JP2001025834A - Work transporting device for sending work to press device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a work transporting device having a high feed precision, which sends a work to be a product while holding it by a gripper to a press device by which a product having a continuous prescribed shape with a fixed pitch is press formed with each pitch. SOLUTION: A work transporting device 30, which is a device to send a plate stock M to be a product to a press device 40, is provided with a moving gripper 34, a linear motor and a control part. The plate stock M is gripped by the moving gripper 34. The moving gripper 34 is moved >=800 mm which is a product length by the linear motor. The control part, in a state in which the plate stock M is gripped by the moving gripper 34, operates the linear motor to move the moving gripper 34 to the press device 40 with every pitch of 100 mm.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work transfer device for feeding a work to a press device, and more particularly, to a press device for press-forming a product having a predetermined shape at a constant pitch at each pitch. The present invention relates to a work transfer device for feeding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a product in which a predetermined shape is continuous at a constant interval (pitch) is formed by press working,
In order to reduce the size of the press equipment and the mold used, a method of providing a mold and a press equipment corresponding to only one predetermined shape and sending out the work to the press device one pitch at a time may be adopted. For example, a band-shaped work is intermittently sent to a press device, and one product is formed by a plurality of press workings.

When a product having a predetermined shape is continuously formed by such a plurality of presses, a work transfer device capable of sending out the work one pitch at a time is used as a device for sending out the work. As this type of work transfer device, there are a device for feeding a work by a feed roll and a device for moving a gripper for gripping a work in a rectangular shape.

[0004] Among these, in the case of an apparatus for feeding a work using a feed roll, slippage between the work and the roll is inevitable, and it is difficult to employ this when high feeding accuracy is required.

[0005]

On the other hand, in an apparatus using a gripper, the gripper grasping the work is advanced by one pitch by a moving mechanism such as an air cylinder, and after the work is released therefrom, the gripper is returned to its original position. The operation of returning is repeated. In the case of this method, slipping or displacement does not occur when the work is grasped because the work is firmly held by the gripper.

However, the same operation is repeated by gripping the workpiece by the gripper every time one pitch is fed. Therefore, even if the accuracy of the one pitch feeding operation is high, the feeding error is accumulated by repeating the operation a plurality of times. , It is difficult to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the final product. For example, when eight sets of notches are punched and formed in a band-shaped member by eight times of press working, when the feed length in each operation is less than 0.1 mm, the notch formed at the beginning has a dimensional tolerance. The notch formed within the range but formed at the end has a dimensional error close to 1 mm, which is out of the range of the dimensional tolerance.

An object of the present invention is to provide a work transfer device which feeds a work to be a product while holding it with a gripper to a press device which press-forms a product having a predetermined shape continuous at a constant pitch at a constant pitch, An object of the present invention is to provide a device with high delivery accuracy.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a work transfer device for feeding a work as a product to a press device, comprising: a moving gripper; a moving mechanism;
And a control unit. The press device press-forms a product having a predetermined shape continuous at a constant pitch for each pitch. The moving gripper can hold a workpiece. The moving mechanism can move the moving gripper at least two pitches or more. The control unit operates the moving mechanism while the work is held by the moving gripper, and moves the moving gripper to the press device one pitch at a time.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, the workpiece is sent out to the press device by holding the workpiece by the movable gripper and moving the movable gripper one pitch at a time by the moving mechanism. And here, the moving mechanism is at least 2
Since the moving gripper can be moved more than the pitch, it is not necessary to return the moving gripper to the original position every time one pitch is fed, and at least two pitches can be moved to the press without returning the moving gripper. Therefore, the number of times that the feed error is accumulated is reduced as compared with the conventional apparatus in which the workpiece is fed one pitch at a time and the moving gripper is returned to the original position. For this reason, in this device, it is easy to ensure the dimensional accuracy of the final product.

[0010] According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus of the first aspect, the control unit press-forms the work to the press device every time the moving gripper is moved by one pitch to the press device. Is performed. Here, when the moving gripper is moved by one pitch and the work is sent to the press device by one pitch, the press device performs press forming on the work. That is, if the work is fed one pitch,
Press molding is performed for the pitch. Therefore, the press device only needs to be provided with a mold and press equipment corresponding to a predetermined shape for one pitch.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the work transfer device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the moving mechanism can move the moving gripper at least by a length of the product. Here, since the moving gripper can be moved by the length of the product, the control unit transmits the moving gripper to the pressing device without retreating until all parts of the product are formed by multiple press workings. And can keep moving. That is, the moving gripper can feed the work to the press device while holding the work until the product is completely formed.
For this reason, the moving gripper does not change the holding position of the workpiece again, and the repeated movement of the rectangular movement of the moving gripper as in the related art is eliminated, and the deterioration of the dimensional accuracy of the product due to the accumulation of the feed error is avoided. Can be.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the work transfer device according to the third aspect, wherein the control unit moves the moving gripper one pitch at a time so that the predetermined shape of the product is continuous. Release the gripper from holding the workpiece and return the moving gripper to its original position. Here, after moving the moving gripper one pitch at a time so that the predetermined shape of the product is continuous, that is, after feeding out the workpiece by the number of pitches necessary to feed one product at a pitch, the moving gripper is moved. The holding of the work is released and the moving gripper is returned to the original position. This allows
The work to be the next product is ready to be sent to the press. In other words, here, the work is held by the moving gripper until the work for one product is sent out, and the work is intermittently but continuously sent out to the press device without returning the moving gripper.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a workpiece transfer apparatus according to the fourth aspect, further comprising a fixed gripper. The fixed gripper is immovable relative to the press device and can hold the work. Further, the control unit moves the moving gripper one pitch at a time so that the predetermined shape of the product is continuous, and then holds the work on the fixed gripper to release the holding of the work by the moving gripper. To the position.

Here, the work is held by the movable gripper when the work is sent out, and the work is held by the fixed gripper so that the work does not shift when the movable gripper is returned to the original position. A work transfer device according to a sixth aspect is the device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the moving mechanism has a linear motor that linearly moves the moving gripper.

Here, since the moving gripper is moved by using the linear motor, the feeding accuracy is improved as compared with the case where air pressure or hydraulic pressure is used, and the high speed is secured as compared with the case where the electric ball screw mechanism is used.

[0016]

FIG. 1 shows a work transfer device 30 and a press device 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention. These devices 30 and 40 are devices designed to produce an intermediate product of the driven plate 20 of the lock-up clutch 2 in the torque converter shown in FIG. First, a description will be given below of the intermediate product P produced by these devices 30 and 40.

<Intermediate Product P> FIG. 2 shows an intermediate product P of the driven plate 20 formed by the work transfer device 30 and the press device 40. This intermediate product P is an intermediate product of the driven plate 20 of the lock-up clutch 2 included in the torque converter.
Driven plate 20 having a cross section like
Finished. As described later, this intermediate product P is
The belt-shaped plate material M (see FIG. 1) is formed by performing a plurality of press workings while shifting the position. Also,
The intermediate product P has a total length of 800 mm and a length of 100 m.
The eight same predetermined shapes of m are continuous.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the torque converter 1, in which an engine (not shown) is arranged on the left side of the figure, and a transmission (not shown) is arranged on the right side of the figure. The torque converter 1 is a mechanism for transmitting torque from a crankshaft on the engine side to a main drive shaft of a transmission, and mainly includes a front cover 3 connected to the crankshaft on the engine side via a flexible plate, and an impeller 4. , A turbine 5 connected to a main drive shaft of the transmission, a stator 6, and a lock-up clutch 2. The lock-up clutch 2 includes a front cover 3 and a turbine 5 in the axial direction.
And is located between. Lock-up clutch 2
Mainly, the piston 17, the retaining plate 19,
It is composed of a driven plate 20 and a torsion spring 21. The driven plate 20 is a ring-shaped member. The fixed portion 20 b is fixed to the engine side of the turbine 5, and the plurality of bending claws 20 a are locked to both circumferential ends of the torsion spring 21.

<Work transfer device> Work transfer device 30
Is a device for feeding a plate material M as a work to the press device 40 at a pitch of 100 mm, and mainly includes a fixed base 31 and a fixed gripper fixed in front of the fixed base 31 (to the right in FIG. 1). 32, a slider 33 that can move back and forth on the fixed base 31, and a movable gripper 34 fixed to the slider 33.

The slider 33 is a linear motor 33a (FIG. 4) incorporated in the slider 33 and the fixed base 31.
(See FIG. 1) to move back and forth (left and right in FIG. 1) on the fixed base 31. The linear motor 33a is a thrust generating device that linearly expands a stator (primary conductor) and a rotor (secondary conductor) of a rotary motor and directly converts electromagnetic force into linear mechanical energy. The conductor is incorporated in the fixed base 31, and the secondary conductor is incorporated in the slider 33. The slider 33 has a length of 800, which is the length of the intermediate product P.
It is configured to be able to move on the fixed base 31 by a distance slightly longer than mm.

The fixed gripper 32 has a support surface for supporting the lower surface of the plate material M to be conveyed, and an air cylinder 32a (see FIG. 4), and is fixed to the fixed base 31 so as to be relatively immovable. A holding member that presses the plate material M against the support surface is attached to the rod end of the air cylinder 32a. By moving the rod of the air cylinder 32a up and down, the plate material M is gripped by the holding member and the support surface. The state in which the grip of the plate material M is released by separating the holding member from the material M can be switched. The switching of this state is performed by the control unit 60 that controls the supply of the high-pressure air to the air cylinder 32a.

The movable gripper 34 has a support surface for supporting the lower surface of the plate material M to be conveyed, and an air cylinder 34a (see FIG. 4), and is fixed to the slider 33 so as not to be relatively movable. At the rod end of the air cylinder 34a, a holding member for pressing the plate material M against the support surface is mounted. By moving the rod of the air cylinder 34a up and down, the plate material M is gripped by the holding member and the support surface. The state in which the grip of the plate material M is released by separating the holding member from the material M can be switched. The switching of this state is performed by the air cylinder 34a.
This is performed by the control unit 60 that controls the supply of high-pressure air to the control unit.

The work carrier 30 has a fixed base 3
A position detector 35 (see FIG. 4) for detecting a relative position between the slider 1 and the slider 33 is provided, and the detection result is used for feedback control of the linear motor 33a by the control unit 60. <Press device> The press device 40 includes an upper die 41 and a lower die 4.
2 is a device for cutting out the plate material M into a predetermined shape by one pitch. The plane shape of the intermediate product P shown in FIG.
A predetermined shape corresponding to the pitch is a shape in which eight are continuous. The press device 40 fixes the upper die 41 by an electric or hydraulically driven upper die drive mechanism 40a (see FIG. 4).
, The work transfer device 30
Press processing (notch processing) is performed on the plate material M sent by the pitch.

The press device 40 further includes a cutter 43 adjacent to the upper die 41 and a cutter hydraulic cylinder 43a (see FIG. 4) for moving the cutter 43 up and down. The cutter 43 cuts the rear end of the plate material M that has become the intermediate product P after performing the press working eight times on the plate material M. <Operations of Work Transfer Device and Press Device> FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the work transfer device 30 and the press device 40. These devices 30 and 40 are controlled by a control unit 60 including a microcomputer and a memory. The control unit 60 reads information from an input device 70 for inputting setting conditions such as the length of one pitch of a continuous shape of the intermediate product P and the number of continuous products.
, And controls each operating device in a timely manner.

First, the leading end of the plate material M is
After being conveyed between the upper and lower molds 41, 42, the press machine 40 performs the first press working. This first press working is performed for one pitch of the plate material M as shown in FIG. Note that the position of the slider 33 at the time of the first press working is a position that is advanced by 100 mm for one pitch from the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. That is, before the plate material M is fed by one pitch for the first press working, the slider 33 is arranged at the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

Next, the linear motor 33a is operated while the plate material M is gripped by the moving gripper 34, and the slider 33 is moved forward by one pitch, ie, 10 pitches.
Move by 0 mm. At this time, the fixed gripper 32 is not gripping the plate material M. As a result, the plate material M is sent forward by one pitch, and the portion immediately after the portion formed by the first press working is conveyed between the upper and lower dies 41, 42 of the press device 40.
Here, the control unit 60 sends a command to the press device 40, and the second press working is performed for one pitch of the plate material M.

Thereafter, the slider 33 is driven by the operation of the linear motor 33a, and the pitch of the plate material M is 100 m.
The transfer of m and the pressing are repeated six times. The strip material M is continuously gripped by the movable gripper 34. Then, when the last eighth press working is performed, the slider 33 and the moving gripper 34
It comes to the position shown by the dotted line in FIG. When the eighth press working is completed, the cutter hydraulic cylinder 43a is moved to cut the rear end of the part subjected to the eighth press work by the cutter 43.

The intermediate product P shown in FIG. 2 is formed by press working eight times while shifting the position by one pitch and cutting by the cutter 43. When the cutting by the cutter 43 is completed, the control unit 60 operates the linear motor 33a to move the slider 33 and the moving gripper 34 to their original positions (indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 1) in order to press the subsequent plate material M. Position). At this time, the position of the plate material M is prevented from shifting by gripping the plate material M by the fixed gripper 32 and releasing the grip of the plate material M by the movable gripper 34.

Then, when starting the next series of eight press workings, the plate material M by the fixed gripper 32 is used.
Is released, and the plate material M is gripped by the moving gripper 34 again. <Features of Apparatus> (1) In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the movement stroke of the slider 33 and the movement gripper 34 is set to the length 8 of the intermediate member P.
It is longer than 00 mm so that the gripping of the plate material M by the movable gripper 34 is maintained until eight press workings are completed and all parts of the intermediate product P are formed. Therefore, the problem that occurs in the conventional device that returns the moving gripper to the original position when the plate material M is fed at a pitch of 100 mm, that is, the problem that the feeding error is accumulated is solved. Therefore, the dimensional accuracy of the final intermediate product P is improved.

In the work transfer device 30 of this embodiment, the error in feeding one pitch of 100 mm is suppressed to 0.1 mm or less, and the feed accuracy of the entire intermediate product P for eight pitches is also reduced by feedback control. Is secured. (2) In the apparatus according to the present embodiment, since the work transfer device 30 feeds the plate material M into the press device 40 one pitch at a time with high precision, the press device 40 includes upper and lower dies 41 and 42 corresponding to a predetermined shape for one pitch. It is only necessary to provide the upper die driving mechanism 40a. In other words, there is no need to provide a large vertical die or drive mechanism corresponding to the shape for eight pitches,
The cost of the press device 40 is kept small.

(3) In the apparatus of this embodiment, the slider 33 and the movable gripper 3 are driven by using the linear motor 33a.
Since the moving member 4 is moved, the feeding accuracy is better than when air pressure or hydraulic pressure is used, and the speed is higher than when using a mechanism that combines a servo motor with an electric ball screw.

[0032]

According to the present invention, the movable gripper can be moved at least two pitches or more, so that it is not necessary to return the movable gripper to its original position every time one pitch is fed. The number of times that the feed error is accumulated is reduced as compared with the conventional apparatus that returns the original position to the original position. Thereby, the feeding accuracy of the work as a whole is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a work transfer device and a press device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an intermediate product.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a torque converter including a driven plate which is an end product made from an intermediate product.

FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of a work transfer device and a press device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 30 Work transfer device 32 Fixed gripper 33a Linear motor 34 Moving gripper 40 Press device M Plate material (work) P Intermediate product (product)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A work transfer device for feeding a work to be a product to a press device for press-forming a product having a predetermined shape at a constant pitch at each pitch, wherein the moving gripper is capable of holding the work. A moving mechanism capable of moving the moving gripper by at least two pitches; and, in a state where the work is held by the moving gripper, operating the moving mechanism to move the moving gripper one pitch at a time to the press device. A work transfer device comprising: a control unit that moves the work. 2. The work transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the press device to press-form the work every time the moving gripper is moved by one pitch to the press device. 3. The moving mechanism is capable of moving the moving gripper at least by a length of the product.
The work transfer device according to claim 1. 4. The control section, after moving the movable gripper by a predetermined pitch of the product by one pitch at a time, releases the holding of the work by the movable gripper and returns the movable gripper to its original position. Claim 3
3. The work transfer device according to claim 1. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fixed gripper capable of holding a workpiece and being immovable relative to the press device, wherein the control unit controls the moving gripper by a number of times in which a predetermined shape of the product is continuous by one pitch. 5. The work transfer device according to claim 4, wherein after moving the movable gripper, the movable gripper is returned to an original position in a state where the fixed gripper holds the work and releases the holding of the work by the movable gripper. 6. 6. The work transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the moving mechanism has a linear motor that linearly moves the moving gripper.