JP2023107062A - Workpiece transport device - Google Patents

Abstract

To secure a traffic line for a person in a direction of passing transversely across a guide rail 10.SOLUTION: A workpiece transport device includes: a guide rail 10; a carrier 20 reciprocating along the guide rail 10; and articulated robot arms 30, 30 installed to the carrier 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work conveying device capable of constructing an automatic processing line by carrying any work in and out of a processing machine, for example.

2. Description of the Related Art A workpiece transfer device has been put into practical use, in which an articulated robot arm is mounted on a carrier on a guide rail, and the carrier is moved to transfer a workpiece gripped by the robot arm via an end effector.

Conventional work transfer devices include a ground traveling type in which a robot arm 3 is mounted upward on the upper surface of a carrier 2 on a guide rail 1 (FIG. 12(A)), and a robot arm from the lower surface of the carrier 2 on the guide rail 1. It is roughly classified into a ceiling-suspended type (Fig. 1(B)) in which 3 is suspended downward (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). The former guide rail 1 is installed at a low position close to the ground via short struts 1a, 1a, and the latter guide rail 1 is installed at a sufficiently high position, for example above overhead level, via long struts 1b, 1b. It is normal to

JP 2015-212013 A JP 2009-12135 A

According to the former conventional technology, since the guide rail 1 is installed near the ground, there is a problem that the flow line of people in the direction crossing the guide rail 1 is completely blocked. In the latter case, since the robot arm 3 moves downward from the guide rail 1, the safety below the guide rail 1 cannot be ensured. There was a problem that the flow line of people could not be secured. In addition, if the flow line of people is restricted in this way, it is not uncommon for the maintenance and inspection of machinery and equipment to be hindered, and unnecessary restrictions to be placed on the factory layout.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, in view of the problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece which can secure a human flow line in a direction crossing the guide rail by devising a manner in which a robot arm is attached to a carrier on the guide rail. to provide a conveying device for

The construction of the present invention for achieving this object comprises a guide rail, a carrier that reciprocates along the guide rail, and an articulated robot arm mounted on the carrier, the carrier protruding to one side. The gist of the robot arm is that the first shaft frame is rotatably mounted on the mounting surface, and the central axis of rotation of the first shaft frame is parallel to the guide rail.

In addition, the carrier can be provided with a movable stopper for fixing the carrier at a predetermined position on the guide rail.

Further, the carrier may be provided with a movable block that locks the first axis frame at the 0° position, or may be provided with a fixed block that regulates the rotation angle range of the first axis frame.

Further, the robot arm may be foldable so as not to protrude below the guide rail, the carrier may have a pair of front and rear mounting surfaces, and the robot arm may have a front and rear pair mounted on each mounting surface. .

According to the configuration of the invention, the articulated robot arm has the first axis frame rotatably mounted on the mounting surface protruding to one side of the carrier perpendicularly to the running direction of the carrier. is set parallel to the guide rail. Therefore, the entire robot arm is folded so as to be higher than the lower surface of the guide rail, and is moved along the guide rail via the carrier, thereby ensuring safety below the guide rail and allowing the robot arm to move in the direction across the guide rail. In other words, it is possible to secure the line of flow of people in the direction of passing under the guide rail. The robot arm must be extended below the guide rail when picking and stocking workpieces, or when carrying the workpiece in and out of the processing machine. It is limited to a specific range in the vertical direction and can be excluded from the human flow line. Further, the robot arm is, for example, of a 6-axis vertical articulated type, and is operated by attaching an end effector (robot hand) suitable for the work to its tip.

The movable stopper provided on the carrier fixes the carrier at a predetermined position on the guide rail, and is used for picking operations, such as extending the robot arm to take out unprocessed workpieces from a pallet, and stocking operations for stocking processed workpieces in a stocker. It is possible to improve the safety when operating the robot arm in an event or the like.

A movable block provided on the carrier locks the first axis frame of the robot arm at the 0° position to limit the degree of freedom of the robot arm, thereby making it possible to carry the workpiece in and out of the processing machine through a narrow opening, for example. etc., it is possible to improve the safety when operating the robot arm while moving the carrier. However, the 0° position refers to the rotation angle position of the first axis frame when the robot arm moves along a vertical plane parallel to the guide rail.

The fixed block provided on the carrier regulates the rotation angle range of the first axis frame of the robot arm, eliminates the risk of the robot arm inadvertently interfering with other members such as guide rails, and prevents the robot arm from inadvertently interfering with other members such as a workpiece picking operation. It is possible to safely secure the necessary movable range of the robot arm during stock operation.

By folding the robot arm so that it does not protrude below the guide rail, that is, so that it is higher than the lower surface of the guide rail, the safety below the guide rail is ensured and there is no risk of interfering with the movement of people.

A pair of front and rear robot arms, which are attached to a pair of front and rear mounting surfaces of the carrier, respectively, can be operated independently or in cooperation with each other to more stably grip various workpieces such as long objects and box objects. can be transported.

Schematic diagram of overall configuration Enlarged view of main part of Fig. 1(A) Enlarged view of essential part of FIG. 1(B) Cross-sectional explanatory view equivalent to the XX line arrow in FIG. YY line arrow equivalent cross-sectional explanatory view of FIG. Schematic perspective view equivalent to Fig. 2 Application example operation diagram (1) Application example operation diagram (2) Application example operation diagram (3) Application example operation diagram (4) Operation explanatory diagram of application example (5) Schematic front explanatory view showing a conventional example

Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

A work transfer device comprises a guide rail 10, a carrier 20, and a pair of front and rear robot arms 30, 30 (Fig. 1). However, FIGS. 1A to 1C are an overall front view, left side view, and right side view, respectively. In the following description, the direction parallel to the guide rail 10 is defined as the front-rear direction, and the direction perpendicular to the guide rail 10 is defined as the left-right direction.

The guide rail 10 includes a square tube-shaped rail body 11, plate-shaped rail pieces 12 and 13 projecting upward and downward from the upper and lower surfaces of the rail body 11, respectively, and supports 14 supporting both ends of the rail body 11. , 14 . A base member 14 a is attached to the lower end of each support 14 .

The carrier 20 comprises a rectangular tubular main member 21, a box body 22 integrated with the main member 21, a pair of front and rear upper roller frames 23, 23, and a lower roller frame 24 ( 2 and 3).

The main member 21 is arranged so as to cross over the guide rail 10 and protrude to one side of the guide rail 10, and the box 22 is formed in a flag shape on the lower surface of the leading end side of the main member 21. . The upper roller frames 23, 23 are attached to both side surfaces of the base of the main member 21 via auxiliary frames 23a, 23a facing forward and backward, respectively (FIGS. 3 and 4A). Each roller frame 23 is assembled with a support roller 23b that rotates vertically along the upper end surface of the rail piece 12 on the guide rail 10, and large and small guide rollers 23c and 23d that rotate horizontally while sandwiching the rail piece 12. ing.

The lower roller frame 24 is connected to the lower surface of the box 22 via an auxiliary frame 24a (FIGS. 2 and 3). Large and small guide rollers 24b and 24c, which sandwich the lower rail piece 13 of the guide rail 10 and rotate horizontally, are assembled to the front and rear end portions of the lower roller frame 24, respectively.

A motor 25 for running the carrier 20 is mounted downward on one of the auxiliary frames 23a for the upper roller frame 23. As shown in FIG. A pinion 25 a is fixed to the shaft end of the motor 25 , and the pinion 25 a meshes with a rack 25 b fixed to the base of the upper rail piece 12 . Therefore, the carrier 20 can be reciprocated along the guide rail 10 by rotating the motor 25 forward and backward. The vertical load of the carrier 20 is supported by the front and rear support rollers 23b, 23b, and the horizontal load due to the rotational moment generated when the main member 21 and the box body 22 protrude to one side of the carrier 20 is generated by guide rollers 23c, 23c, 24b, 24b.

A movable stopper 26 is also mounted on the auxiliary frame 23a on which the motor 25 is mounted (FIGS. 3 and 4A). The movable stopper 26 is a sliding pin that moves up and down in a guide sleeve 26c that vertically penetrates the auxiliary frame 23a, and the upper end of the movable stopper 26 is connected to a downward solenoid 26a. When the movable stopper 26 is raised via a solenoid 26a, it separates from the engagement blocks 26d, 26d installed on the rail body 11 of the guide rail 10, releasing the carrier 20 so that it can travel along the guide rail 10. When lowered via the solenoid 26a (FIG. 4(B)), the lower ends are engaged with the engagement blocks 26d, 26d to fix the carrier 20 at a predetermined position on the guide rail 10. FIG.

Mounting surfaces 22a for the robot arm 30 are formed on the front side and the rear side of the box 22 (FIGS. 2 and 3). Each mounting surface 22a is formed integrally with the front and rear side surfaces of the main member 21 so as to protrude from one side of the carrier 20 perpendicularly to the running direction of the carrier 20 along the guide rail 10. As shown in FIG. The first shaft frame 31 of each robot arm 30 is rotatably mounted on the mounting surface 22a via a robot base (not shown) installed on the mounting surface 22a. The rotation center axis C1 of the first shaft frame 31 is parallel to the guide rail 10 in the horizontal plane. Each robot arm 30 is of a 6-axis vertical articulated type having rotation center axes C1 to C6, and a pair of front and rear arms of the same specifications facing each other are mounted on mounting surfaces 22a, 22a.

Fixing blocks 27a and 27b are installed on the mounting surfaces 22a and 22a, respectively (FIGS. 3 and 5A). The fixed blocks 27 a and 27 b are arc-shaped along the outer periphery of the first shaft frame 31 of the robot arm 30 and are arranged on both sides of the lower half of the first shaft frame 31 . An engagement pin 27c is attached to the first shaft frame 31 just below the rotation center axis C1 in alignment with the 0° position Po (FIGS. 2 and 5A). Therefore, when the lower half of the first shaft frame 31 rotates toward and away from the guide rail 10, the fixed blocks 27a and 27b engage with the engagement pin 27c to rotate in the respective directions. By restricting the angular ranges .delta.1 and .delta.2, it is possible to restrict the rotational angular range .delta.=.delta.1 +.delta.2 of the first shaft frame 31 as a whole.

U-shaped movable blocks 28 are attached to the lower portions of the mounting surfaces 22a, 22a so as to be able to move up and down. The movable block 28 can be driven up and down along a slide guide 28b via a solenoid 28a. The first shaft frame 31 can be locked at the 0° position Po by engaging with it. lock can be released.

FIG. 6 schematically shows the configuration of the guide rail 10, the carrier 20, and the robot arms 30,30.

The work transfer device folds the robot arms 30 so that they do not protrude below the guide rail 10, and reciprocates the carrier 20 back and forth along the guide rail 10 (FIG. 1). That is, for example, if the guide rail 10 is installed above the level above a person's head, each robot arm 30 can be extended downward to perform the picking operation of the workpiece, the stocking operation, the loading/unloading operation to/from the processing machine, and the like. All in all, it is possible to keep the safety of the space under the guide rail 10 and secure the flow line of people in the direction crossing the guide rail 10 . When moving the carrier 20, the robot arms 30, 30 respectively lock the first axis frame 31 at the 0° position Po via the movable block 28 (Fig. 5A), and the carrier 20 is movable. It is assumed that the stopper 26 is lifted and released so that it can travel freely (Fig. 4(A)).

FIG. 7A shows an example of a basic layout of an automatic processing line that uses a work conveying device. In FIG. 7A, the guide rail 10 is unitized for each predetermined length and installed on the floor F via a plurality of pillars 14, 14, . . . . At both ends of the guide rail 10, stop members 15, 15 for the carrier 20 are erected. Attached. In the following description and drawings, the description and illustration of the end effector for gripping the workpiece W by the robot arm 30 are omitted.

On the upstream side (rear side) of the guide rail 10, a basket-shaped pallet 51 is installed on a pedestal 51a for randomly throwing in the works W before machining, and a picking area R1 for the works W is set. . Above the picking area R1, a 3D camera 51b is installed so that the robot arm 30 can pick up the works W in bulk.

A processing machine 52 for processing the work W is installed on the midstream side of the guide rail 10. For the loading operation of the work W before processing by the robot arms 30, 30 and the unloading operation of the processed work W, A loading/unloading area R2 for the workpiece W is set. However, by arranging a plurality of processing machines 52 in series, the work W may be processed through a plurality of processing stages, and the work W at that time is carried out by the robot arms 30, 30 in sequence for each processing machine. shall perform the entry action.

On the downstream side (front side) of the guide rail 10, a work stand 53 for stocking the processed works W, W . . . is set.

Openings (not shown) are formed in the bottom surface of the oil pan 16 so as to move the robot arms 30, 30 corresponding to the picking area R1, the carrying-in/out area R2, and the stock area R3. In addition, when each robot arm 30 is folded upward, the workpiece W gripped via the end effector can be lifted higher than the bottom surface of the oil pan 16 and held.

A schematic operation of the automatic processing line is, for example, as follows.

First, the carrier 20 is moved to a predetermined position immediately downstream of the picking area R1 and fixed via the movable stopper 26 (FIG. 7(A)). Also, the movable block 28 for the robot arm 30 on the upstream side is operated to unlock the first axis frame 31 (FIG. 5(B)), and the first axis frame 31 is rotated by the fixed blocks 27a and 27b. Rotation is possible within the range δ=δ1+δ2.

Next, the robot arm 30 on the upstream side is extended downward (FIG. 7(B)), and the workpieces W before processing in the pallet 51 are randomly picked and taken out. That is, when the robot arm 30 grips the workpiece W before processing, the robot arm 30 is folded upward, and the movable block 28 locks the first axis frame 31 at the 0° position Po (FIG. 5A). The carrier 20 is released by the movable stopper 26 (FIG. 4(A)).

Subsequently, the carrier 20 is moved to the immediate upstream side of the loading/unloading area R2 above the processing machine 52, and the robot arm 30 on the downstream side is extended into the processing machine 52 (Fig. 8(A)). A machined workpiece W in 52 is gripped. After that, when the machined workpiece W is carried out of the processing machine 52 by folding the downstream robot arm 30 upward, the carrier 20 is moved to the immediate downstream side of the loading/unloading area R2, and the upstream robot arm 30 is moved downward. ( FIG. 8B ), and the work W before processing is carried into the processing machine 52 .

After that, the upstream robot arm 30 is folded upward, the carrier 20 is moved to the immediate upstream side of the stock area R3 corresponding to the work stand 53, and fixed at a predetermined position, and the lock of the first axis frame 31 is released, The robot arm 30 on the downstream side is extended downward (FIG. 9(A)) to store the processed work W being gripped at a predetermined position on the work stand 53 . Subsequently, the robot arm 30 on the downstream side is folded upward, the first axis frame 31 is locked, the carrier 20 is released from the fixing, and the carrier 20 is returned to the immediate downstream side of the original picking area R1 (Fig. 9(B)), and the operations following FIG. 7(A) may be repeated.

In the picking operation of the workpiece W before processing by the robot arm 30 on the upstream side, the carrier 20 is fixed at a predetermined position via the movable stopper 26 (FIG. 10(A)), and the lock by the movable block 28 is released to move the workpiece W to the first position. By making the uniaxial frame 31 rotatable within the rotation angle range δ=δ1 +δ2, the movable range M of the robot arm 30 is expanded not only in the vertical direction of the guide rail 10 but also in the direction orthogonal to the guide rail 10 (same (B)), it is possible to easily cope with the picking operation of the works W randomly stacked in the pallet 51 . The rotation angle range .delta. of the first shaft frame 31 by the fixed blocks 27a and 27b can be set to .delta.1 =10.degree., .delta.2 =25.degree., and .delta.=35.degree., for example. Further, the operation contents of the picking operation described above can be applied mutatis mutandis to the stock operation of the processed workpiece W by the robot arm 30 on the downstream side.

On the other hand, when the unprocessed work W is carried into the processing machine 52 by the robot arm 30 on the upstream side, the carrier 20 is moved to a predetermined position (FIG. 11(A)) and the first axis is moved via the movable block 28. The robot arm 30 is extended into the access opening 52a of the processing machine 52 while the frame 31 is locked at the 0° position Po. At this time, the carrier 20 is moved upstream while the robot arm 30 is lowered so that the tip of the robot arm 30 descends vertically into the opening 52a (in the direction of the arrow K1 in FIGS. 11A and 11B). By moving at an appropriate speed (in the direction of arrow K2 in FIG. 11A), the size S=S1 ·S2 of the opening 52a provided in the processing machine 52 can be minimized. However, S1 and S2 are the width and depth of the opening 52a, respectively. It should be noted that the robot arm 30 does not interfere with the processing machine 52 or the opening 52a, regardless of the illustration in FIG. 11(A).

After the unprocessed workpiece W is loaded into the processing machine 52, the carrier 20 is moved downstream while pulling up the tip of the robot arm 30 (in the directions of arrows K1, K1 and K2 in FIGS. 11A and 11B). ), folding the robot arm 30 upwards. However, in FIG. 11A, the loading/unloading area R2 is set to be the same as the width S1 of the access opening 52a provided in the processing machine 52. As shown in FIG.

It should be noted that the robot arm 30 and the carrier 20 can be operated in cooperation in the same manner when carrying out the processed workpiece W from the processing machine 52 by the robot arm 30 on the downstream side.

In the above description, only one of the pair of front and rear robot arms 30 , 30 may be mounted on the carrier 20 .

The present invention provides a guide rail by mounting an articulated robot arm on one side of the carrier that reciprocates along the guide rail so that the central axis of rotation of the first shaft frame is parallel to the guide rail. A human flow line can be secured in the direction across the rail, that is, in the direction passing under the guide rail, and it can be widely and suitably applied when constructing a processing line for arbitrary workpieces.

C1... Rotation center axis Po... 0° position δ, δ1, δ2... Rotation angle range 10... Guide rail 20... Carrier 22a... Mounting surface 26... Movable stoppers 27a, 27b... Fixed block 28... Movable block 30... Robot arm 31... First axis frame

Patent Applicant Giken Co., Ltd.

The configuration of claim 1 for achieving this object comprises a guide rail, a carrier that reciprocates along the guide rail, and an articulated robot arm mounted on the carrier. A pair of mounting surfaces protruding on one side in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carrier are provided in the longitudinal direction along the traveling direction, and the robot arm rotatably mounts the first shaft frame on each mounting surface. The gist of this is that a pair is provided and the central axis of rotation of the first shaft frame is parallel to the guide rail.

Further, the carrier may be provided with a movable block that locks the first axis frame at the 0° position, or may be provided with a fixed block that regulates the rotation angle range of the first axis frame. Furthermore, the robot arm may be foldable so that it does not protrude below the guide rail.

The sixth aspect of the invention comprises a guide rail, a carrier that reciprocates along the guide rail, and an articulated robot arm mounted on the carrier, and the carrier is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carrier. A pair of mounting surfaces protruding on one side of the carrier are provided in the front-rear direction along the running direction. , the first shaft frame for swingably connecting the first arm of the robot arm is rotatably mounted on one of the mounting surfaces, and the central axis of rotation of the first shaft frame is parallel to the guide rail. This is the gist.

Claims (6)

It comprises a guide rail, a carrier that reciprocates along the guide rail, and an articulated robot arm mounted on the carrier, the carrier having a mounting surface projecting to one side, and the robot arm is a work conveying device, wherein a first shaft frame is rotatably mounted on the mounting surface, and a central axis of rotation of the first shaft frame is parallel to the guide rail; 2. A work conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said carrier is provided with a movable stopper for fixing said carrier at a predetermined position on said guide rail. 3. A work conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said carrier is provided with a movable block for locking said first axis frame at the 0[deg.] position. 4. The work conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carrier is provided with a fixed block that regulates the rotation angle range of the first shaft frame. 5. The work conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said robot arm is foldable so as not to protrude below said guide rail. 6. The workpiece transfer according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the carrier has a pair of front and rear mounting surfaces, and the robot arm has a pair of front and rear mounting surfaces to be mounted on each of the mounting surfaces. Device.

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