EP0503016B1 - Device for the automatic handling of bobbin cases and completely wound bobbins in spinning machines - Google Patents

Abstract

Reel handling equipment is partly automatic when removing yarn reels from winders. The equipment is based on one frame to enable interchange of full and empty reels, with the ability to move the full reel into a transport position. - The swivel mechanism (7) which is driven from the unit (16) can put the spindles (6,8) into the direction (X, Y or Z) within the framework (12). The ends of the spindles (6a, 8a) are capable of being positioned with exactitude. A torsion unit (11) is based on the frame (12) to give added flexibility.

Description

The invention is directed to a device for at least partially automatic handling of bobbin tubes and fully wound bobbins of spinning machines.

There is an abundance of fibers, threads and the like, which are wound from spinning machines into bobbins, be it for storage bobbins as intermediate storage, be it for finished bobbins for further processing and the like. The main focus here is on winding plastic fibers into bobbins in general . The mentioned invention can of course also be used for the manipulation of textile bobbins of non-synthetic origin, for wire bobbins or for spools of threads or cords made of hemp or the like.

Some of these coils are so heavy that they can only be handled with great effort by people, ie the removal of completely wound bobbins from the winders or from the bobbins can be very difficult. In addition, the exposed mandrels must be re-populated with empty tubes made of paper or plastic as soon as possible. These empty tubes have to be removed from a reservoir and put on the winding mandrels. The removed, wound coils have to be transported further stored elsewhere.

From EP-A-0 096 971 a device for at least partially automatic handling of empty bobbin tubes and fully wound bobbins in spinning machines is known. There, a handling frame with takeover / transfer arms is moved into the respective transfer / takeover position on rails, the takeover / transfer arms can then be pivoted into a further position. The disadvantage of the known device is in particular that it is only adapted to the individual spinning machine type.

From EP-A-0 311 016, a type of gripping device designed as a portal machine is known, the gripping arm of which can be moved on three arms in the respective spatial axes via a pallet for receiving yarn spools. The reaction radius of this known device is limited to the corresponding work area assigned to the pallet; if necessary, the device can also approach and process a plurality of pallet positions by rail.

The object of the invention is to provide a solution with which the manipulations of finished bobbins as well as empty tubes are simplified, a particular object of the invention being the removal and attachment processes to be automated as extensively as possible with free movement of the device.

With a device of the type described in the introduction, this object is achieved according to the invention by the characterizing features of claim 1.

With the invention it is achieved that the loading with empty tubes, the removal of coils and the transport, be it the empty tubes or the coils can be carried out by a single device, since the takeover and transfer arms then yes for the empty tubes or the coils can work automatically after positioning the device.

Due to the device's own chassis, the device can be moved freely, for example, in a corresponding factory building, and no rail guides are required. The positioning heads at the free ends of the takeover and transfer arms make it possible to compensate for slight positioning inaccuracies, which can lie both in the position of the device itself relative to the spinning machines and in the different positions of the corresponding winding axes of the spinning machines themselves.

Another advantage of the configuration according to the invention is that the device can be designed as a very compact device, since the pivotability of the arms about the same spatial axis enables a compact construction.

It is advantageous if turret heads are designed to drive the arms synchronously at least in some areas, as is also provided by the invention, wherein asynchronous pivoting is also possible, albeit around the same spatial axis.

The invention also provides that the turret heads with their drives and thus also the takeover / transfer arms are mounted on the device frame by means of a torsion bar suspension.

In an embodiment, it can also be provided according to the invention that the torsion bar suspension itself on the device frame is mounted by means of a swivel mechanism. This pivoting mechanism can also be used to be able to pivot the working position in the horizontal plane of the takeover / transfer arms by at least 90 ^° .

In order to enable essentially fully automatic work, the invention also provides that the takeover / transfer arms are each equipped with a device for pushing off and pushing on the sleeves or coils.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention it is also provided that the device frame is equipped with a chassis, it being possible, in particular, for the chassis to be provided with all-wheel steering.

These designs make it possible to use the entire device as a manipulation robot fully automatically, if necessary using microprocessors, since it can work fully automatically with the aid of the positioning device, with the aid of the all-wheel steering and, if appropriate, the driver's own drive, without the need for personnel to be involved.

Further refinements and advantages of the invention result from the further subclaims, it being particularly advantageous here if the undercarriage is designed as a three-wheel undercarriage with a driven single wheel, which can be provided according to the invention in a modification.

The takeover / transfer arms can advantageously be designed to receive and deliver a plurality of elements, the device being able to be such that a transfer or takeover or pushing movement can be controlled in such a way that the sleeves or coils are close to one another and / or can be positioned at a distance from one another.

All movements of the device, such as those for the takeover / transfer arms and those for the pushing up and pushing off movements, can each be provided with magnetic couplings and / or magnetic brakes for the purpose of positioning the movements at the different positions of the working cycle.

Furthermore, hysteresis clutches can be provided in the drives in order to give each movement an adjustable force limitation, which also allows each movement to be driven against fixed stops at end points. Touching or non-contact limit switches are only provided at the respective starting point (zero ref.).

Positioning of the drives can be carried out by digital pulse counters in that the movement is positioned at the desired position by means of its magnetic coupling and / or magnetic brake when the actual value is equal to the target value.

Fig. 1

eine vereinfachte räumliche Darstellung der Vorrichtungen vor den Spulenköpfen einer Spinnmaschine,

Fig. 2

eine vergrößerte Darstellung von Elementen der Vorrichtung,

Fig. 3

eine ähnliche Darstellung wie Fig. 2 mit geringfügig vergrößerten weitereren Einzelheiten der Antriebe,

Fig. 4

eine Teilansicht eines Hülsen- bzw. Schubarmes,

Fig. 5

eine weitere Teilansicht eines Übernahme-/Übergabearmes,

Fig. 6

eine Teilansicht eines Fahrgestelles der Vor-Vorrichtung,

Fig. 7

eine Vergrößerte Darstellung der Torsionsstab-Aufhängung der Übernahme-/Übergabearme,

Fig. 8

eine Aufsicht auf den Fahrweg einer erfindungsgemäßen vollautomatisch gesteuerten Vor-Vorrichtung im Bereich der Spulenköpfe mehrerer Spinnmaschinen,

Fig. 9 bis 12

unterschiedliche Positionierungen eines Spulendornes gegenüber einem Hülsendorn,

Fig. 13

einen Detaillängsschnitt durch den Positionierkopf eines Spulendornes sowie in

Fig. 14

einen Schnitt gemäß Linie XIV-XIV in Fig. 13.

The invention is explained below with reference to the drawing, for example. This shows in:

Fig. 1

a simplified spatial representation of the devices in front of the bobbin heads of a spinning machine,

Fig. 2

an enlarged view of elements of the device,

Fig. 3

3 shows a representation similar to FIG. 2 with slightly enlarged further details of the drives,

Fig. 4

a partial view of a sleeve or push arm,

Fig. 5

another partial view of a takeover / transfer arm,

Fig. 6

2 shows a partial view of a chassis of the pre-device,

Fig. 7

an enlarged view of the torsion bar suspension of the takeover / transfer arms,

Fig. 8

a view of the route of a fully automatically controlled pre-device according to the invention in the area of the bobbins of several spinning machines,

9 to 12

different positions of a coil mandrel compared to a sleeve mandrel,

Fig. 13

a detailed longitudinal section through the positioning head of a coil mandrel and in

Fig. 14

a section along line XIV-XIV in Fig. 13.

In Fig. 1, the device according to the invention, generally designated 1, is shown in simplified form in front of bobbin heads designated 2a and 2b of spinning machines, not shown in detail. The coil heads 2a and 2b have winding mandrels labeled 3a, 3a 'and 3b, 3b'. In the example shown, two coils 4 and correspondingly two empty tubes 5 are provided on the mandrels 3.

The handling device 1 according to the invention has a transfer / take-over arm 6 which can be pivoted about a horizontal axis "X" on a turret 7 and a transfer / take-over arm 8 which can be pivoted about the same horizontal axis "X" for sleeves, which is pivotally mounted on a turret 9. The revolver heads 7 and 9 can be seen mounted uniaxially on the device 1 on a support element 10.

The support element 10 is in turn fastened by means of a torsion bar suspension 11 to the device frame denoted by 12, the device frame 12 with a chassis generally denoted by 13, possibly with its own drive, only indicated in FIG. 1 and equipped with 14.

From Fig. 1 it follows that the transfer arm 6 and the transfer arm 8 by their coaxial arrangement on the spatial axis "X" sweep a common circular arc denoted by 15, which is geometrically designed so that when positioned in front of a spinning head both at a distance from each other arranged mandrels 3a and 3a 'or 3b and 3b' can be approached one after the other.

In Fig. 1, the spatial axis "Y" is still drawn in the area of the torsion bar 11 and the spatial axis "Z" in the area of the turret 9. The support plate 10 can about the spatial axis "Y" can be pivoted in the region of the torsion axis 11, as can be seen somewhat more clearly from FIG. 7. The brackets of the takeover arm 6 and the transfer arm 8 are designed so that the arms can also be pivoted, the spatial axis "Z" being mentioned here only as an example. This pivoting option is clearly shown in FIG. 2.

Finally, in Fig. 1 (only indicated as boxes) a drive 16 for the turrets 7 and 9 with the takeover arms 6 and transfer arms 8, a rotary swivel drive 17 for the takeover arm 6 and a rotary swivel drive 18 on the transfer arm 8 are shown. Details of these drives result from the other figures, in particular from FIG. 3.

From FIG. 2 it can be seen that the take-over arm 6 has already moved upwards from the position shown in FIG. 1, for example by 135 ^o , after it has taken over two coils 4. From this position shown in solid lines, the takeover arm 6 can be pivoted upwards by 90 ^o . This position is indicated by a coil 4 'and by a further 90 ^° this position is indicated by a coil 4''. The swivel circle bears the reference number 19.

As indicated above, the pivot axis is essentially designated with the spatial axis "Z", and pivoting can also be carried out in other positions of the spatial axis "Z".

The upward-facing position "4 '" represents a transport position for the bobbins 4, the position "4" "can represent the push-off position of the full bobbins in a bearing (not shown) or the like.

The transfer arm 8 can be pivoted in the same way. The 90 ^o upwardly facing position 'denotes that 180 ^o pivoted position also shown in broken lines, is 8' 8 in '. The swing circle bearing the reference numeral 20, wherein the position of the transfer arm 8 also shown rotated through 90 ^o with respect to the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 position is reproduced here.

As can be seen from both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there is a push-on and push-out device 21 arranged parallel to the transfer arm 8 with clamping and pushing arms 22 for manipulating the empty sleeves positioned there, a somewhat more precise illustration results from FIG. 3rd

For a description of the torsion bar suspension shown in FIG. 3 in the lower region of the illustration, generally designated 11, reference is made to FIG. 7 to be described below.

3, the takeover arm 6 is by means of a bracket 23 on the turret 7 on the Swivel axis "X" rotatably mounted. The rotary drive takes place via an internal electric motor 24.

The rotary movement about the spatial axis "X" of the transfer arm 8 takes place in a similar manner, the transfer arm 8 being fastened to the turret 9 via a support element 25.

The control and thus the synchronous or asynchronous rotational movement about the axis "X" of the takeover arms 6 or transfer arms 8 takes place by means of worm gears 26 and a V-belt drive 27, which is only indicated here, as well as the associated electromagnetic clutches and brakes, which are only for example are designated at one point with 28.

The pivoting movements according to radius 19 of the take-over arm 6 are brought about by a drive, generally designated 29, with an electric motor 30, gears, brakes and the like, while the linear movement of a push-off sleeve 31, according to double arrow 31 'of the coils 4, is effected by a drive, generally designated 32, also with electric motor 33, a hysteresis clutch 34 with toothed belt drive and the like.

The pivoting movement according to radius 20 (FIG. 2) of the transfer arm is brought about by the rotation of a toothed wheel 35 with rolling on a fastening toothed ring which is stationary on the turret 9 36 (Fig. 4).

The clamping control of the clamping jaws 22 takes place via a lever drive 40, again by means of corresponding motors and clutches as well as a four-link chain 37, with reference to FIG. 4, the elevator or extension movement, for example via a toothed belt drive, generally designated 38 in FIG. 4 can.

In Fig. 5 a possible, soft-spring centering of the sleeves is shown in order to center them to the much smaller transfer arm 8. These centering cams 39 are pressed radially outwards by a spring arranged in the interior of the transfer arm 8 until the cam lugs rest against the inside diameter of the transfer arm 8 and thus ensure a slight play between the sleeves and the centering cam.

When the sleeves are pushed onto the winder mandrel by means of linear unit 21, the soft sleeve centering permits considerable relative movements of the sleeves in order to avoid misalignments to the winder mandrel.

6 shows a possible type of all-wheel steering of the chassis 13, the drive motor itself not being shown there, only the steering motor denoted by 43. About a pivot lever system 42 are there also applied to the rear rollers 43 in such a way that a corresponding all-wheel steering can be carried out. Of course, depending on the design and type of use, the swivel lever system can be dispensed with.

7 shows the suspension via a torsion bar system. This torsion bar suspension 11 consists essentially of a torsion bar 45 which is fixedly mounted at the top in a bearing bush 44 and which is held at the bottom in the worm wheel of the transmission 47A, the position of which is adjustable according to the double arrow 48 via an actuator 47 relative to the stationary support frame 10, which is only hinted at here . This arrangement firstly allows the entire device 1 with the support frame 10 fastened to the bearing bush 44 to be pivoted horizontally by means of a servomotor 47 if the spool bearing for the spool removal and the sleeve magazine requires this orientation.

The fork 46 encompasses the nose of the support frame 10 with a play of, for example, approximately 2 mm and serves only as a swiveling aid in order not to leave the torsion bar 45 here. Second, the arrangement enables the torsion bar 45 to compensate for inaccuracies in the aligned positions of the transfer / take-over of spools and sleeves in each horizontal position of the pivoting 48.

The function or mode of operation of the device is explained as follows with reference to FIG. 1 in conjunction with FIG. 8:

8, two rows of spinning machines are set up with bobbin heads 2 pointing to a gear indicated by 52 or 53, the winding mandrels 3 of which are aligned in the direction of the gears 52 and 53. In order to remove the coils 4 which have been completely wound on the winding mandrels, the device 1 according to the invention is used which, for example, is able to automatically move to any position of a spinning machine in the region of the winding heads 2, controlled by ground contact lines. It is assumed that, starting from a transfer station denoted by 54, a device 1 equipped with empty sleeves travels through passage 52 into position 1a, shown in FIG. 8. Here the device 1a is positioned so that the mandrels 3b and 3b 'can be swept over the swivel radius 15 (FIG. 1). For precise positioning or alignment relative to the winding mandrels 3, both the take-over arm 6 and the transfer arm 8 have corresponding positioning heads 6a and 8a, respectively, which enable precise alignment. A slight twist is also possible through the torsion bar suspension 11. This supports positioning in the event of minor malpositions.

In addition, repositioning of the device 1 can be carried out electronically, for example via a force measurement or a torsion measurement, be it that the drive moves the device 1 for a short distance on the floor surface of the workshop, i.e. that via the pivot fork 46 (Fig. 7), i.e. the suspension 10 is adjusted accordingly by means of the servomotor 47.

If the device 1 is in position, the takeover arm 6 pivots on a winding mandrel which is filled with one or more coils 4. Now the full bobbins 4 are pushed onto the take-over arm 6 by means of a fork G via a winder-own linear drive, as shown in FIG. 1 for winder 2b.

If the coils 4 are pushed on, the take-over arm 6 can first be moved into the pivoted-up position, designated 4 'in FIG. 2. Thereafter, the transfer arm 8 is pivoted into the corresponding aligned position with the winding mandrel just emptied and the empty sleeves 5 are pushed onto the empty winding mandrel via the extension mechanism.

Now the transfer arm 8 can also be swung open, the coils 4 can be moved with the device 1 for delivery to the station 54, as can also be seen in FIG. 8.

9 to 12 different starting positions between a takeover arm 6 and a winding mandrel 3 are shown, in particular with respect to the positioning head 6a of the takeover arm 6.

An embodiment of the positioning head 6a is shown in more detail in FIGS. 13 and 14.

The alignment of the device 1 with the winding mandrels 3 or 3b or 3b 'already mentioned above can be carried out as shown in FIGS. 9 to 12. The sleeve 5 of the front spool 4 abuts against the tapered positioning head 6a on the takeover arm 6, as shown in FIG. 9. The positioning head 6a is fastened in the interior of the transfer arm 6 by means of a bending rod and bends slightly in the direction B of an alignment error Pv and thus closes an electrical contact in the interior of the positioning head 6a, which initiates a repositioning of the device 1 for errors Pv.

This tracking is finished when the front edge of the sleeve 5 abuts the end face of the push-off sleeve 31 and the positioning head 6a has reached the center of the bore of the sleeve 5 and the electrical contact opens, since there is no longer any bending of the positioning head 6a, as shown in FIG . 10 shown.

This causes the push-off fork 31 to move back and the full bobbins to be pushed onto the take-over arm 6 by means of the fork G, the four electrical contacts in the positioning head 6a being deactivated in order to avoid false signals due to relative movements of the bobbin (FIG. 11).

• Positionsfehler Vertikal ± P_v, welche z.B. durch Vor-/Rücklauf des Revolverkopf-Antriebmotor 24 ausgeglichen werden
• Postionsfehler Horizontal ± P_h, welche z.B. durch Vor-/Rücklauf des Fahrantrieb-Motors 41a ausgeglichen werden.

Four electrical contacts are provided in the positioning head, one each for:

• Position error vertical ± P _v , which are compensated for, for example, by the forward / reverse movement of the turret drive motor 24
• Position error horizontal ± P _h , which are compensated, for example, by forward / reverse travel drive motor 41a.

This tracking of the device in both planes can be carried out either individually or synchronously, since the positional head 6a has a slight bend due to the position error and is vectorial in both planes.

If the bobbin delay is incomplete due to a malfunction or the last bobbin due to thread entanglement For example, when the fork G is withdrawn again, as shown in FIG. 11, the coil arm cannot be moved into the position denoted by 4 'in FIG. 2, but is stopped by slight bending of the positioning head 6a when the electrical contacts are reactivated.

In the normal case, the transfer arm 8 is then pivoted into the corresponding aligned position to the winding mandrel which has just been emptied, and the empty sleeves 5 are pushed onto the empty winding mandrel via the extension mechanism.

10 and 11 show a preferred embodiment of the positioning head 6a. The positioning head 6a is connected to the take-over arm 6 by means of a bending rod 6c and holder 6b.

Four electrical contacts 6g, each with a wire shoe 6e, are fastened to the holder 6b in an electrically insulated manner with a leaf spring 6d.

These four electrical contacts face a contact ring 6f in the positioning head 6a with a slight gap S.

The vectorial bending of the positioning head 6a on the bending rod 6c caused by misalignment ± P _v and ± P _h brings the contact ring 6f into contact with one or two of the electrical contacts 6g and causes the device 1 to track in order to compensate for vertical and / or horizontal position errors.

At this point it should be noted that the entire device can also be designed as a tandem device 1AB, in each case for the synchronous handling of two adjacent coil spinner head pairs, which is also indicated in FIG. 8.

Of course, the described embodiment of the invention can be modified in many ways without departing from the basic idea. Thus, instead of the handling elements specified here in terms of design, such as linear drives, clamping jaws for inside and outside clamping of elements, clamping sleeves for gripping the free ends of the coil sleeves and the like can be used. Other constructive elements can be used. For example, the inner centering of the paper tubes can be carried out using inflatable pneumatic elements, the control can take place via contactless or touch-sensitive limit switches and immediately.

It is also essential for the invention that the paper sleeves and / or the coils can be pushed on or pushed off close to each other. However, this can also be done at a distance to each other, elements can be retained via appropriate brakes and the like. More.

Claims (11)

1. Apparatus for the at least partially automatic handling of empty bobbin tubes (5) and fully wound bobbins (4) of spinning machines, having a common apparatus frame (12) on which there are provided a receiving/transfer arm (6, 8) for empty tubes (5), a receiving/transfer arm for bobbins (4) and an actuating and pivoting mechanism in the form of rotary heads (7, 9) for moving the receiving/transfer arms from an arresting position into a transport position, wherein the receiving/transfer arms are mounted pivotably by way of the pivoting mechanism about at least one common axis of rotation ('Y'), characterised in that the common apparatus frame (12) is provided with an undercarriage (13) with its own drive (14), and that the receiving/transfer arms are mounted within the apparatus frame pivotably about all three axes in space ('X', 'Y', 'Z'), wherein at their free ends the receiving/transfer arms are provided with positioning heads (6a, 8a) for compensating for slight positioning inaccuracies.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterised in that the rotary heads (7, 9) are designed for at least region-wisely synchronous drive of the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8).
3. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the rotary heads (7, 9) with their drives (16-18) and therewith also the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8) are mounted on the apparatus frame (12) by means of a torsion bar suspension (11).
4. Apparatus according to claim 3 characterised in that the torsion bar suspension (11) is itself mounted on the apparatus frame (12) by means of a pivoting mechanism (47, 47A).
5. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8) are each provided with a respective means (38, 22) for pushing off and pushing on the respective one or more tubes (5) or bobbins (4) respectively.
6. Apparatus according to claim 5 characterised in that the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8) are equipped with a device for transfer or receiving, in such a way that the tubes (5) or bobbins (4) can be positioned close together and/or at a spacing relative to each other, wherein in particular the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8) are provided with a holding brake for tubes (5) or bobbins (4) which cannot be pushed out.
7. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the apparatus frame (12) is provided with an undercarriage (13), in particular with all-wheel steering.
8. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the drives (16-18) are provided with hysteresis couplings (34) and/or magnetic couplings (28) and/or magnetic brakes.
9. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that linear drives (38) are provided for producing the pushing-on or pushing-off movement.
10. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that contact-free or contact-type switches are provided for limiting and/or triggering off the rotary/pivotal/pushing or pulling movements.
11. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims characterised in that the receiving/transfer arms (6, 8) are provided with diameter-compensating projections (39) (Figure 5) for the tubes (5).

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