Laundry reversal system

Abstract

Provided is a laundry reversal system suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry comprising rectangular cloth pieces.　A laundry reversal system 100 includes: a leading-trailing reversal device 10 that reverses the leading and trailing ends of a towel with respect to the conveyance direction; a front-back reversal device 20 that reverses the front and back of the towel with respect to the conveyance direction; and a reversal control device 30 that selectively operates the leading-trailing reversal device 10 and the front-back reversal device 20. When a determination result of a determination unit corresponds to a first mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the leading-trailing reversal device 10 to reverse the leading and trailing ends of the towel with respect to the conveyance direction; when the determination result of the determination unit corresponds to a second mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the front-back reversal device 20 to reverse the front and back of the towel with respect to the conveyance direction; and when the determination result of the determination unit corresponds to a third mode, the reversal control device 30 operates the leading-trailing reversal device 10 and the front-back reversal device 20 to reverse the leading and trailing ends and the front and back of the towel with respect to the conveyance direction.

Description

Laundry Reversal System 【0001】 The present invention relates to a system for reversing laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces, and particularly to a laundry reversal system suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces. 【0002】 Conventionally, as a technique for reversing laundry, for example, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is known. 【0003】 The technique described in Patent Document 1 includes an input machine that conveys clothing put into the process in an arranged state to the next process, which is equipped with a conveyor for conveying the input clothing to the next process. A pressing member is arranged on the conveyor to push up the front end of the clothing from the conveying surface of the conveyor to above it, and while fixing the front end of the clothing pushed up above the conveying surface of the conveyor, a pickup part for making the rear part of the clothing precede the front end is arranged above the conveyor. In the reversal mode, a position detection sensor for detecting the position of the front end of the clothing moving on the conveying surface of the conveyor is arranged to operate the pressing member and the pickup part. 【0004】 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-57832 【0005】 When washing a towel with a company logo or the like, it is desirable to fold the towel so that the logo is exposed on the front of the washed towel. However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the laundry can only be reversed back and forth in the conveying direction, so there is a problem that it cannot be corrected to the desired orientation depending on the orientation of the towel after washing. 【0006】 This problem is similarly assumed not only for towels but also for other laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces. 【0007】 Therefore, the present invention has been made by paying attention to such unsolved problems of the conventional techniques, and aims to provide a laundry reversal system suitable for correcting the orientation of laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces. 【0008】 As the orientation of laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces, the following four modes are assumed. The first mode is a mode in which a logo or the like faces the front and the top and bottom are reversed. 【0009】 The second embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces the reverse side and is upside down. The third embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces the reverse side and is oriented correctly upside down. 【0010】 The fourth embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces forward and the top and bottom are aligned correctly. After diligent research, the inventors have found that it is necessary to invert the laundry according to the above four embodiments. Specifically, in the first embodiment, the laundry needs to be inverted so that it is in the front and back of the transport direction. In the second embodiment, the laundry needs to be inverted so that it is in the front and back of the transport direction, because inverting the front and back also inverts the top and bottom. In the third embodiment, the laundry needs to be inverted so that it is in the front and back of the transport direction and so that it is in the front and back of the transport direction. In the fourth embodiment, inversion is not necessary. Therefore, in order to solve the above conventional problems, the inventors have come up with the present invention based on these findings. 【0011】 [Invention 1] To achieve the above objective, the laundry inversion system of Invention 1 comprises a front-to-back inversion means for inverting laundry made of rectangular cloth pieces in the front and back directions in the transport direction, a front-to-back inversion means for inverting the laundry so that it is on the front and back sides in the transport direction, and an inversion control means for selectively operating the front-to-back inversion means and the front-to-back inversion means. 【0012】 With this configuration, the reversal control means selectively operates the front-to-back reversal means and the front-to-back reversal means. When the front-to-back reversal means operates, the laundry is reversed to the front and back in the transport direction. When the front-to-back reversal means operates, the laundry is reversed to the front and back in the transport direction. 【0013】 Here, this system may be implemented as a single device or as a combination of multiple devices. 【0014】 [Invention 2] Furthermore, in the laundry inversion system of Invention 2, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back in the transport direction, operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back in the transport direction, and operates the front-to-back inversion means and the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back and front and back in the transport direction. 【0015】In this configuration, the reversal control means activates the front-to-back reversal means, reversing the laundry in the forward and backward directions of the transport. The reversal control means also activates the front-to-back reversal means, reversing the laundry in the front and back directions of the transport. Furthermore, the reversal control means activates both the front-to-back reversal means and the front-to-back reversal means, reversing the laundry in both the front-to-back and front-to-back directions of the transport. 【0016】 [Invention 3] Furthermore, in the laundry inversion system of Invention 3, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back in the transport direction if the determination result of the determination means for determining the front-to-back orientation and front-to-back orientation of the laundry in the transport direction is the first orientation; operates the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back in the transport direction if the determination result of the determination means is the second orientation; and operates the front-to-back inversion means and the front-to-back inversion means to invert the laundry to the front and back and front and back in the transport direction if the determination result of the determination means is the third orientation. 【0017】 In this configuration, if the determination result of the determination means is the first orientation, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means, and the laundry is inverted to the front and back in the transport direction. If the determination result of the determination means is the second orientation, the inversion control means operates the front-to-back inversion means, and the laundry is inverted to the front and back in the transport direction. If 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, and the laundry is inverted to the front and back and front and back in the transport direction. 【0018】 As described above, the laundry reversal system of Invention 1 allows for the selective reversal of laundry in the forward / backward and front / back directions in the transport direction, thus enabling the correction of the orientation of laundry made of rectangular pieces of cloth compared to conventional methods. 【0019】 Furthermore, according to the laundry reversal system of Invention 2, the orientation of the laundry can be corrected according to four different modes. 【0020】This is a front view of the overall configuration including the laundry reversal system 100. This is a top view of the overall configuration including the laundry reversal system 100. This is a cross-sectional view showing the reversal mechanism of the front-to-back reversal device 10. This is a front view of the front-to-back reversal device 20. This is a top view of the front-to-back reversal device 20. This is the left side view of the front-to-back reversal device 20. This is a flowchart showing the control process performed by the reversal control device 30. This is a cross-sectional view showing the reversal mechanism of the front-to-back reversal device 20. 【0021】 The embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Figures 1 to 7 show this embodiment. First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described. 【0022】 Figure 1 is a front view of the overall configuration including the laundry reversal system 100. Figure 2 is a top view of the overall configuration including the laundry reversal system 100. 【0023】 In a laundry factory, the system for folding washed towels (hereinafter simply referred to as "towels") is configured as shown in Figures 1 and 2, with an input conveyor 1, a towel input device 2, a laundry reversal system 100, and a towel holder 3 provided in that order. 【0024】 The input conveyor 1 is connected to the towel input device 2 and transports towels from the upstream process to the towel input device 2. 【0025】 The towel input device 2 is connected to the laundry reversal system 100 and divides the towels received from the input conveyor 1 into smaller portions and inputs them one by one into the laundry reversal system 100. 【0026】 The laundry reversal system 100 comprises a front-to-back reversal device 10 that reverses towels received from the towel input device 2 in the forward and backward directions of the transport direction, a front-to-back reversal device 20 that reverses towels received from the front-to-back reversal device 10 in the front-to-back direction of the transport direction, and a reversal control device 30 that selectively operates the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20. The front-to-back reversal device 20 is connected to the towel holder 3. 【0027】 The towel holder 3 folds the towels received from the towel reversal device 20. The folded towels are discharged from the towel holder 3 and sorted by the worker. 【0028】 The input conveyor 1, towel input device 2, and towel holder 3 can employ known technologies, such as the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-185140. 【0029】 Next, the configuration of the front-to-back reversal device 10 will be described. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversal mechanism of the front-to-back reversal device 10. 【0030】 As shown in Figure 3, the front-to-back reversal device 10 is configured to include three vertically connected rollers 11a to 11c, a lane 12a for guiding towels between rollers 11a and 11b, a switchback lane 13 for storing towels discharged from rollers 11a and 11b and reversing the transport direction to guide tiles between rollers 11b and 11c, and a lane 12b for guiding towels discharged from rollers 11b and 11c downstream (towards the front-to-back reversal device 20). 【0031】 The towels are transported through lane 12a in the direction of arrow 14a between rollers 11a and 11b. 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 tiles is reversed, and they 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. As a result, the towels are reversed in the forward and backward directions of transport. 【0032】 Next, the configuration of the front-to-back reversal device 20 will be described. Figure 4 is a front view of the front-to-back reversal device 20. 【0033】 Figure 5 is a top view of the front / back inversion device 20. Figure 6 is a left side view of the front / back inversion device 20. 【0034】 As shown in Figures 4 to 6, the front-to-back inversion device 20 is configured to include a base 21, a cylindrical drum 22, a drive unit 23 that rotates the drum 22, and two conveyors 24a and 24b that are connected vertically and hold and transport towels between them. 【0035】The drum 22 has flanges 22a at its upstream and downstream ends in the conveying direction, and is mounted on a base 21 with its rotation axis aligned with the conveying direction. The base 21 is equipped with two passive rollers 23a that receive the flanges 22a at the upstream end, two passive rollers 23a that receive the flanges 22a at the downstream end, and a drive roller 23b that contacts the inner circumferential surface of the drum 22 and transmits rotational driving force to the drum 22. The drive unit 23 consists of a motor or the like, and transmits the rotational driving force of the drive unit 23 to the drive rollers 23b via a belt 23c, thereby rotating the drum 22. 【0036】 The conveyors 24a and 24b are installed inside the drum 22 with their axis of rotation aligned with the drum's axis of rotation. The conveyors 24a and 24b are connected to the inner circumferential surface of the drum 22 and rotate in conjunction with the rotation of the drum 22. 【0037】 The towels are held between conveyors 24a and 24b and transported. As the drum 22 rotates, the conveyors 24a and 24b rotate 180 degrees, causing the towels to be flipped over to face the front and back sides in the direction of transport. 【0038】 Next, the configuration of the reversal control device 30 will be described. The laundry reversal system 100 is equipped with a camera (not shown) that photographs towels inserted from the towel input device 2. The laundry reversal system 100 is configured to acquire image data of towels from the camera and, based on the acquired image data, recognize the logo on the towel and determine the front / back orientation and the front / back orientation of the towel in the transport direction based on the orientation of the logo, etc. The determination unit determines the orientation of the towel into one of the following four types. 【0039】 The first embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces forward and is upside down. The second embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces backward and is upside down. 【0040】 The third embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces backward and is oriented correctly up and down. The fourth embodiment is one in which the logo, etc., faces forward and is oriented correctly up and down. 【0041】Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the control process executed by the inversion control device 30. The inversion control device 30 is configured by bus-connecting, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an I / F. When the control process is executed by the CPU, as shown in Figure 7, first, it proceeds to step S100. 【0042】 In step S100, the determination result is acquired from the determination unit, and it proceeds to step S102 to determine whether the acquired determination result is in the first mode. If it is determined that it is in the first mode (YES), it proceeds to step S104 to operate the front-back inversion device 10 to invert the towel in the front-back direction of the conveyance direction, and a series of processes ends. 【0043】 On the other hand, if it is determined in step S102 that it is not in the first mode (NO), it proceeds to step S106. 【0044】 In step S106, it is determined whether the determination result acquired in step S100 is in the second mode. If it is determined that it is in the second mode (YES), it proceeds to step S108 to operate the front-back inversion device 20 to invert the towel in the front-back direction of the conveyance direction, and a series of processes ends. 【0045】 On the other hand, if it is determined in step S106 that it is not in the second mode (NO), it proceeds to step S110. 【0046】 In step S110, it is determined whether the determination result acquired in step S100 is in the third mode. If it is determined that it is in the third mode (YES), it proceeds to step S112 to operate the front-back inversion device 10 to invert the towel in the front-back direction of the conveyance direction, and proceeds to step S114. 【0047】 In step S114, the front-back inversion device 20 is operated to invert the towel in the front-back direction of the conveyance direction, and a series of processes ends. 【0048】 On the other hand, if it is determined in step S110 that it is not in the third mode (NO), a series of processes ends. 【0049】Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Towels are transported from the upstream process by the input conveyor 1 and fed into the laundry reversal system 100 by the towel input device 2. If the orientation of the inserted towels is the first configuration, the front-to-back reversal device 10 operates and reverses the towels in the forward and backward directions of the transport. 【0050】 If the orientation of the inserted towel is in the second configuration, the towel is flipped over to face the front and back sides in the direction of transport by the front-to-back reversal device 20. 【0051】 If the orientation of the inserted towel is that of the third configuration, the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20 are activated, and the laundry is reversed in the front-to-back and front-to-back directions in the transport direction. 【0052】 If the orientation of the inserted towel is that of the fourth configuration, the towel is transported in its original orientation without the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20 being activated. 【0053】 In this way, the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20 operate selectively depending on the orientation of the towel, and the towel is discharged from the laundry reversal system 100 in the same orientation (fourth mode). The discharged towels are folded by the towel holder 3 and sorted by the worker. 【0054】 Next, the effects of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the laundry reversal system 100 includes a front-to-back reversal device 10 that reverses towels in the forward and backward directions of the transport direction, a front-to-back reversal device 20 that reverses towels in the front and back directions of the transport direction, and a reversal control device 30 that selectively operates the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20. 【0055】 This allows for selective reversal of the towels in the forward / backward and front / back directions of transport, thus enabling correction of the towel orientation compared to conventional methods. 【0056】Furthermore, in this embodiment, if the determination result of the determination unit is in the first form, the reversal control device 30 operates the front-to-back reversal device 10 to reverse the towel in the front-to-back direction of the transport; if the determination result of the determination unit is in the second form, it operates the front-to-back reversal device 20 to reverse the towel in the front-to-back direction of the transport; and if the determination result of the determination unit is in the third form, it operates the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20 to reverse the towel in the front-to-back and front-to-back directions of the transport. 【0057】 This allows the orientation of the towel to be corrected according to four different configurations. In this embodiment, the towel corresponds to the laundry in inventions 1 to 3, the front-to-back reversal device 10 corresponds to the front-to-back reversal means in inventions 1 to 3, the front-to-back reversal device 20 corresponds to the front-to-back reversal means in inventions 1 to 3, and the reversal control device 30 corresponds to the reversal control means in inventions 1 to 3. Furthermore, the determination unit corresponds to the determination means in invention 3. 【0058】 [Modifications] In the above embodiment and its modified forms, the front-to-back reversal device 10 reverses the towels in the forward and backward directions of the transport direction by a switchback mechanism as shown in Figure 2. However, it is not limited to this, and any reversal mechanism that reverses the towels in the forward and backward directions of the transport direction can be used. 【0059】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified form, the front-to-back inversion device 20 inverts the towels to the front and back sides in the transport direction by a drum mechanism as shown in Figures 4 to 6. However, it is not limited to this, and any inversion mechanism that inverts the towels to the front and back sides in the transport direction can be used. For example, the following configuration can be used. 【0060】 Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the reversal mechanism of the towel reversal device 20. As shown in Figure 8, the towel reversal device 20 is configured to include a roller 25, a lane 26 that guides the towel onto the roller 25, and a lane 27 that rotates the towel 180 degrees along the roller 25 and guides it downstream (towards the towel holder 3). 【0061】The towel is conveyed to the roller 25 via lane 26 in the direction of arrow 28a. The towel rotates 180 degrees between the roller 25 and lane 27 and is conveyed downstream via lane 27 in the direction of arrow 28b. This reverses the towel's front and back sides in the direction of conveyance. 【0062】 With the configuration shown in Figure 8, the front-to-back inversion device 20 can be made smaller compared to the configurations shown in Figures 4 to 6. 【0063】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified form, the front-to-back reversal device 10 is installed on the upstream side of the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20, but the invention is not limited to this, and the front-to-back reversal device 20 can also be installed on the upstream side. 【0064】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modified form, the front-to-back reversal device 10 and the front-to-back reversal device 20 are installed immediately before the folding process, but the invention is not limited to this, and can be installed in the washing process, dewatering process, drying process, ironing process, or any other process. 【0065】 Furthermore, while towels were used in the above embodiments and their modifications, the invention is not limited to towels, and other laundry items made of rectangular pieces of cloth can also be used. 【0066】 Furthermore, in the above embodiment and its modifications, the logo on the towel was recognized, and the front-to-back orientation and front-to-back orientation of the towel in the transport direction were determined from the orientation of the logo, etc. However, the invention is not limited to this, and any determination method can be adopted. 【0067】 Furthermore, the above embodiments and their modified forms (including their respective constituent technologies) are mutually applicable. 【0068】 Furthermore, while the above embodiments and their modifications apply to cases such as reversing the towel in the forward / backward or front / back direction of transport, the present invention is not limited to these cases and can be applied to other cases without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 【0069】1... Input conveyor, 2... Towel input device, 3... Towel holder, 100... Laundry reversal system, 10... Front / back reversal device, 11a, 11b, 11c, 25... Rollers, 12a, 12b, 26, 27... Lanes, 13... Switchback lane, 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d, 28a, 28b... Arrows, 20... Front / back reversal device, 21... Base, 22... Drum, 22a... Flange, 23... Drive unit, 23a... Passive roller, 23b... Drive roller, 23c... Belt, 24a, 24b... Conveyor, 30... Reversal control device

Claims

1. A front-to-back reversal means for reversing a rectangular piece of laundry so that the upstream edge in the transport direction is on the downstream side, the downstream edge is on the upstream side, the left edge is on the right side when viewing the surface of the laundry in the transport direction, and the right edge is on the left side; a front-to-back reversal means for reversing a laundry so that the upstream edge remains on the upstream side, the downstream edge remains on the downstream side, the left edge is on the right side, and the right edge is on the left side; and a reversal control means for selectively operating the front-to-back reversal means and the front-to-back reversal means, wherein the reversal control means operates the front-to-back reversal means to reverse the laundry in the front-to-back direction if the determination result of the determination means for determining the front-to-back orientation and front-to-back orientation in the transport direction of the laundry is in a first form, and operates the front-to-back reversal means to reverse the laundry in the front-to-back orientation in the transport direction if the determination result of the determination means is in a second form. If the determination result of the determination means is of the third form, the front-to-back reversal means and the front-to-back reversal means are operated to reverse the laundry in the front-to-back and front-to-back directions of the transport direction, the front-to-back reversal means comprises a base, a cylindrical drum, a drive unit that rotates the drum, and two conveyors provided inside the drum with their rotation axis aligned with the rotation axis of the drum, connected vertically and between which the laundry is clamped and transported, the drum has flanges at the upstream and downstream ends in the transport direction, and is installed on the base with its rotation axis aligned with the transport direction, the base is equipped with two passive rollers that receive the flanges at the upstream end, two passive rollers that receive the flanges at the downstream end, and a drive roller that contacts the inner circumferential surface of the drum and transmits rotational driving force to the drum, and the drive unit transmits rotational driving force to the drive roller via a belt, characterized in that

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