JP2005187196A - Work carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a work carrying device capable of preventing a work from receiving a hit mark without so complicating a structure. <P>SOLUTION: This work carrying device carrying a work W to a container 700 comprises a carrying conveyor 100 receiving the work W and moving the work to the container 700, an arm 200 on which the carrying conveyor is installed, a drive part 300 for conveyor driving the carrying conveyor 100, a drive part 400 tilting the arm 200, and a sensing part 500 fitted to the tip of the arm 200. The tip of the arm 200 is located at a position where the work W can be fallen in the container 700 through the entire part of the tilting. When detecting the work W carried into the container by the carrying conveyor 100, the sensing part 500 transmits drive signals to the drive part 400 for the arm to move the drive part 400 upward. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece transfer device that does not have a dent on a workpiece.

  When a workpiece such as a gear processed product or a spline processed product is transported to the next process, the workpiece that is sequentially transported and dropped from one end of the transport conveyor is received by a container installed below the transport conveyor. When the workpiece falls into the container, the workpiece may be dented due to the contact between the workpieces or the contact between the workpiece and the container. The dent may be fatal especially for a workpiece used in precision equipment or the like.

  In view of this, a workpiece transfer device has been developed in which the workpiece is not marked. For example, in JP-A-07-081761 (Patent Document 1), a work that is continuously transported at a constant interval by a transport conveyor is transferred into a work storage body that is previously positioned below the transport conveyor. A workpiece loading device for sequentially loading, wherein the workpiece loading device main body transports a workpiece continuously conveyed via the conveyance conveyor to at least one side intersecting a longitudinal direction of the conveyance conveyor. A workpiece transfer means for dropping from a conveyor, a workpiece receiver holding a workpiece receiver for receiving a workpiece dropped from the transfer conveyor via the workpiece transfer means, and guiding the workpiece receiver to the workpiece storage side Preferably, it comprises a workpiece receiver lifting device that lifts and lowers the workpiece receiver holding device in opposition to the workpiece storage body, At least one of the workpiece receivers held by the workpiece receiver holding device that moves up and down via the workpiece receiver lifting device, the workpiece in the workpiece receiver is moved by rotating or rotating the workpiece receiver. A work receiver rotating device for feeding into the work storage body is provided.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 07-081761

  However, the workpiece transfer apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is referred to as a workpiece receiver in order to transfer the workpiece once from the transfer conveyor to the workpiece receiver and transfer the workpiece transferred to the workpiece receiver into the workpiece storage body. An intermediate receptacle is required, and a configuration associated therewith is required, and the configuration of the workpiece transfer apparatus becomes complicated as a whole.

  The present invention is intended to solve the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece transfer device in which a workpiece does not have a dent without complicating the configuration.

  A workpiece transfer device according to the present invention is a workpiece transfer device that transfers a workpiece to a container, receives the workpiece and moves the workpiece to the container, an arm provided with the transfer conveyor, and the transfer A conveyor drive unit that drives the conveyor, an arm drive unit that tilts the arm, and a sensing unit that is provided at the tip of the arm, and the tip of the arm passes through the entire tilt, It is located at a place where the workpiece can be dropped into the container, and when the sensing unit detects the workpiece conveyed into the container by the conveyor, the arm driving unit moves the arm driving unit upward Is configured to send a drive signal.

  With the workpiece transfer device according to the present invention, the falling distance of the workpiece falling into the container from the tip of the arm can be shortened as much as possible, so that the dents on the workpiece can be reduced.

  In addition, the arm overlies the side wall of the container when lowered to the lowermost position, and when the arm is raised to the uppermost position, the arm has a generally square shape when viewed from the side so as to be positioned higher than the height of the sidewall of the container. When the work is accumulated in the container, the tip of the arm is positioned higher than the side wall of the container, so that there is an advantage that the container can be easily replaced.

  Furthermore, the sensing unit does not detect the workpiece falling from the conveyor, and only detects the workpiece accumulated in the container. When the sensing unit is positioned on the upstream side of the conveyor on the conveyor, The workpiece is detected only when the workpiece accumulates like a mountain inside, and the arm is moved upward only in that case. Therefore, the distance of the workpiece to the container is as short as possible, that is, the dent on the workpiece is reduced. It becomes possible to do.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a state in which one of the two plates constituting the arm of the workpiece transfer apparatus according to the present invention is removed and the arm is located at the uppermost position. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing a state in which one of the two plates constituting the arm of the workpiece transfer device according to the invention is removed and the arm is positioned at the lowest position, and FIG. 3 is a part of the transfer conveyor. FIG.

  The workpiece transfer device according to the present invention is a workpiece transfer device that transfers a workpiece W to a container 700, and includes a transfer conveyor 100 that receives the workpiece W and moves the workpiece to the container 700, and the transfer conveyor 100. An arm 200, a conveyor driving unit 300 for driving the conveyor 100, an arm driving unit 400 for tilting the arm 200, and a sensing unit 500 provided at the tip of the arm 200, The tip of the arm 200 is located at a position where the workpiece W can be dropped into the container 700 through the entire tilting, and the sensing unit 500 moves the workpiece W conveyed into the container by the conveyor 100. Upon detection, the arm drive unit 40 is moved to move the arm drive unit 400 upward. It adapted to deliver a drive signal to.

  The container 700 is used when, for example, a large number of metal workpieces W are conveyed, and is formed in a substantially square box shape with the upper side opened and the bottom surface 720 closed.

  The arm 200 is formed in a generally square shape in side view. This is because, when the workpiece W dropped from the tip of the arm 200 falls into the container 700, the fall height is made as low as possible to prevent the workpiece W from being dented. Therefore, when the arm 200 is positioned at the lowest position by the arm driving unit 400 described later, the tip is located in the container 700, which is also close to the bottom surface. It is located above the container 700.

  The arm 200 has two opposing horizontal plate members 210 (in FIG. 1 and the like, only one horizontal plate member is shown. The bottom for allowing the horizontal plate members 210 to face each other in parallel with a certain interval. It has a plate material (not shown) and a plurality of rotatable support gears 220 around which the conveyor 100 is stretched, the support gear 220 between the two horizontal plate materials 210, and It spans over the bottom plate material.

  The conveyor 100 is a mesh belt member and is stretched over the support gear 220. Since one of the support gears 220 is connected to the conveyor drive unit 300, the conveyor 100 is moved when the conveyor drive unit 300 is driven.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, weir portions 110 are provided on the surface of the conveyor 100 at regular intervals. The dam portion 110 is for preventing the work W to be transported from the inclined transport conveyor 100 from slipping down. The dam portion 110 is made of a synthetic resin so that the workpiece W does not have a dent even when the workpiece W hits it. The interval between the weir portions 110 is set to such an extent that at least the workpiece W can enter.

  Further, a synthetic resin cover (not shown) is attached to the upper side of the transport conveyor 100 along the transport conveyor 100. This cover suppresses the workpiece W from above so that the workpiece W conveyed by the conveyor 100 does not get over the weir 110. This is because if the workpiece W gets over the dam portion 110, the workpiece W may hit the workpiece W held by the adjacent dam portion 110 and the workpiece W may be dented. In addition, when this cover is comprised from the synthetic resin with transparency, there exists an advantage that the workpiece | work W on the conveyance conveyor 100 can be visually recognized.

  The arm 200 is attached to the gantry 600 so as to be tiltable about the base end. Therefore, the arm 200 is moved up and down by an arm driving unit 400 described later. The gantry 600 is also provided with a conveyor driving unit 400. Further, the gantry 600 is provided with an arm driving unit 400 that tilts the arm 200. For example, a cylinder with a motor is used for the arm drive unit 400.

  A sensing unit 500 is provided at the tip of the arm 200. The sensing unit 500 includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The sensing unit 500 does not detect the workpiece W falling from the transport conveyor 100, and is positioned upstream of the transport conveyor 100 from the position where the workpiece W is dropped in the transport conveyor 100 so as to detect only the workpiece W accumulated in the container 700. doing. Therefore, the light emitting element is attached to one horizontal plate member 210 and the light receiving element is attached to the other horizontal plate member 210, and both elements are opposed to each other.

  The light receiving element receives the light emitted from the light emitting element and detects the work W. That is, when the work W blocks the light emitted from the light emitting element, and as a result, the light receiving element stops receiving light, the light receiving element A drive signal is sent to the arm drive unit 400. The arm drive unit 400 that has received the drive signal operates for a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds) so that the arm 200 is raised.

The operation of the above-described workpiece transfer device will be described.
First, the container 700 is placed at a predetermined position, and the arm 200 enters the container 700. As shown in FIG. 2, the arm 200 is at the lowest position, that is, the tip of the arm 200 is located slightly above the bottom surface 720 of the container 700.

  For example, the workpiece W is sequentially supplied onto the conveyor 100 of the arm 200 from a processing apparatus or the like that has performed the previous process. The transport conveyor 100 transports the workpiece W into the container 700. A pile of the workpiece W is gradually built by the workpiece W that has fallen into the container 700 from the tip of the arm 200. At this time, the falling distance of the workpiece W is low enough that the workpiece W does not have a dent. That is, the arm 200 is set at the lowest position.

  When the height of the peak of the workpiece W comes into contact with the arm 200, the workpiece W is detected by the sensing unit 500. That is, the workpiece W enters between the light emitting element and the light receiving element constituting the sensing unit 500, and the light emitted from the light emitting element does not reach the light receiving element, so that the light receiving element cannot receive light.

  Then, since the light receiving element sends a drive signal to the arm drive unit 400, the arm drive unit 400 that has received this drive signal raises the arm 200 upward for a preset time. When the arm 200 is lifted upward, the work W is removed between the light emitting element and the light receiving element that constitute the sensing unit 500, so that the light emitted from the light emitting element is received by the light receiving element. In this state, the tip of the arm 200 is positioned above the peak of the workpiece W, so that the next workpiece W is successively collected until the workpiece W accumulates on the mountain and the sensing unit 500 detects the workpiece W. Supplied with.

  As described above, the arm 200 moves upward each time the mountain of the workpiece W becomes higher, so that the workpiece W is always dropped on the mountain. Thereby, since the fall distance of the workpiece | work W becomes substantially constant, there is little possibility that a dent will stick to the workpiece | work W. FIG.

  When the arm 200 has moved to the uppermost position, as shown in FIG. 1, the substantially square-shaped arm 200 is over the side wall 710 of the container 700, and therefore the container 700 can be easily carried out. Is possible.

  The container 700 in which the work W is accumulated is replaced with a new container 700, that is, a container 700 that does not contain the work W, and then the arm 200 is in an initial position, that is, the tip of the arm 200 is positioned slightly above the bottom surface of the container 700. Then, the work W is stored in the next container 700 that does not contain the work W at all.

  By repeating the above, the workpieces W are supplied to the container 700 one after another, and the workpieces W can be prevented from having dents.

  In the above description, the workpiece W is made of metal. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and needless to say, for example, may be made of synthetic resin.

It is a schematic side view in the case where one plate member is removed from the two plate members constituting the arm of the workpiece transfer device according to the present invention, and the arm is located at the uppermost position. It is a schematic side view in the case where one plate material is removed from the two plate materials constituting the arm of the workpiece transfer device according to the present invention and the arm is located at the lowest position. It is a schematic perspective view of a part of a conveyance conveyor.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Conveyor 200 Arm 300 Conveyor drive part 400 Arm drive part 500 Sensing part 700 Container W Workpiece

Claims (4)

  In the work transfer device for transferring the work to the container, the work conveyer that receives the work and moves the work to the container, an arm provided with the transfer conveyor, a drive unit for the conveyor that drives the transfer conveyor, An arm drive unit for tilting the arm; and a sensing unit provided at the tip of the arm, where the tip of the arm can drop the workpiece onto the container through the entire tilt. When the sensing unit detects the workpiece conveyed into the container by the conveyance conveyor, the sensing unit sends a driving signal to the arm driving unit to move the arm driving unit upward. A workpiece transfer device.   When the arm is lowered to the lowermost position, the arm climbs over the side wall of the container. The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1.   The sensing unit is located upstream of the transfer conveyor from the drop position of the workpiece on the transfer conveyor so as to detect only the workpiece accumulated in the container without detecting the workpiece falling from the transfer conveyor. The work conveyance apparatus of Claim 1 or 2.   The sensing unit includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and transmits the drive signal when light emitted from the light emitting element is blocked by a work and is not received by the light receiving element. The work conveyance apparatus of Claim 1, 2, or 3.

Images