JP5578838B2 - Palletizing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a palletizing apparatus that grips and conveys workpieces and aligns them on a pallet.

  Conventionally, palletizing devices for loading workpieces on pallets for workpiece transportation and handling have been used in production factories, distribution transportation industries, and the like. As such a palletizing device, in order to align and load the workpieces on the pallet so that there is no gap between them, there is a device that moves so as to press the subsequent workpiece toward the workpiece that has been previously palletized. It is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In order to apply such a palletizing device to a device that grips a workpiece with a hand portion having claws and moves the workpiece onto the pallet and then moves the workpiece by pushing the workpiece with the claws of the hand portion, It is necessary to release the front nail. Therefore, the front claw is short and the back claw is long.When aligning the workpiece, loosen the grip with the front claw and move the entire hand part upward or sideward until the front claw escapes. It can be pulled out and pushed with a long rear nail.

Japanese Patent No. 2549139

  However, in the palletizing apparatus that pulls out the entire hand part as described above and releases the front side nail and aligns and loads the workpieces, it takes time to pull out the hand part, and an efficient palletizing operation cannot be performed. There is a problem that cannot be shortened.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a palletizing apparatus capable of palletizing at high speed without requiring an operation of pulling out a hand portion when aligning workpieces with a simple configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 includes a hand portion for gripping a workpiece, an arm portion for moving the hand portion, sequentially conveying the workpiece, aligning and loading the pallet, and the arm portion. A palletizing device comprising a transport unit that travels and moves, and a control unit that controls the operation of each unit, wherein the hand unit includes a plurality of claws that grip a workpiece, and the claws are sandwiched between the workpieces. A retracting mechanism for retracting the claw so that the arm unit and the transport unit move the hand unit gripping the workpiece by the claw to move the workpiece onto the pallet. by moving the hand portion a claw on the front side in the direction aligning the workpiece from retracts in a direction that is not sandwiched between the workpiece by said retraction mechanism, word by claws on the rear side of the direction It is intended to align the work by pressing the click.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the palletizing device according to the first aspect, the retracting mechanism uses the retracted claw as two parts, a root part and a tip part, and the tip part is translated in the direction of the root part. The claws are retracted and stored so as to overlap each other .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the palletizing device according to the first aspect, the retracting mechanism uses the claw to be retracted as two parts, a root part and a tip part, at a boundary position between the root part and the tip part. The rotary shaft has a rotation shaft that rotates the tip portion, and has a configuration in which the tip portion is rotated around the rotation shaft and stored so as to overlap the root portion, and the claw is retracted. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the palletizing device according to the first aspect, the retraction mechanism includes two portions, a root portion and a front end portion, which are flexibly coupled to each other, and the front end portion is the front end portion. It has a configuration in which the length of the claw is shortened by bending it outward with respect to the root portion so that the claw is retracted .

  According to the first aspect of the invention, since the claw on the front side is retracted by the retracting mechanism when aligning the workpieces, the operation of pulling out the hand portion is unnecessary, and the workpieces can be stacked and palletized at high speed. It can be shortened.

  According to the invention of claim 2, the retraction mechanism can be configured with a simple configuration.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the retraction mechanism can be configured with a simple configuration.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the retraction mechanism can be configured with a simple configuration.

1 is a perspective view of a palletizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block block diagram of the apparatus. (A) (b) is a perspective view which shows the retraction | saving operation | movement of the nail | claw of the hand part of the apparatus. The fragmentary perspective view which shows the example of the retracting mechanism of the hand part of the apparatus. (A) (b) (c) is a side view which shows a series of palletizing operation | movement by the apparatus in time series. (A)-(d) is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the alignment operation | movement of the workpiece | work of the apparatus. (A) (b) is a perspective view which shows the other example of the retracting mechanism of the nail | claw of the hand part of the apparatus. (A) (b) is a perspective view which shows the further another example of the retraction | saving mechanism of the nail | claw of the hand part of the apparatus.

  Hereinafter, a palletizing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the palletizing apparatus 1 includes a hand unit 2 that grips a workpiece W, and an arm unit 3 that moves the hand unit 2, sequentially conveys the workpiece W, and aligns and loads the workpiece W on the pallet 7. A transfer unit 4 that travels and moves the arm unit 3; and a control unit 10 that controls the operation of each unit. The hand unit 2 includes a long claw 21 and a retraction claw 22 that hold the workpiece W, and a retraction claw. And a retracting drive unit 2b for retracting 22. The arm portion 3 moves the hand portion 2 holding the workpiece W by the claws 21 and 22 to move the workpiece W onto the pallet 7, and the retracting claw 22 on the front side in the direction in which the hand portion 2 aligns the workpiece W. Is retracted by the retracting drive unit 2b, and the workpiece W is aligned by pushing the workpiece W by the long claws 21 on the rear side in the direction. Details will be described below.

  The palletizing device 1 is a device that sequentially conveys workpieces W from a supply place and loads them on a portable pallet 7 that is previously set at a predetermined position without gaps. This is a cardboard box of a scale, supplied by the conveyor 9, positioned by the stopper 91 and stationary. The palletizing apparatus 1 grips and conveys both ends of the workpiece W positioned on the conveyor 9 in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the palletizing apparatus 1 has a pair of configurations on the left and right sides toward the conveyor 9. The pallet 7 is arranged on the floor surface on the center line of the palletizing apparatus 1 configured as a pair of left and right. Here, for convenience of explanation, an xyz orthogonal coordinate system fixed on the ground is set. The x direction is the horizontal direction toward the conveyor 9 when viewed from the hand unit 2, the y direction is the horizontal direction toward the pallet 7 when viewed from the hand unit 2, and the z direction is vertically upward. Then, the left hand unit 2 is a left-handed xyz coordinate system, and the right hand unit 2 is a right-handed xyz coordinate system. Similarly, the left and right XYZ coordinate systems are set for the hand unit 2 as well. Further, the pair of left and right hand portions 2 are in a right-and-left different relationship.

  The hand portion 2 includes a flat hand base portion 20 corresponding to a human palm, plate-like long claws 21 erected from the hand base portion 20, retraction claws 22, and a rotating portion 23. Yes. Two long claws 21 and two retracting claws 22 are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other and sandwich opposite corners of a rectangular parallelepiped. That is, the hand unit 2 has four claws for gripping the workpiece W, and two long claws 21 and two retracting claws 22 are attached to adjacent positions. The two long claws 21 are both fixed to the hand base portion 20. At least one of the long claws 21 is provided with a stress sensor 1 a for measuring an external force acting on the long claws 21. The stress sensor 1a can be configured using a strain gauge or the like. A commercially available 6-axis force sensor or load cell can be used as the stress sensor 1a. By pressing the workpiece W with the long claw 21 equipped with the stress sensor 1a, the load generated by contacting with the other workpieces previously loaded is detected, and the gap between the workpieces depends on the degree of the load. It is possible to determine the stacking position by determining whether or not it has been lost.

  The two retracting claws 22 are both movable claws, and can be moved in parallel to the hand base portion 20 by an opening / closing drive portion 2a made of, for example, an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder. By moving the retraction claw 22 by the opening / closing drive unit 2a, the hand unit 2 can be opened / closed by changing the distance between the long claw 21 and the retraction claw 22, and the workpiece W can be gripped or released. The moving distance, that is, the stroke of the retraction claw 22, is a stroke that can cover the minimum to maximum dimension of the workpiece to be gripped, and can handle workpieces W having different dimensions depending on the type. In the present embodiment, among the four claws, the long claw 21 is fixed and the retracting claw 22 is variable, but all four claws can be movable. The retracting claw 22 and the retracting drive unit 2b will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  The arm unit 3 includes an arm base unit 30, a vertical drive unit 3a, and a contact / separation drive unit 3b. The arm base unit 30 includes a column member 31 provided vertically from near the floor, a horizontal member 32 protruding like a cantilever from the column member 31, and a vertical member 33 suspended from the horizontal member 32. Consists of. The horizontal member 32 is moved up and down along the column member 31 by the vertical drive unit 3a. The vertical member 33 is horizontally moved along the horizontal member 32 by the contact / separation driving unit 3b. A rotating part 23 is attached to the vertical member 33, and the rotating part 23 moves the hand base part 20 of the hand part 2 relative to the vertical member 33 in the y-axis (Y-axis) as indicated by arrows R and R1. ) Holds around freely. Further, the rotating unit 23 can hold the hand unit 2 at a predetermined rotation angle by a rotation driving unit (not shown).

  The transport unit 4 includes a transport base unit 40 that moves on the two rails 41 disposed on the floor surface by the transport drive unit 4a. The conveyance base unit 40 holds the above-described support member 31, and thus the arm unit 3, the rotating unit 23, and the hand unit 2 in its entirety. When the transport unit 4 moves along the rail 41, the hand unit 2 moves along the rail 41. With these configurations, the hand unit 2 can move or rotate about four axes. These axes are the axis for rotating the hand part 2 to rotate the work W by the rotating part 23, the axis for moving the work W up and down by the arm part 3, and the left and right sides so as to correspond to the length dimension of the work W. The shaft includes four axes that change the interval between the hand portions 2 and the shaft that moves the workpiece W by the transport portion 4 between the conveyor 9 and the pallet 7.

  The pallet 7 includes a pallet body 70 provided with a work overturn prevention member 71 so that the long works W can be stacked in multiple stages. The length of the pallet main body 70 is adjusted to the length of the workpiece W, and the width of the pallet main body 70 is adjusted to a dimension capable of efficiently aligning the plurality of workpieces W without generating an empty space. The work overturn prevention member 71 prevents the work W loaded on the pallet body 70 from overturning, and is composed of a folding pole or the like. The work overturn prevention member 71 can be provided as necessary.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b), the retracting claw 22 has two parts, a root part 22a and a tip part 22b, which are flexibly coupled to each other by a hinge. It can be bent outward by being driven by a retracting drive unit 2b (not shown). The retraction claw 22 has its claw length changed to be shorter by bending its tip 22b. As a result, when the hand unit 2 that grips the workpiece presses the workpiece gripped for aligning the workpieces against another workpiece, the tip 22b of the retracting claw 22 is retracted and the nail is sandwiched between the workpieces. Can be avoided.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the retracting drive unit 2b includes a motor 22c, a pulley 22d that is directly connected to the motor 22c, a wire 22e that has one end wound around the pulley 22d and the other end fastened to the tip 22b, An urging means (not shown) by a spring for returning the portion 22b from the bent state to the original state, and a lock mechanism for fixing the tip portion 22b to the root portion 22a so that the workpiece can be gripped by the tip portion 22b ( (Not shown). In order to retract the distal end portion 22b, the distal end portion 22b is bent by releasing the lock mechanism and rotating the motor 22c to wind the wire 22e around the pulley 22d. In order to return the tip portion 22b to a state in which the workpiece can be gripped, the wire 22e is unwound and the tip portion 22b is unbent by a spring, and the tip portion 22b is fixed to the root portion 22a by a lock mechanism. The retraction claw 22 is opened and closed by the opening / closing drive unit 2a (FIG. 2) in which the root portion 22a and the tip portion 22b are integrated, and releases or holds the workpiece. The gripping and releasing of the workpiece is also performed by the bending operation of the distal end portion 22b. However, the retracting driving unit 2b may be configured to weaken the gripping force of the workpiece by the opening / closing driving unit 2a before the bending operation. Desirable for mechanical protection.

  Next, the operation of the palletizing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5A, the hand unit 2 grips the workpiece W positioned by the stopper 91 in a state rotated by a predetermined angle by the rotating unit 23 (FIG. 1) in accordance with the known inclination angle of the conveyor 9. Then, during or after lifting, the posture of the workpiece W is leveled. Thereafter, the hand unit 2 moves horizontally to a predetermined position of the pallet 7, and rotates so that the vertical direction of the workpiece W becomes a predetermined direction during or after the movement. The hand unit 2 holds the workpiece W on the conveyor 9 in a state where the hand unit 2 is rotated in advance so that the long claws 21 and the retracting claws 22 are horizontally aligned in this state. The hand part 2 is then lowered toward the pallet main body 70, and in the meantime or at the lowered position, the tip part 22b of the retraction claw 22 is bent and the claw is shortened and retreated. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5B, the hand unit 2 moves horizontally and presses and aligns the workpiece W against the workpiece W0 previously loaded, and as shown in FIG. 5C, the hand unit 2 By pulling out the two long claws 21, the workpiece W moves downward under its own weight and is placed on the pallet 7.

  FIG. 6 shows an operation similar to the operation shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6 (a), the hand unit 2 conveys the workpiece W to the position of the height Δz on the pallet 7 and the distance Δx from the workpiece W0, and then, as shown in FIG. The distal end portion 22b of the retracting claw 22 on the W0 side is bent and retracted, the workpiece W is moved in the workpiece W0 direction (arrow x1 direction), and the workpiece W is pressed against the workpiece W0 as shown in FIG. State. Next, as shown in FIG. 6D, the hand unit 2 bends the tip 22b of the upper retraction claw 22 to release the grip of the workpiece W0 by the hand unit 2, and the long claw 21 is moved to the hand unit. 2, the workpiece W is aligned and placed on the pallet 7.

  Next, another example of a retracting mechanism for retracting the retracting claw 22 will be described with reference to FIGS. The retracting claw 22 of the hand portion 2 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B has a mechanism in which the tip end portion 22b moves back and forth along the direction of the claw. It is stored so as to be parallel to the direction and overlap the root portion 22a. Further, the retracting claw 22 of the hand portion 2 shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B has a rotation axis in a direction perpendicular to the claw at a boundary position between the tip portion 22b and the root portion 22a. A mechanism that rotates around is provided, and when retracted, the distal end portion 22b rotates around the rotation axis and is stored so as to overlap the root portion 22a. The retraction operation by these parallel movement and rotation movement is performed by the driving force of the retraction driving unit 2b shown in FIG. Each of the hand portions 2 shown here has two retraction claws 22 and only one of them is configured to retreat the tip portion 22b. However, the two retraction claws 22 may be provided with a retraction mechanism.

  According to the present invention, since the claw on the front side is retracted by the retracting mechanism (retracting drive unit) when aligning the workpieces, the operation of pulling out the hand unit 2 is unnecessary, and the workpieces can be aligned and stacked at high speed and palletized. Cycle time can be shortened. The present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications can be made, and the above-described configurations can be combined with each other. Further, the number of long claws 21 may be one instead of two, and the number of retracting claws 22 may be one or three instead of two. Moreover, although embodiment which comprised the retracting nail | claw 22 with the root part 22a and the front-end | tip part 22b was shown, the structure without the root part 22a may be sufficient. Further, as the retracting mechanism and the retracting drive unit, arbitrary ones such as those using a link mechanism or a lever mechanism other than those described above can be used. Further, although the embodiment has been shown in which the hand part 2 is a pair of left and right, and grips both ends of the work, the hand part 2 may be only one side, or the work part 2 may be gripped from above rather than from the side.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Palletizing apparatus 2 Hand part 21, 22 Claw 2b Retraction drive part (retraction mechanism)
3 Arm part 7 Pallet W, W0 Work

Claims (4)

Controls the operation of each part, a hand part that grips the work, an arm part that moves the hand part, conveys the work sequentially, aligns and loads on the pallet, a transport part that travels and moves the arm part A palletizing device comprising a control unit,
The hand portion includes a plurality of claws for gripping a workpiece, and a retraction mechanism for retracting the claws so that the claws are not sandwiched between the workpieces ,
The arm part and the transport part move a hand part gripping the work by the claw to move the work on the pallet, and the claw on the front side in the direction in which the hand part aligns the work is moved to the retraction mechanism. The palletizing device is characterized in that the workpiece is aligned by pushing the workpiece with a claw on the rear side in the direction by moving the hand portion after retracting in a direction not sandwiched between workpieces . The retracting mechanism has a configuration in which the retracting claw is composed of two parts, a root part and a tip part, and the tip part is parallelly moved in the direction of the root part so as to be overlapped and retracted. The palletizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the palletizing apparatus is a palletizing apparatus. The retracting mechanism has a claw to be retracted as two parts, a root part and a tip part, and has a rotation shaft that rotates and moves the tip part at a boundary position between the root part and the tip part. 2. The palletizing device according to claim 1, wherein the palletizing device has a configuration in which the claw is retracted by being rotationally moved around the rotation axis so as to be overlapped with the root portion . The retracting mechanism is configured so that the pawl to be retracted has two parts, a root part and a tip part, which are flexibly coupled to each other, and the tip part is bent outwardly with respect to the root part. The palletizing device according to claim 1, wherein the palletizing device has a configuration in which the claw is retracted by shortening the length of the claw .

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