JP3322605B2 - Tray stack type work stocker - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work stocker in which a plurality of workpieces and a plurality of processed workpieces of a machine tool are made to stand by for waiting for the order of machining and for transport to the next process. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a work stocker having a structure in which trays (including pallets) on which a plurality of works are placed are stacked in multiple stages and a large number of works are on standby.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A work stocker of a machine tool has a function of holding a work and a function of positioning the work to transfer the work to a handling device such as a load unloader. In this type of work stocker,
There are various types depending on the size and shape of the work, such as simply placing the work at a fixed position on the stock table, and endless transferring the work between the loading / unloading position and the delivery position to the machine tool. Various types of structures have been put into practical use, such as stocking a work on a conveyor, and sending an unprocessed work put into a hopper to a delivery position to a machine tool using an automatic alignment machine.

Among these types of work stockers, there is known a work stocker in which a large number of works are put on standby by stacking trays on which a plurality of works are placed, thereby enabling long-time automatic operation of a machine tool. ing. That is, as shown in a perspective view in FIG. 4, the trays 4 on which the workpieces 29 before processing are arranged in a plurality of rows are stacked in a plurality of stages, and the workpieces are picked up one by one from the top tray and processed. The work is returned to the original position, and the row of the work on the tray 4 and another are selected by positioning the hand 26 of the handling device in the moving direction (arrow a) and the moving direction of the tray 4 (arrow b). When all the workpieces on one tray are processed, the trays 4 of the processed workpieces 32 are sequentially stacked next to the trays of the workpieces before processing, and the trays of the stacked processed workpieces are stacked. Is carried out in a timely manner, and continuous automatic processing of a large number of stocked works is performed.

[0004]

A work stocker having a structure using the above-mentioned stacking tray is installed beside a machine tool (for example, a lathe) 28 as shown in FIGS.
The work stocker 25 is provided with a stacked area 6 of the unprocessed work and a stacked area 5 of the processed work. As shown in FIG. And removes the processed work from the front (the most commonly used method in the past) or, as shown in FIG. When the method of unloading the processed work from the side of the machine is adopted, a space for loading and unloading the work is required not only in front of the machine but also on the side of the work stocker 25. Space is wasted.

[0005] As shown in FIG. 8, when the pre-processing work stacking area 6 and the processed work stacking area 5 are arranged side by side, the loading and unloading of the work are both performed from the front of the machine. However, due to the relationship between the dimensions of commonly used trays and the machine dimensions, the installation width of the entire machine including the work stocker 25 is wide, and a larger installation area is required to install one machine. Was a problem.

Generally speaking, when installing a machine in a factory, the machine is installed with its front side (the side where the operator is located) facing the aisle, so that the loading and unloading of the work is included. If all operations can be performed from the front side of the machine and the front width of the machine including the work stocker etc. is small,
The space efficiency of the factory is improved because the aisles can be shorter, thus reducing the area of the aisles in the factory.

According to the present invention, there is provided a work stocker in which a large number of workpieces can be put on standby by stacking a plurality of trays on which a plurality of workpieces are placed.
It is an object of the present invention to obtain a space-efficient technical means capable of loading and unloading a work from the front of a machine.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray stacking type work stocker in which a plurality of pre-processing work stacking regions for stacking a plurality of trays on which a plurality of pre-processing works are placed, and a plurality of processing. The processed work stacking area 5 for stacking the trays on which the processed work is mounted is arranged adjacent to each other, and the work before processing is picked up from the top stage of the tray on which the work before processing 29 is mounted, and then processed. In a tray stack type work stocker having a structure in which the loaded work is returned to the tray and all the loaded works are stacked on the processed work stacking area 5, the pre-processing work stacking area 6 and the processed work stacking are stacked. The area 5 is disposed on a conveyor 7 that can be transferred from at least one of the two areas to the other, and has a driving means 2 for transferring the tray placed on this conveyor to the one side. And it is characterized in and.

In the tray stacking type work stocker according to a second aspect of the present invention, a pre-processing work stacking area 6 for stacking the trays 4 on which the pre-processing work 29 is placed, and a processed area adjacent to the pre-processing work stacking area. A processed work stacking area 5 for stacking the trays 4 on which the works 32 are mounted, a tray support frame 16 for supporting and transporting the uppermost one of the stacked trays, and transport means 33 for the tray support frame. Horizontal transfer means 10 for horizontally transferring the uppermost tray stacked above the stacked tray group from above the pre-processing work stacking area 6 to above the processed work stacking area 5; In the tray stacking type work stocker provided with the above, the work stacking area 6 before processing and the work stacking area 5 after processing are arranged on a conveyor 7 which can be transferred from at least one of the two areas to the other. Placed on And it is characterized in that it comprises a driving means 2 for transferring the trays the to one side.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a work stocker according to the second aspect, wherein two tray support frames 16 are provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a work stocker according to the first aspect.
In the tray stacking type work stocker described in 2 or 3, the driving means 2 for transferring the tray on the conveyor 7 transfers the tray from the processed work stacking area to the pre-processing work stacking area.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the work stocker according to the first aspect.
The stacking type work stocker according to 2, 3 or 4, further comprising a control means for outputting a loading request signal for the unprocessed work when the tray support frame 16 supports the lowermost tray on which the unprocessed work is mounted. It is characterized by having.

[0013]

In the work stocker provided with the above means, the processed work stacking area 5 is set as a work loading / unloading area (the invention of claim 3), and the pre-working work stacking area 6 is set as the work loading / unloading area. Two modes are possible.

In the former structure, the trays on which the workpieces before processing are mounted are loaded into the work stocker in a stacked state, and the stacked workpieces are stacked by the conveyor 7 and the driving means 2 in the stacked state. Transfer to 6. If processing is performed in the same manner as in the conventional apparatus, the tray on which the processed work is mounted is stacked in the processed work stacking area 5 which is a work loading / unloading area. I just need.

In the latter structure, the processed workpieces are sequentially stacked in the processed workpiece stacking area 5 located on the inner side of the machine. By the conveyor 7 and the driving means 2, the processed work is moved to the pre-processing work stacking area in the tray stacked state and the work is unloaded.

In any of the embodiments, the loading and unloading of the work can be performed only from the front of the machine. However, since the former structure can take out the processed work and perform the sampling inspection at any time. More preferred.

In an apparatus having only one tray support frame 16,
After all of the workpieces on the tray have been processed, the tray is transported to the processed work stacking area and stacked, and the next tray is picked up from the unprocessed work stacking area and positioned at the delivery position to the handling device. Until the machine tool stops. According to the aspect in which two tray support frames 16 are provided, the next tray support frame supports the next tray while one of the tray support frames is transferring a work with the handling device. However, as soon as the processing of the previous tray is completed and it leaves the delivery position with the handling device, the next tray can be transferred to the delivery position with the handling device, so that the loss time of the machine tool can be reduced.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to carry out the processed work and carry in the unprocessed work while processing the work mounted on the last tray. It is possible to prevent the machine tool from stopping in a state of waiting for a new work when the work is carried in and out of the work.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on a first embodiment shown in FIGS.

The work stocker of the illustrated embodiment has a rectangular parallelepiped frame 1 having a conveyor disposed at the bottom thereof. This conveyor consists of two rows of freely rotating conveyor rollers. A drive cylinder 2 is disposed between the two rows of conveyor rollers in the direction in which the conveyor is transported, and the rod of the cylinder has a shallow U-shaped tray holder 3 facing upward.
Has been fixed. The tray receiver 3 is manufactured according to the width of the tray to be used in the transfer direction, and the trays 4 loaded with a plurality of unprocessed works and loaded are carried in between the tray receivers.

In this embodiment, when the cylinder is in the retracted state, the tray receiver 3 is located in the processed work stacking area 5 formed on the conveyor, and when the rod is extended, the tray receiver 3 is placed on the unprocessed work. It is located in the stacking area 6.

On one side surface of the frame 1 parallel to the transfer direction of the conveyor 7, horizontal rails 8 and 9 are provided vertically, and a horizontal transfer frame 10 running along the rails 8 and 9 is provided. It is installed. A pinion 11 that rotates around a vertical axis is mounted on the frame side at an intermediate position between the upper and lower guide rails and at an intermediate position in the transfer direction of the guide rail, and the pinion 11 is horizontally mounted on the horizontal transfer frame 10. The rack 12 is fixed to the rack 12. The pinion 11 is driven by a servomotor 13 with a speed reducer that can rotate forward and reverse, and the stop position of the horizontal transfer frame 10 is controlled by controlling the stop position of the servomotor 13.

The horizontal transfer frame 10 is provided with vertical rails 14 and 15 on both sides.
The tray support frame 16 which moves up and down along the line is mounted.
Two arms 17, 18 extending horizontally toward the inside of the rectangular parallelepiped region formed by the frame 1 are fixed to the tray support frame 16, and short sides of the two arms 17, 18 are provided on opposing surfaces. Tray support bars 20, 21 which are moved by a stroke cylinder 19 in directions approaching and separating from each other are mounted. Tray support bar 20, 2
1 with two tray support bars 2 separated from each other
The interval between 0 and 21 is slightly larger than the width D of the tray, and the interval between the tray support bars when the tray support bars 20 and 21 move in the direction approaching each other is smaller than the width D of the tray.

Therefore, with the tray support bars 20, 21 separated from each other, the tray support bars 20, 21 and the arms 17, 1
The arm 8 can move up and down outside the stacked trays, and the arms 17 and 1 are located immediately below the uppermost one of the stacked trays.
8, the tray support bars 20, 21 are moved in the approaching direction, and then the tray support frame 16 is raised, whereby the uppermost tray can be lifted.

Chain sprockets 22 and 23 rotating about a horizontal axis are mounted on the upper and lower sides of the center of the horizontal transfer frame 10 in the width direction, and one part of a chain 33 wound between the sprockets 22 and 23 is provided. It is connected to the tray support frame 16. One of the chain sprockets 23 is driven by an elevating servomotor 24 having a speed reducer, and by controlling the stop position of the servomotor, the tray support frame 1 is moved.
The stop position (height) of No. 6 can be controlled.

Above the center of the work stocker 25, a handling device 27 having a hand 26 that runs horizontally and moves up and down along a guide extending in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the conveyor 7 is arranged. 2
7 transports the work one by one between the work stocker and the machine tool. The work stocker 25 is, as shown in FIG.
The conveyer 7 is set beside the machine tool 28 such that the processed work stacking area 5 is on the front side and the conveyor 7 is transported in the front-rear direction.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described below. The trays 4 on which the workpieces 29 are placed in a matrix of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns are stacked in a predetermined number of stages, and are loaded into the processed work stacking area 5 from the front of the machine by a hand fork or the like. Next, the drive cylinder 2 is operated to collectively transfer the plurality of loaded trays to the pre-processing work stacking area 6. At this time, the tray support frame 16 is waiting at the highest position.

Next, the horizontal transfer frame 10 is moved to the pre-processing work stacking area, and the tray support frame 16 is lowered directly below the uppermost one of the stacked trays, and the tray support bars 20 and 21 are moved.
And insert the tray support bar under the flange of the top tray. In this state, the tray support frame 16 is raised to lift the uppermost tray, and the first row of the work mounted on the uppermost tray is the hand 26 of the handling device.
The horizontal transfer frame 10 is moved and positioned so that the horizontal transfer frame 10 is located immediately below the frame. In this state, by the positioning operation of the hand 26,
The works in the first row are sequentially picked up and processed by the machine tool, and the processed work is returned to the original position on the tray. When the processing of the work in the first row is completed, the horizontal transfer frame 10 is transferred by one row of the work, and the work in the second row is processed. After all the processing is completed, the horizontal transfer frame 10 is moved to the processed work stacking area, the tray supporting frame 16 is lowered and the tray supporting bars 20 and 21 are retracted, so that the tray on which the processed work is mounted is processed. Place in the work stacking area. By repeating this operation, the workpieces stacked in the pre-processing work stacking area are processed one tray at a time, and are stacked in the processed work stacking area 5. Since the processed work is stacked on the front side of the machine, that is, on the operator side, it is possible to take out the processed work as necessary and check the processing dimensions.

The processed workpieces stacked in the processed workpiece stacking area can be carried out at any time from the front side of the machine. Normally, when the lowermost tray in the pre-processing work stacking area is lifted by the tray support frame, this is detected by a limit switch, a photoelectric sensor, or the like, and a work loading request signal is output. An alarm etc. is appropriately displayed by this signal,
The operator is notified that the pre-processing work stacking area is empty. Upon receiving this notification, the operator unloads the processed work while the work mounted on the last tray is being processed, and after unloading, loads the tray with the unprocessed work in a stacked state, and By the end of the processing of the work on the tray, the loaded stacking tray is transferred to the pre-processing work stacking area 6. The drive cylinder 2 for transferring the stacking tray carried on the conveyor 7 is switched from the rod extended state to the retracted state after the processed work is carried out and before the work before processing is carried in. By repeating the above operation, the work mounted on the tray is continuously processed.

In the structure of the first embodiment,
After all of the work on the single tray picked up by the tray support frame 16 has been processed, the tray is transported to and stacked on the processed work stacking area, and the tray on which the next work to be processed is mounted is mounted. Until the workpiece is picked up and positioned at the delivery position with the handling device 27, the workpiece cannot be supplied to the machine tool 28, and the machining operation of the machine tool stops during this time. To avoid this, the horizontal transfer frame 10 and the tray support frame provided in the first embodiment are provided on both sides of the conveyor 7 as shown in FIG. 5, and one of the support frames 30 is located at the delivery position with the work handling device. While being positioned and processing the work, the other tray support frame 31 stands by while supporting the next tray, and all the work on the previous tray is processed and one tray support frame is moved to the tray. Is transported to the stacked area of the processed workpiece, and then the other tray support frame 31 is moved to the handling device 27.
The stop time of the machine tool 28 at the time of tray replacement can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a positional relationship with a machine tool.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a tray transfer procedure.

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating a first example of conventional means.

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a second example of the conventional means.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating a third example of the conventional means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Driving means 4 Tray 5 Stacked area of processed work 6 Stacked area of work before processing 7 Conveyor 10 Horizontal transfer means 16 Tray support frame 29 Work before processing 32 Machined work 33 Lifting means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-109629 (JP, A) JP-A-4-144837 (JP, A) JP-A-60-87124 (JP, A) JP-A-6-124 126546 (JP, A) JP-A-7-251941 (JP, A) JP-A-2-215620 (JP, A) JP-A-61-251141 (JP, A) JP-A-51-100579 (JP, A) JP-A-59-227625 (JP, A) JP-A-64-40226 (JP, A) JP-A-4-215921 (JP, A) JP-A-5-728 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 60/00

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] An unprocessed work stacking area (6) for stacking a plurality of unprocessed workpieces (29) on a tray (4), and a tray on which a plurality of processed workpieces are mounted are stacked. The stacked work areas (5) to be processed are arranged adjacent to each other, the work before processing is picked up from the uppermost one of the trays on which the work (29) before processing is mounted, and then processed and returned to the tray. In a tray stacking type work stocker, in which the tray is stacked in the processed work stacking area (5) after all the mounted workpieces have been processed, the pre-processing work stacking area (6) and the processed work stacking area And (5) are arranged on a conveyor (7) capable of transferring from at least one of the two areas to the other, and a driving means (2) for transferring a tray placed on this conveyor to the one side. A tray stacking type work stocker, comprising: 2. A tray (4) on which a workpiece (29) before processing is placed.
And the processed work stacking area (6) where the tray (4) loaded with the processed work (32) is stacked adjacent to the pre-working work stacking area (6). 5), a tray support frame (16) for supporting and transporting the uppermost one of the stacked trays, a transport means (33) for the tray support frame, and a stacker above the stacked tray group. A tray stacking type having horizontal transfer means (10) for transferring the weighted uppermost tray horizontally from above the pre-working work stacking area (6) to above the processed work stacking area (5). In a work stocker, a conveyor capable of transferring a pre-processing work stacking area (6) and a processed work stacking area (5) from at least one of the two areas to the other.
(7) A tray stack type work stocker, comprising: driving means (2) disposed on the upper side and transferring the tray placed on the conveyor to the one side. 3. The work stacker according to claim 2, further comprising two tray support frames. 4. The driving means (2) for transferring a tray on a conveyor (7) transfers the tray from a processed work stacking area to a pre-processing work stacking area.
4. The tray stack type work stocker according to 2 or 3. 5. A control means for outputting a loading request signal for a workpiece before processing when the tray support frame (16) supports a lowermost tray on which a workpiece before processing is mounted. 5. The tray stack type work stocker according to 3 or 4.