JPH0724421A - Paper processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To prevent jams in the mail processing device. [Structure] This mail processing device 1 includes a plurality of mails 3a,
A hopper unit 5 and a supply conveyor 7 for receiving 3b on a conveyance path, and a postal matter 3 supplied from these.
Among the thicknesses a and 3b, a thickness sorting unit 11 that eliminates a predetermined thickness or more, and a postal matter 3 that has passed through the thickness sorting unit 11
Buffer storage conveyor 41 for evenly transporting a
And a trough conveyor 45 that conveys the postal matter 3a while vertically and horizontally aligning it, and a width sorting that eliminates the postal matter 3a that is vertically or horizontally aligned and has a predetermined height or more. The section 13, the light receiving element 65 provided immediately before the width selection section 13, and the transit time of the mail 3a based on the signal from the light receiving element 65, and the buffer storage conveyor 41 and the trough are measured according to this time. Conveyor 4
5, and a CPU 31 for controlling the operation of the CPU 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper sheet processing apparatus for classifying and accumulating paper sheets having various widths and thicknesses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Usually, paper sheets having various widths and thicknesses, for example, postal items are sorted and accumulated according to size by a sorting means in a postal processing apparatus, but a large amount of postal items are processed. In doing so, it is easy to fall into a jam and improvements are desired.

In a conventional mail processing apparatus, a plurality of sorting means (such as a mail thickness sorting unit and a mail width sorting unit), a shift unit, a buffer unit, are provided on a transport path for transporting mail.
A reading unit, a stacker unit, etc. are provided in that order, and after sorting mail items having different thicknesses and widths by a plurality of sorting means,
The shifting unit shifts the sheet in the transport direction, the buffer unit separates the sheets one by one, the reading unit detects stamps or contrast bars, and finally the stacker unit sorts and collects, for example, express delivery and ordinary mail. Has become.

In the case of this mail processing apparatus, although a plurality of sorting means are provided and many mails can be sorted, the same amount is flown since only one shifting part is installed in the subsequent stage. In this case, the postal matters are accumulated in the shift part, and a jam occurs.

Therefore, usually, a quantity detecting sensor is provided immediately before the shifting portion and at the belt position of the shifting portion, and the CPU controls the conveyance of the mail in front of the shifting portion based on the signals from these sensors. Prevents jams.

By the way, because the sorting means is provided in the preceding stage of the shifting portion, even if the mail is controlled to be conveyed only by the shifting portion, a jam may occur on the sorting means side this time.

[0007]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional mail processing apparatus, that is, the paper sheet processing apparatus, if the transfer control is performed only at the shifting portion, the sorting means at the preceding stage may cause a jam. There was a problem that there is.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a paper sheet processing apparatus which does not fall into a jam.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention has a paper sheet receiving means for supplying the paper sheet on a receiving and conveying path, and the paper sheet receiving means. Conveying means for conveying the paper sheets supplied onto the conveying path by means, and paper sheets provided on the conveying path at a predetermined height position and conveyed on the conveying path by the conveying means. Paper sheet sensing means for sensing each passage of,
A paper sheet width selection unit that eliminates paper sheets having a height equal to or higher than that detected by the paper sheet detection unit and allows paper sheets having a height that is not detected to pass according to the transport path. It is provided with a control means for controlling the operation of the paper sheet receiving means and the conveying means according to the passage time of the paper sheet detected by the paper sheet detecting means.

The paper sheet width selection unit of this paper sheet processing apparatus is
By the control of the control means, the paper sheet receiving means and the conveying means are operated even while they are stopped.

Further, the paper sheet processing apparatus includes a shift unit for shifting a plurality of paper sheets having a height less than the height passed by the paper sheet width selecting unit in the conveying direction, the shift unit and the paper sheet. A shift unit, which is disposed between the width selection unit and detects the paper sheet each time the paper sheet passes, and a paper sheet sensing unit in front of the shift unit, and a shift unit which is provided in the shift unit and detects the paper sheet each time the paper sheet passes. When the passage of the paper sheets is continuously detected by the paper sheet sensing means, the shift portion front paper sheet sensing means and the shift portion paper sheet sensing means, the paper sheet receiving means and the And a means for controlling the conveying means so as to temporarily stop the supply of the paper sheets to the paper sheet width selecting section.

Further, the paper sheet processing apparatus further includes a paper sheet supply unit for receiving a plurality of paper sheets on the conveyance path and a plurality of the paper sheets supplied from the paper sheet supply unit on the conveyance path. Of the paper sheets, those having a predetermined thickness or more are excluded, and the other paper sheets are passed along the transport path, and the paper sheet thickness sorting unit that has passed through the paper sheet thickness sorting unit is used. First to evenly convey paper sheets having a thickness less than a predetermined value
Conveyor, a second conveyor that conveys the paper sheets from the first conveyor while standing them vertically and horizontally, and the second conveyor that aligns the paper sheets vertically or horizontally. Of the paper sheets, those having a predetermined height or more are excluded, and the other paper sheets are allowed to pass along the conveyance path, and the paper sheet width selecting unit through the second conveyor. An optical sensor for detecting a paper sheet having a predetermined height or more to be conveyed by light and a passage of the paper sheet based on a signal from the optical sensor, and when this detection continues for a predetermined time or more, And a control unit for temporarily stopping the first and second conveyors.

[0013]

According to the present invention, when a large number of paper sheets having different thicknesses and widths are supplied to the paper sheet width selecting section, the paper sheet detecting means detects the paper sheets before each sheet passing each time. The control means controls the operation of the paper sheet receiving means and the conveying means in accordance with the passage time, for example, the operation and stop.

Even when the paper sheet receiving means and the conveying means are stopped, the paper sheet width selecting section continues to select the paper sheets, so that the paper sheets accumulated in the paper sheet width selecting section are the paper sheets. It is quickly sorted by the width sorting unit and disappears from the paper width sorting unit.

As a result, when the paper sheets are swept from the paper sheet width selection section, the paper sheets are intermittently sensed by the paper sheet sensing means, and the paper sheet receiving means and the transport means The operation will be resumed.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of jam in the device.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the arrangement of a mail processing apparatus as a paper sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG.
It has a hopper unit 5 which receives a plurality of mail items 3 having various thicknesses and widths and supplies the mail items 3 to the next conveying path. The hopper unit 5 is provided with a supply conveyor 7 that conveys the postal matter 3 into the apparatus. Further, a sorting means 9 for sorting the postal matter 3 supplied from the hopper portion 5 is connected and arranged. The sorting means 9 includes a thickness sorting unit 11 and a width sorting unit 13. Thickness sorter 1
The reference numeral 1 excludes a plurality of supplied mail items having a predetermined thickness or more, so-called thick mail items, and allows other mail items to pass along the transport route. The width selection unit 13 excludes, from the supplied plurality of postal items, those of a predetermined height or more, so-called width postal items, and allows other items to pass along the conveyance route.

A buffer unit 15 to which only the fixed-size postal matter left as a result of the sorting is supplied is connected to the sorting unit 9 with a first reading unit 17 interposed. This buffer unit 1
From 5, the mail 3 is sent back to the first reading unit 17 one by one at regular intervals. Although not shown, the first reading unit 17 is provided with a detection unit that detects a detection target object included in a mail item, such as a stamp and a contrast bar.

The buffer unit 15 has a reversing unit 19 for reversing the vertical direction of the postal matter 3 in which the detection object is not detected.
Are connected. The operation of the reversing unit 19 is not performed when the detection target has already been detected by the first reading unit 17. A second reading unit 21 is connected to the reversing unit 19. The second reading unit 21 is also provided with a detecting unit as described above. The second reading unit 21 is connected with a stamping unit 23 for stamping the mail 3 output from the second reading unit 21. The stamper unit 23 is connected to a stacker unit 25 for classifying and stacking the stamped mail items 3 into, for example, express delivery or ordinary mail. A display device 27 is provided between the stamp part 23 and the stacker part 25. This device is operated by the main operation unit 29.

Next, the configuration of the control system of this mail processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the control system of the mail processing device controls the entire device.
16-bit central processing unit 31
(Hereinafter referred to as a CPU), a read only memory 32 (hereinafter referred to as a ROM) that stores a control program of the CPU 31, information read from a detection target of the postal matter 3, for example, a flag necessary for sorting processing. Random access memory 33 (hereinafter referred to as RAM) that stores information such as data and data, and stores information as a buffer for control programs.
, And a timer 34 for controlling the conveyance of mail.
An interrupt controller 35 for interrupting the sensor, an input port 36 for inputting sensor status information and stacking full information, and control signals for controlling the motors and clutches of the respective conveyors carrying the mail 3 are output. It is composed of an output port 37 and the like.

Next, the selecting means 9 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sorting means 9 is roughly divided into the thickness sorting portion 11 and the width sorting portion 13 as described above.
A buffer storage conveyor 41 is provided between them. The buffer storage conveyor 41 is mainly composed of a conveyor belt that conveys the postal matter 3 to the width selection unit 13 side, a motor that drives the conveyor belt, and a clutch that transmits the driving force of the motor to the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is started and stopped by the on / off operation of the clutch. The buffer storage conveyor 41 not only conveys the postal matter 3 having a thickness less than the predetermined value that has passed through the thickness sorting unit 11 to the width sorting unit 13 side, but also has a wide conveyor belt so that the postal mail during transportation can be transported. It has the role of easing the flow of goods 3. The width selection unit 13 is provided with a trough conveyor 45 connected to the buffer storage conveyor 41.

The trough conveyor 45 includes a chute portion 47 provided on the side surface, a plurality of rollers 49 with protrusions provided on the bottom, drive motors (not shown) for driving the rollers 49 with protrusions, and respective drive motors. And a clutch (not shown) for controlling the driving force of the.

The trough conveyor 45 has a width selection section 1
3 are connected. In the width sorting section 13, the mail items 3 that have been stood up and carried by the trough conveyor 45.
A transport path for transporting further to the subsequent stage is provided by the lower transport belt 51 of the shift unit. A first width selection unit 53, a shift unit 55, a second width selection unit 57, and a third width selection unit 59 are provided in this order on the transport path. The shift section lower-side transport belt 51 is a transport belt provided between the trough conveyor 45 and the shift section 55, and the first width selection section 53 is installed on this belt. The shift unit 55 is provided between the first width sorting unit 53 and the second width sorting unit 57, and is a mail shifting mechanism mainly composed of a take-out belt, an air chamber, a blower, a reverse belt, and the like. There is a mechanism for rotating the belt so that the postal matter 3 sorted by the first width sorting unit 53 can be taken out at a speed slightly higher than that of the lower conveyor belt 51 of the shifting unit. The take-out belt and the air chamber are provided with holes for sucking mail, and the inside of the air chamber is usually maintained in a state close to vacuum by a blower. The take-out belt is controlled by a drive motor and a clutch and rotates unless the mail 3 is full in the buffer unit 15. Further, a reversing belt is arranged at a position close to the take-out belt with a certain gap, and the postal matter 3 is rotated in a direction opposite to the take-out belt so that a large amount of the postal matter 3 is not taken out at a time.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first width selection unit 53
Is two guide plates 61 provided at a position higher than the height position of the lower conveyor belt 51 of the shift unit by a predetermined height,
62, the light emitting element 63 provided on the guide 61, the light receiving element 65 provided on the guide plate 62 facing the light emitting element 63, and the guide plates 61, 62 provided at the subsequent stage of the guide plates 61, 62. It is composed of a withdrawing section 67 that draws only the collected wide postal matter 3b and removes it to the other.
The extraction unit 67 draws in only the postal matter 3b having a width wider than the standard size postal matter 3a, and the guide member 7 for fixing the pull-in roller 69 so as to cover the pull-in roller 69.
1 and a side column 73 for fixing the guide member 71. The two guide plates 61 and 62 are the widest mail pieces 3b among the mail pieces 3a and 3b whose thickness is selected on the belt 51.
The role of collecting only. The light receiving element 65 is a so-called optical sensor, and when receiving the light emitted by the light emitting element 63,
A signal is output to the interrupt controller 35 through the input port 36, and the output of the signal is stopped when the light is blocked by the mail 3 or the like. That is, since the light receiving element 65 detects passage of only the postal matter 3b, it is usually called a width article detection sensor. Further, between the first width selection unit 53 and the shift unit 55, a plurality of sensors 75 and 77 for detecting the amount of the postal matter 3 are provided because the postal matter 3a is likely to be congested. The sensor 75 is referred to as a shift portion front amount detection sensor, and the sensor 77 is referred to as a shift portion amount detection sensor.

Next, the operation of this mail processing apparatus will be described.

In this mail processing apparatus, when a plurality of mails 3 having various thicknesses and widths are received by the hopper 5, the mails 3 are conveyed to the thickness selection unit 11 by the supply conveyor 7. Supplied. Thickness sorter 1
In 1, thick mail items thicker than a predetermined thickness are excluded,
Only those thinner than that are accumulated on the buffer storage conveyor 41. When the postal items 3 are accumulated on the buffer storage conveyor 41 to some extent, a quantity detection sensor (not shown) provided in the thickness selection unit 11 is turned on (full detection), and a signal is sent to the interrupt controller 35 through the input port 36. Is output and the interrupt controller 35 outputs the CPU3
Interrupt 1 Then, the CPU 31 instructs the supply conveyor 7 to stop, and the supply conveyor 7 is stopped.

Now, this buffer storage conveyor 4
Whether or not 1 is operated is determined by the CPU 31 according to the postal matter processing status in the latter stage.

Hereinafter, referring to the flow chart of FIG. 5,
The determination operation of this mail processing device will be described.

The CPU 31 first reads the states of the shift portion front side amount detection sensor 75, the sensor 77, etc. (step 501).

Here, for example, when the sensor 77 located on the belt portion of the shift portion 55 is in the "bright" state (step 502).
), If the shift portion front side amount detection sensor 75 provided in front of it is in the "bright" state (step 503), the CPU
31 determines that the postal matter 3a is not congested, and delays the buffer storage conveyor 41, the trough conveyor 45, the shifter front lower belt 51, etc. as usual (step 504). Then, the large amount of postal matter 3 accumulated on the buffer storage conveyor 41 is leveled on the buffer storage conveyor 41 while being transferred to the trough conveyor 4.
Roller 49 with protrusions on the trough conveyor 45
And is made to stand in either the vertical or horizontal direction and conveyed to the first width selection unit 53. At this time, the trough conveyor 45
The rollers 49 with protrusions also remove coins, rubber bands, etc., which have been conveyed together with the postal matter 3.

On the other hand, when either one of the quantity detection sensors 75 and 77 is turned on, when the postal matter 3a is conveyed further, the jammed portion 55 of the postal matter 3a is congested.
In order to cause a jam or the like, the CPU 31 immediately stops the buffer storage conveyor 41, the trough conveyor 45, etc. (step 505) and prompts the shift section 55 to perform processing.

Subsequently, the processing of the CPU 31 shifts to the processing for controlling the width amount.

In this case, first, a signal from a width detection sensor (light receiving element) 65 provided in front of the first width selection unit 53 is read via the input port 36 and the interrupt controller 35 (step 506). . Then, the light receiving state (bright / dark) of the width detection sensor 65 based on the read signal
Is determined (step 507).

For example, if the signal is low, width postal matter 3
Since b cuts off the light of the light emitting element 63 and the width detection sensor 65 is in the dark state, the CPU 31 measures the time t1 by the timer 34. At this time, if the postal matter 3a is not so crowded, the interval between the postal matters 3a is vacant, and the signal becomes high immediately, so that the time t1 measured up to that time is reset to 0 ( Step 508).

On the other hand, when the postal matter 3a is crowded, there is no gap in the postal matter 3a and the measurement time t1 becomes long (step 509). The measured time t1 is the predetermined time t2
If it continues beyond (step 510), CPU31
Judges that the amount of width postal matter 3b is too large (congested) and temporarily stops the buffer storage conveyor 41 and the trough conveyor 45 (step 511). In addition, even when these conveyors are stopped, the lower belt 5 of the shift part
Since 1 is operated, the sorting operation of the width postal matter 3b and the standard size postal matter 3a is continued by the first width sorting unit 53, and the postal matters 3a and 3b are conveyed to the subsequent stage. Therefore, the buffer storage conveyor 41 and the trough conveyor 4
By temporarily stopping No. 5, the traffic jam of the first width selection unit 53 is alleviated. When the congestion in the first width selection unit 53 is alleviated, the interval between the mail items 3a is intermittently received by the empty width amount detection sensor.
After that, 31 delays the operation by a certain time and releases the operation stop of the buffer storage conveyor 41 and the trough conveyor 45 to return to the normal operation state. This normal operating state is to control the above conveyors by the shift portion front side amount detection sensor 75 and the sensor 77.

Now, the postal matter 3a that has passed through the shifting portion 55
Are conveyed to the second sorting unit 57, where sorting is performed in the same manner as the first sorting unit 53, and the omitted postal width article 3b is removed. The width postal matter 3b selected by the first and second sorting sections 53, 57, etc. is sorted by the third sorting section 59. However, if the fixed size postal matter 3a is mixed, the The fixed-size mail 3a is returned to the original transport route.

Then, only the fixed form mail 3a is supplied to the buffer section 15 in the subsequent stage, and the mail 3a is sent back to the first reading section 17 at regular intervals one by one. This first reading unit 1
In 7, the detection unit detects a detection target object included in the mail, such as a stamp and a contrast bar.

Further, the postal matter 3a for which the detection target is not detected is inverted in the vertical direction by the reversing unit 19 and sent to the second reading unit 21, and the detection unit detects the detection target in the same manner as described above. The postal matter 3a output from here is stamped by the stamping unit 23, and then the stacker unit 25
Then, for example, they are classified and accumulated in express mail and ordinary mail. The result of this series of processing is displayed on the display device 27.

As described above, according to the mail processing apparatus of this embodiment, when a large amount of mails 3a and 3b having different thicknesses and widths are supplied to the first sorting unit 53 at one time, the CPU 31
Based on a signal from an amount detection sensor 65 provided in front of the first sorting section 53, the first control is performed along with the conveyance control of the offset section 55.
Buffer storage conveyor 41 in front of the sorting unit 53
Also, since the operation of the trough conveyor 45 and the like is controlled, not only is the postal matter 3 accumulated in the first sorting section 53 and no jam occurs, but also the postal matter 3 can be stably sorted, sorted and accumulated. become.

[0043]

As described above, according to the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention, when a large number of paper sheets having different thicknesses and widths are supplied to the paper sheet width selecting section, The sensing means senses the paper sheet each time it passes, and the control means controls the operation of the paper sheet receiving means and the conveying means according to the passage time, so that the paper sheets continue to be accumulated in the paper sheet width selecting section. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of jams.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a mail processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram showing a control system of the mail processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a selection means of the mail processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of this mail processing device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a determination operation in this mail processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mail processing device, 3 ... Mail, 5 ... Hopper part, 7
... supply conveyor, 9 ... sorting means, 11 ... thickness sorting section, 1
3 ... Width selection unit, 15 ... Buffer unit, 17 ... First reading unit,
19 ... Reversing unit, 21 ... Second reading unit, 23 ... Imprinting unit, 25
... Stacker part, 27 ... Display device, 29 ... Main operation part, 3
1 ... CPU, 41 ... Buffer storage conveyor, 45
... Trough conveyor, 47 ... Chute part, 49 ... Roller with protrusions, 51 ... Shifting part lower conveyor belt, 53 ... First width sorting part, 55 ... shifting part, 57 ... second width sorting part, 59 ... 3 width selection section, 61, 62 ... Guide plate, 6
3 ... Light emitting element, 65 ... Light receiving element, 67 ... Extraction part, 6
9 ... Pull-in roller, 71 ... Guide member, 73 ... Side column,
75 ... Shift amount front sensor, 77 ... Shift amount sensor.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A paper sheet receiving means for receiving paper sheets on a conveying path, a conveying means for conveying the paper sheets supplied on the conveying path by the paper sheet receiving means, Paper sheet sensing means provided at a predetermined height position on the transport path for sensing each time the paper sheet transported on the transport path by the transport means, and sensed by the paper sheet sensing means. And a paper sheet width selection unit that eliminates paper sheets having a height equal to or higher than the height and allows paper sheets having a height that is not detected to pass along the transport path, and is detected by the paper sheet detection unit. A sheet processing apparatus comprising: a sheet receiving unit and a control unit that controls the operation of the sheet conveying unit according to the passage time of the sheet. 2. The paper sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper sheet width selecting unit is operated by the control of the control unit even when the paper sheet receiving unit and the conveying unit are stopped. A paper sheet processing device characterized by: 3. The paper sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of paper sheets having a height less than the height passed by the paper sheet width selecting section are shifted in a transport direction, and the shift section. And a paper-sheet width selecting unit, which is disposed between the paper-sheet width selecting unit and the shift unit, which detects the paper-leaf every time it passes, and the paper-passage detection unit, which is provided in the shift unit and passes the paper-sheet each time And a shift portion paper sheet sensing means for detecting the paper sheet passage, and the shift portion front paper sheet sensing means and the shift portion paper sheet sensing means continuously sensing the passage of the paper sheet, the paper sheet A paper sheet processing apparatus comprising: a receiving means and a conveying means, and means for controlling to temporarily stop the supply of the paper sheet to the paper sheet width selecting unit. 4. A paper sheet supply unit that receives a plurality of paper sheets on a conveyance path, and a predetermined one of the plurality of paper sheets supplied on the conveyance path by the paper sheet supply unit. A sheet thickness sorting unit that eliminates a sheet having a thickness equal to or more than the above, and passes the other sheets according to the transport path, and a sheet having a thickness less than the predetermined thickness that has passed through the sheet thickness sorting unit. A first conveyor for evenly conveying the leaves, a second conveyor for vertically elevating and conveying the paper sheets from the first conveyor, and a second conveyor A paper width sorting unit that excludes papers having a predetermined height or more among the papers aligned in one of the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and allows the other papers to pass along the transport path. Where the paper is conveyed to the paper width selection section through the conveyor An optical sensor for detecting the height or more sheet by light, detects the passage of the paper sheet based on a signal from the light sensor,
A paper sheet processing apparatus comprising: a control unit that temporarily stops the first and second conveyors when this detection continues for a predetermined time or more.