Apparatus and method for counting and filling

Abstract

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for counting and filling, which allows materials to be counted to be supplied smoothly from a hopper to a transport mechanism, and is hardly influenced by the shape of the materials to be counted, and further has a simple configuration. The counting and filling apparatus aligns the materials to be counted through a guide route of a delivery mechanism, delivers the materials to a transport route of a transport mechanism, transports, counts, and fills the materials, and is configured to include the spiral groove rod disposed from the guide route to the transport route, and an adjusting unit which allows the materials supported in spiral grooves of the spiral groove rod to pass from the guide route to the transport route, and prevents passing of the materials overlapped on the spiral groove rod.

1 . A counting and filling apparatus, which aligns materials to be counted in a guide route while changing postures of the materials to be counted by a delivery mechanism provided below a supply port of a hopper, and delivers the materials to a transport route of a transport mechanism which has a guide rod and a spiral groove rod continuing to the guide route, and then transports, counts, and fills the materials into a container,
 wherein the transport mechanism includes the spiral groove rod which is disposed from the guide route to the transport route, and a lateral guide portion which is provided facing to a base end side of the spiral groove rod and along the axis of the guide rod, and forms the guide route, and   wherein the counting and filling apparatus includes, between the supply port and the transport route, an adjusting unit which is provided so as to pass the materials supported via the lateral guide portion in the spiral grooves from the guide route to the transport route, and so as to prevent the materials excessively overlapped on the spiral groove rod or on the other materials from passing to the transport route and allow the materials to wait along the guide route.   
     
     
         2 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the delivery mechanism includes a rotating roller, which is provided above the lateral guide portion, the rotation axis of the rotating roller being in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the lateral guide portion, and is capable of changing the postures of the materials to be counted, and a central guide portion which is provided above the base end side of the spiral groove rod, and faces the rotating rotor so as to make a space which is the guide route to align the materials to be counted, and   wherein the rotating rotor is provided to rotate via a drive motor in a direction opposite to a falling direction of the materials to be counted which fall by their own weight along the guide route.   
     
     
         3 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the adjusting unit includes a frame-front side wall which is provided on a tip end side of the rotating roller, and frame-left and right side walls which support the left and the right of the frame-front side wall and are continuous from the supply port,   wherein the frame-front side wall and the frame-left and right side walls constitute a partition frame portion which is disposed so as to surround the guide route which is a space between the rotating roller and a central guide portion,   wherein the materials to be counted, which are not delivered to the spiral grooves from the supply port of the hopper via the delivery mechanism, are allowed to wait in a region including the guide route in a range surrounded by the partition frame portion, and   wherein the frame-front side wall is disposed at a position that allows passing of the materials to be counted which are sent while being supported in the spiral grooves, and prevents passing of the materials which are excessively overlapped on the spiral groove rod or on the other materials to be counted.   
     
     
         4 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the adjusting unit includes a shield-rotating plate which is provided to be larger than the diameter of the rotating roller at the tip end of the rotating roller, a frame-front side wall which is provided along the shield-rotating plate, and frame-left and right side walls which support the left and the right of the frame-front side wall and are continuous from the supply port,   wherein the frame-front side wall, the shield-rotating plate, and the frame-left and right side walls constitute a partition frame portion which is disposed so as to surround the guide route which is a space between the rotating roller and a central guide portion,   wherein the materials to be counted, which are not delivered to the spiral grooves from the supply port of the hopper via the delivery mechanism, are allowed to wait in a region including the guide route in a range surrounded by the partition frame portion, and   wherein the shield-rotating plate is disposed at a position that allows passing of the materials to be counted which are sent while being supported in the spiral grooves, and prevents passing of the materials which are excessively overlapped on the spiral groove rod or on the other materials to be counted.   
     
     
         5 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the adjusting unit constitutes side walls of a partition frame portion, which is disposed so as to surround the guide route at a position adjacent to the supply port and above the delivery mechanism, by a frame-front side wall which is provided between the guide route and the transport route, a shield-rotating plate which is provided along the frame-front side wall, and frame-left and right side walls which are provided to support the frame-front side wall and are continuous from the supply port of the hopper,   wherein the delivery mechanism includes, below the supply port and the partition frame portion, a regulating unit which regulates a guide route width for guiding the materials to be counted to the spiral grooves which are on the base end side of the spiral groove rod, and a posture changing unit which is disposed along the guide route,   wherein the regulating unit includes, below the supply port and the partition frame portion, a central guide portion which is disposed just above the spiral groove rod, and the lateral guide portion which is provided to be opposed to a lateral side of the spiral groove rod, and guides the materials to be counted to the spiral groove rod,   wherein the posture changing unit includes, above the lateral guide portion, a rotating roller which is provided to be opposed to the central guide portion across the guide route on a lateral side of the central guide portion, and a rotation drive unit which rotates the rotating roller in a direction different from a falling direction of the materials to be counted,   wherein a notch portion for rotating the shield-rotating plate is formed on at least one of the frame-front side wall and the frame-left and right side walls, and   wherein the shield-rotating plate is provided on a tip end side in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller, and allows passing of the materials to be counted which are sent while being supported in the spiral grooves, while preventing passing of the materials to be counted which are excessively overlapped on the spiral groove rod or on the other materials to be counted.   
     
     
         6 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the lateral guide portion is a lateral guide block, which is disposed to face the rotating roller, and is disposed to face the base end side of the spiral groove rod, for guiding the materials to be counted to the spiral grooves of the spiral groove rod, and   wherein the guide rod forms a groove portion which does not come into contact with an outer peripheral edge of the shield-rotating plate at an end portion in the longitudinal direction of the lateral guide block, and is connected to the end portion of the lateral guide block.   
     
     
         7 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the lateral guide portion is a guide portion which is provided on a circumferential surface of the guide rod, and a surface thereof facing the spiral groove rod is formed in a plane, and   wherein the guide rod forms a groove portion which does not come into contact with an outer peripheral edge of the shield-rotating plate at a position corresponding to a tip end portion in the longitudinal direction of the guide portion.   
     
     
         8 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 6 , comprising:
 a first support holder which includes, on a base, a first tip end support holder for rotatably and detachably supporting a tip end of the spiral groove rod, and a first base end support holder for rotatably and detachably supporting a base end of the spiral groove rod; and   a second support holder which includes, at a position adjacent to the first support holder on the base, a second tip end support holder for detachably supporting the tip end of the guide rod, and a second base end support holder for rotatably supporting a base end in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller as well as detachably supporting a base end of the lateral guide block connected to a base end of the guide rod,   wherein the second support holder is connected to a holder moving mechanism which moves the second support holder close to or away from the first support holder along a surface of the base, and   wherein the holder moving mechanism includes a linear moving unit for linearly moving the second support holder with respect to the first support holder along the base, a driving force transmission unit for transmitting a driving force to the linear moving unit, and a holder driving source for driving the driving force transmission unit.   
     
     
         9 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 7 , comprising:
 a first support holder which is provided on a base so as to rotatably and detachably support both ends of the spiral groove rod; and   a second support holder which rotatably supports a base end in the longitudinal direction of the rotating roller as well as detachably supports both ends of the guide rod, and is provided on the base at a position adjacent to the first support holder,   wherein the second support holder is connected to a holder moving mechanism which moves the second support holder close to or away from the first support holder along a surface of the base, and   wherein the holder moving mechanism includes a linear moving unit for linearly moving the second support holder with respect to the first support holder along the base, a driving force transmission unit for transmitting a driving force to the linear moving unit, and a holder driving source for driving the driving force transmission unit.   
     
     
         10 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein an inclined plate is provided to be spaced apart from the rotating roller, above the rotating roller and the central guide portion, and to be spaced apart from the frame-front side wall at a predetermined interval,   wherein the inclined plate includes a rising surface which is formed at a position opposed to the frame-front side wall, and an inclined surface which is inclined continuously from the rising surface, and   wherein the inclined surface is formed in an inclination angle that allows the materials to be counted to move by their own weight toward the supply port side of the hopper.   
     
     
         11 . The counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 a region dividing portion which encloses a region opposed to all or at least a part of the transport route continuing from the guide route, below the spiral groove rod, the guide rod, and the lateral guide portion; and   a dust collecting suction mechanism which collects dust by sucking air in a range enclosed by the region dividing portion,   wherein the region dividing portion includes route-cross wall surfaces on both end portions which are formed so as to cross a space between the spiral groove rod and the guide rod and a space between the spiral groove rod and the lateral guide portion, route-parallel wall surfaces on the left and the right which are formed along the longitudinal direction of the guide rod, and a route-bottom wall surface which is provided at a position on a bottom surface side opposed to the guide route and the transport route,   wherein upper ends of the route-cross wall surfaces are respectively provided to a position in proximity to the guide rod and the spiral groove rod, and to a position in proximity to the spiral groove rod and the lateral guide portion,   wherein upper ends of the route-parallel wall surfaces are provided to positions in proximity to or contact with the guide rods, and   wherein a suction opening of the dust collecting suction mechanism is provided on the route-bottom wall surface side.   
     
     
         12 . A method for counting and filling by use of the counting and filling apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein materials to be counted inputted into a hopper are aligned in a guide route while the postures of the materials to be counted are changed by a delivery mechanism, delivered to a transport route of a transport mechanism, supported, transported, and sent out by a guide rod and spiral grooves of a spiral groove rod which are the transport mechanism, and the materials to be counted are counted by a counting unit, and filled into a container,
 wherein the method for counting and filling comprises following steps:
 an input step of inputting the materials to be counted into the hopper; 
 a delivery step of allowing the inputted materials to be counted to fall by their own weight from the supply port of the hopper, and to be aligned in a guide route formed by use of a regulating unit of the delivery mechanism while changing the postures of the materials to be counted by rotating a rotating roller which is a posture changing unit of the delivery mechanism so as to apply a frictional force in a direction different from the falling direction of the materials to be counted, and delivering the materials to be counted to the spiral grooves of the spiral groove rod via the lateral guide portion of the regulating unit; 
 a transport step of sending the materials to be counted, which are delivered to the spiral grooves of the spiral groove rod by the delivery mechanism, to the transport route of the spiral groove rod from the guide route by the rotation of the spiral groove rod, and transporting the materials to be counted to a transport end in a state of being supported in a support space region between the spiral groove rod and the guide rod; and 
 a filling step of sending out the materials to be counted which are transported to the transport end, counting the materials by the counting unit, and filling the counted materials into the container, and 
   wherein in the delivery step, by the adjusting unit provided between the supply port and the transport route, a pre-delivery step is performed together, the pre-delivery step including passing the materials to be counted, which are supported via the lateral guide portion opposed to the spiral grooves, to the transport route from the guide route, preventing passing of the materials to be counted, which are excessively overlapped on the spiral groove rod or on the other materials to be counted, allowing the materials to wait along the guide route, and delivering the material to a vacant spiral groove when there exists the vacant spiral groove of the rotating spiral groove rod.   
     
     
         13 . The method for counting and filling according to  claim 12 ,
 wherein in the delivery step and the transport step, a suction step of performing a suction operation by a dust collecting suction mechanism from a suction opening provided below the guide route and the transport route, is performed together.