JP3496212B2 - Punching method and punching apparatus used for this method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a punching device for punching a product part such as a prepaid card or a credit card from a sheet.

[0002]

A magnetic recording card such as a so-called prepaid card or credit card is manufactured by punching a product portion from a sheet. On the sheet, a plurality of product parts are arranged in rows and columns in the vertical and horizontal directions. In this type of sheet, for example, films are welded on both sides of a base made of vinyl chloride resin, and printing such as decoration and display is performed between the base and the film, and a magnetic material for information recording is provided. It is structured. Since this printing has already been done before punching, the product part must be punched exactly from the predetermined position of the sheet.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the sheet 1. In the figure, 2 is a product part to be punched, and these product parts 2 are arranged in the vertical direction (hereinafter, referred to as the X direction).
Ten rows are arranged in four rows in the horizontal direction (hereinafter referred to as the Y direction) orthogonal to the vertical direction. Further, 3 is an information storage section made of a magnetic material, and this information storage section 3 is formed in a tape shape. The positional accuracy of the information storage unit 3 is important in terms of product function. Further, on the sheet 1, a first fiducial mark 4 and a second fiducial mark 5 are formed at positions between the product portions 2 or positions outside the product portion 2, respectively. The first reference mark 4 is located on the front side of each product portion 2 in the X direction, and serves to position the sheet 1 in the X direction with the product portion 2 as a reference. The second reference mark 5 is located on the front side of each product portion 2 in the Y direction, and serves to position the sheet 1 in the Y direction with the product portion 2 as a reference. These reference marks 4 and 5 are formed simultaneously when printing on the sheet 1.

A punching device for punching a product portion from such a sheet is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-25510.
As described in the publication, while the sheet is conveyed by the conveying mechanism, the product portion is sequentially punched from the sheet by the pressing mechanism. And, JP-A-7-255
In the punching device described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 10, the sheet is conveyed in front of the pressing mechanism by a conveying mechanism including a chuck that moves by a ball screw, and the pressing mechanism intermittently conveys the sheet by another conveying mechanism including rollers. I am trying. Further, in order to position the sheet, after positioning the outer shape reference by the regulation pin (gauge pin), when the sheet is intermittently conveyed to the press mechanism by the chuck type conveyance mechanism, the position of the first reference mark is detected by the sensor. It is detected, and the feed amount by the sheet of the roller type transport mechanism sheet is corrected based on this detection. Therefore, the position detection of the first fiducial mark on the sheet is completed before the punching on the sheet is started.

As described above, in the punching device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-25510, the sheet is conveyed by a conveying mechanism different from the conveying mechanism for conveying the sheet by the press mechanism for all the first reference marks of the sheet. Since the position is sometimes detected, there is a problem that it takes time and high accuracy cannot be obtained. That is, before the punching of the sheet is started, the position of the first fiducial mark of the sheet is all detected, so that the entire conveyance line is lengthened accordingly. Further, the sheet is conveyed between the detection of the position of the first reference mark and the punching of the product portion corresponding to the first reference mark, but an error cannot be avoided in this conveyance. Therefore, if the conveyance from the position detection of the first reference mark to the punching of the corresponding product portion becomes long, errors are accumulated and become large. However, in the conventional punching device, before the punching of the sheet is started, Since all the positions of the first reference marks are detected, the conveyance from the position detection of the first reference marks to the punching of the corresponding product portion is naturally long. Moreover, since the transport mechanism that transports the sheet when detecting the position of the first reference mark and the transport mechanism that transports the sheet when punching the product portion are different, the error becomes even larger.

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem and enables punching efficiently and accurately.
And to provide a punching method and punching apparatus Ru can miniaturize the punching device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 intermittently conveys and positions a sheet formed by arranging product parts by a positioning and conveying mechanism, and during this conveyance. In a punching method of sequentially punching product parts from a sheet by a press mechanism, the sheet is cut on one side of the outer shape of the sheet in the front-rear direction.
A pair of left and right directions that abut on one side formed by disconnection
The control pin and one side of the front
Every time the sheet is intermittently conveyed by positioning with the front-back regulation pin that hits, the position of the mark in a row formed on the sheet corresponding to each product part is punched out.
For this reason, when the sheet is stopped, one mark position detecting means sequentially detects the sheet, and the sheet feeding amount by the positioning and conveying means is controlled based on the detected mark position, and the sheet is punched by the pressing mechanism. The same as when the unpunched product part of the sheet is
The position of the mark corresponding to the separated position is detected.

By thus detecting the position of the mark corresponding to the unpunched product portion of the same sheet while punching the sheet, the efficiency of positioning and punching is improved, and the time of the whole process can be shortened. . At the same time, since the position of the position detecting means can be brought closer to the punching position, the position error caused by the conveyance after the mark position detection can be reduced , and the punching can be performed .
Ru can reduce the size of the exhaust device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a punching device used in the method of the first aspect of the present invention, which comprises a positioning conveyance mechanism for intermittently conveying and positioning a sheet, and a sheet conveyed by the positioning conveyance mechanism. A positioning mechanism for sequentially punching product parts, wherein the positioning and transporting mechanism transports the sheet, and the front of the outer shape of the sheet.
Formed by cutting the sheet on one side in the rear direction
A pair of left and right regulating pins that hit one side, and the seat
The front-rear direction control pin that abuts on the front side of the outer shape in the front-rear direction
And the sheet stopped for punching the position of the mark formed on the sheet corresponding to each product part .
The mark position detecting means for sometimes detecting, and the control means for controlling the feed amount by the conveying means based on the position of the mark detected by the mark position detecting means, the mark position detecting means is a sheet conveying direction. One mark is provided for each of the marks arranged in line, and is provided at a position separated from the punching position of the sheet in the pressing mechanism by the pitch of the product portion in the sheet conveying direction.

Thus, the punching of the sheet and the detection of the position of the mark corresponding to the unpunched product portion on the same sheet can be performed at the same time.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
A description will be given with reference to the drawings. The sheet 6 to be punched is a sheet obtained by cutting the sheet 1 shown in FIG. 6 described above. That is, the sheet 1 is cut into four sheets 6 which are 10 pieces of product portions 2 arranged in a line before being supplied to the punching device.

First, the structure of the punching device will be described. This punching device, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
A positioning / conveying mechanism 11 that conveys and positions the sheet 6 in the X direction, and a press mechanism 12 that sequentially punches the product portions 2 one by one from the sheet 6 that is intermittently conveyed by the positioning and conveying mechanism 11. Sheet 6
Are transported along two rows of transport lines arranged in the Y direction (horizontal direction) in the positioning transport mechanism 11. further,
The positioning / conveying mechanism 11 includes a roller conveyor 13, a chuck type conveying device 14 which is a conveying unit located in front of the roller conveyor 13 in the X direction (front-rear direction), and a position in front of the chuck type conveying device 14 in the X direction. And a roller type transport device 15 which is a transporting means.

The roller conveyor 13 is provided on a base 16 and incorporates a pair of positioning mechanisms for positioning the sheet 6 in the X and Y directions.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, each of these positioning mechanisms is one side of the outer shape of the seat 6 in the X direction,
It is composed of a pair of Y-direction regulating pins 17 that abut on one side formed by cutting and a X-direction regulating pin 18 that abuts on one side of the outer shape of the sheet 6 on the X direction front side (front side in the transport direction). The Y-direction regulating pin 17 is reciprocated in the Y direction by driving the fluid pressure cylinder 19. On the other hand, the X-direction regulating pin 18 is moved up and down by driving the fluid pressure cylinder 20.

The chuck type transfer device 12 includes the base 16
A pair of ball screws 26, which are arranged above and extend in the X direction, are rotatably supported at positions on both sides of the roller conveyor 13 in the Y direction. These ball screws 26 are rotationally driven by a servo motor (not shown). A chuck base 27 that reciprocates in the X direction by its rotation is screwed onto each ball screw 26, and a chuck 28 that detachably grips the edge of the sheet 6 is attached to these chuck bases 27. It is provided. An encoder 29 for detecting the position of the chuck base 27 from the rotation of each ball screw 26 is provided at one end of each ball screw 26.

The roller type conveying device 15 is provided in front of and behind the pressing mechanism 12, and the chuck type conveying device is provided.
The sheet 6 received from 14 is further conveyed by the press mechanism 12. In this press mechanism 12, a lower die 33 is mounted on a lower holder 32 mounted on a base 31, and an upper die 35 that opens and closes with respect to the lower die 33 is placed below the upper holder 34 that moves up and down. Is attached, but especially Fig. 3
As shown in FIG. 5, on the lower holder 32, a rear lower roller 38 and a front lower roller rotatably supported on a rear support 36 and a front support 37 fixed to both sides of the lower die 33 in the X direction. Equipped with 39. The lower rollers 38, 39 are fixed in position, but are paired in the Y direction. The four lower rollers 38 and 39 are respectively connected to the servo motor 4
It is designed to be independently driven to rotate by 0,41.
Rotation is transmitted from the servo motors 40, 41 to the lower rollers 38, 39 by power transmission devices 42, 43 including pulleys and belts. In addition, a rear lifting table 44 and a front lifting table 45 are movably supported on the supporting tables 36 and 37 located above the lower rollers 38 and 39,
These rear upper and lower rollers 44 and 45 are attached to the rear upper rollers.
46 and a front upper roller 47 are rotatably supported.
The lifts 44, 45 and the upper rollers 46, 47 are also lower rollers 38, 3
Similar to 9, there are a pair in the Y direction. The upper and lower rollers 46 and 47 are opened and closed with respect to the lower rollers 38 and 39 by moving the lift tables 44 and 45 up and down by driving the fluid pressure cylinders 48 and 49.

A camera 51 as a pair of mark position detecting means arranged in the Y direction is provided above the both conveying paths of the sheet 6 by the roller type conveying device 15. These cameras 51 pick up an image of the first reference mark 4 corresponding to each product portion 2 on the sheet 6 from above and detect the position thereof. That is, the camera 51
There is only one for the first fiducial marks 4 arranged in a line in the conveyance direction of the sheet 6. Then, the image taken by the camera 51 is processed by the image processing device 52, and the control device 53 as a control means controls the motor drive device 54 for driving the servomotors 40, 41 according to the processing result. It has become. That is, the feed amount of the sheet 6 by the roller type conveying device 15 is corrected based on the detected position of the first reference mark 4. The punching position of the product portion 2 by the press mechanism 12 is separated from the camera 51 by 3 pitches of the pitch Px of the product portion 2 on the sheet 1. Therefore, when the sheet 6 is stopped due to punching, the first reference mark 4 enters the visual field of the camera 51, and when the sheet 6 is fed by the positioning and conveying mechanism 11 by 3 pitches, the position is detected by the camera 51. The product part 2 is punched out. Product part 2
The distance in the X direction between the punching position and the camera 51 is 3 pitches of the pitch Px of the product portion 2 as described above,
The distance is significantly shorter than the distance between the product portions 2 at both ends of the sheet 6 in the X direction.

The pressing mechanism 12 has a die 61 on the lower die 33, and a punch 63 which is removably fitted into a hole portion 62 of the die 61.
Is in upper mold 35. The main press mechanism 12 is a so-called push-back type, and in the hole 62 of the die 61,
A receiving body 64 biased upward is fitted in a vertically slidable manner. That is, the lower die 33 and the upper die 35 are closed with the sheet 6 sandwiched therebetween, and the punch 63 is fitted into the hole portion 62 of the die 61 to punch out the product portion 2 from the sheet 6 and then to the lower die 33. When the upper mold 35 is opened, the punched product is pushed up by the receiving body 64 and once returned to the sheet 6.

Further, a product conveyor 71 is provided on a base 72 from the lower front roller 39 of the roller type conveying device 15 toward the lower front in the X direction. Then, after the punched product portion 2 comes out from the press mechanism 12 together with the sheet 6, the product portion 2 is hit from above by a tapping device (not shown), so that the product portion 2 is pulled out from the sheet 6 It drops onto the conveyor 71 and is conveyed to a product storage unit (not shown). On the other hand, although not shown, above the product conveyor 71, a scrap transport device for transporting the remaining pieces of the sheet 6 after the product portion 2 is pulled out to the scrap storage portion is provided. Reference numeral 73 is a display operation panel for an operator to operate the punching device.

Next, a punching method using the punching device will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the original sheet 1 has the product parts arranged in 10 × 4 rows. However, when the original sheet 1 is carried into the roller conveyor 13, the original sheet 1 has 4 pieces.
The sheet 6 is cut into sheets to form a sheet 6 in which ten product portions 2 are arranged in a line in the X direction.

The two sheets 6 carried onto the roller conveyor 13 are conveyed forward in the X direction by the roller conveyor 91, but at this time, they are positioned by the regulating pins 17 and 18. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the sheet 6 hits the X-direction regulating pin 18 that has risen, the sheet 6 stops. Further, the Y-direction regulating pin 17 moves in the X-direction and hits one side of the outer shape of the sheet 6 in the X-direction. This one side is formed by cutting the sheet 1. As a result, the sheet 6 is positioned in the X direction and the Y direction. Particularly, one side of the sheet 6 on which the Y-direction regulating pin 17 abuts is formed by cutting based on the second reference mark 5 on the sheet 1, and therefore, the Y-direction regulating pin 17 and the second side of the sheet 1 are formed. The sheet 6 is accurately positioned in the Y direction with reference to the reference mark 5.

After both sheets 6 have been positioned in this way,
The chuck 28 of the chuck type conveyance device 14 grips the outer edge of each sheet 6. Then, the X-direction regulating pin 18 is moved downward so as not to interfere with the conveyance of the sheet 6 and Y
After the direction regulating pin 17 is retracted, the chuck base 27 is moved forward in the X direction by driving the servo motor.
The sheet 6 is conveyed by 27. After the first reference mark 4 at the forefront portion of the sheet 6 in the X direction reaches the position below the camera 51, the conveyance of the sheet 6 by the chuck base 27 is intermittent by the pitch Px of the product portion 2 of the sheet 6. Done

The conveyance of the sheet 6 by the chuck table 27 is performed by the roller type conveying device when the front end of the sheet 6 in the X direction is conveyed.
This is done until it reaches on the rear lower roller 38 of 15. here,
The rear upper roller 46 descends to sandwich the sheet 6 with the rear lower roller 38. Further, after the gripping of the sheet 6 by the chuck 28 of the chuck type conveying device 14 is released, the rear lower roller 38 is rotated by the driving of the servo motor 40, and the rear upper roller 46 is rotated in response to this. The sheet 6 is conveyed forward in the X direction by the rotation of the rollers 38 and 46. In addition, the sheet 6 is thus a chuck type conveyance device.
After being transferred from 14 to the roller type conveying device 15, the chuck base 27 of the chuck type conveying device 14 returns to the rear in the X direction.

Further, when the conveyance by the rear lower roller 38 and the rear upper roller 46 progresses and the front end portion of the sheet 6 in the X direction reaches the front lower roller 39, the front upper roller 47 descends to lower the front side. The sheet 6 is sandwiched by the roller 39. At this point, the rear upper roller 46 rises to release the holding of the sheet 6. The front lower roller is driven by the servo motor 41.
As 39 rotates, following this, the front upper roller 47
Rotates, and the rotation of these rollers 39, 47 conveys the sheet 6 forward in the X direction. After the sheet 6 is removed from the rollers 39 and 47, the front upper roller 47 rises.

The conveyance of the sheet 6 by the roller type conveying device 15 is basically intermittently performed by the pitch Px of the product portion 2 of the sheet 6 in the X direction. During,
The product portion 2 of the sheet 6 is sequentially punched by the press mechanism 12 one by one. This punching is performed by lowering the upper die 35 together with the upper holder 34 and closing the lower die 33 with the sheet 6 stopped. That is, the punch 63 of the upper die 35 is fitted into the hole portion 62 of the die 61 of the lower die 33, so that the product portion 2 is punched out from the sheet 6.
The punched product portion 2, that is, the product, is pushed up by the receiving body 64 on the lower die 33 side and then returned to the sheet 6 as the upper die 35 rises and opens from the lower die 33. That is, the product is conveyed together with the sheet 6 until it comes out from the rollers 39 and 47 in the X direction forward.

As described above, when the sheet 6 is conveyed by the rollers 38, 39, 46, 47 and the product portion 2 is punched out, the sheet 6 is detected based on the position detection of the first reference mark 4 of the sheet 6. Positioned in the X direction. That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the sheet 6 is conveyed by the chuck type conveying device 14 or the roller type conveying device 15, as shown in FIG.
At a position before 12, the pair of cameras 51 images the first reference marks 4 of both sheets 6 being conveyed from above, whereby the positions of these first reference marks 4 are detected (step S1). ), And is stored (step S2). This detection is performed every time the sheet 6 is conveyed by one pitch Px. That is, the position of the first fiducial marks 4 in a row corresponding to each product portion 2 on the sheet 6 is sequentially detected.
After the position of the first reference mark 4 is detected, when the sheet 6 is fed by three pitches, the detected first reference mark 4 is detected.
The product part 2 corresponding to is punched out. This product part 2
Before punching, the feed amount of the sheet 6 by the rollers 38, 39, 46, 47 is finely adjusted based on the stored detection result of the position of the first reference mark 4 corresponding to the product portion 2. As a result, the sheet 6 is positioned in the X direction (steps S3 and S4). Along with this, since the sheet 6 is positioned in the Y direction on the roller conveyor 13 as described above, the product portion 2 is punched out from the predetermined position of the sheet 6 accurately.

Further, the punched product portion 2 comes out from the rollers 39 and 47 together with the sheet 6 and is then hit by a hitting device (not shown) so that it is removed from the sheet 6 and dropped onto the product conveyor 71. It is stored in a product storage unit (not shown). On the other hand, the sheet 6 with the product part 2 removed
Are stored in the scrap storage unit by the scrap transport device.

According to the structure of the above embodiment, even when the sheet 6 is punched by the press mechanism 12,
The first corresponding to the unpunched product part 2 of the same sheet 6
Since the positions of the reference marks 4 are detected, the efficiency of positioning and punching the sheet 6 is improved and the time of the entire process can be shortened as compared with the case where the product portion is punched after the positions of all the reference marks are detected. . At the same time, the entire length of the conveying line in the punching device can be shortened, and the punching device can be downsized. Further, since the conveyance amount from the detection of the position of the first reference mark 4 to the punching of the product portion 2 corresponding to the reference mark 4 is short, the influence of the error of the conveyance amount can be reduced, and the punching position The accuracy can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example,
In the above embodiment, the distance between the camera 51 for detecting the position of the first reference mark 4 and the punching position of the press mechanism 12 in the X direction is 3 pitches of the product portion 2 on the sheet 6, but It is not limited to. Since there is no space in the press mechanism, there is a limit to how close the camera can be to the press mechanism, but in order to minimize the error caused by conveyance after detecting the position of the reference mark, place the camera as close to the press mechanism as possible. Is good. Also, sheet 6
The arrangement of the product parts in is not limited to that of the above-mentioned embodiment, and is arbitrary. In particular, in the above-described embodiment, the product portions 2 are arranged in a line in the sheet 6, but the product portions may be arranged in a plurality of lines. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the conveying line in the press mechanism has two rows, but the conveying line may have one row or three rows or more. Further, the detailed configurations of the positioning / conveying mechanism and the pressing mechanism are not limited to those in the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. In addition, the products to be punched
The present invention is not limited to the above-described credit card mainly made of vinyl chloride, and the present invention can be applied to punching sheet-like products made of various materials.

[0029]

According to the punching method of the first aspect of the invention, the sheet is cut on one side of the outer shape of the sheet in the front-rear direction.
A pair of left and right directions that abut on one side formed by disconnection
The control pin and one side of the front
Every time the sheet is intermittently conveyed by positioning with the front-back regulation pin that hits, the position of the mark in a row formed on the sheet corresponding to each product part is punched out.
For this reason, when the sheet is stopped, one mark position detecting means sequentially detects, and the sheet feeding amount by the positioning conveying means is controlled based on the detected mark position, but when punching is performed on the sheet Also, since the position of the mark corresponding to the pitch-separated position of the unpunched product portion of the same sheet is detected, the efficiency of positioning and punching is improved, the time of the entire process can be shortened, and the position detection means By making the position closer to the punching position, it is possible to reduce the position error caused by the conveyance after the mark position is detected, improve the punching accuracy, and downsize the punching device.
It

According to the punching device of the invention of claim 2,
Mark position detecting means of the positioning transfer mechanism, with provided one only for one row marks aligned in the transport direction of the sheet, pitch away in the product portion in the transport direction of the sheet than punching position of the sheet in the press mechanism Since it is provided at the opened position, the punching method of the invention of claim 1 can be carried out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a punching device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side view for explaining the positioning action of the above pressing mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a plan view for explaining the positioning operation of the above roller conveyor.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a positioning operation of the above pressing mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a punched sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Product part 6 Sheet 11 Positioning / conveying mechanism 12 Pressing mechanism 14 Chuck type conveying device (conveying means) 15 Roller type conveying device (conveying means) 16 X direction regulating pin (front and rear direction regulating pin) 17 Y direction regulating pin (front and rear direction regulating) Pin) 51 Camera (mark position detection means) 53 Control device (control means)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B30B 15/00 B21D 43/09 B26D 7/06 B30B 13/00 G11B 5/84

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A punching method in which a sheet formed by arranging product parts is intermittently conveyed and positioned by a positioning and conveying mechanism, and the product parts are sequentially punched out from the sheet by a press mechanism during the conveyance.
It is one side in the front-back direction of the outer shape of
A pair of left-right direction regulation pins that abut the formed side
Before hitting one side of the outer shape of the seat in the front-back direction
Each time the sheet is intermittently conveyed by positioning with the rearward direction regulation pin, the position of the one row of marks formed on the sheet corresponding to each product part is punched out.
When the sheet is stopped, it is sequentially detected by one mark position detecting means, the sheet feeding amount by the positioning conveying means is controlled based on the detected mark position, and the sheet is punched by the pressing mechanism. A punching method characterized in that the position of the mark corresponding to the pitch-separated position of the unpunched product portion of the same sheet is sometimes detected. 2. A punching device used in the punching method according to claim 1, wherein a positioning and conveying mechanism for intermittently conveying and positioning the sheet, and a press for sequentially punching product portions from the sheet conveyed by the positioning and conveying mechanism. The positioning and transporting mechanism includes a transporting unit that transports a sheet and one side of the outer shape of the sheet in the front-back direction.
It hits one side formed by cutting the sheet
A pair of left-right direction control pins and the front-back direction of the outer shape of the seat
The front-rear direction regulation pin that abuts on one side of the front side, the mark position detection means that detects the position of the mark formed on the sheet corresponding to each product part when the sheet stops for punching, and this mark position detection means And a control unit that controls the feed amount by the conveying unit based on the detected position of the mark, and only one mark position detecting unit is provided for one line of marks arranged in the sheet conveying direction. , In the sheet conveying direction from the sheet punching position in the press mechanism
A punching device, characterized in that the punching device is provided at positions separated by the pitch of the product portion .