JPH0112626B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a workpiece conveyance device having a jig magazine suitable for a fully automatic production system in which workpieces are attached to jigs and processed.

Background of the Technology In recent years, fully automated production systems that eliminate human labor and aim for efficient production are becoming a reality as a requirement of the times. How to improve efficiency with this production method is an important issue in terms of productivity and cost reduction.
For this reason, it has been considered to attach the workpiece to a jig, but this has not yet reached the point where it can efficiently contribute to complete automation.

Purpose Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a jig that realizes efficient use of jigs with a system in which a variety of similar workpieces are mounted on the jig, placed on a pallet, and transported to a processing position. It is an object of the present invention to provide a workpiece conveyance device having a magazine.

Solution: A conveyor that positions the workpiece at a transfer position for attaching the workpiece to a jig placed on a pallet, a jig transfer position for the machine tool, a transfer position for taking out the workpiece from the jig, and a position for taking out and storing the pallet. and a plurality of rows in which a plurality of pallets on which drive means and jigs for the conveyor are mounted are arranged in a straight line in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor, and the pallets are selectively positionable in parallel to the moving direction of the conveyor. a jig magazine, a drive means for moving the jig magazine, and a rail passing over the jig magazine in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor to take out one of the pallets and move it onto the conveyor and the jig magazine. The apparatus is equipped with a pallet take-out device whose upper part is movable, and means for moving the pallet nipping member.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Figure 1 shows the first jig magazine and conveyor.
In Fig. 2, two rows of chain conveyors 3a, 3b are stretched on a frame 2 on a leg 1 by sprocket wheels 4a, 4b fixed to a rotating shaft, and are driven by drive motors 5a, 5b. The chain conveyors 3a and 3b are provided in opposite directions in FIG. 1, with 3a running to the left and 3b running to the right. At the left and right ends of the chain conveyor, lift cylinders 8 and 9 are installed, respectively, with lifts 6 and 7 having flat tops that rise up from between the conveyors.
They are placed in two positions, one higher and one lower than the conveyor, depending on the command. Furthermore, cylinders 12 and 13 are provided further outside of the lifts 6 and 7 in the moving direction of the conveyor, and the pallet pushing plates 10 and 11 attached to the end of a rod integrated with the piston rod in the direction of the conveyor are used to lift the pallet. The pallets P on top of conveyors 6 and 7 are transferred from conveyor 3a to conveyor 3b and from conveyor 3b to conveyor 3a. A lift 14 having a flat top that rises from between the chains is provided in the middle of the conveyor 3a, and is placed in two positions, one higher and one lower than the conveyor, by a cylinder 15. Furthermore, a stopper 16 and a conveyor 3 are installed adjacent to the lift 14 of the conveyor 3a.
Stoppers 17 and 18 are provided which can similarly take two positions, upper and lower, at the gripping and releasing positions of the robot R at the jig delivery position with the machine tool in b. Two guide rails 21a and 21b parallel to the conveyor supported by legs 20 are provided on the front side of the conveyor 3a, on which a pallet stand 22 is placed and a feed screw 24 driven by a motor 23 is placed. On the pallet table 22, which is moved left and right within the range of the stoppers 25a and 25b by the conveyor, there are multiple rows of pallets mounted with several jigs J arranged in a straight line and in a direction perpendicular to the conveyor. The formed pallets P are stored in a grid pattern. In each row, two rows of dog groups 26 are provided on the pallet table 22 for selectively positioning the pallet take-out position from both the left and right sides, and a limit switch group LS ₁ is provided at the corresponding position. ing.
The pallet back-and-forth moving device crosses this pallet table 22 and reaches the top of the conveyor 3a.
7 is the pillar 28 attached to the guide rails 21a and 21b.
A clamping device for taking out and storing pallets is movably mounted on this, and is connected to a chain with sprockets 29 rotatably provided at both ends of the rail 27, and is driven by a motor 30. The vehicle is moved forward and backward within the range of the stoppers 31a and 31b. A group of dogs 32 provided on the clamping device is positioned by a group of limit switches _LS2 provided on the rail 27 in accordance with the positions of the pallets P arranged in a straight line. The clamping device is rail 27
A fork pivot shaft 33 is extended parallel to the rail 27 and rotatably supported by a bracket provided on the fork pivot shaft 33.
A fork 34 with a bifurcated tip is attached to the cylinder 3 so as to sandwich the pallet P, and the cylinder 3 has a rod connected to a lever at the end of the pivot shaft 33.
5, the fork 34 takes two positions: an upper retracted position and a lower clamping position. and rail 21
At the left end of the conveyor 3a, there is a proximity switch 36 that detects the presence or absence of a pallet on the far side of the conveyor in a row of pallet stands positioned at the pick-up position by the pallet back and forth moving device, and at the left end of the conveyor 3a, a proximity switch 36 detects whether or not a pallet is placed on the lift 6. Proximity switch 37, conveyor 3b
At the right end is a proximity switch 38 that determines whether a pallet is placed on the lift 7, and a fork 3 that is a clamping device.
Proximity switches 39 are provided at the lower positions of 4 to detect the presence or absence of the sandwiched pallet. Further, an identification device 40 is provided to identify the identification code of the jig to which the workpiece placed on the lift 6 at the left end of the conveyor 3b is attached. Next, the jig J for attaching the workpiece is shown in FIG.
Alternatively, a gripper gripping groove 41a is cut in the center part and a key groove 41c is cut in the flange part so that it can be transported by an industrial robot or the like, and the taper shank 4 has a base part that can be fitted into a main shaft taper hole of a machine tool.
1b, and a pull stud 42 tightened with a drawbar or the like is attached to the end thereof, and a collet body 43 having a collet 43a for grasping the inner diameter of the workpiece is concentrically fastened to the head. The main body 41, pull stud 42, and collector body 43 are provided with holes passing through their centers, and the hole in the main body 41 is the largest diameter stepped hole, and a female thread is installed at the entrance of the main body. 24 is fitted and prevented from rotating. The hole in the collet body 43 is cut into a taper, and a drawbar 45 for opening and closing the collet having a head 45a that fits into the taper is inserted into the hole, and a male screw 46 that is screwed into the female screw 44 is movable in the axial direction. A disc spring 48 is inserted between the side surface of the male screw 46 and a nut member 47 screwed onto the screw at the end of the shaft of the drawbar 45 to pull up the drawbar 45 in the direction of opening the collet. This drawbar 45 has a through hole drilled therein, a female thread cut into the shaft end, a stepped portion that comes into contact with the inner end of the pull stud, and a collet loosening rod 49 having a thread at the shaft end inserted therethrough. The small diameter end 49b is connected to the pull stud 4.
The collet protrudes outward through the two holes, and by pressing this end, the collet is loosened. The pallet P on which this jig J is attached has a square bottom 50a large enough to sit on the conveyor chain in FIG. It has two keys 50c that engage with the grooves 41c.

The operation of this device configured in this way will be explained. Lifts 6, 7, 14 and stoppers 16, 1
7 and 18 have all been lowered, and a pallet P on which the same jig J as shown in FIG. 3 without a workpiece is mounted is stored on the pallet stand 22. Now, when it is confirmed by the signal from LS ₁ that the pallet table 22 is moved to the left by the command and the rightmost row is positioned in the take-out device, the clamping device of the pallet back and forth moving device is put on standby by the rotation of the motor 30. A signal is output from the LS ₂ which has been moved from the pallet position and positioned at the pallet P closest to the conveyor 3a, and once a pallet presence signal is output from the proximity switch 39, the cylinder 35 acts and the fork 34 is moved downward. It is rotated and picks up the cornermost pallet P. The lift cylinder 15 acts to raise the lift 14.
In this state, the motor 30 rotates and the pinching device is moved to above the conveyor 3a, and the pallet P is placed on the lift 14.
will be transferred. The lift 14 descends, a pallet is placed on the chain of the conveyor 3a, the motor 5a rotates, the conveyor 3a moves, and the pallet P moves to the left. When the proximity switch 37 detects the pallet P, the motor 5a is stopped and the lift 6 is raised by the action of the cylinder 8. Only the jig J is gripped and carried to a workpiece mounting position by an industrial robot (not shown), the workpiece is attached to the jig J by a mounting device, and then returned to the pallet P on the lift 6.
By acting on the cylinder 12 and pulling the pallet pushing plate 10 toward the conveyor 3b, the pallet P slides on the lift 6 and is positioned on the conveyor 3b.
When the jig identification device 40 confirms the type of workpiece using the jig code, the lift 6 is lowered by the action of the cylinder 8, the motor 5b rotates, the conveyor 3b moves, and the pallet P is moved to the right. At this time, the stoppers 17 and 18 rise up to receive the moving pallet P. The motor 5b is stopped, and the robot R, which transports the jig with the workpiece to the machine tool, grips the machined jig and positions it, grips the jig J stopped by the stopper 17, and moves the machined jig to the machine tool. Transfer the other jig J onto the pallet on the stopper 18. Robot R
transports jig J into the machine tool. Stoppa 17,
18 descends, motor 5b is rotated, the pallet stopped by stopper 17 is moved to stopper 18, the machined jig J for the pallet stopped by 18 is moved to the right, and when detected by proximity switch 38, motor 5b is stopped and the cylinder is moved. 9, the lift 7 rises and lifts the pallet. The jig J is made by a robot (not shown).
is gripped, the workpiece is transported to a removal position, and the processed workpiece is removed by a removal device. The emptied jigs J are returned to the pallet P on the lift 7 by the robot. The cylinder 13 acts and the pallet pushing plate 11 is pulled, and the pallet P is lifted to the lift 7.
It slides on the top and is located on the conveyor 3a. When the cylinder 9 acts and the lift 7 descends and the pallet P is placed on the conveyor chain, the motor 5a rotates and the pallet P is moved to the left. A stopper 16 stops the rising pallet P, and by the action of the cylinder 15, the lift 14 lifts the rising pallet. Since the fork 34 is closed at the bottom, the pallet P is in between, and the motor 30 is reversed to move the clamping device toward the pallet table 22, and the motor 30 is stopped by the signal from the limit switch _LS2. Ru. Pallet P is positioned at the empty corner position. The cylinder 35 acts to raise the fork to the upper standby position, turning the motor 30 and putting the clamping device on standby. In the above example, one pallet P is taken out and stored in the place where the empty pallet P was taken out, but normally it is stopped with a stopper on 3a (not shown), and if the next workpiece is the same, a new one is placed from the pallet magazine. Use the empty palette that comes back without pulling it out. If the next workpiece is different, it waits at the stopper and is stored in the pallet magazine when there is no problem in preparing the next workpiece. It is also possible to freely attach different workpieces to the pallets P in each row using different jigs J, select a row, and take out the workpieces in the same way. In this example, the conveyor was stopped when the pallet was transported to a predetermined position, but it is not necessarily necessary to stop the conveyor, and the purpose can be achieved even if the conveyor is operated continuously.

Effects As detailed above, the present invention includes a conveyor jig for attaching workpieces to a jig and transporting the workpieces to a processing position.A pallet table for accommodating a plurality of pallets on which a conveyor jig is mounted is movable in the same direction as the conveyor. In addition, we have installed a device that transfers pallets across the pallet table and onto the conveyor, allowing for efficient production and by attaching a wide variety of similar workpieces to jigs, setup changes can be automated and fully automated production can be achieved. It is possible to contribute to the realization of

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a plan view of this device, Figure 2 is a side view of the same,
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the jig, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the jig placed on a pallet. P... Pallet, J... Jig, 3a, 3b... Conveyor, 6, 7, 14... Lift, 10, 11... Pallet push plate, 22... Pallet stand, 34... Fork.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Position the transport at the transfer position where the workpiece is attached to the jig placed on the pallet, the jig transfer position with the machine tool, the transfer position where the workpiece is removed from the jig, and the position where the pallet is taken out and stored. A conveyor, a drive means for the conveyor, and a plurality of rows in which a plurality of pallets on which jigs are placed are arranged in a straight line perpendicular to the conveyor, and can be selectively positioned in parallel to the moving direction of the conveyor. a jig magazine provided on the conveyor; a driving means for moving the jig magazine; 1. A workpiece conveying device having a jig magazine, comprising: a pallet take-out device movable on the jig magazine; and means for moving the pallet clamping member.