JP2003054729A - Method and apparatus for aligning and supplying flat member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To align and supply flat members at high speed by use of such a simple structure that it provides only continuous, rotational movement without providing intermittent reciprocating movement. SOLUTION: A magazine 12 accommodating a number of stacked flat members 11 is oriented sideways and the flat members are pressed toward the exit of the magazine by a pusher 13. The flat members are separated from one another and taken out of the magazine by use of at least one pair of screws 14 and 15 disposed respectively in upper and lower positions at the exit of the magazine and, with the flat member secured in the pitch between the blades 14a and 15a of a screw, the pitch of the blades is gradually increased to increase the pitch between the flat members so as to align and supply the flat members with predetermined pitches.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat member aligning and feeding method and apparatus for picking up flat members stacked in a magazine one by one and aligning these members at a predetermined pitch.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique, a flat member (for example, a tube of a heat exchanger core) stacked in a magazine is
Predetermined alignment pitch (eg heat exchanger core assembly pitch)
There is a "drum type" alignment supply method as shown in FIG. In this method, one of the lowermost flat members 1 flatly stacked in a vertically placed magazine 2 is projected laterally from the magazine 2 by a partition plate 3 so that one of a plurality of grooves 4a formed in a drum 4 is formed. Insert and hold. After that, when the groove 4a holding the flat member 1 reaches the lowermost portion by rotating the drum 4, the flat member 1 is placed on the pallet 7 fed by the pallet conveying screw 6 by its own weight or the pusher 5. In this case, the pallet 7 may be replaced by a chain conveyor or a holding means such as a screw. Hereinafter, a method of aligning the flat member 1 at a predetermined pitch by repeatedly ejecting the partition plate 3, rotating the drum 4, and feeding the pitch of the pallet 7 will be described below.

However, in this conventional method, the partition plate 3, the drum 4, the pusher 5, the holding means for the pallet 6, etc.,
There is a problem in that the number of components and parts such as the pitch feed means is very large and the cost is high. Further, since the reciprocating operation of the partition plate and the pusher and the intermittent operation of the drum and the pitch feeding means are accompanied, the alignment speed of the members is about 5 pieces / sec at the maximum, and it is not possible to further speed up the production efficiency. There was also the problem of being bad.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to perform alignment at a high speed only by continuous operation and rotation operation without intermittent operation and reciprocating operation. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for aligning and supplying flat members that can simplify the structure.

[0005]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for aligning and supplying flat members and an apparatus therefor according to each of the claims. The method for aligning and supplying flat members according to claim 1, wherein the flat members are separated and taken out one by one from at least one pair of screws arranged above and below the outlet of the magazine placed horizontally, and the blades of the screws are separated. With the flat member secured between the pitches, the blade pitch is gradually expanded so that the flat member is aligned and supplied at a predetermined pitch. It is possible to achieve an aligned feed of the flat members very simply. In addition, the alignment speed can be increased.

In the aligning and feeding method of claim 2, the lower screw of the pair of upper and lower screws secures a predetermined number of flat members at a predetermined pitch, and the flat members are formed by the screws themselves. Since it can be held at a predetermined pitch, it is not necessary to separately provide other holding means such as a pallet. The aligning and feeding method according to claim 3, wherein the screw secures a predetermined number of flat members at a predetermined pitch by detecting the flat member at the tip or by counting the number of rotations of the screw. Is. Thereby, even if the number of flat members aligned changes, it is possible to easily cope with the change.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined number of flat members aligned with the screw are collectively gripped by a predetermined number of chucks provided in the loader and sent to the next step. Thus, for example, when the flat member is a flat tube of a heat exchanger, the tubes of one core of the heat exchanger can be aligned at a predetermined pitch at a time, and the assembling efficiency can be improved.

The flat member aligning and feeding device according to a fifth aspect is the device invention of the method invention according to the first aspect, and has the same effect as the invention according to the first aspect. According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in the aligning and feeding device, the pitch of the blades at the inlet of the screw is made equal to the thickness of the flat member, whereby the blade at the screw inlet enters the minute gap between the adjacent flat members. The flat members can be reliably separated and taken out one by one.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the aligning and feeding device, the height of the blade at the pitch of the screw inlet portion is lowered, and the height of the blade is gradually increased along the feeding direction so that the flat member has a predetermined pitch. In the part aligned with, the height of the blade of the lower screw is set to be almost the same as the width of the flat member, and this allows the flat member to be securely inserted into the minute gap between the flat members. In addition to separating the flat members from each other, the pitch between the flat members taken out can be gradually increased to be aligned at a predetermined pitch without causing the flat members to fall. The aligning and feeding device according to claim 8 employs a flat elongated member as the flat member and is provided with two pairs of upper and lower screws, whereby a flat elongated member such as a flat tube of a heat exchanger is provided. Even the members can be taken out from the magazine one by one and aligned.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the aligning and feeding device, a stopper is provided in a direction perpendicular to the separating / feeding direction of the flat member, so that even if the flat member moves in the rotation direction of the screw, the position can be adjusted by the stopper. Is regulated, and the displacement of the flat member in the longitudinal direction can be prevented. The aligning and feeding device according to claim 10 is provided with a sensor for detecting a leading flat member of a predetermined number of flat members aligned with the screw,
This makes it possible to easily detect that a predetermined number of flat members are aligned on the screw.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the aligning and feeding device is provided with a rotation speed counting means for counting the rotation speed of the screw. With this arrangement as well, when the predetermined rotation speed is reached, a predetermined number of screws are placed on the screw. It is possible to detect that the flat members are aligned. The aligning and feeding device according to claim 12, wherein a predetermined number of flat members aligned on the screw are provided.
A loader is further provided that is gripped and carried collectively by a predetermined number of chucks. This allows, for example, tubes of a heat exchanger to be collectively arranged and arranged in core units.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A flat member aligning and feeding method and apparatus thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a flat member aligning and feeding apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an inlet portion of a pair of screws. In the present invention, the magazine 12 in which the flat members 11 (for example, the flat tubes of the heat exchanger core) are stacked and accommodated is used in a horizontally placed (sideways) state. A pusher 13 is arranged on the inlet side of the magazine 12, and the flat member 1 is constantly pressed during the work. On the exit side of magazine 12,
A pair of screws 14 and 15 are arranged adjacent to each other above and below the flat member 11 in the magazine 12 so that the flat members 11 can be separated and taken out one by one.

As shown in FIG. 2, the screws 14,
The pitch of the blades 14a, 15a at the inlet of 15 is made substantially equal to the thickness of the flat member 11, and the blades 14 are gradually fed from the inlet along the feeding direction of the flat member 11.
The pitches of a and 15a are expanded, and when reaching a predetermined alignment pitch, the upper screw 14 is interrupted,
Only the lower screw 15 has a predetermined number of blades 15a formed at a predetermined alignment pitch. That is, the upper screw 14 has a structure in which an alignment portion for aligning the flat members 11 of the lower screw 15 at a predetermined pitch is eliminated. Also,
The height of the blades 14a and 15a of the screws 14 and 15 is a small height that is a dimension that enters between the adjacent flat members 11 at the entrance portion thereof, and then the height of the blades 14a and 15a increases as the pitch of the blades 14a and 15a increases. The height of the blade 15a of the lower screw 15 is formed to be substantially the same as the width of the flat member 11 at which the flat member 11 does not fall down at a predetermined alignment pitch. ing. Further, it is preferable that the blades 14a and 15a of the screws 14 and 15 at the inlet portion have a chevron cross-sectional shape. The cross-sectional shape of the flat member 1 is oval or rounded at the four corners, and when the flat members 11 are superposed, a minute gap is formed between the adjacent flat members.

With such a screw structure, even if the flat members 11 are in close contact with each other, a small gap formed between the flat members 11 adjacent to each other is used to make close contact with each other. The flat members 11 can be separated one by one. That is, the blades 14a and 15a of a small size at the entrances of the screws 14 and 15 are put in the minute gaps between the flat members 11 to be separated and conveyed. In this case, the next flat member 11 is the blade 14 of this minute size.
Since the flat members are in a standby state by abutting on a and 15a, they do not interfere with the separation of the flat member. The flat member 11 thus separated is the blade 14 of the screws 14 and 15.
As the pitches of a and 15a increase, the pitch between the flat members is increased, and the lower screw 1 is moved at a predetermined alignment pitch
5 blades 15a are aligned one by one.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the flat member aligning and feeding apparatus of the present invention. A long flat member is assumed as the flat member 11. In this case, a pair of upper and lower screws 14 and 15 arranged at the outlet of the magazine 12 are arranged. The flat member 11 is separated from the inside of the magazine 12 by the rotation of the upper and lower screws 14 and 15 in the same direction, and is aligned at an equal pitch. Therefore, when the flat member 11 receives a force in the rotation direction due to the rotation of the vertical screws 14 and 15, the positions of the tip portions of the flat member 11 may be displaced from each other. Therefore, a stopper 16 is provided in the direction perpendicular to the separating / conveying direction of the flat member 11 by the screws 14 and 15 to prevent the position of the tip end of the flat member 11 from being displaced. Further, a guide 17 is provided on the rear end side of the flat member 11 so as to guide the flat member 11 between the stopper 16 and the guide 17.

In order to chuck a predetermined number of flat members 11 aligned between the blades 15a of the lower screw 15 in a batch and to supply them to the next process, a loader 19 having a predetermined number of chucks 18 is provided with a lower screw. It is arranged above 15 and behind the upper screw 14. The loader 19 has a raising / lowering function and a lateral movement function.
The operation of descending 9 → batch chucking of a predetermined number of pieces → ascending → lateral movement (to the subsequent step) → descending → uncucking → lateral movement (returning to the original position on the lower screw and waiting) to move the flat member 11 to the next step Supply to.

Lower screw 1 of a predetermined number of flat members 11
There are various possible methods for detecting the completion of the alignment on the No. 5, but roughly speaking, there are two methods: a method for detecting how far the leading flat member 11 has reached and a method for counting the number of rotations of the lower screw 5. It can be roughly divided. Hereinafter, these methods will be described with reference to FIG. For example, chuck 18
Using a loader having 10 (A to J) as
A case where 0 flat members 11 are supplied will be described.
FIG. 5 shows a time point when the loader 19 grips and lifts up exactly ten flat members 11, but while the loader 19 is supplying the flat members 11 to the subsequent process side, 10 for the next cycle are shown. An individual flat member 11 is prepared on the lower screw 15. At that time, as a method for preparing the ten flattened members 11 for the next cycle, a leading end confirmation sensor 20 for checking the leading flattened member 1 such as a photoelectric tube or a proximity switch is provided.
The flat member 1 is located at the position 1 of the lower screw 15 shown by the dotted line in FIG.
When the rotation of the screw 14 and 15 is stopped, the screw 14 and 15 are stopped to stand by, or the counting means 21 for counting the number of rotations of the screw on the screw driving means side without providing the sensor 20.
Is provided to stop the rotation of the screws 14 and 15 and wait when the number of rotations of the screw reaches a predetermined number. By repeating these methods, 10 flat members 11 can be supplied to the subsequent process side each time.

It is also possible to supply an arbitrary number of flat members 11 to the post-process side by using the above-mentioned basic structure. The method will be described below. A loader 19 having 10 chucks 18 of A to J, and a method of supplying a flattening member of a number less than 10 to the post-process side each time by using the head confirmation sensor 20 is an example of 8 cases. To explain. In FIG. 4, the configuration is the same as that when the sensor 20 is used, but the standby position of the loader 19 is shifted to the rear side of the screw (right side in FIG. 4) by two flat members (two pitches). That is, A and B of the chucks 18 are shifted to a position where the flat member 11 cannot be gripped even when they are lowered, and when the loader 19 is lowered, the eight chucks C to J are used.
The eight flat members 11 at the positions 1 to 8 in FIG. 5 are grasped. Therefore, the chuck 18 descends and C
8 J of chucks hold the eight flat members 11 at the positions 1 to 8 of the lower screw 15, and the loader 19 supplies the flat members 11 to the subsequent process side while the screw 14 , 15 is the flat member 1 with the leading confirmation sensor 20 at the beginning.
The flat member 11 for the next cycle is rotated until 1 is detected.
8 pieces, and stand by in the state prepared on the lower screw 15. In the next cycle, the loader 19 repeats chucking the eight flat members 11 at the positions displaced by two pitches. When this method is used, the loader 19 needs to have a setup function capable of changing the standby position according to the number of aligned feeds.

Next, using the loader 19 having ten chucks A to J, the counting means 2 for counting the number of rotations of the screw without using the head confirmation sensor 20.
A method of supplying the flattening members 11 of less than 10 to the post-process side each time using 1 will be described by taking the case of 8 as an example. The configuration and the standby position of the loader 19 are the same as in the case of using the counting means 21 for counting the number of rotations of the screw in FIG. 4 described above. The difference is that the number of flat member aligned on the lower screw 15 is set to eight, which is two less than that in FIG. That is, the A and B chucks 18
Even when the loader 19 is lowered, the flat member 11 is not present on the lower screw 15 (the flat member is not present at the positions 1 and 2 of the lower screw in FIG. 4). The eight flat members 11 located at positions 3 to 10 on the lower screw 15 in FIG. 4 are grasped by the eight chucks 18 to J. The eight flat members 11 are gripped and the loader 19 moves up, and eight flat members 11 for the next cycle are prepared on the lower screw 15 while the flat members 11 are being supplied in the subsequent process. . That is, the flat member 11 is prepared at positions 3 to 10 on the lower screw 15 in FIG. At that time, the screw is stopped by the counting means 21 that counts the number of rotations of the screw, and stops when the eight flat members 11 are aligned. In the next cycle, the loader 19 repeats chucking the eight flat members 11 that are short of two. In the method of using the counting means 21, the standby position setup mechanism of the loader 19 described in the method of using the head confirmation sensor 20 as described above is unnecessary.

In the above description, the number of flat members to be arranged is 10 and 8, but for example, in an actual heat exchanger, since the number of flat tubes to be supplied is as large as 30 to 80, the flat members are aligned. In order to ensure the reliability of the number of supply, the sensor 2
It is preferable to use 0 and the counting means 21 in combination.

[0021]

As described above, in the flat member aligning and supplying method and the apparatus thereof according to the present invention, since the reciprocating operation and the intermittent operation are eliminated and only the continuous operation and the rotating operation are performed, it is possible to perform the alignment. The speed can be increased to about 20 times / second, which is four times that of the conventional one, and the cost can be reduced to about 1/2 of the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a flat member aligning and feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the inlet portions of the upper and lower screws.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the flat member aligning and feeding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining alignment and supply of a predetermined number of flat members having a uniform pitch.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a conventional flat member aligning and supplying apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 11 ... Flat member 2, 12 ... Magazine 13 ... Pusher 14 ... Upper screw 14a ... blade 15 ... Lower screw 15a ... blade 16 ... Stopper 18 ... Chuck 19 ... loader 20 ... Lead confirmation sensor 21 ... Counting means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 3F030 AA04 AA06 AB04 CA01 CC02                       DA01                 3F080 AA02 AA03 BA02 BA04 BA05                       BD12 BF20 CD06 CF11 CG01                       CG07 CG14 EA04 EA09 EA10                       EA13

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A method of aligning and supplying flat members, wherein a plurality of flat members stacked in a magazine are separated and taken out one by one, and these flat members are aligned at a predetermined pitch. A large number of flat members are pressed toward the outlet of the magazine by a pusher, and the flat members are separated and taken out one by one by at least a pair of screws arranged above and below the outlet of the magazine. With the flat member secured between the pitches, gradually increase the blade pitch,
A method for aligning and supplying flat members, characterized in that flat members are aligned and supplied at a predetermined pitch. 2. The method for aligning and supplying flat members according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined number of flat members are secured at a predetermined pitch by a lower screw of the pair of screws. 3. The lower screw secures a predetermined number of flat members at a predetermined pitch by detecting the leading flat member, or counts the number of rotations of the lower screw. The method for aligning and supplying flat members according to claim 2, wherein the flat member is aligned and supplied. 4. The predetermined number of flat members aligned with the lower screw are collectively gripped by a predetermined number of chucks provided in a loader and sent to the next step.
Or the method of aligning and supplying flat members according to item 3. 5. A flat member aligning and feeding apparatus for separating a plurality of flat members stacked in a magazine, one by one, and aligning these flat members at a predetermined pitch. The magazine, which is placed in a state of containing and holding a large number of laminated flat members, a pusher for pressing the flat members in the magazine toward the outlet direction, and at least upper and lower portions arranged at the outlet of the magazine. A pair of screws, wherein the screws separate and take out the flat members in the magazine one by one, and the blade pitch is gradually increased while the flat members are secured between the blade pitches of the screws. Is expanded to align a predetermined number of flat members at a predetermined pitch. 6. An apparatus for aligning and supplying flat members according to claim 5, wherein a pitch of blades at an inlet portion of the screw is equal to a thickness of the flat member. 7. The height of the blade at the inlet pitch of the screw is low, the height of the blade gradually increases along the feeding direction, and the flat member is aligned at a predetermined pitch in the screw. 7. The flat member aligning and feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the height of the blade of the lower screw is formed to be approximately equal to the width of the flat member. 8. The flat member according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the flat member is a flat elongated member, and two sets of the pair of upper and lower screws are provided along a longitudinal direction of the flat member. Alignment and supply device for members. 9. The flat member according to claim 8, wherein a stopper is provided in the direction perpendicular to the separating / supplying direction of the flat member so as to prevent the flat member aligned from being displaced. Alignment supply device. 10. The flat according to claim 5, further comprising a sensor for detecting a leading flat member among a predetermined number of flat members aligned with the screw. Alignment and supply device for members. 11. An apparatus for aligning and supplying flat members according to claim 5, further comprising rotation speed counting means for counting the rotation speed of the screw. 12. The loader according to claim 5, further comprising a loader for collectively gripping a predetermined number of flat members aligned on the screw by a predetermined number of chucks and carrying the process to the next step. 11. An apparatus for aligning and supplying flat members according to any one of 11 items.