JP2005225579A - Constant-interval feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a constant-interval feeder capable of completely eliminating use of a power source such as a motor and providing reduction in size and cost. <P>SOLUTION: Guide rails 2 (2a, 2b) guide both sides of a parts tray 1 so that the parts tray 1 may slide by gravity. When an anchor 6 is pushed downward by the hand of a user, the parts tray 1 slides downward because the anchor 6 may be rotated and moved with a fulcrum 6c centered, and stops at a point in which the tray slides downward by a half of the pitch between parts. Next, when the anchor 6 is returned by releasing the hand of the user, an escape wheel 5 and a ratchet wheel 3 are rotated again, the parts tray 1 slides downward, the parts tray 1 also slides downward, and the escape wheel stops at a point in which the escape wheel is brought into contact with a projection 6a for stopping, so that the parts tray 1 is fed downward by a pitch between the parts. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an equidistant feeding device for moving a target article at regular intervals, for example, for use of a machine tool in manufacturing parts.

An example of a conventional equal interval feeding device is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional equidistant feeding device is configured to feed the component tray at a constant pitch, and to detect the position of the pulse motor 15 for driving the rotating shaft and the component in the tray. A reflection type sensor 16, a pulse motor driver 17 for driving the pulse motor, a pulse motor controller 18, and a power source 19 are provided.

Further, as a conventional feeding device, the one of Patent Document 1 is a processing section in which a tray feeding means such as a belt conveyor sequentially pulls out a tray from the lowest level from a tray supply unit in which trays having upper surfaces opened are stacked in a plurality of stages. Has been moved to.
JP-A-9-52622

  However, since the conventional equidistant feeding device shown in FIG. 10 described above requires devices such as the pulse motor 15 and its control circuit, it is expensive in terms of cost and the size of the device is increased. End up.

  Further, the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 also feeds a tray by a feeding means such as a belt conveyor, and therefore requires a feeding means by a power source such as a motor, which is considerably expensive.

As a result of studying a cheaper and smaller mechanism with respect to these various conventional equidistant feeding devices, the present inventor has a configuration that makes a cheaper and smaller device by minimizing the use of a power source such as a motor. I found out.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a small and inexpensive equidistant feeding device that does not require any power source such as a motor.

  In order to achieve such an object, an equally-spaced feeding device of the present invention includes a guide member fixed with an inclination in the direction of gravity, and a plurality of recesses for engagement in the slide direction supported by the guide member so as to be slidable. And a braking means for braking so that the sliding movement of the moving member due to the inclination is made at regular intervals by engaging with the engaging recess.

  The above-described guide member is fixed with an inclination by a base member, and the above-described braking means is pivotally supported by the base member so as to be pivoted on a rotary shaft that is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the moving member. It is preferable that the brake claw portions that are sequentially engaged with the joint recesses are arranged at equal intervals in the radial direction, and the moving member is braked according to the rotation of the rotation shaft.

  The above-described braking means brakes the operation gear fixed to the rotation shaft so as to be concentric with the brake claw portion with respect to the rotation shaft, and the rotation of the operation gear at a constant angle. A rotation braking member, and the rotation braking member described above is configured to slide the moving member by gravity, and a rotation locking portion for locking the operation gear to rotate as the moving member slides. And a temporary holding locking portion that is temporarily locked to the base member by a rotation fulcrum so that only one of the rotation locking portion and the temporary holding locking portion engages with the operation gear. It is preferable that the braking means supported by the shaft further includes an urging member that urges the rotation of the rotation braking member at the rotation fulcrum so that the rotation locking portion engages with the operation gear.

  It is preferable that the brake claws described above are provided in the same number of claws as the number of teeth of the operation gear, and are disposed at the same position in the radial direction as the convex portion in the radial direction of the operation gear.

It is preferable that the stationary member concave portion for placing the article on the moving member is recessed in the moving member so as to be at the same interval as the engaging concave portion that is recessed at equal intervals.
The base member and the braking means described above are disposed on the lower side in the gravity direction with respect to the support position of the moving member in the guide member, and the above-described recessed portion for stationary parts is disposed on the back side of the position where the recessed portion for engagement is provided. It is preferable that each is recessed.
According to this, the braking member described above brakes the moving member from the lower side in the gravitational direction by the engaging concave part, and the article can be placed in the stationary part concave part provided in the upper side in the gravitational direction of the moving member. .

  The guide member described above is formed in a linear rail shape that supports the moving member so as to be slidable from both sides, and the moving member preferably slides linearly on the guide member.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a power source such as a motor is not required at all, and a small and inexpensive equidistant feeding device can be provided.

Next, the equal interval feeding device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The equally-spaced feeding device of this embodiment exemplifies a suitable device that enables constant pitch feeding of a component tray (moving member) without using any utility force.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view (simplified view) showing an outline of an equidistant feeding device as an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the equally-spaced feeding device as the present embodiment, a guide rail (guide member) fixed to a base (base member) 7 so as to have an inclination in the direction of gravity has an uneven structure on the bottom surface. A component tray (moving member) 1 is slidably supported.

The guide rails 2 (2a, 2b) are for guiding both sides of the component tray 1 so that the component tray 1 can slide down (slide) due to gravity. For example, it is attached with an inclination angle of 30 ° to 45 °.
The component tray 1 is thus supported by the guide rail 2 from both sides, and slides linearly on the guide rail 2 by its own weight.

A rotating shaft (rotating shaft) 4 is pivotally supported at both ends by a bearing, and is attached to the base 7 so that the pivoting direction is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the component tray 1.
The ratchet wheel 3 (3a, 3b) is for feeding or stopping the component tray 1, and is fixed to the rotary shaft 4, and its outer diameter is determined by the pitch between the components in the component tray 1 (intercavity pitch). .

Here, the component tray 1 is a molded tray having a concave-convex bottom surface, and a detailed view thereof is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the component tray 1 has a component mounting portion (fixed product recess) 11 (11 a, 11 b,...) And an engagement recess 12 for engaging with each pawl portion of the pawl wheel 3. (12a, 12b,...) In the longitudinal direction (sliding direction) so that each of them faces each other as the back surface, and the engaging recesses 12 are respectively recessed on the back side of the position where the component mounting portion 11 is recessed. ) At equal intervals. This interval (inter-component pitch) is shown as P in FIG.

  Since the handwheel 3 and the rotating shaft 4 that engage with the engaging recess 12 are disposed below the supporting position of the component tray 1 in the guide rail 2 in the gravity direction, the component mounting portion 11 and Since the recessed portion for engagement 12 is recessed so as to face each other, the component mounting portion 11 is placed on the upper side in the direction of gravity, and the component is stably placed on the component tray 1 while braking by the pawl wheel 3. Can be placed.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the braking pawls 31 of the ratchet wheel 3 are arranged at equal intervals in the radial direction of the rotary shaft 4 so as to be engaged with the respective engaging recesses 12 of the component tray 1 in order. The
In this way, when the braking claw portion 31 of the pawl wheel 3 is engaged with the component tray 1, the sliding movement due to the weight of the component tray 1 is braked according to the rotation of the rotating shaft 4.

The escape wheel (operation gear) 5 is fixed to the rotary shaft 4 so as to be concentric with the pawl wheel 3 as shown in FIG. At this time, the pawl wheel 3 (3a, 3b) and the escape wheel 5 are attached so that the number of teeth is the same, and the positions of the peaks and valleys in the sliding direction are the same position (the same direction).
That is, the above-described braking claw portions 31 (31a, 31b,...) Are provided by the same number of claws as the number of teeth of the escape wheel 5, and at the same position in the radial direction as the convex portion of the escape wheel 5 in the radial direction. Arranged.

The ankle (rotating braking member) 6 serves as a stopper for keeping the rotation angle for one operation of the escape wheel 5 constant, and as shown in FIG. It is arranged at a position received by the rotation locking portion 6a, and can be held by a tension spring (biasing member) 9 unless an external force is applied.
In other words, the ankle 6 that brakes the rotation of the escape wheel 5 at a constant angle includes a locking protrusion 6 a that locks the rotation of the escape wheel 5 with the sliding movement of the component tray 1 due to its own weight, and a component. A temporary holding projection 6b that temporarily locks the tray 1 to slide by gravity, and only one of the locking projection 6a and the temporary holding projection 6b engages with the escape wheel 5. It is pivotally supported on the base 7 by a fulcrum 6c.
Further, the tension spring 9 biases the rotation of the ankle 6 by the fulcrum 6c so that the locking projection 6a is engaged with the escape wheel 5.

Next, the operation of the equidistant feeding device as the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
3 to 5 show the mutual relationship between the escape wheel 5 and the ankle 6 and the mutual relationship between the component tray 1 and the pawl wheel 3 at that time.

First, the state of FIG. 3 will be described.
Since the component tray 1 is supported by the guide rail 2 so as to be inclined with respect to the direction of gravity as shown in FIG. 1, the component tray 1 tends to slide downward due to its own weight. At this time, since the braking claw portion 31 of the pawl wheel 3 is hooked and engaged with the engaging recess 12 of the component tray 1, the pawl wheel 3 will also rotate in the left direction of FIG. 3 (counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3). And
At the same time, as shown in FIG. 6, the pinion wheel 3 and the escape wheel 5 are coaxially mounted, so the escape wheel 5 also tries to rotate leftward in FIG. 3, but the locking projection 6 a of the ankle 6 Locked to prevent rotational movement. For this reason, in the state of FIG. 3, the component tray 1 does not slide down downward.

  However, as shown in FIG. 4, when the ankle 6 is pushed down by the user's hand or the like (in the direction of the arrow x), the ankle 6 rotates around the fulcrum 6c. The escape wheel 5 is separated from the car 5 and can freely rotate. At this time, the ankle 6 is kept pushed downward. Accordingly, the pawl wheel 3 can also rotate and the component tray 1 can slide down. However, this time, the teeth of the escape wheel 5 are received by the temporary holding projection (temporary holding locking portion) 6b. 1 stops when it slides down by half the pitch between parts.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, when the ankle 6 is returned to the state shown in FIG. 3 by releasing the hand, the escape wheel 5 and the pawl wheel 3 can be rotated again, so that the parts tray 1 is also moved downward. It slides down and stops when the escape wheel hits the locking projection 6a. Therefore, as a result, the component tray 1 is sent downward by the pitch between the components (between the recesses).

As described above, it is possible to realize a constant pitch (inter-component pitch) feed of the component tray 1 without using the power by a power source such as a motor by operating the state shown in FIGS. it can.
That is, each time the ankle 6 is pushed down by human power, the component tray 1 can be slid only by its own weight (including the component weight in the tray), and the next component can be brought to the same position.
Therefore, unlike the conventional equidistant feeding device described above with reference to FIG. 10, no power source such as an actuator is required, the cost is lower, the mechanism itself can be simplified, and the size of the device is the outer shape of the component tray 1. It can be realized in a form close to size.

The above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described equidistant feeding device, as shown in FIG. 1, since the component tray 1 is fed using the toothed wheel 3, the shape of the toothed wheel 3 is shown in FIG. It is possible to correspond to the component tray 1 having various bottom shapes by changing the thickness, the tooth tip shape, the tooth width, etc. to the toothed wheel 3-1 or the escape wheel 5 to 5-1. it can.
Further, as shown as another pawl wheel 3-2 in FIG. 9, by changing the number of teeth of the pawl wheel 3 and the escape wheel 5, it is possible to easily cope with the pitch between parts in various parts trays 1. it can.

  Even if it is something other than a tray, if the outer shape of the product (component) itself has a recess for engagement at equal intervals on the bottom, the product is similarly fed at a constant pitch feed (single feed). (Components) can be supplied.

  Further, the guide rail 2 (2a, 2b) has been described as being formed in a straight rail shape. However, the guide rail 2 (2a, 2b) is not limited to this shape as long as the component tray 1 can be slidably supported. May be.

It is a perspective view which shows simply the equal interval feeding apparatus as embodiment of this invention. It is the top view and side view which show the structure of the components tray 1 used for this equal spacing feeder. It is a figure which shows the temporary point in operation | movement of the equal interval feeding apparatus as this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the next one time of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the next time point in FIG. 4. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the nail | claw wheel 3, the rotating shaft 4, and the escape wheel 5. FIG. It is a figure which shows the mutual relationship of the escape wheel 5 and the ankle 6. FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the other claw wheel 3-1 and the other escape wheel 5-1. It is a perspective view which shows the other claw wheel 3-2. It is a perspective view which shows the conventional equal interval feeder using a power source.

Explanation of symbols

1 Parts tray (moving member)
2 Guide rail (guide member)
3rd wheel 31 Brake claw 4 Rotating shaft (rotating shaft)
5 escape wheel (operation gear)
6 Ankle (Rotating braking member)
6a Protrusion for locking (rotating locking part)
6b Temporary holding protrusion (temporary holding latch)
6c fulcrum (rotating fulcrum)
7 Base (base material)
9 Tension spring (biasing member)
11 Parts mounting part (recess for stationary items)
12 Recessed part for engagement 15 Pulse motor 16 Reflective sensor 17 Pulse motor driver 18 Pulse motor controller 19 Power supply P Part interval (pitch between recesses)

Claims (7)

A guide member fixed with an inclination in the direction of gravity;
A movable member that is slidably supported by the guide member and includes a plurality of engaging recesses at equal intervals in the sliding direction;
An equal interval feeding device comprising braking means for engaging the engaging recesses so as to cause the sliding movement of the moving member due to the inclination to be performed at equal intervals. The guide member is fixed with the slope by a base member,
The braking means is pivotally supported by the base member, and a braking claw portion that engages with each of the engaging recesses in turn on a rotation axis that is perpendicular to the sliding direction of the moving member. Arranged and configured,
The equal interval feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the moving member is braked in accordance with the rotation of the rotation shaft. The braking means includes an operation gear fixed to the rotating shaft so as to be concentric with the braking claw portion with respect to the rotating shaft;
A rotation braking member that brakes the operation gear so that the rotation of the operation gear is a constant angle;
The rotational braking member is
A rotation locking portion for locking the operation gear to rotate with the sliding movement of the moving member;
A temporary holding locking portion for temporarily locking the moving member to slide by gravity,
Only one of the rotation locking portion and the temporary holding locking portion is pivotally supported on the base member by a rotation fulcrum so as to engage with the operation gear,
The braking means further includes a biasing member that biases the rotation of the rotation braking member at the rotation fulcrum so that the rotation locking portion engages with the operation gear. The equal interval feeding device according to claim 2.   The braking claws are provided in the same number of claws as the number of teeth of the operation gear, and are arranged at the same position in the radial direction as the convex portion in the radial direction of the operation gear. Item 4. An equally spaced feeding device according to item 3.   The recessed part for stationary goods which places an article on the said moving member is recessedly provided in the said moving member so that it may become the same space | interval as the said recessed part for engagement recessedly provided in equal intervals. The equal interval feeding device according to any one of the preceding claims. The base member and the braking means are disposed on the lower side in the gravity direction with respect to the support position of the moving member in the guide member,
The equidistant feeding device according to claim 5, wherein the stationary product concave portions are respectively provided on the back side of the position where the engaging concave portions are provided. The guide member is formed in a linear rail shape that slidably supports the moving member from both sides,
The equally-spaced feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the moving member slides linearly on the guide member.

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