JP3933123B2 - Air transfer device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an air conveyance device that conveys a lightweight work (bottle cap, can, sheet, card, tape, etc.) while floating by an air jet.

Conventionally, an air ejection hole inclined in the conveyance direction is arranged on a workpiece conveyance plate (air ejection plate) whose upper surface is a conveyance surface, and air is ejected obliquely upward from these air ejection holes, thereby conveying the surface. 2. Description of the Related Art An air conveyance device that conveys a workpiece placed thereon while floating is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). In that case, it is also known that the conveyance direction of the workpiece is set by the direction of the air ejection holes (for example, see Patent Document 2).
JP-A-8-26477 JP-A-8-39174

  By the way, when designing / manufacturing such a conveyance route by air conveyance, generally, the conveyance route is generally determined first, and then the direction of the inclination of the air ejection holes is usually determined according to the conveyance route. For this reason, the air ejection holes are usually processed in a fixed manner on the work conveying plate.

  However, if the air ejection holes are fixedly processed as in the prior art, there is a problem that if there is a demand for adjusting the transport direction later, the demand cannot be easily met.

  Also, if you want to transport the workpiece along the curved path, you must gradually change the direction of inclination of the air ejection hole along the curved path, but this process is difficult and eventually smooth. The conveyance along the curve was difficult to realize. Also, in the curved part, it is thought that it is necessary to finely adjust the direction to give thrust depending on the mass and speed of the workpiece, but if the air ejection hole is fixedly processed as in the past, The adjustment was impossible, and it was impossible to handle each work individually.

  In consideration of the above circumstances, the present invention can easily adjust the conveyance direction, and can easily design and manufacture a curved portion, and has a smooth curved section while individually supporting various workpieces. An object of the present invention is to provide an air conveyance device capable of realizing a conveyance path.

The air conveyance device according to the first aspect of the present invention has a work conveyance plate having an upper surface as a conveyance surface, and air injection holes inclined in the conveyance direction arranged in a line, and air is ejected obliquely upward from these air injection holes. Thus, in the air conveyance device that conveys the workpiece placed on the conveyance surface while lifting the workpiece, the air ejection hole in at least a part of the conveyance section is provided to be rotatable with respect to the workpiece conveyance plate. It is characterized in that the direction of the air ejection holes can be adjusted by forming the upper surface opening at the center of the nozzle piece.

  A second aspect of the present invention is the air conveyance device according to the first aspect, wherein there is a curved section in at least a part of the conveyance path, and the nozzle piece is arranged in the curved section.

  Invention of Claim 3 is an air conveyance apparatus of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising: While providing circular opening in a workpiece conveyance board and installing the said nozzle piece in the opening rotatably, Work conveyance board An air supply chamber for supplying pressurized air to each air ejection hole is provided on the lower side.

  According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, the direction of the air ejection holes can be freely changed by turning the nozzle piece provided on the work conveyance plate, so that the conveyance direction can be easily adjusted.

  In addition, when the curved section is formed in the transport path, if the nozzle piece is arranged in the curved section as in the invention of claim 2, it is only necessary to process the air ejection holes in each nozzle piece in the same direction. No troublesome processing such as gradually changing the direction of the air ejection hole is required, and design and production can be simplified.

  Moreover, by rotating the nozzle piece, the direction in which the thrust is applied can be finely adjusted, so that air conveyance along a smoothly curved path can be realized while individually handling various workpieces. . Furthermore, if the nozzle piece is replaced, it is possible to change to an air ejection hole with a different inclination.

  Further, if the nozzle piece is rotatably installed in the circular opening formed in the work transfer plate and the air supply chamber is provided below the work transfer plate as in the invention of claim 3, the structure can be simplified. It is possible and can be realized at low cost.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 is a plan view of an air conveyance device according to an embodiment of the present invention manufactured as an experimental machine, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion III in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow IVb-IVb in FIG. 5A, FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow V-V in FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. FIG. 6 is a side view showing the principle of non-contact suction of the work by the air conveying device, and FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the principle of straight movement of the work in the center.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air transfer device 1 has an air supply pipe 2 having a rectangular cross section, and an air supply chamber 3 is formed in the air supply pipe 2. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a flat work conveying plate 5 is horizontally mounted and fixed on the upper surface of the air supply pipe 2 so as to close the upper open portion 2 a of the air supply pipe 2.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the work transport plate 5 having an upper surface as a work transport surface constitutes a work transport path having a straight portion LS and a curved portion LC, and a part of the straight portion LS includes: As shown in FIG. Moreover, the curved part LC has drawn the semicircle. The air supply chamber 3 is partitioned by a partition wall 3a at the boundary between the straight portion LS and the curved portion LC, and an air supply pipe 20 that supplies pressurized air is connected to each air supply chamber 3.

  A large number of air ejection holes 5a and 15a are arranged in a line at a constant interval along the conveyance direction at the center in the width direction of the workpiece conveyance plate 5. In the straight portion LS of the transport path, the air ejection holes 5a are formed directly in the work transport plate 5, but in the curved portion LC, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. It is formed on a disk-like nozzle piece 15 that is rotatably fitted to the transport plate 5.

  All the air ejection holes 5a, 15a are formed in a straight line inclined in the conveyance direction (so as to be gradually located on the conveyance side toward the upper surface side of the work conveyance plate 5), and the air ejection holes 5a, By ejecting air from 15a obliquely upward, the workpiece 9 placed on the conveying surface is floated by a predetermined amount and can be conveyed while being attracted to the conveying surface.

  In particular, for the curved portion LC, the nozzle piece 15 is rotated as shown in the direction of the arrow N in FIGS. 3 and 4A by forming the air ejection hole 15a in the nozzle piece 15 that is rotatably provided. By doing so, the direction of the air ejection holes 15a (the direction of air ejection) can be adjusted, and the direction in which thrust is applied to the workpiece 9 can be finely adjusted. In addition, guide rails 6 and 6 are provided on both sides of the air ejection holes 5a and 15a arranged in a single row on the work conveying plate 5, respectively.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the work conveying plate 5 is provided with a circular opening 5 h, and a disk-like nozzle piece 15 can be rotated from above through a sealing material 16 in the opening 5 h. It is installed by fitting. The nozzle piece 15 is prevented from dropping downward by placing the upper end flange on the nozzle piece 15 side on the stepped portion on the opening 5h side.

  An O-ring as the sealing material 16 is fitted to the outer periphery of the nozzle piece 15. Two screw holes 15c are formed in the nozzle piece 15, and the tips of screws 18 passed through the holding plate 17 from below are screwed into the screw holes 15c.

  Then, by tightening the screw 18, the presser plate 17 is fixed to the lower surface of the nozzle piece 15, and the presser plate 17 prevents the nozzle piece 15 from coming out of the work conveying plate 5. . In this state, the work conveying plate 5 and the pressing plate 17 are in contact with each other with a pressure that can rotate the nozzle piece 15, or are in a state in which a slight gap is interposed. However, even in such a state where there is a slight gap, the nozzle piece 15 does not rotate naturally due to the frictional force of the sealing material 16.

  In addition, the screw plate 18 may be tightened so that the pressing plate 17 is pressed against the work conveyance plate 5 and the nozzle piece 15 is securely fixed to the work conveyance plate 5 so as not to rotate. In this case, the nozzle piece 15 can be rotated within the plate surface of the work conveying plate 5 by loosening the screw 18.

  Further, the air ejection hole 15 a is located in the center of the circular nozzle piece 15 at the upper surface opening, and is located at a position where the lower surface opening avoids the pressing plate 17 and communicates with the air supply chamber 3.

Next, the operation will be described.
Since the air conveying apparatus 1 is configured as described above, when the small and lightweight work 9 such as a bottle cap is conveyed by the air conveying apparatus 1, air is first supplied to the air supply chamber 3. Then, this air is ejected from all the air ejection holes 5a and 15a of the work conveying plate 5. In this state, a plurality of workpieces 9 are continuously placed on the workpiece conveying plate 5. Then, these workpieces 9 sequentially move so as to be pushed downstream under the dynamic pressure of air.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the workpiece 9 floats at a certain height from the workpiece conveyance plate 5 according to Bernoulli's theorem and moves stably while being sucked by the workpiece conveyance plate 5. It will be. That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, the workpiece 9 moves stably from the workpiece conveying plate 5 at a certain height.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 6B, even if the position of the workpiece 9 is increased due to some external factor, the original height position is obtained by the suction force that always works between the workpiece 9 and the workpiece conveyance plate 5. As shown in FIG. 6C, when the position of the workpiece 9 is lowered, the pressure between the workpiece 9 and the workpiece conveying plate 5 is increased, so that the original height position is reversed. Will be pushed back immediately. As a result, the workpiece 9 is conveyed on the workpiece conveyance plate 5 in a floating state without contacting the workpiece conveyance plate 5.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the workpiece 9 moves straight on the workpiece conveying plate 5 in accordance with Bernoulli's theorem, so there is no possibility of colliding with the guide rail 6. That is, since air is ejected from each air ejection hole 5a of the work conveying plate 5, the work 9 normally travels in the direction of arrow A along this air flow as shown in FIG. To do.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the workpiece 9 deviates to the right in the traveling direction, the flow velocity of the air flowing on the left side of the workpiece 9 is increased. Therefore, according to Bernoulli's theorem, The static pressure is lowered, and the work 9 is pulled back to the original position on the left side. On the contrary, as shown in FIG. 7C, when the work 9 deviates to the left in the traveling direction, the flow velocity of the air flowing on the right side of the work 9 increases, so that Bernoulli's theorem The static pressure is lowered, and the work 9 is pulled back to the original position on the right side. Accordingly, the trajectory of the work 9 is maintained at the center position without deviating left and right.

  In this way, the workpiece 9 moves straight on the workpiece conveyance plate 5 in a non-contact manner and does not collide with the workpiece conveyance plate 5 or the guide rail 6, so that the workpiece 9 is not deformed or damaged during conveyance. In addition, there is no concern that dust will be generated on the work conveying plate 5 and it will not be hygienic. Moreover, since the air ejected from the air ejection holes 5a and 15a flows between the workpieces 9, it is possible to prevent the workpieces 9 from contacting each other.

  Further, with respect to the curved portion LC, the direction of the air ejection holes 15a can be freely changed by appropriately turning the nozzle piece 15 fitted to the work conveyance plate 5, so that fine adjustment of the conveyance direction is easily performed. be able to. Therefore, even if the mass and speed of the workpiece 9 are different, the workpiece 9 can be conveyed by the air jet along a smoothly curved path while individually dealing with the various workpieces 9.

  In this case, the direction of the air ejection holes 15a in the curved portion Lc is preferably set slightly inward from the tangential direction of the curved portion LC in consideration of centrifugal force. Thus, by adjusting the direction of the air ejection hole 15a according to the degree of curvature, the work 9 can be changed in direction only by the force of air.

  Further, when the air ejection holes 15a are formed in the nozzle pieces 15 that are rotatably provided as described above, the air ejection holes 15a need only be processed in the same direction in each nozzle piece 15, so the air ejection holes 15a. It will be easy to design and manufacture. Further, the nozzle piece 15 is fitted into the circular opening 5 h formed in the workpiece conveying plate 5 via the sealing material 16, and the air supply chamber 3 on the lower side of the workpiece conveying plate 5 enters the air ejection hole 15 a of the nozzle piece 15. Since pressurized air is directly supplied, the structure is simple and can be realized at low cost.

  In addition, if a plurality of types of nozzle pieces 15 with different inclination angles of the air ejection holes 15a are prepared, it is possible to change to the air ejection holes 15a with different inclinations by replacing the nozzle pieces 15. It is possible to easily cope with the inclination of the conveyance path.

  The guide rail 6 may be provided with an air ejection hole, and air may be blown out from the guide rail to add thrust to the workpiece. Moreover, the guide rail 6 can also be abbreviate | omitted when the conveyance directivity by the air ejection holes 5a and 15a is obtained stably.

It is a top view of the air conveyance apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the same air conveyance apparatus. It is an enlarged view of the III section of FIG. (A) is the top view which expanded a part of FIG. 3 further, (b) is IVb-IVb arrow sectional drawing of (a) figure. (A) is the VV arrow sectional drawing of FIG. 3, (b) is the enlarged view of the principal part. It is a side view which shows the principle of the non-contact suction of the workpiece | work by the said air conveying apparatus. It is a top view which shows the principle of the center straight advance of the workpiece | work by the said air conveying apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air conveyance apparatus 3 Air supply chamber 5 Work conveyance board 5a Air ejection hole 5h Opening 9 Work 15 Nozzle piece 15a Air ejection hole 16 Sealing material

Claims (3)

Workpieces placed on the conveyance surface are formed by aligning air ejection holes inclined in the conveyance direction in a row on the workpiece conveyance plate with the upper surface as the conveyance surface, and ejecting air obliquely upward from these air ejection holes. In the air conveying device that conveys with thrust while floating
The direction of the air ejection hole is adjusted by forming the air ejection hole in at least a part of the conveyance section so that the upper surface opening is located at the center of the nozzle piece that is rotatably provided with respect to the workpiece conveyance plate. An air conveyance device characterized by being made possible. It is an air conveyance apparatus of Claim 1, Comprising:
An air conveyance device, wherein at least a part of a conveyance path includes a curved section, and the nozzle piece is disposed in the curved section. It is an air conveyance apparatus of Claim 1 or 2, Comprising:
A circular opening is provided in the work conveying plate, and the nozzle piece is rotatably installed in the opening, and a supply for supplying pressurized air to the air ejection holes below the work conveying plate. An air conveyance device comprising an air chamber.

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