JP2010240778A - Flexible suction hand and flexible suction method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexible suction hand simplified in structure, reduced in weight and size, and applicable to workpieces of various shapes, and also provide a flexible suction method. <P>SOLUTION: This flexible suction hand includes: a flexible support member 13 which is attached to the hand mounting part 11 of a conveying robot and deformable along the outer surface of a workpiece; a plurality of vacuum suction pads 14 which are attached to the flexible support member 13 at intervals and which vacuum-suck the workpiece; vacuum pressure reducing tubes 15 which communicate with the vacuum suction pads 14 and the insides of which are depressurized so as to be deformable along the outer surface of the workpiece 1; and a plurality of fall prevention valves 16 attached to the vacuum suction pads 14 or the vacuum pressure reducing tubes 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible suction hand and a flexible suction method for gripping and transporting a workpiece.

  In a system using a suction pad used for gripping and transferring an article, the suction pad 101 is generally provided on a frame 102 made of a metal pipe or the like as shown in the prior art of FIG. . However, since the suction pad 101 needs to be brought into contact with the flat portion of the workpiece, in order to cope with various uneven portions and inclinations of the workpiece surface, the conveyance having the suction pad arranged appropriately for the shape of the workpiece each time. I had to replace it with a device.

  In order to solve this problem, for example, Patent Document 1 has already been proposed.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a transport apparatus to which the suction plate 201 of Patent Document 1 is attached. In this figure, 201 is a suction disk, 202 is a holding frame, and 203 is a work.
In Patent Document 1, a plurality of suction plates 201 are provided on the holding frame 202, and the position and inclination of the suction plate 201 of the transport device are set so that the various shapes of the workpiece 203 can be sucked and transported by the suction plate 201. It can be changed.

  As another solution, for example, Patent Document 2 has already been proposed.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transport apparatus to which the suction disk of Patent Document 2 is attached. In this figure, 301 is an end effector, 302 is a vacuum pad, 303 is a suction pad, 304 is a work, and 305 is a flow control valve.
In Patent Document 2, in an end effector attached to a robot, a hoist or the like, a suction pad 303 is attached to the tip of a vacuum pad 302 that can freely move up and down, and a swing mechanism is attached to the vacuum pad 302. And can swing in any desired direction, so that the workpiece 304 having various shapes can be sucked and transported by the suction pad 303. Further, since the flow rate adjustment valve 305 is provided in the vacuum pad 302, even if some of the plurality of suction pads 303 cannot be sucked by the work, air flows in and sucks another. It is possible to prevent the suction force of the vacuum pad 302 from decreasing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-206211 JP-A-9-285986

  However, in the conveyance device to which the suction disk of Patent Document 1 is attached, when the work is irregular and uneven, the work frame and the holding frame provided with the suction disk come into contact with each other, and the work can be sucked well. It cannot be used because it cannot.

  Moreover, in the end festa of patent document 2, since the length of a vacuum pad can be adjusted according to the shape of a workpiece | work, even if there exists a big unevenness | corrugation and inclination, it can be used with respect to a workpiece | work of various shapes. However, the structure of the end festa becomes complicated, and the weight and size increase.

  The present invention has been developed to solve the above-described problems. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a flexible suction hand and a flexible suction method that are simple in structure, small in weight and size, and can be applied to workpieces of various shapes.

According to the present invention, a flexible suction hand for gripping and transporting a workpiece,
A flexible support member attached to the hand mounting portion of the transfer robot and deformable along the outer surface of the workpiece;
A plurality of vacuum suction pads that are attached to the flexible support member at a distance from each other and vacuum-suck the workpiece;
A vacuum decompression tube that communicates with each of the vacuum suction pads and depressurizes the inside thereof and is deformable along the outer surface of the workpiece;
There is provided a flexible suction hand comprising a plurality of fall prevention valves attached to each vacuum suction pad or each vacuum decompression tube.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the flexible support member is a flexible string-like member or a net-like support member attached in a flat frame.

  The fall prevention valve opens a flow path for vacuum decompression when the work comes into contact with the vacuum suction pad, and closes the flow path when the work is detached from the vacuum suction pad.

Moreover, according to the present invention, a flexible suction method for gripping and transporting a workpiece,
The deformable flexible support member attached to the hand mounting part of the transfer robot is made to follow the outer surface of the workpiece,
Depressurizing a plurality of vacuum suction pads attached to the flexible support member at intervals from each other through a vacuum decompression tube and a fall prevention valve,
Each drop prevention valve has a vacuum suction pad opened when the workpiece contacts the vacuum suction pad and closed when the workpiece is detached from the vacuum suction pad. A flexible adsorption method is provided.

  According to the apparatus and method of the present invention, the flexible support member to which the vacuum suction pad is attached and the vacuum decompression tube that communicates with the vacuum suction pad and depressurizes the inside thereof can be deformed along the outer surface of the workpiece. It is also possible to deal with various shapes of workpieces with large unevenness and inclination.

  Furthermore, according to the apparatus and method of the present invention, since the flexible suction hand has a simple structure, the hand can be a small and lightweight hand.

  Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the flexible support member is a flexible string-like member, a complicated copying mechanism is not necessary, and it can be applied to various works. In addition, since the flexible support member is a net-like support member mounted in a flat frame, it can be applied to a workpiece having an inclined plane.

Each vacuum suction pad or vacuum decompression tube is equipped with multiple drop prevention valves that open a vacuum decompression flow path when the workpiece contacts the vacuum suction pad. Since the flow path is closed when the pad is separated from the pad, even if some of the plurality of vacuum suction pads cannot be sucked to the workpiece, the air flows into the other vacuum. It can prevent that the adsorption | suction power of a pad falls.

It is a figure explaining a prior art. It is a figure explaining the prior art of patent document 1. FIG. It is a figure explaining the prior art of patent document 2. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the present invention. It is 1st Embodiment of the flexible adsorption | suction hand of this invention. It is a perspective view in 2nd Embodiment of the flexible adsorption | suction hand of this invention. It is the figure which looked at 2nd Embodiment of the flexible suction hand of this invention from the bottom. They are the perspective view (A) and sectional drawing (B) in AA in 3rd Embodiment of the flexible adsorption | suction hand of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the common part in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

FIG. 4 is an overall configuration diagram of a workpiece transfer apparatus provided with the flexible suction hand of the present invention.
In this figure, 1 is a workpiece, 2 is a transfer robot, 4 is a hand control unit, 5 is a robot control unit, 6 is a general processing unit, 7 is a robot control device, 10 is a vacuum suction hand of the present invention, and 11 is a hand attachment. Part.
The robot control device 7 includes a robot control unit 5 and a general processing unit 6.

The workpiece 1 is a lightweight transported object. The surface of the work 1 may be uneven or inclined. The work 1 may be a single item or a plurality of workpieces.
In this figure, the workpiece 1 is placed on the floor having the same height as the transfer robot 2, but it may be placed on a predetermined table. In addition, the workpiece | work 1 on a stand is not limited to a single item, You may pile up several adjacently. The table need not be fixed, and may be a conveyor device, for example.

The transfer robot 2 is, for example, an articulated three-dimensional robot, and can control the position and posture of the flexible suction hand 10 with six degrees of freedom within a predetermined working area. The transfer robot 2 is not limited to an articulated three-dimensional robot, and may be other robots.
The flexible suction hand 10 is attached to the hand mounting portion 11 of the transport robot 2 and sucks the outer surface of the work 1 to be transported, lifts it one by one, and transports it to another position.

The hand control unit 4 outputs a control signal to the flexible suction hand 10 in response to the gripping command 9a received from the general processing unit 6, receives an operation signal indicating an operating state from the flexible suction hand 10, and outputs the control signal to the general processing unit 6 to send.
The hand control unit 4 is not essential and may be omitted, and the function may be included in the overall processing unit 6.

  The robot control unit 5 controls the transfer robot 2 based on the position and posture of the workpiece 1 received from the general processing unit 6, sucks the outer surface of the workpiece 1 with the flexible suction hand 10, lifts it one by one, Hold to position and transport.

The general processing unit 6 transmits the workpiece operation signal received from the box-shaped workpiece recognition device 10 of the present invention to the robot control unit 5.
The robot control unit 5 and the overall processing unit 6 are PCs (computers) in this example. The robot control unit 5 and the overall processing unit 6 may be configured with the same PC or may be configured with independent PCs.

  FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of the first embodiment of the flexible suction hand of the present invention. In this figure, a flexible suction hand 10 according to the present invention is attached to a hand mounting portion 11 of a transport robot 2, and includes a robot mounting flange 12, a flexible support member 13, a vacuum suction pad 14, a vacuum decompression tube 15, and a fall prevention valve. It consists of 16.

  The robot attachment flange 12 is attached to the hand attachment portion 11 of the transfer robot 2, and the position and posture of six degrees of freedom are controlled by the transfer robot 2 within a predetermined working area.

  The flexible support member 13 is attached to the robot mounting flange 12 and is made of a string-like support member that can be deformed along the outer surface of the workpiece 1. The string-like support member may be any flexible string-like member. For example, a chain, a hose, a wire, etc. can be used.

  The vacuum suction pads 14 are attached to the flexible support member 13 with a space therebetween, and vacuum-suck the outer surface of the work 1. A single vacuum suction pad 14 may be used, but a plurality of vacuum suction pads 14 is preferable because the efficiency with which the workpiece can be sucked increases and the force is dispersed.

  The vacuum decompression tube 15 is made of a tube-shaped member that can be deformed along the outer surface of the workpiece 1 and communicates with each vacuum suction pad 14 through a plurality of vacuum decompression tube branch branches 15a to decompress the interior thereof. The vacuum decompression tube 15 may be single or plural. The vacuum decompression tube 15 is attached to the robot attachment flange 12 and can be deformed flexibly along the flexible support member 13.

  The fall prevention valve 16 is attached to each vacuum suction pad 14 or each vacuum decompression tube 15. When the workpiece 1 comes into contact with the vacuum suction pad 14, a flow path for vacuum decompression is opened, and the workpiece 1 is detached from the vacuum suction pad 14. Sometimes the channel is closed. Thereby, even if the workpiece 1 is partially detached from the vacuum suction pad 14, the fall prevention valve 16 closes the vacuum system, so that air does not leak from the detached vacuum suction pad 14. As a result, even if some of the vacuum suction pads 14 cannot be attracted to the work 1, air flows from the vacuum suction pads that are not attracted to increase the pressure in the vacuum exhaust system, and the other vacuum suction pads 14 that are attracted to the workpiece 1 are sucked. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the adsorbing power is weakened.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the second embodiment of the flexible suction hand of the present invention. Moreover, FIG. 7 is the figure which looked at 2nd Embodiment of the flexible adsorption | suction hand of this invention from the bottom.

  In these drawings, the second embodiment of the present invention is that the flexible suction hand 10 of the present invention is attached to the hand mounting portion 11 of the transfer robot 2, and includes a robot mounting flange 12, a flexible support member 13, and a vacuum suction pad. 14, a vacuum decompression tube 15, a fall prevention valve 16, a suspension member 17, and a frame 18.

  The flexible support member 13 is a mesh-like support member that is mounted in the planar frame 8 and can be deformed along the outer surface of the workpiece 1, and may be any flexible mesh-like support member that is flexible. For example, a chain, rubber, wire, etc. can be used.

  The vacuum suction pads 14 are attached to the flexible support member 13 with a space therebetween, and vacuum-suck the outer surface of the work 1. A plurality of vacuum suction pads 14 are desirable.

  The vacuum decompression tube 15 is a net-like support member that is mounted in a flat frame 18 and can be deformed along the outer surface of the work 1, and communicates with each vacuum suction pad 14 through a plurality of vacuum decompression tube branch branches 15a. The inside is depressurized. Any flexible net-like support member may be used. For example, a chain, rubber, wire, etc. can be used. Further, one end of the vacuum decompression communication tube 15 b is attached to the robot mounting flange 12 and the other end is attached to the frame 18, and the vacuum system reaching the vacuum suction pad through the frame 8 and the vacuum decompression tube 15 can be decompressed.

  The robot mounting flange 12 and the fall prevention valve 16 are the same as in the first embodiment.

  FIGS. 8A and 8B are a perspective view (A) and a cross-sectional view (A) along A-A in the third embodiment of the flexible suction hand of the present invention.

  In this figure, the third embodiment of the present invention shows that the flexible suction hand 10 of the present invention is attached to the hand mounting portion 11 of the transfer robot 2, and includes a robot mounting flange 12, a flexible support member 13, and a vacuum suction pad 14. And a vacuum decompression tube 15, a fall prevention valve 16, a frame 18 and a frame 19.

  The frame 19 has one end attached to the robot attachment flange 12 and the other end attached to the frame 8, and the frame 8 is fixed to the robot attachment flange 12. One or more frames 19 may be used as long as the frame 8 can be fixed. Further, in this figure, the vacuum decompression communication tube 15b is shaped to be housed in the frame, but it may be fixed along the outer surface of the frame.

  Other points are the same as in the second embodiment.

  According to the apparatus and method of the present invention described above, the flexible support member 13 is made of a flexible string-like support member or a net-like support member and can be deformed along the outer surface of the workpiece 1. Therefore, a complicated copying mechanism is not required, and it is possible to deal with various shapes of workpieces having large unevenness and inclination.

  In addition, according to the apparatus and method of the present invention, the flexible suction hand 10 has a simple structure, so that it can be a small and lightweight hand.

  Furthermore, according to the apparatus and method of the present invention, since the flexible support member is a net-like support member mounted in a flat frame, it can be applied to a workpiece having an inclined plane.

Each vacuum suction pad or vacuum decompression tube is equipped with multiple drop prevention valves that open a vacuum decompression flow path when the workpiece contacts the vacuum suction pad. Since the flow path is closed when the pad is separated from the pad, even if some of the plurality of vacuum suction pads cannot be sucked to the workpiece, the air flows into the other vacuum. It can prevent that the adsorption | suction power of a pad falls.
On the other hand, the vacuum suction pad can be removed from the workpiece by closing the vacuum decompression flow path and opening the leak valve.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed above are merely examples, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. . The scope of the present invention is indicated by the description of the scope of claims, and further includes meanings equivalent to the description of the scope of claims and all modifications within the scope.

2 Transfer robot 10 Flexible suction hand 11 Hand mounting portion 12 Robot mounting flange 13 Flexible support member 14 Vacuum suction pad 15 Vacuum decompression tube 15a Vacuum decompression tube branch 15b Vacuum decompression communication tube 16 Fall prevention valve 17 Suspension member 18 Frame 19 Frame

Claims (4)

A flexible suction hand for gripping and transporting a workpiece,
A flexible support member attached to the hand mounting portion of the transfer robot and deformable along the outer surface of the workpiece;
A plurality of vacuum suction pads that are attached to the flexible support member at a distance from each other and vacuum-suck the workpiece;
A vacuum decompression tube that communicates with each of the vacuum suction pads and depressurizes the inside thereof and is deformable along the outer surface of the workpiece;
A flexible suction hand comprising: a plurality of fall prevention valves attached to each vacuum suction pad or each vacuum decompression tube.   The flexible suction hand according to claim 1, wherein the flexible support member is a flexible string-like member or a net-like support member attached in a flat frame.   2. The fall prevention valve is configured to open a flow path for vacuum decompression when a work comes into contact with a vacuum suction pad and close the flow path when the work is detached from the vacuum suction pad. The flexible suction hand described in 1. A flexible suction method for gripping and transporting a workpiece,
The deformable flexible support member attached to the hand mounting part of the transfer robot is made to follow the outer surface of the workpiece,
Depressurizing a plurality of vacuum suction pads attached to the flexible support member at intervals from each other through a vacuum decompression tube and a fall prevention valve,
Each drop prevention valve has a vacuum suction pad opened when the workpiece contacts the vacuum suction pad and closed when the workpiece is detached from the vacuum suction pad. A flexible adsorption method characterized by

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