JP2002179247A - Plate material supplying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plate material supplying device capable of certainly and smoothly taking and supplying piled and stored plate materials one by one. SOLUTION: This plate material supplying device comprises a guide 12 for holding the vertically piled plate materials 1 vertically liftably, a lifting means 13 for supporting the piled plate materials 1 held by the guide 12 from the downside and lifting them, a sucking/moving means 16 for sucking the plate materials 1 from the upside and moving them, and a control means for controlling the lifting means 13 and the sucking/moving means 16. The control means controls the lifting means 13 to lift up the piled plate materials 1 held by the guide 12, and controls the sucking/moving means 16 to suck the uppermost plate material 1 of the piled plate materials 1 sequentially from the upside and move them to a desired position for taking out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for sequentially supplying sheet materials such as sheet metal one by one from a storage location.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is an example shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 as an apparatus for supplying plate materials one by one from a place where the plate materials are stacked and stored.

In this example, a cassette 01 for storing a flat plate member 01 is provided.
0 is a rectangular tubular guide 011 having upper and lower openings, and a cutting member 012 forming a bottom wall by closing the lower end opening thereof.
There is a gap for one flat plate member 01 between the lower end of 11 and the cutout member 012, and the cutout member 012 has a stepped portion 013 that can lock one flat plate member 01 in a horizontal state and Can slide.

As shown in FIG. 13, a flat plate member 01 is sequentially inserted into a guide 011 of a cassette 010 and cut out by a cutting member 012.
Are stacked on top of each other. The lowermost flat plate member 01 is locked to the step portion 013 of the cutout member 012.

When the cutting member 012 is slid horizontally, the stack of the flat plate members 01 above the lowermost flat plate member 01 is held by the guide 011 and locked by the step portion 013 as shown in FIG. Only the lower flat plate member 01 slides integrally, and only one sheet is cut out and supplied to a required place by some transport means.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cassette as described above
In the case of 010, there is no burr on the flat
In some cases, the lowermost flat plate member 01 may be caught between the uppermost flat plate member 01 and the guide 011 at the time of cutting, and smooth cutting may not be performed.

There is a possibility that the flat plate member 01 may be damaged due to the hooking, and a problem may occur in the cassette 010. Also, it is difficult to apply to a plate material having a three-dimensional shape.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a plate material supply which can reliably and smoothly take out and supply stacked and stored plate materials one by one. The point is to provide the device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to the first aspect of the present invention is directed to a guide for vertically holding a vertically stacked plate material and a guide for holding the plate material vertically. Elevating means for supporting and elevating the held and stacked plate material from below, suction and transfer means for adsorbing and transferring the plate material from above, and control means for controlling the elevating means and the suction and transfer means The control means controls the lifting / lowering means to raise the stacked plate materials held by the guide, and controls the suction transfer means to control the uppermost plate material of the stacked plate materials. Are sequentially sucked from above, taken out, transferred to a required position and supplied.

The stacked plate material inserted into the guide and supported by the lifting / lowering means is raised by the lifting / lowering means to position the uppermost plate material at an appropriate height, and the suction / transfer means is moved to the uppermost plate by the suction / transfer means. The material can be sucked from above and taken out and transferred to a required position.

[0011] Even if burrs are present in the plate material or the plate material has a three-dimensional shape, the plate material can be smoothly taken out from the guide as long as it can be adsorbed by the suction transfer means. The operation of supplying the sheet material one by one sequentially from the upper layer sheet material can be efficiently executed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the plate material supply apparatus according to the first aspect, the plate material supply device is provided above the guide.
A rising edge detecting means for detecting the uppermost sheet material of the stacked sheet materials at a predetermined height position, wherein the control means detects the uppermost sheet material of the stacked sheet materials by the rising edge detecting means; The elevating means is driven to raise the uppermost plate material to a predetermined height.

[0013] Since the elevating means is driven to raise the uppermost plate material to a predetermined height until the uppermost plate material of the plate material is detected, the suction section of the suction transfer means is aligned with the uppermost plate material. It is easy to supply the sheet material one by one sequentially from the uppermost sheet material.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the plate material supply apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the suction transfer means suctions and transfers the plate material by vacuum pressure. And

Since the plate material is adsorbed by using the vacuum pressure,
The present invention can be applied to various kinds of sheet materials without being limited to a metal sheet metal as a sheet material.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The present embodiment relates to a blade supply device 10 for storing and supplying a blade 1 in the form of an intermediate material in a process of manufacturing a blade for forming a cut of a tire tread, which is used in a mold of a studless tire, by a press machine. Things.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic press apparatus for supplying the blade 1 to a press 40 using the blade supply apparatus 10. There is a parts feeder 20 and a vacuum suction unit 30 on the press side between the blade supply device 10 and the press machine 40. Two press machines 40 are arranged in parallel, and the blades 1 from the two blade supply devices 10 are respectively provided. 2 supplied
A set of automatic pressing devices are configured in parallel.

The automatic press device includes a blade supply device 10,
The parts feeder 20, the vacuum suction unit 30, the press machine 40 and the like are totally controlled by a control device (not shown). The blade 1 as an intermediate material is formed by bending a rectangular sheet metal into a corrugated shape as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and a corrugated portion 2 is formed by five bends that are folded back to the center, and both ends are flat. Parts 3 and 3. This blade 1
It is supplied to the press machine 40 and further processed into a predetermined waveform to obtain a finished product.

The blade supply device 10 comprises a cassette 11 for storing the blade 1 and a vacuum suction unit 16 for taking out the blade 1 from the cassette 11 (see FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 4, the vacuum suction unit 16 has a pair of vacuum cylinders 18 vertically suspended from the moving base 17 at a predetermined distance (distance between the flat portions 3 and 3 of the blade 1). At the lower end of each vacuum cylinder 18, a suction pad 19 is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the cassette 11 has a rectangular tubular guide 12 into which the blade 1 is inserted and which is open at the top and bottom, and a support plate 13a which moves up and down the guide 12 via a rod. And an elevator 13 that is driven. A rising end proximity switch 14 is provided at a predetermined position above the guide 12.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a large number of blades 1 are inserted into a guide 12 of a cassette 10 and stacked on a support plate 13a. Then, the elevator 13 is driven to lift the blades 1 in the stacked state. When the blades 1 in the uppermost layer are detected by the rising edge proximity switch 14, the blades 1 are stopped and the blades 1 in the uppermost layer are positioned at a predetermined height.

The moving base 17 of the vacuum suction unit 16 is moved down just above the uppermost blade 1 located at the predetermined height and descends, and the suction pads 19 at the lower ends of the pair of vacuum cylinders 18 are moved.
19 are flat portions 3 and 3 at both ends of the uppermost blade 1 respectively.
(See FIG. 5), and the vacuum suction unit 16 is driven to suction the uppermost blade 1 to the suction pads 19,19.

By raising the moving base 17, the uppermost blade 1 is moved to the single suction pad 19 as shown in FIG.
And is taken out of the guide 11 of the cassette 10 as one body. The blade 1 taken out of the guide 11
It is transferred to the parts feeder 20 (see FIG. 1).

Thereafter, in the cassette 10, the elevator 13 is driven to move up the remaining stacked blades 1, and stops when the blade 1 which has newly become the uppermost layer is detected by the rising end proximity switch 14, and stops at the predetermined height. Wait for removal by the vacuum suction unit 30 at the position. By repeating the above operation, the blades 1 are taken out one by one from the cassette 10 and are sequentially supplied to the parts feeder 20.

Since the blade 1 is sucked by the suction pad 19 from the upper end opening of the guide 12 and is taken out upward, even if there are burrs or the like on the blade 1, the blade 1 is taken out smoothly without being caught in taking out. In addition, a three-dimensional corrugated shape such as the blade 1 can be easily taken out one by one.

Since the uppermost blade 1 is located at a predetermined height detected by the rising end proximity switch 14, the suction pad 19 of the vacuum suction unit 16 can be easily aligned with the uppermost blade 1, and the moving base 17 The movement control of the blade 1 is simplified, and the blade 1 can be taken out efficiently.

Therefore, the blade supply device 10 can smoothly take out the blades 1 from the guides 12, and can efficiently perform the operation of supplying the blades 1 one by one sequentially from the uppermost blade 1. . Although the blade 1 is vacuum-sucked by the vacuum suction unit 16, the blade 1 may be electromagnetically sucked by an electromagnet.

Next, the cassette by the blade supply device 10
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the parts feeder 20 to which the blade 1 taken out of the part 11 is transferred has long ridges 21 oriented in the transport direction formed on the upper surface at predetermined intervals. Then, the blade 1 is conveyed by vibration with a slight inclination.

Since the blade 1 has five ridges 21, when the blade 1 is appropriately mounted on the parts feeder 20, the corrugated portion 2 at the center of the blade 1 projects with the ridge 21 as shown in FIG. Article 2
The blade 1 is automatically positioned by meshing with the valley between 1 and 21.

An upstream end proximity switch 22 for detecting the placement of the blade 1 is fitted in the valley at the upstream end of the parts feeder 20, and the blade 1 is similarly conveyed to the downstream end at the downstream end. Downstream proximity switch that detects
23 is fitted in the valley.

Therefore, the blade 1 sucked and transferred by the vacuum suction unit 16 of the blade supply device 10 is transferred.
Is placed at the upstream end of the parts feeder 20, the upstream end proximity switch 22 detects the blade 1 and drives the parts feeder 20 to convey the blade 1 by vibration.

When the blade 1 reaches the downstream end of the parts feeder 20, the downstream end proximity switch 23 detects the blade 1 and stops the vibration of the parts feeder 20. Therefore, the blade 1 is placed at a predetermined position on the downstream end of the parts feeder 20.

Then, the vacuum suction unit 30 on the press side descends from just above the blade 1 to contact a pair of suction pads 33 as shown in FIG. The vacuum suction unit 30 on the press side is the same as the vacuum suction unit 16 of the blade supply device 10, and includes a moving base 31, a pair of vacuum cylinders.
32, 32 and suction pads 33, 33.

Therefore, the vacuum suction unit 30 can lift and transfer the flat portions 3, 3 on both sides of the blade 1 with the pair of suction pads 33, 33 sucking. The vacuum suction unit 30 transfers the blade 1 to the press 40.

The press machine 40 performs a final corrugation process on the blade 1, and a lower mold 41 has a final shape corrugation. The vacuum suction unit 30 places the blade 1 on the lower die 41 of the press machine 40 as shown in FIGS.

The vacuum suction unit 30 releases the vacuum suction immediately before the blade 1 held by suction contacts the lower mold 41,
The blade 1 is slightly dropped by its own weight and meshes with the waveform of the lower die 41 with the central corrugated portion 2 to be naturally positioned and the lower die 41 is positioned.
Placed on top. After the vacuum suction unit 30 is retracted, the blade 1 placed on the lower mold 41 is pressed between the upper mold and the blade 1 to produce a finished product.

An air blower 45 is disposed on the side of the press 40 (see FIGS. 1 and 12). After the press working, the air blower 45 is driven at the place where the upper die is opened to blow air into the lower die 41.
The blade 1 as a finished product after processing left on the lower mold 41 is blown off and collected by spraying the upper surface of the blade 1 from the side.

As described above, the blades 1 stored in the cassette 11 of the blade supply device 10 are sequentially transferred to the parts feeder 20 by the vacuum suction unit 16 and
Is transferred to the press machine 40 side by the vacuum suction unit 30 and transferred to the press machine 40 to be pressed to produce a finished product, in which all flows are automated.

When the blade 1 is transferred to the parts feeder 20 or the press machine 40, the corrugated portion 2 of the blade 1 itself engages with the ridge 21 of the parts feeder 20 and the lower mold 41 of the press machine 40. Since the positioning of the blade 1 is naturally performed, the transfer can be smoothly performed with a small number of man-hours without specially requiring a positioning device, and the blade supplying operation can be efficiently performed.

In addition to the easiness of the positioning of the blades, the smooth supply of the blades 1 of the blade supply device 10 allows the blades 1 to be supplied to the press 40 more efficiently.

The processing capacity of one set of the automatic press machine is as follows. One blade requires 2.5 seconds, and 9000 sheets can be processed per day. If manual operation is conventionally required, 6.0 seconds per blade is required. In addition, the processing capacity has been significantly improved compared to the processing capacity of 2000 sheets per person per day.

Further, two sets of automatic presses can be arranged in parallel, and the space can be used efficiently. The proximity switch provided in the processing of the automatic press device of the above embodiment may be a detection sensor such as an optical sensor or a limit switch.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic press device using a blade supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blade as an intermediate member.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the vacuum suction unit.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the blade supply device.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the blade supply device in another state.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a parts feeder.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the parts feeder and the blade.

FIG. 10 is a front view of a lower die and a blade of the press machine.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 12 is a side view of a lower die, a blade, and an air blower of the press after processing.

FIG. 13 is a side view of a conventional plate material supply device.

FIG. 14 is a side view showing another state.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... blade, 2 ... corrugated part, 3 ... flat part, 10 ... blade supply apparatus, 11 ... cassette, 12 ... guide, 13 ... elevator, 14
… Rising end proximity switch, 16… Vacuum suction unit, 17… Moving base, 18… Vacuum cylinder, 19… Suction pad, 20… Parts feeder, 21… Protrusion, 22… Upstream end proximity switch, 23… Downstream end proximity Switch, 30 vacuum suction unit, 31 moving base, 32 vacuum cylinder, 33 suction pad, 40 press machine, 41
… Lower type, 45… Air blow.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A guide for vertically holding vertically stacked plate materials, an elevating means for supporting and vertically moving the stacked plate materials held by the guides from below, and A suction transfer means for sucking and transferring from above, and a control means for controlling the lifting and lowering means and the suction and transfer means, wherein the control means controls the lifting and lowering means and is held by the guide and stacked. A sheet material supplying apparatus for controlling the adsorption and transfer means so as to pick up the sheet material of the uppermost layer of the stacked sheet materials, sequentially take out the sheet material from above, take out the sheet material, transfer it to a required position, and supply it. . 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a rising edge detecting unit provided at an upper portion of the guide for detecting a plate material of an uppermost layer of the stacked plate materials at a predetermined height position, wherein the control unit is stacked by the rising edge detecting unit. 2. The sheet material supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lifting means is driven to raise the uppermost sheet material to a predetermined height until the uppermost sheet material of the obtained sheet material is detected. 3. The sheet material supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction transfer means suctions and transfers the sheet material by vacuum pressure.