JPH04101740A - Floating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a floating device compact and light by disposing more than three elastic bodies between a pedestal and a receiving plate so that they may rotate symmetrically around the center of the pedestal, and disposing more than three ball casters at a symmetrical position or rotation, and then forming a recessed part for receiving a ball at the pedestal. CONSTITUTION:A supporting plate 15 installed on a floating base 10 through a compression spring 14 is connected to a pressure plate 13 by four connecting rods 16 and compression springs 17 are installed around respective connecting rods 16. The pressure plate 13 comes into contact with the bottom surface of a floating supporting part 21 formed at the upper edge of a pedestal 20, and four elastic bodies 22 which are made of rubber or the like in a cylindrical shape are disposed on the floating supporting part 21 at intervals of 90 deg. with regard to the center shaft of a floating base 10. The phase of a ball caster 24 fixed at the bottom surface of a receiving plate 11 is shifted by 45 deg. to the elastic bodies 22 and, an inside ball 23 is fitted into a conical recessed part 25 formed in the floating supporting part 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a floating device for supporting a workpiece in a horizontal plane so that it can be adjusted and moved, and for interposing it between a robot hand and a wrist.

(Prior Art) When performing a predetermined process on a work while positioning and supporting the work, or when transporting the work to the next processing step, the work may be supported by a floating device. This floating device is for supporting a workpiece in a horizontal plane so as to be adjustable and movable, and usually has a mechanism for rotating the workpiece.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional floating device, in which a rotary table 1 is rotatably mounted on a base (not shown).
A support plate 2 is fixed to the support plate 2, and a first sliding plate 4 is placed on a guide rail 3 provided thereon. Furthermore, a guide rail 5 provided on this first sliding plate 4
A second sliding plate 6 is provided above. The sliding plate 6 is positioned at a predetermined center position by a spring 7. Similarly, the other sliding plates 4 are also positioned at the center by springs (not shown). Therefore, this second sliding plate 6 is normally positioned at a predetermined position, and a workpiece (not shown) placed on it is moved when a predetermined load along a horizontal plane is applied to the workpiece. , the second sliding plate 6 will be moved to an arbitrary position, and when the load is removed, the second sliding plate 6 will return to the writing position.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in such a conventional floating device, each of the two sliding plates is made to be able to move linearly in the horizontal direction, and as a result, the workpiece can be moved in any horizontal direction. Since a total of three plates including the support plate 2 are stacked on top of each other, the structure is bulky and the weight increases. Therefore, when this floating device is used in combination with a lifter or the like, it is necessary to increase the permissible load of the lifter or the like, which poses a problem in that it causes an increase in the cost of peripheral equipment.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small and lightweight floating device.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention for achieving the above object includes a receiving plate placed on a pedestal so as to be movable in the vertical and horizontal directions, and between the pedestal and the receiving plate. , at least three elastic bodies are arranged rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the pedestal, at least three ball casters are arranged at the rotationally symmetrical positions, and a recess for receiving a ball accommodated in the ball caster is provided in the pedestal. It is a floating device formed by

(Function) The receiving plate is movable up and down with respect to the pedestal, and receives upward elastic force from the elastic body, so when a workpiece is placed on the receiving plate, the receiving plate descends. Further, since the receiving plate is horizontally movable, the receiving plate will move horizontally when it is subjected to a horizontal load. Since the base is formed with a recess into which the ball of the ball caster provided on the receiving plate enters, the receiving plate returns to a predetermined initial position when no load is applied to the receiving plate. In this way, the engagement between the ball and the recess allows the receiving plate to move freely to any position in the horizontal direction.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example of the present invention illustrated in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a floating device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view corresponding to the II line in FIG. 2, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view corresponding to the ■-■ line in FIG. 1. , and FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view corresponding to the line ■-■ in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2.3, the floating table 10 includes a receiving plate 11, a cylindrical body 12 integrated with the receiving plate 11, and a pressing plate 13 bolted to the lower end of the cylindrical body 12. There is. A support plate 15 is mounted on the floating table 10 via a compression coil spring 14. and,
As is clear from FIG. 1, this support plate 15 is connected to the pressing plate 13 by four connecting rods 16, and around each connecting rod 16 is a compression coil spring 17.
is installed. Therefore, an upward elastic force is applied to the support plate 15 by a total of five springs 15 and 17, and when a load is applied to the support plate 15, the support plate 15 changes parallelism with the floating table 10. Descend while holding.

The floating stand 10 is supported by a pedestal 20. This pedestal 20 is rotatable by a rotation mechanism (not shown), and a floating support part 21 is formed at the upper end of this pedestal 20, and the pressing plate 13 is in contact with the lower surface of this floating support part 21. It has become. A gap 18 is formed between the inner circumferential surface of the suppressing plate 13 and the outer circumferential surface of the floating support part 21 , and the pressing plate 13 moves within the gap 18 with respect to the floating support part 21 . It is designed to be able to move horizontally. Above the floating support part 21, there are
As shown in the figure, a cylindrical elastic body 22 made of rubber or the like is 9
A total of four elastic bodies 22 are attached at 0" intervals. These elastic bodies 22 apply an upward elastic force to the receiving plate 11. Compression coil springs are preferably used as the elastic bodies. It's okay.

A ball caster 24 having a ball 23 is fixed to the lower surface of the receiving plate 11, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. As shown in FIG. 1, these ball casters 24 are out of phase with respect to the elastic body 22 by 45 degrees, have a ball 23 inside thereof that can move freely in the vertical direction, and are floating with respect to the ball 23. A spring member (not shown) that presses the support portion 21 is built-in. The ball 23 has entered a conical recess 25 formed in the floating support 21.

When no workpiece is placed on the support plate 15, the ball 23 is at the initial position of the recess 25, and the other members are also at their initial positions. In this state, when the support plate 15 receives a load in any horizontal direction, the floating table 10 can be adjusted and moved in that direction within the range of the gap 18. Further, when receiving a load in the vertical direction, the floating table 10 moves downward against the elastic force of the elastic body 22. When the load is released, the support plate 15 rises due to the elastic force of the elastic body 22, the ball 23 returns to the initial position of the recess 25, and the floating table 10 becomes a neutral position.

In the illustrated embodiment, four elastic bodies 22 and four ball casters 24 are provided, but the desired function can be achieved by arranging at least three of each at rotationally symmetrical positions.

(Effect of the invention) As described above, since the elastic body and the ball caster are arranged symmetrically between the receiving plate and the pedestal,
The receiving plate can move vertically with respect to the base, and can also move in any horizontal direction. Therefore, a lightweight and compact floating device was obtained. In addition, by engaging the ball and the recess, the receiving plate can be moved in any horizontal direction and returned to the initial position, making it possible to accurately return the receiving plate to the neutral position with a simple structure. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows a floating device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a sectional view corresponding to the II line in FIG. 2, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view corresponding to the ■-■ line in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view corresponding to the line ■--■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional floating device. Fig. 3 10... Floating stand, 11... Receiving plate, 20
... Pedestal, 21... Floating support part, 22.
...Elastic body, 23...Ball, 24...Ball caster 25...Recess.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A receiving plate is placed on the pedestal so as to be movable vertically and horizontally, and at least three
two elastic bodies are arranged rotationally symmetrically with respect to the center of the pedestal, at least three ball casters are arranged in the rotationally symmetrical positions, and a recess for receiving the ball accommodated in the ball caster is formed in the pedestal. A floating device.