JP5933481B2 - Work chuck device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a work chuck device for gripping a target work, and in particular, a work such as a vial or a microtube containing a drug discovery research sample or medicine is stored in a tray and stored in a freezing environment. The present invention relates to a work chuck device suitable for gripping in order to transfer a target work from the tray.

In recent years, in basic research or applied research such as chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and pharmaceuticals, a large amount of biological samples, clinical samples, chemical compounds, and the like have been stored for examinations and the like.
For example, in the drug discovery research process, in order to investigate bioactivity, etc., it is necessary to handle a large number of samples in a very small amount for a variety of examinations and experiments, and they are contained in containers such as micro (test) tubes. A technique for storing a large amount of samples in a stable environment at a very low temperature and taking out any sample quickly is indispensable.

In order to automate such a system, a work chuck device that grips a small work such as a micro (test) tube from the storage tray or transfers it from the transfer tray to the storage tray is used.
This work chuck device has a plurality of claw members that can be opened and closed by an opening / closing means, and the claw members are used as a target from among a plurality of micro (test) tubes vertically stored in a tray. An object is gripped, lifted by a transfer mechanism, moved to a predetermined location, and a micro (test) tube or the like is transferred (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-93767 A

A known work chuck device as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, is provided with a drive unit such as an electric actuator or an electromagnetic solenoid, and moves the claw member directly in the work direction, or uses the elasticity of the claw member. It was intended to move forward and backward.
For this reason, it was necessary to arrange a drive part, a linear movement part, a deformation | transformation part, etc. in the part near a nail | claw member.
When such a work chuck device is applied to picking of a workpiece stored at a low temperature, such as a drug discovery research process, a drive unit, a linear moving unit, a deforming unit, etc. disposed near the claw member are kept at a low temperature. There is a problem that it is necessary to have a configuration that can operate reliably, requires special parts and structures, and is very expensive and complicated.
Further, when the workpiece is transported at room temperature and picked, the temperature of the sample in the container rises, and the sample may be deteriorated and damaged.

  The present invention solves these problems, and there is no need to dispose a drive unit, a linear movement unit, a deformation unit, etc. near the claw member, and use special parts etc. even at low temperatures. It is an object of the present invention to provide a work chuck device that has a simple structure and can reliably perform a gripping and releasing operation only by a simple rotational drive.

The invention according to claim 1 is a work chuck device having a chuck main body, a plurality of claw members that abut on and grip a side surface of the workpiece, and an opening / closing means for opening / closing the claw member, wherein the opening / closing means A holder supported by the chuck body, a drive shaft having a sun gear rotatably supported at the center of the holder, at least one planetary shaft having a planetary gear meshing with the sun gear, and fixed to the holder is a planetary base for rotatably supporting the planetary shaft, at least one of said pawl members, closing operatively provided by the swinging of the swing arm that is fixed to the planetary shaft, said chuck body Between the holder, there is an elastic member that is externally fitted to the holder and presses the holder bearing, so that the holder can rotate in a state where rotational resistance is applied to the chuck body. By being lifting, it is intended to solve the above problems.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration of the work chuck device according to claim 1, a resistance adjusting means for adjusting a rotational resistance between the chuck body and the holder is provided. It is a solution.
The invention according to the claims 3, in addition to the configuration of the workpiece chuck device according to claim 2, wherein the resistance adjusting means, for adjusting said elastic member is fitted, the compressive force of the elastic member to the holder the The above-described problem is solved by the adjustment nut screwed onto the holder.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the work chuck device according to any one of the first to third aspects , the elastic member is configured by a disc spring, thereby solving the problem. It is.
In addition to the configuration of the work chuck device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , the invention according to claim 5 is provided with three planetary shafts and claw members, and the three claw members are respectively The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem by being provided so that it can be opened and closed by swinging a swing arm fixed to the three planetary shafts.

According to the work chuck device of the first aspect, the opening and closing means includes a holder supported by the chuck body, a drive shaft rotatably supported at the center of the holder and having a sun gear, and a planetary gear meshing with the sun gear. At least one planetary shaft having a planetary base fixed to the holder and rotatably supporting the planetary shaft, and at least one of the claw members can be opened and closed by swinging a swinging arm fixed to the planetary shaft Accordingly, by rotating one drive shaft, one or more planetary shafts rotate at the same time, and one or more pawl members can simultaneously open and close.
As a result, all the portions close to the claw members only need to support the rotational motion, so that even a low-cost and simple structure can be made highly reliable without using special parts or the like even at low temperatures. .
Further, it is not necessary to provide a deforming portion for opening and closing the claw member.
In addition, the drive unit that rotates the drive shaft can be placed away from the claw member at a position where it is not exposed to cryogenic temperatures, and no special parts or structures are required. Grip release operation is possible.

In addition, since the holder is rotatably supported with a rotational resistance applied to the chuck body, the force with which the claw member swings and grips the workpiece is controlled, and the drive torque of the drive shaft is controlled. Since it is possible to limit without limitation, the drive unit that rotationally drives the drive shaft can be made more inexpensive and simple.
In addition, when reading a mark on the surface of a gripped workpiece, it is difficult to accurately identify and grip the position of the mark, so the workpiece should be placed so that the mark passes through a position facing the reading device. Although it is necessary to rotate, with this configuration, it is possible to grip and rotate the workpiece with a constant force without using any other special rotation drive mechanism by simply rotating the drive shaft for gripping. Become.
According to the configuration of the second aspect, the resistance adjusting means for adjusting the rotational resistance between the chuck main body and the holder is provided, thereby driving the force with which the claw member swings to grip the workpiece. Since the shaft driving torque can be appropriately changed according to conditions without controlling, the grip opening operation can be performed more reliably with an inexpensive and simple structure.
According to the configuration of the third aspect , the resistance adjusting means includes the elastic member that is externally fitted to the holder and the adjustment nut that is externally screwed to the holder that adjusts the compression force of the elastic member. The adjustment means is simple and easy to change from the outside, and the grip opening operation can be performed more reliably with an inexpensive and simple structure.
According to the structure of Claim 4, since an elastic member is comprised with the disk spring, it becomes possible to adjust compression force in a wide range with a simple member.
According to the configuration described in claim 5, the planetary shaft and the three claw members are provided, and the three claw members can be opened and closed by swinging the swing arm fixed to the three planet shafts. By being provided, the workpiece can be reliably gripped with a small number, and each claw member can be opened and closed simultaneously and the gripping force can be applied to the workpiece evenly from the surroundings. Can be securely gripped without being damaged or forcibly moved.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a work chuck device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The top view from the nail | claw member side of the workpiece chuck apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The side view of the workpiece chuck apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. AA sectional drawing of FIG.

The work chuck device of the present invention is a work chuck device having a chuck body, a plurality of claw members that abut on and grip the side surface of the work, and an opening / closing means for opening / closing the claw member, the opening / closing means being a chuck body. A holder supported on the holder, a drive shaft having a sun gear rotatably supported at the center of the holder, at least one planetary shaft having a planetary gear meshing with the sun gear, and a planetary shaft fixed to the holder to be rotatable A planetary base for supporting, and at least one of the claw members is provided so as to be opened and closed by swinging of a swinging arm fixed to the planetary shaft, and is fitted on the holder between the chuck body and the holder. an elastic member for pressing the holder bearing, the holder is rotatably supported in a state where the rotation resistance is imparted to the chuck body, and the drive unit to the portion near the claw member, the linear movement If there is no need to place a deformed part, etc., and it has a simple structure without using special parts, etc. even at low temperatures, and if it can be reliably grasped and opened only by simple rotational drive, Any specific configuration may be used.

A workpiece chuck device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 (note that the claw member 120 is positioned above in the drawing, but a general workpiece is gripped from above). In the usage pattern to be used, it is used in an upside down state.)
The work chuck device 100 includes a chuck main body 110, three claw members 120 that are in contact with and gripped on the side surface of the work, and an opening / closing means that opens and closes the claw member 120.
The opening / closing means includes a holder 131 rotatably supported on the chuck body 110 by a holder bearing 137, a drive shaft 132 having a sun gear 133 rotatably supported by a drive shaft bearing 138 at the center of the holder 131, and a sun gear 133. Three planetary shafts 134 having planetary gears 135 meshing with each other, and a planetary base 136 fixed to the holder 131 and rotatably supporting the planetary shafts 134.
The three claw members 120 are provided so that they can be simultaneously opened and closed by swinging of the swing arm 121 fixed to the planetary shaft 134.
In the present embodiment, the claw member 120 and the swing arm 121 are integrally formed, and the swing arm 121 is attached and fixed with screws so as to sandwich the planetary shaft 134, but means for forming these members The fixing means may be any known one (note that only a part of the screws for fixing the screws is shown in FIGS. 1 to 4).

Further, the rotational resistance between the chuck body 110 and the holder 131 is adjusted by a disc spring 151, which is an elastic member fitted on the holder 131, a pressing plate 153, and an adjusting nut 152 fitted on the holder 131. Resistance adjusting means 150 is configured.
That is, the disc spring 151 is externally fitted to the holder 131 so as to press the holder bearing 137, and the disc nut 151 is interposed via the pressing plate 153 by advancing and retracting the adjustment nut 152 that is externally screwed to the holder 131. , The rotational resistance of the holder bearing 137 is adjusted, and the rotational resistance between the chuck body 110 and the holder 131 is adjusted.

The operation of the work chuck device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.
The chuck body 110 is fixed to a moving means (not shown), and the work chuck device 100 is installed so as to be accessible to the work (not shown).
First, the work chuck device 100 is moved so that the claw member 120 is positioned around the work.
At that position, the drive shaft 132 is rotationally driven by operating a rotational drive means (not shown) that is rotationally connected to the drive shaft 132 via the drive connection member 139.

At this time, since the holder 131 is given rotational resistance to the chuck main body 110 by the resistance adjusting means 150, the holder 131 does not rotate with respect to the chuck main body 110, and only the drive shaft 132 is against the holder 131. Rotate.
The sun gear 133 is rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft 132, the planetary gear 135 meshing with the sun gear 133 is rotationally driven, and the three planetary shafts 134 are simultaneously rotated.
As the planetary shaft 134 rotates, the swing arm 121 fixed to the planetary shaft 134 swings, and the claw member 120 moves in the direction of gripping the workpiece.

When the claw member 120 contacts and grips the workpiece, the swing of the swing arm 121 is stopped and the relative rotation between the holder 131 and the drive shaft 132 is stopped, but the drive shaft 132 is continuously driven by the rotation drive means. Thus, torque exceeding the rotational resistance between the holder 131 and the chuck body 110 is applied to the holder 131, and the holder 131 rotates relative to the chuck body 110.
At this time, the gripping force with which the claw member 120 grips the workpiece can be adjusted by appropriately adjusting the rotational resistance between the chuck body 110 and the holder 131 by the resistance adjusting means 150.

By moving the work chuck device 100 by a moving means (not shown) while the claw member 120 holds the work, the work can be moved while being rotated.
When releasing the gripping of the workpiece by moving the workpiece to an appropriate place, by rotating the rotation driving means in the reverse direction, only the drive shaft 132 immediately rotates in the opposite direction to the holder 131 so that the claw member 120 Move in the direction to release the workpiece.

The work chuck device 100 according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and any specific configuration may be used.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the number of the claw members 120 is three, and all the claw members 120 can be opened and closed. However, any number of claw members 120 may be used as long as it is two or more, and all the claw members are not configured to be openable and closable. May be.
Further, the spacing between the claw members may not be equal on the circumference.
Furthermore, although the claw member is a straight cylindrical shape in the drawing, it may have any other shape such as another cross-sectional shape, a bent shape in the middle, or a hollow shape, and a concavo-convex process is performed on the contact portion with the workpiece. It may be provided or have a buffer member, and the plurality of claw members may include different shapes and materials.

Further, the rotational resistance between the holder and the chuck body may be designed so that the mass on the holder side is increased, or a holder bearing having a rotational resistance that is originally larger than that of the drive shaft bearing may be selected.
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the drive shaft is rotatably supported in the holder, but may be supported to be directly rotatable on the chuck body.
Also, the drive shaft is on the shaft core side and the holder is located on the outer side, but if it has the same drive transmission effect, it is designed so that the positional relationship is reversed (the holder equivalent is The shaft core side and the drive shaft may be on the outside thereof.

Further, each of the bearing portions for the rotatable support may be any known bearing structure (ball bearing, plain bearing, magnetic bearing, etc.).
Further, the rotational drive means (not shown) for rotationally driving the drive shaft does not have to be coaxial with the drive shaft (installed away via a chain or the like), and the power source thereof is also an electric motor. It may be any engine such as an internal combustion engine, hydraulic power, or manual operation.
In addition, the work gripped by the work chuck device according to the present invention is not limited to vials, microtubes, and the like that contain samples for drug discovery research, medicines, etc., but works such as various assembly machines and machine tools May be used for gripping.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Work chuck apparatus 110 ... Chuck main body 120 ... Claw member 121 ... Swing arm 131 ... Holder 132 ... Drive shaft 133 ... Sun gear 134 ... Planetary shaft 135 ... Planetary gear 136 ... Planetary base 137 ... Holder bearing 138 ... Drive shaft bearing 139 ... Drive connection member 150 ... Resistance adjusting means 151 ... Belleville spring 152 ... Adjustment nut 153 ・ ・ ・ Pressing plate

Claims (5)

A work chuck device having a chuck body, a plurality of claw members that contact and grip a side surface of a workpiece, and an opening / closing means for opening and closing the claw member,
The opening / closing means includes a holder supported by the chuck body, a drive shaft rotatably supported at the center of the holder and having a sun gear, and at least one planetary shaft having a planetary gear meshing with the sun gear; A planet base fixed to the holder and rotatably supporting the planet shaft;
At least one of the claw members is provided so as to be opened and closed by swinging a swing arm fixed to the planetary shaft,
Between the chuck body and the holder, there is an elastic member that is externally fitted to the holder and presses the holder bearing,
The work chuck device , wherein the holder is rotatably supported in a state in which a rotational resistance is applied to the chuck body . 2. The work chuck device according to claim 1 , further comprising resistance adjusting means for adjusting a rotational resistance between the chuck body and the holder. Said resistance adjusting means comprises the elastic member fitted on the holder, according to claim 2, characterized in that it consists of adjusting nut engaged outside Hamanishi to the holder for adjusting the compressive force of the elastic member Work chuck device. The work chuck device according to claim 1 , wherein the elastic member is configured by a disc spring. The planetary shaft and three claw members are provided,
Each of the three claw members, in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that is provided to be opened and closed by the swinging of the fixed swing arm to the three planet shafts The work chuck device described.

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