SUPPLY DEVICE OF SUPPLYING SHEET MATERIAL

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-216372 filed on Dec. 11, 2024. The entire contents of the priority application are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology described herein relates to a supply device of supplying sheet material.

BACKGROUND

There has been known a supply device of supplying sheet material. One example of such a device includes a sheet roll that includes sheet material (non-woven fiber) wound around a core. A part of the sheet material is pulled out from the sheet roll and supplied to a fiber web. The sheet material is cut together with the fiber web by a cutter.

SUMMARY

In the above device, when the remaining amount of the sheet material of the sheet roll becomes small, the sheet roll needs to be replaced with a new one. The supplying of the sheet material stops during the replacement of the sheet roll.

An object of the present technology described herein is to provide a supply device of supplying sheet material in which a sheet roll is replaced with a new one without stopping supply of the sheet material.

A supply device of supplying sheet material of this disclosure includes a material roll including a roll of the sheet material around a core member, a storing section having a recessed shape and having an opening that opens upward, a feeding section feeding the sheet material from the material roll to the storing section from above, and a movable member that is configured to move to bend a downward portion of the sheet material that extends downward from the feeding section in the storing section.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a supply device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the supply device where a movable plate member is in a first position and sheet material is fed to a storing section.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the supply device where the movable plate member is in a second position.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the supply device where a folded portion is in the storing section and the movable plate member is in the first position.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the supply device where the folded portions are in the storing section and no sheet material is in the material roll.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the movable plate member along VI-VI line in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating operations of the supply device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A supply device 10 of supplying sheet material according to one embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. The supply device 10 is for supplying the sheet material of a vehicular interior component such as ceiling material of a vehicle to another device such as a cutting device that cuts the sheet material into a predefined length. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the supply device 10 includes a material roll 12 of sheet material 11, a storing section 20 of a recessed shape that opens upward and has an opening, a pair of rollers 41, 42 (a feeding section), a movable plate member 50 (a movable member) with which a portion of the sheet material 11 is bent and folded, a detecting section 60 that detects a distance D1 from the material roll 12, a cylinder 62 (a moving device) that moves the movable plate member 50, a holding section 63 that holds a leading end portion 11G of the sheet material 11 that is an opposite end from the material roll 12, a roller 64 that is between the material roll 12 and the pair of rollers 41, 42, a roller 65 that is between the holding section 63 and the pair of rollers 41, 42 on a supply path of the sheet material 11, and a control section 67. The pair of rollers 41, 42 are disposed above the storing section 20 and feed the sheet material 11 from the material roll 12 to the storing section 20. The remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 can be measured by detecting the distance D1. Scrim may be used as the sheet material 11; however, any other material can be used as the sheet material 11.

The material roll 12 includes a core member 13 and the sheet material 11 that is wound around the core member 13. The sheet material 11 is pulled out from the material roll 12 and fed via the rollers 64, 65 toward the holding section 63 in a normal feeding process. The leading end portion 11G that is an opposite end portion from the material roll 12 is held by the holding section 63. With the holding section 63 moving away from the material roll 12, the sheet material 11 is pulled out from the material roll 12.

The storing section 20 has a cross-sectional U-shape that opens upward. More specifically, the storing section 20 includes a bottom portion 21 and wall portions 22, 23 (a first wall portion and a second wall portion) that extend upward from side edges of the bottom portion 21. The wall portions 22, 23 are opposite each other and the bottom portion 21 connects the wall portions 22, 23. The bottom portion 21 has a curved shape that opens upward. Namely, an upper surface 21A of the bottom portion 21 is a curved surface.

The rollers 41, 42 (the feeding section) are disposed to sandwich a portion of the sheet material 11 that extends from the roller 64 toward the roller 65. The roller 41 is movable to be closer to and away from the roller 42. With such a configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 2, by moving the roller 41 closer to the roller 42, a portion of the sheet material 11 can be held by the rollers 41, 42.

The movable plate member 50 is a flat plate member. The movable plate member 50 is mounted on an upper edge portion of the wall portion 22 (the first wall portion) that is closer to the material roll 12 (on the right side in FIG. 2) so as to be pivoted around the upper edge portion of the movable plate member 50. The movable plate member 50 has a plate shape and is fixed to the upper edge portion of the wall portion 22 near the opening of the storing section 20. The movable plate member 50 extends downward from the upper edge portion of the wall portion 22 and is disposed to face the wall portion 22. In this embodiment, the movable plate member 50 is mounted on the wall portion 22; however, the movable plate member 50 may be mounted on any other portions.

The cylinder 92 is fixed to an upper edge portion of the wall portion 23 (the second wall portion) that is closer to the holding section 63. A cylinder rod 62A is fitted in the cylinder 62. A distal end portion of the cylinder rod 62A is fixed to a lower end portion of the movable plate member 50 with a bracket 68 that has a plate shape. The bracket 68 has a rectangular plate shape and is mounted on the lower end portion of the movable plate member 50. As illustrated in FIG. 6, two cylinders 62 are fixed to edge portions of the bracket 68 with respect to a longitudinal direction of the bracket 68 (a width direction of the sheet material 11), respectively. With the cylinders 62 being driven, the cylinder rods 62A move into and out from cylinder barrels, respectively. As a result, the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 moves. Accordingly, the movable plate member 50 is pivotally moved about the upper edge portion of the movable plate member 50. When the cylinder rod 62A extends and the movable plate member 50 is moved close to the wall portion 22 as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5, the movable plate member 50 is in a first position. When the cylinder rod 62A is retracted and the movable plate member 50 is farther away from the wall portion 22 as illustrated in FIG. 3, the movable plate member 50 is in a second position. The movable plate member 50 is movable between the first position and the second position. The movable plate member 50 is between the cylinders 62 with respect to the width direction of the sheet material 11 (the upper-bottom direction in FIG. 6). The width of the movable plate member 50 (the length in the upper-bottom direction in FIG. 6) is greater than the width of the sheet material 11.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the detection section 60 is disposed opposite the material roll 12 and spaced from a surface of the material roll 12. The detection section 60 is a laser displacement sensor, for instance, and can measure the distance D1 to the surface of the material roll 12 that faces the detection section 60. As the amount (the remaining amount) of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 reduces, the outer diameter of the material roll 12 decreases and the distance D1 from the detection section 60 to the material roll 12 increases. Accordingly, the detection section 60 measures the distance D1 to the surface of the material roll 12 that is opposite the detection section 60 to measure the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the control section 67 is electrically connected to the rollers 41, 42, the detection section 60, the cylinder 62, and the holding section 63. The control section 67 is configured to control each operation of the rollers 41, 42, the cylinder 62, and the holding section 63.

In this embodiment, with the holding section 63 being moved, the sheet material 11 is pulled out from the material roll 12. The sheet material 11 pulled out from the material roll 12 is transferred to another device and disposed on another sheet material. Then, the sheet material 11 and the other sheet material that are overlapped are cut by a cutting device. Then, the cut sheet material is molded into a predefined shape corresponding to a product. By repeating such processes, the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 reduces.

Operations of the supply device 10 will be described with reference to a flowchart illustrated in FIG. 7. The control section 67 determines whether the distance D1 from the detection section 60 to the surface of the material roll 12 detected by the detection section 60 is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance (a first predetermined value) or not (S1). When the control section 67 determines that the distance D1 is not equal to or greater than the predetermined distance (S1: NO), the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is sufficient, the sheet material 11 extends from the material roll 12 to the holding section 63 via the roller 64 and the roller 65 and the leading end portion 11G is held by the holding section 63 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The control section 67 is configured to control the holding section 63 to hold the leading end portion 11G and move the holding section 63 to pull the sheet material 11. A normal feeding process is performed (S2) until the control section 67 determines that the distance D1 is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance (the first predetermined value). During the normal feeding process, the cylinder rod 62A extends and the movable plate member 50 is in the first position.

When the control section 67 determines that the distance D1 is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance (S1: YES), the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is small and the control section 67 performs a storing process. In the storing process, the sheet material 11 is fed to the storing section 20 and stored in the storing section 20. Next, the storing process will be described.

Storing Process

In the storing process, when the control section 67 determines that the distance D1 detected by the detection section 60 is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance (S1: YES), the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is equal to or smaller than the predefined amount and the control section 67 stops the holding section 63 and controls and moves the roller 41 closer to the roller 42 such that the sheet material 11 is held by the rollers 41, 42 (S3) as illustrated in FIG. 2. Then, the control section 67 moves and rotates the roller 42 (at least one of the rollers) and feeds the sheet material 11 to the storing section 20 (S5). Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the portion of the sheet material 11 extends along an inner surface of the storing section 20. More specifically, the sheet material 11 extends downward from the rollers 41, 42 toward the upper surface 21A of the bottom portion 21 and extends along the upper surface 21A and further extends upward toward the roller 65 along the surface of the wall portion 23.

The portion of the sheet material 11 extending downward from the rollers 41, 42 toward the bottom portion 21 is referred to as a downward portion 11A. The rollers 41, 42 are above the wall portion 22 and the downward portion 11A faces the wall portion 22. The movable plate member 50 is between the downward portion 11A and the wall portion 22. The movable plate member 50 is disposed to face the upper portion of the downward portion 11A. The movable plate member 50 has a surface 50A that is an opposite surface from the surface facing the wall portion 22.

The upper portion of the downward portion 11A extends along the surface 50A of the movable plate member 50. The surface 50A of the movable plate member 50 is contacted with the surface 11B of the downward portion 11A.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the control section 67 drives the cylinder 62 to retract the cylinder rod 62A with rotating the roller 42 (S7). Accordingly, the movable plate member 50 is pivotally moved such that the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 moves toward the surface 11B of the downward portion 11A that faces the movable plate member 50. The surface 50A of the movable plate member 50 is sloped so as to be away from the wall portion 22 as the surface 50A extends downward and the movable plate member 50 is in the second position. The portion of the downward portion 11A that faces the surface 50A and is overlapped with the surface 50A extends with being inclined along the surface 50A. As a result, the portion of the downward portion 11A corresponding to the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 moves to be farther away from the wall portion 22 (in a thickness direction, toward a left side in FIG. 3) and the portion of the downward portion 11A is bent by the movement of the movable plate member 50 and a bent portion 11H is formed below the movable plate member 50 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the control section 67 drives the cylinder 62 to extend the cylinder rod 62A with rotating the roller 42 (S9). Accordingly, the movable plate member 50 is pivotally moved such that the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 moves in a direction to be farther away from the surface 11B of the downward portion 11A. Namely, the movable plate member 50 moves such that the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 moves closer to the wall portion 22. As a result, the bent portion 11H of the sheet material 11 formed below the movable plate member 50 drops downward and the bent portion 11H is folded and a folded portion 11D is formed and disposed on the bottom portion 21 of the storing section 20. The folded portion 11D includes a lower portion 14A and an upper portion 14B that is overlapped with the lower portion 14A.

The cylinder 62 is configured to move the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 closer to and farther away from the wall portion 22 (the right-left direction in FIGS. 3 and 4, the width direction of the downward portion 11A). With such a configuration, the cylinder 62 is moved to pivotally move the movable plate member 50 while the roller 42 being rotated and feeding the sheet material 11 to the storing section 20. Thereby, the sheet material 11 is bent and the bent portion 11H is folded and the folded portion 11D is formed and disposed on the bottom portion 21.

The control section 67 performs the processes of S7 and S9 repeatedly predetermined times to pivotally move the movable plate member 50 several times the folded portions 11D are formed. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the folded portions 11D are overlapped with each other on the bottom portion 21. Thus, a portion of the sheet material 11 is folded in an accordion style and disposed on the bottom portion 21. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the folded portions 11D are disposed above a portion 14D of the sheet material 11 that extends along the upper surface 21A of the bottom portion 21. The lower portion 14A of the folded portion 11D on the lowest side includes an end portion that is close to the wall portion 22 and is connected to a wall portion 22 side end portion of the portion 14D. A wall portion 23 side end portion of the portion 14D is connected to a lower end of a portion 14E of the sheet material 11 extending along and opposite the wall portion 23. The portion 14E is connected to the portion of the sheet material 11 extending to the holding section 63 and having the leading end portion 11G. Therefore, with the sheet material 11 being pulled by the holding section 63, the folded portions 11D in the storing section 20 are pulled sequentially from the lowest one.

The predetermined amount of the sheet material 11 is stored in the storing section 20 and when the control section 67 determines that the distance D1 detected by the detection section 60 is equal to a distance D2 (a second predetermined value) from the core member 13 (S11: YES), no sheet material 11 is on the material roll 12 and the control section 67 stops the rotation of the roller 42 and stops the cylinder 62 with the cylinder rod 62A extending (S13). In this state, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the movable plate member 50 is in the first position and the sheet material 11 is completely pulled out from the material roll 12 and a trailing end 11F of the sheet material 11 is separated from the core member 13. Then, an operator sets a new material roll 12A on the core member 13 and replace the material roll. During the replacement of the material roll, the control section 67 controls the holding section 63 to move the sheet material 11 (the folded portions 11D) stored in the storing section 20 (S15). Namely, during the replacement of the material roll, the folded portions 11D stored in the storing section 20 are pulled by the holding section 63. After stopping the roller 42 and the cylinder 62 (S13), the control section 67 is configured to move the holding section 63 to pull the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 (S15) and determine whether the material roll 12 is replaced with a new material roll 12A (S19). Namely, the control section 67 determines whether the material roll 12 is replaced while moving the holding section 63.

When the control section 67 moves and rotates the roller 42 and feeds the sheet material 11 into the storing section 20 (S5) and determines that the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 is pulled out by the holding section 63 (S17: YES) and replacement of the material roll 12 is finished (S19: YES), the control section 67 controls the roller 41 to move away from the roller 42 (S20) and the process returns to S2 and the normal feeding process is performed. After the material roll 12 is replaced with the new material roll 12A, a leading end 11E of the sheet material of the new material roll 12A is connected to the trailing end 11F of the sheet material 11 that includes the folded portions 11D in the storing section 20 with an adhesive tape. After all the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 is pulled out from the storing section 20, the sheet material of the new material roll 12A is pulled and fed.

In S11, when the control section 67 determines that the detection section 60 does not detect the distance D2 (S11: NO), the processes of S7 and S9 are repeated until the distance D2 is detected. The processes of S15 and S17 are repeated until the control section 67 determines that the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 is pulled out by the holding section 63 (S17: YES). Unless the material roll 12 is replaced (S19), the process does not proceed.

Effects of this embodiment will be described. The supply device 10 of this embodiment includes the material roll 12 including a roll of the sheet material 11, the storing section 20 that has a recessed shape opening upward, the rollers 41, 42 (the feeding section) that feed the sheet material 11 from the material roll 12 to the storing section 20 from an upper side, and the movable plate member 50 that is configured to bend a portion of the downward portion 11A of the sheet material 11 that extends downward and toward the storing section 20 from the rollers 41, 42.

In this embodiment, the sheet material 11 is fed by the rollers 41, 42 to the storing section 20 and the portion of the downward portion 11A of the sheet material 11 is bent by the movable plate member 50. The bent portion 11H of the downward portion 11A drops on the bottom surface of the storing section 20 and the folded portion 11D is formed. By repeating the above processes, the folded portions 11D are disposed to overlap each other in the storing section 20. Namely, the sheet material 11 is stored in a layered manner in the storing section 20. Therefore, when the remaining amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is small, the material roll 12 can be replaced with a new one while the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 being pulled out and supplied to another device. Thus, the material roll 12 can be replaced with a new one without stopping supplying the sheet material 11. Without the movable plate member 50 and with the sheet material 11 being fed only by the rollers 41, 42 to the storing section 20, the sheet material 11 may be deformed in various forms and stored in the storing section 20 disorderly. Therefore, the storing section 20 may be likely to overflow with the sheet material 11. On the other hand, in this embodiment, with the movable plate member 50, the sheet material 11 can be stored orderly with being layered in the storing section 20 properly. Therefore, the amount of the sheet material 11 that can be stored in the storing section 20 increases.

The supply device 10 further includes the detection section 60 configured to detect the distance D1 from the material roll 12 and the control section 67. By detecting the distance D1, the amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is measured. The rollers 41, 42 can hold a portion of the sheet material 11. When determining that the distance D1 is equal to or greater than the predetermined distance, the amount of the sheet material 11 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined amount and the control section 67 controls and rotates the roller 42 (one of the rollers 41, 42) to feed the sheet material 11 to the storing section 20. When the amount of the sheet material 11 of the material roll 12 is equal to or smaller than the predetermined amount, the sheet material 11 is fed to the storing section 20 and therefore, the sheet material 11 is stored in the storing section 20.

The supply device 10 further includes the cylinder 62 (the moving device) that is configured to move the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 so as to be closer to and farther away from the wall portion 22 (the surface 11B of the downward portion 11A). The movable plate member 50 is mounted on the storing section 20 so as to be pivotally moved around the upper edge portion of the movable plate member 50 and the movable plate member 50 is disposed opposite the downward portion 11A.

By the movement of the cylinder 62, the movable plate member 50 is pivotally moved around the upper edge portion. With the movable plate member 50 being pivotally moved and contacted with the downward portion 11A, the portion of the downward portion 11A is bent.

The upper surface 21A of the bottom portion 21 of the storing section 20 is a curved surface of a semicircular shape. With such a configuration, when the sheet material 11 stored in the storing section 20 is supplied to another device, the lowest portion of the sheet material 11 on the upper surface 21A (the portion 14D in FIG. 5) can smoothly move along the upper surface 21A. The sheet material 11 can be pulled out from the storing section 20 more surely and smoothly.

Other Embodiments

The technology described herein is not limited to the embodiment described above with reference to the drawings. The technology described herein may be modified within the technical scope. The following embodiments may be included in the technical scope.

• • (1) In the above embodiment, the cylinder 62 is included as the moving device for pivotally moving the movable plate member 50; however, a rotation shaft may be attached to an upper edge of the movable plate member 50 and the rotation shaft may be rotated by a motor. Instead of the cylinder 62, the lower edge portion of the movable plate member 50 may be moved with a rack and pinion mechanism.
  • (2) In the above embodiment, with the movable plate member 50 being pivotally moved, a portion of the downward portion 11A is bent. However, a movable plate member may be moved linearly to bend a portion of the downward portion 11A.
  • (3) In the above embodiment, the sheet material of a vehicular interior component is used. The sheet material may not be necessarily for a vehicular interior component but may be for any other component.