JP2733021B2 - Parts supply 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 stably supplying a part having a complicated shape to a predetermined position or apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process generally including an assembly process, a large number of parts required for manufacturing are stored in a hopper, parts are taken out little by little from a discharge port at the bottom of the hopper, and supplied to a production machine or the like. Aspects have been taken. At this time, if the part is nearly spherical, has a simple shape with few projections, or has a small surface friction resistance, remove the part little by little from the discharge port provided at the bottom of the hopper and stabilize it in the next process. Can be supplied,
In a case where the shape is complicated or the surface has a large frictional resistance, there is a problem that the parts are twisted together near the discharge port at the bottom of the hopper to form a so-called bridge state, and the supply of the parts stagnates.

In order to solve such a problem, conventionally, a rotating or sliding blade is provided in the hopper, or the hopper itself is rotated or slid, and the bridge in the hopper is agitated by aggressively stirring the components in the hopper. Had been resolved.

[0004]

However, according to the conventional method or apparatus, when a component is composed of a plurality of members and the joining force is weak, the components within the hopper or between the component and the hopper wall surface are not connected to each other. There is a problem that the joint is disengaged and the parts are damaged due to friction and collision. Also,
Similarly, when a paper sticker is attached to the surface of a part, the seal often peels off, and plating or painting often becomes bald.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an apparatus capable of stably supplying a component to be supplied to the next step without damaging the component.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hopper having openings at an upper portion and a lower portion for accommodating a plurality of supply parts, and a hopper of the hopper. Opening / closing means provided at the lower opening for opening and closing the lower opening, moving means for reciprocating the opening / closing means in at least one direction, and detection for detecting a component falling from the hopper via the opening / closing means. The gist of the invention consists of a sensor and control means for controlling the operations of the opening / closing means and the moving means based on a signal from the sensor.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the opening / closing means includes a pair of plate-like members whose side surfaces are opposed to each other and a driving means for moving the plate-like members in a direction of separating or approaching. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the opening / closing means includes a plurality of rollers, a belt wound around the rollers, and a frame rotatably supporting the rollers. A first opening / closing means and a second opening / closing means, and the first opening / closing means and the second opening / closing means are arranged side by side with their respective side ends facing each other;
The invention is characterized in that a driving means for moving the first opening / closing means and the second opening / closing means in a direction of separating or approaching is provided. The invention described in claim 4 is characterized in that the hopper has a plurality of insides of the hopper. The point is that a partition plate is provided.

[0008]

Next, the operation of the present invention having the above configuration will be described.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, first, a plurality of supply parts are stored in the hopper from the upper opening of the hopper. At this time, the opening / closing means is closed, and as a result, the lower opening of the hopper is closed. Next, the control means drives the opening / closing means to open the lower opening of the hopper, and discharges components through this opening. Then, the control means detects the dropped component by the sensor, but when the dropped component is not detected by the sensor,
When it is determined that a bridge has occurred at the opening, the moving means is driven to reciprocate the opening and closing means in a predetermined direction. As a result, the opening moves, and the bridge is eliminated.

According to the invention described in claim 2,
The lower opening of the hopper can be opened and closed by separating or approaching the pair of plate members by the driving means.
Similarly, according to the invention described in claim 3, the lower opening of the hopper can be opened and closed by separating or approaching the first opening / closing means and the second opening / closing means from each other by the driving means. According to the invention described in claim 4,
Since the inside of the hopper is divided into a plurality of rooms by the partition plate, a bridge is hardly generated.

[0011]

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a supply device according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the component supply device (1) includes a storage hopper (23) and a moving means ( 2)
And a separation / contact means (3), a machine frame (6), a first opening means (21), a second opening means (22), and a slide rail (24). Hereinafter, details of each unit will be described.

The machine frame (6) is a frame body assembled into a rectangular parallelepiped shape as shown in FIG. 1, and supports the above-mentioned parts.

The storage hopper (23) is formed of a housing having an open top and bottom, and its interior is equally divided by a partition plate (7) at intervals larger than at least the width of components to be supplied. (23a), and
A tapered feeding guide (8) for improving workability at the time of feeding is provided on the upper part. The storage hopper (23) is fixed to the machine frame (6).

The first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22) are provided below the storage hopper (23) so as to face each other, and are substantially symmetric with each other. Having a structure. Here, the first opening means (21) will be described as a representative. As shown in FIG.
The opening means (21) includes two rollers (12), (12) provided at a predetermined interval, and the rollers (12), (12).
And an endless belt (11) wound around the roller, and a frame (5) rotatably supporting the rollers (12) and (12). As shown in the figure, an angle member (10) provided on a side surface of the storage hopper (23)
The upper part of the belt (11) is fixed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the slide rail (24) is provided on both sides of the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22), and has a slide shaft (17). ), A slide shaft mount (16) for suspending the slide shaft (17), and a slide bearing (15) sliding on the slide shaft (17). Then, the slide bearing (15) is fixed to each frame (5) of the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22),
The slide rail (24) supports the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22) so as to be movable in the direction of arrows AA '.

The moving means (2) comprises a slide frame (19), a slide unit (20), and a servo motor (18), and the slide unit (20) is indicated by an arrow by appropriately driving the servo motor. AA '
Can move in any direction. The frame (5) of the first opening means (21) is fixed on the slide unit (20), and the slide frame (19) is fixed on the machine frame (6).

In this embodiment, a servo motor (18) is used for the moving means (2), but a stepping motor or the like may be used.

The separating means (3) comprises an air cylinder (14) fixed to the frame (5) on the slide unit (20), and an L-shape fixed to the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder (14). The cylinder head (13) is fixed to the frame (4) of the second opening means (22).

Next, an embodiment in which the component (26) is supplied to the assembling process by the component supply device (1) having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, first, moving means (2)
To move the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22) such that the opposing portions thereof are located on the rightmost side of the storage hopper (23) as shown in the figure.

The frame (4) is moved in the direction A 'by contracting the air cylinder (14) of the separating / contacting means (3), and the first opening means (21) and the second opening After the gap with the means (22) is eliminated, that is, the bottom of the storage hopper (23) is closed, the worker places the component (2) in each storage section (23a) of the storage hopper (23).
6) is input. At this time, the component (26) is in a state of being supported by the belt (11) above the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22).

Next, the control means (not shown) receives the component shortage signal from the previous process and extends the air cylinder (14) as shown in FIG. As a result, the second opening means (22) is moved in the direction of arrow A by the same amount as the distance between the partition plates (7), and opens the lower part of the first row of accommodating portions (23a), The part (26) is ejected from the part (opening). After discharging the required amount or after the elapse of a predetermined time,
The air cylinder (14) is driven to move the second opening means (22) in the direction of arrow A 'to close the opening and stop the supply of the parts.

Since the belt (11) of the second opening means (22) is fixed to the angle member (10) as described above, the roller (12) is moved in the direction of arrow A 'to close the opening. 4, the belt (11) in the opening moves in the direction of arrow B as shown in FIG.
The part (26) immediately before falling is pushed upward. Therefore, the part (26) is not sandwiched between the rollers (12) and (12).

The above-described supply operation is repeated, and when the drop of the component (26) cannot be detected by the component drop confirming sensor (not shown) provided below the opening, that is, the first row of the receiving portions (23a) After discharging all the parts (26) stored in the storage device, the control means (not shown) contracts the air cylinder (14) of the separating / contacting means (3) and points the second opening means (22) to the arrow A. After moving the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22) by eliminating the gap between the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22), the moving means (2) is driven to drive the first opening means (21) and the second opening means. The second opening means (22) is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A, and these are positioned below the second row of the accommodating portions (23a).

At this time, the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (21)
Since each belt (11) of the opening means (22) is fixed to the angle member (10), its rotation is suppressed, and friction between the belt (11) and the part (26) is reduced. Therefore, no scratch is generated on the surface of the component (26).

Thereafter, by the same operation as in the first row of the receiving portions (23a), the receiving portions of the second and subsequent rows (23a) are operated.
The parts (26) are sequentially taken out from (a).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the first
Opening means (21) and second opening means (22)
Rollers (12), (12) and the rollers (1
2) Endless belt (11) wound around (12)
And a frame (5) rotatably supporting the rollers (12), (12), and an angle member (1) provided with an upper portion of the belt (11) provided on a side surface of the storage hopper (23).
5), a roller (27) rotatably supported at a fixed position and a roller (28) rotatably supported by the frame (5), as shown in FIG. And a roller (29) supported vertically and rotatably by an elastic body (25) such as a spring, and the endless belt (11) is attached to the rollers (27), (28) and (29). ), And the upper portion of the belt (11) may be fixed to a member (30) provided on the side surface of the storage hopper (23).
1), one end of the belt (11) wound around the rollers (27) and (28) is fixed to the angle member (10), while the other end is fixed to the roller (29) or an elastic body. The configuration fixed to (25) may be adopted. With this configuration, the device can be made compact.

Further, in this embodiment, the first opening means (21) and the second opening means (22) are constituted by the belt (11) or the like, but may be constituted simply by plate-like members. In this case, it is preferable that the surface of the plate-shaped member in contact with the supply component has as small a frictional resistance as possible.

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to stably supply a component to the next process without damaging the component, even if the component is vulnerable to friction or impact between components or a hopper portion. It becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state before components are put into the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which components are put into the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a component supply stopping operation of the present apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an alternative opening mechanism of the apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Component supply apparatus 2 Moving means 3 Separation means 6 Machine frame 7 Partition plate 8 Loading guide 9 Side plate 11 Belt 14 Air cylinder 21 First opening / closing means 22 Second opening / closing means 23 Storage hopper 26 Parts

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A hopper having openings at upper and lower parts for storing a plurality of supply parts, opening and closing means provided at a lower opening of the hopper for opening and closing the lower opening, Moving means for reciprocating, a sensor for detecting a component falling from the hopper via the opening / closing means, and a control means for controlling the operation of the opening / closing means and the moving means based on a signal from the sensor. In the component supply device configured, the opening / closing means includes a first opening / closing means including a plurality of rollers, a belt wound around the rollers, and a frame rotatably supporting the rollers. Opening / closing means, and the first opening / closing means and the second
And a drive means for moving the first opening / closing means and the second opening / closing means in a direction of separating or approaching each other.