JP4397863B2 - Sheet transport device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus that intermittently conveys a long sheet at a constant pitch in the length direction.

  An IC card used for an identification card or the like is manufactured by laminating an IC chip or a conductive pattern antenna with two thin resin sheets such as a PET resin and punching it into a card size with a press punching machine or the like. The resin sheet is a long web-like sheet, and the sheet is unwound from a sheet roll around which the resin sheet is wound, and is intermittently conveyed to various work stations for creating an IC card. The work station is provided with a work machine that performs specific work such as printing, partial punching, and fixed-size cutting on the sheet. When the sheet is intermittently conveyed to the work station, the work machine operates to perform operations such as partially punching the sheet. Such work on the sheet is performed in a state where the sheet is stretched so as not to cause wrinkles on the sheet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Usually, a sheet intermittently conveyed to the work station is stretched by a tension roller, or intermittently conveyed to the work station in a state where the sheet is stretched. In the case of the former sheet conveyance, a special tension roller is required at the work station, and the work machine cannot be operated until the sheet is conveyed to the work station and then stretched by the tension roller. The latter sheet conveyance is performed, for example, by the sheet conveyance apparatus shown in FIG. 8 as follows.

  The sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG. 8A guides the sheet 2 fed from the sheet roll 1 by the guide roller 3 and horizontally conveys it from the left to the right in FIG. The work station S is arranged at a fixed position in the middle of the horizontal conveyance path, and the work machine T is installed in the work station S. The work machine T performs a specific work such as partially punching while being positioned and held with respect to the sheet 2. A pair of grippers 6 and 7 are disposed in front of and behind the work station S so as to be reciprocally movable in the front-rear direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction X. The work-completed sheet 2 that has received a specific work by the work machine T is guided by, for example, a guide roller 4 and is taken up by a take-up roll 5.

  Each of the pair of grippers 6 and 7 includes lower grips 6a and 7a arranged along the back surface (lower surface) of the sheet 2, and upper grips 6b and 7b that move up and down with respect to the surface (upper surface) of the sheet 2, A pair of vertical drive sources (not shown) that individually drive the upper grips 6b and 7b up and down are provided. The pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7 are connected by a connecting rod 8 having a predetermined length, and the distance between them is kept constant. Both ends of the connecting rod 8 are fixed to a pair of front and rear lower grips 6a and 7a. One of the pair of lower grips 6 a and 7 a is screwed to a linear feed screw 10 that is driven forward and backward by a left and right reciprocating drive source, for example, a servo motor 9.

  FIG. 8A shows a state in which the work machine T has worked on the sheet 2. At this time, the upstream and downstream two locations on the upstream and downstream sides of the work station S of the sheet 2 are held by the pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7. This holding is performed by lowering the upper grips 6b, 7b with respect to the lower grips 6a, 7a and gripping the sheet 2 partially from the front and back surfaces with the upper and lower grips. By holding the sheet 2 with the pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7 in a state where the sheet 2 is stretched in the length direction, the state in which the sheet 2 between the grippers 6 and 7 is stretched is maintained. Then, the work machine T operates to work on the seat 2.

When the work machine T works and moves away from the seat 2, the servomotor 9 rotates the feed screw 10 forward by a predetermined number of rotations as shown in FIG. 8B. With this forward rotation, the pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7 move by a constant stroke in the sheet conveying direction X while the sheet 2 is stretched and held, and the sheet 2 is conveyed intermittently at a constant pitch. When the work machine T operates in the state shown in FIG. 8B to work on the seat 2, the upper grips 6b and 7b of the pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7 are raised and the gripping of the sheet is released. Next, as shown in FIG. 8C, the servo motor 9 reversely rotates the feed screw 10 by a predetermined number of rotations, and the pair of front and rear grippers 6 and 7 are moved in a direction opposite to the sheet conveying direction X by a fixed stroke. Move to return to the original position in FIG.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-074936

  Although the sheet conveying apparatus as shown in FIG. 8 is mechanically simple, the distance between a pair of front and rear grippers that stretch and intermittently convey a sheet is fixed. When the sheet is held and conveyed, the sheet between the pair of grippers may be loosened or wrinkled due to the extension of the sheet due to heat. Such sheet slack and wrinkles are very small, but when printing or punching with high accuracy on a sheet, it may cause printing misalignment or punching misalignment, resulting in degradation of the quality of products such as IC cards manufactured from the sheet. , Manufacturing yield may be reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and its object is to hold a long sheet with a pair of front and rear grippers and carry it intermittently in a stretched state without causing slack or wrinkles. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet conveying apparatus.

The technical means for achieving the above object of the present invention includes: a sheet holding means for detachably holding a sheet at a work station; and a sheet conveyance at the work station. A pair of grippers that are reciprocally movable in the front-rear direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction on each of the upstream side and the downstream side in a direction, and that hold the sheet detachably at each position on the upstream side and the downstream side, Are connected to one of a pair of grippers and a connecting member that allows the gap between both grippers to be freely variable within the expansion / contraction range of the spring material , and the one gripper is parallel to the sheet conveying direction. ; and a driving source for reciprocally driving a back and forth direction, of the sheet held by the sheet holding means upstream or downstream of the pair of grippers In a state of out and held on the other hand, hold the sheet is moved in a direction to compress the spring member one of the gripper above driving source, then the sheet spring member between open to both grippers the sheet holding means from the sheet The sheet and both grippers are intermittently conveyed at a constant pitch in the sheet conveying direction by a driving source in a state where the sheet is stretched by the extension force.

  Here, as the sheet holding means of the work station, a gripper structure or a chuck structure holding means for gripping the sheet from both front and back surfaces, and a suction holding means for partially vacuum-sucking the sheet can be applied. As this sheet holding means, an existing one attached to a work machine which is provided at the work station and performs a specific work on the sheet, or one provided at the work station independently of the work machine can be applied. Each of the pair of front and rear grippers can be a pair as described with reference to FIG. 8, that is, a lower grip along the back surface of the seat and an upper grip that moves up and down just above. In the present invention, a spring member is inserted in the middle or one end of the connecting member (rod) that connects the pair of front and rear grippers, and the distance between the pair of front and rear grippers can be varied within the expansion and contraction range of the spring material in the sheet conveying direction. The sheet held by the pair of front and rear grippers is stretched by the extension force of the spring material, and is conveyed intermittently at a constant pitch in that state.

  In the present invention, each of the sheet holding means and the pair of front and rear grippers can be configured to detachably hold both ends of the sheet in the width direction from the front and back surfaces of the sheet. In this case, it is possible to work with a working machine or the like on the central portion in the width direction excluding both ends in the width direction of the sheet.

  In the present invention, the work station has a sheet holding means for detachably holding the front and back surfaces of the frame-like portion including both ends in the width direction of the sheet, and the frame held by the sheet holding means. It is possible to arrange a working machine that performs a specific work on the sheet surrounded by the shaped portion. As such a working machine, existing equipment such as a press machine that partially punches a sheet with a mold and a printing machine that partially prints a sheet can be applied.

  According to the present invention, the upstream side or the downstream side of the sheet held by the sheet holding means is held by one gripper, and the other gripper is moved in the direction in which the spring material is compressed by the drive source, so that the downstream side or By holding the upstream side, releasing the sheet holding means from the sheet and stretching the sheet between the pair of front and rear grippers by the extension force of the spring material, the sheet intermittently conveyed to the work station is stretched Therefore, it is possible to always receive good work, and to improve the quality and manufacturing yield of products such as IC cards manufactured from sheets. The tension of the stretched sheet can be adjusted by both the spring constant of the spring material and the amount of movement of one gripper when the spring material is compressed. It is possible to finely adjust the degree of installation with high accuracy, and it is possible to improve the performance and added value of the product of a conveying device that stretches and intermittently conveys a sheet.

  In addition, the sheet conveyance is advantageous in terms of capital investment, as it can be implemented by applying the existing equipment by additionally installing a spring material on the sheet conveying device of the existing equipment where a pair of front and rear grippers are connected by a connecting rod. A device can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The sheet conveying apparatus 20 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 intermittently conveys the sheet 2 shown in FIG. The guide rollers 3 and 4 shown in FIG. 1 are the same as those in FIG. 8, and the sheet 2 is conveyed horizontally from one horizontal guide roller 3 to the other guide roller 4. A sheet conveying device 20 is provided between the two guide rollers 3 and 4.

  The sheet conveying apparatus 20 includes a sheet holding means 21 attached to the work machine T installed in the work station S at a fixed position, and a pair of front and rear grippers disposed upstream and downstream in the sheet conveying direction X from the work station S. 22 and 23. Hereinafter, the upstream gripper is referred to as a first gripper 22 and the downstream gripper is referred to as a second gripper 23 as required. The pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 are connected by a bar-shaped connecting member 24 having a constant length. A coil spring-like spring material 25 that is extendable in the axial direction is inserted in the middle of the connecting member 24. The pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 are connected by a connecting member 24 via a spring member 25. The second gripper 23 is directly connected to a single drive source 26 and reciprocates in a direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction X. The drive source 26 includes a servo motor 27 and a linear feed screw 28.

  The working machine T is a press machine that partially punches the sheet 2 with, for example, a rectangular die, and an outline thereof is shown in FIG. FIG. 4 shows the sheet 2 that receives work on the work machine T. Reference numeral 15 in FIG. 4 is a punching hole in which the sheet 2 is punched out by the work machine T, and reference numeral 16 is a work portion that receives work before being punched out by the work machine T. The work portion 16 is separated from the sheet 2 when punched by the work machine T, and is commercialized into an IC card or the like as will be described later. The work portions 16 are provided at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the long sheet 2, and the sheets 2 are intermittently conveyed at a constant pitch P that is the distance between the center lines of the adjacent work portions 16. The sheet 2 that has passed through the work station S has a ladder shape in which a crosspiece portion 18 between the punching holes 15 adjacent to the width direction both ends 17 is left, and this ladder-shaped sheet is guided by the guide roller 4 to be a take-up roller or the like. And finally disposed of.

  The work machine T includes a sheet holding unit 21 that functions as a press frame that surrounds the work portion 16 of the sheet 2 and presses the work portion 16 from the front and back surfaces, and a mold 31 that punches out the work portion 16. The mold 31 includes a lower mold 31a fixed on a horizontal work table 32, and an upper mold 31b that opens and closes with respect to the lower mold 31a. A rectangular frame-shaped sheet holding means 21 is provided so as to surround the mold 31. The sheet holding means 21 includes a lower holding means 21a that surrounds the lower mold 31a and an upper holding means 21b that opens and closes directly above the lower holding means 21a. When the sheet 2 is intermittently conveyed along the upper surfaces of the lower mold 31a and the lower holding means 21a and stops, the upper holding means 21b descends and presses the peripheral portion of the work portion 16 of the sheet 2 to the lower holding means 21a. Holds the periphery of the work part. In this state, the upper die 31b is lowered and the work portion 16 is punched downward.

  Each of the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 is held by a pair of left and right linear guides 33 shown in FIG. A pair of upstream first grippers 22 are installed at both ends on a slide bar 34 that is bridged orthogonally to a pair of left and right linear guides 33. Each of the pair of first grippers 22 includes a lower grip 22a and an upper grip 22b that opens and closes directly above the lower grip 22a. The pair of upper grips 22b are integrally connected by one connecting bar 35, and integrally open and close. Also, the second gripper 23 on the downstream side has the same structure as the first gripper 22, and a pair is installed at both ends of the slide bar 36 that is bridged perpendicularly to the pair of left and right linear guides 33. Each of the two grippers 23 has a lower grip 23a and an upper grip 23b that opens and closes right above the lower grip 23a. The pair of upper grips 23b are integrally connected by a single connecting bar 37, and integrally open and close. Each of the upper grips 22b and 23b of each gripper 22 and 23 is directly connected to an unillustrated original vertical opening / closing drive source (air cylinder or the like) and independently opens and closes as described later to detachably hold the seat 2 To do.

  The slide bars 34 and 36 of the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 face each other in parallel in the front and rear, and a pair of rod-like connecting members 24 are installed between both ends of the pair of slide bars 34 and 36. The pair of connecting members 24 are metal rods having a predetermined length, and a spring material 25 having the same spring constant is inserted at one place in a compressed state in the axial direction. When the parallelism of the pair of slide bars 34 and 36 is stably secured by the linear guide 33, only one connecting member 24 is provided at the center of the pair of slide bars 34 and 36. Further, although the spring member 25 is inserted in the middle of the connecting member 24, it may be inserted between the end of the connecting member 24 and the slide bar 34 or 36.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the feed screw 28 of the drive source 26 is screwed to the slide bar 36 of the second gripper 23 on the downstream side. A feed screw 28 is screwed onto a nut member 29 that is fixed at a position deviated from the center of the slide bar 36 toward one end. The feed screw 28 is a ball screw parallel to the sheet conveying direction X, and a servo motor 27 for rotating the screw screw forward and backward is fixed on the work table 32. As such a drive source 26, a drive source similar to that shown in FIG. 8 can be applied. The drive source 26 is directly connected to the downstream second gripper 23 and reciprocated in the sheet conveying direction X. However, as will be described later, the drive source 26 is directly connected to the upstream first gripper 22 to convey the sheet. It is also possible to reciprocate in the direction X.

  Next, various operations associated with intermittent sheet conveyance by the sheet conveying apparatus 20 will be described with reference to the operation outline diagrams of FIGS. 5 to 7C.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the sheet 2 fed out from the sheet roll 1 is guided by the guide roller, conveyed to the work station S where the sheet conveying device 20 is arranged, and received work at the work station S. The sheet 2 is taken up by a take-up roll 5. FIG. 5A shows a state immediately before the press machine starts working. The upper die 31b is in an open state away from the lower die 31a of the press machine, and the sheet holding means 21 of the press frame is also in an open state. The pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 hold the sheet 2 (gripped from the front and back surfaces), and the sheet 2 is stretched by the extension force of the spring material 25 as will be described later. In this state, the press machine performs a press punching operation, and the state shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5B shows the upper die relative to the lower die 31a which is a press machine in a state where the upper holding means 21b is lowered with respect to the lower holding means 21a of the sheet holding means 21 and the sheet 2 is gripped from the front and back surfaces. 31b shows a state in which the work portion 16 of the sheet 2 has been punched down. The punched work part 16 is carried out to the outside as a workpiece for product production. After the press punching, as shown in FIG. 5C, the upper grips 22b, 23b of the pair of front and rear grippers 22, 23 are raised to the upper limit position and released from the seat 2. The sheet holding means 21 holds the sheet 2.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6A, the servo motor 27 is operated to rotate the feed screw 28 backward by a predetermined number of rotations. With this reverse rotation, the second gripper 23 moves to the left (in the direction opposite to the sheet conveying direction X) in FIG. 6 at a predetermined pitch P ′, and the first gripper 22 is also moved in the same direction via the connecting member 24 and the spring material 25. At the same pitch P ′. During this time, the sheet holding means 21 holds the sheet 2. When the constant pitch P ′ movement to the left of the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 is completed, only the upper grip 22b of the first gripper 22 is lowered as shown in FIG. Grip. In this state, the servo motor 27 is operated again to reversely rotate the feed screw 28 at a preset number of rotations, thereby moving the second gripper 23 to the left by a distance Δd as shown in FIG. 6C. The spring material 25 is compressed by this movement of Δd. That is, the sheet holding means 21 grips the sheet 2 at the work station S, and one position upstream from the gripping position is gripped by the first gripper 22, so that the second gripper 23 in the open state is shown in FIG. Even if the first gripper 22 is moved to the left by the distance Δd, the first gripper 22 is still and only the spring material 25 is compressed, and the distance between the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 is reduced by the distance Δd.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7A, the upper grip 23b of the second gripper 23 is lowered and the sheet 2 is gripped by the lower grip 23a. Immediately thereafter, the press is opened as shown in FIG. That is, the upper holding means 21b of the sheet holding means 21 is raised, and the upper mold 31b is raised. Then, the spring material 25 in the compressed state is released from the compression and extends, and the first gripper 22 is separated from the second gripper 23 in a state fixed at a fixed position by the feed screw 28 (sheet conveying direction). The sheet 2 between the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 is stretched by the extension force of the spring material 25, and the sheet 2 is free from slack and wrinkles. The distance between the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 is maintained by the entire length of the stretched sheet 2.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7C, the feed screw 28 is rotated forward by a predetermined number of rotations by the servo motor 27, and the second gripper 23 is moved at a constant pitch P in the sheet conveying direction X. The state of moving and stopping at this constant pitch P is the state of FIG. 5A, and the next work portion 16 of the sheet 2 in the stretched state is intermittently fed to the work station S, The press punching operation described with reference to FIG.

  Since the sheet holding means 21 and the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 hold the both ends 17 in the width direction of the sheet 2, operations such as press punching of the work part 16 are performed by the sheet holding means 21 and the grippers 22 and 23. It can be done without being disturbed. In addition, since the work portion 16 of the seat 2 is protected without applying external force, the quality of the product using the work portion 16 is stabilized, and the production yield of the product is improved.

  Further, the tension degree of the sheet 2 held by the pair of front and rear grippers 22 and 23 and stretched by the extension force of the spring material 25 is performed at the stage of the spring constant of the spring material 25 and FIG. It can be adjusted by adjusting both the return distance Δd or one of them. In this case, fine adjustment with higher accuracy can be easily performed by adjusting both the spring constant and the distance Δd.

  The sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the second gripper 23 is reciprocally driven in a direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction X by a single drive source 26. The first gripper 22 may be reciprocated in a direction parallel to the sheet conveying direction X by a single drive source 26. In this case, although the sheet attachment / detachment order of the grippers 22 and 23 is changed, the sheet 2 is stretched and conveyed at a constant pitch intermittently in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

It is a principal part front view of the sheet conveying apparatus which shows embodiment of this invention. 1 is a plan view of the main part of the apparatus. 1 is a partial side view of the device. FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of a sheet conveyed by the apparatus. (A)-(C) are principal part front views at the time of 3 continuous operation | movement for demonstrating the outline | summary of operation | movement of the FIG. 1 apparatus. (A)-(C) are principal part front views at the time of 3 continuous operation | movement following FIG.5 (C) for demonstrating the outline | summary of operation | movement of the FIG. 1 apparatus. (A)-(C) are principal part front views at the time of 3 continuous operation | movement following FIG.6 (C) for demonstrating the outline | summary of operation | movement of the FIG. 1 apparatus. (A)-(C) are principal part front views at the time of each operation | movement for demonstrating the outline | summary of operation | movement of a general sheet conveying apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sheet roll 2 Sheet 15 Punching hole 16 Work part 17 Both ends of width direction 20 Sheet conveying apparatus 21 Sheet holding means 21a Lower holding means 21b Upper holding means 22 Upstream gripper, first gripper 22a Lower grip 22b Upper grip 23 Downstream Side gripper, second gripper 23a Lower grip 23b Upper grip 24 Connecting member 25 Spring material 26 Drive source 27 Servo motor 28 Feed screw 31 Mold 31a Lower mold 31b Upper mold P Constant pitch S Work station T Work machine X Sheet conveyance direction Δd distance

Claims (3)

A conveying device that intermittently conveys a sheet to a work station at a constant pitch,
Sheet holding means for detachably holding the sheet at the work station;
The upstream and downstream sides of the work station in the sheet conveyance direction are arranged so as to be able to reciprocate in the front-rear direction parallel to the sheet conveyance direction, and the sheets can be freely attached and detached at the upstream and downstream positions. A pair of grippers to hold;
A coupling member that couples the pair of grippers via a spring material, and that allows the gap between both grippers to be varied within the expansion and contraction range of the spring material;
Coupled to said one of the pair of grippers, comprising a drive source for reciprocating one of the gripper said the sheet conveying direction and parallel to the longitudinal direction,
With the upstream or downstream side of the sheet held by the sheet holding means held by the other of the pair of grippers, the one gripper is moved in the direction of compressing the spring material by the driving source. holds, then, the sheet holding means in a state where the sheet was stretched in the extension force of the spring member between the two grippers are opened from the sheet, the sheet conveying direction said with the seat both gripper in the driving source sheet conveying apparatus characterized by intermittent transportation at a constant pitch.   The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet holding unit and each of the pair of front and rear grippers detachably hold both end portions in the width direction of the sheet from the front and back surfaces of the sheet.   The work station is movably provided with the sheet holding means for detachably holding the front and back surfaces of the frame-like portion including both end portions in the width direction of the sheet, and is surrounded by the frame-like portion held by the sheet holding means. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a work machine that performs a specific operation on the sheet.

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