CH703288B1 - Method and automatic loading device for flat workpieces in a workpiece processing machine feeder plates, including envelopes. - Google Patents

Abstract

It is an object of this invention to provide a method and a device for automatically loading flat workpieces into a machine feed device processing flat workpieces, especially envelopes, from flat workpieces stored by stacks in cartons arranged on a machine. pallet, without manual intervention. This method is developed as follows: a robot (1) grasps a first carton (29) on the support (30), said robot has said carton to a cutting device (17) for cutting on at least one lateral side of said carton. Then the robot rotates the carton and represents it to said device so as to cut another lateral side, this operation being repeated until all the lateral sides are cut. These operations make the upper part with a first part of the lateral sides independent of the lower part having a second part of the lateral sides. The robot (1) leaves the upper and the first part of the lateral sides of said carton in the cutting device (17) and will deposit the lower part and the second part of the lateral sides of said carton on a first support (6). The cut in the lateral sides having been made so that the flat parts arranged vertically relative to the lower part protrude from the second part of the lateral sides, the robot grasps a stack of flat pieces by pinching the beginning and the end of a stack between jaws, output said stack from the lower portion of said carton and will deposit it on a second support (10), having a flat surface and means for tilting said flat parts relative to said flat surface. Then, the robot again grasps said inclined stack by pinching the lateral sides of said stack and will deposit it on the feeding device of the machine processing flat parts.

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to a method for automatically loading flat parts for a machine feeding device treating flat parts, including envelopes, said flat parts being stored by batteries in cartons, having a lower part called bottom, lateral sides and an upper face called cover, said cartons being crammed on a support, including a pallet, and the flat parts being arranged vertically relative to the bottom of said carton.

Prior art

It is known from the international patent application publication number WO 2006/037 245 a method and a device for automatic pleat of small parts, including documents. This type of device comprises mechanical means for putting envelopes letters and / or annexes, the envelopes are arranged in a storage bin, where they are removed. These devices work at very high rates, currently in the range of 15,000 up to 30,000 pieces per hour, including envelopes. There is the problem of feeding the storage tank. Indeed, the small parts are provided in cardboard boxes, usually called cartons, it is therefore necessary to open the boxes and enter the said parts and introduce them into the storage bin. There are two basic types of devices, those with horizontal power and those with vertical power. In the former, a return means, more generally a spring exerts a pressure on the stack of flat elements. In the latter, gravity suffices to exert the supply pressure. In both cases, the loading of the flat elements is done manually by batch.

[0003] French patent application FR 2,610,898 discloses a packaging of flat elements that can be used as a feed cassette in mechanical insertion or printing devices. These packs consist of boxes with pre-cuts. Advantages, these packages allow to work at high speeds, but have the disadvantage of special cartons.

[0004] US patent application 2002/0 033 570 describes a method for feeding stacked flat parts to a device using them. In this process, we also use cartons with pre-cuts.

Patent application FR 2 547 763 discloses a device for handling cartons, in particular for loading and unloading pallets. This device allows to unload cartons from a pallet and arrange them one by one on one or conveyors.

[0006] There are also known robots capable of grasping for transporting and depositing stacks of flat pieces in feed devices for automatic enveloping devices for small or flat parts.

By cons no known device that from cartons, having no pre-cut, containing flat parts can open cartons automatically and provide said flat parts to a device of a power device. automatic pleating of small or flat parts.

Presentation of the invention

The invention aims to provide a method and a device for automatic loading of flat parts in a machine feeding device treating flat parts, including envelopes, from flat parts stored by batteries in containers. cartons arranged on a pallet, without manual intervention.

This object is achieved by the method as defined in the preamble and characterized in that a robot grasps a first carton on the support, for example a pallet, said robot presents said carton to a cutting device for making a cut on at least one lateral side of said carton, rotates the carton and represents it to said device so as to cut another lateral side, this operation being repeated until all the lateral sides are cut, rendering the upper part with a first part of the lateral sides independent of the lower part also having a second part of the lateral sides, that the robot abandons the upper part and the first part of the lateral sides of said carton in the cutting device and will deposit the lower part and the second part lateral sides of said carton on a first support, the section in the lateral sides having made so that the flat parts arranged vertically relative to the lower part protrude from the second partial of the lateral sides, the robot grasps a stack of flat pieces by pinching the beginning and the end of a pile between jaws, leaves said pile the lower portion of said carton and depositing it on a second support, having a planar surface and means for tilting said flat pieces relative to said planar surface, and then the robot again grasps said inclined stack by pinching the lateral sides of said stack and will deposit it on the feeding device of the machine processing flat parts.

The device for automatic loading of flat parts for a machine feeding device processing flat parts, for the implementation of the method according to claim 1, is characterized in that it comprises a robot having at least one arm and a head, a first and a second support and a cutting device, the first support consists of two separate supports allowing the robot head to pass between the two supports, the second support has a flat surface comprising means for clamping a stack of flat pieces and inclining said flat pieces relative to the flat surface, said head has two interchangeable gripping devices, a first constituted by a suction means and a second constituted by a gripper comprising jaws, that the device cutting device comprises sucking means intended to separate the wall of the flat parts that the cardboard contains, from circular cutting means and a circular sector concentric with the cutting means of substantially larger radius, for keeping away the circular cutting means the flat parts.

Brief description of the drawings

The features and advantages of the present invention will appear better in the description of preferred embodiments, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: <tb> Figs. 1 to 14 <SEP> represent perspective views of the various steps of a method according to the invention carried out by a device for implementing said method. <tb> Fig. <SEP> represents a perspective view of the head 2 of the robot 1 presenting a carton to the cutting device. <tb> Figs. 16 and 17 <SEP> represent two perspective views of details of the cutting device. <tb> Figs. 18 to 22 <SEP> represent five views of the cutting device in action. <tb> Figs. 23 and 24 <SEP> represent two perspective views of the plate 12 of the upper part of the second support. <tb> Figs. 25 to 31 <SEP> represent perspective views of the robot head 1 equipped with its clamp 42, and the upper planar plate 12 of the second support in action in different steps of the method. <tb> Figs. 32 and 33 <SEP> represent two standing views of the gripper 42 of the robot 1 laterally enclosing a stack of flat pieces 34. <tb> Figs. 34 and 36 <SEP> represent perspective views of the capture of the envelopes 34 on the plate 12.

Best ways to achieve the invention

In all the figures it will be used the same reference signs to designate the same characteristics.

[0013] Referring to FIG. 1, the device comprises a robot 1 having a base 9 fixed on the ground. On the base 9 is articulated a first arm 13, which has articulated at its distal end a second arm 3. The end of the second arm 3 has an interchangeable head 2, which in Figs. 1 to 6 comprises a suction device 31, for example a suction cup, subsequently the suction device will be exchanged for a clamp 42 (see Figs 7 to 14 and 26 to 35). Said head 2 is designed to be able to rotate around the longitudinal axis A of the arm 3 and around an axis perpendicular to said longitudinal axis A. It will not be given more constructive details of said robot 1, the latter being within reach of the skilled person. The device 1 also comprises a first support 6 constituted, in the embodiment shown, by two columns 7, 8 fixed on the ground and having at their upper parts flat plates 14 and 15 spaced apart so that the head 2 robot 1 equipped with the suction device 31 can pass between them, and a second support 10 consists of a column 11 fixed on the ground and having at its upper part a rectangular flat plate12. The plate 12 comprises two movable stops 4 and 5 in the direction of the length of the plate, and tilting relative to the plane of the plate 12. The device 1 finally comprises a cutting device 17 (see the details in FIGS. 22) constituted by a column 18 fixed on the ground and having at its upper end 19 suction means 20 (see Fig. 16, 17) and cutting means constituted by a circular cutting member 21 (see Fig. 16, 17). In addition, the cutting device 17 has substantially at mid-height of the column 18 suction means 28, for example a suction cup, for removing the upper part of the carton.

The method comprises the following steps: 1) The robot 1 seized by means of its suction cup 31 a cardboard 29 disposed on a pile of cardboard resting on a pallet 30. (FIG 1). 2) The robot 1 will deposit the carton 29 on the plates 14 and 15 of the first support 6, this operation is done assuming that the envelopes are stored in the flap carton at the top, that is to say, the openings of the The envelopes are located in the upper part of the carton, (in the opposite case the robot 1 will directly present the carton to the cutting device 17, this case is not shown) (FIG 2). 3) The robot 1 rotates its head 2 about the axis A so that its sucker 31 silk directed upwards and comes to apply under the lower part of the cardboard 29 while passing between the plates 14 and 15 (FIG. ). 4) The robot 1 inclines the lower portion of said carton 29 at substantially 45 ° relative to the ground surface and vibrates so that the envelopes are pressed against the face of the cardboard closest to the ground. Then the robot 1 presents the cardboard at the upper part 19 of the cutting device 17, so that the suction device 20 of the cutting device can be applied to the wall of said carton 29 (FIGS 15 to 22) and separate said wall envelopes so that the circular cutting means, for example a circular saw blade 21, can cut said wall without touching the envelopes. Once the first cut is made the circular sector 22 rotates and moves the envelopes away from the saw 21 (Figs 18 to 21). Then the cardboard is released from the suction device 20 and the robot 1 undergoes a quarter turn to present a new side to the cutting device, the operation will be repeated until all sides are cut (Fig 4) . 5) The robot 1 descends the cardboard under the suction cup 28 installed on the cutting device which is applied on the upper part 29s of the cardboard releasing the lower part 29i and the envelopes 34 of the upper part 29s (FIG 5). 6) The robot 1 will then deposit the lower portion 29i containing the envelopes 34 on the plates 14 and 15 of the first support 6 and the suction cup 28 releases the upper portion 29s of the cardboard 29 on a discharge device 40, for example a carpet rolling (Fig. 6). 7) The robot 1 changes its head 2 to replace the suction device or suction cup 31 by a clamp 42. (This operation is not described or shown, because it is within the reach of the skilled person.) ( Fig. 7). 8) The robot 1 seizes by means of its clamp 42 a stack of envelopes, that is to say it clamps between the jaws of its clamp the beginning and the end of a stack of envelopes (Fig. 25) . In this operation the robot 1 pinches the thickest part of the flat pieces or envelopes, that is to say, it pinches the envelopes on the side of the flap, so that the envelopes do not escape the jaws (Fig 8) . 9) The robot 1 will deposit the stack of envelopes 34 on the second support 10 between the two stops 4 and 5 (FIG 9). 10) The robot 1 releases the stack of envelopes 34 on the plate 12 of the second support 10, the two stops 4 and 5 are then clamped against the stack of envelopes (FIG 10). 11) The envelopes disposed on the plate 12 of the second support are inclined by the stops 6 and 6a relative to said plane of the plate 12 of the second support 10 (Figure 11). 12) The robot 1 rotates the jaws by 90 ° of its gripper 42 so that they are arranged parallel to the lateral sides of the stack of envelopes (Fig. 12). 13) Robot 1 grasps the stack of sloping envelopes by its lateral sides (Fig. 13). 14) The robot 1 places the stack of inclined envelopes on a feed belt 41 of an envelope processing machine (Fig. 14).

[0015] With reference to FIGS. 15 to 22, the cutting device 20 has been shown to better understand its operation. Arranged at the upper end 19 of the column 18 the cutting device is shown in detail in FIGS. 16 and 17. It comprises a piece 26 fixed to the column 18, on said piece 26 is fixed a U-shaped piece 27, under the upper part of said U is disposed a housing 25 containing a motor for rotating a blade 21 of circular saw and to move a circular sector-shaped cam 22 centered on the center of rotation of the saw 21. At the lower part of the piece 26 is fixed a device comprising a motor 24 and a suction device 20. The motor 24 can move from front to back suction device 20 as indicated by the arrows 32 and 33 in FIGS. 16 and 17, and the suction device is connected to a suction means by a pipe 23.

The operation of the cutting device is shown in FIGS. 18 to 21. The carton 29 is brought into contact with the suction device 20, which comprises a plate P having holes O, the lateral edges 35 of the plate are raised so as not to be in contact with the side of the carton 29 in order to facilitate its transverse displacement. the saw blade 21 is not in contact with the carton (Fig. 18). Then the suction device 20 is moved according to the arrow 36 spreading the envelopes of the wall of the cardboard 29 by facilitating the cutting of the wall of the cardboard by the saw 21 (Figure 19). Finally, the circular sector 22 is moved according to the arrow 37 so as to rest on the envelopes 34 preventing the saw 21 from touching the envelopes 34, and the cardboard 29 is moved according to the arrow 38. Once the left edge on fig. From the cardboard 29 is reached the circular sector 22 rotates according to the arrow 37a and the cardboard 29 is moved according to the arrow 39 cutting the side to the right edge in FIG. 21. The suction device 20 releases the carton 29 still held by the suction cup 31 on the head of the robot 1 and the latter rotates the carton 29 to contact another side of the carton with the suction device 20 (Fig. 22). The operations described above will be repeated until all sides of the carton 29 are cut.

[0017] Referring to FIGS. 23 and 24, the plate 12 with its two stops 6 and 6a constituting the second support 10 has been shown, to better understand its operation. Arranged at the upper end of the column 11, the plate 12 is of rectangular shape and has two longitudinal openings 43 and 43a at its center. In the openings 43 and 43a are provided two abutments 6 and 6a arranged vertically relative to the plane of the plate. The two abutments 6 and 6a can be inclined relative to the plane of the plate by motors 44 and 44a, and moved towards each other by the motor 45, in order to clamp any object disposed between them. It will not be given more constructive details of said plate with its two stops, the latter being within the reach of the skilled person.

Figs. 25 to 36 show views in perspective and in section of the plate 12 and the clamp 42 of the robot 1 to better explain the operation.

FIG. 25 schematically shows the clamp 42 of the head of the robot 1, just after the latter has seized a stack of envelopes 34 in the carton 29 as shown in FIG. 8, and just before depositing said stack on the plate 12 of the second support 10. It will be observed that the stack of envelopes 34 is held between the two jaws 46 and 46a by two inflatable tubes 47 and 47a disposed on the jaws, and that the abutments 6 and 6a are arranged vertically relative to the plane of the plate 12. The abutments are spaced apart so as to allow the clamp 42 to deposit the envelopes on the plate 12, as shown in FIG. 26, the clamp 42 being lowered according to the arrows 48.

The flanges 47 and 47a of the jaws 46 and 46a are deflated and the latter slightly spaced releasing the envelopes 34 on the plate 12. The clamp 42 is raised as indicated by the arrows 49 and the stops 6 and 6a are brought together, as indicated by the arrows 50, by means of the motor 45 holding the stack of envelopes 34 tight and arranged vertically relative to the plate 12, as shown in FIG. 27. Then the stops 6 and 6a are inclined, as indicated by the arrows 51, by means of the motors 44 and 44a. The envelopes 34 are always held tight between the two stops 6 and 6a, as shown in FIG. 28.

The jaws 46 and 46a are brought closer to each other as indicated by the arrows 52 so as to maintain a gap between them substantially equal to the width of the envelopes, as shown in FIG. 29. Then the head 42 is turned a quarter of a turn, as indicated by the arrow 53 in FIG. 30, the envelopes remaining tight between the two stops 6 and 6a on the plate 12.

The head 42 is then lowered in the direction of the plate 12, as indicated by the arrows 54. The jaws 46 and 46a are sufficiently spaced to descend along the stack of envelopes 34, then the jaws 46 and 46a are drawn together as indicated by the arrows 55, laterally tightening the stack of envelopes 34. Then, as shown in FIGS. 32 and 33, the flanges 47 and 47a disposed on the jaws 46 and 46a are inflated thereby increasing the holding of the envelopes in the gripper 42.

The stops 6 and 6a are spaced apart, as indicated by the arrows 57 and 57a, envelopes 34 and straightened, as indicated by the arrows 56 and 56a, the envelopes remaining held inclined by the jaws 46 and 46a on the plate 12 as shown in fig. 34.

The clamp 42 is moved upwards, as indicated by the arrows 58 in FIG. 35. Finally, the clamp 42 will deposit the inclined envelopes on the belt 41 of a feeding device of a machine to process the envelopes.

In FIG. 36 there is shown a variant of the clamp 42 comprising a suction device 59, having a pump 60, intended to come into contact with the stack of envelopes 34, this to improve the maintenance of the stack of envelopes between the jaws 46 and 46a.

This device allows to automate the supply of a machine processing flat parts, including envelopes, contained in cartons arranged on a support, for example a pallet, without manual intervention.

Claims (6)

1. A method of automatically loading flat parts for a machine feeding device processing flat parts, including envelopes, said flat parts being stored by batteries in cartons (29), having a lower part called bottom, lateral sides and an upper face called cover, said cartons being crammed onto a support (30), in particular a pallet, characterized in that a robot (1) grasps a first carton on the support, said robot presents said carton to a device cutter (17) for cutting on at least one lateral side of said carton, turns the carton and represents it to said device so as to cut off another lateral side, this operation being repeated until all the lateral sides are cut off , making the upper part with a first part of the lateral sides independent of the lower part also comprising one of part of the lateral sides, that the robot abandons the upper part and the first part of the lateral sides of said carton in the cutting device and will deposit the lower part and the second part of the lateral sides of said carton on a first support, the section in the lateral sides having been made so that the flat parts arranged vertically relative to the lower part protrude from the second part of the lateral sides, the robot grasps a stack of flat pieces by pinching the beginning and the end of a pile between jaws , outputting said stack from the lower portion of said carton and depositing it on a second support, having a planar surface and means for tilting said flat pieces relative to said planar surface, and then the robot again grasps said inclined stack by pinching the lateral sides of said stack and will deposit it on the feed device of the machi not dealing with flat parts. 2. Automatic loading method according to claim 1, characterized in that the flat parts are envelopes. 3. automatic loading method according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that said robot after grabbing a cardboard deposits it on the first support, and comes to take it from below, so as to present it returned to the device cutting. 4. Device for automatic loading of flat parts for a device for feeding machines processing flat parts, for the implementation of the method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a robot (1) having at least one arm (3) and a head (2), a first and a second support (6, 10) and a cutting device (20), the first support consists of two separate supports (14, 15) allowing the head ( 2) of the robot to pass between the two supports (14, 15), that the second support (10) has a flat surface (12) having means (6) for gripping a stack of flat parts and tilting said flat pieces relative to the flat surface (12), that said head (2) has two interchangeable gripping devices, a first consisting of a suction means (31) and a second constituted by a gripper (42) having jaws, that the cutting device (29) comprises suction means (23, 34) intended to separate the wall of the flat parts that the cardboard (29) contains, circular means (21) for cutting and a circular sector (22) concentric with the cutting means of substantially larger radius, for keeping the circular means away from cutting flat pieces. 5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the jaws of the clamp (42) comprise synthetic foam rolls or inflatable tubes (47, 47a) to improve adhesion to the flat parts. 6. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the second device for gripping the head (2) of the robot (1) comprises in addition to the clamp (42) a suction device, for example a suction cup (59, 60 ).