JP7327968B2 - Alignment device, alignment method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for aligning objects.

By aligning workpieces such as machine parts and electronic parts so that the individual workpieces are oriented in the same direction, the subsequent inspection or assembly can proceed efficiently.

Therefore, several alignment methods and apparatuses for realizing them have been proposed so far. The aligning and conveying apparatus of Patent Document 1 determines whether or not the attitude of the semiconductor devices is different from the desired direction while aligning the semiconductor devices on a rotating conveying drum. In order to start over, air is blown out from the air supply hole to move the semiconductor device inward, that is, in a direction close to the rotating shaft of the conveying drum.

JP-A-2008-254884

If the interval between works is reduced in order to increase the throughput per hour, then other works than the target to be removed from the line may also be removed, resulting in a decrease in the throughput. The present invention provides a method for accurately selecting workpieces to be rejected and an apparatus for realizing it.

In order to solve the above problems, the following means are available.

(1) a table;
a work aligning unit that moves and aligns the work on the table;
a judgment device for judging whether the orientation of the aligned workpieces is forward or backward;
a suction unit that sucks onto the table the workpieces positioned before and after the alignment direction of the workpieces determined to be in the opposite direction;
a rejecting unit that blows air onto the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction to eject the workpiece from the row;
aligning device.

(2) a hole is provided in the table;
The rejection unit includes a blow-up blow unit that blows up the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction from the table through the hole, and a horizontal blow unit that ejects the blown-up workpiece from the row by blowing air in the surface direction of the table. The alignment device according to (1), comprising:

(3) the work aligning unit includes a rotation driving unit that moves the work by rotating the table;
A hole is provided in the table,
The rejection unit includes a blow-up blow unit that blows up the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction from the table through the hole, and a horizontal blow unit that ejects the blown-up workpiece from the row by blowing air in the surface direction of the table. and
The aligning device according to (1), wherein the suction section suctions the workpiece to the table by suction through the hole before and after the blow-up blow section.

(4) A process of moving and aligning the workpieces on the table;
A step of judging whether the orientation of the aligned workpieces is forward or backward,
An aligning method comprising an adsorption step of sucking the workpieces on the table before and after the alignment direction of the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction, and an exclusion step of ejecting the workpiece determined to be in the different direction from the line by blowing air.

According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate only the counter-directional workpieces from the row with high accuracy.

It is a top view which shows the outline of an alignment apparatus. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a mechanism related to work sorting; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of appearance of a work; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a sorting operation of works; FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a sorting operation of works; FIG. 10 is a flow chart of work alignment operation;

[Alignment device]
FIG. 1 shows an example of an alignment device. The aligning device 1 includes a rotary table (table) 11, various guides (such as G1), a sensor 13, a sorting section 14, a linear feeder 17, and the like.

Moreover, below, the case where the workpiece|work W shown in FIG. 3 is conveyed is mentioned as an example. The workpiece W is a rectangular parallelepiped having dimensions L1, L2, and L3, where L1<L2<L3. In addition, the aligning device 1 conveys the works W, aligns them in a line, and places the works W in a state in which the side of L3 is along the direction in which the works W are arranged and the L1 faces the vertical direction (hereinafter referred to as "positive direction"). ”). That is, the side of L2 is perpendicular to the alignment direction. A state that is not in the normal direction is called “another direction”.

The rotary table 11 is a disk-shaped flat member, and is rotated clockwise in FIG. The center of rotation coincides with the center of the rotary table 11 . A plurality of holes 12 are provided along a concentric circle with the rotary table 11 near the outer periphery of the rotary table. A position on the rotary table 11 to which the work W is supplied from a hopper (not shown) is indicated by a chain line in FIG. 1 as a supply position.

Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, "rotating direction" is the rotating direction of the turntable 11, "radial direction" is the radial direction of the turntable 11, "inside" means the center side of the turntable 11, and "outside" means It means the outer peripheral side of the rotary table 11 . Note that the "rotational direction" coincides with the work conveying direction and the alignment direction.

As guides, an inner guide G1, a first outer guide G2, a second outer guide G3, a third outer guide G4, and a center guide G5 are provided along the rotation direction. Also, a height regulating portion 15 is provided between the inner guide G1 and the first outer guide G2. A rotation drive unit (not shown) that rotates the rotary table 11 and various guides G1 to G5 function as a work aligning unit that aligns the work W while moving it. Also, the height regulating portion 15 may be considered as part of the work aligning portion.

The inner guide G1 is provided outside the rotary table 11 relative to the supply position of the work W, and brings the work W inward by coming into contact with the work W from the outside.

The height regulating portion 15 is arranged at a distance from the upper surface of the rotary table 11 that is greater than the height L1 of the workpiece W in the positive direction and smaller than the heights L2 and L3 in the opposite directions. As a result, even if the side of the length L2 or L3 faces the vertical direction, the work W is tilted by the height regulating portion 15 so that the side of the length L1 faces the vertical direction. Note that the position of the height regulating portion 15 is not limited to this, and may be provided at another position on the transport path of the work W. FIG. However, if the work W falls, it will be displaced from the line. It is preferably upstream of sensor 13 .

The first outer guide G2 is arranged so as to come into contact with the work W that has passed through the inner guide G1 from the inside. Therefore, the workpieces W that have been moved by the rotation of the rotary table 11 are arranged in a line along the rotational direction by the first outer guide G2 after passing the inner guide G1, and are brought to the outside of the rotary table 11. . Also, at this time, friction between the surface of the rotary table 11 and the workpieces W and between the first outer guide G2 and the workpieces W causes the longitudinal direction of many of the workpieces W to be the positive direction along the rotation direction.

The second outer gathering guide G3 is arranged further outside than the first outer gathering guide G2. A portion of the workpiece W that has passed the first outer guide G2 overlaps in the radial direction of the rotary table 11, or its longitudinal direction does not follow the rotation direction. Aligned state.

The sorting unit 14, which will be described later, removes from the row works W whose side of length L1 is not oriented in the direction of rotation. The works W aligned in the positive direction are guided to the linear feeder 17 by the third outer guide G4.

The central guide G5 is provided at the center of the rotary table 11 and has a shape that bulges outward in the rotational direction downstream of the third outer gathering guide G4. The bulging portion of the central guide G5 abuts from the inside against the workpieces W supplied by the hopper and the workpieces W gathered inside the row by the sorting unit 14, whereby the workpieces W are moved to the inner gathering guide G1. is guided.

The linear feeder 17 guides the works W arranged in a line to the outside of the rotary table 11 while maintaining their alignment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration for sorting in the aligning device 1. As shown in FIG. The sorting section 14 includes a blow-up blow section 141, a sideways blow section 142, and an ejector (not shown). The aligning device 1 further includes a control section 30 . The control unit 30 controls the operations of the upward blow unit 141 and the lateral blow unit 142 based on the detection result of the sensor 13 . The control unit 30 can also control operations of other parts of the aligning device 1 by receiving operation signals from other sensors and the user.

2, 4, and 5, the sorting of the different direction works W will be described.

In the present embodiment, the sensor 13 emits light from above toward the rotary table, detects the workpiece in the opposite direction from its reflection, and outputs the detection result to the control unit 30 . In other words, the sensor 13 is a determination device that determines whether the orientation of the aligned workpieces is normal or reverse. Specifically, in this embodiment, before the work W reaches the position where the different direction is detected, the first and second outer guides (G2, G3) from the inside of the rotary table 11 come into contact with the work W. ing. That is, the distance from the center of rotation to the inner edge of the work W is uniform. Therefore, in the positive direction, the distance from the center of the rotary table 11 to the outer end of the work W is the distance to the outer end of the second outer guide G3 plus L2. Therefore, the sensor 13 may be arranged so as to detect the presence or absence of the work W at a further outside position (indicated by a black circle in FIG. 5). This position is hereinafter referred to as "posture detection position".

The means for detecting the opposite direction is not limited to this, and various configurations can be adopted. For example, when the above-described height regulating portion 15 is not provided, a height sensor may be further provided to detect the opposite direction when the height of the workpiece exceeds L1. If it is not possible to judge from the external shape, for example, to align the orientation of the pattern on the surface of the work, the work may be photographed and the judgment may be made from the image processing.

In a predetermined region (the region surrounded by the thin dotted line in FIG. 5) downstream of the second outer gathering guide G3, suction (decompression) is constantly performed by the ejector below the rotary table 11. As shown in FIG. The downward arrow in FIG. 4 represents constant suction by the ejector. Due to this suction, the workpiece W is attracted to the rotary table 11 through the hole 12 . A region where the workpiece is sucked is called a “suction region”.

The blow-up blow part 141 blows up air from some of the holes 12 in the suction area through a blow nozzle 141 a provided below the rotary table 11 . The workpiece W is thereby lifted. The number of holes 12 through which air is blown up is one in FIGS. However, air may be blown up from a plurality of holes 12 as long as only one workpiece W can be blown up. A position where the work W is blown up by the blowing blow unit 141 is called a "sorting position".

In this embodiment, the sensor 13 detects the posture of the work W at the separation position, but the sensor 13 detects the posture of the work W upstream of the separation position in the transport direction, In other words, the timing of reaching the different-direction work separation position may be determined from the rotation speed of the rotary table 11, and the blow-up blow unit 141 may be controlled so as to blow up the different-direction works.

Under the control of the control unit 30, the horizontal blow unit 142 blows air onto the work W lifted at the blow-up position, thereby removing the work in the opposite direction from the row of works. In this embodiment, the horizontal blow part 142 blows air from the outside to the inside of the rotary table 11 . As a result, the work of opposite direction moves inside the rotary table 11 and is out of the line. As a result, only forward-direction works can be aligned.

With the above configuration, the workpieces before and after the separation position are attracted to the rotary table 11 in the transport direction of the workpieces W, and only the workpieces in the opposite direction are blown up. Therefore, even if the distance between the works W is small, it is possible to exclude only the works in the opposite direction without erroneously rejecting the works in the normal direction. Moreover, with this configuration, even if the distance between the works is small, it is possible to exclude only the works of the opposite direction.

In this way, the ejector functions as a suction unit that attracts the work in front of and behind the work in the opposite direction onto the rotary table. functions as an exclusion unit.

The dimensions and intervals of the holes 12 of the rotary table 11 are set so that only the counter-directional workpieces can be excluded from the row. First, considering possible postures of the work W, the hole 12 is desirably set to a size that does not allow the work W to fit therein. For example, the maximum length of the hole 12 in the planar direction of the rotary table 11 may be set smaller than the minimum length of the workpiece W (L1 in the example of FIG. 3). Further, in this embodiment, the height regulating portion 15 allows the surface of L2×L3 to face the rotary table 11, so the maximum length of the hole 12 may be set to be smaller than L2. In addition, an ellipse (including a circle) whose major axis is smaller than the circumscribed circle of each surface of the workpiece W can also be used.

Further, the distance between the holes 12 is set so that the work W always covers one of the holes 12 in consideration of possible postures of the work W. For example, the distance between the holes 12 may be set smaller than the minimum length of the workpiece W (L1 in the example of FIG. 3). Also, in this embodiment, the height regulating portion 15 allows the surface of L2×L3 to face the rotary table 11, so the distance between the holes 12 may be set to be smaller than L2.

The works W aligned in this manner are further aligned while being pushed outward by the third outer guide G4 abutting from the inside.

The linear feeder 17 guides the work W out of the rotary table 11 while maintaining its alignment.

The rejected work of opposite direction is guided to the inward guide G1 and taken into the row of works W again, as described above.

[Alignment method]
FIG. 6 shows the flow of the alignment method by the alignment device 1. As shown in FIG. The following flow is controlled by the control unit 30 .

As shown in FIG. 6, by the user's operation or other trigger ("start"), suction by the ejector is started (step S1), the rotary table 11 is operated (step S2), and supply of the workpiece W by the hopper is started. (step S3). The supplied work W is aligned by the rotation of the rotary table 11 and various guides, and transported to the attitude detection position.

When the sensor 13 detects that the workpiece W is in the opposite direction (Yes in step S4), the workpiece W in the opposite direction is removed from the line by the upward blow part 141 and the sideways blow part 142 (step S5). At this time, the workpieces W in front of and behind it are sucked onto the rotary table 11 by suction by the ejector described above.

If the opposite direction is not detected (No in step S4), the work W is conveyed as it is.

This operation continues until the user performs a stop operation or until there is another stop trigger (No in step S6). If there is a stop operation or other stop trigger (Yes in step S6), the operation of the hopper, table drive, ejector, etc. is stopped (steps S7-S9), and the operation ends ("END").

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can align fine workpieces such as parts in the same orientation, and thus can be used to efficiently proceed with inspection of workpieces and other work using workpieces.

W Workpiece 1 Alignment device 11 Rotary table G1 Inner guide G2 First outer guide G3 Second outer guide G4 Third outer guide G5 Center guide G5
13 sensor 14 sorting unit 141 blow-up blow unit 142 sideways blow unit 15 height regulation unit 17 linear feeder 30 control unit

Claims (2)

a table;
a work aligning unit that moves and aligns the work on the table;
a judgment device for judging whether the orientation of the aligned workpieces is forward or backward;
a suction unit that sucks onto the table the workpieces positioned before and after the alignment direction of the workpieces determined to be in the opposite direction;
a rejecting unit that blows air onto the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction to eject the workpiece from the row;
with
The work alignment unit includes a rotation drive unit that moves the work by rotating the table,
A hole is provided in the table,
The rejection unit includes a blow-up blow unit that blows up the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction from the table through the hole, and a horizontal blow unit that ejects the blown-up workpiece from the row by blowing air in the surface direction of the table. and
The suction part is an aligning device that sucks the work to the table by suction through the hole before and after the blow-up blow part.
The process of moving and aligning workpieces on the table by rotating the table,
A step of judging whether the orientation of the aligned workpieces is forward or backward,
a suction step of sucking the workpieces before and after the alignment direction of the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction onto the table by suction through holes provided in the table;
A rejection process in which air is blown through a hole provided in the table to the workpiece determined to be in the opposite direction to blow it up, and the workpiece that has been blown up is ejected from the row by blowing air in the surface direction of the table.
Alignment method with