JP2007182299A - Article holding device and article holding and transferring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article holding device capable of quickly holding an article to be held and an article holding and transferring device. <P>SOLUTION: This article holding and transferring device comprises an article holding device 2. The article holding device 2 comprises a plurality of grippers 9 each having a holding part 6 holding the article carried by a first conveyor 3, a holding part moving means 7 for moving the holding part 6 in directions ZD of approaching and separating from the article, and a rotating means 8 rotating the holding part 6 around a virtual axis passing through the center of the holding part 6 and positioned parallel with the direction ZD of approaching and separating from the article. Since one gripper can hold and rotate for correction without being affected by the operating state of the other gripper, the total of a holdingly rotating time and a moving time related to the article holding device 2 can be reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an article holding apparatus and an article holding / transferring apparatus, and particularly suitable for holding and transferring a packaged product such as confectionery and retort food, a plate-like article such as a wiring board and a rice cracker, etc. at high speed and reliably. The present invention relates to an article holding apparatus and an article holding / transferring apparatus that can be used for the same.

  Generally, it is a device that counts a predetermined number of items such as packaging products such as confectionery and retort food, and plate-like items such as wiring boards and rice crackers, and fills them in a predetermined tray. As one example, an article holding / transferring apparatus including an article holding apparatus having a plurality of grippers is used.

  FIG. 8 shows a conventional article holding / transferring apparatus 101. As shown in FIG. 8, the conventional article holding / transferring apparatus 101 conveys the count-sorted target article 140 by the first belt conveyor 103, and the article holding apparatus in the contact / separation direction (Z direction) ZD with respect to the target article 140. The plurality of grippers 109 provided in 102 are expanded and contracted to suck and hold the target article 140 conveyed in the predetermined conveyance direction FD, and then the article holding device 102 is moved in the X and Y directions, and the second belt conveyor 104 The target article 140 was transferred to the conveyed tray 141 and aligned and filled (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-285927 A

  However, as shown in FIG. 8, the conventional article holding / transferring apparatus 101 rotates the entire article holding apparatus 102 having the plurality of grippers 109 in the θ direction to rotate the grippers 109 </ b> A to 109 </ b> D and the suction target articles 140 </ b> A to 140 </ b> A. Since the orientation with 140D is aligned with each other, the orientation of the first gripper 109A that sucks the first suction target article 140A and the suction target article 140A are matched with each other, and the article 140A is not sucked. There has been a problem that the second gripper 109B that adsorbs the next adsorption target article 140B cannot adsorb the article 140B by aligning the direction with the adsorption target article 140B. That is, since the rotation work and the suction work for each gripper 109A to 109D had to be performed in series in the order of suction of the suction target articles 140A to 140D, each gripper is required until the suction target articles 140A to 140D are suctioned. A time loss due to each rotation work occurred, and the target article 140 could not be held at high speed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the conventional article holding / transferring apparatus 101 moves the article holding apparatus 102 in the X direction and Y direction by ball screws 127 and 128 of the moving means 105 while rotating the article holding apparatus 102 in the θ direction. Since the mechanism moves linearly in the direction, a large load is applied to the drive motor 130 of the moving means 105 that moves the article holding device 102 depending on the moment of inertia generated by the rotation of the article holding device 102 and the weight of the article holding device 102. There is a problem that it is difficult to move the article holding device 102 at high speed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the conventional article holding / transferring apparatus 101 sucks the article holding apparatus 102 using a broken line with the center of gravity of the conveyed articles 140 as a passing point as a movement path EC of the article holding apparatus 102. The suction target articles 140A to 140D are held after being moved above the target articles 140A to 140D. Therefore, when the moving article holding apparatus 102 reaches above the suction target articles 140A to 140D, the movement of the article holding apparatus 102 must be stopped suddenly, and the moving means for moving the article holding apparatus 102 There is a problem that a large load is easily applied to the drive motor 130 of 105. Further, since the article holding device 102 is stopped every time the article holding device 102 reaches above the suction target articles 140A to 140D, it is difficult to shorten the movement time of the article holding device 102 by the moving means 105. It was.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an article holding device capable of holding an article to be held at high speed.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an article holding and transferring apparatus capable of moving the article holding apparatus at a high speed without imposing a load on the moving means for moving the article holding apparatus and further reducing the manufacturing cost. It is aimed.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the article holding apparatus according to the present invention has, as a first aspect thereof, a holding unit that holds an article being conveyed by a conveyor, and a holding unit that moves in the contact / separation direction with respect to the article. A plurality of grippers having a holding unit moving unit and a rotating unit that rotates the holding unit about a virtual axis that passes through the center of the holding unit and is parallel to the contact / separation direction are provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the article holding device according to the first aspect, the holding portion moving means has a holding portion at one end and reciprocates, a magnet disposed inside the shaft, The linear motion shaft motor includes a coil that encloses the shaft and applies a propulsive force by an electromagnetic force to the magnet, and a guide rod that guides the reciprocating movement of the shaft.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the article holding device according to the first or second aspect, the rotation means is inserted into two or more holes formed in the contact / separation direction on the other end portion side of the shaft. The stepping motor has two or more connecting rods at one end of the rotating shaft.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the article holding device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the holding portion is a suction nozzle connected to a vacuum pump.

  As a fifth aspect of the present invention, the article holding / transferring apparatus according to the present invention includes an article holding apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a conveyor for conveying the article, and an article holding device more than the article holding apparatus. Article detecting means for detecting the center of gravity position and orientation of the article on the upstream side in the conveying direction, and moving means for moving the article holding device in two directions orthogonal to each other on a plane having the normal direction as the contact / separation direction. It is a feature.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the article holding / transferring apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the moving means causes the first holding rail to slide while suspending the article holding apparatus in one of two directions, A second slide rail that slides in the other direction orthogonal to one direction while supporting the slide rail from below, and is connected to the article holding device and the first slide rail from above the first slide rail and from above the second slide rail, respectively. And a driving means for rotating the timing belt.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the article holding / transferring apparatus according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the moving means is conveyed by an initial position of the article holding apparatus on a plane whose normal is the separation direction, by a conveyor. Individual articles conveyed from the start of movement of the article holding device to the holding of each article by the article holding device with respect to the center of gravity of the same number of articles as counted from the most downstream side among the articles That is controlled by a control means that performs arithmetic processing using the corrected center of gravity position to which the respective transport amounts are added and one smooth interpolation curve that passes through the position of the movement destination of the article holding device as the movement path of the article holding device. It is a feature.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the article holding / transferring apparatus according to the seventh aspect, the control means moves the holding unit to the article by the time when the article holding device passes through each corrected gravity center position arranged on the movement path. It is characterized in that it is controlled to move in advance in the proximity direction.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, after each holding portion of the plurality of grippers moves in the direction approaching the article by each holding portion moving means to hold the article, each holding portion is moved by each holding portion moving means. While moving in a direction away from the position where the article is held, each rotating means individually rotates each holding portion to correct the angle of the held article, so that the holding rotation operation of one gripper and the holding rotation of another gripper Work can proceed in parallel. As a result, by rotating the entire article holding device, it is possible to hold each gripper at a higher speed than when the holding and rotating operations are sequentially performed. Further, since the entire article holding device is not rotated as in the prior art, but only the gripper is rotated, the weight of the rotating object is reduced, and the burden on the entire article holding device can be reduced. Play.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the holding portion moves in the contact / separation direction of the article without causing the shaft of the holding portion moving means to slide, there is an effect that the holding portion can be moved at high speed.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the holding portion can be rotated without hindering the reciprocating motion of the shaft by using a generally available stepping motor, the manufacturing cost of the article holding device can be reduced. There is an effect.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is an effect that the holding unit can hold the article without depending on the physical properties of the article to be conveyed.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the grippers of the article holding device hold the articles individually and align and fill the held articles while correcting the rotation angle. Therefore, the holding rotation operation of one gripper and the holding rotation of another gripper are performed. The work can be performed in parallel, whereby the article can be held at high speed. Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since a mechanism for rotating the article holding device itself is not required, the moving mechanism of the moving means can be simplified.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the load due to the weight of the article holding device is not applied to the driving means, a timing belt can be used for the driving means, and high-speed movement by the timing belt and low cost can be realized. There is an effect that can be.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the moving means moves the article holding device smoothly, the burden on the moving means can be reduced.

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the article holding device moves at a constant speed without suddenly stopping, the article is longer than the moving time required for the conventional moving method for holding the article after the article holding device is suddenly stopped. The moving time of the holding device can be shortened.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the article holding device and the article holding / transferring apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

  FIG. 1 shows the entire article holding / transferring apparatus 1 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the article holding and transferring apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a first conveyor 3 that conveys an article 40 (shown only in FIGS. 6 and 7 (b) and (c)), and an article holding. The article detection means (not shown) for detecting the position and orientation of the center of gravity of the article 40 upstream of the apparatus 2 in the conveying direction of the article 40, the article holding device 2 for holding the article 40, and the contact / separation direction ZD as a normal line The second conveyor 4 for transporting the moving means 5 for moving the article holding device 2 in two orthogonal directions (X direction and Y direction) and the tray 41 for arranging and filling the articles 40 (see FIG. 6). And a control means (not shown) for automatically controlling the entire article holding / transferring device 1. These members will be described in detail below.

  First, the article holding device 2 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 shows the entire article holding device 2 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the article holding device 2 of the present embodiment includes a frame 10 having a suspension portion 10 a and four grippers 9 arranged in two rows and two columns and fixed to the frame 10. The gripper 9 passes through the center of the holding unit 6, the holding unit 6 that holds the article 40 being conveyed, the holding unit moving means 7 that moves the holding unit 6 in the contact / separation direction ZD with respect to the article 40. Rotating means 8 for rotating the holding portion 6 with a virtual axis parallel to the contact / separation direction FD as a rotation axis.

  FIG. 3 shows a lower perspective view in which the front gripper 9 and its peripheral members are not shown in the article holding device 2 of the present embodiment. The frame 10 of the article holding device 2 of the present embodiment has a rotating means support portion 11 attached below the suspension portion 10a and a holding portion moving means fixing portion 12 attached below the rotation means support portion 11. is doing. The rotation means support portion 11 is formed by using two rectangular support plates 11a and 11b and a support column 11c sandwiched between the four corners. Moreover, the holding | maintenance part moving means fixing | fixed part 12 is formed using the three support | pillars 12a and 12b and the two arms 12c and 12d. Two struts 12a attached to both sides of the lower center of the lower support plate 11b of the rotating means support portion 11 support the intermediate arm 12c, and one strut 12b attached to the lower center of the intermediate arm 12c is the lower arm. 12d is supported.

  As the holding portion 6 of the gripper 9, a vacuum suction nozzle, a magnetic suction pad, or an electric suction pad can be used, but in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a telescopic hose (not shown) A suction nozzle is used in which the exhaust port 6b is connected to the vacuum pump 13 via the. The holding portion 6 has an intake port 6a below.

  4A and 4B show the holding unit moving means 7 of the gripper 9. As the holding portion moving means 7, a means having a linear motion mechanism that reciprocates the holding portion 6 (see FIG. 2) in the contact / separation direction ZD (see FIG. 2) can be used. As shown in 4 (a) and (b), a linear motion shaft motor using magnetism is used. This linear motion shaft motor has a holding portion 6 at a lower end portion 14a and reciprocates, a magnet (not shown) disposed inside the shaft 14, and a magnet while containing the shaft. And a guide rod 22 for guiding the reciprocating movement of the shaft 14. Further, in order to perform servo control of the linear motion shaft motor with high accuracy, as shown in FIG. 2, a linear encoder 26 having an encoder head 24 and an encoder scale 25 is disposed in the linear motion shaft motor.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a nonmagnetic metal circular tube such as a nonmagnetic SUS tube or an aluminum tube is used as the shaft 14 in order to prevent the magnetic field generated by the magnet from being disturbed. Two connecting portions 15 and 16 having different shapes are fixed to both ends 14a and 14b of the shaft 14 (see FIG. 3 for the lower connecting portion 15). A lower connection portion 15 fixed to the lower end portion 14 a of the shaft 14 fixes the lower end portion 14 a of the shaft 14 and the holding portion 6. Further, the upper connecting portion 16 fixed to the upper end portion 14b of the shaft 14 has two through-hole portions 16a drilled in the contact / separation direction ZD in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the shaft 14, and the upper connection portion 16 is fixed in the contact / separation direction ZD. The upper end 14b of the shaft 14 and the rotating shaft 8b of the rotating means 8 (see FIGS. 3 and 5) are connected without restricting the movement.

  As the magnet, a plurality of columnar permanent magnets are used, and are arranged in series so that the polarities are alternately switched like “N · S · N · S · N.

  As the coil, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, an inductance element coil having a diameter larger than the diameter of the shaft 14 is housed in a hollow square columnar casing 20 and used. The housing 20 is fixed to the intermediate arm 12c and the lower arm 12d of the frame 10 via a rectangular housing connecting plate 21 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4A.

  As the guide rod 22, as shown in FIG. 3, a round bar having a length similar to the length of the shaft 14 is used. Two guide rods 22 are arranged in parallel to the axial direction of the shaft 14 and, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 (a) and 4 (b), the housing is provided via two fixing brackets 23. It is fixed above and below the connecting plate 21, respectively. The guide rod 22 includes an upper connection portion 16 of the shaft 14 and an intermediate connection portion 18 fixed to the upper connection portion 16 using a connection portion connection plate 17 disposed in parallel with the axial direction of the shaft 14. The upper connection portion 16 and the intermediate connection portion 18 are slidably connected to each other through bearings 19 disposed respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 2, as the encoder head 24 of the linear encoder 26, a magnetic field sensor that converts a change in magnetic field into an input signal used for the control means is used. The encoder head 24 is fixed to an encoder head connection plate 24a fixed to the intermediate arm 12c (see FIG. 3).

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4B, the encoder scale 25 of the linear encoder 26 is serially connected so that the polarities are alternately switched like “N · S · N · S · N... A thin permanent magnet plate is used. The encoder scale 25 is fixed to the surface of the connection portion connecting plate 17 with its longitudinal direction parallel to the axial direction of the shaft 14.

  FIG. 5 shows the rotating means 8 of the gripper 9. As shown in FIG. 5, as the rotating means 8, a stepping motor having two connecting rods 8a extending in the contact / separation direction ZD at one end 8c of the rotating shaft 8b is used. These two connecting rods 8a are formed so as to be longer than the stroke amount of the shaft 14 of the holding portion moving means 7, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 (a) and 4 (b). As described above, the shafts 14 are respectively inserted into the two through-hole portions 16a of the upper connection portion 16 fixed to the upper end portion 14b side.

  Moreover, the 1st conveyor 3, the goods detection means, the 2nd conveyor 4, the moving means 5, and the control means in the goods holding | transfer apparatus 1 of this embodiment are as follows.

  As the first conveyor 3 and the second conveyor 4, as shown in FIG. 1, a belt conveyor that linearly moves in the transport direction FD is used. The first conveyor 3 and the second conveyor 4 are arranged such that their transport surfaces 3a and 4a are on the same plane and their linear motion directions are parallel to each other.

  As the article detection means, an apparatus having a CCD camera (not shown) and an analysis means (not shown) is used. The CCD camera is disposed at a position where the conveyance surface of the first conveyor 3 is photographed from above the first conveyor 3 on the upstream side in the conveyance direction FD with respect to the article holding device, and the article 40 conveyed by the first conveyor 3. And the position and orientation of the article 40 are detected. The analysis means regards the transport surface 3a of the first conveyor 3 and the transport surface 4a of the second conveyor 4 as XY planes, analyzes the (X, Y) coordinates and orientation of the article 40 of the article 40 obtained from the CCD camera, Is sent to the control means.

  The moving means 5 is a device in which a feed screw such as a ball screw or a linear motion mechanism such as a slide rail is formed in two perpendicular directions (for example, the X direction and the Y direction) on a plane whose normal is the contact / separation direction ZD. However, the moving means 5 of the present embodiment has the first slide rail 27, the second slide rail 28, the timing belt 29, and the driving means 30 and the article holding device 2 in two orthogonal directions. A moving device for moving is used.

  As the first slide rail 27, a metal slide rail that slides while suspending the suspension portion 10a of the article holding device 2 is used. The first slide rail 27 is disposed in a direction (X direction) orthogonal to the transport direction FD.

  As the second slide rail 28, two metal slide rails that are slid and moved while supporting both ends of the first slide rail 27 from below are used. The second slide rail 28 is disposed in a direction (Y direction) parallel to the transport direction FD.

  As the timing belt 29, a rubber timing belt having teeth (not shown) on the inner periphery is used. The timing belt 29 is disposed in parallel with the first slide rail 27 and one of the second slide rails 28, and above the article holding device 2 and the first slide rail 27, the article holding device 2 and the first slide rail 27. Each is fixed to a slide rail 27.

  As the drive means 30, a drive motor having a gear 30a at the tip of its rotating shaft is used. The gear 30a of the drive means 30 is connected to the inner peripheral teeth of the two timing belts 29 via another gear 30b. Are engaged with each other.

  As the control means, although not shown, a computer connected to each member is used. This control means transmits control information to each member based on a transfer program related to the first conveyor 3 and the second conveyor 4, a holding transfer program related to the article holding device 2 and the moving means 5, and the like. Each member is automatically controlled.

  In addition, it is preferable that the holding transfer program of this embodiment is formed based on the movement algorithm which moves the article holding apparatus 2 smoothly. As shown in FIG. 6, this movement algorithm processes a single smooth complementary curve SC passing through six predetermined positions P 0, P 1, P 2, P 3, P 4, Pe as a movement path of the article holding device 2. It is a technique to do.

  Here, the “predetermined six positions” are “the initial position P0 of the article holding device 2” on the XY plane obtained by the article detection means, and “the most downstream of the articles 40 conveyed by the first conveyor 3”. The article holding device 2 is positioned at the initial position P0 with respect to the center-of-gravity positions G1 to G4 of the four articles 40A to 40D (the same number as the number of clippers 9 provided in the article holding device 2) counting from the side (upper side in FIG. 6). The individual conveyance amounts of articles 40A to 40D conveyed during each time point from when the movement is started until each holding unit 6 holds each article 40A to 40D (the conveyance amount corresponding to each arrow in FIG. 6) ) Are added to the corrected center-of-gravity positions P1 to P4 ”and“ position Pe of the movement destination of the article holding device 2 (center of the tray 41) ”. In addition, the conveyance amount of each article | item 40A-40D is the value calculated based on the conveyance speed of the articles | goods 40A-40D by the 1st conveyor 3, and the moving speed of the article holding | maintenance apparatus 2, It is an individual value to be added to each of the center-of-gravity positions G1 to G4 that are required to advance without stopping the movement.

  In addition, “one smooth complementary curve” may be any complementary curve as long as it is a curve that is complemented to realize a single smooth curve that passes through all of the predetermined positions. . As “one smooth curve” in the present embodiment, P6 (X0, Y0), P1 (X1, Y1), P2 (X2, Y2), P3 (X3, Y3), which are predetermined six positions, An area to be complemented as data that complements P4 (X4, Y4) and Pe (Xe, Ye) is divided into arbitrary data intervals (Xi, Xi + 1), and approximated by a lower-order polynomial than “number of complementary data−1” Thus, a spline curve obtained based on spline interpolation that reduces the vibration of the function related to the complementary curve while matching the inclination of the seam between the data is employed.

  Further, the control means of the present embodiment lowers each holding unit 6 in advance so as to be close to the articles 40A to 40D before the article holding apparatus 2 passes through the corrected gravity center positions P1 to P4 arranged on the movement path. It is formed so as to perform control to be moved to.

  Next, the operation of the article holding device 2 and the article holding / transferring device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the first conveyor 3 conveys the article 40, the position and orientation of the article 40 with respect to the first conveyor 3 are detected by an article detection means (not shown) located on the upstream side in the conveyance direction FD. Then, the control means controls the movement of the article holding device 2 by the moving means 5 based on the detection information of the article detecting means, and the moving means 5 moves the article holding device 2.

  Here, in the moving means 5 of this embodiment, since the second slide rail 28 supports the first slide rail 27 and the first slide rail 27 supports the weight of the article holding device 2, the article holding device 2. In addition, the weight of the first slide rail 27 does not apply a load to the timing belt 29. Further, since no load is applied to the timing belt 29, the drive means 30 is not easily loaded. That is, the article holding device 2 can be moved at high speed without losing the driving force by the driving means 30 due to the weight of the article holding device 2 and the first slide rail 27. Moreover, since the timing belt 29 can be used for the drive means 30, the high-speed movement and low cost by the timing belt 29 are realizable.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the moving means 5 controlled by the control means uses one spline curve passing through predetermined six positions P0, P1 to P4, Pe as a moving path SC of the article holding device 2. The article holding device 2 is moved. By the movement operation of the article holding device 2, the movement of the article holding device 2 becomes smooth, and the burden on the moving means 5 can be reduced.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, the article holding device 2 moved by the moving means 5 includes a holding part moving means 7 that moves the holding part 6 in the contact / separation direction ZD with respect to the article 40, and the center of the holding part 6. Since the four grippers 9 having the rotating means 8 for rotating the holding portion 6 with the virtual axis parallel to the contact / separation direction FD as the rotation axis are passed, the entire article holding device 2 is made as in the prior art. Without sequentially performing the procedure of holding the article by lowering the holding portion 6 after rotating (see FIG. 8), the four grippers 9 are provided in the holding portions 6 as shown in FIG. Is moved downward in the contact / separation direction ZD to individually hold the articles 40 conveyed by the first conveyor 3, and as shown in FIG. 7C, the holding portions 6 holding the articles 40 are moved in the contact / separation direction. Corresponds to the orientation of the article 40 held while moving above the ZD It is possible to correct the rotation angle θ individually Te. Thereby, each gripper 9 of the article holding apparatus 2 of the present embodiment can hold and correct the rotation without being influenced by the work situation (particularly the rotation situation) of each other gripper 9. The entire apparatus 2 can be held at a higher speed than the conventional article holding apparatus 102 (see FIG. 8) that rotates. In addition, instead of rotating the entire article holding device 102 as in the past (see FIG. 8), only the gripper 9 is rotated individually, so that the object to be rotated (in the past, the entire article holding device 102 is In the embodiment, each gripper 9 is lightened and the moment of inertia is reduced, so that the burden on the article holding device 2 and the article holding / transferring apparatus 1 including the article holding device 2 can be reduced. .

  Here, in the article holding device 2 of the present embodiment, a linear motion shaft motor using magnetism is used as the holding portion moving means 7, so that the shaft 14 of the holding portion moving means 7 is held without sliding contact. The part 6 can be moved in the contact / separation direction ZD of the article 40. Thereby, the holding | maintenance part 6 can be moved at high speed. Further, since the shaft 14 reciprocates without sliding contact, no problem of wear occurs, and the shaft 14 is slidably guided by the guide rod 22 in the contact / separation direction ZD. Even if an external impact occurs during holding, the operation of the shaft 14 does not become unstable. As for the holding portion expansion / contraction operation, the control means can accurately control the stroke amount based on the information obtained from the linear encoder 26, so that the holding portion 6 comes into contact with the article 40 with an excessive force. The article 40 can be held without destroying the article 40.

  Further, in the article holding device 2 of the present embodiment, a stepping motor is used as the rotating means 8 of the present embodiment, and has two connecting rods 8a at one end portion 8c of the rotating shaft 8b. The two connecting rods 8a are inserted into two or more holes 16a drilled in the contact / separation direction ZD on the upper end portion 14b side of the shaft 14 of the holding portion moving means 7. By using such a rotating means 8, even if it is a simple structure using a stepping motor, the holding part 6 can be rotated without disturbing the operation of the shaft 14 reciprocating in the contact / separation direction ZD. it can. Further, since the stepping motors are distributed in large quantities, the manufacturing cost of the article holding device 2 can be reduced.

  Furthermore, since the holding unit 6 of the present embodiment is an adsorption nozzle connected to the vacuum pump 13, the holding unit 6 holds the article 40 without depending on physical properties such as magnetism and conductivity of the article 40 to be conveyed. Can be held.

  Here, the control means of the present embodiment that performs movement control and operation control of the article holding device 2 is performed until the article holding device 2 passes through the corrected gravity center positions P1 to P4 arranged on the smooth movement path SC. In addition, since the control is performed so that each holding unit 6 is brought close to the article 40 in advance, the article holding apparatus 2 can be moved at a constant speed without causing a sudden stop as in the prior art. Thereby, the movement time required from the movement start (at the time of P0 start) to the movement end (at the time of arrival of Pe) of the article holding device 2 can be made shorter than the conventional movement time.

  When these holding operations and holding unit rotating operations are performed for all of the four grippers 9, as shown in FIG. 6, the article holding device 2 is moved above the second conveyor 4 by the moving means 5 (movement destination position Pe). Move to. The second conveyor 4 conveys a tray 41 for filling the article 40 held by the article holding device 2, and when the article 40 held by the article holding device 2 reaches above the tray 41, the article holding is performed. The holding unit moving means 7 moves the shaft 14 for all four grippers 9 of the apparatus 2 to bring the holding unit 6 close to the tray 41, and the holding unit 6 finishes holding the article 40 and releases the article 40. To do. At this time, since the orientation of the articles 40 is individually corrected in advance by the rotating means 8, the articles 40 are placed in the tray 41 without rotating the articles 40 again by the rotating means 8 when the articles 40 are placed on the tray 41. Can be aligned and filled.

That is, the holding and rotating operation of one gripper and the holding and rotating operation of another gripper can be advanced in parallel by the article holding device 2 and the article holding / transferring device 1 of the present embodiment. The article holding device 2 can be held and transferred at high speed. Also, the article holding apparatus 2 and the article holding and transferring apparatus 1 of the present embodiment can be used to load the article holding apparatus 2 without imposing a burden on the driving means 30 of the moving means 5. Can be moved at a constant speed and at a high speed.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above etc., A various change is possible as needed.

The perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the goods holding | maintenance transfer equipment of this invention. Upper perspective view showing the article holding device of the present embodiment The lower perspective view which shows the state which abbreviate | omitted description of the near gripper and its peripheral member in the article | item holding apparatus of this embodiment. The perspective view which shows the holding | maintenance part moving means of this embodiment; (a) has shown from the connection board side, (b) has shown from the other side of the connection board. The perspective view which shows the rotation means of this embodiment The top view which shows the movement path | route of the article | item holding apparatus of this embodiment. The figure which shows the state which moved to the direction which adjoins the article | item while rotating the holding | maintenance part in the article | item holding apparatus of this embodiment; (a) is a perspective view which shows the whole article holding apparatus, (b) is the holding | maintenance part. Is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which the article is held, and (c) is a conceptual diagram showing a state in which the holding portion rotates θ while raising the article. A perspective view showing an example of a conventional article holding and transferring apparatus The top view which shows the movement path | route of the conventional article holding | maintenance apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Article holding | transfer transfer apparatus 2 Article holding apparatus 3 1st conveyor
3a Conveying surface 4 Second conveyor 5 Moving means 6 Holding part 6a Intake port 6b Exhaust port 7 Holding part moving means 8 Rotating means 8a Connection rod 8b Rotating shaft 8c One end 9 Gripper 10 Frame 10a Suspension part 11 Rotating means support part 11a, 11b Rectangular support plate 11c Post 12 Holding part moving means fixing part 12a, 12b Post 12c, 12d Arm (middle, lower)
12c Intermediate arm 12d Lower arm 13 Vacuum pump 14 Shaft 14a Lower end part 14b Upper end part 15, 16 Connection part (downward and upward)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Lower connection part 16 Upper connection part 16a Hole part 17 Connection part connection board 18 Intermediate connection part 19 Bearing 20 Housing | casing 21 Housing connection board 22 Guide rod 23 Fixing bracket 24 Encoder head 24a Encoder head connection board 25 Encoder scale 26 Linear encoder 27 First base rail 28 Second base rail 29 Timing belt 30 Drive motor 30a Gear 30b Other gear 40 Article 41 Tray FD Transport direction SC Movement path ZD Contact / separation direction (Z direction)

Claims (8)

A holding unit for holding an article being conveyed;
Holding unit moving means for moving the holding unit in the direction of contact with and away from the article;
An article holding apparatus, comprising: a plurality of grippers each having a rotating means that rotates the holding part about a virtual axis that passes through the center of the holding part and is parallel to the contact / separation direction. The holding portion moving means includes a shaft that has the holding portion at one end thereof and reciprocates, a magnet disposed inside the shaft, and propulsion by electromagnetic force with respect to the magnet while containing the shaft. 2. The article holding device according to claim 1, wherein the article holding device is a linear motion shaft motor having a coil for applying force and a guide rod for guiding reciprocation of the shaft. The rotating means is a stepping motor having two or more connecting rods inserted into two or more holes formed in the contact / separation direction on the other end side of the shaft at one end of the rotating shaft. The article holding device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The article holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the holding unit is a suction nozzle connected to a vacuum pump. The article holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A conveyor for conveying the article;
Article detection means for detecting the position and orientation of the center of gravity of the article on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the article from the article holding device;
An article holding / transferring apparatus comprising: a moving means for moving the article holding apparatus in two directions orthogonal to each other on a plane having the normal direction as the contact / separation direction. The moving means is
A first slide rail that slides while suspending the article holding device in one of the two directions;
A second slide rail that slides in the other direction orthogonal to the one direction while supporting the first slide rail from below;
Drive means for rotating the timing belt connected to the article holding device and the first slide rail from above the first slide rail and from the upper side of the second slide rail, respectively. The article holding / transferring apparatus according to claim 5. The moving means includes an initial position of the article holding device on a plane whose normal is the separation direction, and each of the same number of articles as the number of grippers counted from the most downstream side among the articles conveyed by the conveyor. Corrected barycentric position obtained by adding the conveyance amount of each article conveyed between the start of movement of the article holding apparatus and the holding of each article by the article holding apparatus with respect to the center of gravity position, and the article holding apparatus The article according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the article is controlled by a control means for calculating and processing one smooth interpolation curve passing through the position of the movement destination as a movement path of the article holding apparatus. Holding transfer equipment. The control means performs control to move the holding portion in advance in a proximity direction with respect to the article until the article holding device passes through each corrected gravity center position arranged on the movement path. The article holding / transferring apparatus according to claim 7.

Images