JP6250581B2 - Conveying apparatus and conveying method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a reversing device for a workpiece such as a panel, and more particularly to a reversing device used in a transporting device such as a conveyor and a transporting method thereof.

  As a method for inverting the panel on the conveyor, for example, there is a method in which the panel is inverted while being lifted from the conveyor, and then lowered and placed on the conveyor again. In this case, not only the work reversing device but also a reversing space secured above the conveyor is required, and a device for raising and lowering the work is required separately.

  In addition to the above-described method, for example, the panel on the conveyor is sandwiched from above and below by the conveyor and the conveyor disposed above, and the pair of conveyors sandwiching the panel is rolled (around the axis in the transport direction). There is a panel inversion device that inverts the panel by rotating the image (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

JP-A-5-105225 JP-A-10-120131

By the way, in the panel inversion apparatus of patent document 1, 2 mentioned above, since a panel is inverted in the position which pinched | interposed the panel, the raising / lowering apparatus which raises / lowers a panel with respect to inversion space is unnecessary.
However, the conventional panel reversing device has a size that can pass through at least a circular portion in which the inlets (the insertion port 4 shown in FIG. 1 of Reference 1 and the inlet opening 9 ₁ shown in FIG. 1 of Reference 2) are arranged. It is a device that can only be reversed, and is not suitable for reversing thick objects.
Further, this conventional panel inverting device has a structure in which the lower surface height position after the inverting object is inverted is determined according to the thickness of the inverting object. For this reason, when the object after reversal is transported, in addition to the operation of releasing the sandwiched state, the height of the bottom surface of the reversed reversal object after reversal is raised and lowered to match the height position of the transport surface The operation and its control are complicated, such as necessity.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is excellent in versatility such as being easy to cope with the difference in size of the object to be inverted, and the height position of the lower surface of the object to be inverted changes. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reversing device that can easily cope with the change even in the case.

  The invention according to the present application is a workpiece reversing device that reverses a plate-shaped or sheet-shaped workpiece conveyed in a predetermined conveying direction at a predetermined position, a holding unit that holds the loaded workpiece, and the holding A support part that supports the part in a reversible manner, and a rotation device that reverses the holding part around a rotation axis that is parallel to the transport direction, and the holding part has a thickness of the work to be loaded. A pair of holding units sandwiched from the direction and a clamping mechanism that causes the pair of holding units to perform a clamping operation, and each holding unit can move the loaded workpiece in the extending direction of the workpiece. The pair of holding units are movable to a first operation position for receiving a workpiece to be loaded and a second operation position for unloading the inverted workpiece by reversing the holding section. The clamping mechanism is a moving means for moving the loaded workpiece by moving at least one holding unit close to and away from the other holding unit, and the rotating device is the pair of holding units. The unit is disposed on the support part side, and the support part is the pair of holding units when located at the first operation position and the pair of holding units when located at the second operation position. Is a workpiece reversing device characterized in that the workpiece reversing device is disposed at a position sandwiched therebetween.

Each of the holding units is composed of a conveyor, and when the pair of holding units are located at the first operation position or the second operation position, the conveying direction of the conveyor is the rotation axis. It is possible to carry the workpiece in and out by moving the workpiece in the extending direction of the workpiece surface by operating the conveyor.
Also, loading means for moving the workpiece in the conveying direction to carry it into the pair of holding units at the first operation position, and conveying the workpiece unloaded from the pair of holding units at the second operation position to the downstream side in the conveying direction. And unloading means.
Further, the clamping mechanism moves only one of the pair of holding units toward and away from the other, and the holding unit is one of the conveyors constituting each holding unit. Only one of the transfer mechanisms is driven to load and unload the workpiece.
Also, only one of the holding units can be moved close to and away from the holding unit and driven when the workpiece is loaded and unloaded.
Further, one holding unit that can move close to and away from and is driven when a workpiece is loaded and unloaded is positioned below the other holding unit when the pair of holding units are located at the second operation position. doing.

  Another invention according to the present application is a workpiece reversing method for reversing the front and back of a plate-shaped or sheet-shaped workpiece conveyed in a predetermined conveyance direction and raising and lowering the workpiece, and a pair of holding units that hold a workpiece to be reversed A step of positioning the workpiece at the first height position at a first operation position where the workpiece can be carried in, and at least one holding unit of the pair of holding units located at the first operation position after the workpiece is loaded into the other holding unit At least one of the holding step for holding the workpiece by moving it close to the workpiece, the reversing step for turning the pair of holding units around the axis parallel to the conveying direction, and turning the held workpiece upside down. A releasing step of releasing the holding of the workpiece by moving the holding unit away from the other holding unit, and one of the holding step and the releasing step. One of them is an elevating process for elevating and lowering the work, and the elevating process and the reversing process elevate the work from the first height to a second height at which the work can be carried out. This is the work reversal method.

  And the work carrying-in process which carries in the workpiece | work located in said 1st height to said pair of holding | maintenance unit of said 1st operation position, The workpiece reversing process which reverses and raises the carried-in work, and said 2nd operation | movement A workpiece unloading step of conveying the workpiece at the second height position unloaded from the pair of holding units at the position to the downstream side in the conveying direction.

  According to the reversing device which is the invention according to the present application, it is possible to easily cope with the difference in size of the reversal object, and the versatility is excellent.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a reversing device of the present invention, FIG. 1A shows a state in which a holding portion is in a first operating position, and FIG. 1B shows a state in which the holding portion is in a second operating position. Show. FIG. 2A is an enlarged front view showing the holding portion in the first operation position, FIG. 2A shows a state in which the second holding unit is raised to the separation position, and FIG. It shows a state where the workpiece is clamped by being lowered to the proximity position. FIG. 3A is an enlarged front view showing the holding portion in the second operating position, FIG. 3A shows a state where the second holding unit is raised to the separated position, and FIG. It shows a state where the workpiece is clamped by being lowered to the proximity position. It is an expansion perspective view which shows the clamping unit of the inversion apparatus of this invention. FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams for explaining the configuration and operation of the transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 5A shows a state when a workpiece is supplied to the reversing device, and FIG. 5B shows the reversing device. This shows the state when the workpiece is unloaded from the machine.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inversion apparatus, 1a ... Apparatus main body, 101 ... Frame, 102 ... Wall body, 5 ... Conveyance apparatus,
10 ... Holding part 10, 11 ... Support part 12 ... Support member, 13 ... Pivot structure, 13a ... Rotating shaft,
15 ... rotating part (rotating device), 16 ... motor (drive source), 17 ... reverse power transmission part,
20 ... 1st holding unit (one holding unit), 21 ... 1st conveyor,
21s ... Work placement surface (work transfer surface), 22 ... Drive means, 22a ... Motor, 22b ... Power transmission unit,
30 ... second holding unit (the other holding unit), 31 ... second conveyor,
31s ... Work placement surface (work transfer surface), 32 ... Drive means, 32a ... Motor, 32b ... Power transmission unit,
40 ... clamping unit, 41 ... guide mechanism, 42 ... guide plate, 42a ... guide groove,
43 ... Guide pin, 44 ... Spring (elastic member), 45 ... Power transmission part, 46 ... Cam receiving member,
46a ... cam groove, 47 ... shaft, 47a ... shaft body, 47b ... arm part, 47c ... cam follower,
48 ... motor,
5 ... conveying device, 51 ... first conveying unit, 52 ... first conveying conveyor, 52s ... conveying surface,
H1... Height position (first height position) of the transport surface of the first transport conveyor,
53 ... second transport unit, 54 ... second transport conveyor, 54s ... transport surface,
H2 ... the height position (second height position) of the transport surface of the second transport conveyor,
D: Transport direction, W: Workpiece, Z: Proximity and separation direction.

Next, an embodiment of a reversing device which is an invention according to the present application and an embodiment of a conveying device which is another invention according to the present application will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), the reversing device 1 is a device that reverses the front and back of the workpiece W that is a conveyance target and is a reversal target.
The conveyance device 5 (see FIGS. 5A and 5B) includes a first conveyance unit 51 that conveys the workpiece W before being reversed toward the reversing device 1, and a reversing device 1 that reverses the workpiece W. And a second transport unit 53 that transports the workpiece W after reversing carried out from the reversing device 1.
The workpiece W is a plate-like or sheet-like member such as a glass or resin substrate. As will be described later, the workpiece W that is transported and reversed in the present embodiment is a rectangular and sheet-like shape. In the present embodiment, the workpiece W is illustrated by a two-dot chain line.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the reversing device 1 is installed in a box-shaped device main body 1 a formed by covering a frame 101 with a wall body 102, and a work W carried into the reversing device 1 is received. The holding part 10 to hold | maintain, the support part 11 which supports the holding part 10 so that reversal is possible, and the rotation part (rotation apparatus) 15 (refer FIG.1 (b)) which reverses the holding part 10 are provided.

  The support unit 11 includes a pair of support members 12 and 12 extending in a horizontal direction from the frame 101 constituting the apparatus main body 1a toward the inside of the apparatus main body. A pivot structure 13 that supports the holding portion 10 in a rotatable state is provided at the distal ends of the support members 12 and 12. More specifically, the support members 12 and 12 and the pivot support structure 13 at the tip of the support portion (the rotation shaft of the holding portion 10) are in a first operating position (see FIG. 1) of a pair of holding units 20 and 30 described later. (see (a)) and the second operation position (see FIG. 1 (b)). Note that the direction of the rotation shaft 13a of the pivot structure 13 that rotatably supports the holding unit 10 is parallel to the conveyance direction D of the workpiece W, as will be described later.

The rotation unit 15 rotates the holding unit 10 rotatably supported by the support unit 11, and is connected to the rotation shaft 13a.
More specifically, the rotation unit 15 is disposed at a position between a first operation position and a second operation position of a pair of holding units 20 and 30 described later (position between both operation positions). In addition, in each of the opposing portions (the holding portion 10 side portion and the supporting portion 11 side portion) of the pair of pivot structures 13 and 13, it is directly connected to at least one opposing portion (the supporting portion 11 side in this embodiment). Provided. Further, the rotating unit 15 is installed at a position adjacent to the support unit 11.
The rotating unit 15 includes a motor 16 that is a drive source and a reverse power transmission unit 17 that transmits the power of the motor 16, but these are well-known configurations and thus the description thereof is omitted. .

  The holding unit 10 is installed in a rotatable state by a pivot structure 13 provided in the support unit 11, and is held between the pair of holding units 20 and 30 that hold the workpiece W and the pair of holding units 20 and 30. A clamping unit 40 (see FIG. 4) that performs the operation is provided. The clamping unit 40 performs a clamping operation by moving a second holding unit 30 (to be described later) closer to and away from the first holding unit 20.

The pair of holding units 20 and 30 includes a first holding unit (one holding unit) 20 fixed to the pivot mechanism 13 of the support portion 11 and a second holding unit (the other holding unit) attached to the first holding unit 20. Holding unit) 30. Each holding unit 20 and 30 includes conveyors 21 and 31 and driving means 22 and 32 for driving the conveyors 21 and 31, respectively. The drive means 22 and 32 include motors 22a and 32a that are drive sources of the conveyors 21 and 31, and power transmission units 22b and 32b that transmit the power of the motors 22a and 32a to the conveyors 21 and 31, respectively.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the first conveyor 21 and the second conveyor 31 are opposed to the workpiece placement surfaces (work conveyance surfaces) 21s and 31s of the conveyors 21 and 31, respectively. It is arranged in a state to do. As will be described later, the first conveyor 21 of the first holding unit 20 and the second conveyor 31 of the second holding unit 30 are used for conveying the work in the reversing device 1 and are carried into the reversing device 1. Used to hold workpiece W. 2, 3, and 5, in order to clearly show the positions of the conveyors 21, 31, the conveyors 21, 31 are indicated by alternate long and short dash lines.

  The second holding unit 30 is installed so as to be able to move close to and away from the first holding unit 20, and a proximity position close to the first holding unit 20 (see the position in FIG. 2B) and the first holding unit. It can be moved to a separation position (see the position in FIG. 2A) separated from the unit 20. When the proximity position is reached, the second conveyor 31 of the second holding unit 30 can contact the first conveyor 21 of the first holding unit 20. As shown in FIG. 2 (b), when the work W is being carried between the two conveyors 21, 31 and the second holding unit 30 is moved to the close position, the work W is moved to the two conveyors. It is held between 20 and 30.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the clamping unit 40 includes a guide mechanism 41 that moves the second holding unit 30 in the approaching / separating direction Z with respect to the first holding unit 20, a motor 48 that is a driving source, And a power transmission unit 45 that transmits power to the second holding unit 30.

The guide mechanism 41 includes a plate-shaped guide plate 42 fixed to the second holding unit 30 and guide pins 43 fixed to the first holding unit 20.
The guide plate 42 is formed with a plurality (three) of guide grooves 42a extending in the approaching / separating movement direction, and the guide pins 43 are slidably engaged with the guide grooves 42a. Since the guide mechanism 41 is provided, the second holding unit 30 can be reliably moved in the approaching / separating direction (the vertical direction Z in FIG. 4A) with respect to the first holding unit 20.
The guide mechanism 41 includes a plurality (three) springs (elastic members) 44 having one end hung on the first holding unit 20 and the other end hung on the second holding unit 30. The spring 44 is hooked between the guide pins 43 and 43 while being biased in the extending direction. That is, the spring 44 applies a force in a direction to move both the holding units 20 and 30 close to the both holding units 20 and 30.

The power transmission unit 45 includes a cam receiving member 46 installed on the guide plate 41 and a power transmission shaft 47 installed on the first holding unit 20.
The cam receiving member 46 is formed with a cam groove 46a extending in the horizontal direction (more specifically, the workpiece conveying direction D). The shaft 47 includes a shaft main body 47a extending toward the cam groove 46a, an arm part 47b attached to the tip of the shaft main body 47a, and a cam follower 47c attached to the arm part 47b.
The shaft body 47a is installed in a state extending in a horizontal direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the cam groove 46a, and can be rotated around the axis of the shaft body 47a by the motor 48.
The arm portion 47b is a member that extends in a direction orthogonal to the shaft main body 47a, and a cam follower 47c protruding in the same direction as the extending direction of the shaft main body 47a is fixed to the distal end portion of the arm portion 47b. The cam follower 47c is slidably engaged with the cam groove 46a of the cam receiving member 46. Therefore, when the shaft 47 is rotated, the cam follower 47c moves close to and away from the transport surface 21s (see FIG. 2) of the first conveyor 21 while rotating around the rotation axis of the shaft 47. At the same time, since the cam follower 47c slides in the cam groove 46a, the approaching / separating movement of the cam follower 47c is transmitted to the cam receiving member 46 via the cam groove 46a, and the guide plate 42 and the second holding unit 30 are approaching / separating. Moving.
As described above, when the shaft 47 of the power transmission unit 45 of the clamping unit 40 is rotated, the second holding unit 30 (second conveyor 31) is moved closer to and away from the first holding unit 20 (first conveyor 21). Can be made.

For example, when the second conveyor 31 is moved close to the first conveyor 21, the workpiece W positioned between the conveyors 21 and 31 is sandwiched between the conveyors 21 and 31. In addition, when the second conveyor 31 is moved away from the first conveyor 21, the workpiece W sandwiched between the two conveyors 21, 31 is released from the sandwiched state.
As described above, in the reversing device 1 of the present embodiment, the holding unit 10 of the reversing device 1 is moved by moving only one holding unit (here, the second holding unit 30) close to and away from the other holding unit. The loaded workpiece W can be clamped or the clamped state can be released.

  Since both the holding units 20 and 30 are biased toward each other by the spring 44 as described above, in the step of separating the second holding unit 30 from the first holding unit 20, the spring 44 is used. A force that opposes the urging force is applied from the power transmission unit 45 to the second holding unit 30 to move the second holding unit 30. On the other hand, in the step of bringing the second holding unit 30 close to the first holding unit 20, the second holding unit 30 is moved using the biasing force of the spring 44. Further, in the reversing device 1 of the present embodiment, the second holding unit 30 is located at the close position, and even when the conveyors 21 and 31 of the both holding units 20 and 30 are in contact, An urging force in the direction toward 30 is applied to 30 from the spring 44. Therefore, the work W carried into the holding portion 10 can be clamped using the biasing force of the spring 44. Since the motor 48 that rotates the shaft 47 has a well-known configuration, a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The holding unit 10 is rotated by the rotation unit 15 between the first operation position (see the positions in FIGS. 1A and 2) and the second operation position (see the positions in FIGS. 1B and 3). Can be moved by.
The first operation position (one operation position) is the position of the holding unit 10 when the workpiece is loaded (work loading position), and the second operation position (the other operation position) is the holding unit 10 when unloading the workpiece. (Work unloading position).
The pair of holding units 20 and 30 are positioned above the support portion 11 when the holding portion 10 is in the first operation position, and the pair of holding units 20 and 30 are support portions when the holding portion 10 is in the second operation position. Located below 11. Thus, the operation of the holding unit 10 that moves from one operation position to the other operation position is a reversal operation.

  When the holding unit 10 is located at the first operation position or the second operation position, the work conveying surfaces (work holding surfaces) 21s and 31s of both conveyors 21 and 31 are both horizontal (see FIGS. 2 and 3). . Accordingly, when the second holding unit 30 is moved close to and away from the first holding position while the holding unit 10 is located at the first operating position or the second operating position, the second holding unit 30 moves up and down with respect to the first holding unit 20. (Moves vertically).

When the holding unit 10 is in the first operating position (see FIG. 2), the height position of the transfer surface 21s of the first conveyor 21 is the height position of the transfer surface 52s of the first transfer unit 51 to be described later (first The second conveyor 31 is positioned above the first conveyor 21 (height position) H1 (see FIG. 5A). In this state, the state in which the second conveyor 31 is raised and separated from the first conveyor 21 is a state in which the workpiece can be carried into the reversing device 1 from the upstream side in the transport direction D. Then, the loaded work W is placed on the first conveyor 21 of the first holding unit 20. When the second conveyor 31 is moved close to the first conveyor 21 in a state where the workpiece W is placed on the first conveyor 21, the workpiece W is moved to the two conveyors 21, 31 (a pair of holding units 20, 30) is held in a state of being sandwiched from the workpiece thickness direction. Thereby, even if thickness differs for every work W, it is possible to pinch work W certainly. The stop position of the second conveyor 31 may be stopped by a program stored in advance in a control unit (not shown) or the like, or a torque sensor or the like is provided, You may make it stop in the height position which confirmed holding | grip of the workpiece | work W.
On the other hand, when the holding unit 10 is in the second operation position (see FIG. 3), the second conveyor 31 is located below the first conveyor 21, and the second conveyor 31 in a separated position away from the first conveyor 21. This height position coincides with a height position (second height position) H2 of a conveyance surface 54s of the second conveyance unit 53 described later (see FIG. 5B). Therefore, when the second conveyor 31 is lowered to the separation position from the state where the workpiece W is sandwiched between the conveyors 21 and 31, the second conveyor 31 is separated from the first conveyor 21, and the sandwiching state of the workpiece W is released. The workpiece W on the second conveyor 31 is positioned at the height position of the transfer surface 54s of the second transfer unit 53. In this state, when the second conveyor 31 is operated, the workpiece W on the second conveyor 31 moves to the downstream side in the transport direction D and is unloaded from the reversing device 1. Thereby, even if the thickness is different for each workpiece W, it is possible to make the height position of the conveyance surface 54s of the second conveyance unit 53 coincide. The stop position of the second conveyor 31 may be stopped by a program stored in advance in a control unit (not shown) or the like, or a proximity sensor or the like is provided, You may make it stop at the same height position of the conveyance surface 54s.

Next, the transport unit of the transport device 5 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, the first transport unit 51 includes a first transport conveyor 52 that supplies workpieces toward the holding portion at the first operation position.
When the positional relationship between the first transport unit 51 and the holding unit 10 of the reversing device 1 is described, the position of the holding unit 10 is the first operating position (see FIGS. 1A and 2) unless otherwise specified. Position reference).
The first conveyor 52 is disposed upstream of the first conveyor 21 in the conveyance direction. The end of the first transport conveyor 52 on the downstream side in the transport direction (hereinafter referred to as the downstream end) is disposed at a position adjacent to the first conveyor 21. The height position of the transport surface 52s of the first transport conveyor 52 at the downstream end is the same as the height position 21s (first height position) of the transport surface of the first conveyor 21, and the downstream end. The transport direction D of the first transport conveyor 52 is horizontal. Further, the transport line of the first transport conveyor 52 coincides with the transport line of the first conveyor 21. In addition, a conveyance line here is a line of the conveyance direction which passes through the center position of the width direction of conveyance surface 21s, 52s of each conveyor 21,52. If the 1st conveyance unit 51 of such arrangement | positioning is used, the workpiece | work W can be smoothly carried in from the 1st conveyance unit 51 on the 1st conveyor 21 of the inversion apparatus 1. FIG.
In addition, since the motor and drive mechanism which drive the 1st conveyance conveyor 52 are known structures, those description is abbreviate | omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 5, the second transport unit 53 includes a second transport conveyor 54 that transports the workpiece W transported from the holding unit 10 located at the second operation position. When the positional relationship between the second transport unit 53 and the holding unit 10 of the reversing device 1 is described, the position of the holding unit 10 is the second operating position (see FIGS. 1B and 3) unless otherwise specified. Position reference).
The second transport conveyor 54 is disposed downstream of the second conveyor 31 in the transport direction, and the end of the second transport conveyor 54 on the upstream side in the transport direction (hereinafter referred to as the upstream end) is the second conveyor. It is arranged at a position adjacent to 31. The height position of the transport surface 54s of the second transport conveyor 54 at the upstream end is the same as the height position 31s (second height position) of the transport surface of the second conveyor 31, and at the upstream end. The transport direction of the second transport conveyor 54 is horizontal. Further, the transport line of the second transport conveyor 54 coincides with the transport line of the second conveyor 31. In addition, a conveyance line here is a line of the conveyance direction which passes the center position of the width direction of conveyance surfaces 31s and 54s of the conveyors 31 and 54. As shown in FIG. If the 2nd conveyance unit of such arrangement | positioning is used, a workpiece | work can be smoothly carried out on the 2nd conveyance unit from the 2nd conveyor of an inversion apparatus.
In addition, since the motor and drive mechanism which drive the 2nd conveyance conveyor 54 are known structures, those description is abbreviate | omitted here.

  Next, the operation of the above-described transport device 5 (including the reversing device 1) will be described.

In the transport device 5 (see FIG. 5), the first transport conveyor 52 of the first transport unit 51 is operated to transport the workpiece W on the first transport conveyor 52 toward the reversing device 1 (work transport process, FIG. 5 (a)).
The plate-like or sheet-like workpiece W moves in the extending direction of the workpiece W when being conveyed while being placed on a conveyor or the like.
Then, the work W on the first transport conveyor 52 is finally unloaded from the first transport conveyor 52 and supplied to the reversing device 1 (work supply process).
In the workpiece supply process, the holding unit 10 of the reversing device 1 is positioned in the first operating position in advance (reversal preparation process), and the second holding unit 30 of the holding unit 10 is separated vertically upward from the first holding unit 20. It is located at the separation position (separation step), and is performed in a state where the first conveyor 21 is performing a transport operation.
In this state, the workpiece W is carried into the reversing device 1 from the first transport conveyor 52, and the workpiece W can be smoothly supplied onto the first conveyor 21. At this time, the workpiece W on the first conveyor 21 is brought into a state of being loaded between the first conveyor 21 and the second conveyor 31 (see FIG. 2A).
Thereafter, the first conveyor 21 is operated as necessary, and the workpiece W on the first conveyor 21 is conveyed to a predetermined loading position (in the present embodiment, the center position of the first conveyor 21), and the first conveyor 21 is stopped. (Work loading process)

Then, the clamping unit 40 is operated to lower the second holding unit 30 toward the first holding unit 20 (a clamping process, see FIG. 2B).
Accordingly, the workpiece W on the first conveyor 21 is held in a state of being sandwiched between the two conveyors 21 and 31 and is positioned with respect to the holding unit 10. The lowering operation is an operation in which the second holding unit 30 is moved in the thickness direction of the work W and brought close to the first holding unit 20.

Thereafter, the rotating unit 15 is operated. Thereby, the holding | maintenance part 10 is moved from a 1st operation position to a 2nd operation position (a reversal process, refer Fig.3 (a)). Further, the work W held by the holding unit 10 is reversed upside down and moved up and down (here, moved down) from the first operation position to the second operation position.
The direction of the rotation shaft 13a of the holding unit 10 is the conveyance direction D of the workpiece W, and the rotation shaft 13a is the true of the conveyance lines of the conveyors 21 and 31 located at the first operation position and the second operation position. Located above or directly below. Therefore, the workpiece W held by the holding unit 10 can be moved from the first operation position to the second operation position immediately below the first operation position by simply performing the reversing process, and the first operation immediately above the second operation position. It can be moved to the operating position.
Further, in the reversing step, the holding unit 10 is rotated (reversed) by 180 degrees around the rotation axis 13a parallel to the conveyance direction D of the workpiece W. Therefore, when the reversing process is performed, both side edges of the held rectangular workpiece W (that is, left and right side edges extending in a direction orthogonal to the workpiece conveyance direction) are reversed. On the other hand, even if the reversing process is performed, the edge on the leading side of the workpiece W held in the conveyance direction and the edge on the trailing side in the conveyance direction remain the same.

When the reversing step is completed, the second holding unit 30 is then lowered, and the second conveyor 31 is separated from the first conveyor 21 (nipping release step, see FIG. 3B).
Thereby, the second conveyor 31 is lowered to the separation position, and the workpiece W held by the holding unit 10 is also lowered together with the second conveyor 31. Thereby, the clamping state of the workpiece W is released. Further, the height position (second height position) of the transport surface of the second conveyor 31 lowered to the separation position coincides with the height position of the second transport conveyor 54. Alternatively, the lowering amount of the second conveyor 31 is controlled so that the height position (second height position) of the transport surface of the second conveyor 31 matches the height position of the second transport conveyor 54.
Thus, in the reversing device 1 of the present embodiment, the workpiece W can be reversed and carried out by being lifted from the first height to the second height by executing the lifting step and the reversing step. There is no need for a separate step of moving the inverted workpiece W to the second height position.

  Thereafter, the second conveyor 31 is caused to perform a conveying operation, and the workpiece W on the second conveyor 31 is unloaded toward the second conveying conveyor 54 (work unloading step). The workpiece unloading process is performed in a state where the transfer operation of the second transfer conveyor 54 is executed. Thereby, the reversed workpiece | work W can be smoothly carried out from the inversion apparatus 1 to the 2nd conveyance conveyor 54. FIG.

  As described above, in the reversing device 1 according to the present embodiment, only one of the pair of holding units 20 and 30 (here, the second holding unit 30) is closely spaced from the other (here, the first holding unit 20). The clamping process and the clamping release process for the workpiece W can be executed simply by moving the workpiece W. Since the workpiece W can be clamped and released by moving only one holding unit, the structure of the apparatus is simplified.

  The reversing device and the transport device according to the present invention are not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments. A reversing device and a transport device modified within the scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the reversing device 1 of the above-described embodiment, the holding units 20 and 30 are provided with driving means for driving the conveyors 21 and 31, but the conveyor driven by the driving means is one of the conveyors. It may be only. That is, only one of the conveyors may be configured to be driven when the work is carried into and out of the reversing device. For example, one conveyor driven when a workpiece is loaded / unloaded is a conveyor of a holding unit positioned below the other holding unit when the pair of holding units are positioned at the second operation position (see above implementation). In the reversing device 1 of the form, the second conveyor 31) is preferred. In the case of this configuration, even when the holding unit 10 is in the first operation position, the workpiece W on the first conveyor 21 can be conveyed if the second conveyor 31 is brought close to the first conveyor 21.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although there exists a process of conveying the workpiece | work W carried in on the 1st conveyor 21 to a predetermined carrying-in position, it does not need to be.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the upper operation position is the first operation position and the lower operation position is the second operation position among the two operation positions, but may be reversed.
That is, in the above-described embodiment, the first height position (the height position at which the work before reversal is supplied to the reversing device 1) is the second height position (the work after reversal is carried out of the reversing device 1). Higher than (height position) but vice versa. Regarding the specific operation, the workpiece conveyance direction is basically reversed, and only the operation sequence and the operation direction of the conveyance device are reversed, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Claims (7)

A workpiece provided between a first conveyance unit and a second conveyance unit having different conveyance heights provided along a predetermined conveyance direction, and a plate-like or sheet-like workpiece to be conveyed is reversed at a predetermined position. A conveying device,
A holding unit that holds the loaded workpiece, a support unit that supports the holding unit in a reversible manner, and a rotation device that reverses the holding unit around a rotation axis parallel to the conveyance direction,
The holding unit includes a pair of holding units that hold the loaded work in the thickness direction of the work, and a holding unit that causes the pair of holding units to perform a holding operation.
Each holding unit includes a transport mechanism for moving the loaded work in the transport direction,
The pair of holding units have the same height as the conveyance height of the first conveyance unit, the first operation position for receiving the workpiece to be loaded, and the same height as the conveyance height of the second conveyance unit. The holding unit is configured to move the at least one holding unit toward and away from the other holding unit to adjust the distance between them. A power transmission unit that transmits the power of the drive source to the guide unit, and a guide mechanism that guides the approaching and separating movement of the holding unit,
The support portion includes a pivot structure that supports the holding portion so as to be able to be reversed so that the pair of holding units to be reversed are positioned at the first operation position and the second operation position.
A workpiece transfer device.   The pivot support structure of the support portion is positioned between the pair of holding units when positioned at the first operating position and the pair of holding units when positioned at the second operating position. The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece transfer apparatus is connected to the holding unit. Each of the holding units is composed of a conveyor,
When the pair of holding units are located at the first operation position or the second operation position, the conveying direction of the conveyor is the direction of the rotation axis,
The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece can be carried in and out by operating the conveyor and moving the workpiece in the extending direction of the workpiece surface. The clamping unit is for moving only one of the pair of holding units close to and away from the other,
The said holding | maintenance part is a workpiece conveyance apparatus of Claim 3 which drives only the said conveyance mechanism of any one of the conveyors which comprise each said holding | maintenance unit, and carries in / out a workpiece | work.   The workpiece transfer apparatus according to claim 4, wherein only one of the holding units is provided so as to be movable toward and away from the workpiece.   The said one holding | maintenance unit provided so that a proximity | separation separation movement was possible is the said holding | maintenance unit located in the lower side, when the said pair of holding | maintenance unit is located in a said 2nd operation position. Work transfer device. A workpiece transfer method provided between a first transfer unit and a second transfer unit with different transfer heights provided along a predetermined transfer direction and for reversing a plate-like or sheet-like workpiece to be transferred. And
A step of positioning a pair of holding units that hold a workpiece to be reversed at a first height position that is a transfer height of the first transfer unit, and a first operation position where the workpiece can be loaded;
A workpiece loading step of loading a workpiece positioned at the first height position into the pair of holding units at the first operation position;
A clamping step of clamping the workpiece by moving the holding unit of at least one of the pair of holding units after loading the workpiece located at the first operation position closer to the other holding unit;
A reversing step of reversing the pair of holding units around an axis parallel to the conveying direction and reversing the holding work by positioning the work at a second operation position where the work can be carried out, and
A releasing step of releasing at least one of the holding units away from the other holding unit to release the workpiece and positioning the workpiece at a second height position that is a transfer height of the second transfer unit; ,
A workpiece unloading step of conveying the workpiece at the second height position unloaded from the pair of holding units at the second operation position to the downstream side in the conveying direction;
Comprising
A workpiece conveying method characterized by the above.

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