JP2011240456A - Component supply device and assembly system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress increase of an installation area of the whole assembly system.SOLUTION: This component supply device 2 for supplying a component 8 for assembly to an assembly robot 1 performing assembly work includes: a storage shelf storing a plurality of trays 7 on which the components 8 for the assembly are placed; an assembly part 20 formed on the top face of the storage shelf and performed with the assembly work of the component 8 for the assembly by the assembly robot 1; and a carriage means 40 taking out the tray 7 from the storage shelf and carrying it to the assembly part 20. The carriage means 40 has: a tray support part supporting the tray 7; a horizontal movement mechanism horizontally moving the tray support part; and a vertical movement mechanism vertically moving the tray support part.

Description

  The present invention relates to a component supply apparatus and an assembly system that supply components to a robot that performs an assembly operation.

  As a device that automatically supplies parts to an assembly section where a robot performs assembly work, conventionally, a desired tray is taken out from a storage shelf in which a plurality of trays are stored, and the parts placed on the tray are assembled into an assembly section. There is known an apparatus that is transported to a robot and assembled by a robot (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). In the devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a robot and an assembly unit are arranged on the side of the storage shelf, and the assembly work is performed at a position different from that of the storage shelf.

Japanese Patent No. 2740610 Japanese Patent No. 3447790

  However, in the devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the assembly robot and the assembly unit are arranged on the side of the storage shelf, there is a problem that the installation area of the entire assembly system including the storage shelf and the robot increases. there were.

The present invention relates to a component supply apparatus for supplying assembly components to an assembly robot that performs assembly work, a storage shelf that stores a plurality of trays on which assembly components are placed, and an upper surface of the storage shelf. An assembly unit that is formed and in which an assembly part is assembled by an assembly robot is provided, and a conveyance unit that takes out the tray from the storage shelf and conveys the tray to the assembly unit.
An assembly system according to the present invention includes the above-described component supply device and an assembly robot that assembles assembly components supplied by the component supply device.

  According to the present invention, since the assembly portion is formed on the upper surface of the storage shelf, an increase in the installation area of the entire assembly system can be suppressed.

The block diagram which shows the whole structure of the assembly system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The front view which shows the structure of the assembly robot and component supply apparatus of FIG. The side view which shows the structure of the assembly robot and component supply apparatus of FIG. The figure which shows the principal part structure of the components supply apparatus of FIG. The figure explaining 1st operation | movement of the components supply apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining 2nd operation | movement of the components supply apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining 3rd operation | movement of the components supply apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the modification of FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an assembly system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This assembly system includes an assembly robot 1, a component supply device 2 that supplies components to the assembly robot 1, and a control device 3. The robot 1 has a servo motor 4 for driving the robot (robot motor) and an air cylinder 5 for driving the attachment / detachment device, and the component supply device 2 is a servo motor 6 (device motor) for driving the component supply device. ). The driving of the robot motor 4 and the air cylinder 5 is controlled by the robot control device 3a, and the driving of the device motor 6 is controlled by the component supply control device 3b. A plurality of robot motors 4 are provided (4a to 4f), and a plurality of apparatus motors 6 are also provided (6a to 6c).

  2 and 3 are a front view and a side view, respectively, showing the configuration of the assembly robot 1 and the component supply device 2. In the following, for convenience, the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, and the front-back direction are defined as illustrated, and the configuration of each part will be described according to this definition.

  First, the configuration of the component supply device 2 will be described. The component supply apparatus 2 takes out the tray 7 from the storage shelf 10 in which the plurality of trays 7 are stored, the assembly unit 20 that is formed on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10 and is assembled by the assembly robot 1, and the storage shelf 10. And a transport mechanism 40 for transporting to the assembly unit 20.

  The storage shelf 10 is a frame having a bottom plate 11, a pair of left and right side plates 12 erected on the bottom plate 11, and a top plate 13 installed on the upper surfaces of the left and right side plates 12. And the rear surface is opened. A partition wall 14 is erected from the bottom plate 11 to the top plate 13 inside the storage shelf 10, and the interior of the storage shelf 10 is partitioned into a plurality of regions. On both left and right side surfaces of each partition wall 14 and the inner side surface of each side plate 12, step portions 15 are formed so as to protrude inward at the same height and at predetermined intervals in the height direction. The left and right ends of the tray 7 are placed on the step portion 15, and a plurality of trays 7 can be stored in the storage shelf 10.

  Each tray 7 is equipped with components 8 necessary for assembling a predetermined unit. A plurality of components 8 corresponding to one unit are mounted on one tray 7 at predetermined positions via component support portions on the tray 7. When assembling a plurality of types of units, different types of components 8 are mounted for each tray 7, and the component supply control device 3b knows in advance which tray 7 corresponding to which unit is arranged. Yes. Note that the type of the component 8 mounted on the tray 7 may be determined by attaching an identifier (IC tag or the like) that can be identified by a sensor to each tray 7. The component 8 on the tray 7 may be identified by image processing or the like.

  The assembly unit 20 is formed on the top surface of the top plate 13. The assembling unit 20 is provided with a platform 21 for supporting the tray 7 conveyed from the storage shelf 10 and a work table 22 for performing assembling work. The assembly robot 1 moves the component 8 from the tray 7 on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10 to the work table 22, and the component 8 is supported on the work table 22 to perform the assembly work. The assembly work may be performed on the tray 7 on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10. In this case, the tray 7 is used as the work table 22.

  On the top surface of the top plate 13 of the storage shelf 10, a hand cradle 23 and a tool cradle 24 are respectively installed on the left and right sides of the assembly unit 20. A hand 25 used for assembling work is supported on the hand placing table 23 in a manner that can be delivered to the assembly robot 1, and a tool 26 used for assembling work can be delivered to the assembly robot 1 on the tool placing table 24. The hand 25 and the tool 26 can be selectively attached to the assembly robot 1.

  A base 16 is installed behind the storage shelf 10, and a robot support 30 is erected on the base 16. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the storage shelf 10 and the robot support base 30. The robot support base 30 is a frame having a bottom plate 31, a pair of left and right side plates 32 erected on the bottom plate 31, and a top plate 33 installed on the upper surfaces of the left and right side plates 32. It is arranged facing the rear surface, that is, the take-out surface of the tray 7. The width of the robot support 30 in the left-right direction is wider than the tray 7 and narrower than the storage shelf 10. The height of the robot support 30 is higher than the height of the storage shelf 10.

  The transport mechanism 40 includes a movable body 41 supported to be movable up and down inside the robot support base 30, a tray support portion 42 supported by the movable body 41 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction, and the tray support portion 42 to the movable body 41. A horizontal movement mechanism 50 that moves in the front-rear direction, a vertical movement mechanism 60 that raises and lowers the movable body 41 integrally with the tray support 42, and a left-right direction along the rail 71 on the base 16. And a travel movement mechanism 70 for moving the The movable body 41 has, for example, a pair of left and right vertical plates extending in the vertical direction, and a horizontal plate extending in the horizontal direction and connecting the vertical plates.

  The tray support portion 42 has a pair of left and right arms 42a extending in the front-rear direction, and each arm 42a is integrated via a connecting plate (not shown) extending in the left-right direction. The distance between the left and right outer end surfaces of the left and right arms 42a, that is, the width of the tray support portion 42 is shorter than the distance between the left and right inner end surfaces of the pair of step portions 15 facing each other inside the storage shelf 10. Therefore, the tray support portion 42 can be inserted inside the step portion 15 of the storage shelf 10, and by lifting the tray support portion 42 inserted inside the step portion 15 upward, the upper surface of the tray support portion 42 can be Abutting on the bottom surface of the tray 7, the tray 7 can be supported away from the step portion 15.

  Although not shown in detail, the horizontal movement mechanism 50 includes a linear guide 51 that supports the tray support portion 42 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction, a ball screw 52 (horizontal ball screw) that extends in the front-rear direction, And a first motor (6a in FIG. 1) for rotating the ball screw 52. The linear guide 51, the horizontal ball screw 52, and the device first motor 6a are provided on the movable body 41. For example, linear guides 51 are attached to the left and right vertical plates of the movable body 41 corresponding to the left and right arms 42 a of the tray support portion 42, and the horizontal ball screw 52 is rotatably supported on the horizontal plate of the movable body 41. In addition, a first motor 6a for the device is attached. The horizontal ball screw 52 passes through a nut 43 provided at the rear end portion of the tray support portion 42, and the tray support portion 42 advances and retreats in the front-rear direction according to the rotation amount of the horizontal ball screw 52.

  Although not shown in detail, the vertical movement mechanism 60 includes a linear guide 61 that supports the movable body 41 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, a ball screw 62 (vertical ball screw) that extends in the vertical direction, and a vertical ball. And a second motor (6b in FIG. 1) for rotating the screw 62. The linear guide 61, the vertical ball screw 62, and the device second motor 6b are provided on the robot support 30. For example, linear guides 61 are attached to the left and right side plates 32 of the robot support base 30, respectively, and the vertical ball screw 62 is rotatably supported on the bottom plate 31 of the robot support base 30, and the apparatus second motor 6b. Is attached. The vertical ball screw 62 passes through a nut (not shown) provided on the horizontal plate of the movable body 41, and the movable body 41 moves up and down together with the tray support portion 42 according to the amount of rotation of the vertical ball screw 62.

  Although detailed illustration is omitted, the traveling mechanism 70 includes a rail 71 that extends in the left-right direction on the base 16, a rack 72 that extends substantially parallel to the rail 71, and a pinion that meshes with the rack 72. 73 and a third motor for a device (6c in FIG. 1) for rotationally driving the pinion 72. The rack 72 is provided on the base 16 side, and the pinion 73 and the device third motor 6c are provided on the robot support base 30 side. The robot support 30 travels in the left-right direction along the rail 71 according to the rotation amount of the pinion 73.

  Next, the configuration of the assembly robot 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the assembly robot 1 is a so-called parallel mechanism type robot. As shown in FIG. 4, a base 100 fixed to the upper surface of the robot support 30, a movable part 110 movable with respect to the base 100, and a movable A link part 120 that supports the part 110 so as to be movable with respect to the base part 100, a wrist part 130 that is rotatably provided below the movable part 110, and a hand 25 and a tool 26 that are detachably supported from the wrist part 130. And a detachable device 140.

  The base 100 includes a stand 101 erected upward from the upper surface of the robot support base 30 and a plate-like structure 102 extending forward from the upper end of the stand 101, and a plate above the assembly unit 20. A structure 102 is disposed. An upper space of the plate-like structure 102 is covered with a cover 103, and a plurality of robot motors 4a to 4f shown in FIG.

  The link unit 120 has three sets of link structures arranged in parallel with each other at intervals of 120 ° in the circumferential direction. Each link structure includes a first robot motor 4a, a second robot motor 4b, and a third robot structure. It is individually driven by the motor 4c. Each set of link structures includes a drive link 121 that is rotatably driven in a vertical plane by corresponding motors 4a to 4c, and a pair of parallel driven links 122 that are rotatably connected to the lower end of the drive link 121. And have. The parallel driven link 122 is rotatably connected to the movable portion 110 at the end thereof, and the movable portion 110 performs a three-axis translational movement with respect to the base portion 100 by the operation of the link portion 120. The operating range of the movable part 110 is determined according to the length of the links 121 and 122, and the lengths of the links 121 and 122 are set so as not to hinder the assembly work.

  The wrist part 130 includes a first wrist part 131, a second wrist part 132, and a third wrist part 133 that are rotatable with respect to three axes orthogonal to each other. The first wrist part 131 is rotatably attached to the movable part 110, the second wrist part 132 is rotatably attached to the first wrist part 131, and the third wrist part 133 is rotatable to the second wrist part 132. It is attached. A mounting surface 141 for mounting the hand 25 and the tool 26 is formed on the end surface of the third wrist portion 133. The wrist part 130 is rotationally driven by a wrist part moving mechanism.

  The wrist drive mechanism includes three rods 134 that extend from the plate-like structure 102 to the movable part 110 inside the three sets of link structures forming the link part 120 and that can rotate independently from each other. The robot fourth motor 4d, the robot fifth motor 4e, the robot sixth motor 4f, and the rod 134 are rotated individually to the first wrist portion 131 to the third wrist portion 133, respectively. And a transmission mechanism for transmitting to the device. The 1st wrist part-the 3rd wrist part 131-133 rotate according to the amount of rotation of the corresponding rod 134, respectively, and incline the attachment surface 141 of the end face of the 3rd wrist part 133 to an arbitrary angle three-dimensionally. be able to.

  The attachment / detachment mechanism 140 includes an engaging claw that engages with the proximal ends of the hand 25 and the tool 26 and an air cylinder 5 that opens and closes the engaging claw. By opening and closing the engaging claw with the air cylinder 5, the hand 25 and the tool 26 can be attached to and detached from the mounting surface 41, and the hand 25 and the tool 26 can be automatically exchanged.

  The main operation of the assembly system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The following operation is automatically performed by a signal from the control device 3. When taking out the predetermined tray 7 from the storage shelf 10 and transporting it to the assembling unit 20, first, the robot support 30 is moved in the left-right direction by driving the third motor 6 c for the device, and the robot is moved behind the tray 7. Position the support base. Next, the movable body 41 is moved in the vertical direction by driving the apparatus second motor 6 b, and the tray support 42 is moved up and down in accordance with the height of the tray 7.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the tray support portion 42 is advanced by driving the first motor 6 a for an apparatus, and the tray support portion 42 is inserted inside the step portion 15 that supports the tray 7. Thereafter, the movable body 41 is raised by a predetermined amount by driving the apparatus second motor 6 b, and the tray 7 is separated from the step portion 15 and supported by the tray support portion 41.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the tray support 42 is retracted into the movable body 41 by driving the apparatus first motor 6a, and the tray support is further driven by driving the apparatus second motor 6b as shown in FIG. The part 42 is moved to a position higher than the upper surface of the storage shelf 10. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7, the tray support 41 is advanced to the assembly part 20 on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10 by driving the first motor 6a for the apparatus, and then the tray support part is driven by the second motor 6b for the apparatus. 41 is lowered, and the tray 7 is placed on the base 21 of the assembly unit 20.

  In this state, the assembly robot 1 is driven by driving the robot motor 4, the part 8 is gripped by the hand 25 attached to the attachment surface 141 at the tip of the wrist 130, or the tool 26 is driven to perform assembly work. Do. At this time, the hand 25 and the tool 26 attached to the attachment surface 141 are automatically replaced with ones according to the type of the component 8 by the attachment / detachment device 140. The unit assembled by the assembling work is placed on the tray 7 and is transported to the original storage shelf 10 position by the transport mechanism 40 in the reverse procedure as described above. Note that a unit discharge unit may be provided separately, and the assembled unit may be conveyed to the discharge unit.

According to the present embodiment, the following operational effects can be achieved.
(1) An assembly unit 20 for performing an assembly operation by the assembly robot 1 is provided on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10 in which a plurality of trays 7 are stored, and a desired tray 7 is taken out from the storage shelf 10 by the transport mechanism 40 and assembled. It was made to convey to the part 20. That is, since the assembly unit 20 is provided three-dimensionally with respect to the storage shelf 10, a planar space necessary for installation of the assembly system can be saved, and a space-saving assembly system can be realized.
(2) As the transport mechanism 40, a tray support portion 42 that supports the tray 7, a horizontal movement mechanism 50 that moves the tray support portion 42 in the front-rear direction, and a vertical movement mechanism 60 that moves the tray support portion 42 in the vertical direction. Since the tray 7 stored in the storage shelf 10 can be easily conveyed to the assembly unit 20.

(3) The robot support 30 is disposed facing the take-out surface of the tray 7 on the rear surface of the storage shelf 10, and the movable body 41 is supported on the robot support 30 via the vertical movement mechanism 60 so as to be movable up and down. The tray support 42 is supported by the movable body 41 via the moving mechanism 50 so as to be movable back and forth, and the tray 7 is moved in the horizontal and vertical directions along the robot support 30. Thereby, the space formed by the robot support 30 can be used effectively, and the space efficiency can be improved.
(4) Since the robot support base 30 is made higher than the storage shelf 10 so that the upper surface of the robot support base 30 is positioned higher than the upper surface of the storage shelf 10, the movable body along the robot support base 30. The tray 7 can be transported to the assembly unit 20 by the movement of 41.

(5) Since the attachment / detachment device 140 for detachably attaching the hand 25 and the tool 26 to the attachment surface 141 of the wrist 130 of the assembly robot 1 is provided, the hand 25 and the tool 26 can be automatically exchanged, and there are many types. It is possible to automatically assemble the parts 8.
(6) Since the hand cradle 23 and the tool cradle 24 are arranged adjacent to the assembly unit 20 on the upper surface of the storage shelf 10, the hand 25 and the tool 26 when the hand 25 and the tool 26 are automatically replaced. Can save installation space.
(7) Since the robot support base 30 can be moved in the left-right direction along the rail 71 by the travel drive mechanism 70, the trays 7 of the respective parts of the storage shelf 10 are assembled even if the storage shelf 10 is wide in the left-right direction. Many units can be assembled.

  In addition, the storage shelf 10 can also be extended in the left-right direction as needed, as shown in FIG. 8, and as a result, a large number of components 8 can be assembled. In particular, by increasing the number of storage shelves 10, the assembly system can be fully unmanned at night or on holidays, and the production efficiency of the unit can be increased.

  In the above embodiment, the storage rack 10 is fixed and the robot support 30 is moved. Instead, the robot support 30 may be fixed and the storage rack 10 may be moved. The configuration of the storage shelf 10 is not limited to that described above, and for example, a single row of tray storage units may be provided in the storage shelf 10. In this case, since it is not necessary to move the robot support part 30, the traveling drive mechanism 70 may be omitted. The robot support 30 may be moved in a manner different from the traveling movement along the rail 71, and the configuration of the support movement mechanism is not limited to that described above.

  The configuration of the transport mechanism 40 as the transport means, that is, the configuration of the tray support portion 42, the horizontal movement mechanism 50, the vertical movement mechanism 60, the traveling movement mechanism 70, and the like may be any. An actuator (for example, a cylinder) other than the servo motor may be used. The horizontal movement mechanism 50 and the vertical movement mechanism 60 may be provided in addition to the robot support unit 30. The tray 7 may be moved in a direction other than the horizontal direction or the vertical direction (for example, an oblique direction) and conveyed from the storage shelf 10 to the assembly unit 20. Instead of combining the horizontal movement and the linear movement in the vertical direction to transport the tray 7, the tray 7 may be transported using, for example, a curved movement.

  In the above-described embodiment, the hand 25 and the tool 26 are attached to and detached from the assembly robot 1 using the air cylinder 5, but other attachment / detachment actuators may be used, and the configuration of the attachment / detachment device 140 as attachment / detachment means is described above. It is not limited to what you did. In a case where a single operation is repeatedly performed, the attachment and detachment of the hand 25 and the tool 26 is unnecessary. In this case, the attaching / detaching device 140, the hand placing table 23, the tool placing table 24, etc. are omitted. Also good.

  In the above embodiment, the parallel robot formed by connecting the base portion 100 and the movable portion 110 by the link structure is used. However, a serial robot such as a joint robot can also be used, and the configuration of the assembly robot 1 is as follows. It is not restricted to what was mentioned above. That is, the present invention is not limited to the assembly system of the embodiment as long as the features and functions of the present invention can be realized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Assembly robot 2 Parts supply apparatus 7 Tray 8 Parts 10 Storage shelf 20 Assembly part 23 Hand stand 24 Tool stand 30 Robot support stand 40 Transfer mechanism 42 Tray support part 50 Horizontal movement mechanism 60 Vertical movement mechanism 70 Traveling movement mechanism 100 Base 110 Movable part 140 Detachment device

Claims (8)

A component supply device for supplying assembly parts to an assembly robot that performs assembly work,
A storage shelf for storing a plurality of trays on which the assembly parts are placed;
An assembly part formed on the upper surface of the storage shelf, where the assembly parts are assembled by the assembly robot;
A component supply apparatus comprising: a conveying unit that takes out the tray from the storage shelf and conveys the tray to the assembly unit. The component supply apparatus according to claim 1,
The conveying means is
A tray support for supporting the tray;
A horizontal movement mechanism for moving the tray support portion in a horizontal direction;
A component supply apparatus comprising: a vertical movement mechanism that moves the tray support portion in a vertical direction. In the component supply apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The component supply apparatus further comprising a hand platform or a tool platform on which a hand or a tool attached to the assembly robot is disposed on an upper surface of the storage shelf and on a side of the assembly unit. The component supply device according to claim 1 or 2,
An assembly system comprising: an assembly robot that assembles the assembly component supplied by the component supply device. The component supply device according to claim 3,
An assembly robot for assembling the assembly component supplied by the component supply device,
The assembly robot includes an attaching / detaching means for detachably attaching a hand or a tool arranged on the hand stand or the tool stand to the assembly robot. The assembly system according to claim 4 or 5,
A robot support stand erected facing the take-out surface of the storage shelf from which the tray is taken out;
The assembly robot has a base fixed to the upper part of the robot support, and a movable part that operates above the assembly.
The assembly system according to claim 1, wherein the transport means transports the tray in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction along the robot support base. The assembly system according to claim 6, wherein
The assembly system according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit further includes a support base moving mechanism that moves the robot support base substantially parallel to the take-out surface of the storage shelf. The assembly system according to claim 6 or 7,
The upper part of the robot support is located above the upper part of the storage shelf.

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