JP2502255Y2 - Suction pad device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a suction pad device used for gripping an article in an industrial robot, a manipulator, or the like.
In particular, the present invention relates to a suction pad device that suction-holds a plate material.

(Prior Art) In industrial robots, manipulators, etc., the suction pad used for gripping an article is generally a rubber pad, but two suction pads facing each other are used to hold an article such as a plate material. In the case of sucking from both sides and gripping it in a sandwiching manner, if the suction pad is a Bomb pad, the gripping posture of the gripped article is not fixed due to the elastic deformation of this,
In particular, when the gripped article is a plate material, a phenomenon occurs in which the plate material swings in the gripped state, which causes a hindrance to the handling work.

In view of the above problems, the suction pad main body is formed of a rigid body such as metal, and a suction chamber by vacuum is provided inside the annular rubber seal attached to the outer peripheral edge of the suction pad main body. A suction pad device configured to face each other has been considered.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the suction pad device as described above, the problem as in the rubber pad does not occur, but a new obstacle occurs. That is, in this case, since the suction pad main body is made of a rigid body such as metal, the contact surface of the gripping article does not change, and thereby the gripping posture of the gripping article is well determined, and the gripping article is Even if it is a plate material, there is no problem such that it swings in the gripped state, and the rubber seal attached to the suction pad body is deformed to some extent according to the surface shape of the gripped article due to its elastic deformation. This prevents the vacuum of the suction chamber from leaking out, but if the plate material to be gripped has an opening or a dent and the opening or dent corresponds to the part of the rubber seal, its own elastic deformation However, the vacuum in the suction chamber leaks to the outside,
This causes a problem that the plate material is not adsorbed normally.

For the above problems, increase the thickness of the rubber seal,
If the permissible elastic deformation amount of this is increased, it will be solved to some extent, but if the plate thickness of the rubber seal is increased and the permissible elastic deformation amount of this is increased, it becomes the same as the rubber pad, and this time. There is a problem that the gripping posture of the gripped article becomes unstable.

The present invention is an improved suction device capable of gripping an article such as a plate material in a stable gripping posture and capable of gripping an article normally without causing vacuum leakage in the suction chamber even if an opening or a depression is formed in the article. It is intended to provide a pad device.

[Means for Solving the Problem] (Means for Solving the Problems) In view of the conventional problems as described above, the present invention is directed to an annular land having an annular contact surface on the outer peripheral edge of a pad body that holds a gripping component by suction. A portion, the suction chamber provided on the inside surrounded by the annular land portion is connected to the vacuum pump, and is provided in the annular groove formed in the annular land portion.
An annular piston member made of an elastic body that is easily elastically deformed is provided so as to be retractable from the annular contact surface, a thin seal is provided on the annular contact surface, and the annular piston member is partially When the suction force of the suction chamber is received, the annular piston member is partially pulled out from the annular groove and the vacuum of the suction chamber is prevented from leaking to the outside.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an industrial robot equipped with a suction pad device according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes an industrial robot that handles a plate material. The industrial robot 1 has a pair of plate material gripping arms 5 at the tip of a movable arm 3, and each of the gripping arms 5 is provided. The suction pad devices 7 are attached to the tip end of the so as to face each other.

Each of the suction pad devices 7 has a pad body 9 made of a rigid body such as metal, as well shown in FIG. 1, and the pad body 9 constitutes an annular contact surface 11 at an outer peripheral edge portion. It has a cup-like shape having an annular land portion 13, and a suction chamber 15 is formed inside the annular land portion 13. The suction chamber 15 communicates with a nipple 19 attached to the pad body 9 through a hole 17 provided in the pad body 9, and the nipple 17
Is connected by a vacuum pipe 21 to a vacuum pump (not shown) so that a vacuum (negative pressure) can be applied.

The annular land portion 13 is formed with an annular groove 23 that is open to the annular contact surface 11. An annular relatively thin rubber seal 25 is attached to the annular contact surface 11 over the entire area of the annular groove 23 except the opening. An annular piston member 27 made of rubber or a rubber-like material and made of a rubber-like elastic material is fitted in the annular groove 23 in the vertical direction in the figure, that is, in a retractable manner. The annular piston member 27 has an X-shaped cross section and can be partially elastically deformed in the circumferential direction. The annular piston member 27 may be formed in a sectional shape other than the X shape as long as it can be partially elastically deformed in the circumferential direction.

A snap ring 29 is attached to the annular groove 23 of the pad body 9 to prevent the annular piston member 27 from falling off.

2 and 3 show a gripping state of a plate material W having an opening H as an example of a gripping state by a pair of suction pad devices 7. The plate material W is an annular contact surface of the pad body 9.
11 and 11 through the rubber seal 25, the opening H of the plate W
However, when the suction chamber 15 is located at a position corresponding to the ring-shaped land portion 13, the suction chamber 15 communicates with the outside through the opening H at this portion, but at this time, the suction force of the suction chamber 15 ( (Negative pressure) acts on the annular piston member 27 at its opening H, whereby the annular piston members 27 provided in the upper and lower suction pad devices 7 in the drawing are respectively pulled out from the annular groove 23. Are brought into contact with each other, and communication with the outside of the suction chamber 15 is blocked.

Thereby, the vacuum of the suction chamber 15 is prevented from leaking to the outside, and the plate material W is gripped with a normal gripping force. Further, in this embodiment, the plate material W is sandwiched by the rubber seal 25 and the pad main body 9 on both upper and lower sides, but the rubber seal 25 may be relatively thin, so that the plate material W is gripped. It does not shake.

If the annular contact surface 11 of the pad main body 9 directly contacts the gripping article to obtain a good sealability, and if there is no risk of the gripping article being damaged by this direct contact,
The rubber seal 25 may be omitted, and the rubber seal 25 may be provided integrally with the annular piston member 27.

In the above, the present invention has been described in detail with respect to a specific embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

[Effects of the Invention] As will be understood from the above description of the embodiment, in short, the present invention is provided with the annular contact surface (11) at the outer peripheral edge of the pad body (9) for sucking and holding the gripping component. An annular groove is formed in the annular land (13) by providing an annular land (13) and connecting the suction chamber (15) surrounded by the annular land (13) to a vacuum pump. An annular piston member (27) made of an elastic body that is easily elastically deformed is provided in (23) so as to be retractable from the annular contact surface (11), and the annular contact surface (11) is provided. Is provided with a thin seal (25), and when the annular piston member (27) is partially sucked by the suction chamber (15), the suction force of the suction chamber (15) causes the annular piston member (27) to move. The vacuum in the suction chamber (15) leaks to the outside as it is partially pulled out from the annular groove (23). It is made of a configuration for preventing Rukoto.

As is apparent from the above structure, in the present invention, the suction chamber 15 is provided inside the land portion 13 provided on the outer peripheral edge of the pad body 9, and the annular contact surface 11 of the annular land portion 13 is provided. Since a thin seal 25 is provided in the suction chamber 15, the suction chamber 15 can be prevented from leaking by the action of the seal 25 when a suction pressure is applied to the suction chamber 15 to hold the gripping component, and the gripping posture of the gripping component can be improved. It can be held.

Further, in the present invention, an annular piston member 27 made of an elastic body that easily elastically deforms is provided in the annular groove 23 formed in the annular land portion 13 so as to be retractable from the annular contact surface 11 and When the piston member 27 partially receives the suction of the suction chamber 15, the suction force of the suction chamber 15 causes an annular groove.
Since it is a structure for preventing the vacuum of the suction chamber 15 from leaking to the outside by being partially pulled out from 23, even if there is a recess or a hole corresponding to the annular piston member 27, in the embodiment, As described above, the grip component can be securely held by suction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of a suction pad device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing a holding state of a plate material by the suction pad device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the same. FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are schematic configuration diagrams showing an industrial robot equipped with a suction pad device according to the present invention. 1 …… Industrial robot, 5 …… Plate material gripping arm 7 …… Suction pad device, 9 …… Pad body 11 …… Round face, 13 …… Round land 15 …… Suction chamber, 23 …… Round groove 27 …… Annular piston member

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A pad body (9) for holding gripping components by suction.
An annular land portion (13) having an annular contact surface (11) is provided on the outer peripheral edge of the, and an inner suction chamber (15) surrounded by the annular land portion (13) is connected to a vacuum pump. The annular piston member (27) made of an elastic body that is easily elastically deformed can be retracted from the annular contact surface (11) in the annular groove (23) formed in the annular land portion (13). A suction seal chamber when the annular piston member (27) is partially sucked by the suction chamber (15). (15)
The suction pad is configured so as to prevent the annular piston member (27) from being partially pulled out from the annular groove (23) and the vacuum of the suction chamber (15) from leaking to the outside. apparatus.