CN113463358B

CN113463358B - Clothes stacking machine and control method

Info

Publication number: CN113463358B
Application number: CN202010241818.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨军; 饶宇斌; 袁晗; 方红根; 许升; 张涛; 刘凯
Original assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd; Qingdao Haier Smart Technology R&D Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Current assignee: Qingdao Haier Washing Machine Co Ltd; Qingdao Haier Smart Technology R&D Co Ltd; Haier Smart Home Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-31
Filing date: 2020-03-31
Publication date: 2024-05-24
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-31
Also published as: CN113463358A

Abstract

The invention discloses a clothes stacking machine and a control method, wherein the clothes stacking machine comprises a mechanical arm for grabbing clothes into a clothes stacking unit, and the mechanical arm comprises a fixed first clamping piece and a second clamping piece which is movably connected with the first clamping piece; the clothes washing machine further comprises a driving device, the second clamping piece moves under the driving of the driving device to enable the mechanical arm to be opened/closed, and the mechanical arm further comprises a first sensor for detecting that the mechanical arm grabs clothes and a second sensor for detecting that the mechanical arm is opened/closed in place. According to the invention, whether the mechanical arm grabs the clothes or not can be judged through the sensor arranged on the mechanical arm, so that the reliability of grabbing the clothes by the mechanical arm is enhanced.

Description

Clothes stacking machine and control method

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of clothes treatment devices, and particularly relates to a clothes stacking machine and a control method.

Background

In daily household life, the dried clothes are required to be folded and stored, most families currently adopt the clothes which are folded and dried manually, and the clothes are folded and stored by single manual folding or auxiliary folding of a clothes folding plate, so that time and labor are wasted. Along with the development of society, people's life rhythm is accelerated, and the time for doing the housework diminishes, reaches folding clothing random stack of accomodating, has caused the waste of accommodation space to a great extent. The improvement of living standard is accompanied by the increase of clothes types, the clothes folding process is more complicated, and many clothes people do not know what mode is used for folding, so that the folded clothes cannot be well protected. Therefore, the automatic folding clothes machine is necessary to provide a product which can be suitable for the scenes such as families and the like and is used for helping people to automatically fold clothes, can effectively replace complicated clothes folding work and liberate people from complicated household labor.

After the clothes are dried, the clothes are required to be taken down from the drying rod and loaded into the clothes folding machine for folding, and the manual operation is tedious, time-consuming and labor-consuming. In the prior art, a scheme that clothes are clamped by a movable clamping device and enter a clothes stacking machine exists, but the clamping device is fixed relative to the clothes, and cannot be effectively matched with various clothes types, so that flatness of the loaded clothes is affected, and a final folding effect is further affected. Meanwhile, the reliability of the clamping device is to be improved, and the situation that the clamping device starts to move when the clothes are not successfully grabbed, or the clothes fall off in the transportation process of the clamped device exists.

The present invention has been made in view of this.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problems of overcoming the defects of the prior art, and provides a clothes stacking machine with a mechanical arm for automatically loading clothes and a control method thereof, wherein the mechanical arm can judge whether the mechanical arm successfully grabs the clothes and automatically adjust the clothes, so that the degree of automation is high.

In order to solve the technical problems, the invention adopts the basic conception of the technical scheme that:

The utility model provides a folding machine, includes the manipulator that is used for snatching clothing and gets into folding clothing unit, the manipulator includes fixed first clamping piece, and but with first clamping piece swing joint's second clamping piece; the clothes washing machine further comprises a driving device, the second clamping piece moves under the driving of the driving device to enable the mechanical arm to be opened/closed, and the mechanical arm further comprises a first sensor for detecting that the mechanical arm grabs clothes and a second sensor for detecting that the mechanical arm is opened/closed in place.

Further, the first sensor is arranged at the clamping end of the first clamping piece and/or the second clamping piece, and is triggered when the first sensor contacts with clothes;

Preferably, the first sensor comprises a micro switch arranged at the clamping end of the first clamping piece, an avoidance groove is formed in a corresponding position on the clamping end of the second clamping piece, when the manipulator is closed in place, a trigger reed of the micro switch is just contacted with the bottom surface of the avoidance groove, and the micro switch is not triggered; when the mechanical arm is closed to grasp clothes, the clothes press the trigger reed to trigger the micro switch.

Further, the second sensor is fixedly arranged on the manipulator, the second clamping piece is connected with a trigger piece, and the trigger piece triggers the second sensor when the manipulator is opened/closed in place;

preferably, the second sensor includes a touch switch, and the trigger contacts and triggers the touch switch when the robot is opened/closed in place.

The other object of the present invention is to provide the control method of the above-mentioned clothes stacking machine, wherein in the process that the driving device drives the second clamping piece to move to close the mechanical arm, if the first sensor is triggered, the mechanical arm is determined to grasp clothes; when the driving device drives the second clamping piece to move to open/close the manipulator, if the second sensor is triggered, the manipulator is judged to be opened/closed in place, and the driving device is controlled to stop driving; and when the manipulator is judged to be closed in place and the first sensor is not triggered, judging that the manipulator fails to grasp the clothes.

Further, when the manipulator is judged to grasp clothes, the driving device is controlled to drive the second clamping piece to move to a certain extent in the direction of the closing manipulator, and then the driving device is controlled to stop driving.

Further, the second clamping piece has a maximum closing stroke, and the maximum closing stroke is the stroke of the movement of the second clamping piece from the opening in-place state to the closing in-place state of the manipulator;

the control method comprises the steps of controlling a mechanical arm to execute a clothes grabbing program to grab clothes, wherein the clothes grabbing program specifically comprises the following steps:

1) Controlling the manipulator to be opened in place;

2) The driving device is controlled to drive the second clamping piece to move to close the manipulator, and whether the first sensor is triggered or not is judged;

3) If the judgment result is that the second clamping piece is in the maximum closing stroke, the mechanical arm is judged to grasp the clothes, the program is ended, and if the judgment result is that the second clamping piece is in the maximum closing stroke, the second clamping piece is judged to move;

4) If the judgment result is yes, judging that the mechanical arm fails to grasp the clothes; if the judgment result is negative, returning to the step 2);

preferably, in the step 4), if it is determined that the robot fails to grip the laundry, the process returns to the step 1).

Further, the manipulator is movably arranged on the clothes stacking machine along the vertical direction, and the manipulator has the maximum movable range along the vertical direction;

The control method specifically comprises the following steps:

a) Controlling the manipulator to move to the highest point of the maximum movable range;

b) Executing a clothes grabbing program;

c) If the manipulator is judged to be failed to grasp, judging whether the manipulator is positioned at the lowest point of the maximum movable range;

d) If the judgment result is that the clothes grabbing fails, the mechanical arm is controlled to move downwards for a certain distance, and the step b) is returned to;

Preferably, in the step d), if it is determined that the laundry gripping fails, the process returns to the step a).

Further, the manipulator is movably mounted on the clothes stacking machine along the vertical direction, and the method further comprises the following steps between the steps 1) and 2):

A) Controlling the mechanical arm to move to the clothes grabbing height;

B) Controlling the mechanical arm to move to a clothes grabbing position along the horizontal direction;

The clothes grabbing height is that the lower edge of the triggering part of the first sensor is lower than the upper edge of the clamped clothes, and the lowest point of the second clamping piece is higher than the upper edge of the clamped clothes when the mechanical arm is opened in place.

Further, two manipulators are arranged on the clothes stacking machine, and the clothes stacking machine is used for controlling the two manipulators independently; when both manipulators judge that the clothes are grabbed, judging that the clothes are grabbed successfully, and controlling the manipulators to move so as to drag the clothes into the clothes stacking unit; when any manipulator fails to grasp the clothes, the manipulator which is in failure in grasping the clothes is controlled to execute the clothes grasping program again to grasp the clothes.

Further, the manipulator is horizontally movably mounted on the clothes stacking machine along a direction perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction; the control method comprises the steps that the clothes stacking machine obtains clothes types, the mechanical arms are controlled to horizontally move along the direction perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction to adjust the distance between the two mechanical arms, and then the two mechanical arms are controlled to execute a clothes grabbing program.

By adopting the technical scheme, compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects.

The clothes stacking machine is provided with the manipulator capable of loading clothes into the clothes stacking unit, and whether the manipulator grabs the clothes or not can be judged through the sensor arranged on the manipulator, so that the reliability of grabbing the clothes by the manipulator is enhanced.

According to the control method of the clothes stacking machine, after the clothes are determined to be grabbed, the second clamping piece is controlled to be closed to a certain extent, so that the grabbing force of the mechanical arm is increased, and the clothes are prevented from falling off in the conveying process.

According to the control method of the clothes stacking machine, through the cooperation of the first sensor and the second sensor, the condition that the mechanical arm fails to grasp clothes can be sensed, the mechanical arm is automatically controlled to be opened and closed to try grasping again, and the probability of success in grasping clothes is increased.

According to the control method of the clothes stacking machine, clothes with different thicknesses can be stably grabbed by controlling the mechanical arm to move from high to low to try to grab the clothes.

According to the control method of the clothes stacking machine, the two manipulators are independently controlled, the distance between the two manipulators can be adjusted, the dropping position is more accurate when the clothes are grabbed, and the probability of successful clothes grabbing is further improved.

The following describes the embodiments of the present invention in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention. It is evident that the drawings in the following description are only examples, from which other drawings can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without the inventive effort. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a manipulator in a closed state;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the manipulator of the present invention in an open state;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a first clamping piece of the manipulator according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a second clamping piece of the manipulator according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of the manipulator and the manipulator support after being mounted in the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the manipulator and manipulator support of the present invention in another orientation after assembly;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the overall structure of the garment stacker of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a part of the construction of the garment stacking machine carrying unit of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the distribution of the conveyor in the stacking unit of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a second control method according to the embodiment of the invention;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a third control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure: 1. a storage unit; 2. a clothes stacking unit; 3. a loading unit; 100. a conveying and conveying device; 110. a first guide plate; 200. an extrusion conveyor; 201 a conveying mechanism; 202. an extrusion mechanism; 210; a second guide plate; 300. folding and conveying device; 310. a first folding conveyor; 320. a second folding conveyor; 330. a third fold conveyor; 400. a folding mechanism; 410. a first folding mechanism; 420. a second folding mechanism; 510. a manipulator; 511. a first clip; 512. a second clip; 513. a connecting piece; 514. a first driving device; 515. a transmission member; 516. a mounting base; 517. a trigger; 518. a first inductor; 520. a fixing seat; 521. a gear; 522. a second driving device; 523. a second inductor; 530. a manipulator support; 531. a rack; 541. a belt drive motor; 542. a drive belt; 543. a lead screw motor; 544. a screw rod; 545. a lead screw nut; 600. a clothes hanger.

It should be noted that these drawings and the written description are not intended to limit the scope of the inventive concept in any way, but to illustrate the inventive concept to those skilled in the art by referring to the specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions in the embodiments will be clearly and completely described with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and the following embodiments are used to illustrate the present invention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "inner", "outer", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be either fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, for example; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention will be understood in specific cases by those of ordinary skill in the art.

As shown in fig. 1 to 4, the laundry stacking machine of the present invention includes a robot 510 for gripping laundry into a laundry stacking unit, the robot 510 including a fixed first jaw 511, and a second jaw 512 movably connected to the first jaw 511; the first driving device 514 is further included, and the second clamping piece 512 is driven by the first driving device 514 to move so as to enable the manipulator 510 to be opened/closed; the robot 510 further includes a first sensor 518 for detecting that the robot 510 grips laundry and a second sensor 523 for detecting that the robot 510 is opened/closed in place.

The invention also provides a control method of the clothes folding machine, wherein in the process that the first driving device 514 drives the second clamping piece 512 to move to close the mechanical arm 510, if the first sensor 518 is triggered, the mechanical arm 510 is judged to grasp clothes; when the second sensor 523 is triggered during the process of the first driving device 514 driving the second clamping piece 512 to move to open/close the manipulator, the manipulator 510 is judged to be opened/closed in place, and the first driving device 514 is controlled to stop driving; when it is determined that the robot 510 is closed in place and the first sensor 518 is not triggered, it is determined that the robot 510 fails to grasp the laundry.

Example 1

As shown in fig. 1 to 8, the clothes stacking machine according to the present embodiment includes a loading unit 3 having a robot 510 for gripping clothes into the clothes stacking unit, a clothes stacking unit 2, and a receiving unit 1. The manipulator 510 includes a first fixed clamping piece 511, a second clamping piece 512 hinged to the first clamping piece 511 at a first hinge point, and a connecting piece 513, wherein one end of the connecting piece 513 is hinged to the second clamping piece 512 at a second hinge point, and the second hinge point and the first clamping piece 511 are respectively located at two sides of the second clamping piece 512. The other end of the connecting piece 513 can be driven by the first driving device 514 to reciprocate along the vertical direction, so as to drive the second clamping piece 512 to rotate, and the manipulator 510 is opened or closed. The first driving device 514 drives the end of the connecting member 513 to move through a transmission structure, the transmission structure comprises a transmission member 515 having a certain length in the vertical direction, and a mounting seat 516 capable of moving along the transmission member 515, and the end of the connecting member 513 is hinged with the mounting seat 516.

Preferably, the driving member 515 is in a rod shape, and a spiral protrusion/groove with a certain length range is formed on a side wall of the driving member, and the mounting seat 516 is provided with a through hole, and the inner wall of the through hole is provided with a matched spiral groove/protrusion. The transmission member 515 is inserted into the through hole and can be driven to rotate by the first driving device 514, so as to drive the mounting seat 516 to reciprocate along the transmission member. Preferably, the transmission member 515 is a transmission screw, and the mounting seat 516 is a screw seat matched with the transmission screw.

The first driving device 514 drives the transmission piece 515 to rotate forward, drives the mounting seat 516 and the upper end of the connecting piece 513 to move upwards, and then the lower end of the connecting piece 513 pulls the second clamping piece 512 to rotate to open the manipulator 510. The first driving device 514 drives the transmission member 515 to rotate reversely, so as to drive the mounting seat 516 and the upper end of the connecting member 513 to move downwards, and then the lower end of the connecting member 513 presses the second clamping piece 512 downwards, so that the second clamping piece rotates to close the manipulator 510.

The loading unit 3 of the clothes stacking machine further comprises a manipulator support 530 which is horizontally arranged perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction, and the manipulator support 530 is arranged on the frame of the loading unit 3 and can reciprocate along the vertical direction and the clothes conveying direction under the drive of the driving device. Preferably, a transmission belt 542 and a belt driving motor 541 are arranged in the horizontal direction, the manipulator support 530 is fixedly connected with the transmission belt 542 through a fixed structure, and the belt driving motor 541 drives the transmission belt 542 to drive, so as to drive the manipulator support 530 to reciprocate along the clothes conveying direction; the screw driving structure is arranged in the vertical direction and comprises a screw motor 543, a screw 544 and a screw nut 545, the manipulator support 530, a driving belt 542 and a belt driving motor 541 are arranged on the vertical movement support, the vertical movement support is fixedly connected with the screw nut 545, the screw motor 543 drives the screw 544 to rotate, and then the screw nut 545 and the vertical movement support are driven to reciprocate up and down, so that the whole up-and-down reciprocating movement of the manipulator support 530, the driving belt 542 and the belt driving motor 541 is realized.

The robot 510 is provided with two holders 520, which are respectively and fixedly installed in the holders 520, and the holders 520 are horizontally movably installed on the robot support 530 along a direction perpendicular to the laundry conveying direction. Preferably, the manipulator support 530 is provided with a rack 531, and the fixing base 520 is correspondingly provided with a rotatable gear 521. The gear 521 is connected to the second driving device 522, and can rotate under the driving of the second driving device 522, so as to drive the fixing base 520 to reciprocate along the manipulator support 530.

The robot 510 further includes a first sensor 518 for detecting that the robot 510 is gripping a garment and a second sensor 523 for detecting that the robot is in place.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first sensor 518 is a micro switch disposed at the clamping end of the first clamping piece 511. The clamping end of the first clamping piece 511 is provided with a mounting groove, the micro switch is arranged in the mounting groove, and the trigger reed of the micro switch is arranged outwards. An avoidance groove is formed in a position corresponding to the clamping end of the second clamping piece 512, and when the mechanical arm 510 is completely closed and no clothes exist between the first clamping piece 511 and the second clamping piece 512, the trigger reed stretches into the avoidance groove, but does not contact with the bottom surface of the avoidance groove; or the bottom surface of the avoidance groove just contacts with the trigger reed, but does not press the trigger reed, so the first sensor 518 is not triggered. When the mechanical arm 510 grabs the clothes, the clothes are located between the avoiding groove and the trigger reed, and the trigger reed is pressed in the closing process of the mechanical arm 510, so that the first sensor 518 is triggered.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second sensor 523 is fixedly disposed on the fixing base 520, and the trigger member 517 is fixedly connected to the mounting base 516. Preferably, the second sensor 523 is a touch switch, when the mounting seat 516 moves to a certain position, the trigger 517 presses the action reed of the trigger switch to trigger the second sensor 523, so that the manipulator 510 is opened in place, that is, the second clamping piece 512 rotates in place, and the first driving device 514 stops driving.

In the embodiment, the clothes stacking machine is provided with the mechanical arm capable of loading clothes to the clothes stacking unit, so that automatic loading of the clothes to the clothes stacking unit is realized; through the inductor that sets up on the manipulator, can whether snatch the clothing to the manipulator and judge, strengthened the reliability that the manipulator snatched the clothing.

Example two

In the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1 to 8, in the process of driving the second clamping piece 512 by the first driving device 514 to rotate to close the mechanical arm 510, if the first sensor 518 is triggered, it is determined that the mechanical arm 510 grabs the clothes. Preferably, when the manipulator 510 is determined to grasp the laundry, the first driving device 514 is controlled to drive the second clamping piece 512 to move to a certain extent in the direction of the closing manipulator 510, and then the first driving device 514 is controlled to stop driving. By controlling the second jaw 512 to be closed to a certain extent after the laundry is gripped, the gripping force of the manipulator is increased, and the laundry is prevented from falling off during the transportation process.

The clothes stacking machine judges whether the manipulator 510 is closed in place through the second sensor 523, and when the manipulator 510 is judged to be closed in place and the first sensor 518 is not triggered, the manipulator 510 is judged to be failed to grasp clothes. Specifically, the second clamping piece 512 has a maximum closing angle, which is an angle at which the second clamping piece 512 rotates from the open-in-place state to the closed-in-place state of the manipulator 510. Based on the overall structure of the manipulator 510 and the maximum closing angle, the number of turns required to drive the manipulator 510 from the open-to-position state to the closed-to-position state may be calculated, and the number of turns required by the first driving device 514 may be counted as the maximum number of turns to be closed. When the trigger 517 triggers the second sensor 523 during the opening of the manipulator 510, the first driving device 514 stops driving, so that the manipulator 510 is fixed in the opened position. When the manipulator 510 starts to be closed from the open-in-place state, the number of turns of the first driving device 514 is recorded, and when the number of turns of the first driving device 514 reaches the maximum closed number of turns under the condition that the first sensor 518 is not triggered, the manipulator is judged to be closed in place, and the manipulator 510 fails to grasp clothes, and the first driving device 514 is controlled to stop driving.

When the clothes stacking machine of the embodiment works, the clothes hanger 600 with clothes hung thereon is controlled to move to the clothes inlet of the clothes stacking unit, the manipulator support 530 also moves to the clothes inlet, the manipulator 510 is located at a position suitable for grabbing the clothes, and then the manipulator 510 is controlled to execute a clothes grabbing program to grab the clothes. As shown in fig. 10, the laundry gripping program specifically includes the steps of:

1) Controlling the manipulator to be opened in place;

2) Controlling the first driving device to drive the second clamping piece to move to close the manipulator, and judging whether the first sensor is triggered or not;

3) If the judgment result is that the clothes are grasped by the mechanical arm, ending the program, and if the judgment result is that the clothes are not grasped by the mechanical arm, judging whether the rotation number of the first driving device reaches the maximum closing number of turns or not;

4) If the judgment result is yes, judging that the mechanical arm fails to grasp the clothes; if the judgment result is negative, returning to the step 2).

In a preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, in the step 4), if it is determined that the robot fails to grip the laundry, the process returns to the step 1). By automatically controlling the opening and closing of the manipulator to try grabbing again when the manipulator fails to grab the clothes, the probability of grabbing the clothes by the manipulator can be increased under the condition of reducing human intervention of a user.

In the embodiment, through the cooperation of the first sensor and the second sensor, the clothes stacking machine can judge whether the mechanical arm grabs clothes or not, and control the mechanical arm to automatically open and close to try grabbing again when the mechanical arm fails to grab the clothes, so that the probability of grabbing the clothes by the mechanical arm is increased under the condition that user intervention is not needed, and the degree of automation is high; after the fact that the mechanical arm grabs the clothes is judged, the mechanical arm is controlled to be continuously closed to a certain extent, so that the grabbing force of the mechanical arm on the clothes is increased, the condition that the clothes fall off in the conveying process of the mechanical arm is avoided, and the follow-up clothes stacking process is influenced.

Example III

As shown in fig. 1 to 8, this embodiment is further defined by the second embodiment, where the manipulator 510 has a maximum movable range in the vertical direction, and the maximum movable range is set according to the thickness of the laundry to which the laundry stacking machine is applied. The concave avoiding part is arranged on the clothes hanger 600 suitable for being matched with the clothes stacking machine, so that an avoiding space can be provided when the mechanical arm 510 grabs clothes, and the mechanical arm 510 is prevented from clamping the clothes hanger 600. Preferably, when the lowest point of the maximum movable range is fully closed according to the manipulator 510, the lowest point of the manipulator 510 is just touched with the lowest point of the avoidance portion.

As shown in fig. 11, the control method for controlling the mechanical arm to grasp the clothes by the clothes stacking machine specifically includes the following steps:

b) Executing a clothes grabbing program;

d) If the judgment result is that the clothes grabbing fails, the mechanical arm is controlled to move downwards for a certain distance, and the step b) is returned.

In a preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, in the step d), if it is determined that the laundry is gripped failed, the process returns to the step a). More preferably, the clothes stacking machine records the number of times of clothes grabbing failure, and when the number of times of clothes grabbing failure reaches a preset number of times N, the program is ended and an alarm is sent out, wherein the preset number of times N can be set by a user or a program default value is adopted.

For clothes with different thicknesses, the most suitable grabbing positions are different in height, and in particular, thicker clothes are more suitable for grabbing at a relatively higher position. For thicker clothes, if a lower grabbing position is adopted, the grabbed clothes amount is excessive, so that the opening angle of the mechanical arm is too large when the grabbed clothes are judged, the mechanical arm cannot generate enough friction force in the vertical direction to overcome the gravity of the clothes, and the clothes are easy to fall off in the clothes conveying process; for thinner clothes, if a higher grabbing position is adopted, the upper edge of the clothes is too thin and cannot be effectively grabbed by a mechanical arm, so that grabbing failure is easy to occur.

In this embodiment, the mechanical arm is controlled to move from high to low to attempt to grasp clothes, so that clothes with different thicknesses can be grasped stably, and the mechanical arm has good adaptability to clothes with a larger thickness range.

Example IV

As shown in fig. 1 to 8, this embodiment is further defined by the second embodiment, and further includes, between the steps 1) and 2):

A) Controlling the mechanical arm to move to the clothes grabbing height;

the lower edge of the triggering reed of the first sensor 518 is lower than the upper edge of the clamped clothes, and the lowest point of the second clamping piece 512 is higher than the upper edge of the clamped clothes when the manipulator 510 is opened in place.

Specifically, laundry is delivered to a laundry inlet of the laundry stacking unit through the hanger 600, and the robot arm support 530 moves toward the laundry inlet, stopping and controlling the robot arm 510 to be opened in place at a distance from the laundry inlet. Then, the screw motor 543 is controlled to drive the manipulator support 530 to move along the vertical direction, so that the manipulator 510 moves to the height for grabbing clothes, even if the lower edge of the triggering reed of the first sensor 518 moves to a position lower than the upper edge of the clamped clothes and the lowest point of the second clamping piece 512 is higher than the upper edge of the clamped clothes. Preferably, the uniform clothes rack 600 is used for conveying clothes, and the height of the upper edge of the clamped clothes is constant, so that the clothes clamping height can be a program set value. Then, the manipulator support 530 is controlled to continue to move towards the laundry inlet until reaching the laundry grabbing position, and the first clamping piece 511 and the second clamping piece 512 are respectively located at two sides of the laundry. Since the lowest point of the second clamping piece 512 is higher than the upper edge of the clamped clothes, the second clamping piece is not contacted with the clothes in the process of moving the mechanical arm 510 to the clothes, and the movement of the mechanical arm 510 is not affected.

In the embodiment, the manipulator is controlled to be opened and then moved to the upper part of the clothes for grabbing, so that the phenomenon that the manipulator touches the clothes in the opening process and influences the grabbing process is avoided; the clothes grabbing height is controlled, the upper edge of the clothes is higher than the lower edge of the first sensor, the lowest point of the second clamping piece is lower than the lowest point of the second clamping piece when the mechanical arm is opened in place, the mechanical arm can move to the clothes grabbing position in an unobstructed mode, the first clamping piece and the second clamping piece are respectively located on two sides of the clothes, the clothes can be effectively grabbed when the mechanical arm is closed, and the probability of grabbing the clothes by the mechanical arm is improved.

Example five

As shown in fig. 1 to 8, this embodiment is further defined in the second embodiment, and the two manipulators 510 are separately controlled by the clothes stacking machine. When both the manipulators 510 determine that the clothes are grabbed, it is determined that the clothes are grabbed successfully, and the manipulator support 530 is controlled to drive the manipulators 510 to move so as to drag the clothes into the clothes stacking unit. When it is determined that any one of the manipulators 510 fails to grip the laundry, the manipulator 510 that has failed to control the gripping of the laundry performs the laundry gripping process again to grip the laundry.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control method includes the step of the clothes stacking machine obtaining a clothes type, controlling the manipulators 510 to horizontally move along a direction perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction to adjust a distance between the two manipulators 510, and controlling the two manipulators 510 to execute a clothes grabbing program. Specifically, different hangers 600 are used for conveying different types of clothes, and the top surface widths of the hooks of the different hangers 600 are different. The hanger conveying mechanism for moving the hanger 600 to the laundry inlet of the stacking unit is provided with two sensors along the width direction, and when both sensors are triggered, the width of the hanger to be conveyed is larger, and if only the first sensor is triggered, the width of the hanger to be conveyed is smaller. According to the feedback result of the sensor, the clothes stacking machine controls the second driving device 522 to drive the gear 521 to rotate, and then drives the manipulator 510 to move along the manipulator support 530, so that different types of clothes can be better matched, and the grabbing position of the clothes can be more accurate.

In the embodiment, the clothes stacking machine independently controls the two manipulators, and independently controls the manipulator which fails to grasp clothes to try grasping again, so that the manipulator which grasps the clothes does not act any more, and unnecessary operation is avoided; by judging the type of the clothes and controlling the two manipulators to move along the manipulator support, the distance between the two manipulators is adjusted, the position of the clothes is more accurate when the clothes are grabbed, and the success probability of grabbing the clothes is further improved.

As shown in fig. 7 and 9, in the above-described embodiment, the laundry machine of the present invention further includes a laundry stacking unit 2 for folding laundry and a receiving unit 1 for receiving the folded laundry. The clothes folding unit 2 comprises a frame and conveying devices arranged on the frame, wherein each conveying device comprises a plurality of folding conveying devices, and folding channels are formed between every two adjacent folding conveying devices. Specifically, the conveyor includes, in order from top to bottom, a conveying conveyor 100, a squeeze conveyor 200, and a fold conveyor 300.

The laundry enters from the right end of the conveying and transporting device 100, and is transported leftwards under the driving of the conveying and transporting device 100. The two sides of the conveying and conveying device 100 are provided with foldable turning plates, and the parts, exceeding the conveying and conveying device 100, of the clothes can be folded by turning upwards, so that the width of the clothes is uniform. At the left end of the conveying and transporting device 100 is provided an arc-shaped first guide plate 110, and laundry is transported downward into the lower pressing and transporting device 200 under the guide of the first guide plate 110.

The laundry is transferred rightward on the pressing and transferring device 200. The pressing and conveying device 200 includes a conveying mechanism 201 that conveys laundry and a pressing mechanism 202 disposed above the conveying mechanism 201 at an angle to the conveying direction, forming therebetween a pressing and conveying path that gradually narrows in the laundry conveying direction. The squeezing mechanism 202 comprises two driving rollers and a conveying belt wound on the driving rollers, and clothes are conveyed rightward on the squeezing conveying device 200, and when passing through the squeezing conveying channel, the clothes are squeezed by the lower driving rollers in the squeezing mechanism 202, so that the thickness of the clothes is more uniform. To achieve a good squeezing effect, the right end of the squeezing mechanism 202 is mounted in contact with the conveying mechanism 201, and the conveyor belt of the conveying mechanism 201 is hollow below the contact point, with a pressing space of at least 10 cm in height. Preferably, the angle between the conveying mechanism 201 and the pressing mechanism 202 is 6 °. At the right end of the pressing conveyor 200 is provided an arc-shaped second guide plate 210, and laundry is conveyed downward into the lower folding conveyor 300 under the guide of the second guide plate 210.

The folding conveyor 300 includes a first folding conveyor 310 capable of two-way conveying and a second folding conveyor 320 provided on the right side of the first folding conveyor 310 and capable of two-way conveying, between which a folding output channel is formed; and a third folder conveyor 330 disposed above the second folder conveyor 320 to the left, and forming a folder conveyor path between the first folder conveyor 310 and the third folder conveyor 330. The frame is also provided with a folding mechanism 400, and the folding mechanism 400 specifically comprises a first folding mechanism 410 capable of being inserted into/extracted from the folding output channel, and capable of pressing clothes into the folding output channel, and a second folding mechanism 420 capable of being inserted into/extracted from the folding conveying channel, and capable of pressing clothes into the folding conveying channel. The laundry is transferred out of the pressing conveyor 200 and enters the third folder conveyor 330 to be conveyed leftward, and the first folder conveyor 310 is conveyed in the same direction, flattening the laundry on the third folder conveyor 330 and the first folder conveyor 310.

For the laundry having a short length, one folding is performed in the folding conveyor 300. Specifically, the third folder conveyor 330 conveys leftward, the first folder conveyor 310 conveys rightward, and simultaneously the second folder 420 moves downward to insert into the folder conveyor, presses the laundry into the folder conveyor, folds and conveys downward. The second folding conveyor 320 and the first folding conveyor 310 are oppositely conveyed to convey the laundry to the folding output path, and further conveyed out into the storage unit 1.

Or the third folding conveyor 330 and the first folding conveyor 310 continue to be conveyed leftwards to completely convey the laundry to the surface of the first folding conveyor 310, and then the first folding conveyor 310 is conveyed rightwards while the second folding conveyor 320 is conveyed rightwards to convey a part of the laundry to the surface of the second folding conveyor 320 through the folding conveyor channel. Then the first folding conveyor 310 continues to convey, the second folding conveyor 320 conveys to the left, and at the same time, the first folding mechanism inserts to the left into the folding output channel, presses the clothes into the folding output channel, and conveys out the clothes into the storage unit 1 through the folding output channel after folding.

For the laundry having a long length, the folding conveyor 300 performs folding twice. Specifically, the third folding conveyor 330 and the first folding conveyor 310 convey laundry to the left to the laundry end completely into the third folding conveyor 330. The third folding conveyor 330 conveys leftward, the first folding conveyor 310 conveys rightward, and at the same time the second folding mechanism 420 moves downward to insert the laundry into the folding conveyor, presses the laundry into the folding conveyor, and performs the first folding and conveys downward. The second folding conveyor 320 and the first folding conveyor 310 are conveyed in the same direction, and the folded portion of the laundry is conveyed to the surface of the second folding conveyor 320. After that, the second folding conveyor 320 and the first folding conveyor 310 are reversely conveyed, and at the same time, the first folding mechanism 410 moves leftwards to be inserted into the folding output passage, presses the laundry into the folding output passage, performs the second folding and conveys out into the storage unit 1.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first folding conveyor 310 may slide in the left-right direction toward or away from the second folding conveyor 320 and the third folding conveyor 330, thereby changing the widths of the folding conveyor channel and the folding output channel. When the thickness of the folded clothes is large, the first folding conveyor 310 can adaptively move leftwards when the clothes pass through the folding conveying channel and the folding output channel, so that the width of the folding channel is increased, the clothes can smoothly pass through, and the clothes are prevented from being blocked or damaged due to excessive extrusion. Through setting up mobilizable first folding conveyer, the width of adjustable folding conveying passageway and folding output channel has the effect of the smooth clothing of extrusion, can also adapt to the clothing of great thickness within range, can all play good folding effect to the clothing of great thickness within range.

The foregoing description is only illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, but is to be construed as limiting the invention to any and all simple modifications, equivalent variations and adaptations of the embodiments described above, which are within the scope of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A control method of a clothes stacking machine is characterized in that: the clothes stacking machine comprises a mechanical arm for grabbing clothes into a clothes stacking unit, wherein the mechanical arm comprises a first fixed clamping piece and a second clamping piece which is movably connected with the first clamping piece; the second clamping piece moves under the drive of the driving device to open/close the manipulator; the manipulator further comprises a first sensor for detecting that the manipulator grabs the clothes and a second sensor for detecting that the manipulator is opened/closed in place;

In the process that the driving device drives the second clamping piece to move to close the mechanical arm, if the first sensor is triggered, the mechanical arm is judged to grasp clothes; when the driving device drives the second clamping piece to move to open/close the manipulator, if the second sensor is triggered, the manipulator is judged to be opened/closed in place, and the driving device is controlled to stop driving; when the manipulator is closed in place and the first sensor is not triggered, the manipulator is judged to be failed to grasp clothes;

The second clamping piece has a maximum closing stroke, and the maximum closing stroke is the stroke of the manipulator from the opening in-place state to the closing in-place state;

1) Controlling the manipulator to be opened in place;

2. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: in the step 4), if it is determined that the robot fails to grip the laundry, the process returns to the step 1).

3. The control method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: the mechanical arm is movably arranged on the clothes stacking machine along the vertical direction, and has the largest movable range along the vertical direction;

The control method specifically comprises the following steps:

b) Executing a clothes grabbing program;

c) If the manipulator is judged to be failed to grasp the clothes, judging whether the manipulator is positioned at the lowest point of the maximum movable range;

4. A control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: in the step d), if it is determined that the laundry gripping fails, the process returns to the step a).

5. The control method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the robot is mounted on the stacker so as to be movable in a vertical direction, and further comprising, between the steps 1) and 2):

A) Controlling the mechanical arm to move to the clothes grabbing height;

6. The control method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: two manipulators are arranged on the clothes stacking machine, and the clothes stacking machine is used for controlling the two manipulators independently; when both manipulators judge that the clothes are grabbed, judging that the clothes are grabbed successfully, and controlling the manipulators to move so as to drag the clothes into the clothes stacking unit; when any manipulator fails to grasp the clothes, the manipulator which is in failure in grasping the clothes is controlled to execute the clothes grasping program again to grasp the clothes.

7. The control method according to claim 6, characterized in that: the mechanical arm can be horizontally movably arranged on the clothes stacking machine along the direction perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction; the control method comprises the steps that the clothes stacking machine obtains clothes types, the mechanical arms are controlled to horizontally move along the direction perpendicular to the clothes conveying direction to adjust the distance between the two mechanical arms, and then the two mechanical arms are controlled to execute a clothes grabbing program.

8. A machine for folding clothes, characterized in that: a control method according to any one of claims 1-7.

9. The machine of claim 8, wherein: the first sensor is arranged at the clamping end of the first clamping piece and/or the second clamping piece, and is triggered when the first sensor contacts with clothes.

10. The machine of claim 9, wherein: the first sensor comprises a micro switch arranged at the clamping end of the first clamping piece, an avoidance groove is formed in the corresponding position of the clamping end of the second clamping piece, when the manipulator is closed in place, a trigger reed of the micro switch is embedded into the avoidance groove, and the micro switch is not triggered; when the mechanical arm is closed to grasp clothes, the clothes press the trigger reed to trigger the micro switch.

11. The machine according to any one of claims 8-10, wherein: the second sensor is fixedly arranged on the manipulator, the second clamping piece is connected with the trigger piece, and when the manipulator is opened/closed in place, the trigger piece triggers the second sensor.

12. The machine of claim 11, wherein: the second sensor includes a touch switch, and the trigger contacts and triggers the touch switch when the manipulator is opened/closed in place.