JPH01104517A - Method and device for feeding parts - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure of a device and ensure feeding in the feeding of stacked parts for each operation cycle by determining the moving quantity after the next time and controlling a movable member with a holding tool to which the stacking position is previously instructed, with the initial moving quantity until the holding tool is brought into contact with the parts as a reference. CONSTITUTION:The position of the housing case 4 of stacked parts is previously instructed to a movable member by a controller. And, when an operation is started, an adsorbing member 11 is moved to right over the parts 5 at a high speed, and a moving member 10 becomes low speed right over the parts 5 while, at the same time, the adsorbing member 11 carries out an adsorbing action to adsorb the part on the topmost site. After adsorbing, the adsorbing member 11 and moving member 10 are lifted up and moved and feeds the part to an unshown pallet. The controller stores the moving distance at this time while adding the thickness of the part 5, and calculates the next moving distance to control the movement of the moving member 10 and the adsorbing member 11. Thereby, feeding can be ensured.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention takes out and supplies stacked parts in each work cycle, and the parts are taken out and supplied by repeated movement of a holding unit in each work cycle. This invention relates to a parts supply method and its device.

[Conventional technology]

As a device for taking out and supplying a plurality of stacked parts one by one in each work cycle, there is a device shown in FIGS. 8 to 10 that is widely used.

8 and 9 use the index unit 100. On the table 110 of the index unit 100, which rotates in equal parts, a storage case 104 for storing a large number of stacked parts 105 is placed in a predetermined manner. It is placed in a divided position. In addition, a through hole 111 is formed in each of the tables 110 below the storage case 104, and a protruding rod 121 of a component ejecting cylinder 120 is provided at a predetermined position below the table 110 at the component extraction position.
is installed so as to push the parts 105 upward by predetermined openings.

Alternatively, a motor (not shown) may be used to
There is also one with 05 pushed up.

The component 105 pushed up in this way is the sensor 12
2 confirms that the component 105 has been protruded from the storage case 104 by a predetermined amount, and based on this, the holding unit 123 disposed above the component removal position holds the component 105.

Furthermore, FIG. 10 shows a device that takes out parts 105 arranged in a line from the lateral direction at a predetermined position.
is carried forward by a conveyor feeder 130, and at a predetermined position, a holding unit 133 disposed laterally
The parts 105 are taken out one by one and supplied to a predetermined position.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in such a component supply device, in order to take out the stacked components one by one from the storage case,
It is necessary to always extrude this part to a certain height, and therefore this part must be ejected from below every work cycle, which increases the number of parts that make up this feeding device and complicates the operation of the entire device. It has become.

In addition, since parts are always taken out at a fixed position, the storage case that stores these parts must be placed on the index table, and it is impossible to place the storage case in a place other than the equally divided positions. There are various problems such as not being able to do so.

[Means for solving problems]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a method and apparatus for supplying parts with a small number of parts and reliable operation. Therefore, the first invention to achieve this object is to arrange a plurality of stacked parts 5 within the working area of a movable member, and to set the position of the stacked parts 5 to the movable member in advance before starting work. On the other hand, a holding unit is attached to the tip of the movable member via a movable member 10 that is movable toward the part 5, and in the first part removal operation, the holding unit is moved to a position where it abuts the first part 5. move the
In the next component extraction operation, the moving member 10 is moved by adding a distance equal to or greater than the thickness of the previously collected component 5 to the previous movement distance, and this operation is repeated multiple times to remove the component 5 in each work cycle. This is a parts supply method in which parts are supplied by a holding unit.

Further, in the second invention, a plurality of parts 5 are stacked in the working area of the movable member, and at the position of the part 5, a movable member 10 that can move back and forth toward the part 5 is provided at the tip of the movable member. mounting, a holding unit for holding the part 5 for each work cycle is attached to the moving member 10, and a holding unit for holding the part 5 is attached to the moving member 10, and the moving member 10 is provided with a holding unit that holds the part 5 in a previous operation on the part 5 at least in the previous operation. a controller unit 30 that commands the movable member 10 to move forward by adding a distance greater than the thickness of the component;
and is further provided with a sensor means for detecting the presence or absence of the component 5 on the moving member 10, the sensor means including a first sensor 21 for detecting the presence or absence of the component 5 on the holding unit; By repeatedly holding and taking out the part 5, the thickness error of the part 5 is accumulated and the ON/OF
The second sensor 22 operates in the F direction.

[For production]

After placing the parts 5 in a stack within the working area of the movable member, the movable member is subsequently taught in advance to move to the position of these stacked parts 5. After that, when a start signal to start work is input, the moving member 10 moves forward in response to a command from the controller unit 30, and holds the parts 5 stacked and stored in the storage case 4 at a predetermined position in order from the top. . On the other hand, when the sensor means is actuated by this, the part 5
It is confirmed that the part 5 is held, and the moving member 10 moves backward while holding the part 5, and carries the part 5 to a predetermined working position. Subsequently, this moving member 10 returns to the starting position and moves forward to hold the next part 5. At this time, the moving member 10 moves forward by an amount equal to the previous movement amount plus a distance at least equal to the thickness of the component 5. In this way, the movable member 10 moves while increasing the amount of movement one after another each time the work is performed, and the work of supplying the parts 5 is repeated, so the parts 5 are taken out from the storage case 4 in which the parts 5 are stacked and stored. In addition, the storage cases 4 can be placed freely within the working area of the movable member, which simplifies the structure.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. In Fig. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes an arm of an industrial robot that rotates around a support 3 fixed on a base 2, and a movable member 1 that moves up and down in the vertical direction is attached to the tip of this arm 1.
0 is attached. At the lower end of this movable member 10, there is installed a suction member 11 as a holding unit that holds a predetermined amount of stacked parts 5 stored in the storage case 4 placed on the base 2 for each supply work cycle. I'm being kicked. Further, a storage case 4 for storing the parts 5 can be freely placed within the work area of the arm 1, and next to this base 2, parts supplied by the arm 1 of the industrial robot are placed. A conveyor 7 having a pallet 6 on which 5 is placed is arranged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a guide shaft 12 having the suction member 11 fixed to the tip thereof is movably inserted through the movable member 10, and the suction member 11 is inserted into the guide shaft 12.
A suction hole (not shown) for suctioning air from the air is provided and connected to an external suction means (not shown). On the other hand, a guide ll1Ib12 is provided at the rear end of the guide shaft 12.
At the rear, a dog 13 which also serves as a stopper is installed in a position adjustable manner, and a spring 14 is attached to the guide shaft 12 between the adsorption member 11 and the movable member 10 to elastically bias the guide shaft 12 downward at all times. is wound. Further, a sensor means operated by the dog 13 is attached to the movable member 10, and first and second sensors 21 and 22 are attached to the sensor guide 20 fixed to the movable member 10 so as to be height adjustable. ing. This first sensor 21 is connected to the adsorption member 11
The second sensor 22 is used to confirm that the component 5 is held by the component 5, and the second sensor 22 performs the work of sucking and holding the component 5 and repeatedly feeding it. In contrast, this is detected.

The first and second sensors 21 and 22 are connected to a controller section 30 shown in FIG.
When the first sensor 21 confirms that the component 5 is held, the movable member drive section 31 is controlled to move the movable member 10.
When the upper limit is reached and the second sensor 22 is activated, the accumulated error of the component 5 increases, and control is performed so that the next descent m of the moving member 10 is limited to the same maximum as this time. The control unit 9 section 30 is configured to also control a movable member drive section 32 that swings the arm 1 and a holding unit drive section 33 that drives the suction member 11.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. A predetermined amount of the storage case 4 in which a plurality of parts 5 are stacked is placed in the working area of the arm 1 on the base 2 in advance, and then the positions of these parts are taught by the controller section 30. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, when the start signal is input, the suction member 11 at the tip of the arm 1 moves to the position of the first storage case 4, as shown in FIG. The suction member 11 picks up the part 5 at high speed.
move towards. When the suction member 11 reaches directly above the component 5, the moving member 10 slows down, and at the same time, the holding unit drive section 33 is activated and air suction is started, as shown in FIG. 1 (b). Then, the top part 5
is attracted to the attraction member 11. At this time, the first sensor 21
The dog 13 of the guide shaft 12 acts on this signal and turns ON, and as a result of this signal, the guide shaft 12 rises as shown in FIG. When the part 5 reaches the predetermined position, the holding unit drive section 33 stops and the part 5 is moved to the workpiece (
(not shown).

On the other hand, during this operation, the controller section 30 stores the current moving distance of the moving member 10 and is taught the reference thickness of the component 5 in advance, so the current moving distance of the guide shaft 12, that is, The distance traveled to the current position (
The thickness of the part (acceptable value α) is added, and the next moving part 1
A movement amount of 0 is set. Note that in this example, the tolerance value α is added to (the distance traveled to the current position and the thickness of the child component), but if the thickness of the component 5 is constant, the result can be obtained without adding this tolerance value α. . After the component 5 is assembled to the workpiece in this way, the arm 1 reaches directly above the storage case 4 again, and the guide shaft 12 moves to the next component 5 by the set amount of movement at high speed. move towards. And again,
The holding unit driving section 33 is driven, and as shown in FIG. 1(D), the component 5 is sucked and held by the suction member 11, and the above operation is repeated.

On the other hand, since each part 5 has an error with respect to the standard dimension, as the above operation is repeated, the error of this part 5 gradually accumulates, and the dog 13 of the guide shaft 12 becomes as shown in FIG. Then, it acts on the second sensor 22 and turns ON. As a result, the movable member 1 in the next component extraction
Setting a movement amount of 0 means that (thickness of part 5 + tolerance α) is not added to the current movement m in the controller unit 30.
This will be the next movement amount. For this reason, Figure 2 (b)
As shown in FIG. 2, the movable member 10 moves by the same moving distance and the guide shaft 12 is always elastically biased by the spring 14, so the component 5 is attracted and held by the suction member 11.

When the component 5 is taken out as shown in FIG. 3 (A) through the above operations and the suction member 11 is placed in the empty storage case 4, the dog 13 acts on the first and second sensors 21 and 22. After a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the suction member 11 rises, and as shown in FIG.
The above operations are repeated. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first
, when the second sensor 21, 22 turns OFF, the arm 1 moves to the next storage case 4. Instead, the lower limit of the movable member 10 is taught in advance, and the movable member 10 moves to this lower limit. When the arm 1 reaches the storage case 4, the arm 1 may move to the next storage case 4.

In this embodiment, the arm 1 pivots around the support 3.
Although the suction member 11 is attached to the tip of the robot, instead of this, it may be attached to the frame 8 as a movable member of the orthogonal coordinate type robot shown in FIG. You can also do that. Moreover, in this embodiment, the suction member 11 is used as a holding unit to suction and hold the component 5, but the component 5 may be gripped by a holding claw (not shown). Furthermore, in these embodiments, the moving member 10 is moved up and down to take out and supply the parts 5, but it is also possible to arrange the moving member 10 horizontally to take out and supply the parts 5.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the embodiments described above, the present invention changes the amount of movement of the moving member 10 each time the component 5 is taken out and supplied.
This is a method in which the amount of movement is increased one after another by adding a distance equal to or greater than the thickness of the part 5.Moreover, a moving member 10 having a holding unit at the tip is arranged at the tip of the movable member, and this movement This is a parts supply device in which the movement M of the member 10 is controlled by a controller unit 30, and the moving member 10 is sequentially moved forward to take out and supply parts 5 one after another.

For this reason, parts can be stacked and placed at any position within the working area of the movable member, and by simply moving the holding unit to that position, it is possible to easily take out the parts one by one and supply them to the desired position. . In addition, there is no need to push out these stacked parts to the height at which they are taken out each time a work is done, and it is also no longer necessary to carry and position the stacked parts to the take-out position each time they run out. No equipment is required, and the structure becomes simpler. Additionally, laminated parts can be placed freely within the working area of this arm, making effective use of limited space and reducing setup time by reducing the amount of time spent stacking and arranging parts in the storage case. Various effects can be obtained, such as:

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an operation diagram showing one cycle of parts removal work in the present invention, Fig. 1 (a) shows the start of the work, and Fig.
Figure 1 (b) shows when the topmost part is being picked up, Figure 1 (c) shows when the part is being held by suction, Figure 1 (d) shows when the next part is being picked up, and Figure 2 shows when the next part is being picked up. These are operation diagrams showing when the cumulative error is activated. Figure 2 (a) shows when the second sensor is activated, Figure 2 (b) shows when the cumulative error is resolved, and Figure 3 shows the operation when the second sensor is activated. These are operation diagrams showing the movement from the case to the storage case that stores the next laminated component. Figure 3 (a) shows the movement to the empty storage case, and Figure 3 (b) shows the movement to the next storage case. 4 shows a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention, FIG. 5 shows a system block diagram showing the present invention, and FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the present invention. 7 is a schematic overall perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a sectional front view of a main part showing a conventional example; FIG. 9 is a plan view of main parts of FIG. 8; FIG. 10 is a front view of main parts showing another conventional example. 1 is the arm, 2 is the base, 3 is the support, 4 is the storage case, 5 is the parts,
6 is a pallet, 7 is a conveyor, 8 is a frame, 10 is a moving member, 11 is a suction part shrine, 12 is a guide shaft, 13 is a dog, 14 is a spring, 20 is a sensor guide, 21 is a first sensor, 22 is a first sensor 2
Sensor, 30 is a controller section, 31 is a movable member drive section, 32 is a movable member drive section, 33 is a holding unit drive section - Patent applicant Nitto Seiko Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A plurality of parts 5 stacked within the working area of the movable member
The position of the stacked parts 5 is taught to the movable member in advance before the start of work, and on the other hand, a holding unit is attached to the tip of the movable member via a movable member 10 that is movable toward the parts 5. Moreover, in the first component extraction operation, the holding unit is moved to the position where it contacts the first component 5, and in the next component extraction operation, the previous moving distance is at least equal to or greater than the thickness of the previously extracted component 5. A component supply method characterized in that the moving member 10 is moved by an additional distance, and this operation is repeated a plurality of times to supply the component 5 by a holding unit for each work cycle. 2) Place a plurality of stacked parts 5 in the work area of the movable member, attach a movable member 10 that can move back and forth toward the part 5 to the tip of the movable member at the position of the movable member 5; A holding unit for holding the part 5 for each work cycle is attached to the moving member 10, and the movement distance of the holding unit for holding the part 5 in the previous operation on the part 5 is at least equal to or greater than the thickness of the part taken out last time. A component supply device, characterized in that a controller unit 30 is connected to instruct the movable member 10 to move forward by adding a distance, and further comprises a sensor means for detecting the presence or absence of a component 5 in the holding unit. 3) The sensor means includes a first sensor 21 that detects the presence or absence of the component 5 in the holding unit, and when the component 5 is repeatedly held and taken out, the thickness error of the component 5 is accumulated and the sensor is turned on.
3. The component supply device according to claim 2, further comprising a second sensor 22 that is turned off.