JPH06100162A - Work loader - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a work loading device that has a simple structure and requires a small installation space. [Structure] A rodless cylinder 48 that extends in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the conveyors 7 and 8 and is capable of multipoint positioning is disposed above the conveyors 7, 8 and an elevating cylinder 50 is attached to an output portion of the rodless cylinder 48. A stopper device 55 for supporting the work gripping hand 51 on the output shaft 50a of the cylinder 50 and stopping the pallets P on the transfer conveyors 7, 8 in the transfer direction at a predetermined pitch.
(56) is provided, and the pallet P is moved by the biaxial movement of the workpiece gripping hand 51 and the uniaxial movement of the conveyors 7, 8.
Work W is loaded at an arbitrary position above.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work loading device for loading works one by one on a pallet on a conveyor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a processing line, it is often the case that a work finished in a previous process is loaded on a pallet and the pallet is conveyed to a next process by a conveyor to be used for another process. In this case, in order to prevent the work from being damaged during movement during transportation, it is common to use, as the pallet, one having a large number of work placement parts vertically and horizontally. Work pieces will be loaded one by one.

By the way, the loading of works on the pallet is carried out by stopping the pallet at a predetermined position on the transfer conveyor in order to speed up the transfer.
Therefore, in order to automatically load the works onto the plurality of work placement parts on the pallet, a device that can handle the works with high precision is required for each work part. Therefore, conventionally, articulated industrial robots or robots provided with a table movable in three X, Y, and Z directions (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 15945/1990) are used. A gripping hand for gripping the work is provided in the.

[0004]

However, the use of the robots described above has a problem that the control system becomes complicated and an increase in equipment cost cannot be avoided because control of at least three axes is required. Also, since it is necessary to secure a work space in multiple horizontal directions, there is a problem that the installation space cannot be expanded.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a work loading device which has a simple structure and requires a small installation space.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with a work transfer machine having a work-holding hand capable of moving up and down at an output part of a rodless cylinder capable of multipoint positioning. The transfer machine is arranged above the transfer conveyor so that its rodless cylinder extends in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the transfer direction of the pallet, and the transfer conveyor restricts the movement of the pallet and moves the work gripping hand. It is characterized in that a stopper means for positioning the pallet with respect to the moving line is additionally provided.

[0007]

In the work loading device configured as described above, the work can be loaded at an arbitrary position on the pallet by the biaxial movement of the work delivery machine and the uniaxial movement of the pallet conveyor. Since the movement of the delivery machine is simplified, the control system is simplified and the horizontal work space is also reduced.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3 show a work transfer system including a work loading device 1 according to the present invention. This work transfer system is applied to a processing line for valve bodies, which are power steering parts for automobiles. In this processing line, two types of works (valve bodies) with the same outer shape but different inner shape (groove shape) are used. Are mixed and flowed in rod units.
In these drawings, A is a first transfer line for flowing the work W discharged from the processing equipment 2 for pre-processing in one direction, and B
Reference numerals ₁ and B ₂ are a pair of second transfer lines that flow the pallet P in parallel with the work transfer line A, and the work loading device 1 of the present invention includes the first transfer line A and the second transfer line B.
It is arranged so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to ₁ and B ₂ .

On the first transfer line A, a positioning device 3 for positioning the work W delivered from the processing equipment 2 at a predetermined delivery position, an air blow device 4 for blowing air onto the work W and cleaning it. A measuring device 5 to be described later for discriminating the type of the work is sequentially arranged in the work flow direction (FIG. 2), and a work delivering device 6 to be described later for delivering the work W between these devices is provided. Roller conveyors (transport conveyors) 7 and 8 are provided on the second transport lines B ₁ and B ₂ , respectively. The work loading device 1 is provided with a first transfer line A as described later in detail.
Received the work W from the
Of the conveyor lines B ₁ and B ₂ is selected, and the works W are loaded on the pallets P on the corresponding roller conveyors 7 and 8 one by one.

C is a pallet on which the works W are loaded on the second transfer lines B ₁ and B ₂ (hereinafter referred to as a heavy pallet).
It is the 3rd conveyance line which conveys P to processing equipment of post-processing. The third transfer line C extends on an extension of one of the _second transfer lines B2, and the flight conveyor 9 is arranged on this. A traverser 10 is arranged between the flight conveyor 9 and the roller conveyors 7 and 8 so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to the second transfer lines B ₁ and B ₂ . The traverser 10 is provided with a self-propellable roller pedestal 11 on which the heavy pallet P is placed and a guide frame 12 that provides a traveling path of the roller pedestal 11, and the roller pedestal 11 is provided with two second conveyors. Line B ₁
And B ₂ can be moved back and forth. A plurality of (three in this case) drive rollers 11a are provided on the upper surface of the roller receiving base 11, and by the rotation of the drive rollers 11a, the heavy pallet P is transferred from the roller conveyors 7 and 8 onto the roller receiving base 11. Or the heavy pallet P on the roller pedestal 11 is sent out onto the flight conveyor 9.

Further, on the front side of the roller conveyors 7 and 8, there is provided a pallet supply device 13 which conveys empty pallets P supplied to the roller conveyors. The pallet supply device 13 includes a roller pedestal (not shown) similar to the traverser 10 and supplies an empty pallet P to a predetermined delivery position for the roller conveyors 7 and 8 by running and stopping the roller pedestal. It is a reward.

Now, the details of the work transfer device 6 installed on the first transfer line A will be described. The work transfer device 6 has a base 15 as shown in FIG.
A first transfer machine 17 mounted on a first support frame 16 standing upright and a second transfer machine 18 mounted on a base 15.
And (Fig. 3). The first transfer machine 17 includes a general-purpose rodless cylinder 20 supported by a pedestal 19 provided on an upper portion of the first support frame 16 so as to extend in a work flow direction.
The rodless cylinder 20 is composed of a lifting cylinder 21 suspended and supported by an output portion, and a work gripping hand 22 supported by an output shaft 21a of the cylinder 21.

As shown in FIG. 4, the work gripping hand 22 includes a chuck cylinder (air cylinder) 23 and a pair of open / close arms 24 extending from the chuck cylinder 23.
And a grip block 25 attached to each opening / closing arm 24. Each of the grip blocks 25 has a V-shaped groove 25a which can be engaged with the peripheral surface of the work W on the surfaces facing each other, and is opened and closed integrally with the opening / closing arm 24 by the operation of the chuck cylinder 23. The work W can be held therein. In such a first transfer machine 17, the work gripping hand 22 is moved between the work positioning device 3 and the air blow device 4 by the operation of the rodless cylinder 20, and is shown in FIG. 3 by the operation of the lifting cylinder 21. The work transfer height L ₁ can be appropriately input.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second transfer machine 18 has a main body movably supported by a guide rail 26 extending on the base 15 in the work feeding direction.
27, an arm 28 supported by an elevating mechanism incorporated in the main body 27 so as to extend in the work feeding direction, and a pair of work receivers 29a and 29b provided at both ends of the arm 28. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each of the work receivers 29a and 29b is supported by a pair of left and right support members 30 extending from the arm 28 at a predetermined distance, and the support members 30, respectively. It is composed of a plate-shaped receiving member 31. Each receiving member 31 has an opening 32 on its wall surface, the bottom surface 32a of which is V-shaped and which is connected to the upper end, and the opening 32 is formed on the inner surface thereof.
Along the side edge of the groove 33 and with the bottom surface 32a aligned with the bottom surface 33a
have. The distance between the inner surfaces of the groove 33 between the pair of receiving members 31 is set according to the length of the work W, and the width of the groove 33 is set slightly larger than the diameter of the work W. As a result, the work W becomes a receiving member.
The groove 33 can be fitted into the groove 33 from above and is supported by the bottom surface of the groove 33 at both ends.

The distance between the two work receivers 29a and 29b is set according to the distance between the air blower 4 and the measuring device 5, and the main body 27 is positioned at the standby position P ₁ on the right side of the guide rail 26. The work piece
Each of 29a and 29b is an air blow device 4 and a measuring device 5
Positioned with respect to. The main body 27 moves on the guide rail 26 by the operation of driving means (not shown) to the standby position P ₁
To a forward movement position P ₂ indicated by a broken line from one side, and at the forward movement position P ₂ , one work receiver 29a is moved.
Is positioned with respect to the measuring device 5, and the other work receiver 29b is positioned at the work transfer position P ₃ with respect to the present work loading device 1. Also, a pair of work supports 29
The a and 29b are positioned at the solid line position (downward end) and the broken line position (upward end) shown in FIG. 3 by the operation of the lifting mechanism inside the main body 27. This rising end is the work transfer height L
_It is set to the same level as ₁ and the work W is transferred between each work receiver 29a, 29b and the work gripping hand 22 of the second transfer machine 17 or the measuring device 5 at this height L _1. become.

The measuring device 5 is, as shown in FIG.
They are collectively supported by a gate-shaped sub-support frame 35 which is erected on the base 15. Support plate in the middle of the sub-support frame 35
36 is bridged, and a clamp cylinder 38 is attached to each of a pair of brackets 37 extending from the support plate 36. The output shafts 38a of the cylinders 38 are opposed to each other, and a presser block 39 which can be fitted into the opening 32 of the receiving member 31 forming the work receivers 29a and 29b is attached to the tip of each output shaft 38a. ing. The pair of presser blocks 39 are positioned at the same height as the work transfer position L _1, and now the main body of the second transfer machine 18 is moved.
27 is positioned at the standby position P ₁ or the forward position P ₂ , and the work receivers 29a and 29b are operated by the operation of the lifting mechanism in the main body.
Is raised to the work transfer position L ₁ ,
The work W held by 29a or 29b is positioned between the pair of pressing blocks 39. Therefore, in this state, when the pressing block 39 is moved forward by the operation of the clamping cylinder 38, the tip of the pressing block is inserted into the hole of the work W through the openings 32 of the work receivers 29a and 29b. The work W is clamped from both ends. After this clamp is completed, the work receivers 29a, 29b
Is free to descend.

The measuring device 5 further includes a contact type displacement sensor 40 above the clamp mechanism including the cylinder 38 and the pressing block 39 (FIG. 3). The displacement sensor 40 is supported by an output shaft of an elevating cylinder 41 fixedly mounted on the upper stage of the sub-support frame 35 via a bracket 42, and is movable in the vertical direction. A cutting portion (not shown) for identifying the type is formed at a specific position on the outer periphery of the work W, and after the work W is clamped by the pair of pressing blocks 39, the displacement sensor is operated by the operation of the lifting cylinder 41. 40
Is lowered, the displacement sensor 40 comes into contact with the cutout portion,
The type of work W can be determined from the displacement amount at that time.

The work loading device 1 is shown in FIG.
Further, as best shown in FIG. 3, a work transfer machine 46 mounted on a second support frame 45 continuous with the first support frame 16 is provided. Second support frame 45
Is a first transfer line A and a pair of second transfer lines B
_The work transfer machine 46 is installed so as to straddle ₁ and B _2.
Are supported by beam members 47 bridged to the upper part of the second support frame 45. The work transfer machine 46 includes a rodless cylinder 48 fixed to the beam member 47 and capable of multipoint positioning, and a bracket 49 on an output portion of the rodless cylinder 48.
It is provided with a lifting cylinder 50 suspended and supported by a work gripping hand 51 supported by an output shaft 50a of the cylinder 50.

The rodless cylinder 48 extends along a work loading line S (FIG. 2) orthogonal to the first transfer line A and the pair of second transfer lines B ₁ and B ₂ .
The work gripping hand 51 moves linearly on the work loading line S by the operation of the rodless cylinder 48. The operation of the rodless cylinder 48 depends on the work transfer machine 46.
The teaching playback control is performed by the control device (not shown) of the above, and here, the work transfer position P ₃ on the first transfer line A is set as the original position, and
It is possible to stop the movement of the work gripping hand 51 at a plurality of positions above the one _second transfer line B ₁ or B ₂ .
The work gripping hand 51 is the work transfer device 6
It has the same structure as the work gripping hand 22 in the first delivery machine 17 in FIG. 1 and is provided with a pair of gripping blocks 53 which are opened and closed by the operation of the chuck cylinder 52.

The work loading device 1 further includes first and second stopper devices 55 and 56 arranged above the roller conveyors 7 and 8 at predetermined intervals in the flow direction of the pallet P. The pair of first and second stopper devices 55, 56
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, is a gate-shaped frame that is erected on the frame 57a of the roller conveyor 7 (8).
58, a stopper cylinder 59 vertically extending from the upper portion of the frame 58, and a stopper member 60 attached to an output shaft 59a of the cylinder. Each stopper member 60
Is moved up and down by the operation of the cylinder 59, and is lowered (advanced) to a position close to the pallet conveyance height L ₂ (FIG. 3) shown as the upper surface level of the roller 57b of the roller conveyor 7 (8) to move the pallet P Stop moving.

The first and second stopper devices 55, 56 serve to position a work placing portion (not shown) in the pallet P with respect to the work loading line S, and the first stopper device 55. When the pallet P is stopped by the pallet P in the front row by the second stopper device 56.
When the work is stopped, the work placement parts in the subsequent rows are respectively positioned with respect to the work loading line S. The pallet P used here is 5 in each of the front and rear rows.
It has a work placement part and can load a total of 10 works. Also, roller conveyors 7, 8
A stopper device 61 is also provided on the upstream side of the first and second stopper devices 55, 56, but this is an empty pallet P.
To preliminarily stop.

The operation of the work transfer system configured as described above will be described below.

When the work W delivered from the pre-processing equipment is positioned at a predetermined position on the first transfer line A by the positioning device 3, the first transfer device 17 constituting the work transfer device 6 is formed. The lifting cylinder (21) is operated to lower the work gripping hand (22). The work gripping hand 22 stops descending when the gripping block 25 reaches the work transfer height L ₁ , the chuck cylinder 23 operates at this position to close the pair of gripping blocks 25, and the work W is held on the gripping block. Is gripped. Next, the work gripping hand 22 rises due to the re-operation of the cylinder 21, and the rodless cylinder 20 is activated by this rising completion signal,
22 is transferred to the position of the air blower 4. And
At this position, air is ejected from the air blower 4, and the work W gripped by the work gripping hand 22 is washed.

While the air blow by the air blow device 4 is being performed, the displacement sensor 40 is in moving contact with the work W supplied to the pair of pressing blocks 39 of the measuring device 5 to determine the type of the work W. . At this time, the main body 27 of the second transfer machine 18 is at the standby position P ₁ shown in FIG. 3, and the elevating mechanism in the main body 27 is actuated by the air blow completion signal to move the arm 28 upward so as to receive the workpiece. 29a and 29b are positioned at the work transfer height L ₁ . At the same time, the work gripping hand 22
Is lowered to position the work W at the work transfer height L ₁ , and in this state, the pair of gripping blocks 25 of the work gripping hand 22 is opened. As a result, the work W is dropped from above into the groove 33 of the receiving member 31 of the one work receiving 29a and is held on the bottom surface thereof. On the other hand, on the measuring device 5 side,
As the arm 28 rises, a pair of pressing blocks 39 are inserted into the openings 32 of the receiving member 31 of the other work receiving portion 29b,
In this state, the pair of presser blocks 39 are opened. As a result, the work W moves into the groove of the receiving member 31 of the other work receiving 29b.
Dropped inside 33 and held on its bottom.

Thereafter, the arm 28 of the second delivery machine 18 descends, and the main body 27 is guided by the guide rail 26 by this descending completion signal.
Move up to the forward position P ₂ . This movement of the body 27, with respect to one of the workpiece receiving 29a the measurement device 5, the other work receiving 29b are positioned respectively on the workpiece dispensing position P _3. The second transfer machine 18 raises the arm 28 at the same time when the movement of the main body 27 to the forward movement position P ₂ is completed, and the two work receivers 29a, 29 are shown as shown by broken lines in FIG.
Position b at the work delivery height L ₁ . By this positioning, the work W on the one work receiver 29a is put into the measuring device 5, and the work W on the other work receiver 29b.
Is delivered to the work transfer device 46 of the work loading device 1. The work transfer to the work transfer machine 46 is the reverse operation of the first transfer machine 17, and the work gripping hand 51
Of the above-closing of the pair of gripping blocks 53-raising of the work gripping hand 51. After that, the arm 28 of the second delivery machine 18 descends, and its main body 27 returns to the standby position P ₁ , during which the next work W delivered from the processing equipment 2 is the same as described above. In this procedure, the new work W is delivered to the work gripping hand 22 of the first delivery machine 17, and the new work W is loaded into the air blower 4.

By the way, when the work is delivered to the work transfer machine 46, the result of the determination of the work type by the measuring device 5 has already been input to the control device of the work transfer machine 46. 48 operates, and the work gripping hand 51 moves above either one of the two second transfer lines B ₁ and B ₂ depending on the type of work. Further, the position on the pallet to be loaded next is stored in the control device, and the front and rear rows of the work placing portion of the empty pallet P are determined according to the stored contents. Then, when the work is loaded onto the work placing section in the front row, the cylinder 59 of the upstream stopper device 55 on the roller conveyor 7 or 8 corresponding to the work type is activated, and the stopper member 60 causes the pallet conveyance height to rise. It advances to a position close to L ₂ and stops the movement of the corresponding pallet P. By this pallet stop, the work placing section in the front row is positioned at a position matching the work loading line S. The work gripping hand 51, which has moved by the operation of the rodless cylinder 48, stops on one of the work rests in this front row in accordance with the contents of the teaching, and the descending-gripping block.
The work W is dropped into the work placing portion by the opening operation of 53.

After the loading of one work on the front row of the pallet P is completed in this way, the work transfer machine 46 returns to the original position, receives the next work W from the second transfer machine 18, and this time the front row. The work is loaded onto the work placement section next to, and by repeating this operation, a predetermined number (five in this case) of works are loaded onto the work placement section in the front row. Then, the cylinder 59 of the downstream stopper device 56 on the roller conveyor 7 or 8 is actuated, and the stopper member 60 advances to a position close to the pallet conveying height L ₂ , while
The stopper member 60 of the upstream stopper device 55 retracts, and the pallet P advances by a predetermined distance. By the forward movement of the pallet P, the work placement section in the rear row is positioned at a position that coincides with the work loading line S, and thereafter, the work loading onto the work placement section in the rear row is completed in the same cycle as described above. After that, the stopper member 60 of the downstream stopper device 55 is retracted, and the heavy pallet P loaded with 10 works flows downstream on the roller conveyor 7 or 8,
It is conveyed to the post-processing equipment via the traverser 10 and flight conveyor 9.

In the above embodiment, two transfer lines (second transfer lines B ₁ and B ₂ ) for transferring the pallets P are provided to classify and load two kinds of works. The number of pallet transport lines is arbitrary and can be one or three or more. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the pallet P having the work placing portions in the front and rear two rows is used, but the number of rows of the work placing portions is arbitrary, and even if it is one row, there are three or more rows. But it is okay. In the case where the work placing portion is a single row, the stopper device (55, 56) for positioning and stopping the pallet P is naturally used.
Will need only one.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the work loading device of the present invention, the movement of the three axes is ensured by the cooperation of the work transfer device and the pallet transfer conveyor. As a result, the control system is simplified and the horizontal working space is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the structure of a work loading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing a work transfer system including the present work loading device.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the work transfer system shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a structure of a work gripping hand and a work receiver, which are parts of a work transfer device provided in the work transfer system.

5 is a plan view showing the structure of the work receiver shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the structure of a measuring device provided in the work transfer system.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a pallet stopper device that is a part of the present work loading device.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a pallet stopper device which is a part of the present work loading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Pallet transfer conveyor 8 Pallet transfer conveyor 46 Work transfer machine 48 Rodless cylinder 50 Lifting cylinder 51 Work gripping hand 55 Stopper device 56 Stopper device P Pallet W Workpiece

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A work is placed on a pallet on a conveyor.
A device for loading individually, which is provided with a work transfer machine having a work-holding hand capable of moving up and down at an output part of a rodless cylinder capable of multipoint positioning,
The rodless cylinder is arranged above the transfer conveyor so as to extend in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the transfer direction of the pallet, and the transfer conveyor regulates the movement of the pallet with respect to the movement line of the work gripping hand. A work loading device characterized in that a stopper means for positioning the pallet is additionally provided.