JP2875107B2 - Fixed position storage device for parts exchanged by robot - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention combines a robot with an injection molding machine using a core-exchangeable mold, and uses a robot to exchange cores, take out products, and prepare for purging. It relates to a molding device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an injection molding machine intended for small-lot production of various kinds, a core-exchangeable mold is employed, and cores are frequently exchanged using a robot. Also, because of the use of a robot, the same robot is used to take out products and prepare for purging. In order for the robot to perform these various operations, it is necessary to prepare a hand with a tool suitable for each operation, and to select and attach an appropriate one to the wrist at the tip of the robot arm as necessary. Furthermore, it is necessary to prepare several types of cores corresponding to the types of molded articles, and to exchange and use them.

Conventionally, the members exchanged by the robot, such as the hand and the core, are within the operation area of the wrist in the robot arm, but are not arranged at a predetermined position, but at any arbitrary standby positions. Had been placed. Hand exchange, core exchange, and the like are performed in such a manner that the automatic operation of the injection molding apparatus is interrupted. As part of automatic operation, hand replacement, core replacement, etc. may be incorporated in the molding plan program, but in this case, before starting operation, teach the robot where the hands and cores are located in advance. Need to be recognized by However, teaching operations for a large number of locations, paths, and members are troublesome, and must be repeated every time the position of the hand or the core changes.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a storage device for storing members such as hands and cores exchanged by a robot at fixed positions with respect to the robot.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for storing a member to be replaced by a robot. Combining an injection molding machine and robot that uses a core replaceable mold on the robot base. Also, the storage device is arranged on the robot base. Income
The storage device includes a base, a core storage unit and a hand storage unit disposed on an upper surface of the base. The core and the hand are accommodated in the accommodating portion, so that the core and the hand are arranged at a fixed position with respect to an origin determined at a predetermined position and accessible by the wrist of the robot.

The hand may include a core replacement hand and a molded product removal hand. In some cases, the core accommodating section is provided with a preliminary temperature control device for the core. The core accommodating portion may be provided with a holding device for preventing a displacement between core components. A shutter may be provided to cover the hand changer section of each hand stored in the hand storage section. A cover that can be opened and closed may be provided in the core accommodating portion.

[0007]

The storage device determines the positions of members exchanged by the robot, such as the hand and the core, at fixed positions with respect to the robot.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An injection molding apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an injection molding machine 2, a robot 3, a fixed position storage device 4 for members exchanged by the robot 3, and a product stocker 5 hereinafter. These are the robots 3
Are arranged on a single robot base 6 with the center as the center, and the mutual arrangement is fixed.

The injection molding machine 2 is a conventional one, and includes a mold temperature control device 7, a core preliminary temperature control device 8, a data display device 9 having a CRT screen, and a molding material drying device 10. . The injection molding machine 2 uses a core-exchangeable mold, and a plurality of cores 11 (FIGS. 2 and 3) to be prepared are integrated with the outer shape and various dimensions related to the outer shape. The core 11 is composed of a combination of a fixed core 11a and a movable core 11b, and the movable core 11b is a fixed core 11a.
The part other than the parting part is slightly smaller in diameter and forms the flange 12. The cores 11 (a, b) on the fixed side and the movable side are always handled as a single unit except when they are mounted on a matrix (not shown) and subjected to mold opening and closing operations.

The robot 3 is a normal articulated robot.
The arc in FIG. 1 is a horizontally rotatable region of the arm 13 as viewed on a plane. That is, the reachable area of the wrist 14 attached to the tip of the arm 13 is within the sector defined by the arc. The data display device 9 can rotate from the normal position indicated by the solid line to the working position indicated by the broken line.

The product stocker 5 is a box body for separating and storing the molded product by the injection molding machine 2, and the molded product is conveyed from the injection molding machine 2 to an appropriate place of the stocker 5 by the robot 3. In addition, the injection molding machine 2 and the robot 3 are provided with respective control devices (NC devices) and are respectively controlled, and are configured so as to communicate with each other regarding the timing of operation related to each other.

Hereinafter, the fixed position storage device 4 will be mainly described. The fixed-position storage device 4 (FIGS. 2 and 5) includes a core storage portion 16 and hand storage portions 17 (a to c) on the upper surface portion of the base body 15, which are sequentially higher and configured in a tiered manner ( 4), the wrist 13 of the robot 3 is set to a position accessible.

The core accommodating portion 16 has a box structure, and is divided into an upper portion 16a and a lower portion 16b having the same structure by a middle plate 18.
(A, b) is divided into four cells 20 each. The front portions of the upper and lower portions 16 (a, b) are closed by transparent protective covers 21 (a, b) made of acrylic resin, respectively (FIG. 6). These covers 2
1 is an air actuator mounted on both sides of the box structure 2
2 (a, b) can be opened and closed individually. In FIG. 5, a decorative cover for concealing this portion of the right actuator 22b is removed.

The upper portion 16a (FIG. 5) of the core accommodating portion 16 is provided with a core holding device 23 on the ceiling, and a core receiving plate 24 (FIG. 3) is provided at an intermediate portion in the vertical direction at substantially the center in the vertical direction. It is supported horizontally. The core receiving plate 24 is provided with four core receiving holes 25 at equal intervals, and the core holding device 23 is disposed immediately above each core receiving hole 25. The core receiving holes 25 are open on the front side, respectively.
The hole wall has a two-stage structure so as to receive the flange 12 of the core 11, and the core holding device 23 has a structure of an air cylinder and has a flat pressing plate 26 at the lower end of a piston protruding downward. I have. The lower portion 16b of the core receiving portion 16 has the same structure.

The vertical plate 19 has a notch 2 whose front is open at a location corresponding to the parting surface of the stored core 11.
7 are provided to facilitate entry of the core replacement hand 28 (shown by a broken line in FIG. 5) of the robot 3. Further, the holding plate 26 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 5 indicates a position when the core 11 is attached and detached.

The hand accommodating portions 17 (a to c) are formed in three steps extending in a shelf shape, and have hand receiving holes 29 (a to c) whose front sides are opened as shown in FIGS. The hand receiving hole 29 is supported by engaging the flange portion of the hand changer 30, and has a two-stage structure similar to the core receiving hole 25, and has a size corresponding to the shape of the hand changer 30. Depending on. In FIG. 4, the core replacement hand 28 is stored in the lower hand storage portion 17c,
A product take-out hand (suction hand) 31 is housed in the middle hand housing portion 17b. Hands required for automatic operation of the injection molding apparatus 1, such as a resin processing hand and a gate opening / closing hand, are stored at predetermined positions. Reference numerals 32 (a to c) denote shutters, each of which is disposed at a storage location of each hand and opened and closed by a rotary actuator 33 (a to c). The broken line position of the shutter 32 in FIG. 4 indicates the position when the hand is detached.

The hand changers 30 of the hands stored in the hand storage units 17 (a to c) are connected to the wrist 1 of the robot 3.
4 so that it is mounted from above.
Combined with the above-mentioned step structure, the hand is, after all, viewed from the robot 3 at a fixed position with respect to the origin appropriately determined on the base 15, and is arranged at a position accessible to the wrist 14.

Before the injection molding apparatus 1 is operated, teaching of each work position and work path is performed on the robot 3. In this case, the positions of the cores 11 and the core exchange hands 28 and the product take-out hands 31 which are the largest in number and are troublesome to teach are exchanged by the robot 3 with respect to the positions of the respective cores 11 in the fixed position storage device 4. Since the arrangement of the hand and the hand are stored as data in the control device, the position of the fixed position storage device 4 on the robot base 6 during teaching, that is, one or two or three fixed positions stored in the fixed position storage device 4. It only teaches the origin positions. Thereby, the robot 3 can grasp the positions of the various cores 11 and the members exchanged by the robot such as the core exchange hand 28 at a glance.

It is assumed that all the cores 11 and all replacement hands to be used in the injection molding plan to be executed are stored in the fixed position storage device 4 in advance. The stored core 11 is supported by engaging the flange 12 with the core receiving hole 25 of the core receiving plate 24, and is pressed from above by the pressing plate 26 of the core holding device 23. It is prevented that the position of the whole core is displaced and that the core components such as the fixed-side and movable-side cores 11 (a, b) are displaced. Further, the core 11 to be used this time is loaded on the core preliminary temperature control device 8 on the injection molding plan, and the core 11 of the injection molding machine 2 is not mounted on the core. .

The mold temperature controller 7 and the resin dryer 10 are driven. The control device of the injection molding machine 2 detects that the core 11 is not mounted on the mother die, and notifies the control device of the robot 3 of the fact. When the robot 3 is driven, the core replacement hand 28 stored in the fixed position storage device 4 is attached to the wrist 14 at the tip of the arm 13 (FIG. 11). At this time, the rotary actuator 33c is driven to open the shutter 32c on the hand changer 30.

Next, the core 11 is removed from the core preliminary temperature control device 8 by the core exchange hand 28, and the injection molding machine 2
Attached to the mother mold. The robot 3 subsequently takes out the core 11 to be used next time from the fixed position storage device 4 and stores it in the core preliminary temperature control device 8 in advance. Then, the robot 3 returns the core exchange hand 28 to the predetermined position of the fixed position storage device 4, and then exchanges the hand with the product take-out hand 31 and waits. When the core 11 is taken out, the air actuator 22 is driven and the protective cover 2
1 is opened and closed. The protective cover 21 is opened only when the core is taken in and out, and the others are closed.

When the control unit of the injection molding machine 2 determines that the conditions of the injection molding operation such as the mold temperature and the nozzle touch pressure are satisfied, the molding operation is commanded to the injection molding machine 2. At the same time, the robot 3 takes out the molded product from the clamp portion of the injection molding machine 2 every time the molding cycle is completed by the product take-out hand 31 attached to the wrist 14 and conveys it to a predetermined product stocker 5 to store it.

When the molding cycle corresponding to the product of the predetermined lot is counted, the molding operation is stopped, and the core 11 is replaced. That is, the robot 3 changes the hand to the core changing hand 28, takes out the previous core 11 from the master mold, puts it in the original position of the fixed position storage device 4, and then moves the preliminary temperature controller 8 to the current core 11 Take out and attach it to the mother mold,
Further, the next core 11 is taken out from the fixed position storage device 4 and stored in the core preliminary temperature control device 8. Hereinafter, the same operation is performed, but when the resin needs to be changed due to the replacement of the core, the nozzle touch is released in the injection molding machine 2 according to the operation program, and purging is performed. At this time, the robot 3 selects a resin processing hand from the fixed position storage device 4 and mounts it on the wrist 14. This hand is converted to the original position of the fixed position storage device 4 after the end of the purge operation. The resin processing hand is for receiving the purge resin after the tip of the injection nozzle is closed and a purge back pressure is applied. When the purging is completed, the nozzle touch operation is performed, and the molding cycle is started when a predetermined nozzle touch pressure is reached.

The molding operation is roughly as described above, and the exchange of the robot hand related to the operation necessary for maintaining the automatic operation of the injection molding apparatus 1 such as the core exchange by the robot 3, the removal of the molded product or the purging. Is performed smoothly because these hands are always arranged in the fixed positions by the fixed position storage device 4. The core 11 stored in the fixed position storage device 4 is disposed in a space substantially closed by the protective cover 21, and is less likely to be contaminated by dust in the factory. Further, when a gate opening / closing hand is provided, the opening / closing of the gate in the clamp portion of the injection molding machine is performed using the hand when the core 11 is mounted or replaced.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment relating to the core holding device 23, in which the holding plate 26 is provided with the air actuator 22.
Not directly, but via a booster mechanism 34. The core receiving hole 25 of the core receiving plate 24 has a cylindrical shape with an open front. According to this embodiment, since the air actuator 22 is disposed on the back side of the cylindrical core receiving hole 25, the height of the fixed position storage device 4 can be reduced. Further, the displacement of the core 11 can be strongly prevented by the booster mechanism.

FIG. 13 shows another embodiment of the core receiving hole 25 in the core receiving plate 24 and the pressing plate 26.
In this embodiment, the core receiving hole 25 has a cylindrical shape with an open front, is filled with a heat insulating material, and has a heater 35 disposed therein. The holding plate 26 is also made of a heat insulating material. According to this embodiment, the core 11 is preliminarily temperature-controlled at the stage of being stored in the fixed-position storage device 4, and the temperature can be adjusted while adjusting the core 11 individually. The preliminary temperature control device 8 provided on the side of the injection molding machine 2 can be omitted. Further, since the holding plate 26 is made of a heat insulating material, the temperature control heat rarely escapes to the core holding device 23 through the holding plate 26.

The above is an embodiment, and the present invention is not limited to the illustrated structure. For example, the hand storage unit 17 may be a stand type provided on the upper surface of the base instead of a shelf type.

[0028]

The teaching work for the robot is simplified. Since the hand and the core used by the robot are always arranged at fixed positions, the hand exchange and the core exchange by the robot are accurately performed, and the automatic operation of the injection molding apparatus is smoothly performed. There is no displacement of the fixed and movable cores during storage. The core prepared for replacement and the hand changer of the hand are less likely to be contaminated with dust in the factory.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the fixed position storage device.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a main part.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the fixed position storage device.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a main part.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a main part.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a main part.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a main part.

FIG. 9 is a side view of a main part.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a main part.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing an operation state.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the core holding device.

FIG. 13 is a front view (partial cross section) of a core receiving hole portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Injection molding device 2 Injection molding machine 3 Robot 4 Fixed position storage device 5 Product stocker 6 Robot base 7 Mold temperature control device 8 Core preliminary temperature control device 9 Vertical plate 10 Drying device 11 Core 12 Flange 13 Arm 14 Wrist 15 substrate 16 core housing portion 17 hand housing portion 18 intermediate plate 19 Tateban 20 cells 21 protection cover 22 actuator 23 core holding device 24 the core support plate 25 core receiving bore 26 holding plate 27 notch 28 core replacement hand 29 Hand receiving hole 30 Hand changer 31 Product take-out hand 32 Shutter

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazumasa Ijima 3580 Kobaba, Oshino-za, Oshino-mura, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi Prefecture FANUC CORPORATION (56) References JP-A-63-130311 (JP, A) −58053 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B29C 33/30, 33/76 B29C 45/17, 45/26, 45/42

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A combination with an injection molding machine using a core replaceable mold the <br/> robot on robot base, comprising a core housing portion and the hand receiving portion to the upper surface of the substrate on the robot base , The core and the hand are fixed positions with respect to a predetermined origin, and the wrist of the robot is located at a position accessible to the robot. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hand includes a core replacement hand and a molded product removal hand. 3. The fixed position storage device for a member exchanged by a robot according to claim 1, wherein a core preliminary temperature control device is provided in the core storage portion. 4. The robot according to claim 1, wherein the core accommodating portion is provided with a holding device for preventing a displacement between core components. Position storage device for the member to be used. 5. The robot according to claim 1, further comprising a shutter for covering a hand changer section of each hand housed in the hand housing section. Position storage device for the member to be used. 6. A fixed position storage of a member exchanged by a robot according to claim 1, wherein a protective cover which can be opened and closed is provided in the core housing portion. apparatus.