JP5296180B2 - Work transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inexpensively provide a workpiece carrier that has a high flexibility of layout of a carrying line, and can carry a workpiece at high speed. <P>SOLUTION: Each workpiece carrying rotor 10 includes a rotary shaft 11 and a plurality of arms 10a which are arranged around the rotary shaft 11 at predetermined angle intervals and support a workpiece mount pallet 14. Each arm 10a has a cut groove 12 as a workpiece holding part capable of taking the workpiece mount pallet 14 in and out. The rotary shaft 11 is index-rotated with the use of a first drive means. A shift member capable of reciprocating along the carrying line is arranged between a plurality of workpiece carrying rotors 10, and engaged with and disengaged from the workpiece mount pallet 14 with the use of a second driving means to move the workpiece mount pallet 14 from a cut groove 12 of an arm 10a of a workpiece carrying rotor 10 as a prestage to a cut groove 12 of an arm 10a of a workpiece carrying rotor 10 as a poststage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2013,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a work transfer device.

  For example, a conveyor line is configured using a belt conveyor, a transfer machine or the like, and a plurality of processing machines arranged along the conveyor line are transported one after another from the upstream side to the downstream side of the conveyor line. A workpiece transfer device that sequentially processes each workpiece is widely used in various industrial fields.

  In such a workpiece conveyance device, the belt conveyor is often used for conveying a relatively heavy workpiece because the conveyance speed is low. On the other hand, the transfer machine has a high transfer speed and is often used to transfer a relatively light workpiece.

  A conveyance line using a belt conveyor has a low degree of freedom in layout of the conveyance line, and generally requires a vast and long space. The transfer line using the transfer machine has a higher degree of freedom in layout than the belt conveyor, but the work attaching / detaching mechanism and moving mechanism are complicated, and the cost tends to be higher than that of the belt conveyor.

  Conventionally, for example, an apparatus described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-225773) is known as a workpiece transfer apparatus using a transfer machine. In this apparatus, a plurality of transfer units having a chuck portion are arranged between processing machines arranged in a transfer line, and the plurality of transfer units are connected to each other by a connecting bar, and the former stage processing machine and the latter stage processing are performed. By reciprocating with the machine all at once, the workpiece is fed forward between the processing machines.

JP 09-225773 A

  In the workpiece transfer device using the transfer machine of Patent Document 1, the transfer unit returns to the position of the former stage machine while the workpiece conveyed from the former stage machine to the latter stage machine is being processed by the latter stage machine. . During this backward movement, the chuck unit of the transport unit is in an “empty” state where the workpiece is not supported.

  In other words, the workpiece transfer device of Patent Document 1 cannot transfer the workpiece by the transfer unit while the workpiece is being processed by the processing machine. For this reason, it is difficult to increase the workpiece conveyance speed, and there is a problem that the tact time becomes long.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a work transfer device that has a high degree of freedom in the layout of a transfer line and can transfer a work at high speed at a low cost.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors arranged along a workpiece transfer line for transferring workpieces between a plurality of processing machines, each workpiece transfer rotor including a rotation shaft and 4 or 8 arms for supporting the workpiece or workpiece mounting pallet arranged at a predetermined angular interval around the rotation axis, and the workpiece arranged from the longitudinal tip portion to the proximal end portion of the arm. Alternatively, the workpiece holding pallet capable of taking in and out the workpiece mounting pallet along the longitudinal direction of the arm, and a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors, and the tip of the arm of the workpiece transfer rotor are adjacent to another workpiece transfer rotor. The index rotation is performed by synchronizing the rotation axes of the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors so as to move to the index positions opposite to the tip portions of the arms. A drive member, a shift member disposed between the plurality of work transfer rotors so as to be able to be engaged and disengaged with the work or the work mounting pallet and reciprocating along the transfer line, and the rotating shaft is the drive means. Each time the tip of the arm is rotated by the index and stops at the index position, the workpiece held on the arm or the workpiece loading pallet is moved from the workpiece holding portion of the arm to the workpiece of the arm of another workpiece transfer rotor. And a second drive unit that drives the shift member to move to the holding unit.

  In the present invention, a plurality of work transfer rotors having a plurality of arms capable of taking in and out the work along the longitudinal direction are arranged along the transfer line, and these work transfer rotors are index-rotated by the first drive means. Since it is a workpiece transfer device, the workpiece is transferred by driving the shift member between the workpiece transfer rotors by the second driving means while processing the workpiece held by the arm facing the side of the transfer line. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the tact time by increasing the workpiece conveyance speed.

  In addition to linearly arranging the work conveying rotor, it can be arranged in the corner portion, branched into two or three rows, or merged from two or three rows into one row, A space-saving conveyance line can be easily constructed using such a degree of freedom of layout.

  Moreover, since the workpiece transfer rotor has a simple configuration in which a plurality of arms are arranged around the rotation shaft, a high-speed workpiece transfer device can be realized at low cost.

It is a top view of the workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of the workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the arm of the workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view when a workpiece | work is sent in to the arm of the workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view at the time of moving a workpiece | work from the arm of the front | former stage workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention to the arm of a back | latter stage workpiece conveyance rotor. It is a top view when moving a workpiece | work from the arm of the front | former stage workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention to the arm of a back | latter stage workpiece conveyance rotor. It is a top view of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on deformation | transformation embodiment of this invention. It is a side view when a workpiece | work is sent in to the arm of the workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on deformation | transformation embodiment of this invention. It is a side view at the time of moving a workpiece | work from the arm of the front | former stage workpiece conveyance rotor of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on deformation | transformation embodiment of this invention to the arm of a back | latter stage workpiece conveyance rotor. (A) (B) is a top view which shows the procedure which moves a workpiece | work from a front | former stage work conveyance rotor to a back | latter stage work conveyance rotor. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the conveyance process of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the workpiece conveyance rotor which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a schematic plan view of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on the modified example of this invention. It is a schematic plan view of the workpiece conveyance apparatus which concerns on another modified example of this invention. It is a top view of the workpiece conveyance rotor which concerns on another embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12, and finally a workpiece transfer according to a modified embodiment of the present invention. The rotor will be described with reference to FIG.

(Basic configuration of workpiece transfer rotor)
1A and 1B are a plan view and a side view of a single workpiece transport rotor 10 used in the workpiece transport apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1A, reference numeral 24 denotes a processing machine, and the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is disposed in front of the processing machine 24.

  The workpiece transfer apparatus according to the present invention arranges a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 along a workpiece transfer line, and alternately drives a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 and shift members disposed between the transfer rotors simultaneously. Transport. Further, the workpiece moved to the side of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is subjected to necessary processing by a processing machine arranged on the side while the workpiece is transferred between the workpiece transfer rotors 10 by the shift member. I am doing so.

  The workpiece transfer rotor 10 has four arms 10a arranged at intervals of 90 degrees around the rotation shaft 11 (an eight-arm modified embodiment of FIG. 13 will be described later). Each arm 10 a is configured by a plate-like member orthogonal to the axis of the rotating shaft 11, and extends linearly with the same length toward the outer side in the radial direction of the rotating shaft 11.

  A notch groove 12 is formed from the distal end in the longitudinal direction of the arm 10a to the proximal end. This notch groove 12 constitutes a work holding portion for accommodating a rectangular work mounting pallet, and the length thereof is substantially equal to the length L of the work mounting pallet 14. The workpiece mounting pallet 14 can be taken in and out of the longitudinal direction of the arm 10a from the front end side opening of the notch groove 12. The length of the notch groove 12 may be longer than that of the workpiece mounting pallet 14. Therefore, when the width or the like of the processing machine 24 is large, the length of the notch groove 12 may be increased according to the size.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of convex ribs 12 a projecting in the horizontal direction are formed on the left and right inner surfaces of the notch groove 12. The rib 12a is formed in a straight line continuously from the front end opening side to the base end of the notch groove 12. On the other hand, groove portions 14a having a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the convex ribs 12a are formed on the left and right side surfaces of the workpiece mounting pallet 14. When the work mounting pallet 14 is inserted from the opening on the front end side of the notch groove 12, the rib 12a of the notch groove 12 is slid and inserted into the groove portion 14a of the work mounting pallet 14.

  The workpiece mounting pallet 14 is formed with a notch 14c having a stepped portion 14b along the longitudinal direction thereof. The cutout hole 14c has a substantially rectangular shape in plan view, and a substantially rectangular electrical component 16 as a workpiece is fitted into the cutout hole 14c from above and accommodated therein. The peripheral edge portion of the electrical component 16 is supported by a step portion 14b formed on the inner surface of the notch hole 14c. The electrical component 16 is merely an example of a workpiece, and it is needless to say that other workpieces other than the electrical component 16 can be transported in the same manner.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4B, a hole 14 d is formed on the lower surface of the work mounting pallet 14. The hole portion 14d is for receiving a claw portion 18a of the shift member 18 that moves the workpiece mounting pallet 14 in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the shift member 18 is configured to perform a so-called box motion of ascending → forward → descending → retreating by a driving mechanism as second driving means (not shown) below the arm 10 a. Has been.

  When the shift member 18 rises vertically by the box movement, the claw portion 18a disposed at the upper portion engages with the hole portion 14d on the lower surface of the work mounting pallet 14, and in this state, the shift member 18 moves horizontally (forward). ), The workpiece mounting pallet 14 moves in the direction of the arrow together with the shift member 18. The shift member 18 moves the workpiece mounting pallet 14 in the horizontal direction, then descends vertically and separates from the workpiece mounting pallet 14, and then horizontally moves (retracts) in the direction opposite to the conveying direction to the original position. Return.

  The rotating shaft 11 is arranged vertically or vertically on the work transfer line WL. As shown in FIG. 1B, the lower end of the rotating shaft 11 is connected to a gear box 20 serving as a first driving means. The gear box 20 is fixed on the foundation 21 and accommodates a plurality of gears therein. A rotary drive rod 22 serving as an input shaft is horizontally connected to the side surface of the gear box 20, and the rotational force of the rotary drive rod 22 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 11 through a plurality of internal gears. ing.

  The rotation drive rod 22 is connected to a drive source such as a motor (not shown), and the drive source is controlled to rotate the rotation shafts 11 of the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 by 90 degrees in synchronization with each other. That is, each time the rotary shaft 11 is rotated by 90 degrees by index, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the tip of the right arm 10a of the left work transfer rotor 10 is in contact with the adjacent right work transfer rotor 10. The drive source is controlled so as to move to the tip position of the left arm 10a and the index positions facing each other.

  Thereby, every time the rotary shaft 11 rotates the index, the two arms 10a of the four arms 10a of each workpiece transfer rotor 10 coincide with the transfer line, and the other two arms 10a become the transfer line. It becomes a right angle to it.

  Next, a modified embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this modified embodiment, a vertically downward convex portion 14e is formed on the lower surface of the workpiece mounting pallet 14 in the longitudinal direction substantially at the center, and the convex portion 14e is pushed forward by the shift member 19 to move the workpiece mounting pallet 14 in the transport direction. It is intended to move.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the shift members 19 are arranged one by one between the work transfer rotors 10 and are reciprocated all at once along a work transfer line by a drive mechanism (not shown) as second drive means. ing. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, when the shift member 19 moves forward, the engaging portion 19a projecting upward is brought into contact with the rear side of the convex portion 14e of the workpiece mounting pallet 14.

  As shown in FIG. 8 (A), the shift member 19 moves the workpiece in advance before the arm 10a of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 holding the workpiece mounting pallet 14 reaches the position parallel to the workpiece transfer line by the movement of the arrow 1. Waiting on line When the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is rotated by 90 degrees in the clockwise direction and the arm 10a reaches a position parallel to the workpiece transfer line from the front of the processing machine 24, the convexity of the workpiece mounting pallet 14 held by the arm 10a is reached. The portion 14e arrives at a position immediately before the shift member 19. By moving the shift member 19 forward as indicated by the arrow 2 from this state, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 held by the arm 10a of the preceding workpiece transfer rotor 10 is pushed out of the arm 10a, and the subsequent workpiece transfer rotor 10 is moved. Is pushed into the arm 10a.

  When the shift member 19 moves the workpiece mounting pallet 14 to the subsequent workpiece transfer rotor 10, the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 on the workpiece transfer line are simultaneously rotated 90 degrees clockwise as indicated by the arrow 3 in FIG. 8B. The workpiece mounting pallet 14 is separated from the shift member 19. During the 90-degree index rotation, the shift member 19 moves back to the original position as shown by the arrow 4 and prepares for the next work-loading pallet 14 conveyance.

  The shift member 19 moves the workpiece mounting pallet 14 to the subsequent workpiece transfer rotor 10 one after another by repeating the above operation. The shift member 19 is moved only in the front-rear direction, and the box motion accompanied by the vertical movement as shown in FIGS.

(Work transfer rotor operation)
The workpiece transfer rotor 10 is configured as described above, and in this embodiment, a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 can be arranged linearly along the workpiece transfer line WL as shown in FIG. 9A. FIG. 9A shows only four workpiece transfer rotors 10 for convenience, but the number of workpiece transfer rotors 10 to be arranged can be appropriately increased or decreased depending on the use of the transfer line WL.

  Although not shown, the shift member 18 is disposed between the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 along the transfer line WL. The plurality of shift members 18 are driven by a common drive source, and the box motions shown in FIG. 4A of the shift members 18 are synchronized with each other.

  It is assumed that the work transfer rotor 10 at the left end in FIG. 9A is on the most upstream side of the transfer line WL. When the workpiece mounting pallet 14 loaded with electrical components as workpieces is transported along the transport line WL, first, the notch groove 12 of the left arm 10a of the workpiece transport rotor 10 at the left end in FIG. As described above, the workpiece loading pallet 14 on which the electrical components are mounted is fed by the workpiece feeding device (not shown) provided with the shift member 18.

  FIG. 9A shows a state in which two workpiece loading pallets 14 are held on each of the four workpiece conveying rotors 10, but this means that the workpiece loading pallets 14 are moved one by one from the left workpiece conveying rotor 10. The state after having sent in and conveyed to the downstream to some extent is shown.

  When the workpiece mounting pallet 14 is inserted into the notch groove 12 of the arm 10a of the workpiece conveying rotor 10, a sensor (not shown) detects the workpiece mounting pallet 14, and a controller (not shown) receives a detection signal from the sensor. The drive source of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is driven by the command. When the drive source of the work transfer rotor 10 is driven in this way, the rotation drive rod 22 rotates, and the rotation shafts 11 of the work transfer rotors 10 rotate all at once by 90 degrees in the same direction (clockwise in FIG. 9A). To do. As a result, the work transfer rotor 10 rotates 90 degrees by index rotation as shown in FIGS. 9A → 9B → FIG. 9C.

  As a result, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 held by the left arm 10a of the workpiece conveying rotor 10 is rotated 90 degrees to arrive directly under the processing machine 24, and the processing machine 24 is mounted on the workpiece mounting pallet 14. Predetermined processing is performed on the electrical component as a workpiece. At this time, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 can be positioned from the upper side or the lower side as necessary in order to increase the processing accuracy.

  When this processing is completed, the controller receives a processing completion signal from the processing machine 24, and the drive source of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is driven again by a command from the controller. As a result, the rotation drive rod 22 rotates again, and the rotation shafts 11 of the respective work transfer rotors 10 rotate by 90 at a time, and the work transfer rotor 10 is moved as shown in FIG. 9C → FIG. 9D → FIG. 9E → FIG. Rotate 90 degrees.

  As described above, when the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is rotated 90 degrees by the index rotation, the controller receives the index rotation completion signal, and the shift member 18 starts the box motion of FIG. 4A according to the command from the controller. By this box motion, as shown in FIGS. 9F to 9D, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 held by the arm 10a on the right side of the upstream work transport rotor 10 on the upstream side is moved toward the downstream work transport rotor 10 adjacent to the downstream side. Move to the left arm 10a.

  By repeating such an operation, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 is similarly held by the two arms 10a of each workpiece transfer rotor 10, and in this state, the simultaneous index rotation of the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 and the plurality of workpiece rotation pallets 10 are performed. By simultaneously repeating the simultaneous box motion of the shift member 18 and the simultaneous processing by the plurality of processing machines 24, the workpiece transfer by the shift member 18 can be performed between the workpiece transfer rotors 10 during the workpiece processing.

(Example)
FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which the workpiece transfer rotors 10 described above are arranged in a rectangular closed loop shape. 26 is a workpiece feeding device, 27 is a workpiece discharging device, and 30 is a controller for controlling the operation of each workpiece conveying rotor 10 and the shift member. Since the work transfer rotor 10 has a high degree of freedom in layout, a large number of work transfer rotors 10 can be arranged in a compact manner. In such a rectangular arrangement, the workpiece is transferred to the workpiece transfer rotor 10 arranged at each corner portion by rotating 270 degrees or 90 degrees.

  FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a plurality of work transfer rotors 10 arranged in parallel (two rows) on the downstream side from the work transfer rotor 10 on the upstream side, The work mounting pallet 14 is branched and conveyed. By arranging a process that takes a long processing time on the downstream side of the branch portion, it is possible to align the tact time of the entire transport line.

  FIG. 12 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, workpiece mounting pallets 14 from a plurality of workpiece transfer rotors 10 arranged in parallel (two rows) on the upstream side merge into one workpiece transfer rotor 10 arranged on the downstream side. It is. By arranging a process that requires less processing time downstream from the junction, it is possible to align the tact time of the entire transport line.

  The workpiece transfer rotor 10 arranged at the branching portion in FIG. 11 and the workpiece transfer rotor 10 arranged at the merging portion in FIG. 12 are connected to other workpiece transfer rotors 10 arranged on a linear workpiece transfer line. The index position for delivery is different.

  In other words, the index rotation every 90 degrees of the work transport rotor 10 is the same, but the work transport rotor 10 arranged at the branching section in FIG. 11 or the junction section in FIG. Then, the shift member is driven in accordance with such a workpiece delivery timing.

(Other variations)
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims.
For example, in the above embodiment, the number of the arms 10a of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 is four, but may be configured by eight as shown in FIG. In this case, the workpiece conveyance rotor 10 is basically index driven at intervals of 45 degrees. Further, the number of arms 10a may be eight or more depending on the size and shape of the workpiece.

  In the above-described embodiment, the workpiece mounting pallet 14 is put in and out of the notch groove 12 of the workpiece conveying rotor 10. However, depending on the type and shape of the workpiece, the workpiece is directly inserted into the notch groove 12 without the workpiece mounting pallet. It is also possible to put it in and out.

  Further, the first driving means may be constituted by, for example, motors individually attached to the respective rotary shafts 11, and the motors may be synchronized by electrical control.

  Further, the second drive means drives each shift member 18 by a box motion mechanism that performs a box motion of ascending → advancing → descending → retreating using an electric cam, for example. May be synchronized by electrical control.

  Further, the second drive means is not limited to the box motion mechanism, and for example, the claw portion 18a of the shift member 18 is changed to a ratchet claw with a spring, and the shift member 18 itself is not a box motion, but before and after the transport line. It may be configured to reciprocate linearly in the direction.

  In addition, the work mounting pallet 14 itself can be made of a magnetic material, or the magnetic material can be attached to the pallet, so that the work mounting pallet 14 can be driven by an electromagnetic linear motor as an alternative to the shift member 18.

  In addition, a mechanical or electromagnetic stopper can be disposed in the notch groove 12 of the arm 10a of the workpiece transfer rotor 10 in order to prevent the workpiece mounting pallet 14 from popping out due to the centrifugal force.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Work conveyance rotor 10a Arm 11 Rotating shaft 12 Notch groove 12a Rib 14 Work mounting pallet 14a Groove part 14b Step part 14c Notch hole 14d Hole part 16 Electrical component 18, 19 Shift member 18a Claw part 20 Gear box 22 Rotation drive rod 24 Processing machine 26 Work feeding device 28 Work discharging device

Claims (4)

A plurality of workpiece transfer rotors arranged along a workpiece transfer line for transferring workpieces between a plurality of processing machines, each workpiece transfer rotor having a rotation axis and a predetermined angular interval around the rotation axis A plurality of arms for supporting the arranged workpiece or workpiece mounting pallet, and the workpiece or the workpiece mounting pallet in the longitudinal direction of the arm, arranged from the longitudinal direction distal end portion to the proximal end portion of the plurality of arms. A plurality of work transfer rotors having a work holding part that can be taken in and out along,
The rotation axes of the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors are synchronized with each other so that the tip of the arm of the workpiece transfer rotor moves to an index position opposite to the tip of the arm of another adjacent workpiece transfer rotor. First driving means for index rotation,
A shift member disposed between the plurality of workpiece transfer rotors so as to be able to engage and disengage from the workpiece or the workpiece mounting pallet and to reciprocate along the transfer line;
Each time the rotating shaft is index-rotated by the driving means and the tip of the arm stops at the index position, the workpiece held on the arm or the workpiece mounting pallet is moved to another adjacent workpiece holding portion of the arm. And a second driving means for driving the shift member to move to the work holding portion of the arm of the work transfer rotor.   During processing of the workpiece by the processing machine, the workpiece held by the workpiece holding portion of the arm at the index position is shifted to the workpiece holding portion of the arm of the adjacent workpiece transfer rotor by the second driving means. 2. The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece is moved by driving the member.   The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of arms of the workpiece transfer rotor is four.   The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of arms of the workpiece transfer rotor is eight.

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