges at both an upstream end and a downstream end in the conveying direction, and is installed on the base with a rotation axis direction aligned with the conveying direction; The base is provided with two passive rollers that receive the flange at the upstream end, two passive rollers that receive the flange at the downstream end, and a drive roller that contacts the inner circumferential surface of the drum and transmits a rotational drive force to the drum, The laundry inverting system, wherein the driving unit transmits a rotational driving force to the driving roller via a belt.

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