JP2015131260A - Workpiece holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a workpiece holding device having a convenient structure for realizing the smooth and reliable gripping of a workpiece at a workpiece setting time.SOLUTION: A workpiece holding device 1 for accommodating a workpiece R in a gripped state comprises: a work housing part 90; and a transverse gripping mechanism for clamping and gripping the workpiece R in a transverse direction X. The transverse gripping mechanism includes a transverse movement member 20 and a transverse positioning part 30. The transverse movement member 20 includes a transverse gripping pusher part 21 arranged on the other edge side of the transverse direction X of the work housing part 90, and an extrusion pusher part 22 arranged on one side edge side of the transverse direction X of the work housing part 90.

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece gripping device that holds a workpiece in a gripped state, and in particular, in the field of drug discovery research and the like, a workpiece gripping device that holds a rack that holds a large number of tubes enclosing a drug discovery sample. About.

  Conventionally, a first movable lifting prevention claw disposed on one side edge of the rack housing portion in the lateral direction and a first fixing for positioning the rack laterally disposed on the other side edge of the rack housing portion in the lateral direction. Type lifting prevention claw, a first actuator that drives the first movable lifting prevention claw to be able to advance and retreat in the lateral direction, and a second movable lifting prevention that is arranged on one side edge of the rack housing portion in the vertical direction. A claw, a second fixed lifting prevention claw that is disposed on the other side edge in the vertical direction of the rack housing portion and positions the rack in the vertical direction, and a second movable lifting prevention claw are driven to be movable in the vertical direction. A drug discovery tube storage system including a second actuator is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In this conventional drug discovery tube storage system, in a state where the rack is set in the rack housing portion, the first fixed lift prevention claw engages with the rack so as to prevent the rack from lifting. In this conventional drug discovery tube storage system, the first fixed lift prevention claw has a built-in plunger mechanism that pushes back the rack toward the inside of the rack housing portion using the force of the spring. When the pressing of the workpiece by the movable lifting prevention pawl is released, the rack is pushed back toward the inside of the rack housing portion by the plunger mechanism, and the engagement between the first fixed lifting prevention pawl and the rack is released.

JP 2009-42011 A

  However, in the conventional drug discovery tube storage system, since the plunger mechanism has a structure using a spring, when the rack is engaged with the first fixed lifting prevention claw when the rack is set, the force of the spring is not increased. The rack functions as a resistance at the time of the engagement, and the rack is not smoothly engaged with the first fixed lifting prevention claw, and the rack may not be properly gripped. In addition, since the plunger mechanism is complicated, there is a problem that the plunger mechanism itself is liable to have a problem, and the structure of the entire apparatus is complicated by the installation of the plunger mechanism.

  The present invention solves these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece gripping device that realizes reliable and smooth gripping of a workpiece with a simple structure when the workpiece is set.

  The present invention is a workpiece gripping device that holds a workpiece in a gripped state, and a workpiece holding portion for holding a workpiece, and a lateral gripping that holds the workpiece set in the workpiece holding portion in a horizontal direction. The lateral gripping mechanism is disposed on a lateral side of the lateral direction of the workpiece accommodating portion, and is engaged with the workpiece to dispose the workpiece. A lateral positioning portion for positioning in the lateral direction, wherein the lateral movement member includes a lateral gripping pusher portion disposed on the other lateral edge side of the workpiece accommodating portion, and the one of the workpiece accommodating portions. The above-described problems are solved by integrally including an extrusion pusher portion disposed on the side edge side.

  In the invention according to claim 1, in addition to the lateral gripping pusher portion that pushes and grips the workpiece, the pusher portion that pushes the workpiece toward the opposite side of the lateral gripping pusher portion is integrated with the laterally moving member. By providing, when the workpiece is released, it is possible to release the engagement between the lateral positioning portion and the workpiece by moving the lateral movement member and pushing the workpiece by the push pusher. This eliminates the need for a conventional plunger mechanism that uses the force of the spring, and the spring force does not become a resistance when the workpiece is engaged with the lateral positioning portion. The workpiece can be reliably and smoothly engaged with the lateral positioning portion. In addition, even when the workpiece is released, by adopting a simple structure in which the workpiece is pushed by the push pusher portion provided integrally with the laterally movable member that can move in the lateral direction, the engagement of the workpiece to the lateral positioning portion is adopted. The match can be released reliably and smoothly.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the actuator for the vertical gripping mechanism and the actuator for the horizontal gripping mechanism are separately provided by driving the vertical gripping mechanism and the horizontal gripping mechanism in common. Compared with the case of providing, the number of actuators can be reduced, and downsizing of the apparatus can be realized.
According to the invention of claim 3, the elasticity of the elastic member is utilized by interposing the elastic member between the first vertical movement member and the second vertical movement member of the vertical gripping mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to apply an appropriate pressure to the workpiece by the vertical gripping pusher, so that the reliability of workpiece gripping can be improved, and the vertical dimension difference of each workpiece is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the elastic member. Therefore, a plurality of types of workpieces having different vertical dimensions can be accommodated in the workpiece gripping device. Further, when the vertical gripping mechanism and the horizontal gripping mechanism are driven by a common actuator, the vertical gripping is achieved by arranging an elastic member between the first vertical movement member and the second vertical movement member. Even when the workpiece is gripped in the vertical direction by the mechanism, a time difference is added, and even when the workpiece is gripped in the horizontal direction by the horizontal gripping mechanism, the movement of the first vertical moving member of the time difference is elastic member. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the workpiece from being pushed excessively by the vertical gripping pusher portion.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the lateral positioning portion is configured to prevent the rack from being lifted, the object to be held is moved up and down with respect to the rack in a state where the rack is accommodated in the work gripping device. Even in the case of attaching and detaching in the direction, it is possible to prevent the rack from being lifted and to realize smooth attachment and detachment of the object to be held to the rack.

The top view which shows the workpiece | work holding | grip apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. The front view which shows a workpiece holding apparatus. The rear view which shows a workpiece | work holding apparatus. The left view which shows a workpiece holding apparatus. The right view which shows a workpiece holding apparatus. Explanatory drawing which shows the VI-VI line of FIG. 1 seeing in the arrow direction. Operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows each part of a workpiece | work holding apparatus roughly. The perspective view which shows the rack which is a workpiece | work of a workpiece | work holding device.

  A workpiece gripping apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention accommodates a rack R that accommodates a large number of tubes C enclosing a drug discovery sample in a detachably gripped state.

  1 to 6, the workpiece gripping device 1 is set in a base table 10 that supports each component, a workpiece storage portion 90 that is a space for storing a rack R, and a workpiece storage portion 90. A horizontal gripping mechanism for sandwiching and gripping the rack R in the lateral direction X, a vertical gripping mechanism for gripping and gripping the rack R set in the work accommodating portion 90 in the vertical direction Y, a vertical gripping mechanism, and a lateral direction And a common actuator 80 for driving the gripping mechanism. 2 and 6, the actuator 80 is not shown.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the lateral gripping mechanism is disposed in a fixed state on the lateral movement member 20 provided so as to be movable in the lateral direction X, and on one side edge side of the lateral direction X of the work accommodating portion 90. And the lateral guide portion 31 disposed in a fixed state on the other side edge side of the lateral direction X of the workpiece accommodating portion 90.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7, the lateral movement member 20 has a substantially U-shaped overall shape, and is disposed on the other side edge side of the lateral direction X of the work accommodating portion 90. 21, a pusher pusher portion 22 disposed on one side edge side of the work accommodating portion 90, and a gear portion 23 that meshes with a first pinion gear 81 connected to the actuator 80. The lateral gripping pusher portion 21 is configured to engage with the upper side of the flange portion F of the rack R in a state where the rack R is gripped in the lateral direction X and prevent the rack R from being lifted. As can be seen from FIG. 4, the laterally moving member 20 is supported so as to be movable in the lateral direction X by two lateral linear guides 24 extending along the lateral direction X.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the horizontal positioning unit 30 is used to position the rack R in the horizontal direction X when the rack R is set. It is configured to engage with the upper side of the flange portion F and prevent the rack R from being lifted. The lateral guide portion 31 guides the rack R to the work accommodating portion 90 when the rack R is set.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the vertical gripping mechanism includes a first vertical movement member 40 that is driven by an actuator 80 to move in the vertical direction Y, and a second vertical movement member that is movable in the vertical direction Y. , The elastic member 60 disposed between the first vertical movement member 40 and the second vertical movement member 50, and one side in the vertical direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90. It has a vertical positioning part 70 arranged in a fixed state on the edge side, and a vertical guide part 71 arranged in a fixed state on the other side edge side of the vertical direction Y of the work accommodating part 90.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the first vertical movement member 40 is a gear portion 41 that meshes with a second pinion gear 82 that is disposed between the first vertical movement member 40 and the first pinion gear 81. have. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the first vertical movement member 40 is supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction Y by a first vertical linear guide 42 extending along the vertical direction Y.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7, the second vertical movement member 50 is arranged on the other side edge side of the vertical direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90 and is used to push the rack R in the vertical direction Y. 51. The vertical gripping pusher portion 51 is configured to engage with the upper side of the flange portion F of the rack R in a state where the rack R is gripped in the vertical direction Y and prevent the rack R from being lifted. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the second longitudinal movement member 50 is supported by the second longitudinal linear guide 52 extending along the longitudinal direction Y so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction Y.

  The elastic member 60 is configured as a spring made of metal or the like, and is disposed in a state of being sandwiched between the first vertical direction moving member 40 and the second vertical direction moving member 50. One end of the elastic member 60 is fixed to the first vertical movement member 40, and the other end of the elastic member 60 is fixed to the second vertical movement member 50. In addition, the specific aspect of the elastic member 60 is not limited to a spring, For example, rubber | gum, a synthetic resin, etc. may be sufficient.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the vertical direction positioning unit 70 positions the rack R in the vertical direction Y when the rack R is set. The vertical guide portion 71 guides the rack R to the work accommodating portion 90 when the rack R is set.

  The rack R is made of a flexible material such as a synthetic resin, and holds a large number of tubes C so as to be detachable in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. The tube C is attached to and detached from the rack R using a picking device (not shown) in a state where the rack R is held by the work gripping device 1. In this embodiment, the rack R is formed in a rectangular shape, and the dimension in the vertical direction Y is set to be longer than the dimension in the horizontal direction X.

  Next, a method for setting the rack R with respect to the workpiece gripping apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the rack R is placed in the work accommodating portion 90 by a handling mechanism (not shown).

  Next, by driving the actuator 80, the first vertical movement member 40, the elastic member 60, and the second vertical movement member 50 are moved to one side edge side in the vertical direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90 (FIG. 7). The horizontal movement member 20 is moved toward the one side edge side (right side of the paper in FIG. 7) of the work accommodating portion 90.

  Next, in this embodiment, first, the rack R is pushed in the vertical direction Y by the vertical gripping pusher portion 51 of the second vertical movement member 50, and the vertical gripping pusher portion 51 and the vertical positioning portion 70 are To grip the rack R.

  Next, the rack R is pushed in the lateral direction X by the lateral gripping pusher portion 21 of the lateral movement member 20, and the rack R is gripped by the lateral gripping pusher portion 21 and the lateral positioning portion 30.

  During the gripping of the rack R in the lateral direction X, the first longitudinal movement member 40 driven by the actuator 80 is one edge side of the longitudinal direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90 (see FIG. 7). (The lower side of the drawing), but the elastic member 60 is elastically deformed so as to compress and absorb the movement of the first vertical movement member 40, so that the vertical direction of the second vertical movement member 50 It is possible to suppress the rack R from being pushed excessively by the gripping pusher portion 51.

  Next, a method for releasing the rack R from the workpiece gripping device 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, by driving the actuator 80, the first vertical movement member 40 is moved toward the other side edge side (upper side of the drawing in FIG. 7) of the workpiece accommodating portion 90 and the horizontal movement member. 20 is moved toward the other side edge side (the left side in FIG. 7) of the workpiece accommodating portion 90 in the lateral direction X.

  Next, in the present embodiment, first, the pressing of the rack R in the lateral direction X by the lateral gripping pusher portion 21 of the lateral movement member 20 is released, and the pusher portion 22 of the lateral movement member 20 releases the pressing force. Then, the rack R is pushed toward the inside of the work accommodating portion 90, and the engagement between the flange portion F of the rack R and the lateral positioning portion 30 is released.

  During the release of the gripping of the rack R in the lateral direction X, the first longitudinal movement member 40 driven by the actuator 80 is connected to the other side edge side of the longitudinal direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90 (see FIG. 7, the second longitudinally moving member 50 does not move because the elastic member 60 is elastically deformed (elastically restored) so as to expand.

  Next, the second vertical movement member 50 moves toward the other side edge (upper side in FIG. 7) of the vertical direction Y of the work accommodating portion 90, and the second vertical movement member 50 is held in the vertical direction. The push of the rack R in the vertical direction Y by the pusher unit 51 is released.

In the above-described embodiment, the workpiece of the workpiece gripping device has been described as a rack that accommodates a large number of tubes enclosing a drug discovery sample. However, the specific mode of the workpiece is not limited to this, and any one is possible. But you can.
In the above-described embodiment, the workpiece gripping device is described as configured to grip the workpiece in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. However, depending on the workpiece mode, the workpiece gripping is performed so that the workpiece is gripped only in the horizontal direction. An apparatus may be configured.
In the above-described embodiment, the function of preventing the workpiece from lifting is provided in the horizontal gripping pusher, the vertical gripping pusher, or the lateral positioning portion. However, depending on the workpiece mode, What is necessary is just to determine a positioning part arbitrarily.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the workpiece is gripped in the vertical direction after the workpiece is gripped in the horizontal direction at the time of setting the workpiece. However, if the operation order, timing, and the like are arbitrarily set, Good. What is necessary is just to set arbitrarily also about the order of operation, timing, etc. at the time of the release of a workpiece | work.
In the above-described embodiment, the lateral movement member has been described as engaging with the workpiece so as to prevent the workpiece from lifting, but the engagement mode between the lateral movement member and the workpiece is as follows. Any device can be used as long as the engagement is released by pushing the workpiece toward the inside of the workpiece accommodating portion by the push pusher portion.
Further, in this specification, the term “lateral direction” is used to mean one direction in the horizontal plane, and the term “longitudinal direction” is used to mean the other direction in the horizontal plane. It does not include technical meanings other than the above, such as a short hand.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Work holding | grip apparatus 10 ... Base table 20 ... Lateral movement member 21 ... Lateral holding pusher part 22 ... Extrusion pusher part 23 ... Gear part 24 ... Lateral linear Guide 30 ... Lateral positioning part 31 ... Lateral guide part 40 ... First longitudinal movement member 41 ... Gear part 42 ... First longitudinal linear guide 50 ... First 2 longitudinally moving members 51... Longitudinal gripping pusher 52... 2nd longitudinal linear guide 60... Elastic member 70 .. longitudinal positioning part 71 .. longitudinal guide part 80. .. Actuator 81... First pinion gear 82... Second pinion gear 90... Work receiving portion X .. Horizontal direction Y .. Vertical direction Z. Click (work)
F ... Flange part C ... Tube (holding object)

The present invention is a workpiece gripping device that holds a workpiece in a gripped state, and a workpiece holding portion for holding a workpiece, and a lateral gripping that holds the workpiece set in the workpiece holding portion in a horizontal direction. The lateral gripping mechanism is disposed in a fixed state on one lateral edge side of the workpiece accommodating portion in a lateral direction, and is engaged with the workpiece. A lateral positioning portion for positioning the workpiece laterally, and the lateral movement member is disposed on the other lateral edge side of the workpiece accommodating portion, and the lateral movement member is disposed on the one side edge side. A lateral gripping pusher portion that pushes the workpiece laterally toward the one side edge and sandwiches and grips the workpiece laterally by the lateral positioning portion when moved laterally toward the side, and Work yield Disposed on the one side edge parts, the transverse direction moving member when moving laterally toward the other side edge, press towards the workpiece to the other side edge, said lateral positioning said workpiece an extrusion pusher portion to release the engagement between the parts, by integrally having solves the above problems.

Claims (4)

A workpiece gripping device that accommodates a workpiece in a gripped state,
A workpiece accommodating portion for accommodating the workpiece, and a lateral gripping mechanism for sandwiching and gripping the workpiece set in the workpiece accommodating portion in the lateral direction,
The lateral gripping mechanism is disposed on a lateral movement side member provided to be movable in the lateral direction and one lateral edge side of the workpiece accommodating portion, and engages with the workpiece to position the workpiece in the lateral direction. A lateral positioning part,
The lateral movement member integrally includes a lateral gripping pusher portion disposed on the other side edge side in the lateral direction of the workpiece housing portion and an extrusion pusher portion disposed on the one side edge side of the workpiece housing portion. A workpiece gripping device characterized by that.   The apparatus further comprises a vertical gripping mechanism that sandwiches and grips a workpiece set in the workpiece accommodating portion in the vertical direction, and a common actuator that drives the horizontal gripping mechanism and the vertical gripping mechanism. The workpiece gripping apparatus according to claim 1. A vertical gripping mechanism that grips and grips a workpiece set in the workpiece container in the vertical direction,
The vertical gripping mechanism includes a first vertical movement member that is moved in the vertical direction by an actuator, and a second vertical direction that has a vertical gripping pusher portion for pushing the workpiece in the vertical direction. A moving member, an elastic member interposed between the first vertical moving member and the second vertical moving member, and an opposite side of the vertical gripping pusher portion with the work accommodating portion interposed therebetween The workpiece gripping device according to claim 1, further comprising a vertical positioning portion. The workpiece is a rack that holds the object to be held in an up and down direction,
The workpiece gripping device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lateral positioning portion is configured to engage with the rack and prevent the rack from being lifted.

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