CN214242739U

CN214242739U - Material conveying system

Info

Publication number: CN214242739U
Application number: CN202023219265.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 付燕铭
Original assignee: KUKA Robotics Guangdong Co Ltd
Current assignee: KUKA Robotics Guangdong Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-28
Filing date: 2020-12-28
Publication date: 2021-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-28

Abstract

The application provides a material conveying system, which comprises a translation conveying unit and a lifting conveying unit; the translation conveying unit is used for driving the materials to move along a conveying path; the translation conveying unit comprises a plurality of translation conveying modules which are detachably connected in sequence along a conveying path; the conveying path is in a substantially horizontal state; the lifting conveying unit is arranged at the tail end of the translation conveying unit and used for lifting the materials conveyed by the translation conveying unit to a material station to be taken. According to the material conveying system, the translation conveying unit and the lifting conveying unit which are connected with each other are arranged, so that PCB (printed circuit board) plug-in operation can be performed on the robot, materials can be automatically supplied, the conveying efficiency is high, the requirement of the robot plug-in on the feeding efficiency can be met, and the labor cost can be effectively saved; the translation conveying unit comprises a plurality of translation conveying modules, the expandability is strong, the conveying system can be adjusted in time according to production needs, and large-scale adjustment is not needed.

Description

Material conveying system

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of material conveying, in particular to a material conveying system.

Background

In the PCB card insertion work, manual card insertion and manual feeding are commonly used. The manual plug-in is low in efficiency and reliability and higher in cost, and the manual plug-in is gradually replaced by the robot plug-in.

Robot plug-in components efficiency is higher, and traditional artifical material loading can't satisfy the demand of robot plug-in components to material loading efficiency gradually.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

For solving traditional artifical material loading in the relevant scheme and can't satisfy the demand of robot plug-in components to material loading efficiency gradually, this application provides the material conveying system that can satisfy the demand of robot plug-in components to material loading efficiency.

The material conveying system comprises a translation conveying unit and a lifting conveying unit;

the translation conveying unit is used for driving the materials to move along a conveying path; the translation conveying unit comprises a plurality of translation conveying modules, and the translation conveying modules are detachably connected in sequence along the conveying path; the conveying path is in a substantially horizontal state;

and the lifting conveying unit is arranged at the tail end of the translation conveying unit and used for lifting the materials conveyed by the translation conveying unit to a station where the materials are to be taken.

Further, the translation conveying module comprises a first rack, a first roller and a conveying driving motor;

the first roller is rotatably arranged on the first rack and is used for driving the materials above the first roller to move along the conveying path when rotating;

the conveying driving motor is arranged on the rack, and an output shaft of the conveying driving motor is in transmission connection with the first roller to drive the first roller to rotate.

Further, each of the translating conveyor modules comprises a plurality of the first rollers; the first rollers are rotatably arranged on the first rack in parallel.

Further, each of the translation transport modules includes a plurality of the transport drive motors; the rack is provided with a plurality of areas which correspond to the conveying driving motors one by one;

at least one first roller is arranged in each area;

each conveying driving motor is used for driving the first roller in the corresponding one of the areas to rotate.

Furthermore, each translation conveying module is provided with an expansion interface;

the expansion interface is electrically connected with the conveying driving motor and used for controlling the conveying driving motor to operate according to instructions.

Further, the conveying driving motor is a stepping motor.

Further, the lifting conveying unit comprises a translation receiving module, a lifting driving module and a second rack;

the lifting driving module comprises a lifting frame and a lifting driving mechanism, the lifting frame is arranged on the second rack in a lifting manner, and the lifting driving mechanism is in transmission connection with the lifting frame to drive the lifting frame to move up and down;

the translation receiving module is arranged on the lifting frame and can ascend to the material waiting station or descend to the conveying and transferring station along with the lifting frame.

Further, the translation bearing module comprises a second roller and a second motor;

the second roller is rotatably arranged on the lifting frame, and can transfer the materials conveyed by the translation conveying unit to the conveying and transferring station when rotating;

and an output shaft of the second motor is in transmission connection with the second roller so as to drive the second roller to rotate.

Further, the material conveying system also comprises a unit to be loaded;

the material loading unit is arranged at one end, far away from the lifting conveying unit, of the translation conveying unit and used for placing materials and conveying the materials to the translation conveying unit after receiving instructions.

Further, the material conveying system also comprises a control system;

the translation conveying unit and the lifting conveying unit are in electrical signal connection with the control system so as to cooperatively operate under the control of the control system.

According to the technical scheme, the method has at least the following advantages and positive effects:

the application provides a material conveying system, which can automatically supply materials for the operation of PCB plug-in components of a robot by arranging a translation conveying unit and a lifting conveying unit which are connected with each other, has higher conveying efficiency, can meet the requirement of the plug-in components of the robot on the feeding efficiency, and can effectively save the labor cost; the translation conveying unit comprises a plurality of translation conveying modules, the expandability is strong, the conveying system can be adjusted in time according to production needs, and large-scale adjustment is not needed.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a material conveying system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a control connection structure of a control system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the electrical principle of the control system in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a control flow diagram of a material conveying system according to an embodiment of the present application.

The reference numerals are explained below:

1. a unit to be loaded;

2. a translation conveying unit; 21. a translation transport module; 211. a first frame; 212. a first drum; 213. an inductor; 214. a first motor;

3. a lifting conveying unit; 31. a second frame; 321. a second drum; 322. a second motor; 33. a lifting frame;

4. a tray;

5. a control system; 51. a PLC; 52. a touch screen.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments that embody features and advantages of the present application will be described in detail in the following description. It is to be understood that the present application is capable of various modifications in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the application, and that the description and drawings are to be taken as illustrative and not restrictive in character.

In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," and the like are used in the orientations and positional relationships indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present application and for simplicity in description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced devices or elements must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated in a particular manner, and are not to be construed as limiting the present application. Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first", "second", may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the present application, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically limited otherwise.

In the description of the present application, it is to be noted that the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected unless otherwise explicitly stated or limited. Either mechanically or electrically. Either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

The appearance of "and/or" in this document means either a "and" relationship or an "or" relationship, for example, "A and/or B" means "A and B" or "A or B" for the two cases, corresponding to the three possible outcomes of "A", "B" or "A and B".

With the increasing demand of labor-intensive industry upgrading, industrial robots are more and more widely applied in the fields of production, manufacturing and the like. With the rising of labor cost and the unreliability of manual operation in China at present, more and more enterprises need to use robots to change people.

In PCB plugging operation, many enterprises still use manpower to perform plugging at present, and a great amount of manpower is needed to perform plugging tasks of each PCB board, which is undoubtedly a great burden for production enterprises. Meanwhile, manual plug-in units have great unreliability, and sometimes, the phenomenon that a plurality of devices are inserted wrongly or missed in one PCB is also endless, and a large number of quality inspectors are required to be invested for inspection.

The robot plug-in components are high in efficiency, the manual plug-in components are gradually replaced by the robot plug-in components, a large part of labor cost is saved for enterprises, meanwhile, a self-feedback mechanism is formed for the reliability of the plug-in components, and the quality of the plug-in components is effectively improved. The conveying system is used as an important component of the whole component inserter system, and the high-degree automatic design and the reasonable operation scheme are favorable for improving the control efficiency of the whole system and reducing the manual feeding cost.

In order to achieve the technical purpose, the application provides a material conveying system which can meet the requirement of robot plug-in units on the feeding efficiency, is favorable for improving the control efficiency of the whole system, and reduces the feeding cost.

Referring to fig. 1, an embodiment of the present application provides a material conveying system, which includes a to-be-loaded unit 1, a translation conveying unit 2, a lifting conveying unit 3, and a control system.

The material loading unit 1 is located at the front end of the translation conveying unit 2 and used for temporarily placing materials and conveying the temporarily placed materials to the translation conveying unit 2 when the translation conveying unit 2 is short of the materials.

The unit 1 to be loaded may be a belt or a roller conveying platform driven by a motor, and a plurality of trays 4 containing electronic components may be stacked on the platform. For example, six trays 4 may be stacked on a platform, so that when there is no need to convey material on the mobile conveyor unit 2, material may be temporarily stored, and when there is no material on the mobile conveyor unit 2, material may be supplied to the mobile conveyor unit 2.

The material may be a plurality of electronic components to be inserted placed on the tray 4, for example, thirty capacitors may be placed on the tray 4.

The translation conveying unit 2 comprises a plurality of translation conveying modules 21 for moving the material along the conveying path.

Each of the translatory transport modules 21 is detachably butted in turn one after another along the transport path to form the translatory transport unit 2 as a whole. The conveying path refers to a material conveying path, and particularly refers to a section of the conveying path of the material between the unit to be loaded 1 and the lifting conveying unit 3, and the section of the conveying path between the unit to be loaded 1 and the lifting conveying unit 3 is in a substantially horizontal state.

Each of the translating conveyor modules 21 is individually detachable and independently operable. Each of the translation conveyance modules 21 includes a first frame 211, a first roller 212, and a conveyance drive motor.

Each translation conveying module 21 is provided with one or more sensors 213, and the sensors 213 are used for sensing whether materials exist on the translation conveying module 21 and whether the materials are in place. The sensor 213 may be specifically an opto-electronic switch or the like.

The first roller 212 is rotatably disposed on the first frame 211, and a plurality of first rollers 212 may be disposed in parallel on the first frame 211.

Carry driving motor to locate on the frame, carry driving motor's output shaft and first cylinder 212 transmission to can drive first cylinder 212 when carrying driving motor's output shaft to rotate, and then first cylinder 212 rotates and drives the material of its top and remove along carrying the route. The conveying drive motor may be a stepping motor.

Each translation conveying module 21 may be specifically provided with a plurality of conveying driving motors for driving. The first frame 211 may be divided into a plurality of regions corresponding to the conveying driving motors one to one. At least one first roller 212 is arranged in each zone, and the first rollers 212 in each zone are in transmission connection with an output shaft of a conveying driving motor through a transmission mechanism.

In some embodiments, one translation transport module 21 is provided with two transport drive motors, and correspondingly, two zones are provided on the first frame 211. Two first rollers 212 are rotatably arranged in parallel in each zone, wherein the two first rollers 212 in one zone are in transmission connection with one conveying driving motor through a transmission structure, and the two first rollers 212 in the other zone are in transmission connection with the other conveying driving motor through a transmission structure. Thus, the four first rollers 212 provided on the first frame 211 are driven by two conveyance driving motors, respectively. The four first rollers 212 driven by the two conveying driving motors have the same rotating speed and rotating direction, so that the situation that the position of the tray 4 containing the electronic components is changed to influence the grabbing of the robot is avoided.

The number of the translatory transport modules 21 in the translatory transport unit 2 can be increased or decreased as desired. For example, the distance between the lifting conveying unit 3 and the unit to be loaded 1 is longer, and the conveying distance of the translation conveying unit 2 can be increased after the translation conveying module 21 is added, so that the material conveying between the lifting conveying unit 3 and the unit to be loaded 1 is ensured. Under the condition that the distance between the lifting conveying unit 3 and the unit to be loaded 1 is short, the number of the translation conveying modules 21 in the translation conveying unit 2 can be reduced, and therefore the length of the translation conveying unit 2 is shortened.

The number of the translation conveying modules 21 is increased, and after the length of the translation conveying unit 2 is prolonged, more materials can be kept on the translation conveying unit 2, so that the frequency of placing the materials to be treated in the feeding unit 1 is reduced.

Each translation conveying module 21 is provided with an expansion interface. The extension interface is electrically connected with the conveying driving motor, so that the conveying driving motor can be controlled to operate according to a control instruction of the control system. The expansion interface is connected to the control system in an electrically pluggable manner, so that the control system also supports an expandable control of the plurality of translation transport modules 21 in terms of software and control.

The translation conveying unit 2 is in a modularized mechanical design, can be controlled in a modularized mode, and is high in expandability. The conveying system can be adjusted in time according to production needs without large-scale adjustment.

The lifting conveying unit 3 is arranged at the tail end of the translation conveying unit 2 and used for lifting the materials conveyed by the translation conveying unit 2 to a material station to be taken.

The lifting and conveying unit 3 includes a second frame 31, a lifting drive module, and a translation receiving module.

The second frame 31 is provided with a lifting guide mechanism.

The lifting driving module comprises a lifting frame 33 and a lifting driving mechanism. The lifting frame 33 can be arranged on the second machine frame 31 in a lifting way under the guiding action of the lifting guide mechanism, and the lifting drive mechanism is in transmission connection with the lifting frame 33 so as to drive the lifting frame 33 to move up and down.

The lifting driving mechanism may be a power mechanism composed of a motor and a linear transmission mechanism of a synchronous belt, etc. and capable of driving the lifting frame 33 to move up and down, or a power mechanism composed of a motor and a rack-and-pinion transmission mechanism, etc. and capable of driving the lifting frame 33 to move up and down.

The translation receiving module includes a second roller 321 and a second motor.

The second roller 321 is rotatably provided on the elevation frame 33, and a plurality of second rollers 321 may be provided in parallel on the elevation frame 33. The second roller 321 rotates to transfer the material conveyed by the translation conveyor unit 2 to the conveying transfer station. The transfer station is flush with the translatory conveyor unit 2 so that when the translatory conveyor unit 2 is conveying material, the second drum 321 is rotated to move the conveyed material to the transfer station.

The output shaft of the second motor is in transmission connection with the second roller 321, so that the output shaft of the second motor rotates to drive the second roller 321 to rotate. The second motor can also be arranged on the lifting frame 33 and moves up and down along with the lifting frame 33, thereby keeping the transmission connection with the second roller 321.

The translation receiving module is arranged on the lifting frame 33. The translation receiving module can ascend to a material waiting taking station or descend to a conveying and transferring station along with the lifting frame 33, so that the materials are lifted to the material waiting taking station from the conveying and transferring station to be grabbed by the robot.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, the control system 5 includes a PLC51, a touch screen 52, and the like. Besides being in electrical signal connection with the expansion interfaces on the plurality of translation conveying modules 21 forming the translation conveying unit 2, the control system 5 is also in electrical signal connection with the lifting conveying unit 3 and the unit to be fed 1, so that the unit to be fed 1, the translation conveying unit 2 and the lifting conveying unit 3 cooperatively run under the control of the control system 5 to complete material conveying.

The translation bearing module 21 is also provided with a sensor for sensing whether the material is in place.

The moving direction of the materials is controlled by controlling the unit 1 to be loaded, the translation conveying unit 2 and the lifting conveying unit 3, the moving direction and speed of the materials are controlled by the PLC51, and the current speed and direction can be set and displayed on the touch screen 52.

The rotation speed of the first motor 214 of the translation and transportation module and the rotation speed of the second motor 322 of the translation and reception module are determined by the operation efficiency of the whole system. Including the pick-up speed of the robot, the lifting speed of the lifting mechanism, the vision processing speed, etc., are also determined by the operating efficiency of the whole system. When the motor has wrong information such as alarm and the like, the motor can be timely output to the PLC51 end, and the signal input of all the motors is closed.

Referring to fig. 4, before the control system 5 controls the components of the material conveying system to start working, the tray 4 filled with material is placed on the unit 1 to be loaded of the conveying system. And pressing a system starting button, starting the material conveying system to operate, and checking an alarm log in an upper computer if the material conveying system does not operate. When the material conveying system is in normal operation, the system detects whether the materials on each translation conveying module 21 are in place, and if one translation conveying module 21 does not have the materials, the translation conveying module 21 in front of the translation conveying module transfers the materials to the translation conveying module 21 without the materials.

If there is no material on the forwardmost translatory conveyor module 21, the unit 1 to be loaded conveys the material onto the forwardmost translatory conveyor module 21. And if the material is detected to be in place on the conveying transfer station, sending a in-place signal to the PLC 51. The PLC51 controls the lifting driving mechanism to start operating, and lifts the material to the material waiting-to-be-taken station for the robot plug-in unit to take the material. When the material on the material taking station is taken out by the robot, the lifting driving mechanism drives the lifting frame 33 and the lifting frame 33 to descend to the initial state. At this time, the corresponding conveying transfer station on the translation receiving module has no material, the first roller 212 on the translation conveying module 21 close to the translation receiving module rotates, and the tray 4 containing the material is conveyed to the conveying transfer station on the translation receiving module.

If there is no material on the transferring conveyor module 21 close to the transferring receiving module, the first roller 212 on the previous transferring conveyor module 21 and the first roller 212 on the transferring conveyor module 21 close to the transferring receiving module rotate simultaneously to transfer the material to the transferring conveyor module 21 close to the transferring receiving module. And by analogy, when no material exists on other translation conveying modules 21, the previous translation conveying module 21 transfers the material to the translation conveying module 21.

If no material is detected on the translatory conveyor module 21 located at the foremost end near the unit to be loaded 1, the first roller 212 on this translatory conveyor module 21 is operated and the unit to be loaded 1 conveys the material onto the foremost translatory conveyor module 21. The whole system is a closed-loop control system 5, and excessive manual intervention is not needed. The translation conveying module 21 in the translation conveying unit 2 is expandable, and the control process can be completed only by adding the expanded control area. The excellent control flow and error processing mechanism enable the whole system to operate safely and stably.

In some embodiments, the unit 1 for feeding may not be provided, and the function of supplying the material to be conveyed to the robot card may be achieved by directly placing the material to be conveyed on one of the translation and conveying modules 21 of the translation and conveying unit 2 far from the lifting and conveying unit 3.

With continued reference to fig. 1 and 4, one operation of the material handling system of the present application is described below in terms of using the material handling system of the present application to supply an insertion robot with electronic components to be inserted:

electronic components to be inserted, such as capacitors, are placed in the tray 4. Each tray 4 is provided with a plurality of regularly arranged capacitor receiving positions, and each capacitor is correspondingly arranged on one capacitor receiving position of the tray 4, so that a plurality of capacitors are regularly arranged on each tray 4.

A plurality of trays 4 with capacitors placed thereon are stacked on the unit 1 to be loaded, waiting for receiving a loading command. The control system 5 judges that all the units are ready for feeding and have no abnormality according to the sensing signals fed back by the sensors 213 on the unit to be fed 1, the translation conveying unit 2 and the lifting conveying unit 3, and sends out a control command to control the unit to be fed 1 and the translation conveying unit 2 to start working.

After the feeding unit 1 receives a feeding command sent by the control system 5, the material is transferred to the translation conveying unit 2. In conjunction with the rotation of the first roller 212 of the translatory conveyor module 21 of the translatory conveyor unit 2, the tray 4 containing the capacitors first reaches one of the translatory conveyor modules 21 close to the unit 1 to be loaded. As the first roller 212 of each translatory transport module 21 continues to rotate, the tray 4 passes successively through each translatory transport module 21 and finally onto one of the translatory transport modules 21 adjacent to the elevation transport unit 3.

In the initial state of the lifting and conveying unit 3, the lifting frame 33 is located at an initial position approximately equal to the height of the translation and conveying module 21, i.e. the translation and receiving module corresponds to the conveying and transferring station. The first roller 212 on the translating conveyor module 21 and the second roller 321 on the translating receiving module rotate to transfer the tray 4 on the translating conveyor module 21 onto the translating receiving module to the conveying transfer station.

The lifting driving mechanism drives the lifting frame 33 to move upwards along the guiding direction of the lifting guiding mechanism on the second rack 31, so as to lift the tray 4 on the second roller 321 to the material-waiting station. After the tray 4 containing the capacitors rises to the station where the capacitors are to be taken out, the robot can grab the capacitors on the tray 4 and insert the capacitors to the correct positions on the circuit board.

When the capacitor in the tray 4 on the uppermost layer is used up, the empty tray 4 is transferred and recovered by other transfer devices, and the lifting frame 33 moves upwards by the height of one tray 4, so that the tray 4 on the second layer rises to the station where the material is to be taken, and the robot continues to perform the work of inserting the components by using the capacitor on the tray 4 on the second layer.

If a tray 4 is not present on a certain pan conveyor module 21 of the pan conveyor unit 2 during the card insertion work by the robot, the preceding pan conveyor module 21 transfers the tray 4 to the pan conveyor module 21 without the tray 4. If the tray 4 is not present on the foremost one of the translatory transport modules 21, the unit 1 to be loaded transfers the tray 4 to the foremost one of the translatory transport modules 21. Thus, the material is always present on each of the translatory conveyor modules 21 of the translatory conveyor unit 2 in order to feed the lifting conveyor unit 3.

While the present application has been described with reference to several exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the terminology used is intended to be in the nature of words of description and illustration, rather than of limitation. As the present application may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of the claims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A material transfer system, comprising:

2. The material transport system of claim 1, wherein the translating transport module comprises a first frame, a first roller, and a transport drive motor;

3. The material transport system of claim 2, wherein each of the translating transport modules includes a plurality of the first rollers; the first rollers are rotatably arranged on the first rack in parallel.

4. The material transport system of claim 3 wherein each said translational transport module includes a plurality of said transport drive motors; the rack is provided with a plurality of areas which correspond to the conveying driving motors one by one;

at least one first roller is arranged in each area;

5. The material conveying system of claim 2, wherein each translating conveyor module has an expansion interface thereon;

6. The material transport system of claim 2, wherein the transport drive motor is a stepper motor.

7. The material transport system of claim 1, wherein the lift transport unit includes a translation uptake module, a lift drive module, and a second frame;

8. The material transport system of claim 7, wherein the translational receiving module includes a second roller and a second motor;

9. The material transport system of claim 1, further comprising a unit to be loaded;

10. The material transport system of claim 1, further comprising a control system;