JPH03287331A - Goods supply method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent to interrupt the supply of articles by carrying out the exhaust operation of a pallet depending on the result of detection of the condition of pallet at the article feeding position. CONSTITUTION:When an article in the first effective pallet P1 at the article feeding position is picked up, the a reduction counter in a controller is operated, and when the remaining number value is made zero, a hand 10 pushes the empty pallet P1 from the article feeding position to the pallet exhaust position side in the direction of the second elevator to send the empty pallet P1 to the pallet exhaust position. And, while the empty pallet P1 is loaded on the elevator plate of the second elevator 26 and lifted up, an effective pallet P2 at the uppermost position is lifted up by the upward movement of the first elevator 24, and it is held by a locking means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for feeding articles to automatic machines such as robots for processing or assembly.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-271636, a method is known in which articles are placed in a tray or the like and sequentially fed to a processing machine using a lifter.

The apparatus according to the method includes 2: a tray box for arranging and storing a plurality of parts; a wagon that can stack the tray boxes in multiple stages and freely transport them on a flat surface; and a wagon and the tray box. a pallet stand device provided near a processing machine for moving the parts to a handling position; a connecting means for coupling the wagon and the pallet stand device so as not to cause relative movement; and the pallet stand device. a tray gripping device for holding the tray box on the wagon and carrying it out between the pallet stand device and the wagon; and a slip lid on the pallet stand device for moving the tray box up and down. a device;
An automatic handling system device in a factory, comprising a balance means for reducing the burden of driving force for vertical movement of a lifter device, and a positioning means for positioning the pallet box at a set vertical movement position on the pallet stand device. It is.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Like the above-mentioned apparatus, in a method of supplying articles to an automatic machine such as a processing machine, articles are stored in pallets such as trays, the pallets are stacked, and the articles are sequentially supplied by elevator means such as a lifter. To supply the automatic machine without running out of goods, to accurately control the operation of each part so that the entire system will not be disrupted when the pallet runs out of goods, and to supply goods to the automatic machine. It is important to replenish the next pallet as soon as one pallet in a position becomes empty.

In view of the above-mentioned points, one of the problems of the present invention is to propose a method in which the next operation on the automatic machine side is accurately performed depending on the state of the pallet at the article supply position, so that articles can be supplied without interruption. .

[Means and actions for achieving the task]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an automatic machine such as a robot that processes or assembles articles, and a pallet supply device that transports a pallet containing the articles to a position where the articles are supplied to the automatic machine. The pallet supply devices are arranged in a manner that they can communicate with the automatic machine in a non-contact manner, and one of the signals indicating the operation state is a signal indicating an operating state of the article carried into the pallet supply device. The signal represents the number of storage pallets, and the means for discharging the empty pallets containing the articles from the pallet supply device is operated when the number of pallets reaches a predetermined value.

[Explanation of Examples]

1. Description of the entire assembly system including the pallet supply device.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an assembly device 1 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a robot side 2A seen from a cross section in the direction of FIG.
and shows a side view of the pallet supply device 2B.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 4 denotes a base to which a rail 8A on which a shuttle 6 carrying a robot moves is attached.

The shuttle 6 is loaded with articles, parts, etc. from a pallet that will be described later.
A robot 12 equipped with a hand 10 for picking up units, materials, etc., an assembly jig 14 for assembling the items picked up by the hand, a hand exchange table 16 for exchanging the hand 10 according to the purpose of assembly, and It is equipped with a controller 8 on the robot side for signal communication and signal control by connecting with a controller on the pallet supplying device side, which will be described later.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A pallet supply device for transporting an automatic machine such as a robot that processes or assembles articles to a position for supplying the articles to the automatic machine is provided on the travel path of the automatic machine. and the pallet feeding device is capable of communicating with the automatic machine in a non-contact manner, and one of the signals indicating the operating condition is a signal representing an article storage pallet carried into the pallet feeding device. , and the means for discharging the empty pallets of the articles from the pallet supply device is operated when the number of the pallets reaches a predetermined value.