JP2010189141A - Roller carrying device and roller carrying method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a roller carrying device capable of carrying an elastic roller after forming an elastic layer by stably holding a shaft core body of the elastic roller. <P>SOLUTION: The roller carrying device carries the roller 1 having the shaft core body 1a composed of a magnetic material along a carrying passage while being erected in the gravitational direction. This roller carrying device has a receiving piece 2 having a receiving part 2b having a hole 2a capable of receiving one end of the shaft core body 1a inserted from above and an insertion part 2d arranged on the opposite side of the receiving part 2b, and a permanent magnet part 3 insertable into the insertion part 2d. The roller 1 is held by the receiving piece 2 by attracting one end of the shaft core body 1a to the receiving part 2b by magnetic force of the permanent magnet part 3 inserted into the insertion part 2d, and holding by the receiving piece 2 is released by separating the permanent magnetic part 3 from the insertion part 2d. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a roller transport device and a roller transport method using the roller transport device.

  An elastic roller for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus is manufactured by forming an elastic layer of unvulcanized rubber around a shaft core, and then heat-curing the elastic layer. At that time, the shaft core body and the shaft core body on which the unvulcanized elastic layer is formed are generally transported to each process by holding both end portions of the shaft core body with holding means such as a robot hand. (See Patent Document 1).

JP-A-9-262844

  However, with the recent miniaturization of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the elastic roller is required to have a short axial length. As a result, in the elastic roller after forming the elastic layer, the length of the exposed portion where the outer peripheral surface is exposed is not covered with the elastic layer at both ends of the shaft core body. is there.

  If the length of the exposed portion of the shaft core body is short, the exposed portion of the shaft core body may not be stably held by the robot hand. Also, when the exposed portion of the shaft core body of the elastic roller whose length of the exposed portion of the shaft core body is short is held by the robot hand, the robot hand comes into contact with the end portion of the elastic body layer and the elastic layer is damaged. There is a possibility of receiving.

  Therefore, the present invention uses a roller conveying device capable of stably holding and conveying the elastic roller after the elastic layer is formed and the shaft core of the elastic roller, and the same. An object of the present invention is to provide a roller conveying method.

  A roller transport device according to the present invention is a roller transport device that transports along a transport path in a state where a roller having an axial core made of a magnetic material stands in the direction of gravity, and is inserted from above. A receiving member having a receiving portion having a hole capable of receiving one end of the shaft core, and an insertion portion provided on the opposite side of the receiving portion; and a receiving member inserted into the inserting portion. A magnet member, and the roller is in a state where it is raised in a gravitational direction by attracting one end of the shaft core body to the receiving portion by the magnetic force of the magnet member inserted into the insertion portion. The holding member is released and the holding by the receiving member is released by separating the magnet member from the insertion portion.

  The roller transport method according to the present invention is a roller transport method using the transport device described above, and the shaft core body of the roller having the shaft core body made of a magnetic material is placed in the hole of the receiving portion. Inserting the magnet member into the insertion portion and transporting the roller in a state where the roller is held in the receiving portion; and separating the receiving member and the magnet member to separate the receiving member and the magnet member. And a step of releasing the holding of the roller.

  The present invention relates to a roller transport device capable of stably holding and transporting an elastic roller after an elastic layer is formed, and a shaft core body of the elastic roller, and a roller using the same An object of the present invention is to provide a transport method.

It is sectional drawing of the receiving piece and permanent magnet part which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the conveying apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of the conveyance part of the conveying apparatus shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the receiving piece of the conveyance part shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the function of the wedge-shaped board of the conveying apparatus shown in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the ring coater which can be used for one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the ring nozzle of the ring coater shown in FIG. It is the figure which expanded the heater part of the heating apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the injection | throwing-in process which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the receiving piece which concerns on Example 2 and Example 3. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the receiving piece which concerns on the comparative example 1. FIG.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  In the present invention, attention is paid to the fact that the shaft core used for the roller is generally made of a magnetic material, and the lower end portion of the shaft core is held by magnetic force. In addition, the holding of the shaft core by the magnetic force can be released when the roller is taken out.

  1 (a) and 1 (b), the shaft core body 1a of the elastic roller 1 has one end inserted into a hole 2a formed in a receiving piece 2 which is a receiving member for holding the shaft core body 1a. In this state, the receiving portion 2b formed at the lower end of the hole 2a is supported from the lower side in the direction of gravity. Furthermore, the receiving piece 2 has an overhanging portion 2c that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the gravitational direction so as to ride on the upper surface in the gravitational direction of a wedge-shaped plate 20 (see FIGS. 2 and 5) described later.

  In the receiving piece 2, a permanent magnet portion 3, which is a magnet member, is inserted into an insertion portion 2 d adjacent to the receiving portion 2 b on the opposite side, that is, the lower side in the gravity direction. In the state shown in FIG. 1A, an attractive force to the receiving portion 2 b is given to the shaft core body 1 a by the permanent magnet portion 3. Therefore, even when the exposed portions at both ends of the shaft core body 1a are short, one end of the shaft core body 1a can be stably held in the hole 2a of the piece 2.

  In the state shown in FIG. 1 (b), the shaft core 1 a is separated from the permanent magnet portion 3 by sliding the receiving piece 2 upward in the gravitational direction indicated by the arrow with respect to the permanent magnet portion 3. That is, in the state shown in FIG. 1B, a gap is formed between the upper surface in the gravity direction of the permanent magnet portion 3 and the shaft core 1a, and the magnetic force of the permanent magnet portion 3 does not reach the shaft core 1a. The core body 1a is self-supporting in the receiving piece 2 by entering the hole 2a.

  1 (a) and 1 (b) schematically show the shape of the permanent magnet portion 3, and the permanent magnet portion 3 is actually a metal boss as shown in FIG. A permanent magnet 3 a is inserted into the inside 5.

  FIG. 2 is a bird's-eye view conceptually showing the transport apparatus according to this embodiment. This conveying device is used for primary heating of the elastic roller. The transport device includes a transport unit 11 that holds the elastic roller 1, and can transport the elastic roller 1 by moving the transport unit 11 by a conveyor 13 that is a transport device. The transport unit 11 is provided with a permanent magnet unit 3 and a receiving piece 2 that can slide and move upward in the direction of gravity with respect to the permanent magnet unit 3.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transport unit 11 is rotated around the shaft 6 (see FIG. 3) in the heating unit 14 in the transport path of the conveyor 13. Thereby, the elastic body roller 1 rotates centering around the shaft core body 1a.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the transport unit 11 to which the elastic roller 1 is attached. The conveyance unit 11 includes a permanent magnet unit 3, a receiving piece 2, a shaft 6, a bearing bearing 7, a rotation sprocket 8, a presser flange 12, a chain receiver 9 for a conveyor 13, and a thrust load receiving bearing 10. .

  The shaft core 1a is formed into a shape such as a columnar shape or a hollow cylindrical sleeve shape by a magnetic material having a property of being attracted to a magnet. Moreover, it is preferable that the gravitational lower surface of the shaft core 1a, that is, the surface attracted to the receiving portion 2b by the permanent magnet 3a is chamfered. In this case, a surface matching the shape of the shaft core 1a is formed on the receiving portion 2b of the receiving piece 2. As a result, the distance between the permanent magnet portion 3 and the shaft core body 1a can be shortened when the attractive force is applied to the shaft core body 1a shown in FIG. Strong adsorption power can be applied. At the same time, the shaft core body 1a can easily stand on the receiving piece 2 even when the suction force is not applied to the shaft core body 1a shown in FIG.

  Note that it is not essential to form a surface that matches the shape of the shaft core 1a on the receiving portion 2b of the receiving piece 2, and the receiving piece 2 has a hole 2a for allowing the shaft core 1a to stand on its own and the direction of gravity of the shaft core 1a. What is necessary is just to have the receiving part 2b holding a lower surface.

  Moreover, although the hole for making the permanent magnet part 3 and the shaft core 1a contact | abut is formed in the receiving part 2b, it is not essential to form this hole.

  As the permanent magnet 3a used for the permanent magnet portion 3, a permanent magnet 3a that acts on the shaft core body 1a and can obtain a force sufficient to attract the shaft core body 1a to the upper surface in the gravity direction of the receiving portion 2b is used. When a hole for contacting the permanent magnet portion 3 and the shaft core body 1a is not formed in the receiving portion 2b, the permanent magnet 3a has an attractive force catalog value of 18.0 Newton (N) or more. Is preferably selected.

  FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the receiving piece 2 shown in FIG. When a surface matching the shape of the chamfered shaft core 1a is formed on the receiving portion 2b of the receiving piece 2, there is no special restriction on the machining angle θ. In the present embodiment, the shaft core body 1a is a normal C chamfer, and θ is 90 degrees. A surface processed at 90 ° of θ of the receiving portion 2b is referred to as a C surface.

  The dimensions of the receiving part 2b are preferably determined so that the lower surface in the gravitational direction of the shaft core body 1a can come into contact with the permanent magnet part 3 in consideration of the material and strength of the receiving piece 2. The dimensional tolerance of the outer diameter of the shaft core 1a is preferably about H7, and the dimensional tolerance of the inner diameter d of the hole 2a of the receiving piece 2 is preferably about h7.

  The material of the receiving piece 2 may be non-magnetic and easily processable, and it is preferable that deformation and rubbing wear hardly occur even when the shaft core body 1a is placed. Further, when the elastic roller 1 is heated during the manufacturing process of the elastic roller 1, heat is also applied to the receiving piece 2. Therefore, the receiving piece 2 is preferably formed of a material having heat resistance that does not deform or change even at the highest temperature applied during the manufacturing process of the elastic roller 1, for example, 250 ° C.

  Specific examples of the material suitable for forming the receiving piece 2 include polyether ether ketone (PEEK) resin material, duralumin material, non-magnetic austenitic stainless steel material, and the like. When the receiving piece 2 is formed of these materials, for example, when the outer diameter of the shaft core 1a is 6 mm, the depth j of the hole 2a from the upper surface in the gravity direction of the receiving piece 2 to the receiving portion 2b is from 2.0 mm. It is preferable to be within a range up to 4.0 mm.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the permanent magnet portion 3 preferably has a structure in which the permanent magnet 3 a is included in the metal boss 5 and the permanent magnet 3 a is exposed on the upper surface in the gravity direction. As the permanent magnet 3a, a neodymium magnet or a cobalt magnet is generally used. Moreover, since the permanent magnet 3a is heated during the manufacturing process of the elastic roller 1, it is desirable that the permanent magnet 3a has a heat resistance of 150 ° C. or higher. As the permanent magnet 3a, for example, an industrial permanent magnet can be selected from standard parts manufactured by MISUMI Corporation.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the elastic body roller 1 is automatically charged into the receiving piece 2 of the conveyance unit 11 that is circulated by the conveyor 13 by the automatic loading robot 70, and is conveyed by the conveyor 13 together with the conveyance unit 11.

  When the conveyance unit 11 reaches the heating unit 14, the sprocket 8 for rotation meshes with a chain 15 for rotation provided along the heating unit 14. The rotation chain 15 rotates clockwise. Therefore, the transport unit 11 is rotated counterclockwise around the shaft 6 by the rotation chain 15. Therefore, the elastic body roller 1 rotates counterclockwise around the shaft core body 1 a together with the transport unit 11.

  After passing through the heating unit 14, the elastic roller 1 is removed from the receiving piece 2 by the take-out robot 71. A wedge-shaped plate 20 is provided at the removal position of the elastic roller 1 on the conveyance path of the conveyor 13.

  The wedge-shaped plate 20 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, the elastic roller 1 is omitted. The wedge-shaped plate 20 serves as an ejector (a separating member) that separates the shaft core body 1a from the permanent magnet portion 3 after the elastic roller 1 is conveyed.

  The wedge-shaped plate 20 is an inclined member formed so that the upper surface in the direction of gravity increases in the direction in which the transport unit 11 is moved by the conveyor 13. When the receiving piece 2 of the transport unit 11 holding the elastic roller 1 reaches the wedge-shaped plate 20 beyond the position A in FIG. 5, the receiving piece 2 protrudes on the inclined upper surface in the gravity direction of the wedge-shaped plate 20. Part 2c rides up.

  When the receiving piece 2 is further conveyed by the conveyor 13, the receiving piece 2 is lifted by moving the lower surface in the gravity direction of the overhang portion 2 c along the upper surface in the gravity direction of the wedge-shaped plate 20. That is, the wedge-shaped plate 20 uses the conveying force of the elastic roller 1 that is a force perpendicular to the direction of gravity applied to the conveying unit 11 by the conveyor 13 to use the wedge-shaped plate on the lower surface in the gravity direction of the protruding portion 2c. It is moved along the upper surface in the gravity direction of 20. At this time, the receiving piece 2 moves upward in the gravitational direction with respect to the permanent magnet portion 3 and is separated from the upper surface of the permanent magnet portion 3 in the gravitational direction.

  After the receiving piece 2 moves to the position B in FIG. 5 and is separated from the permanent magnet portion 3 by the wedge-shaped plate 20, the robot 71 receives the shaft core 1 a that stands on the receiving piece 2. A take-out step of taking out from is performed. Thus, by providing the wedge-shaped plate 20, the shaft core body 1 a can be brought into a state where it is not attracted to the receiving portion 2 b in the taking-out process, so that the elastic roller 1 is smoothly taken out from the receiving piece 2. be able to. The removal process is also referred to as a removal process or a payout process.

  The receiving piece 2 passes through the wedge-shaped plate 20 and then drops by gravity and again comes into contact with the upper surface of the permanent magnet portion 3 in the gravitational direction. However, after the receiving piece 2 passes through the wedge-shaped plate 20, the receiving piece 2 It is also possible to provide a mechanism (not shown) for forcibly lowering the at a desired speed regardless of gravity. This improves the reproducibility of the roller manufacturing process.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example demonstrates this invention further in detail, these do not limit this invention at all. The present invention can be applied to various roller manufacturing processes. Here, an example applied to an elastic roller manufacturing process for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus will be described. More specifically, a manufacturing process of an elastic roller (also referred to as a developing roller substrate) in which an elastic layer is formed on a shaft core before coating is applied to the surface layer for adjusting electrophotographic characteristics will be described. .
[Example 1]
In the manufacturing process of an elastic roller for development, a ring coating method was used as a method of forming an elastic layer in a cylindrical shape around a shaft core made of a magnetic material by using an elastic layer material such as a liquid resin. For the primary curing of the elastic layer formed by the ring coating method, a method of heating and curing with an automatic continuous heating apparatus using near infrared rays was used.
<Preparation of elastic layer material and cored bar>
(Preparation of elastic layer material)
Liquid silicone rubber was used to form the elastic layer. As the base material of this liquid silicone rubber, a mixture of organopolysiloxane with silica powder, quartz powder, carbon black or the like as a filler was used.

  Here, a mixture obtained by mixing a trace amount of a platinum compound as a curing catalyst in the base material is referred to as a mixture A, and a mixture obtained by mixing an organohydrogenpolysiloxane in the base material is referred to as a mixture B. The mixture A and the mixture B are respectively set in the first raw material tank and the second raw material tank provided in the ring coat machine, and sent to the static mixer using a pressure feed pump, so that the mixture A and the mixture B are 1: 1. The ratio was mixed.

  Thereby, a liquid material having a yield stress of 50 Pascals (Pa) can be obtained. Yield stress was measured with a viscoelasticity measuring device. The yield stress measurement method for liquid rubber materials using a viscoelasticity measuring device is described below. As a viscoelasticity measuring device, Rheo Stress 600 manufactured by Haake was used.

  First, about 1 g of a material to be measured is collected and placed on a sample table, and the cone plate is gradually brought closer. A cone plate having a diameter of 35 mm and an inclination angle of 1 ° was used. The measurement gap, which is the distance from the sample plate of the cone plate, was set to about 50 μm. At that time, the material pushed around by the cone plate was removed cleanly so that the measurement was not affected.

  The temperature of the platen was set so that the material temperature was 25 ° C., and the measurement was started after the material was set and left for 10 minutes.

The stress applied to the sample is varied from 180 Pa to 50000 Pa (frequency is 1 Hz) over 180 seconds, and changes in storage elastic modulus G ′, loss elastic modulus G ″, and phase difference tan δ at that time are 32. G ′ is a constant value in the first linear viscoelastic region, and then the curve drawn by the storage elastic modulus G ′ and the curve drawn by the loss elastic modulus G ″ intersect. The stress value at the point where the curve drawn by the storage elastic modulus G ′ and the curve drawn by the loss elastic modulus G ″ intersect was read and used as the yield stress.
(Preparation of shaft core)
As the shaft core 1a, a round steel bar having a diameter of 6 mm and a length of 265 mm was prepared by applying chemical nickel plating to the surface.
<Creation of elastic roller>
(Description of ring coat machine)
As a ring coater, a vertical form ring coater whose outline is shown in FIG. 6 was used.

  In this ring coater, a column 32 is attached as a body column substantially vertically on a gantry 31, and a ball screw 33 is substantially vertically attached to the gantry 31 and the column 32. Two linear guides 44 are attached to the column 32 so as to be parallel to the ball screw 33.

  The LM guide 34 is connected to the linear guide 44 and can move up and down by the driving force from the servo motor 35 being transmitted through the pulley 36.

  A ring-shaped coating nozzle (hereinafter referred to as “ring nozzle”) 48 that discharges the material liquid for forming the elastic layer is attached to the column 32 on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core 1a.

  Further, a bracket 37 is attached to the LM guide 34. A shaft core lower holding shaft 39 that holds and fixes the lower end portion of the shaft core body 1 a of the elastic roller 1 is attached to the bracket 37 substantially vertically, and the shaft core is positioned at a position facing the shaft core lower holding shaft 39. A shaft core holding shaft 40 that holds the upper end of the body 1a is attached. The shaft core upper holding shaft 40 is disposed so as to be substantially concentric with the shaft core lower holding shaft 39. The shaft core lower holding shaft 39 and the shaft core upper holding shaft 40 can move up and down in parallel to the central axis direction of the ring nozzle 48.

  Further, when the shaft core lower holding shaft 39 and the shaft core upper holding shaft 40 are moved up and down, an annular slit opened inside the ring nozzle 48 and the center axis of the material outlet (described later) and the lower shaft core The holding shaft 39 and the central axis of the shaft core holding shaft 40 are adjusted so as to be substantially concentric. With such a configuration, a uniform gap is formed between the inner peripheral surface of the ring nozzle 48 and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core body 1a.

Further, the supply port of the liquid resin to the ring nozzle 48 is connected to a material supply valve 43 via a material liquid transfer pipe 42. The ring coat machine includes a static mixer, a material supply pump, a material dispensing device, a material tank, etc. (all not shown) on the further upstream side of the material supply valve 43.
(Description of ring nozzle)
FIG. 7 shows an enlarged cross section of the ring nozzle 48 shown in FIG. The ring nozzle 48 is formed of a stainless steel material. The ring nozzle 48 has an upper part 52, a lower part 53, and an outer ring 57, which are fitted as shown in FIG. The liquid resin material injected from the material injection port 54 into the ring nozzle 48 is filled in the entire circumference of the space in the outer ring 57 and pushed out from the material outlet portion 56.
(Description of elastic layer formation)
As shown in FIG. 6, the elastic body layer 1 b is formed on the shaft core body 1 a in a state where the shaft core body 1 a is held by the holding shafts 39 and 40. The liquid resin material is continuously extruded from the material outlet portion 56 of the ring nozzle 48, and the holding shafts 39 and 40 are raised at a speed of 60 mm / sec while adhering the liquid resin material to the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core body 1a. The body 1a is moved. Thereby, a liquid resin material adheres to a cylindrical shape (roll shape) on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core body 1a, and an uncured elastic body layer 1b is formed. Then, the elastic roller 1 is removed from the ring coat machine.

  Next, this uncured elastic roller 1 is heated and cured by the heating unit 14 shown in FIG. FIG. 8 shows the heating unit 14 in an enlarged manner. The heating unit 14 is a primary heating device using near infrared rays. In the heating unit 14, 14 rod-shaped near-infrared heaters made of Iwasaki Electric having a total length of 800 mm are lined up and down with the longitudinal direction thereof directed toward the conveying direction of the elastic roller 1. The arrangement dimension in the vertical direction was set to the length of 250 mm in the longitudinal direction of the elastic body layer 1 b of the uncured elastic body roller 1.

  The elastic roller 1 held by the receiving piece 2 travels along the arrow in FIG. 8 while rotating around the shaft core 1a, and the elastic layer 1b receives near-infrared radiation on its entire circumference. It cures when heated. In FIG. 8, three shaft cores 1 a are drawn, which conceptually shows a process in which the elastic roller 1 proceeds.

  The pitch for attaching the transport unit 11 to the conveyor 13 was 32 mm, and the length of one round of the conveyor 13 was 4160 mm. The conveyance speed of the conveyor 13 was adjusted to 6.67 mm / sec so that the conveyance unit 11 passed through the heating unit 14 in 2 minutes. In addition, in the conveyance process which conveys the elastic body roller 1, the distance by which the elastic body roller 1 is conveyed to the conveyor 13 is about 3 m.

  The maximum output per heater of the heating unit 14 is 800W. Moreover, the near-infrared irradiation amount in the heating part 14 was adjusted so that the surface temperature of the elastic body layer 1b might be 200 degreeC after the elastic body roller 1 passed the heating part 14. FIG. This adjustment was performed using a thyristor.

The shape of the receiving piece 2 will be described with reference to FIG. Each dimension shown in FIG. 4 was as follows. As a material for forming the receiving piece 2, a polyether ether ketone (PEEK) resin material was used.
θ: 90 °, a: 16 mm, b: 20 mm, c: 30 mm, d: 6.01 mm
e: 28 mm, f: 20 mm, g: 23 mm, j: 3.5 mm
For the permanent magnet 3a shown in FIG. 3, a model number HXNH heat-resistant neodymium magnet manufactured by MISUMI Corporation having an outer diameter of 8 mm, a length of 8 mm, and a catalog value of adsorption force of 18.6 N is selected. Inserted into the boss 5 of part 3. In addition, as the input robot 70 shown in FIG. 2, model number VS-6556 manufactured by Denso Corporation was used.
(Measurement of receiving part adsorption force)
In the present embodiment, a permanent magnet 3a having an attractive force catalog value of 18.6N is used. However, since the shaft core 1a contacts only a part of the upper surface of the permanent magnet 3a in the direction of gravity, the shaft core The force required to separate the body 1a from the receiving portion 2b is smaller than the attracting force of the permanent magnet 3a. Here, the force required to separate the shaft core body 1a from the receiving portion 2b is referred to as a portion suction force.

  A method for measuring the receiving portion suction force will be described. First, the conveyor 13 is stopped, and with the receiving piece 2 in contact with the upper surface in the gravitational direction of the permanent magnet 3a, the shaft core body 1a is manually attached to the receiving piece 2 to be independent. Subsequently, a spring-type tensile scale (OHBASHIKI 30 Newton scale) is prepared. The portion of the scale to be pulled (at the hooked shape at the tip) and the upper portion of the shaft core body 1a are connected with an adhesive tape. Then, by manually pulling the scale upward in the direction of gravity, a numerical value obtained by subtracting the weight of the shaft core body 1a from the numerical value indicated by the scale immediately before the shaft core body 1a is separated from the receiving portion 2b of the receiving piece 2 is obtained. Record the suction force of the receiving part in Newton units.

  In this measurement, the position A shown in FIG. 5 immediately before the receiving piece 2 rides on the wedge-shaped plate 20 (ejector) of the take-out portion of the conveyor 13 and the receiving piece 2 is lifted most by the wedge-shaped plate 20. It was performed at two locations, B position shown in FIG. As a result, the receiving portion suction force at the A position and the B position was 12.0 N at the A position and 0.0 N at the B position.

  Although it is preferable that the receiving portion attracting force at the B position is small, in this embodiment, the elastic body roller 1 can be smoothly taken out if it is 1.0 N or less.

The greater the receiving portion suction force at the A position, the stronger the force that holds the shaft core 1a on the piece 2 during the conveyance of the elastic roller 1. In the present embodiment, if the receiving portion suction force at the A position is 7.0 N or more, it is sufficient to hold the shaft core 1a on the receiving piece 2 even when the exposed portion of the end portion of the shaft core 1a is short. Power was obtained.
(Removal of elastic roller)
When the elastic roller 1 is removed from the receiving piece 2 after the elastic roller 1 has passed through the heating unit 14 shown in FIG. 2, the wedge-shaped plate 20 functions as an ejector as described above. After the transport unit 11 passes through the heating unit 14, when the transport unit 11 continues to be transported to the conveyor 13 and reaches the removal place, the protruding portion 2 c of the receiving piece 2 rides on the upper surface in the gravity direction of the wedge-shaped plate 20.

  As a result, the receiving piece 2 slides upward in the gravitational direction with respect to the permanent magnet portion 3 and is separated from the upper surface in the gravitational direction of the permanent magnet portion 3. As a result, the shaft core 1 a is separated from the magnetic force adsorption by the permanent magnet portion 3. Can be released.

  While the shaft core 1a is released from the magnetic force adsorption by the permanent magnet unit 3 and is self-supporting on the receiving piece 2, the conveyor 13 is continuously operated by using the robot 71 (model number VC-6353 manufactured by Denso Corporation). In this state, the heated elastic roller 1 is taken out.

  Moreover, when taking out the elastic body roller 1 from the conveyance part 11 on the conveyor 13, it can also be set as the mechanism which stops the conveyor 13 temporarily and drives intermittently. However, if the mechanism for temporarily stopping the conveyer 13 is used, the operation and stop of the conveyer 13 are repeated during the conveyance, and the uncured elastic roller 1 before passing through the heating unit 14 being conveyed by the conveyer 13. Acceleration is repeatedly applied to the elastic layer 1b. This may adversely affect the outer diameter accuracy of the elastic body layer 1b. This tends to cause defects such as density unevenness in an image formed by the image forming apparatus including the elastic roller 1. Therefore, it is desirable that the conveyor 13 can be continuously operated instead of intermittent feeding.

  A mechanism that allows the elastic roller 1 to be inserted into and removed from the receiving piece 2 while the conveyor 13 is continuously operated will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, electromagnets 27 and 28 are attached to the tips of the robot transfer arms of the robots 70 and 71. The robots 70 and 71 have electromagnet circuits (not shown) for excitation and demagnetization, and a magnetic force is generated by supplying electric power to the electromagnets 27 and 28 by the electromagnet circuit, so that the lower surfaces of the electromagnets 27 and 28 in the gravitational direction. Thus, the upper end of the shaft core body 1a can be held.

  The robots 70 and 71 can separate the shaft core 1a from the lower surface in the gravity direction of the electromagnets 27 and 28 by stopping the power supply to the electromagnets 27 and 28 by the electromagnet circuit. Model numbers FSGP-40 and FSDS-2043 manufactured by Fujita Co., Ltd. were used for the electromagnet circuit.

When the elastic roller 1 is inserted, the robots 70 and 71 are operated in combination with the optical proximity switch 21, the automatic operation program, and the robot teaching program shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (b). Let
<Temporary curing process>
The temporary curing process of the elastic roller according to the present embodiment will be described below.
(Input process)
The charging process of this embodiment will be described.
1. First, in order to remove the elastic roller 1 from the ring coater shown in FIG. 6, the shaft core holding shaft 40 of the ring coater is raised and separated from the upper end of the elastic roller 1. Next, the conveying arm of the robot 70 (see FIG. 2) is moved between the uncured elastic body roller 1 held on the shaft core lower holding shaft 39 and the shaft core holding shaft 40 by the procedure taught in advance. Carry in the space. Then, the electromagnet 27 of the robot 70 is excited, the transport arm is lowered so that the electromagnet 27 is close to the upper end of the elastic roller 1, and the shaft core 1a of the elastic roller 1 is attracted to the electromagnet 1a.
2. Next, the conveying arm of the robot 70 is raised and turned to convey the elastic body roller 1 to the loading position of the conveyor 13. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9A, the elastic roller 1 is put on standby at the loading position of the conveyor 13. In this embodiment, the elastic roller 1 is put on standby at a position where the lower end of the elastic roller 1 is 5 mm above the upper surface in the gravity direction of the receiving piece 2. When the receiving piece 2 of the conveying unit 11 conveyed by the conveyor 13 approaches the standby elastic roller 1, the lower end of the elastic roller 1 is a hole of the receiving piece 2 by the magnetic force of the permanent magnet unit 3 inside the receiving piece 2. Is attracted into 2a.
3. A proximity switch 21 is provided at the loading position of the elastic roller 1 of the conveyor 13. When the receiving piece 2 continues to move, the receiving piece 2 moves in front of the proximity switch 21 as shown in FIG. Cross. Then, the robot 70 lowers the transport arm and inserts the elastic body roller 1 into the hole 2 a of the piece 2. The elastic roller 1 inserted into the hole 2 a of the receiving piece 2 is held by the receiving portion 2 b of the receiving piece 2 from the lower side in the gravity direction and is attracted to the permanent magnet portion 3. The robot 70 inserts the elastic roller 1 into the hole 2 a of the receiving piece 2 and simultaneously demagnetizes the electromagnet 27 to release the holding of the elastic roller 1. Subsequently, the robot 70 moves up to the operation of raising the transport arm and inserting the next elastic roller 1.
(Conveying process)
In this embodiment, the transfer process is performed after the charging process. In the transport process, the elastic roller 1 is transported to the take-out position by the conveyor 13. In addition, a heating process is performed in which the elastic roller 1 is heated by the heating unit 14 during the transport process.
(Separation process)
In the present embodiment, after the conveying step, a separation step of separating the receiving portion 2b and the permanent magnet portion 3 is performed at the take-out position of the elastic roller 1. The separation step is performed by the wedge-shaped plate 20 as described above.
(Removal process)
In the present embodiment, after the separation step, the removal step is performed.
1. A proximity switch (not shown) similar to the proximity switch provided at the loading position is also provided at the take-out position of the elastic roller 1 of the conveyor 13. The proximity switch is disposed at the B position in FIG. 5, and in the separation step, the receiving piece 2 to which the elastic roller 1 is attached is conveyed to the B position, and the elastic roller 1 is moved to the permanent magnet portion by the wedge-shaped plate 20. When separated from 3, the proximity switch detects the receiving piece 2. When the proximity switch detects the receiving piece 2, the robot 71 removes the elastic body roller 1 from the piece 2 in the reverse order of the loading process.
2. After the robot 71 pulls out the elastic roller 1, the robot 71 transports the elastic roller 1 to a predetermined palletizing position, and the take-out process ends.
<Secondary curing process>
In order to stabilize the physical properties of the thermally cured elastic body layer 1b after the elastic body roller 1 is primarily cured as described above, and to extract and remove reaction residues and unreacted low molecular components in the elastic body layer 1b. Secondary curing is performed by heating in an oven at 200 ° C. for 1 hour. Thereby, the elastic roller product is completed.

The cured elastic body layer formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core body 1a through the above steps has an outer diameter of 12.0 mm, a layer thickness of 3.0 mm, and a longitudinal length of 250 mm. .
[Example 2]
FIG. 10A is a cross-sectional view of the receiving piece 102 according to the second embodiment. The receiving piece 102 is different from the receiving piece 2 according to the first embodiment in the shape of the hole for bringing the shaft core body 1a into contact with the permanent magnet section 3 and the end of the shaft core body 1a. The C plane formed together is not formed.

  The dimension h shown in FIG. 10A is 1.0 mm, and the depth of the hole 102a is 4.0 mm. Other than that, the elastic roller 1 was produced in the same configuration as in Example 1.

  In Example 2, when the elastic roller 1 rotates around the shaft core body 1a in the heating unit 14 during the conveyance of the elastic roller 1 by the conveyor 13 shown in FIG. 2, the upper end of the shaft core body 1a is 10 mm. A swinging swing was seen. However, the influence on the temporary hardening of the elastic roller 1 by this swing was not seen.

  The receiving portion suction force at the A position and B position shown in FIG. 5 was 8.0 N at the A position and 0.0 N at the B position. In the present embodiment, the lower end portion of the shaft core body 1a is not in contact with the permanent magnet portion 3, so that it is considered that the receiving portion attracting force is lower than that in the first embodiment. However, even in such a configuration, a sufficient receiving portion suction force for holding the shaft core 1a in the receiving portion 2b was obtained.

In addition, since the shaft core body 1a does not come into contact with the permanent magnet part 3 by adopting the shape shown in FIG. 10A, heat from the heating part 14 is transferred from the shaft core body 1a to the permanent magnet part 3 during the heating process. The effect of becoming difficult to get was obtained. Thereby, the magnetic force fall (thermal deterioration of a permanent magnet) after long-time driving | running of the permanent magnet part 3 can be suppressed.
[Example 3]
FIG. 10B is a cross-sectional view of the receiving piece 202 according to the third embodiment. Unlike the receiving piece 2 according to the first embodiment, the receiving piece 202 does not have a C-plane formed on the receiving portion 202b according to the shape of the end of the shaft core 1a. Further, unlike the receiving piece 102 according to the second embodiment, the receiving piece 202 has a through hole that forms a space between the shaft core 1a and the permanent magnet portion 3 in the receiving portion 202b. The dimension i shown in FIG. 10B is 4 mm. Other than that, the elastic roller 1 was produced in the same configuration as in Example 1.

  The swinging width of the upper end of the shaft core 1a in the heating unit 14 was about 5 mm, and the swinging was suppressed from Example 2. Similar to Example 2, no influence on the temporary curing of the elastic roller 1 by this swing was observed.

  The receiving portion suction force at the A and B positions shown in FIG. 5 was 9.0 N at the A position and 0.0 N at the B position.

The receiving piece 202 is easier to clean than the receiving piece 102 according to the second embodiment by forming a through hole in the receiving portion 202b.
[Example 4]
In Example 4, a permanent magnet having a lower attractive force than the permanent magnet 3a of the permanent magnet unit 3 used in Example 1 was used. This permanent magnet is a model number HXSMS thin neodymium magnet manufactured by MISUMI Corporation having an outer diameter of 8 mm, a length of 3 mm, and a catalog value of an attractive force of 2.9 N.

  Since the shape of the permanent magnet according to the present embodiment is different from that of the permanent magnet 3a according to the first embodiment, the boss 5 of the permanent magnet portion 3 according to the first embodiment is additionally processed, and the permanent magnet according to the present embodiment is added to the boss 5. A magnet was inserted. Other than that, the elastic roller 1 was produced in the same configuration as in Example 1.

  In the fourth embodiment, the swinging width of the upper end of the shaft core 1a in the heating unit 14 is increased to about 8 mm, but as in the first and second embodiments, the elastic body roller 1 is temporarily cured by this swinging. There was no effect on

The receiving portion suction force at the A and B positions shown in FIG. 5 was 6.0 N at the A position and 0.0 N at the B position.
[Example 5]
In Example 5, a permanent magnet having a stronger attracting force than the permanent magnet 3a of the permanent magnet unit 3 used in Example 1 was used. This permanent magnet is a model number HXN neodymium magnet manufactured by MISUMI Corporation having an outer diameter of 8 mm, a length of 10 mm, and a catalog value of attractive force of 55.9 N.

  Further, similarly to Example 4, the boss 5 of the permanent magnet portion 3 according to Example 1 was additionally processed according to the shape of the permanent magnet, and the permanent magnet according to this example was inserted into the boss 5. Other than that, the elastic roller 1 was produced in the same configuration as in Example 1. In Example 5, the swinging of the upper end of the shaft core 1a in the heating unit 14 hardly occurred.

  The receiving portion suction force at the A position and B position shown in FIG. 5 was 19.0 N at the A position and 7.0 N at the B position.

Thus, in the present embodiment, even when the elastic roller 1 is removed from the receiving piece at the B position, the attracting force by the permanent magnet acts on the shaft core body 1a of the elastic roller 1. However, the elastic roller 1 can be taken out without any problem by increasing the magnetic force of the electromagnet 28 when the elastic roller 1 is removed from the frame by the take-out robot 71 shown in FIG.
[Comparative Example 1]
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the receiving piece 302 according to the first comparative example. The receiving piece 302 is formed with a hole 302a by drilling, but unlike the receiving pieces 2, 102, 202 according to the above-described embodiment, no receiving portion is formed. Other than that, the elastic roller 1 was produced in the same configuration as in Example 1.

  In Comparative Example 1, when the elastic roller 1 is taken out by the take-out robot 71 shown in FIG. 2, the upper surface in the gravitational direction of the receiving piece 302 pushes up the elastic layer 1b of the elastic roller 1, as shown in FIG. A phenomenon that the outer diameter of the lower end portion of the elastic layer 1b temporarily swells by about 3 mm occurred. Thereby, it can be estimated that the lower end part of the elastic body layer 1b partially peeled from the outer peripheral surface of the shaft core body 1a.

  On the other hand, in any of the above-described embodiments, since the receiving portion is formed on the receiving piece, it is possible to prevent the lower end portion of the elastic body layer 1b of the elastic roller 1 from coming into contact with the upper surface in the gravity direction of the receiving piece. Therefore, in any of the above-described examples, the problem that occurred in Comparative Example 1 did not occur.

  Finally, Table 1 shows the results of the above Examples and Comparative Examples.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Elastic body roller 1a Shaft core body 1b Elastic body layer 2 Receiving piece 2a Hole 2b Receiving part 2c Overhanging part 3 Permanent magnet part 3a Permanent magnet 5 Boss 6 Shaft 11 Conveying part 13 Conveyor 14 Heating part 20 Wedge-like board 21 Proximity switch 70 Robot 71 for taking out Robot for taking out

Claims (3)

A roller conveying device that conveys along a conveying path in a state where a roller having an axial core body made of a magnetic material stands in the direction of gravity,
A receiving member having a receiving portion having a hole capable of receiving one end of the shaft core body inserted from above, and an insertion portion provided on the opposite side of the receiving portion;
A magnet member that can be inserted into the insertion portion,
The roller is held by the receiving member while standing in the gravitational direction by attracting one end of the shaft core to the receiving portion by the magnetic force of the magnet member inserted into the insertion portion, and The roller conveying device is characterized in that the holding by the receiving member is released by separating the magnet member from the insertion portion.   The roller conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the magnet member is in contact with the one end of the shaft core body when the shaft core body is inserted into the hole of the receiving member. A roller transport method using the roller transport device according to claim 1 or 2,
A state in which the shaft core body of the roller having the shaft core body made of a magnetic material is inserted into the hole of the receiving portion, and the roller is held by the receiving portion by inserting the magnet member into the insertion portion. The process of transporting with,
And a step of releasing the holding of the roller by the receiving member by separating the receiving member and the magnet member.

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