JP2740405B2 - Turret type robot and its hand - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a turret type hand for an industrial robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when parts are automatically assembled to a chassis or the like in an automatic assembly line, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-100 / 1986
The industrial robot disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 391 is used,
The operation rate has been improved. That is, a turret having a plurality of tool mounting portions is rotatably mounted on one end of a tool mounting shaft supported by the arm. Then, a desired tool is selected and each operation is performed, so that a single robot can perform a plurality of types of operations.

[0003]

In such an industrial robot, the tool is changed by rotating the turret. However, the robot arm has no power source for rotating the turret. For this reason, a means for rotating the turret is provided at a predetermined position, and the turret is moved and rotated there. Therefore, every time the tool is replaced, the tool mounting shaft must be once returned to a predetermined position, and the tool replacement time is unnecessarily extended. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a turret-type hand capable of exchanging tools at an arbitrary position within a tool mounting axis movement range, and to reduce tool exchange time.

[0004]

According to the turret type hand of the present invention, a turret which has a plurality of tool mounting portions and is rotatably indexed and rotatably supported on a turret shaft is provided on a motor fixed to a turret support portion. Connect the turret shaft,
This is rotatably supported. And a turret lock lever that engages with the indexing position of the turret, stops its rotation, relays the electrical connection between the turret and the turret support and the air pipe at the indexing position, and supplies them to the tool; A spring that urges the turret lock lever in the direction of engagement with the turret and a cam that is fixed to the turret shaft in series with the turret are provided, and the rotation of the turret shaft changes the relative angle between the turret and the turret lock lever and the cam. Then, the turret lock lever is engaged with or separated from a predetermined position of the turret. The torque of the turret shaft is controlled by a torque transmitting means connecting the cam and the turret.
It is elastically transmitted to the turret.

[0005]

A plurality of tools attached to the turret are automatically exchanged without moving the turret to a specific position by a turret indexing and rotating means provided in the turret type hand unit.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a robot having a turret type hand (hereinafter referred to as a turret hand) according to the present invention. The robot 1 is a horizontal articulated type. Reference numeral 11 denotes a robot base, which has a first joint 21 whose rotation axis is vertical at the upper end, and one end of a first arm 31 is attached to this. A second joint 22 connects the other end of the first arm 31 and one end of the second arm 32, and has a rotation axis perpendicular to a horizontal plane. The rotation angles of these joints 21 and 22 are adjusted by a motor (not shown), and the first and second arms are turned left and right, respectively. 4 is the second arm 32
Is a Z-axis supported at the other end to be able to move up and down.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken side view showing an embodiment of the turret hand which is the gist of the present invention. The turret hand 5 is detachably and non-rotatably supported at the lower end of the Z-axis 4. You. Reference numeral 50 denotes a turret support that has a connection portion with the Z-axis at the top and supports the turret 51 via the turret shaft 52 at the bottom. The turret support 50 has a motor 53 attached to its 45 ° inclined surface, and a turret shaft 52 is connected to the rotation shaft. The turret shaft 52 is rotatably supported by the turret support 50. The turret 51 is rotatably mounted on the turret shaft 52, and the cam 54 is fixed in series to the turret shaft 52 between the turret and the turret support. Along with the rotation axis of the motor, the turret shaft 52 is positioned so as to intersect with the axial center line of the Z-axis at an angle of 45 °. Reference numeral 55 denotes an article gripping tool held by one of a plurality of tool mounting portions of the turret 51. When the tool is held at a working position as shown in FIG. 2, the tool center and the Z-axis center are coincident. Reference numeral 56 denotes a torsion coil spring that fits into the turret shaft 52 between the cam 54 and the turret 51, has one end connected to the cam, and the other end connected to the turret, and elastically transmits the torque of the turret shaft to the turret.

A turret lock lever 57 has one end rotatably supported by the turret support portion 50 and the other end engaged with a predetermined position on the periphery of the turret 51 to stop the rotation of the turret 51. The turret lock lever 57
Has a contact surface with the cam pattern (outer peripheral portion) of the cam 54, and engages with or separates from a predetermined position on the periphery of the turret 51 according to the cam pattern.
The turret lock lever 57 is urged by a tension coil spring 58 in a direction in which the turret lock lever 57 is pressed against the periphery of the turret or the outer periphery of the cam. Further, the turret lock lever 57 is provided with an air passage from the air pressure control valve of the base 11 provided on the turret support 50 and an electric wiring path from the control unit, an air passage 511 to the tool 55 of the turret 51, and an electric wiring path. 512 and an air passage and an electric wiring passage, respectively, for relaying the air passages 512 and 512. When the turret lock lever 57 is engaged with a predetermined position of the turret 51, the air supply path A and the electric supply path E to the tool 55 are provided.
And air and electricity are supplied respectively.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described. In FIG. 1, when the tool 55 of the turret hand 5 has completed a predetermined assembling operation, the Z-axis 4 is slightly raised from the operation target, and the arms 31 and 32 are turned to get the next assembling part. During this turning, a control unit (not shown) issues a tool change signal to rotate the motor 53 of the turret hand 5 by a predetermined angle. The rotation of the motor causes the turret shaft 51 and the cam 54 to rotate, but the turret 51 is initially prevented from rotating by the turret lock lever 57.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory views showing the operation of the cam 54 and the turret lock lever 57 when the turret 51 has four tool mounting portions (the right 45 in FIG. 2).
When the tool change is completed, the turret is in the positional relationship shown in FIG. In this case, on the periphery of the turret 51, as an engagement portion with the turret lock lever 57,
The concave portions are provided at a 90 ° pitch. When the turret shaft 52 rotates 90 ° by the tool change signal as described above, the relative angle between the turret 51, whose rotation is stopped by the turret lock lever 57, and the outer peripheral portion of the cam 54 changes. During this time, the relative angle difference generated between the cam and the turret and the torsion coil spring 56 connecting the cam 54 and the turret 51 are elastically deformed. When the cam 54 further rotates, the outer peripheral portion of the cam moves to the turret lock lever 5.
7 starts to be pushed up against the biasing direction of the tension coil spring 58, and then the turret lock lever 57 is separated from the engaging portion of the turret 51. This state is shown in FIG.

When the turret lock lever 57 is disengaged and the rotation of the turret 51 is stopped, the torsion coil spring 56, which has been elastically deformed, rotates the turret 51 by 90 ° to return to the original position. The relative angle difference (90 °) of 51 is eliminated. Then, the turret lock lever 57 that has been separated from the turret 51 separates from the outer peripheral portion of the cam 54, is pulled by the tension coil spring 58, and fits into the concave portion that is advanced by 90 ° from the initial position of the peripheral edge of the turret 51, and To lock.

While the arms 31 and 32 are turning, the above-described tool changing operation is performed, the corresponding assembled parts are picked up by the next tool, and the arms 31 and 32 are turned to return to the original working positions. Perform the following tasks: Thereafter, this operation is repeated, and various kinds of work are performed while automatically changing tools.

In this embodiment, the case where the turret hand 5 is attached to the hand portion of the horizontal articulated robot has been described. However, the case where the turret hand 5 is attached to the hand portion of the orthogonal coordinate type robot can be similarly applied.

[0014]

According to the present invention, a plurality of tools attached to a turret are automatically exchanged by a turret indexing and rotating means provided in a turret type hand unit, so that it is not necessary to move the turret to a specific position every time it is exchanged. It can be exchanged at the position. Therefore, the influence of the tool change time on the automatic assembly work time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a robot having a turret hand of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of the turret hand of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing one mode of the operation of the turret hand in the present embodiment, wherein the upper part shows the positional relationship between the turret lock lever and the cam, and the lower part shows the positional relationship between the turret lock lever and the turret.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing another aspect of the operation of the turret hand in the present embodiment, wherein the upper part shows the positional relationship between the turret lock lever and the cam, and the lower part shows the positional relationship between the turret lock lever and the turret. .

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 turret type robot 31, 32 arm 4 drive shaft 5 turret hand 50 turret support 51 turret 52 turret shaft 53 motor 54 cam 55 tool 56 torsion coil spring (rotational force transmitting means) 57 turret lock lever 58 pulling coil spring (biasing means)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A turret type robot hand having the following configuration. a. A turret that has a plurality of tool mounting portions, rotates indexingly, and has, at each indexing position corresponding to the number of tool mounting portions, a means for receiving electricity and air connected to a tool used at the indexing position. b A turret shaft that rotatably supports the turret. c. A motor that connects its own rotating shaft to the turret shaft and rotates it. d. A turret support for fixing the motor and rotatably supporting a turret shaft; e. A turret for temporarily fixing the turret by engaging itself with the indexing position of the turret, and relaying an electrical connection between the turret and the turret support and an air pipe at the indexing position to supply electricity and air to the tool; Lock lever. f. A biasing means which is located between the turret support portion and the turret lock lever and presses the turret lock lever in the direction of engagement with the turret. g. The turret is fixed to the turret shaft in series with the turret, and the turret and the turret lock lever are rotated by rotation of the turret shaft.
A cam that engages with or separates from the turret indexing position by changing the relative angle between the turret and the turret. h. A rotational force transmitting means having one end connected to the cam and the other end connected to the turret for elastically transmitting the rotational force of the turret shaft to the turret; 2. A turret type robot, wherein the turret type robot hand according to claim 1 is mounted on a drive shaft supported by an arm.