JP3834914B2 - Article supply device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an article supply system that takes out workpieces randomly placed in a pallet and supplies them to an aligner or the like, and particularly relates to an article supply apparatus that uses an electromagnet to attract workpieces and an article suction hand used therefor.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent automobile production lines, in order to save work and improve production efficiency, an article supply apparatus for taking out workpieces from randomly placed pallets and supplying them to an aligner or the like has been introduced.
[0003]
As this type of article supply apparatus, an apparatus that attracts a workpiece using an electromagnet (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-267,616) is known. For example, as shown in FIG. The electromagnets are sequentially guided to the areas 1 to n by the area selection signal, and this is repeated.
[0004]
When a large number of workpieces are put in the pallet 4, the operation is initially performed as described with reference to FIG. 5, and when the number of workpieces is reduced, the operation is performed to lift the bottom of the pallet 4 as illustrated in FIG. 6. Has also been proposed.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the method shown in FIG. 5, when the number of workpieces in the pallet decreases, the probability of taking out the workpieces extremely decreases. Therefore, when such an article supply apparatus is introduced into a production line with a short cycle time, the cycle time required for taking out the workpieces. However, there is a problem that the cycle time of the production line is exceeded and a line stop occurs.
[0006]
Further, if the work is attracted by the method shown in FIG. 6 when the number of works in the pallet is reduced, the probability that the work can surely be attracted increases. However, since a series of operation speeds for exposing the bottom of the pallet cannot be increased, the cycle time required to take out the workpiece is increased, and the cycle time of the production line may be exceeded.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an article supply device capable of shortening a workpiece take-out cycle time and an article suction hand used therefor.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, an article supply apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention divides a pallet containing a plurality of magnetic articles into a plurality of areas, and guides a hand equipped with an electromagnet to the areas. In an article supply apparatus that sucks the workpiece and supplies the workpiece to a target position, based on information from the workpiece number detecting means for detecting the number of workpieces sucked by the electromagnet and the workpiece number detecting means The storage means for storing the number of workpieces attracted at the previous guidance for each area, and the information stored in the storage means are read, and the area where the number of workpieces attracted at the previous guidance is two or more is selected, And a control means for guiding the hand.
Although not particularly limited, the control means reads the information stored in the storage means, selects an area where the number of workpieces attracted at the previous guidance is two or more, and the number of workpieces attracted at the previous guidance is 0 or 1 It is preferable to jump the area and guide the hand to the selected area.
[0009]
In the article supply apparatus according to the first aspect, when a large number of workpieces remain in the pallet, the hand is guided to each area in order, and is attracted with an electromagnet and supplied to a target position. At this time, the number of sucked works is detected for each area by the work number detecting means, and stored in the storage means for each area.
[0010]
If the number of workpieces attracted last time in an area is 0 or 1, no workpiece will remain even if the next hand is guided to that area, so it is not possible to attract workpieces in that area. become.
[0011]
From this point of view, the present invention, when next guiding the hand, reads out the information stored in the storage means, selects an area having two or more workpieces attracted at the previous guidance, and places the hand there To induce. That is, the jump is made in an area where the number of workpieces attracted during the previous guidance is 0 or 1. In this way, since there is always a work in the guided area (at least one), the workpiece suction probability is significantly improved, and the cycle time can be shortened. Further, when this process is repeated, the area that has been attracted only one time in the previous time jumps, so that there is always a work in the similarly guided area.
[0012]
In the article supply apparatus according to claim 1, the specific configuration of the work number detection means for detecting the number of works attracted by the electromagnet is not particularly limited. However, the article supply apparatus according to the present invention provides the article supply apparatus according to the present invention. The number detecting means detects the number of workpieces based on the weight of the workpiece attracted to the electromagnet. If the weight of the workpiece is used without using a visual device such as a camera, the number of suctions can be easily detected.
[0013]
In order to achieve the above object, the hand of the article supply device of the present invention according to claim 3 extends in a substantially vertical direction, has a hand main body having an electromagnet at a lower end, and the hand main body is in a substantially vertical direction. A bracket that supports the hand main body so as to be movable; an elastic body that is provided between the bracket and the hand main body and applies an elastic force in a substantially vertical upward direction to the hand main body; and the bracket And a sensor for detecting a movement position of the hand body.
[0014]
In the hand of the article attracting apparatus according to the third aspect, when the work is attracted to the electromagnet, the hand main body moves vertically downward against the elastic force of the elastic body. Since the amount of movement correlates with the number of workpieces attracted, the number of workpieces can be easily detected by detecting the movement position of the hand body with a sensor.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
According to the article supply apparatus according to claim 1, since the number of workpieces attracted at the time of the previous guidance jumps to an area where the number of workpieces is 0 or 1, the workpiece suction probability is remarkably improved, and the cycle time can be shortened. Become. Therefore, it can also be introduced into a production line with a short cycle time.
[0016]
Further, since the remaining state of the work in the pallet can be grasped, there is no work remaining on the pallet until the end. In addition, since the magnetic force of the electromagnet can be increased to some extent, even if the moving speed of the hand is increased, the work does not fall.
[0017]
According to the article supply apparatus of the second aspect, since the weight of the workpiece is used, the number of suctions can be easily detected without using a visual device such as a camera, thereby reducing the failure rate and reducing the cost. be able to.
[0018]
According to the article suction hand according to claim 3, since the movement position of the hand main body is detected by the sensor using the fact that the movement amount of the hand main body correlates with the number of the sucked work pieces, the number of workpieces can be easily detected. it can. In addition, since a simple structure is sufficient, the failure rate can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 are front views showing an embodiment of an article suction hand used in the article supply apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of the article supply apparatus of the present invention.
[0020]
As shown in FIG. 3, the article supply apparatus according to the present embodiment can be applied to, for example, a work for taking out a workpiece from a pallet, and the pallet 4 placed on the pallet positioning table 5 is also applied to the pallet positioning table 5. The workpiece is supplied to the placed alignment device 6. A large number of workpieces of the same type are randomly placed on the pallet 4, and this workpiece is made of a magnetic material such as a steel plate press part.
[0021]
The hand 30 with the electromagnet 13 attached to the tip is attached to the triaxial loader 1 as shown in FIG. 3, and the hand 30 is moved to the pallet 4 and the X axis loader 1x, Y axis loader 1y, and Z axis loader 1z. It can move to the area of the aligning device 6. The movement control of the hand 30 is executed by a command signal from the control device 2 built in the control panel and operation panel 7.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 1, the suction hand 30 used in the present embodiment extends in a substantially vertical direction, and the hand main body 14 having the electromagnet 13 at the lower end and the hand main body 14 can move in the substantially vertical direction. As described above, the bracket 15 that supports the hand main body 14, the spring (elastic body) 11 that is provided between the bracket 15 and the hand main body 14 and applies an elastic force in a substantially vertical upward direction to the hand main body 14, and the bracket 15 And three proximity sensors 8, 9, 10 that detect the movement position of the hand main body 14.
[0023]
The hand main body 14 is inserted into the bracket 15 and is fixed to the bracket 15 via the bush 12. The hand main body 14 can be moved in a substantially vertical direction by the bush 12. As a result, when the work is attracted to the electromagnet 13, the hand body 14 moves downward as shown in FIG. The amount of movement is determined by the number of workpieces.
[0024]
The bracket 15 is for fixing the hand 30 to the Z-axis loader 1z shown in FIG. 3, and the three proximity sensors 8, 9, 10 are also fixed at the same time. The spring 11 returns the hand main body 14 to the top dead center when no work is attracted to the electromagnet 13 attached to the lower end of the hand main body 14, but when the work is attracted to the electromagnet. The weight of the hand body 14 overcomes the elastic force of the spring 11 and moves downward.
[0025]
Three proximity sensors 8, 9, 10 are provided to detect the number of workpieces attracted by the electromagnet 13, and the upper proximity sensor 8 is a central proximity sensor when no electromagnet 13 is attracted. 9 indicates that the electromagnet 13 is attracting one workpiece, and the proximity sensor 10 on the lower side detects when the electromagnet 13 is attracting two or more workpieces. Actually, a detection signal is output according to the position of the flange 14a at the upper end of the hand body 14. This configuration is the work number detection means of the present invention.
[0026]
The output signals from the three proximity sensors 8, 9, 10 are sent to the control device 2 shown in FIG. 3 and processed there. That is, the control means of the present invention is programmed in the control device 2. Further, the control device 2 is provided with storage means of the present invention, that is, a memory, and stores the determined number of workpieces for each area.
[0027]
Next, the operation will be described.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an information processing procedure executed in the control means. First, the control means divides the inside of the pallet 4 into which a workpiece is placed into a plurality of areas (this area is 1 to n), and operates the three-axis loader 1 to place the hand 30 in each area in order. Move. This is repeated sequentially (step 1). Step 1 represents the m-2th order operation.
[0028]
In the next m−1 order, the hand 30 is moved to each of the areas 1 to n in the same manner as described above, and the work is sucked and supplied to the alignment device 6 (step 2). Then, the output signals of the proximity sensors 8, 9, and 10 are taken in, and the number of works picked up for each area is stored in the storage means (step 3). Step 3 in the figure shows an example of the format of stored data.
[0029]
When all the areas 1 to n are picked up in step 4, the operation proceeds to the next m-order operation. At this time, the coordinate data stored in the previous operation is called (step 5), The number of magnetizations in each area is examined (step 6). As a result, when the number of magnetization is two or more, the hand 30 is guided to the area (step 7), but when the number of magnetization is 0 or 1, the hand 30 is not guided to the area (step 7). Step 8). In the area induced because the number of magnetization is two or more, the number of works attracted is stored in the storage means in the same manner as the operation in step 3 (step 9). Step 9 in the figure shows an example of the format of stored data.
[0030]
When all the areas selected in step 7 have been picked up (step 10), the coordinate data stored in step 9 is called (step 11), and the number of magnetizations in each area is checked (step 11). 12). As a result, when the number of magnetization is two or more, the hand 30 is guided to the area (step 13), but when the number of magnetization is 0 or 1, the hand 30 is not guided to the area (step 13). Step 14).
[0031]
When all the areas selected in step 13 have been picked up (step 15), a pallet 4 replacement instruction is issued and the next article supply operation is entered (step 16).
[0032]
As described above, according to the article supply apparatus of the present embodiment, even if the number of workpieces in the pallet 4 decreases, the position of the workpiece remaining in the pallet is known, so the probability of magnetization failure decreases and the number of workpieces decreases. However, the cycle time required for supply does not increase. Further, there is no work remaining in the pallet 4. Even in terms of the device configuration, since a high-priced and precision machine such as a camera is not used, the failure probability is low and the cost is low.
[0033]
The embodiment described above is described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a suction hand of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of the suction hand of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the article supply apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the article supply apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining a conventional article supply apparatus.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining a conventional article supply apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... 3-axis loader 2 ... Control apparatus (control means, memory | storage means)
4 ... Pallet 6 ... Aligning device (target position)
30 ... Hands 8, 9, 10 ... Proximity sensor 11 ... Spring (elastic body)
13 ... Electromagnet 14 ... Hand body 15 ... Bracket

Claims (3)

In an article supply apparatus that divides a pallet into which a plurality of magnetic articles are placed into a plurality of areas, guides a hand equipped with an electromagnet to the area, attracts the workpiece, and supplies the workpiece to a target position ,
A workpiece number detecting means for detecting the number of workpieces attracted by the electromagnet;
Storage means for storing, for each area, the number of workpieces attracted during the previous guidance based on information from the workpiece number detection means;
Read the information stored in the storage means, select an area where the number of workpieces attracted during the previous guidance is 2 or more, and jump to the area where the number of workpieces attracted during the previous guidance is 0 or 1 and make the selection An article supply apparatus comprising: control means for guiding the hand to a designated area .   2. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece number detecting means detects the number of workpieces based on a weight of the workpiece attracted to the electromagnet. The hand is
A hand body extending in a substantially vertical direction and having an electromagnet at the lower end;
A bracket for supporting the hand body so that the hand body is movable in a substantially vertical direction;
An elastic body that is provided between the bracket and the hand body, and applies an elastic force in a substantially vertical upward direction to the hand body;
The article supply apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a sensor provided on the bracket and detecting a movement position of the hand main body .

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