U.S. patent application number 11/097804 was filed with the patent office on 2005-10-06 for turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped articles.
Invention is credited to Chen, Chin-Yu, Fu, Wei-Hsu.
Application Number | 20050217217 11/097804 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35052692 |
Filed Date | 2005-10-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050217217 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen, Chin-Yu ; et
al. |
October 6, 2005 |
Turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles
Abstract
A turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles includes an image input arrangement having cameras
arranged over a conveying path to observe from different angles the
orientation of an article moving along the conveying path. A first
auto-suck unit automatically selects a vertical or a sideward
suction nozzle thereof to suck the article in response to an
observation result of the image input arrangement, and transfers
the sucked article to a suitable turn-over holder on a turn-over
unit. The turn-over holder holding the article may be turned over
by 180 or 90 degrees as necessary to adjust the article to a
desired orientation, so that a second auto-suck unit or an
auxiliary supporting unit sucks and transfers the article in the
correct orientation from the turn-over unit to an automatic
packaging machine for subsequent packaging.
Inventors: |
Chen, Chin-Yu; (Taipei
County, TW) ; Fu, Wei-Hsu; (Taipei City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Chin-Yu Chen
9F., No. 37, Dongsing Road
Xinyi District
Taipei City
110
TW
|
Family ID: |
35052692 |
Appl. No.: |
11/097804 |
Filed: |
April 4, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
53/571 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B 35/58 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
053/571 |
International
Class: |
B65B 043/14 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 5, 2004 |
TW |
093205160 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles, comprising: an image input arrangement including at least
two cameras arranged perpendicular to each other in the vicinity of
a conveying path for observing and determining the orientation of
an article moved forward along said conveying path; a turn-over
unit located near a terminal end of said conveying path and
including at least one power source provided on a platform; said at
least one power source being adapted to drive a first and a second
turn-over holder directed toward the same direction and a third
turn-over located opposite to said second turn-over holder; said
first and said second turn-over holder being L-shaped and provided
on an upward bent portion with a suction hole, and said third
turn-over holder being a flat plate and having a central suction
hole provided thereon; said suction holes on said first, said
second, and said third turn-over holder being communicating with an
external suction device, which supplies a suction force to stably
suck and thereby hold said article to said turn-over holder; a
first auto-suck unit located between said conveying path and said
turn-over unit, and including a transversely and longitudinally
movable slide provided with a vertical suction nozzle and an
L-shaped sideward suction nozzle; said first auto-suck unit being
able to automatically select said vertical suction nozzle to suck
and position said article on said third turn-over holder, or said
sideward suction nozzle to suck and position said article on said
first or said second turn-over holder, depending on the orientation
of said article as observed via said cameras of said image input
arrangement; and said third turn-over holder and said first and
said second turn-over holder being adapted to turn over by 180
degrees and 90 degrees, respectively, to adjust said article to a
desired orientation on said conveying path; an auxiliary supporting
unit located at one side of said turn-over unit, and including a
pivotally turnable arm and a carrier connected to a free end of
said arm; said carrier being provided thereon with a suction hole
communicating with said external suction device; and said carrier
being pivotally turned along a path crossing with a path along
which said turn-over holders of said turn-over unit are moved, so
as to suck said article from said third turn-over holder that has
been turned over by 180 degrees; and a second auto-suck unit
located at another side of said turn-over unit, and including a
transversely and longitudinally movable slide provided with at
least one vertical suction nozzle; said second auto-suck unit being
adapted to suck said article that has been adjusted to a desired
orientation and held to said first, said second, or said third
turn-over holder or said carrier of said auxiliary supporting unit,
and position said sucked article on a conveyor of an external
automatic packaging machine for subsequent packaging.
2. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said platform of said
turn-over unit is provided with a plurality of power sources
depending on actual need, and each of said power sources being
adapted to drive a separate set of first, second, and third
turn-over holders to enable an enhanced production efficiency.
3. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said slides of said first
and said second turn-over unit are separately mounted on and
brought by a transverse moving gear and a longitudinal moving gear
to transversely and/or longitudinally slide in a predetermined
plane.
4. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said image input
arrangement includes three cameras, two of which are arranged at
two opposite sides of said conveying path and the third one of
which is arranged above said conveying path, so that said article
moving along said conveying path is observed from different
angles.
5. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 3, wherein said image input
arrangement includes three cameras, two of which are arranged at
two opposite sides of said conveying path and the third one of
which is arranged above said conveying path, so that said article
moving along said conveying path is observed from different
angles.
6. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said platform of said
turn-over unit is mounted on a top of a rotatable shaft to rotate
along with said rotatable shaft.
7. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 3, wherein said platform of said
turn-over unit is mounted on a top of a rotatable shaft to rotate
along with said rotatable shaft.
8. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 4, wherein said platform of said
turn-over unit is mounted on a top of a rotatable shaft to rotate
along with said rotatable shaft.
9. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 5, wherein said platform of said
turn-over unit is mounted on a top of a rotatable shaft to rotate
along with said rotatable shaft.
10. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
11. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 3, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
12. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 4, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
13. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 5, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
14. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 6, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
15. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 7, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
16. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 8, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
17. The turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped
articles as claimed in claim 9, wherein said power sources on said
turn-over unit are selected from the group consisting of motors and
rotary cylinders.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a turn-over mechanism for
packaging asymmetrically shaped articles, and more particularly to
a turn-over mechanism that can automatically detect the orientation
of an article moving along a conveying path and turns over the
article as necessary for the article to move toward an automatic
packaging machine in a correct orientation for subsequent
packaging.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In the field of automatic packaging, the orientation of
articles conveyed on a conveyor to an automatic packaging machine
has decisive influence on the packaging quality. An article that is
asymmetrically shaped is not easily adjusted to a desired
orientation during conveying using an automatic feeding mechanism
by way of vibration or other manners, and manual orientating and
feeding of the asymmetric article is required before the automatic
packaging can be implemented. The manual operation inevitably
results in reduced working efficiency and increased error rate, and
accordingly, increased packaging cost and lowered packaging
quality.
[0003] It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a turn-over
mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped articles to eliminate
problems encountered in the conventional automatic packaging.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
turn-over mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped articles,
so that an article of any shape could be correctly orientated
before being fed to an automatic packaging machine.
[0005] To achieve the above and other objects, the turn-over
mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped articles according to
the present invention includes an image input arrangement, a first
auto-suck unit, a turn-over unit, a second auto-suck unit, and an
auxiliary supporting unit. The image input arrangement includes a
plurality of cameras arranged over a conveying path to observe from
different angles the orientation of an article moving along the
conveying path. The first auto-suck unit automatically selects a
vertical or a sideward suction nozzle thereof to suck the article
in response to an observation result of the image input
arrangement, and transfers the sucked article to a suitable
turn-over holder on a turn-over unit. The turn-over holder holding
the article is turned over by 180 or 90 degrees as necessary to
adjust the article to a desired orientation, and then the second
auto-suck unit or the auxiliary supporting unit sucks and transfers
the article in the correct orientation from the turn-over holder to
an automatic packaging machine for subsequent packaging.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description of
the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings,
wherein
[0007] FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing an image
input arrangement included in the present invention;
[0008] FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a first
auto-suck unit included in the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 3 shows the movement of the first auto-suck unit of
FIG. 2;
[0010] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a turn-over unit included in
the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 5 is an overall perspective view of the turn-over
mechanism for packaging asymmetrically shaped articles according to
the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 6 generally defines the six sides of an asymmetrically
shaped article referred to in the present invention;
[0013] FIGS. 7 to 11 are plan views showing the movements of the
present invention;
[0014] FIG. 12 is a plan view showing the movement of the auxiliary
supporting unit included in the present invention; and
[0015] FIGS. 13 to 15 are plan views showing the movements of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0016] Please refer to FIG. 5 that is an overall perspective view
of a turn-over mechanism for packaging a symmetrically shaped
articles according to the present invention. For the purpose of
conciseness, the present invention is also briefly referred to as
"the turn-over mechanism" throughout the Specification. As can be
seen from FIG. 5, the present invention mainly includes an image
input arrangement 1, a first auto-suck unit 2, a turn-over unit 3,
a second auto-suck unit 4, and an auxiliary supporting unit 5.
[0017] FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the image
input arrangement 1. As shown, the image input arrangement 1
includes a plurality of cameras 11, 12, 13 separately arranged in
the vicinity of a conveyor belt 14 to direct to the latter from at
least two different positions and directions, so as to observe and
determine the orientation of each article Y on the conveyor belt
14.
[0018] FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the first
auto-suck unit 2. As shown, the first auto-suck unit 2 mainly
includes a transverse moving gear 21, a longitudinal moving gear
22, and a slide 23 mounted on the transverse and the longitudinal
moving gear 21, 22. The slide 23 includes a straight vertical
suction nozzle 24 and an L-shaped sideward suction nozzle 25. The
slide 23 is moved by the transverse and the longitudinal moving
gear 21, 22 of the first auto-suck unit 2 to locate above the
conveyor belt 14 in response to the orientation of an individual
article Y observed and determined by the cameras 11, 12, 13 of the
image input arrangement 1, and is adapted to automatically select
either the vertical or the sideward suction nozzle 24 or 25 to suck
the article Y from the conveying belt 14 and position the sucked
article Y on the turn-over unit 3, as shown in FIG. 3.
[0019] Please refer to FIG. 4 that is a perspective view of the
turn-over unit 3. As shown, the turn-over unit 3 mainly includes a
platform 311 mounted on a top of a rotatable shaft 31 to rotate
along with the shaft 31, and two power sources 32, 320, such as two
motors or two rotary cylinders, parallelly arranged in two opposite
directions. The power source 32 is adapted to drive a first set of
first, second, and third turn-over holders 33, 34, 35. The first
and the second turn-over holder 33, 34 are directed toward the same
direction, and the third turn-over holder 35 is located at a
position opposite to the second turn-over holder 34. The first and
the second turn-over holder 33, 34 are L-shaped and provided at
respective upward bent portion with a suction hole 331, 341
communicating with an external suction device (not shown), and the
third turn-over holder 35 is a flat plate having a centered suction
hole 351 formed thereon to communicate with the same external
suction device. The other power source 320 is adapted to drive a
second set of first, second, and third turn-over holder 330, 340,
350 that are arranged in diagonal symmetry to the turn-over holders
33, 34, 35, respectively, and provided with suction holes 3301,
3401, 3501 just like the turn-over holders 33, 34, 35.
[0020] Please refer to FIG. 5. The second auto-suck unit 4 is
located at one side of the turn-over unit 3, and includes a
transverse moving gear 41, a longitudinal moving gear 42, and a
slide 43 slidably mounted on the transverse and the longitudinal
moving gear 41, 42. The slide 43 is provided with at least one
vertical suction nozzle 44.
[0021] As can be seen from FIG. 5, the auxiliary supporting unit 5
is located at another side of the turn-over unit 3, and mainly
includes a pivotally turnable arm 51, and a carrier 52 in the form
of a flat plate connected to a free end of the arm 51. The carrier
52 is provided with a suction hole 521 communicating with the
above-mentioned external suction device. The carrier 52 is
pivotally turned along a path crossing with a path along which the
turn-over holders of the turn-over unit are moved when the
rotatable shaft 31 is turned, and is directly connected to a
conveyor 61 of an automatic packaging machine 6 from another side
of the second auto-suck unit 4.
[0022] Please refer to FIG. 6. An overall outer surface of the
article Y may be generally divided into a top A, a bottom D, and a
plurality of sides B, C, E, F. When it is observed via the cameras
11, 12, 13 of the image input arrangement 1 that the article Y is
seated on the conveyor belt 14 with the top A facing upward, the
first auto-suck unit 2 automatically sucks the article Y using the
vertical suction nozzle 24 and positions the sucked article Y on
the third turn-over holder 35 or 350 of the turn-over unit 3, and
the article Y is stably held to the third turn-over holder 35 or
350 by a suction force supplied via the suction hole 351 or 3501,
as shown in FIG. 7. Thereafter, the rotatable shaft 31 turns the
platform 311 clockwise to move the third turn-over holder 35 or 350
to a position closer to the second auto-suck unit 4, so that the
article Y held to the third turn-over holder 35 or 350 is directly
sucked by the vertical suction nozzle 44 of the second auto-suck
unit 4, as shown in FIG. 8, and then transferred to the conveyor 61
of the automatic packaging machine 6 for subsequent packaging.
[0023] When it is observed that the article Y is seated on the
conveyor belt 14 with the bottom D facing upward, the first
auto-suck unit 2 automatically sucks the article Y using the
vertical suction nozzle 24 and positions the sucked article Y on
the third turn-over holder 35 or 350 of the turn-over unit 3, and
the article Y is stably held to the third turn-over holder 35 or
350 by a suction force supplied via the suction hole 351 or 3501.
Thereafter, the third turn-over holder 35 or 350 is turned over by
180 degrees, as shown in FIG. 9, so that the article Y is in a
position with the bottom D facing downward, as shown in FIG. 10.
Then, the rotatable shaft 31 turns the platform 311
counterclockwise to move the third turn-over holder 35 or 350 to a
position closer to the auxiliary supporting unit 5, and the article
Y is transferred to the carrier 52 of the auxiliary supporting unit
5 and stably held thereto by a suction force supplied via the
suction hole 521 on the carrier 52, as shown in FIG. 11.
Thereafter, the auxiliary supporting unit 5 pivotally turns by a
predetermined angle, as shown in FIG. 12, so that the article Y
held to the carrier 52 with the top A facing upward is sucked by
the vertical suction nozzle 44 of the second auto-suck unit 4 and
then transferred to the conveyor 61 of the automatic packaging
machine 6 for subsequent packaging.
[0024] When it is observed the article Y is seated on the conveyor
belt 14 with any one of the sides B, C, E, F facing upward, the
first auto-suck unit 2 automatically sucks the article Y using the
sideward suction nozzle 25 and positions the sucked article Y on
the first or the second turn-over holder 33, 330 or 34, 340, and
the article Y is stably held to the first or second turn-over
holder 33, 330 or 34, 340 by a suction force supplied via the
suction hole 331, 3301 or 341, 3401 or 3501, as shown in FIG. 13.
Thereafter, the first or the second turn-over holder 33, 330 or 34,
340 is turned over by 90 degrees, as shown in FIG. 14, so that the
article Y is in a position with the top A facing upward. Then, the
rotatable shaft 31 turns the platform 311 to move the first or the
second turn-over holder 33, 330 or 34, 340 to a position closer to
the second auto-suck unit 4, so that the article Y held to the
first or the second turn-over holder 33, 330 or 34, 340 is directly
sucked by the vertical suction nozzle 44 of the second auto-suck
unit 4, as shown in FIG. 15, and then transferred to the conveyor
61 of the automatic packaging machine 6 for subsequent
packaging.
[0025] With the above arrangements, an asymmetrically shaped
article Y may be effectively adjusted in position in the course of
conveyance, so that all the articles Y are uniformly oriented to a
desired direction suitable for packaging using the automatic
packaging machine 6.
[0026] In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, two
power sources 32, 320 are provided on the platform 311 of the
turn-over unit 3 to drive two different sets of three turn-over
holders. However, it is understood the number of the power sources
and of the turn-over holders may be increased or decreased,
depending on actual requirements for production efficiency.
* * * * *