JP2009102173A - Workpiece temporary storage method using single conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a workpiece temporary storage method using a single conveyer, which stores the maximum number of workpieces by making effective use of a conveyance surface space. <P>SOLUTION: This storage method includes: a first process of detecting that a new workpiece is placed on a belt conveyance surface corresponding to a workpiece receiving area position A1 of a currently stopped conveyer 1 by a workpiece detection sensor 9; a second process of traveling the belt conveyance surface in the direction of the side of an abutting plate 7 disposed at one end of the conveyer 1, aligning the new workpiece with a temporarily stored workpiece being stored on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to a workpiece temporary-storage area position A2 without any clearance by inhibiting workpiece movement with the abutting plate 7 to minimize the distance between the workpieces, so as to form them into a single workpiece group; and a third process of traveling the belt conveyance surface in the direction opposite to the side of the abutting plate 7 so as to position the single workpiece group onto the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary-storage area position A2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of temporarily storing a work by a single conveyor, which can effectively store a work surface on a transport surface of a single conveyor so that the work can be stored to the maximum extent.

  A dry powder molding apparatus is an apparatus that uses a liquid such as water as a pressure medium and applies a high isotropic pressure of 100 MPa or more to the powder through a rubber mold in a pressure vessel to form the powder into various shapes. Yes, it is widely used in the field of ceramics and powder metallurgy.

  In a powder molded product production line equipped with this dry powder molding device, a workpiece (molded product) 51 is taken out of the dry powder molding device by a workpiece gripping device 52 and conveyed to a conveyor 53 for each molding cycle of the dry powder molding device. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the work is temporarily stored on the transport surface of the single conveyor 53 within the space of the transport surface by being placed on the transport surface of the stopped conveyor 53. I am doing so.

  In this case, when the workpieces are placed one by one on the transport surface at the start end position of the conveyor 53 by the workpiece gripping device, the workpiece placed last time interferes with the workpiece placed this time. It is necessary not to get in the way. For this reason, the work previously placed in advance is placed on the transport surface, and then the conveyor 53 is driven to run the transport surface in a direction opposite to the conveyor start end by a predetermined distance to grip the work. The device 52 is moved out of the working range.

  Thus, in the conventional work temporary storage method using a single conveyor, a large distance is generated between the works stored on the transport surface of the conveyor. For this reason, in order to temporarily store a predetermined number of works, a long conveyor is required and a large installation space is also required, and it has not been possible to smoothly cope with an increase in the production amount of molded products.

  Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-124721 has been proposed as a related art related to a work temporary storage method using a plurality of conveyors operated in cooperation with each other.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-124721 (second page, FIG. 1)

  Therefore, in the present invention, when the workpieces placed one by one are sequentially stored and temporarily stored on the transport surface of a single conveyor that is independently operated without cooperation with other conveyors, The work that is temporarily stored and the work to be placed this time can be prevented from interfering with the work to be placed, and the work surface can be effectively used to store the work as much as possible. It is an object of the present invention to provide a work temporary storage method using a single conveyor.

  The present invention for solving the above-described problems is configured as follows.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a contact plate is disposed at one end of a single conveyor having a flat belt conveyance surface, and the belt conveyance surface travels in the running direction starting from the contact plate with respect to the conveyor. The workpiece receiving area position and the workpiece temporary storage area position are set in order, the end of the workpiece temporary storage area position is set on the other end side of the conveyor, and corresponds to the workpiece temporary storage area position of the conveyor. A workpiece temporary storage method using a single conveyor that temporarily stores one workpiece group that is placed directly on the belt conveyance surface and that is arranged without gaps between adjacent workpieces. The first workpiece detection sensor detects that a new workpiece has been directly placed on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position of the conveyor being stopped. Following the first step and the first step, when the new workpiece is detected, the conveyor is driven to run the belt conveying surface in the direction of the contact plate, and the new workpiece and the workpiece The workpieces being temporarily stored stored on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the temporary storage area position are moved together, and the movement is prevented by the contact plate so that the distance is reduced and aligned without a gap. The second step of forming one workpiece group, and following the second step, the belt transport surface of the conveyor is caused to travel in the direction opposite to the contact plate side, at the beginning of the workpiece temporary storage area position. The second workpiece detection sensor arranged correspondingly causes the last workpiece in the traveling direction of the one workpiece group to reach a position on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the start end of the workpiece temporary storage area position. And a third step of stopping the driving of the conveyor and positioning the one work group on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the work temporary storage area position. This is a temporary work storage method using one conveyor.

  The work temporary storage method using a single conveyor according to the present invention is such that when a work is placed on the transport surface corresponding to the work receiving area position of the conveyor, the work being temporarily stored is the work stored on the conveyor. It is located on the transport surface corresponding to the temporary storage area position. Therefore, when storing workpieces that are placed one by one on the transport surface of a single conveyor in order and temporarily storing them, the workpieces that have been placed temporarily and the workpieces that are newly placed this time It is possible to prevent the interference with the mounting work without interfering with.

  Moreover, the workpiece temporary storage method by the single conveyor of Claim 1 is the gap between the new workpiece | work mounted on the conveyance surface, and the workpiece | work in the temporary storage stored until then, without gap. One work group formed by alignment is formed, and thereafter, this one work group is positioned and stored on the transport surface corresponding to the work temporary storage area position of the conveyor. Therefore, when storing workpieces placed one by one on the conveyor surface of a single conveyor in order and temporarily storing them, it is possible to store the workpieces to the maximum extent by effectively using the conveyor surface space. .

It is a top view which shows schematic structure of the apparatus used for implementation of the workpiece | work temporary storage method by the single conveyor by one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the workpiece | work temporary storage method of this invention, Comprising: (a) is explanatory drawing of a 1st process, (b) is explanatory drawing of a 2nd process, (c) is a 3rd process. It is explanatory drawing. It is a figure for demonstrating a mode that the molded article (work | work) shape | molded with the dry-type powder shaping | molding apparatus is mounted on the conveyance surface of a conveyor, and is temporarily stored with a workpiece | work holding | grip apparatus.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus used for carrying out a method for temporarily storing workpieces by a single conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

  1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a workpiece temporary storage conveyor (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a conveyor), which temporarily stores a molded product (work) formed by a dry powder molding apparatus. The conveyor 1 winds the belt 2 with a drive pulley 4 attached to one end (starting end) of the frames 3 and 3 and a tail pulley 5 attached to the other end (terminal) of the frames 3 and 3, and rotates the belt 2 endlessly. It is something to be made. A motor 6 that drives and stops the conveyor 1 is connected to the drive pulley 4. The conveyor 1 can be driven forward and backward. An abutment plate 7 is disposed at the starting end position on the left side of the conveyer 1 so as to cross the conveying surface of the belt 2. A plate-like stopper 8 is disposed at the right end position of the conveyor 1 in the drawing.

  For the conveyor 1, a workpiece receiving area position A1 and a workpiece temporary storage area position A2 are set in order along the traveling direction of the belt conveying surface with the contact plate 7 as a starting point. As will be described later, by a workpiece gripping device (not shown), as shown in FIG. 1, a rectangular workpiece is placed in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the conveying surface at the center on the belt conveying surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position A1. It is placed horizontally in an extended posture. A first work detection sensor 9 is arranged at the center of the work receiving area position A1 so as to sandwich the conveyor 1 therebetween. The first workpiece detection sensor 9 is for detecting that a workpiece is placed on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position A1. The first workpiece detection sensor 9 includes a transmissive photoelectric switch including a light emitter 9a and a light receiver 9b that detects that the light from the light emitter 9a is blocked by the workpiece.

  Further, as will be described later, the work is stored and temporarily stored on the belt conveying surface corresponding to the work temporary storage area position A2, as shown in FIG. A second workpiece detection sensor 10 is disposed at the starting end of the workpiece temporary storage area position A2 (the contact plate 7 side end at the workpiece temporary storage area position A2) so as to sandwich the conveyor 1 therebetween. The second workpiece detection sensor 10 includes a transmissive photoelectric switch including a light emitter 10a and a light receiver 10b. Further, at the end of the work temporary storage area position A2 (the end on the side opposite to the abutting plate 7 at the work temporary storage area position A2), a light emitter 11a and a light receiver 11b are arranged so as to sandwich the conveyor 1. A third workpiece detection sensor 11 composed of a transmissive photoelectric switch is disposed.

  Further, a control device (not shown) composed of a sequencer is provided. This control device sends a signal to the drive circuit of the motor 6 on the basis of detection signals from the workpiece detection sensors 9, 10, and 11 to drive the conveyor 1. It comes to control the stop.

  Next, the work temporary storage method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the work temporary storage method of the present invention, in which (a) is an explanatory diagram of the first step, (b) is an explanatory diagram of the second step, and (c) is the first diagram. It is explanatory drawing of 3 processes.

  First, the first step will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the workpiece temporary storage processing operation for the first (first) workpiece is completed, and the first workpiece is 1 on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2 of the conveyor 1 being stopped. It is assumed that the workpiece Wo (o: old) during temporary storage is stored. When a new workpiece Wn (n: new) is placed on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position A1 by a workpiece gripping device (not shown), this is the first workpiece detection sensor. 9 is detected.

  Next, the second step will be described with reference to FIG. When it is detected that a new work Wn is placed in the first step, the conveyor 1 is driven in reverse to run the belt conveying surface in the direction toward the contact plate 7. Then, the new workpiece Wn and the temporary storage workpiece Wo stored on the transport surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2 are blocked from moving by the contact plate 7, and the distance is reduced. Aligned with no gaps and grouped together as one work group. In this case, the traveling speed of the belt 2 is set to a low speed that can suppress the impact caused by the contact between the contact plate 7 and the workpiece Wn or the contact between the workpieces Wn and Wo. Then, when the workpieces Wn and Wo are grouped as one workpiece group aligned without a gap, the driving of the conveyor 1 is temporarily stopped. In this embodiment, the time from the reverse rotation driving of the conveyor 1 to this temporary stop is set in advance by a timer.

  Next, the third step will be described with reference to FIG. Next, the conveyor 1 is driven to rotate forward so that the belt conveyance surface travels in the direction opposite to the contact plate 7 side. Then, when the workpiece Wn which is the last workpiece in the traveling direction among the group of workpieces composed of the workpieces Wn and Wo aligned without a gap reaches the conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2, This is detected by the second workpiece detection sensor 10. In this embodiment, in the second workpiece detection sensor 10, the light receiver 10b is incident again after the light from the light emitter 10a is interrupted, so that the last workpiece Wn corresponds to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2. It is determined that it has reached the conveyance surface. When the arrival of the last workpiece Wn is detected, the driving of the conveyor 1 is stopped. In this case, the time from the start of the forward rotation drive to the stop of the conveyor 1 may be set in advance with a timer. Here, in determining the last workpiece Wn described above, when the light receiver 10b in the second workpiece detection sensor 10 is incident again after the light from the light emitter 10a is once interrupted, the time measurement by the timer is started. You may make it stop the drive of the conveyor 1 after progress of the defined setting time. This prevents the drive of the conveyor 1 from being stopped before the last workpiece Wn reaches the conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2 when a gap is generated between the workpieces for some reason. can do.

  The workpiece temporary storage processing operation including the first to third steps is repeated. Then, when the work in the foremost row in the group of work groups arranged without gaps reaches the terminal position of the work temporary storage area position A2, this is detected by the third work detection sensor 11. Thus, the driving of the conveyor 1 is stopped. At the same time, the fact that the work on the transport surface corresponding to the work temporary storage area position A2 is in a full state is displayed on the display or is notified by voice. Note that the stopper 8 is for preventing an accidental drop from the conveyor 1 of a fully loaded workpiece due to a failure of the third workpiece detection sensor 11 or the like. The workpieces temporarily stored in the conveyor 1 in this way are sent to the next machining process, for example, manually.

  As described above, the workpiece temporary storage method according to the present embodiment is a temporary storage workpiece that has been stored so far when the workpiece Wn is placed on the transport surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position A1 of the conveyor 1. Wo is positioned on the conveying surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position A2 of the conveyor 1. Therefore, when the workpieces Wn placed one by one are sequentially stored and temporarily stored on the transport surface of the single conveyor 1, the temporarily stored workpiece Wo placed up to the previous time and this time newly placed. The interference with the workpiece Wn to be placed can be eliminated so as not to interfere with the placement work.

  In addition, a new work Wn placed on the transport surface and a temporary storage work Wo stored so far are formed to form a single work group in which the distance is reduced and aligned without a gap, Thereafter, this one work group is positioned and stored on the transfer surface corresponding to the work temporary storage area position A2 of the conveyor 1. Therefore, when sequentially storing workpieces placed one by one on the transport surface of a single conveyor 1 and storing them temporarily, the space on the transport surface is effectively used and maximized. Can store workpieces.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Conveyor for workpiece | work temporary storage 2 ... Belt 3 ... Frame 4 ... Drive pulley 5 ... Tail pulley 6 ... Motor 7 ... Abutting plate 8 ... Stopper 9 ... 1st workpiece detection sensor 10 ... 2nd workpiece detection sensor 11 ... 1st 3 Work detection sensor A1 Workpiece receiving area position A2 Workpiece temporary storage area position Wo, Wn Workpiece

Claims (1)

A contact plate is disposed at one end of a single conveyor having a flat belt conveyance surface, and a workpiece receiving region position in order along the traveling direction of the belt conveyance surface with respect to the conveyor as a starting point. The workpiece temporary storage area position is set, the end of the workpiece temporary storage area position is set on the other end side of the conveyor, and is directly mounted on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage area position of the conveyor. A workpiece temporary storage method by a single conveyor that temporarily stores one workpiece group that is placed and arranged between adjacent workpieces and aligned without gaps,
A first step of detecting by a first workpiece detection sensor that a new workpiece is placed directly on a belt conveying surface corresponding to the workpiece receiving area position of the conveyor being stopped;
Following the first step, when the new workpiece is detected, the conveyor is driven to run the belt conveying surface in the direction of the contact plate, and the new workpiece and the workpiece temporary storage area position are moved. A group of workpieces formed by moving together the temporarily stored workpieces stored on the corresponding belt conveyance surface and preventing the movement by the abutting plate so that the distance is reduced and aligned without a gap. A second step of forming
Following the second step, the second work detection sensor disposed corresponding to the start end of the work temporary storage area position by running the belt conveying surface of the conveyor in the direction opposite to the contact plate side, When it is detected that the last work in the traveling direction of the one work group has reached a position on the belt conveyance surface corresponding to the start end of the work temporary storage area position, the driving of the conveyor is stopped, And a third step of positioning the one workpiece group on a belt conveyance surface corresponding to the workpiece temporary storage region position.

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