JP2012071317A - Device and method for supplying molten metal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and device for supplying a molten metal, which draws up a molten metal by a teeming amount with high accuracy and teems the whole amount of the molten metal at once so as to shorten the teeming time and increase the productivity.SOLUTION: The device for supplying a molten metal draws up the molten metal by using a ladle 4 mounted to a robot arm 5 that is swung at least between a station for drawing up the molten metal and a station for pouring to pour the molten metal into a casting mold. In the device for supplying a molten metal, a turning angle adjustable turning shaft 5b for tilting the ladle 4 toward a depression angle to pour, from the ladle 4, the molten metal drawn up by the ladle 4 by the amount corresponding to the amount to be poured, is mounted to the robot arm 5, and a control mechanism for controlling a turning angle of the turning shaft 5b according to the amount to be poured, is provided in the device for supplying a molten metal. The method for supplying a molten metal, includes: immersing the ladle 4 supported by the robot arm 5 into a molten metal furnace 2 to draw up the molten metal; tilting the ladle 4 toward a depression angle by the turning angle adjustable turning shaft 5b mounted to the tip end of the robot arm 5 to pour the molten metal in the ladle 4 by the amount corresponding to the target angle toward a depression angle; and making the poured amount of the molten metal and the amount to be poured coincide with each other.

Description

  The present invention relates to a hot water supply apparatus and method for pouring molten metal such as iron or aluminum into a mold for the amount of pouring in various castings.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an amount of molten metal to be poured into a mold by lifting a carriage on which the mold is placed and measuring the weight with a measuring instrument (for example, see Patent Document 1). In addition, a force sensor that measures the weight of the ladle containing the molten metal is installed between the hand and the ladle to measure the remaining molten metal weight, as well as a camera that monitors the molten metal flow status and detects the rise of the molten metal. Some distance sensors are provided (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  However, in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that the apparatus becomes large because the mold and the carriage are lifted and weighed, and the carriage cannot be positioned with high accuracy. There's a problem. Moreover, the thing of patent document 2 has the problem that it is difficult to tune a system since pouring is performed by cooperating a camera and a distance sensor in addition to a force sensor. Furthermore, since both Patent Documents 1 and 2 perform pouring while confirming the amount of pouring, it takes time to pour and productivity cannot be increased, and the pouring is repeated with the molten metal stored in the ladle. There is a problem that it takes a long time to complete the final pouring, and the temperature of the molten metal is lowered to cause molding defects.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-90616 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-168871

  The present invention provides a hot water supply apparatus and a method thereof that can improve the productivity by reducing the pouring time by pumping the whole amount of water at a high precision and pouring the whole amount at once, and can improve productivity. It is intended to do.

  The present invention is a hot water supply apparatus provided with a robot arm that pivots and moves between at least a molten metal pumping station and a pouring station, and a robot ladle attached to the robot arm for pumping molten metal from a molten metal furnace and pouring it into a mold, A rotating shaft with adjustable rotation angle is attached to the robot arm so that the molten metal pumped up by the ladle flows out and matches the amount of pouring, and the rotating shaft rotates according to the amount of pouring. A hot water supply apparatus provided with a control mechanism for controlling an angle, and a hot water supply method for pumping molten metal into a mold by pumping up a molten metal by a ladle attached to a robot arm that swivels between at least a molten metal pumping station and a pouring station. The ladle supported by the arm is immersed in the molten metal furnace to pump up the molten metal, and then the rotation provided at the tip of the robot arm The molten metal in degrees adjustable within a ladle is tilted ladle at a constant depression degree by the rotation shaft drained depression degree min a hot water supply method of the molten metal amount to match the pouring amount.

  In addition, in the hot water supply device, when an emergency stop signal is input during the transfer of the ladle pumping up the molten metal to the control shaft, or the load cell for measuring the weight passing through the center of gravity of the ladle is attached to the rotating shaft, A function to control the robot arm drive mechanism so that it does not stop until the robot arm transfer process is complete, or when an emergency stop signal is input to the robot arm, regenerative operation is performed so that the molten metal does not spill from the ladle. A resistor may be provided in the drive mechanism of the robot arm, or a tool chuck for attaching / detaching the ladle may be attached to the rotating shaft.

  The present invention is a hot water supply apparatus provided with a robot arm that pivots and moves between at least a molten metal pumping station and a pouring station, and a robot ladle attached to the robot arm for pumping molten metal from a molten metal furnace and pouring it into a mold, A rotating shaft with adjustable rotation angle is attached to the robot arm so that the molten metal pumped up by the ladle flows out and matches the amount of pouring, and the rotating shaft rotates according to the amount of pouring. A hot water supply apparatus having a control mechanism for controlling an angle, wherein a ladle supported by the robot arm is immersed in a molten metal furnace to pump up the molten metal, and is provided at a tip of the robot arm. The ladle is tilted to a certain dredging angle by a pivot shaft with adjustable swivel angle, and the molten metal in the ladle flows out by the dredging angle so that the amount of molten metal coincides with the amount of pouring. The amount of molten metal in the ladle can be adjusted to the amount of pouring with high accuracy, so the molten metal in the ladle can be poured at once from the supply port of the die casting machine, so the pouring is completed in a short time and the die casting machine is in operation. The rate can be improved and productivity can be increased. Moreover, since the entire amount of the molten metal stored in the ladle is used for the pouring, the molten metal is poured in the temperature range optimal for molding, so that the occurrence of molding defects can be reduced.

  As in claim 2, by attaching a load cell for weight measurement whose vertical line passes through the center of gravity of the ladle to the rotating shaft, it is possible to accurately check whether the amount of molten metal matches the amount of pouring.

  As in claim 3, when an emergency stop signal is input to the control mechanism while the ladle pumped with the molten metal is being transferred, control is performed so that the robot arm drive mechanism is not stopped until the robot arm transfer process is completed. By incorporating the function, the robot arm will not be stopped urgently, but will stop after the ladle transfer process is completed, so that the molten metal in the ladle will not overflow due to reaction, and the work of removing the overflowed molten metal Since it is not necessary to stop the die casting, it is possible to improve productivity without lowering the operating rate.

  When the emergency stop signal is input to the robot arm as in claim 4, the robot arm is provided with a regenerative resistor so that the molten metal does not spill from the ladle. Since the molten metal in the ladle is stopped at a deceleration that does not overflow, the molten metal in the ladle will not overflow due to reaction.

By attaching a tool chuck for attaching and detaching the ladle to the rotating shaft as in claim 5,
You can remove the ladle from the tool chuck and attach other tools to the tool chuck.

It is a top view which shows preferable embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which similarly shows the drawing-out state of a molten metal. It is a perspective view which expands and shows a principal part similarly. It is a top view which shows a tool exchange station. It is a side view similarly. It is also a front view. It is a side view which similarly shows the lock release of a tool chuck. It is also a plan view.

Next, an embodiment in which the hot water supply apparatus of the present invention is used in a die casting apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a hot water supply device that pumps molten metal from the molten metal furnace 2 and pours the molten metal into the die casting machine 3. The hot water supply apparatus 1 includes a pumping station for molten metal from the molten metal furnace 2, a pouring station to the die casting machine 3, A robot arm 5 that pivots between the tool change stations 40 for detaching the pan 4 is provided. When an emergency stop signal is detected during the transfer of the ladle 4, the robot arm 5 may not stop the drive mechanism of the robot arm 5 until the transfer process is completed, or the molten metal in the ladle 4 will jump out due to inertia. The drive mechanism is controlled by a control mechanism which will be described later so that the robot arm 5 is stopped with no deceleration.

  When the emergency stop signal is input to the apparatus while the molten metal is being transferred by the robot arm 5, the control mechanism is stopped when the robot arm 5 completes the molten metal transfer step. Program control is performed so that the drive mechanism of the robot arm 5 is not stopped until the operation is performed.

  The robot arm 5 is stopped at a constant deceleration by changing the regenerative resistance of the regenerative brake incorporated in the drive mechanism of the robot arm 5 so that the molten metal does not overflow from the ladle 4. .

  The head 5a of the robot arm 5 is provided with a rotation shaft 5b whose rotation angle can be adjusted. The rotation shaft 5b changes the rotation angle in units of 1 ° so that the tilt angle of the ladle 4 attached to the rotation shaft 5b can be adjusted. Since the amount of molten metal that flows out when the ladle 4 is tilted by 1 ° from the horizontal is determined, the tilt angle of the ladle 4 is calculated by a control mechanism incorporated in the controller of the robot arm 5 according to the amount of pouring. The rotation angle of the rotation shaft 5b is controlled.

  Further, after the molten metal is pumped up by the ladle 4, the control mechanism measures the total weight including the ladle weight and the molten metal weight by the load cell 6 for weight measurement attached to the rotating shaft 5b, and takes the total weight from the total weight. Calculate the melt weight by subtracting the pan weight, calculate the difference between the melt weight and the specified amount poured into the die casting machine 3, and if it is within the allowable range, pour the molten metal into the die casting machine 3 Do. In addition, since the load cell 6 is attached to the rotating shaft so that the center of gravity of the ladle is positioned on the vertical line, the amount of the molten metal in the ladle can be accurately measured.

  And when there is little molten metal, the ladle 4 is immersed in the molten metal furnace 2 again, the molten metal is re-pumped, and the slag angle of the ladle 4 is adjusted upward based on the calculated shortage amount, and the molten metal flows out. Decrease the amount to match the amount of pouring. Further, when there is a lot of molten metal, the ladle angle of the ladle 4 is adjusted downward based on the calculated excess amount to increase the outflow amount of the molten metal to coincide with the amount of pouring.

  Further, a substantially L-shaped tool chuck 7 for detachably attaching the ladle 4 is attached to the load cell 6, and a chuck pin 8 a of a bracket 8 attached to the ladle 4 is attached to and detached from the tool chuck 7. A mounting hole 7a to be freely fitted is formed.

  Reference numeral 9 denotes a lock mechanism for preventing the chuck pin 8a fitted in the mounting hole 7a from coming off from the tool chuck 7, and the lock mechanism 9 is attached to a spring fitted from a direction orthogonal to the chuck pin 8a. A lock pin 10 with a biased flange 10a is provided, and the lock pin 10 is used for a pulling chuck against a spring force by engaging a flange 10a protruding to the outside with a stopper 11a of a release mechanism 11. By extracting the pin 8 a, the lock of the tool chuck 7 is released, and the ladle 4 can be removed from the robot arm 5.

  The other end of the bracket 8 is formed with a fixing pin 8b that is fitted and fixed in an attachment hole 4a formed in the ladle 4. Further, the mounting holes 4 a of the ladle 4 are arranged on both sides of the spout 4 b of the ladle 4.

  The release mechanism 11 is provided adjacent to the tool exchange station 40. The release mechanism 11 includes a stopper 11a for locking the flange 10a of the lock pin 10 and a linear slider 11b for moving the stopper 11a forward and backward. Thus, the locking of the lock pin 10 to the stopper 11 a is performed by the robot arm 5.

  The tool change station 40 has a plurality of ladle holding brackets 42 erected on the turntable 41 in the turning of the robot arm, and the ladle holding bracket 4 is not used in the unused mounting hole 4a. The ladle 4 is moved from the robot arm 5 to the ladle holding bracket 42 by removing the ladle 4 from the tool chuck 7 by the release mechanism 11 after the latching pins 42 are fitted and held. In addition, what is necessary is just to perform operation reverse to the above, when attaching the ladle 4. FIG. In this way, the tool chuck 7 from which the ladle 4 has been removed is chucked with, for example, a hot water scraper or the like of the molten metal furnace 2 to remove the chips floating on the molten metal surface of the molten metal furnace 2.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a level sensor for detecting the molten metal level of the molten metal furnace 2. Based on the molten metal surface height detected by the level sensor 12, the amount of molten metal in the molten metal furnace 2 is confirmed and the inside of the molten metal furnace 2 of the ladle 4. In the case where the molten metal is so high that a predetermined amount of molten metal is pumped into the ladle 4 and the molten metal cannot be pumped up even if the ladle 4 is immersed, Pumping is stopped so that the ladle 4 does not collide with the bottom surface of the molten metal furnace 2 to be damaged. Moreover, the level sensor can confirm the number of times the molten metal is pumped by the ladle, and can prevent the amount of molten metal pumped by the ladle from being insufficient.

  In such a hot water supply apparatus 1, first, the ladle 4 that is waiting and is held by the ladle holding bracket 42 at the tool exchange station 40 is attached to the tool chuck 7 of the robot arm 5. When the ladle 4 is attached to the tool chuck 7, the robot arm 5 transports and moves the ladle 4 to the molten metal furnace 2.

  In the molten metal furnace 2, since the molten metal surface height is detected by the level sensor 12, the ladle 4 is lowered and immersed in the molten metal furnace 2 to a depth at which a predetermined amount of molten metal is pumped up based on the molten metal surface height. At this time, the back side of the ladle 4 is tilted at a depression angle and immersed in the molten metal furnace 2 so that the back side opening edge is located below the molten metal surface. In order to shorten the pumping time, it is preferable to make this depression angle larger than the inclination depression angle when the molten metal flows out.

  When a predetermined amount of molten metal is pumped into the ladle 4 in this way, the rotation shaft 5b rotates at an angle set by the control mechanism to tilt the ladle 4 to a preset depression angle, and then a robot arm. If 5 is raised a little and the opening edge on the back side is made higher than the molten metal, the molten metal in the ladle 4 will flow out by the tilting depression angle. And the molten metal which remains when the molten metal in the tilting dip collapsible ladle 4 flows out becomes substantially equal to the amount of pouring.

  Next, the robot arm 5 is raised, and the weight of the ladle 4 in which the ladle 4 is pulled up from the molten metal furnace 2 to pump up the molten metal is measured by the load cell 6. Subtracting the weight of the ladle 4 and the tool chuck 7 from the measured weight value to calculate the weight of the molten metal in the ladle 4 and comparing it with the preset amount of pouring to the die casting machine 3 I do.

  If it is the same as the amount of pouring at this time, the ladle 4 will be conveyed to the die-casting machine 3, and pouring will be performed. And when the amount of molten metal is less than the amount of pouring, the control mechanism resets the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 5b according to the shortage amount, and decreases the depression angle of the ladle 4 by 1 ° to reduce the shortage of molten metal. Does not flow out of the ladle 4. When the amount of molten metal is larger than the amount of pouring, the control mechanism resets the rotation angle of the rotation shaft 5b in accordance with the excess amount, and increases the depression angle of the ladle 4 by 1 ° to increase the excess molten metal. Will flow out of the ladle 4.

  Then, the ladle 4 is lifted again by the robot arm 5, and the molten metal weight is measured again by the load cell 6. If the error is within the reference value, the ladle 4 is transferred to the pouring port 3 a of the die casting machine 3 by the robot arm 5.

  If the device issues an emergency stop signal during the transfer of the ladle 4 that has drawn molten metal, the control mechanism should not stop the drive mechanism of the robot arm 5 until the transfer process of the ladle 4 is completed, or the ladle The driving mechanism is controlled by the control mechanism so that the robot arm 5 is stopped at a deceleration at which the molten metal in 4 does not pop out due to inertia, thereby preventing the molten metal from overflowing from the ladle 4.

  Then, after the trouble is recovered, the apparatus is restarted. However, when the ladle 4 is stopped while the molten metal is stored, the ladle 4 is swung to the tool exchange station 40 and the lock mechanism 9 is moved. The ladle 4 is released, and the ladle 4 is supported by the ladle holding bracket 42 to remove the molten metal in the ladle 4.

  When the emergency stop signal is not issued, the ladle 4 transferred to the pouring port 3a of the die casting machine 3 is rotated to the maximum depression angle by the rotation shaft 5b and stored in the ladle 4. Pour all the molten metal at once. By performing such rapid pouring, the molten metal is poured at an optimum temperature without causing a temperature drop, so that the occurrence of molding defects can be reduced.

  Further, when removing the float floating on the surface of the molten metal furnace 2 as necessary, the robot arm 5 is swung to the tool change station 40 to release the lock mechanism 9 and hold the ladle 4 in the ladle. The bracket 42 is supported. Then, the tool chuck 7 is chucked with a non-illustrated scraping bar or the like, and the robot arm 5 is swung to the molten metal pumping station to remove the surface of the molten metal with the scraping bar chucked by the tool chuck 7.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot water supply apparatus 2 Molten metal furnace 3 Die-casting machine
3a Pouring port 4 Ladle
4a Mounting hole
4b Spout 5 Robot arm
5a head
5b Rotating shaft 6 Load cell 7 Tool chuck
7a Mounting hole 8 Bracket
8a Chuck pin
8b Retaining pin 9 Lock mechanism
10 Lock pin
10a flange
11 Release mechanism
11a Stopper
11b Linear slider
12 level sensor
40 Tool change station
41 turntable
42 Ladle holding bracket

Claims (6)

  At least a robot arm that swivels between the molten metal pumping station and the pouring station is provided, and the robot arm is equipped with a ladle that pumps the molten metal from the melting furnace and pours it into the mold. A rotating shaft with adjustable rotation angle is attached to the robot arm so that the molten metal flows out and the ladle is tilted so as to coincide with the pouring amount, and the rotation angle of the rotating shaft is controlled according to the pouring amount. A hot water supply apparatus provided with a control mechanism.   2. The hot water supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a load cell for weight measurement whose vertical line passes through the center of gravity of the ladle is attached to the rotating shaft.   The control mechanism incorporates a function to control the robot arm drive mechanism so that it does not stop until the robot arm transfer process is completed when an emergency stop signal is input during transfer of the ladle pumped with molten metal. The hot water supply apparatus according to claim 1 or 2.   The regenerative resistor is provided in the drive mechanism of the robot arm so as to achieve a deceleration at which the molten metal does not spill from the ladle when an emergency stop signal is input to the robot arm. Water heater.   The hot water supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a tool chuck for attaching and detaching the ladle is attached to the rotating shaft. A hot water supply method in which a molten metal is pumped into a mold by pumping a molten metal by a ladle attached to a robot arm that moves at least between a molten metal pumping station and a pouring station, and the ladle supported by the robot arm is placed in the molten metal furnace. After immersing and pumping up the molten metal, the ladle is tilted to a certain heel angle by the pivot shaft with adjustable pivot angle provided at the tip of the robot arm, and the molten metal in the ladle flows out by a heel angle. A hot water supply method characterized in that the amount matches the amount of pouring.

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