JP4227472B2 - Work picking device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of picking a workpiece such as a cylindrical container and taking it out of containers.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, elongate cylindrical containers such as vials and mini-tubes to store and manage various samples such as chemicals and drugs, gene samples, blood samples, various specimens, tissue samples, soil samples, seeds, etc. Is used. When the amount of samples becomes enormous, an automatic storage and management system such as an automatic warehouse system is required.
[0003]
In order to meet such a demand, the applicant of the present application disclosed an automatic storage / management system suitable for samples in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-34407), for example. In this automatic storage / management system, a cylindrical container is stored in a container (also called a rack) and stored or transported.
[0004]
That is, in the container, a large number of unit storage holes in which one cylindrical container is partially fitted are formed in a state of being aligned vertically and horizontally in a plan view. Stored and held in a partially exposed upward direction.
[0005]
The target cylindrical container must be taken out of the container, and the used cylindrical container must be returned to the container. For this purpose, a picking device that moves up and down and moves horizontally by grasping the upper part of the cylindrical container is used. Yes. The picking device includes four clamp bodies that grip the upper part of the cylindrical container from four directions, and each clamp body enters a space surrounded by four adjacent cylindrical containers. ing.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, each clamp body is set to have a size that enters a space surrounded by four adjacent cylindrical containers, but in order to increase the efficiency of storing the cylindrical container in the container, Since the container is stored in the container in a close proximity, the container may come into contact with the outer surface of the cylindrical container adjacent to the cylindrical container to be taken out by a slight displacement of the clamping device or the container. For this reason, accidents have frequently occurred in which a cylindrical container that should not be taken out is lifted out of the container.
[0007]
In order to prevent this, it is conceivable to increase the storage pitch of the cylindrical container, but this reduces the storage efficiency of the cylindrical container. Although it is conceivable to make the clamp body thinner, there is a limit to making the clamp body thinner in terms of strength and gripping holding reliability, which is not practical.
[0008]
The present invention aims to improve such a current situation.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
By the way, the essence of the problem is not that the workpiece adjacent to the target workpiece is lifted up, but the lifted workpiece is pulled out of the container and the contents are lost or the sample is lost or the system is operated. (Operation) is to stop. The inventor of the present application has completed the present invention based on such an idea.
[0010]
Picking device according to the present gun invention, Shi up take and vertically movable picker can take out one work of a number of work group stored side by side in a container such upward, the other workpiece adjacent the workpiece to be picked And a stopper plate for preventing the container from being pulled out from the containers .
[0011]
The picker is composed of a plurality of clamp bodies that move downward toward a space between adjacent workpieces and then grip an upper portion of a target cylindrical container, while the stopper plate is a clamp The stopper plate has a passage hole for allowing the group of clamp bodies to move up and down, and the passage hole of the stopper plate is formed of the group of clamp bodies. Only one minitube 1 gripped in the above is moved up and down, and the size and shape are set so as to partially overlap a group of surrounding minitubes in plan view.
[0012]
[Operation and effect of the invention]
According to the present invention, even if a lifting action is applied to a workpiece that is not to be taken out, the workpiece does not come out of the containers. For this reason, problems such as loss of samples, dissipation of contents, or system shutdown do not occur.
[0013]
Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem associated with the lifting of the workpiece without reducing the storage efficiency of the workpiece or reducing the strength of the picker. It is also excellent in that it can be easily adapted to existing facilities. Further, since the stopper plate is used as the restricting means, there is an advantage that the structure is very simple.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is applied to an automatic warehouse system that automatically stores and manages samples.
[0015]
(1) Sample storage / management mode First, sample storage / management means used in an automatic warehouse system will be briefly described. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a mini tube 1 which is a specific example of a cylindrical container (enclosed container) which is an example of a work, and a storage container 2 in which the mini tube 1 is accommodated. The storage container 2 is made of a synthetic resin, and a large number of unit storage holes 3 are formed so as to be aligned vertically and horizontally.
[0016]
The storage container 2 is attached to a storage tray 4 as shown in FIG. For example, about six storage containers 2 are attached to one storage tray 4. The minitube 1 is sealed with a lid.
[0017]
In the automatic warehouse system, as well as sample storage and management means, in addition to the minitube 1, a deep well having a structure in which a large number of sample accommodation holes are provided in the block body and the group of accommodation holes is closed with a single lid can be used. However, since this is not related to the present invention, the description of this point is omitted.
[0018]
(2). Outline of Automatic Warehouse System Next, an outline of an automatic warehouse system for automatically receiving and storing the minitube 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the entire automatic warehouse system, FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the entire automatic warehouse system, and FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the mini-tube transfer unit.
[0019]
The automatic warehouse system of the present embodiment is roughly composed of a storage area 8, a transfer area 9, and a loading / unloading work area 10, as shown in FIG. In the storage area 8, two rows of shelf units 12 in which two-stage shelf devices 11 are arranged opposite to each other are arranged in parallel (one or three or more rows may be used). Each shelf device 11 is formed with multi-stage and multi-row unit storage portions that can store one or a plurality of storage trays 4.
[0020]
A stacker crane 13 as an example of a transfer device is movably disposed in a space sandwiched between opposite shelf devices 11. The stacker crane 13 travels on a pair of rails 14.
[0021]
The transfer area 9 includes a group of two-stage first conveyors (temporary storage shelves) 15 arranged close to each shelf device 11, an elevating type reservoir 16 arranged outside the first conveyor 15, 16 includes a group of second conveyors 17 arranged on the outside of the upper and lower two stages, and a group of third conveyors 18 arranged on the upper and lower stages for connecting the left and right second conveyors 17 positioned at the respective shelf units 12. ing.
[0022]
Further, a fourth conveyor 19 in two upper and lower stages is arranged outside the group of third conveyors 18, and a fifth conveyor 20 in two upper and lower stages having the same height as the fourth conveyor 19 is arranged on the outer side. In addition, lift devices 21 are arranged outside both ends of the fourth conveyor 19 and the fifth conveyor 20. In addition, a loading / unloading conveyor 22 is arranged at a height position between both end portions of the upper and lower fifth conveyors 20 and in the vicinity of the lift device 21.
[0023]
In the loading / unloading work area 10, in the vicinity of the start end of the loading / unloading conveyor 22, a transfer gate device 24 for setting the work carriage 23 is provided. In addition, a loading / unloading robot 25 is installed at the location of the transfer gate device 24.
[0024]
The work trays 23 shown in FIG. 5 can be stacked in multiple stages and in multiple rows on the work carriage 23, and the work trays 26 are connected to the work carriage 23, the loading / unloading conveyor 22 by the loading / unloading robot 25. It is transferred to. The work tray 26 is provided with a handle 27. A work container 30 is placed on the work tray 26, and the minitube 1 is delivered to the worker by the work container 30.
[0025]
As shown very simply in FIG. 4, a mini-tube transfer robot 31 is arranged between the fourth conveyor 19 and the third conveyor 18. In the present embodiment, a mini-tube transfer robot 31 is arranged at the upper fourth conveyor 19 and third conveyor 18.
[0026]
Robot 31 has a picking device, by which the picking device performs a lifting movement and horizontal movement, mini tube 1 is transferred between the storage container 2 and the working container 30. Next, details of the picking apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 6 and subsequent drawings.
[0027]
(3) Details of picking device (Figs. 6-11)
6 is a front view of the main part of the picking device, FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of the main part, and FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the movement.
[0028]
As shown in FIG. 6, the picking device 33 includes a moving base 34 that moves up and down and moves horizontally in the XY directions, and a lifting body 35 is attached to the moving base 34 so as to freely move up and down.
[0029]
Elevating body 35 is provided with a guide plate 36 which is separated vertically (that shows only the lower portion of the guide plate in FIG. 6), the actuating plate 37 of the two vertically between the upper and lower guide plates 36 (or one) It is arranged. A main shaft 38 extending in the vertical direction is fixed to the operation plate 37, and the main shaft 38 can be horizontally rotated by an actuator (not shown) such as a rotary solenoid or a motor.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 7, the upper and lower guide plates 36 are formed with four guide holes 39 extending radially from the rotation center of the operation plate 37, so that the operation shaft 40 can slide in each guide groove 39. It is fitted. On the other hand, the operating plate 37 is formed with an operating hole 41 into which the operating shaft 40 is slidably fitted.
[0031]
The operation hole 41 is a long hole that intersects the guide hole 39 in a non-right angle in plan view. For this reason, when the operation plate 37 rotates horizontally, each operation shaft 40 receives the pressing action of the operation hole 41 and moves simultaneously along the guide hole 39 in the radial direction.
[0032]
The lower end portion of each operating shaft 40 is exposed downward from the lower guide plate 36, and a rod-shaped clamp body (picker) 43 is attached to the lower end portion of each operating shaft 40 via a holder 42. The interval between the four clamp bodies 43 corresponds to the pitch of the storage holes 3 in the container 4 (26). Can get into the space.
[0033]
When the group of the clamp bodies 43 is lowered to the lower limit with the interval between the operation shafts 40 widened, the operation plates 37 are rotated horizontally to move the operation shafts 40 to the inside of the radius. , So that the upper portion of the mini-tube 1 can be gripped by the four clamp bodies 43.
[0034]
The minitube 1 can be picked up by raising the clamp body 43 in this state. Storage in the containers 2 and 30 is performed in the reverse procedure. The picking mechanism is described in detail in Patent Document 1.
[0035]
A stopper plate 44 as an example of a restricting unit is fixed to the lower end of the moving base 34. The stopper plate 44 extends so as to cross the hoistway of the clamp body 43 and has a passage hole 45 that allows the group of the clamp bodies 43 to move up and down.
[0036]
As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the passage hole 45 of the stopper plate 44 is partially raised and lowered with respect to a group of the surrounding minitubes 1 by raising and lowering only one minitube 1 to be taken out. It is set to the size and shape which overlap. The stopper plate 44 is set to a height at which the minitube 1 cannot be extracted from the containers 2 and 30 with the moving base 34 lowered.
[0037]
The moving base 34 is provided with a pair of auxiliary clamps 46 for gripping the lower part of the minitube 1 extracted by the clamp body 43. These auxiliary clamps 46 are attached to the two guide shafts 47 so as to be able to approach and separate from each other, and are pushed in the approaching direction by a spring 48 fitted to one guide shaft 47.
[0038]
These auxiliary clamp 46, activator E chromatography data (e.g. B over Tari solenoid or motor) 49 can be closer to or away reaction at (clamp mini tube 1 provided on the moving base 34 by utilizing the force of the spring 48 is carried out.).
[0039]
Incidentally, extraction of the mini tube 1, the descent of the moving base 34, downward movement of the clamp bodies 43, clamp mini tube 1 by the clamp member 43, increase in the clamp body 43, the lower portion of the clamp mini tube 1 by the auxiliary clamp 46, that place in steps, the moving base 34 in this state is moved horizontally (movement base 34 may be horizontally moved from the raised further.).
[0040]
As can be understood from the above description, when the target mini-tube 1 is clamped and lifted by the four clamp bodies 43, even if another mini-tube 1 is lifted by touching the clamp body 43, The lifted minitube 1 is prevented from coming out of the containers 2 and 30 by the stopper plate 44.
[0041]
Then, when the contact with the clamp body 43 is released, the minitube 1 that has been lifted falls by its own weight into the storage holes 3 of the containers 2 and 30. For this reason, the various problems resulting from the unintended minitube 1 coming out of the containers 2 and 30 do not occur at all.
[0042]
When the stopper plate 44 is used as the restricting means as in this embodiment, there is an advantage that the structure becomes very simple.
[0043]
(4). Others The present invention can be embodied in various ways other than the illustrated embodiments.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mini tube and a container.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which a storage container is mounted on a storage tray.
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the entire automatic warehouse system.
FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the entire automatic warehouse system.
FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a mini tube transfer state.
FIG. 6 is a front view of a main part of the picking apparatus.
7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG.
8 is a plan sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. 6;
9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IX-IX in FIG. 6. FIG.
FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of a main part.
[11] a diagram for explaining a-out movement, a front view, cross-sectional plan view of a state where the grip with (B) the auxiliary clamp state in which the (A) is picking.
[Brief description of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mini tube as an example of work 2 Storage container 8 Automatic warehouse system storage area 9 Automatic warehouse system transfer area 10 Automatic warehouse system loading / unloading work area 23 Work cart 26 Work tray 30 Work container 31 Mini Tube transfer robot 33 Picking device 34 Moving base 43 Clamp body 44 Stopper plate as an example of regulating means 45 Passing hole 46 Auxiliary clamp

Claims (1)

A liftable picker that can take out one of a large number of workpieces stored side by side in containers, and another workpiece adjacent to the workpiece to be removed are lifted and extracted from the containers. With a stopper plate to prevent ,
The picker is composed of a plurality of clamp bodies that move downward toward a space between adjacent workpieces and then grip an upper portion of a target cylindrical container, while the stopper plate is a clamp body. The stopper plate is arranged so as to cross the hoistway, and the stopper plate has a passage hole that allows the group of clamp bodies to move up and down. The passage hole of the stopper plate is gripped by the group of clamp bodies. Only one held mini tube 1 is raised and lowered and set to a size and shape that partially overlaps the group of surrounding mini tubes in plan view.
Work picking device.

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