JP3608023B2 - Product receiving device for idle process - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an idle process product receiving apparatus, and more particularly to an idle process product receiving apparatus that can easily and reliably hold products of different shapes and sizes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a machine product manufacturing factory, various processing machines and inspection devices are arranged on a continuous production line, and continuous production is performed. For example, when a press die for a required process is attached to a single press machine, and a process fully automatic press that continuously processes everything from materials to products with an automatic feeder, a so-called transfer press is arranged in the production line. The finished press product is discharged from the press process, which is an upstream process, and is conveyed to an inspection process or an assembly process, which is a downstream process. In this case, the finished press product is discharged (dropped) into the transport conveyor or the like constituting the downstream process directly from the upstream process. Usually, the processing speed between a plurality of processes is often different, and the overall speed is determined by one of the processing speeds.
[0003]
By the way, in consideration of production efficiency, it is desirable to perform high-speed processing that makes full use of the apparatus capacity in the apparatus input line, and it is preferable to match the process speed of the other process to the process with a high processing speed. However, in general, a process that can be fully automated, such as a press process, can perform high-speed processing, but a process involving an operator, such as an inspection process or an assembly process, is limited in speeding up. At this time, if the processing speed of both of them is forced to be adjusted, the pressed product as the work is contacted or overlapped on the conveyor and damaged, or the work in the downstream process is hindered (conveyance of the finished press product is Too early or too late).
[0004]
Therefore, a system is adopted in which the slower production line is branched into a plurality of units, and the total processing amount is doubled to match the other processing speed (high speed). For example, taking a press process with a high processing speed and an inspection process with a low processing speed as an example, inspection processes 102a and 102b with a low processing speed are connected to the press process 100 as shown in FIG. In this case, between the press process 100 and the inspection processes 102a and 102b, a press finished product (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece) 100a discharged from the press process 100 at high speed is picked up and replaced with the inspection process 102a and the inspection process 102b. Replacement robots 104a and 104b are arranged. The replacement robots 104a and 104b can swing between the press process 100 and the inspection processes 102a and 102b, and the replacement robots 104a and 104b alternately pick up the workpiece 100a from the press process 100, whereby the press process and the inspection process. It is consistent with the processing speed. In the case of FIG. 4, the processing speed of the pressing process can be increased up to twice the processing speed limit of the inspection process.
[0005]
When the replacement robots 104a and 104b are employed, it is difficult to take out the workpiece 100a directly from the press mold due to problems in the layout of each device and problems in the press cycle. It is necessary to arrange an idle process 106 that temporarily holds the workpiece 100a.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in order to pick up the workpiece 100a by the replacement robots 104a and 104b, it is necessary to always maintain the workpiece 100a in a fixed posture that is easy to pick up by the replacement robots 104a and 104b. Therefore, the posture of the workpiece 100a is held using a substantially L-shaped workpiece receiving member 106a as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the workpiece 100a has various shapes such as a roof and a door in addition to the fender of an automobile, and each workpiece receiving member needs to be securely held. 106a is arranged at four places, and each work receiving member 106a needs to be held and supported at a position corresponding to the shape of the work 100a. For this reason, the workpiece receiving member 106a needs to perform three-axis adjustment control in the vertical direction, the width direction, and the front-rear direction. Therefore, as a whole apparatus, control of at least 12 axes is required, and the control and structure of the workpiece receiving apparatus are complicated. In addition, as a result, there is a problem that the maintainability and reliability of the workpiece receiving device are also lowered.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and its purpose is to reduce the number of control axes, simplify control and structure, and reliably perform product posture maintenance without hold support, It is another object of the present invention to provide an idle process product receiving apparatus capable of improving maintainability and reliability.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when products sequentially discharged from the upstream processing apparatus are transported to the downstream process, the processing speed of the upstream process and the processing speed of the downstream process are matched. In the idle process provided between the upstream process and the downstream process to take, a product receiving device for temporarily holding the product discharged from the upstream process, in the height direction and the width direction according to the shape of the product Four flat product receiving plates capable of biaxial adjustment driving, a non-slip member fixed to the product receiving surface of the product receiving plate to prevent the product from slipping, and the height direction and width direction of the product receiving plate And a drive mechanism that moves the product for each product receiving plate.
[0009]
According to this configuration, since the product is received by the flat product receiving plate having a predetermined area, it is possible to receive the product without the need to adjust the direction perpendicular to the width direction of the product receiving plate, Since the product received by the anti-slip member fixed to the product receiving plate can be prevented from slipping on the product receiving plate, it is not necessary to hold and support the product, and the posture can be easily maintained.
[0010]
In order to achieve the above object, the second invention is characterized in that, in the first invention, the product receiving plate is further adjustable in angle with respect to a horizontal plane.
[0011]
According to this configuration, even when the shape of the product is curved, the angle of the product receiving plate can be changed according to the degree of bending, so that the product can be received and the posture can be held stably.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a product receiving apparatus 10 in an idle process according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is an upper surface of product receiving plates 14a to 14d that actually receive products (workpieces) 12 in the product receiving apparatus 10. FIG. The workpiece 12 shown in the present embodiment is, for example, a pressed automobile fender, roof, door, luggage outer, and the like. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the workpiece 12 is an automobile fender. May be other than automobile parts and is optional.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 2, the product receiving plates 14 a to 14 d extend long in the conveyance direction of the workpiece 12 (the direction from the pressing process 100 in FIG. 4 toward the inspection processes 102 a and 102 b via the replacement robots 104 a and 104 b). It has a flat plate shape. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a rubber sheet 16 is fixed to the surface of the product receiving plates 14 a to 14 d for receiving the workpiece 12 as an anti-slip member. The rubber sheet 16 maintains the position and posture of the received workpiece 12 in a state of being discharged from the pressing process 100, and also has a function of protecting the surface of the workpiece 12 from being damaged. In addition, if a fine unevenness | corrugation is provided in the surface of the rubber sheet 16, the anti-slip | skid effect can be improved further. In addition, the workpiece | work 12 is taken out from the transfer press of the press process 100 with the conveying apparatus which is not shown in figure, and is mounted on the product receiving plates 14a-14d, and a workpiece | work attitude | position is determined. This posture is a posture that can be easily received by the following replacement robots 104a and 104b (not shown).
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 1, the product receiving plates 14 a to 14 d are connected to independent drive mechanisms, and the vertical direction (height direction) in FIG. 1 and the vertical direction in FIG. 1 (width direction of the workpiece 12: In FIG. 2, drive control is performed in the vertical direction.
[0015]
The vertical drive mechanism includes a carrier 20a that pivotally supports the product receiving plate 14a by a shaft 18a, a ball screw 24a in which a ball nut 22a fixed to the carrier 20a is screwed, and the ball screw 24a. The ball screw 24a and the guide rail 28a for guiding the motor 26a and the carrier 20a are fixed to the vertical drive board 30a. Therefore, by rotating the motor 26a in a predetermined direction, the carrier 20a can be moved to move the product receiving plate 14a up and down by a desired amount.
[0016]
The width-direction drive mechanism includes a slider 38a guided by a guide rail 36a fixed to a width-direction drive board 34a fixed to the device base 32, and a ball nut 40a fixed to the slider 38a. And a motor 44a that rotationally drives the ball screw 42a. The slider 38a is fixed to the vertical drive board 30a, and is moved in the vertical direction in FIG. 1 by the drive of the motor 44a, thereby moving the vertical drive board 30a. As a result, the product receiving plate 14a is moved. The desired amount can be moved in the vertical direction of the paper (the width direction of the workpiece 12). Similarly, the product receiving plates 14b to 14d individually have the same drive mechanism, and the four product receiving plates 14a to 14d individually move to the height direction position and the width direction position, and the workpiece 12 has various shapes, Even if it has a size, it is possible to stably support the workpiece 12 and maintain its posture. Further, since the work 12 is prevented from slipping by using the rubber sheet 16, there is no need to hold and support the work 12 as in the prior art.
[0017]
In this way, by moving the four flat plate-shaped product receiving plates 14a to 14d having the anti-slip member and capable of being driven in the two-axis adjustment in the arbitrary direction by the total eight-axis adjustment control, the arbitrary size and the arbitrary It is possible to reliably and easily receive the workpiece 12 having a shape and maintain the posture. As a result, the replacement robots 104a and 104b arranged on the downstream side can reliably pick up the workpiece 12 in the same state and put it into a predetermined downstream process. Further, by performing the 8-axis adjustment control, the control and structure of the product receiving apparatus 10 can be simplified, and at the same time the maintainability and reliability of the product receiving apparatus 10 can be improved.
[0018]
In the present embodiment, an angle adjusting cylinder 46a (for example, a fluid pressure cylinder) that tilts the product receiving plate 14a at an arbitrary angle with respect to a horizontal plane is fixed to the vertical drive board 30a. The angle adjusting cylinder 46a engages with one end side (the side not engaged with the shaft 18a) of the product receiving plate 14a, and tilts the product receiving plate 14a by a desired amount. The product receiving plates 14b to 14d also have the same angle adjusting mechanism, and the product receiving plates 14a to 14d can be tilted to a desired angle. As a result, it is not necessary to hold and support the workpiece 12 or the like having a curved shape as in the prior art, and stable and reliable holding can be performed according to the shape.
[0019]
In this embodiment, an example in which a rubber sheet is used as the anti-slip member has been described. However, any material may be used as long as the workpiece 12 can be prevented from slipping, for example, a fiber sheet having a large contact friction. . Further, the same effect can be obtained by using a magnet (magnet sheet) that attracts the workpiece 12 made of metal.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, four flat plate-shaped product receiving plates having anti-slip members and capable of being driven by two-axis adjustment are moved in an arbitrary direction by a total of eight-axis adjustment control, thereby allowing an arbitrary size and an arbitrary shape. It is possible to reliably and easily receive a workpiece having the above and maintain its posture. Further, by using the 8-axis adjustment control, it is possible to simplify the control and structure of the product receiving apparatus, and it is possible to improve the maintainability and reliability of the product receiving apparatus.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a product receiving device for an idle process according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a top view of a product receiving plate of a product receiving device in an idle process according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a product receiving plate of the product receiving device in the idle process according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a production line configuration including an idle process.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a configuration of a conventional product receiving device for an idle process.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Product receiving device, 12 Workpiece (product), 14a to 14d Product receiving plate, 16 Rubber sheet (non-slip member).

Claims (2)

An idle process provided between the upstream process and the downstream process in order to match the processing speed of the upstream process and the processing speed of the downstream process when products sequentially discharged from the processing device of the upstream process are transported to the downstream process. A product receiving device for temporarily holding the product discharged from the upstream process,
Four flat product receiving plates capable of two-axis adjustment driving in the height direction and width direction according to the shape of the product;
A non-slip member fixed to the product receiving surface of the product receiving plate to prevent the product from slipping;
A drive mechanism for moving the product receiving plate in the height direction and the width direction for each product receiving plate;
A product receiving device for an idle process characterized by comprising: The product receiving apparatus for an idle process according to claim 1, wherein the product receiving plate is further adjustable in angle with respect to a horizontal plane.

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