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EP-4741322-A1 - CONVEYANCE APPARATUS

EP4741322A1EP 4741322 A1EP4741322 A1EP 4741322A1EP-4741322-A1

Abstract

A conveyance apparatus includes: a conveyance unit having a conveyance surface configured to convey an article; a posture changing unit provided on one side portion of the conveyance unit, configured to be switchable in advancing-retracting positions of the posture changing unit between a first state in which the posture changing unit is advanced toward an other side portion of the conveyance unit and a second state in which the posture changing unit is retracted toward the one side portion from the first state, and configured to change at least one of a position or a posture of the article being conveyed by interference with the article; a detection unit provided upstream of the posture changing unit in a conveyance direction of the article, and configured to detect at least one of a position or a posture of the article along a direction intersecting the conveyance direction; and a control unit configured to control the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit between the first state and the second state, wherein the control unit determines whether to cause the article and the posture changing unit to interfere with each other based on at least one of the position and the posture detected by the detection unit, and controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit according to a result of the determination.

Inventors

  • SATA, Kohei
  • OKAMOTO, YUJI
  • HOJO, MASAAKI
  • YOKOTA, YUJI

Assignees

  • Ishida Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251023

Claims (6)

  1. A conveyance apparatus comprising: a conveyance unit having a conveyance surface configured to convey an article; a posture changing unit provided on one side portion of the conveyance unit, configured to be switchable in advancing-retracting positions of the posture changing unit between a first state in which the posture changing unit is advanced toward an other side portion of the conveyance unit and a second state in which the posture changing unit is retracted toward the one side portion from the first state, and configured to change at least one of a position or a posture of the article being conveyed by interference with the article; a detection unit provided upstream of the posture changing unit in a conveyance direction of the article, and configured to detect at least one of a position or a posture of the article along a direction intersecting the conveyance direction; and a control unit configured to control the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit between the first state and the second state, wherein the control unit determines whether to cause the article and the posture changing unit to interfere with each other based on at least one of the position and the posture detected by the detection unit, and controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit according to a result of the determination.
  2. The conveyance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shape of the article is a rectangular-like shape having a long side and a short side in a plan view, and wherein the control unit, when the control unit predicts that a short side of the article will interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the first state, controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit to be the second state.
  3. The conveyance apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a shape of the article is a rectangular-like shape having a long side and a short side in a plan view, and wherein the control unit, when a long-side direction of the article detected by the detection unit is in a posture parallel to a direction along the conveyance direction, controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit to be the second state.
  4. The conveyance apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a removal device configured to remove the article from the conveyance unit, wherein the control unit, when the control unit predicts that the short side of the article will interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the second state, controls the removal device to remove the article from the conveyance unit.
  5. The conveyance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shape of the article is a rectangular-like shape having a long side and a short side in a plan view, wherein the posture changing unit is switchable in the advancing-retracting position to a third state in which the posture changing unit is advanced toward the other side portion of the conveyance unit with an amount of advancement different from an amount of advancement of the first state, and wherein the control unit, when the control unit predicts that the short side of the article will interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the first state and predicts that the long side of the article will interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the third state, controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit to be the third state.
  6. The conveyance apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the posture changing unit includes an interference member including a first surface along the conveyance direction and a second surface along a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction; and an actuator configured to switch a position of the interference member along a direction intersecting the conveyance direction.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a conveyance apparatus. BACKGROUND Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-39993 describes a conveyance apparatus including a conveyor having a horizontal conveyance surface, a posture switching member that is switchable between a first state of protruding to interfere with a front part in the conveyance direction of an article moving on the horizontal conveyance surface and a second state of being retracted from the conveyance path of the article, a guide member that guides the article along the conveyance direction upstream of the posture switching member, and a control unit that controls a switching operation of the posture switching member between the first state and the second state. In the above-described related art conveyance apparatus, the posture switching member is caused to protrude into the first state and interfere with the article supplied from an upstream apparatus, thereby rotating the article to change its orientation. However, a conveyance state of the article supplied from the upstream apparatus may vary, such as at various angles with respect to the conveyance direction or at various positions in a direction intersecting the conveyance direction. Therefore, there is room for improvement in controlling the posture of the conveyed article. The present disclosure provides a conveyance apparatus that can control the posture of a conveyed article in a more suitable manner in response to the conveyance state of the article. SUMMARY (1) A conveyance apparatus according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a conveyance unit having a conveyance surface configured to convey an article; a posture changing unit provided on one side portion of the conveyance unit, configured to be switchable in advancing-retracting positions between a first state in which the posture changing unit is advanced toward an other side portion of the conveyance unit and a second state in which the posture changing unit is retracted toward the one side portion from the first state, and configured to change at least one of a position or a posture of the article being conveyed by interference with the article; a detection unit provided upstream of the posture changing unit in a conveyance direction of the article, and configured to detect at least one of a position or a posture of the article along a direction intersecting the conveyance direction; and a control unit configured to control the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit between the first state and the second state. The control unit determines whether to cause the article and the posture changing unit to interfere with each other based on at least one of the position and the posture detected by the detection unit, and controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit according to a result of the determination. In the conveyance apparatus according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the detection unit detects at least one of a position or a posture of the article along the direction intersecting the conveyance direction. Based on at least one of the position or the posture detected by the detection unit, the control unit determines whether to cause the article and the posture changing unit to interfere with each other, and controls the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit in response to the result of the determination. In this way, the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit is controlled by considering at least one of the position or the posture of the article along the direction intersecting the conveyance direction as the conveyance state of the article. Thus, the control unit can control the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit in a more suitable manner in response to the conveyance state of the article, as compared to, for example, a configuration that does not consider the position and posture of the article. Therefore, according to the conveyance apparatus of one aspect of the present disclosure, the posture of the conveyed article can be controlled in a more suitable manner in response to the conveyance state of the article. (2) In (1) above, a shape of the article may be a rectangular-like shape having a long side and a short side in a plan view. The control unit, when the control unit predicts that a short side of the article will interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the first state, may control the advancing-retracting position of the posture changing unit to be the second state. In this case, by not causing the short side of the article to interfere with the posture changing unit in the advancing-retracting position of the first state, the article can be suppressed from rotating such that a long-side direction of the article intersects the conveyance direction at a larger angle. (3) In (1) or (2) above, a shape of the article may be