JP2008183632A - Workpiece holding and transporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a workpiece holding and transporting device simply structured and exerting excellent durability. <P>SOLUTION: The workpiece holding and transporting device is equipped with a tool 4 orbiting in a certain direction along a guide groove 13 having a square/rectangular shape in the plan view while it is changing the direction. The guide groove 13 is formed with an outer guide frame 2 and an inner guide part 3. The orbiting of the tool 4 along the guide groove 13 takes place under combination with sliding generated by an air cylinder for feeding 21. The tool 4 is stopped in the corner parts 14-17 of the guide groove 13, and handling and/or processing is applied to the work in the stopped condition. This allows easy and simple performance of locating the tool 4 without using any expensive indexing device, in which movement is generated by pushing only the tool 4, so that the structure is strong despite its lightweight construction as a whole, and accordingly a high durability is secured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece holding and conveying device used for processing a workpiece (member).

  Various workpieces have been processed (or processed) into products or semi-finished products, but the workpieces are generally processed automatically. In this automatic process, a jig is generally used, and materials are set, processed, and taken out continuously. Looking at the relationship between the jig and the workpiece in this automatic process, there are a case where the process is advanced while transferring the workpiece to the adjacent jig, and a case where the process is advanced by moving the jig.

  When the jig is moved as in the latter case, the jig is usually moved along a closed locus. Conventionally, as a means for that, the jig is attached to the turntable and the turntable is moved. The material (work) is set, processed, and taken out by intermittently rotating.

There are various methods for driving the turntable, but a method of driving a gear fixed to the central shaft with a motor is widely used. In addition, the jig needs to be positioned at a predetermined position. Therefore, when a turntable is used, an expensive indexing device that accurately sets the rotation angle is required to accurately position the jig. . As an example of a turntable driving means and an indexing device, Patent Document 1 discloses that a turntable is intermittently rotated by a pushing action by a turning cylinder and is indexed to a stopper provided at equal intervals on the outer periphery of the turntable. It is disclosed that positioning (indexing) is performed by fitting a stopper of a cylinder.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-33998

  Although it seems that the turntable can be rotated at a high speed because of its rotational movement, there are aspects that are not necessarily true. In other words, the turntable must be rotated to a rough position with a motor or cylinder and then accurately positioned (indexed) with a stopper. However, if the turntable is rotated at a high speed, a large inertial force acts, so that It may not be possible to stop or an impact may be applied to the indexing stopper, which naturally limits the rotational speed.

  Also, since the turntable is heavy so that the jig can be supported stably, inertial force due to its own weight acts on the turntable. For this reason, the rotating shaft and bearings must be made robust. In addition, there is a problem that the apparatus is increased in size and cost. In particular, when a downward load is applied to the jig when processing a workpiece, the turntable must have a more robust structure, so there are significant problems such as an increase in weight, an increase in cost, and an inability to increase the rotation speed. Appears.

  This invention makes it a subject to improve such a present condition.

  The present inventor has conceived that the problem of the turntable can be solved by moving only the jig, and has completed the present invention by repeating research and trial production.

  That is, the workpiece holding and conveying apparatus of the present invention first includes at least one jig on which a workpiece is set, a base including guide means for guiding the jig to circulate in a certain direction in plan view, and the jig. A jig for moving the tool, and the jig makes a round while repeating stop and advance along the guide means, and the workpiece is set and processed while the jig is stopped.・ Removal is performed sequentially.

  The guide means is formed in a polygonal shape in plan view by continuously connecting a plurality of guide units extending linearly in plan view in an annular shape, and the jigs are adjacent to each other. The guide unit is designed to circulate in a fixed direction while drawing a closed loop trajectory of a polygon in a plan view in which the direction is changed after stopping at a corner where the guide unit intersects. Further, the feeding device is a pusher that moves in a linear direction. The linear motion pressing device is provided individually for each location of the guide units.

  The present invention has various variations. As an example, in the invention of claim 2, in claim 1, the direct-acting pressing device is an air cylinder, and a piston rod of the air cylinder serves as a pusher, while each corner portion of the guide device is Positioning means for holding the jig in the corner portion is provided at the place, the jig, or both.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, as a preferred development example of the second aspect, as the positioning means, a magnet is attached to any one or both of the portions where the guide means and the jig are in close contact.

  In the present invention, since only the jig moves, the weight can be remarkably reduced as compared with the conventional turntable system, and the guide means is simple and expensive bearings are not necessarily required, so the cost can be greatly reduced. . In addition, the jig is stopped at the corner of the guide part, but the corner part is fixed and can receive a large load reliably with a simple structure such as providing a buffer means. However, it can also contribute to speeding up the machining process.

  Furthermore, since the jig is supported by a fixed base (table or bed), there is no problem of damage to the member or a decrease in durability even if a downward load is applied to the jig when processing the workpiece. Of course, since an expensive indexing device is not required, it can contribute to cost reduction.

  Although a hydraulic cylinder, an electromagnetic cylinder, etc. can be used as the direct-acting pressing device, if an air cylinder is used as in claim 2, an air pipe generally provided in a factory can be used. It can contribute to cost reduction. Further, since air cylinders with various long strokes are commercially available, there is an advantage that they can be easily applied to devices of various sizes.

  Further, in the case of providing the positioning means as in claim 2, it is sufficient that the positioning means holds the jig in close contact with the corner portion, and inertial force due to movement of the jig acts on the positioning means itself. Therefore, a large load is not applied unlike the positioning stopper in the turntable indexing device, and thus high durability can be ensured. If a magnet is used as the jig positioning means as in claim 3, it is particularly beneficial because of its excellent cost and durability.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show the first embodiment, FIG. 6 shows the second embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows the third embodiment. Hereinafter, description will be made sequentially. 1st Embodiment is applied to the holding | maintenance conveyance apparatus used for the assembly | attachment of the screw with a cap (or bolt with a cap).
(1) First Embodiment Of FIGS. 1 to 5, FIG. 1 is a partially separated perspective view of a holding and conveying apparatus, FIG. 2 is an overall plan view, and FIG. 3A is a partially broken view. A top view, (B) is a BB view sectional view of (A), and (C) is a CC view sectional view of (A).

  The holding and conveying device includes a base 1 such as a square, an outer guide frame 2 having a square shape (planar view) fixed to the base 1, an inner guide portion 3 fixed to the center of the base 1, an outer guide frame 2 and an inner guide frame 2. And four jigs 4 fitted and arranged in a groove between the guide portion 3 and the guide portion 3.

  The outer guide frame 2 is composed of four guide units 5 that extend linearly in a plan view. By arranging adjacent guide units 5 in an orthogonal posture in a plan view, the outer guide frame 2 has a square shape as a whole. It is a frame. Each guide unit 5 is composed of a lower member 6 and an upper member 7 that overlaps the upper surface thereof, and both are fastened to the base 1 with bolts (not shown).

  For example, as clearly shown in FIG. 3 (B), the upper member 7 is overhanged inward by a slight dimension from the lower member 6, and a part of the upper member 7 is a flange portion 10a. The guide unit 5 may have an integral structure. Further, the inner guide portion 3 is composed of a lower block 11 and an upper plate 12, and the four peripheral portions of the upper plate 12 protrude outside the lower block 11. The lower member 6 of the outer guide frame 2 and the lower block 11 of the inner guide portion 3, and the upper member 7 of the outer guide frame 2 and the upper plate 12 of the inner guide portion 3 have the same height.

  In the present embodiment, the outer guide frame 2 and the inner guide portion 3 constitute the guide means described in the claims. For this reason, the outer guide frame 2 and the inner guide portion 3 form a dovetail groove in a square shape in plan view. A guide groove 13 is formed. The guide means has four corner portions. For convenience, one arbitrary corner portion is defined as the first corner portion 14, and the second corner portion 15 and the third corner portion are sequentially formed in the clockwise direction in plan view starting from the first corner portion 14. 16 and the fourth corner portion 17.

  The jig 4 includes a substantially square (square) slider 18 that is slidably fitted in the guide groove 13 and cannot be removed upward, and a die 19 fixed to the upper surface of the slider 18. A receiving hole 20 into which a screw fits is vacant at the center of the upper surface of the die 19. Since the slider 18 is quadrangular in plan view, the guide groove 13 can be circulated while changing the direction by 90 ° at each corner portion 14 to 17.

  The slider 18 of the jig 4 has four corners formed in an arc shape in order to prevent the corner portions 14 to 17 from buffering with the lower block 11 of the inner guide portion 3 and to smoothly change the direction. Instead of forming the four corners in an arc shape, chamfering may be performed in a plan view.

  In this embodiment, a feed air cylinder 21 is employed as a linear motion pressing device for moving the jig 4 linearly along each guide unit 5. Four air cylinders 21 for feeding are provided corresponding to each guide unit 5, and are arranged outside the guide unit 5 so as to extend along the center line of each side of the guide groove 13. The feed air cylinder 21 is fixed to the base 1 with a bolt via a header 22 (may be fixed to the lower member 6 of the guide unit 5).

  As a matter of course, the feed air cylinder 21 includes a piston rod 23. The piston rod 23 serves as a pusher described in claims, and the slider 18 is pushed by the piston rod 23. For example, as shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 3A, a contact member 24 may be provided at the tip of the piston rod 23. Each lower member 6 constituting the outer guide frame 2 has a hole 25 through which the piston rod 23 passes.

  As clearly shown in FIGS. 3A and 3C, the slider 18 of the jig 4 is held at one end portion of the lower member 6 in each guide unit 5 in close contact with the corner portion of the guide groove 13. A magnet 26 is provided as positioning means. On the other hand, the slider 18 is made of a magnetic material such as steel or ferritic stainless steel. When the slider 18 is made of a non-magnetic material, a second magnet 27 that is magnetically attached to the first magnet 26 may be embedded in the slider 18. Further, when the slider 18 is a non-magnetic material and the lower member 6 of the guide unit 5 is a magnetic material, it is possible to provide only the second magnet 27 on the slider 18.

  As described above, the magnet 26 is a specific example of the positioning means described in the claims, but in this embodiment, as a specific example of the positioning means, the upper plate 12 of the inner guide portion 3 is provided with a positioning air cylinder 28. Is provided. That is, the magnets 26 and 27 and the positioning air cylinder 28 are used in combination as positioning means.

  Two positioning air cylinders 28 are used, and these are placed one above the other so as to extend in a diagonal direction of the upper plate 12 in plan view, and are fixed to the upper plate 12 with bolts. The upper positioning air cylinder 28 is fixed to the upper plate 12 via a block 29 (both cylinders 28 may be fastened together without using the block 29). In the present embodiment, the two air cylinders 28 are stacked one above the other, but the four cylinders may be directly fixed to the upper plate 12 if space is allowed.

  The positioning air cylinder 28 includes a piston rod 30 that can move individually in the opposite direction. A contact member 31 that can hit the die 19 of the jig 4 from the side may be provided at the tip of the piston rod 30. When the contact member 31 is provided, a rubber material is preferable.

  The jig 4 circulates around the guide groove 13 along each guide unit 5 by being sequentially pushed and moved by the feed air cylinder 21. In this case, the slider 18 of the jig 4 may collide with the lower member 6 of the guide unit 5 due to the extrusion of the feed air cylinder 21. Therefore, it is preferable that each lower member 6 is provided with a buffer means for reducing the impact of the slider 18. An example of the buffer means is shown in FIG.

  That is, first, in the example shown in FIG. 4A, the rubber 33 is used as a cushioning material, and the rubber 33 is fitted into the hole 34 formed in the lower member 6. On the other hand, in the example shown in (B), the coiled spring 35 is used as a cushioning material, and the headed cushioning rod 36 is biased forward by the coiled spring 35.

  Furthermore, in the example shown in (C), a conical spring 37 is used as a cushioning material. The conical spring 37 is fitted into the conical hole 38 of the lower member 6 from the back side and cannot be retracted by the screw-type plug 39. Hold on. Instead of these, a commercially available shock absorber may be used.

  When the jig 4 is pushed out by the slider 18 of the air cylinder 21 for feeding, in order to alleviate the impact, a slight amount of the piston rod 23 is moved between the slider 18 and the lower member 6 of the guide unit 5 in a state where the piston rod 23 is fully advanced. It is preferable to set so that the interval is large. That is, it is preferable to set the slider 18 so that it is held by the corners 14 to 17 by the magnet 26 after the piston rod 23 has been fully advanced and advanced by inertia force (inertia). The positioning by the magnet 26 has a strong temporarily held color, and the positioning for keeping the position incapable of shifting is performed by a positioning air cylinder 28.

(2). Processing Example As described above, the jig 4 slides on the upper surface of the base 1 along the guide groove 13 and turns around the corner portions 14 to 17 while changing the direction thereof. ˜17 are held by the positioning air cylinder 28 so as not to be laterally displaced. For this reason, various work and processing can be performed in a state where the jig 4 is stopped at the corner portions 14 to 17.

  FIG. 5 schematically shows a processing procedure for the screw 41 with the cap. That is, first, for example, in the first stage (I) where the jig 4 is located at the first corner portion 14, the screw 41 is set on the die 19 of the jig 4 (the shaft portion is fitted into the hole 20), and then The cap 42 is fitted on the head 41a of the screw 41 at the second stage (II) where the jig 4 is located at the second corner portion 15, and then the jig 4 is located at the third corner portion 16. The cap 42 is caulked in the third stage (III), and finally the screw 41 of the cap 42 is taken out in the fourth stage (IV) where the jig 4 is positioned at the fourth corner portion 17.

  The setting of the screw 41 to the die 19 is automatically performed using a parts feeder and chute rails (not shown). Further, the caulking of the cap 41 is also performed using a caulking device (not shown), and the screw 41 is automatically taken out by a pickup device such as a vacuum suction type.

(3). Other embodiment (FIG. 6)
In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the slider 18 is formed in a circular shape. In this case, the jig 4 can rotate horizontally. Positioning means such as the positioning air cylinder 28 are omitted.

  In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 7, it is formed in a regular hexagonal shape in plan view with the slider 18 of the jig 4, and the guide groove 13 is also hexagonal in a front view. Adjacent guide units 5 cross at an angle of 120 ° in plan view. Since there are six stages in this embodiment, six steps can be performed.

  Further, a stopper 46 having a buffer function for receiving the slider 18 of the jig 4 is arranged at each corner portion 45 so as to be movable back and forth. The stopper 46 can be driven by an air cylinder or an electromagnetic solenoid, and since it has a buffer function, high durability is ensured. The positioning air cylinder 28 is built in the inner guide portion 3 (also in the first embodiment, the positioning air cylinder 28 may be built in the inner guide portion 3 if space is allowed).

(4). Others The present invention can be embodied in various ways other than the above embodiment. For example, it can be used for various processes other than attaching a cap to a screw, and inevitably the form and structure of a jig vary depending on the shape of the work and the content of the process. Since the jig and the base are resistant to a downward load, for example, the jig and the base are suitable for a fastening operation such as an operation of fastening a plurality of members with rivets. As the direct acting pressing device, it is also possible to use a free piston type air cylinder, hydraulic cylinder or electromagnetic cylinder.

  The guide means can be embodied in various ways. For example, an annular (regular polygon in plan view) guide groove may be formed on the upper surface of the base, and a guide protrusion protruding from the lower surface of the jig may be fitted into the guide groove.

It is a partial separation perspective view of the holding conveyance device of a 1st embodiment. It is a top view of the whole holding | maintenance conveyance apparatus. (A) is a partial partially broken plan view, (B) is a sectional view taken along line BB of (A), and (C) is a sectional view taken along line CC of (A). It is a figure which shows a buffer means. It is a schematic diagram of the process of attaching a cap to a screw. It is a top view of a 2nd embodiment. It is a top view of a 3rd embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 Outer guide frame which comprises guide means 3 Inner guide part which comprises guide means 4 Jig 5 Guide unit 13 Guide groove 14-17 Corner part 18 Slider 19 Die 21 Air cylinder 23 Piston rod 24 Pusher 26 Position Magnet composing means 28 Air cylinder for positioning

Claims (3)

At least one jig on which a workpiece is set; a base including guide means for guiding the jig so as to circulate in a fixed direction in plan view; and a feeding device for moving the jig. The jig is rotated around the guide means while repeating stop and advance, and the workpiece is set, processed, and taken out sequentially in the stop state of the jig.
A workpiece holding and conveying device
The guide means is formed in a polygonal shape in plan view by continuously connecting a plurality of guide units extending linearly in plan view in a ring shape. It draws a closed loop trajectory of a polygon in plan view that changes direction after stopping at the corner where the unit intersects, and it goes around in a certain direction,
Further, the feeding device is a direct acting pressing device provided with a pusher that moves in a linear direction, and the direct acting pressing device is individually provided for each location of each guide unit.
Work holding and conveying device. The direct acting pressing device is an air cylinder, and the piston rod of the air cylinder forms a pusher,
Positioning means for holding the jig in the corner part is provided at each corner part or jig or both in the guide device,
The workpiece holding and conveying apparatus according to claim 1. As the positioning means, a magnet is attached to either one or both of the portions where the guide means and the jig are in close contact with each other.
The workpiece holding and conveying apparatus according to claim 2.

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