JP6923149B1 - Palletizing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To load a blank material on a pallet in accordance with a production speed of the blank material. A first robot 104 is arranged in association with a belt conveyor 101, and performs a first moving operation of picking up a blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 and stacking the blank material on a relay stand 102. The second robot 108 performs a second transfer operation of transferring a plurality of blank material loads stacked on the relay stand 102 to the pallet stand 103. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a palletizing system for stacking blank materials made of steel on a pallet.

In the manufacture of transmission parts, a disk-shaped blank material is produced by punching from a rolled steel plate, and the produced blank material is press-formed. In this type of manufacturing process, the produced blank material is loaded on a pallet, and the pallet on which the blank material is loaded is transferred to the manufacturing department in the next process.

In the above-mentioned stacking (palletizing) of blank materials, generally, blank materials that have been punched out by a press machine and carried out are manually loaded on a pallet. In addition, at the time of this loading, appearance inspection and the like are carried out. By the way, since the punched blank material is carried out from the press machine at a production speed of about 1.3 seconds / sheet, there is a limit to the processing speed by one person, and a lot of manpower is required. There are many problems. For this reason, mechanization of palletizing is being considered.

In this mechanization, the appearance is photographed by a camera in the process of transporting the blank material carried out from the press machine by the belt conveyor, and the appearance inspection is carried out by processing the photographed image. After that, it is conceivable that the blank conveyed by the belt conveyor is picked up by the robot arm and loaded on the pallet. For example, the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor can be picked up by the well-known conveyor tracking by vision tracking (see Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2019-141935

However, even in the above-mentioned mechanization technique, since the blank materials are loaded one by one on the pallet by the robot, the loading speed cannot keep up with the production speed of the blank materials. In order for the robots to catch up with the loading speed of the blank material production speed, it is conceivable to increase the number of robots. However, there is a limit to the width of the belt conveyor, and within this, there is also a limit to the number of robots that can handle it.

As described above, the conventional technique has a problem that the loading speed cannot keep up with the production speed of the blank material.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable the blank material to be loaded on a pallet in accordance with the production speed of the blank material.

In the palletizing system according to the present invention, a belt conveyor that conveys a plate-shaped blank material from a first region to a second region, a relay stand arranged on a side of the belt conveyor in the second region, and a belt conveyor are arranged. The first transfer operation in which the pallet stand arranged in the second area and the blank material arranged in association with the belt conveyor and transported by the belt conveyor are picked up and stacked on the relay stand with the relay stand sandwiched between the areas. Based on the first robot that performs the operation, the camera that shoots the blank material conveyed by the conveyor belt, the image processing device that executes image measurement on the image captured by the camera, and the image measurement result by the image processing device. A first controller that instructs the first robot to perform the first transfer operation, a second robot that performs a second transfer operation that transfers a plurality of blank material stacks stacked on the relay stand to the pallet stand, and a relay. A measuring device that measures the load capacity of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the table, and a second controller that instructs the second robot to perform a second transfer operation when the load capacity measured by the measuring device reaches a set value. To be equipped with.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the load capacity is the number of loads of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the second robot includes a robot hand consisting of three claw members that grip the load body from the side surface, and the claw member includes a claw portion formed in an L shape at the tip.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the second robot corrects the turbulence of the overlapping of the loading bodies by the action of pinching the loading body from the side surface with the robot hand before grasping the loading body from the side surface with the robot hand. After that, the gripping operation of the load is started.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, when a new blank material is piled up on the third robot provided on the relay stand and the load body already piled up on the relay stand, the load bodies are overlapped on the third robot. The third robot is provided with a third controller for instructing the execution of a correction operation for correcting turbulence, and the third robot moves a plurality of blank material stacks stacked on a relay stand in a direction of being pinched from the side surface of the load. A correction operation is performed by providing a holding plate and moving a plurality of holding plates from the side surface of the loading body in a pinching direction.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, an appearance inspection device for inspecting the appearance of the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor between the first region and the second region is further provided.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the appearance inspection device inspects the appearance of the blank material by image recognition of the appearance image acquired by photographing the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the visual inspection apparatus inspects the appearance of the blank material according to the degree of agreement between the external image and the reference image in pattern recognition.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, the first robot includes a suction head that picks up a blank material by suction.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, a plurality of first robots are provided, and the first controller instructs each of the plurality of first robots to perform the first transfer operation.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, a plurality of relay stands are provided, and a plurality of pallet stands are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of relay stands provided, and the plurality of relay stands are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of relay stands. A second robot is provided, and the second controller instructs each of the plurality of second robots to perform the second transfer operation.

In one configuration example of the palletizing system, a reversing device for reversing the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor is further provided before the camera is arranged.

As described above, according to the present invention, a relay stand is provided, and a load body of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand by the first robot is transferred to the pallet stand by the second robot. Blank material can be loaded on the pallet according to the production speed of.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a palletizing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a suction head 141 included in the first robot 104 of the palletizing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration example of the second robot 108. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration example of the third robot 111.

Hereinafter, the palletizing system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This palletizing system includes a belt conveyor 101, a relay stand 102, a pallet stand 103, a first robot 104, a camera 105, an image processing device 106, a first controller 107, a second robot 108, a measuring device 109, and a second controller 110. ..

The belt conveyor 101 conveys the plate-shaped blank material from the first region 151 to the second region 152. For example, a press machine 131 is arranged in the first area 151, and the blank material punched and carried out by the press machine 131 is discharged to the first area 151 of the belt conveyor 101. The blank material has, for example, a plate thickness of about 2.3 to 6 mm, and has a round or polygonal outer shape. There is also a blank material having a hole in the center and having an annular shape in a plan view.

The relay stand 102 is arranged on the side of the belt conveyor 101 in the second region 152. The pallet base 103 is arranged in the second area 152 with the relay table 102 sandwiched with respect to the arrangement area of the belt conveyor 101.

The first robot 104 is arranged in association with the belt conveyor 101, and performs a first transfer operation of picking up the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 and stacking the blank material on the relay stand 102. The first robot 104 is, for example, a parallel link robot. Further, the first robot 104 includes, for example, a vacuum suction type suction head 141 that picks up a blank material by suction as shown in FIG. The suction head 141 includes a plurality of suction pads 142.

The camera 105 photographs the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101. The image processing device 106 executes image measurement on the image captured by the camera 105. The first controller 107 instructs the first robot 104 to perform the first transfer operation based on the image measurement result by the image processing device 106.

Further, as an image plan, the image processing device 106 is attached to the first robot 104 so that the positions of the side portions of the blank material having a polygonal outer shape are aligned (overlapped) in a state where a plurality of blank materials are stacked. The picked-up blank material can be rotated on a flat surface. For example, based on the image captured by the camera 105, the blank material is rotated so that the positions of each side of the recognized outer shape are set. In the first transfer operation of the first robot 104 that operates based on such an image planning result, the load body of the plurality of polygonal blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102 is the position of each side of each blank material. However, they are in a state of almost matching. In the case of a circular blank material, the above-mentioned operation is not necessary.

If the camera 105 is composed of an area image sensor having a number of pixels of about 1280 × 1024, the outer shape of the blank material in the image processing device 106 can be recognized. As the number of pixels of the area image sensor increases, the identification accuracy of the outer shape of the blank material improves, and the identification accuracy of the outer shape improves.

The second robot 108 performs a second transfer operation of transferring a plurality of blank material loads stacked on the relay stand 102 to the pallet stand 103. The second robot 108 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a horizontal articulated robot arm, and is provided with an elevating mechanism 108a at the tip of the arm. The movable range of the tip of the arm of the second robot 108 is about 1200 mm in the rotation direction and about 2400 mm in the expansion / contraction direction.

Further, the elevating mechanism 108a includes a robot hand 108b formed by three claw members 108c that grip the load body from the side surface. Each of the claw members 108c includes a claw portion 108d formed in an L shape at the tip. The claw member 108c extends downward from the robot hand 108b. Further, the claw portion 108d extends in a direction substantially perpendicular to the extending direction of the claw member 108c toward the central portion of the robot hand 108b. The robot hand 108b grips and transfers the load body by holding the load body from the side surface with the claw member 108c and hooking the claw portion 108d on the lowermost end portion of the load body. The length of the claw portion 108d is, for example, 2 mm. Further, the robot hand 108b can grip and transfer a load body of a blank material having an outer diameter of 1100 mm to 3440 mm.

Here, before the second robot 108 grips the load body from the side surface with the robot hand, the three claw members 108c of the robot hand 108b correct the disorder of the overlap of the load body by the operation of pinching the load body from the side surface. After performing the correction operation, the gripping operation of the load is started.

The measuring device 109 measures the load capacity of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102. When the load capacity measured by the measuring device 109 reaches the set value, the second controller 110 instructs the second robot 108 to perform the second transfer operation. For example, the load capacity can be the number of loads of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102. Further, the load capacity can be the weight (total weight) of the plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102. For example, when the number of loads counted by the measuring device 109 reaches the set 11 to 13, the second controller 110 instructs the second robot 108 to perform the second transfer operation. With this number of sheets, the second transfer operation by the second robot 108 is sufficiently possible.

Further, this palletizing system includes a third robot 111 provided on the relay stand 102 and a third controller 112. When a new blank material is piled up on the load body already piled up on the relay stand 102, the third controller 112 instructs the third robot 111 to perform a correction operation for correcting the disorder of the overlap of the load bodies. The third controller 112 grasps, for example, that new blank materials have been piled up based on the number of loads counted by the measuring device 109.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the third robot 111 has a plurality of holding plates 111a, 111b that move a plurality of blank material loading bodies 114 stacked on the relay stand 102 in a direction of being sandwiched from the side surface of the loading body 114. The above-mentioned correction operation is performed by moving the plurality of pressing plates 111a and 111b in the direction of being sandwiched from the side surface of the loading body 114 by the actuators 111c and 111d. The actuators 111c and 111d have a capacity of about 40 kg in the maximum load capacity in the horizontal direction.

Further, as described above, if the positions of the respective sides of the plurality of polygonal blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102 are substantially the same, the third robot 111 described above is used. By the correction operation of, even in the case of a polygonal blank material, it is possible to eliminate the disorder of the overlapping of the loading bodies so that the positions of the corresponding sides of each blank material match. In this state, the second transfer operation by the second robot 108 described above does not cause a problem such as dropping the blank material.

In addition, this palletizing system includes an appearance inspection device 113 that inspects the appearance of the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 between the first region 151 and the second region 152. The appearance inspection device 113 inspects the appearance of the blank material by image recognition of the appearance image acquired by photographing the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101.

For example, the appearance inspection device 113 includes a linear image sensor and a determination device that processes an image captured by the linear image sensor to determine the appearance. For example, the appearance of the transported blank material is imaged by a linear image sensor, and the appearance of the blank material is determined by a determination device by pattern recognition by machine learning (deep machine learning) of the appearance image obtained by the imaging. Inspect the appearance of the. In the linear image sensor described above, for example, by setting the number of pixels to 6000 or more, it is possible to improve the detection sensitivity of fine scratches and the like.

In the palletizing system described above, first, when the blank material punched and carried out by the press machine 131 is discharged to the first region 151 of the belt conveyor 101, the blank material is discharged to the second region 151 by the belt conveyor 101. It is transported in the direction of 152. In this process, the visual inspection device 113 inspects the appearance of the blank material. The blank material determined to be unacceptable in this inspection is removed from the belt conveyor 101.

Next, the blank material transported by the belt conveyor 101 is photographed by the camera 105. The image (moving image) of the blank material being conveyed, taken by the camera 105, is image-measured by the image processing device 106. The first controller 107 grasps the position of the blank material being conveyed based on the image measurement result by the image processing device 106, and instructs the first robot 104 to perform the first transfer operation of the target blank material. .. According to this instruction, the first robot 104 picks up the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 and stacks it on the relay stand 102.

As described above, blank materials are piled up on the relay stand 102 to form a loading body. The measuring device 109 counts the number of loaded blank materials stacked on the relay stand 102. When the count value (loading number) reaches the set value, the second controller 110 instructs the second robot 108 to perform the second transfer operation. According to this instruction, the second robot 108 transfers a plurality of blank material loads stacked on the relay stand 102 to the pallet stand 103. The second robot 108 loads the load on the pallet placed on the pallet base 103. The pallet is, for example, a box having a size of 1475 mm × 1120 mm and a height (depth) of about 520 mm in a plan view. The size of the pallet can be appropriately set based on the movable range of the second robot 108.

First, the second robot 108 moves the tip of the arm to the upper part of the load body, lowers the robot hand 108b by the elevating mechanism 108a, and grips the load body by the robot hand 108b. When the robot hand 108b grips the load, the elevating mechanism 108a raises the robot hand 108b. Next, the second robot 108 moves the tip of the arm to a predetermined position on the pallet base 103, lowers the robot hand 108b by the elevating mechanism 108a, and holds the loaded body on the pallet base 103. Place on. After that, the second robot 108 releases the gripping operation of the loaded body by the robot hand 108b and returns to the initial state.

Here, in the above-mentioned first transfer operation by the first robot 104, a large number of blank materials sequentially conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 are quickly transferred to the relay stand 102, so that the loading bodies are not overlapped. .. If the load body is transferred to the pallet base 103 in this state, the load bodies with disordered overlap will be loaded on the pallet base 103. This loading body is transported to the next process for use. In the next step, blank materials are picked up one by one from the loading body, but in the loading body where the overlap is disturbed, the pick-up positions are different. In such a state, a problem such as a pickup failure occurs.

Therefore, it is important to correct the turbulence of the overlapping of the loading bodies before being transferred to the next process. Before the second robot 108 grips the load body from the side surface with the robot hand 108b, the three claw members 108c of the robot hand 108b correct the overlap disorder of the load body by the action of pinching the load body from the side surface. After the operation, the gripping operation of the load body is started.

By the way, in the robot hand 108b described above, since it is not possible to apply a very large force in the pinching direction, it may not be possible to completely correct the disorder of the overlapping of the loaded bodies. Therefore, each time a new blank material is piled up on the load body already piled up on the relay stand 102 by the third robot 111, the disorder of the overlap of the load bodies is corrected. The third robot 111 can be specialized in correcting the turbulence of the overlap of the load bodies described above, and does not need the function of picking up the load bodies upward.

For example, in the third robot 111, the actuators 111c and 111d move a plurality of pressing plates 111a and 111b in the direction of the loading body 114 mounted between them, and the pressing plates 111a and 111b move the loading bodies 114. By pinching from the side surface of the load body 114, the turbulence of the overlap of the load body 114 is corrected. The actuators 111c and 111d can be fixedly arranged on the relay base 102, for example, and the pressing plates 111a and 111b perform an operation of holding the load body 114 from the side surface with a stronger force. Is possible. Therefore, by using the third robot 111, it is possible to correct the turbulence of the overlap due to a large deviation.

In this way, if the third robot 111 corrects the turbulence of the overlapping of the loaded bodies due to a large deviation, the turbulence of the overlapping of the loaded bodies is completely corrected by the gripping operation of the robot hand 108b of the second robot 108. It becomes possible.

By the way, this palletizing system can be configured to provide a plurality of first robots 104. In this case, the first controller 107 instructs each of the plurality of first robots 104 to perform the first transfer operation. Further, in this palletizing system, a plurality of relay stands 102 can be provided. In this case, a plurality of pallet stands 103 are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of relay stands 102 provided. Further, a second robot 108 is provided corresponding to each of the plurality of relay stands 102, and the second controller 110 instructs each of the plurality of second robots 108 to perform the second transfer operation. According to the palletizing system according to the above-described embodiment, since the relay stand 102 is provided to enable quicker palletizing, the production speed of the blank material can be supported without increasing the number of the first robot 104. The palletizing can be done in a small space.

Further, this palletizing system may be provided with a reversing device for reversing the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor 101 before the camera 105 is arranged. The reversing device can be arranged, for example, between the visual inspection device 113 and the camera 105. For example, the belt conveyor 101 is composed of a first belt conveyor on the press machine side and a second belt conveyor on the side where the camera 105 and the like are arranged, and is inverted between the first belt conveyor and the second belt conveyor. Install the device.

The reversing device is composed of a rotating body having a plurality of radial accommodating portions that receive blanks carried in from the first belt conveyor one by one and reversely arrange them on the second belt conveyor. be able to. When one blank is supplied from the sending end of the first conveyor to the predetermined radiation accommodating portion of the rotating body, the rotating body intermittently rotates one section (one sheet) in a predetermined direction by the blank detection signal of the sensor. When the radiation accommodating portion is rotated by about 180 degrees from the blank receiving position, the blank conveyed by the radiation accommodating portion is placed on the second conveyor.

For example, the cut surface of the blank material that has been punched out by the press machine 131 and carried out may be inclined rather than perpendicular to the flat surface of the blank material. If the next process is carried out in a state where this inclination is punched out, it may cause defects. Therefore, in the next step, the state of the cut surface of the blank material is confirmed and inverted as necessary, which is a work load. On the other hand, by inverting the blank material with the above-mentioned reversing device to form a loading body, it is possible to reduce the work load in the next process and eliminate the occurrence of problems.

As described above, according to the present invention, a relay stand is provided, and a plurality of blank material loads stacked on the relay stand by the first robot are transferred to the pallet stand by the second robot, so that the blanks are used. Blank material can be loaded on the pallet according to the production speed of the material.

According to the present invention, since the relay stand and the second robot are used as described above, in the first robot, the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor is overlapped with the load body in which the blank material is stacked, and the disorder is disturbed. It is possible to allow the occurrence and control the state of picking up more quickly. Further, in the first robot, since the movement range of the blank material is limited, it may not be possible to accommodate a larger load body on a wider pallet stand. On the other hand, according to the present invention, since the relay stand and the second robot are used, the blank material (loading body) can be moved to a range that cannot be reached by the first robot alone, so that more pallets can be moved to a wider pallet stand. It will be possible to accommodate the load.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and many modifications and combinations can be carried out by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art within the technical idea of the present invention. That is clear.

101 ... Belt conveyor, 102 ... Relay stand, 103 ... Pallet stand, 104 ... First robot, 105 ... Camera, 106 ... Image processing device, 107 ... First controller, 108 ... Second robot, 108a ... Elevating mechanism, 108b ... Robot hand, 108c ... Claw member, 108d ... Claw part, 109 ... Measuring device, 110 ... Second controller, 111 ... Third robot, 112 ... Third controller, 113 ... Visual inspection device, 131 ... Press machine, 151 ... No. 1 area, 152 ... 2nd area.

Claims (12)

A belt conveyor that conveys a plate-shaped blank material from the first region to the second region,
A relay stand arranged on the side of the belt conveyor in the second region, and
A pallet stand arranged in the second area with the relay stand sandwiched with respect to the arrangement area of the belt conveyor, and a pallet stand arranged in the second area.
A first robot that is arranged in association with the belt conveyor and performs a first transfer operation that picks up a blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor and stacks it on the relay stand.
A camera that photographs the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor, and
An image processing device that performs image measurement on the image captured by the camera, and
Based on the image measurement result by the image processing device, the first controller instructing the first robot to perform the first transfer operation, and
A second robot that performs a second transfer operation that transfers a plurality of blank material stacks stacked on the relay stand to the pallet stand, and
A measuring device that measures the load capacity of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand, and
A palletizing system including a second controller that instructs the second robot to perform the second transfer operation when the load capacity measured by the measuring device reaches a set value. In the palletizing system according to claim 1,
The palletizing system is characterized in that the load capacity is the number of loads of a plurality of blank materials stacked on the relay stand. In the palletizing system according to claim 1 or 2.
The second robot includes a robot hand consisting of three claw members that grip the load body from the side surface, and the claw member includes a claw portion formed in an L shape at the tip thereof. .. In the palletizing system according to claim 3,
Before the robot hand grips the load body from the side surface, the second robot performs a correction operation for correcting the overlap disorder of the load body by the action of pinching the load body from the side surface with the robot hand. A palletizing system characterized in that the gripping operation of the load body is started from. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The third robot provided on the relay stand and
When a new blank material is piled up on the load body already piled up on the relay stand, the third controller instructs the third robot to perform a correction operation for correcting the overlap disorder of the load body. Prepare,
The third robot includes a plurality of holding plates that move the loading body of a plurality of blank materials to be stacked on the relay stand in a direction of being sandwiched from the side surface of the loading body, and the plurality of pressing plates are loaded. A palletizing system characterized by performing a correction operation by moving it from the side of the body in the direction of pinching. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A palletizing system further comprising an appearance inspection device for inspecting the appearance of a blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor between the first region and the second region. In the palletizing system according to claim 6,
The visual inspection device is
A palletizing system characterized in that the appearance of a blank material is inspected by image recognition of an external appearance image obtained by photographing the blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor. In the palletizing system according to claim 7.
The visual inspection apparatus is a palletizing system characterized in that the appearance of a blank material is inspected according to the degree of coincidence between the appearance image and the reference image in pattern recognition. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
The first robot is a palletizing system including a suction head that picks up a blank material by suction. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A plurality of the first robots are provided,
The first controller is a palletizing system characterized in that each of the plurality of first robots is instructed to perform the first transfer operation. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.
A plurality of the relay stands are provided, and the relay stands are provided.
A plurality of the pallet stands are provided corresponding to each of the plurality of the relay stands provided.
The second robot is provided corresponding to each of the plurality of relay stands provided.
The second controller is a palletizing system characterized in that each of the plurality of second robots is instructed to perform the second transfer operation. In the palletizing system according to any one of claims 1 to 11.
A palletizing system further comprising a reversing device for reversing a blank material conveyed by the belt conveyor before the camera is arranged.

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