JP2627470B2 - Component supply rod detection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for holding a part at a tip of a supply rod and supplying the same to a target position.
In particular, it is intended to confirm whether or not the component has been transferred to the counterpart member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a prior art, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 63-117650, which was filed on May 14, 1988 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-288522). . It is shown in FIGS. That is, the steel plate part 3 which is a counterpart member is placed on the fixed electrode 1 of the spot welding machine with the guide pin 2 penetrating therethrough. Reference numeral 4 denotes a movable electrode. The supply unit 5 includes a supply pipe 7 for a part welded to the end of the outer cylinder 6, an air cylinder 8 joined to the other end of the outer cylinder 6, an actuator 9 for transferring the part from the supply pipe 7 to a supply rod, and the like. It is composed of

[0003] The detailed structure of the supply unit 5 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. The component handled here is a projection nut (hereinafter referred to as a nut) indicated by reference numeral 10, A component holding portion 12 for receiving the nut 10 is formed at the distal end portion. The shape of the component holding portion is a box-shaped concave portion having an open distal end side, as can be understood from FIGS. 9 and 10. The supply rod 11 is housed in the outer cylinder 6 and is connected to the piston rod 13 of the air cylinder 8.

An end of the supply pipe 7 is provided with a locking part 14 which is open on one side, and the open side is opposed to the component holding part 12 at a short distance, and a stopper piece 15 is provided as shown in FIG. By welding, the stop position of the nut 10 is determined. An actuating device 9 is connected to the back surface of the supply pipe 7 via a distance piece 16, and various devices such as an electromagnetic solenoid can be adopted as the actuating device 9.
Here, an air cylinder 17 is used. Hole 18 drilled in supply pipe 7 and hole 19 drilled in distance piece 16
And are coaxial with the screw hole of the nut 10 at the stop position. An operating rod 20 is fitted so as to be slidable in both holes 19 and 18, and this rod is connected to a piston rod (not shown) of the air cylinder 17. A positioning pin 21 is fixed to the distal end of the operating rod 20, and enters into a screw hole of the nut 10.

[0005] The nut 1 is provided in the component holding portion 12 of the supply rod.
In order to hold 0, various methods can be considered, such as a method of attaching a thin leaf spring to the opposing inner walls of the component holding portion 12 and lightly holding the nut 10 with it. Here, the simplest method is to use a magnet. I am trying to adopt. As the magnet, an electromagnet may be used so as to surround the supply rod 11, but in this embodiment, a permanent magnet is used. A sliding body 22 is brought into close contact with the outer surface of the supply rod 11, and a magnet (permanent magnet) 23 is embedded at a position corresponding to the component holding unit 12. The supply rod 11 has a double structure of an outer rod 24 and an inner shaft 25, and has an elongated hole 26 formed in the stroke direction of the outer rod 24. The integration with the inner shaft 25 is achieved. A long hole 2 in the stroke direction is also on the right side of the supply rod 11.
8 is opened, and the restriction pin 29 fixed to the inner shaft 25 projects as shown in the figure. A coil spring 30 is interposed between the inner shaft 25 and the outer rod 24, and the elasticity thereof is received by the restriction pin 29 hitting the left end of the elongated hole 28.

A long hole 3 is provided below the outer cylinder 6 in the stroke direction.
1 has been opened, and the locking piece 32 has entered from the outside.
The driving device 33 mounted on the outer surface of the outer cylinder 6 is realized by an air cylinder 34, and its piston rod 35 is connected to the locking piece 32. Locking piece 32 and regulating pin 29
Are arranged on one imaginary axis, and are set so as to be close to each other when the supply rod 11 makes a predetermined stroke. The magnet 23
The outer rod 24, the inner shaft 25, and the sliding body 2
2 etc. are suitably made of stainless steel.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which the nut 10 reaches the locking portion 14 through the supply pipe 7 and is received by the stopper piece 15, and the nut 10 faces the concave portion of the holding portion 12. In position. Now, here the operating rod 2
When 0 is advanced by the output of the air cylinder 17, the positioning pin 21 enters into the screw hole of the nut 10, and the nut 1
0 is pushed out as it is and enters the component holding unit 12, and is temporarily locked by the magnet 23. Thereafter, when only the operating rod 20 returns to the original position, the supply rod 11 moves forward by the output of the air cylinder 8. At this time, when the relative position between the magnet 23 and the component holding portion 12 (that is, the nut 10) advances without changing, and the nut 10 reaches the target position, the supply rod 11 stops. At this time, the restricting pin 29 has reached the close distance of the locking piece 32, and the air cylinder 34 performs a contraction operation, thereby causing the locking piece 32, the restricting pin 29, and the inner shaft 2.
5, the magnet 23 is forcibly pulled rightward and separated from the nut 10 through the bolt 27 and the sliding member 22 in this order, so that the magnetic attraction to the nut 10 is substantially eliminated. Therefore, the nut 10 is released from the holding state at the target position, and coincides with, for example, the guide pin 2 in FIG. FIG. 11 shows a state in which the sliding body 22 is stopped and a magnet (permanent magnet) is attached to the tip of the inner shaft 25.
36 is fixed.

[0008]

In the prior art as described above, since it is not confirmed whether or not the nut is present on the counterpart member, the movable electrode hits or the nut does not exist. The counterpart member is sent to the next process as it is, so that a normal post-process becomes impossible. There is also a method of checking components using a photoelectric tube or a phototransistor. However, accurate detection in a small space has a problem that is difficult for the arrangement of the device or for high-precision detection.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems and Their Functions The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention of claim 1 is to provide a detecting means in a component holding portion of a supply rod. , This detection means is transferred from the supply rod to the other member
Is located at a position where it can detect the
The conversion from the sensed signal to the
To check the existence of parts
The relative position between the parts on the
By specifying, the change from the sensed signal to the
Replacement symbolizes the existence of parts, and parts are not confirmed.
It is. If the part is not present, the above conversion will occur
Since there is no part, the absence of parts can be confirmed. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, an axial groove is formed on an outer surface of the supply rod, and an electric wire extending from the detection means is installed therein. It is in a state without any trouble even during operation. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a long energizing plate is attached to the supply rod along the stroke direction in an insulated state, and the energizing shoe is brought into contact with the energizing plate to determine whether there is a component. A signal is sent to the control circuit device, and a signal from the detecting means is sent to the control circuit device via the power supply plate and the power supply shoe.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 6 will be described.
The same members as those described in the section of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted. The detecting means 3 is provided on the component holding portion 12 of the supply rod 11 toward the inside thereof.
7 is attached. Various means such as a proximity switch and a phototransistor can be adopted as the detection means. Here, the type of the proximity switch is exemplified.

That is, an arm 38 is welded to the upper surface of the outer rod 24, and a mounting plate 39 is integrally provided on the arm 38, and a proximity switch 41 is mounted thereon using a bolt 40. The proximity switch 41 includes a main body 42 and a sensor 43, and the surface of the sensor 43 faces the component holder 12. The relative position between the nut 10 on the steel plate part 3 and the proximity switch 42 (more precisely, the sensing unit 43) as the sensing means is determined by the sensing unit 43 when the supply rod 11 returns as shown in FIGS. 10 are set to correspond to the side surfaces. By doing so, the shape of FIG.
When in the state, the sensing unit 43 senses the presence of the nut 10 and
When the supply rod 11 retreats, the sensor 43
Is separated from the side surface of the nut 10, so that the sensing unit 43
It becomes insensitive. Electric wires 46 and 47 are connected to the cathode side terminal 44 and the anode side terminal 45 of the proximity switch, respectively.
The electric wire 46 is connected to the tip of the outer rod 24 for grounding. A groove 48 is formed in the outer surface of the outer rod 24 in the axial direction, and the other electric wire 47 is installed therein. The groove 48 is filled with a synthetic resin 49,
Is buried. A cutout portion 50 is formed on a lateral side surface of the outer rod 24, and an electric wire 47 passing through the cutout portion 50 is connected to a conductive plate 51. Current plate 51
Is made of a long member, and is fixed along the stroke direction of the supply rod 11. The current-carrying plate 51 is insulated from the outer rod 24 by an insulating material 52, and is fixed with an adhesive. An energizing shoe 53 is attached to a stationary member, for example, the outer cylinder 6 in an insulated state (not shown), and this elastically contacts the energizing plate 51.
An electric wire 54 from the power supply shoe 53 is connected to a control circuit device 55. The control circuit device 55 receives the predetermined signal to activate the movable electrode 4 or supply the nut 10 to the component holding unit 12 again.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 shows that the supply rod 11 is advanced while the nut 10 is held by the component holding portion 12 and the nut 10 and the guide pin 2 are coaxial. When the inner shaft 25 is retracted to the right from this state,
When the nut 10 falls just below and coincides with the guide pin 2 and the supply rod 11 subsequently retreats, the proximity switch 41 that has sensed the nut 10 separates from the nut 10, so that the non-detection signal at this time is The conversion is issued as a signal indicating the presence of the nut 10. If the nut 10 is not fed into the component holding part 12 due to any trouble, the nut 10 is not transferred as shown in FIG.
Does not work at all, so a signal is generated that means that nut 10 is not present.

FIG. 7 shows the bolt 56 connected to the hole 5 of the mating member 3.
This is an embodiment in the case of insertion into the seventh embodiment, and the same operation as the previous embodiment can be obtained by moving the supply rod 11 as indicated by arrows 58, 59 and 60.

In the above embodiment, the proximity switch 4
Although 1 corresponds to the lateral side surface of the nut 10, the proximity switch 41 may correspond to the upper surface of the nut.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a detecting means is provided on a component holding portion of a supply rod, and the detecting means detects a counterpart from the supply rod.
It is arranged at a position where the parts transferred on the member can be sensed,
From the sensed signal to the undetected signal when the supply rod is retracted
Checking the existence of parts by converting
That is, the detection means and the counterpart member
Since the relative position with the component is related so that it can be detected,
When the supply rod is retracted when the product is
In the meantime, the detecting means is converted from sensing to non-sensing, and this conversion
It becomes a so-called trigger signal and confirms the presence of a part.
It shifts to operation. Also, if there are no parts
In this case, since the conversion described above does not occur,
It becomes a signal indicating the absence of the product,
It does not operate. As described above, the present invention makes it possible to reliably detect the presence or absence of a component when the supply rod returns, and to avoid the above-described trouble due to the lack of a component. Further, since the detection means is attached to the supply rod, the relative position between the detection means and the component can be accurately obtained, which is effective in improving the detection reliability. Even when a phototransistor is installed at the same time, the occupied space can be minimized. Since the electric wire extending from the detecting means is provided in the supply rod groove, there is no obstacle to the electric wire at the time of the reciprocation stroke of the supply rod. Further, since the current-carrying shoe is in contact with the current-carrying plate, it is possible to reliably send a signal indicating the presence or absence of a component to the control circuit device, which is suitable for improving the accuracy of the detection operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a tip end of a supply rod.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a supply rod showing an operation transition period.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a supply rod.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tip end of a supply rod.

FIG. 5 is a partial side view of a supply rod.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line (6)-(6) of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the behavior of the supply rod.

FIG. 8 is an overall side view of a conventional example.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional side view of the supply unit.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line (10)-(10) of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a vertical sectional side view of a distal end portion of a supply rod.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Supply rod 12 Component holding part 10 Component 37 Detecting means 3 Counterpart member 48 Groove 47 Electric wire 51 Current supply plate 53 Current supply shoe 55 Control circuit device

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A detecting means is provided on a component holding portion of a supply rod, and the detecting means moves from the supply rod onto a counterpart member.
The supply rod is located at a position where the mounted parts can be detected.
Conversion from the sensed signal to the undetected signal when
A component supply rod detecting device for confirming the presence of a component. 2. The component supply rod detection device according to claim 1, wherein an axial groove is formed on an outer surface of the supply rod, and an electric wire extending from the detection means is installed in the groove. 3. A control circuit according to claim 1, wherein a long conductive plate is attached to the supply rod along the stroke direction thereof in an insulated state, and the conductive shoe is brought into contact with the conductive plate to transmit a signal indicating the presence or absence of a component from the conductive shoe. A device for detecting a component supply rod, which is fed to the device.