JPH02122195A - Ingot supplying conveyer, machine and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ingot supplying device which is stable and allows a high degree of freedom by making up the device with a centering unit comprising a centering air cylinder, a carrier plate fastening air cylinder, ball bearings. etc., and a centering base unit and a chain conveyer having a sensor to determine a home position from among multi-level selections. CONSTITUTION:Metal ingots 50 is carried on an ingot carrier plate 83 which is fastened by a carrier plate fastening air cylinder 82 which is a part of a centering unit 8, and is adjusted its direction on ball bearings 84 as the fastening of the ingot carrier plate 83 is released by a load fastening air cylinder 85. It is then placed in the predetermined position as it is pressed toward a normal direction reference plate 88 with a gap inbetween by raising a centering plate 86 with a centering air cylinder 87. The plate 86 is then retracted to fasten the carrier plate 83 by the load fastening air cylinder 85. and the metal ingot 50 is placed on the chain 15 to be set in the first home position. It is then moved laterally to be set in the second position 3 by means of a second home position sensor 31.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Utilization Meter] The present invention automatically processes metal ingots in post-processes such as melting, machining, heat treatment, etc. while they are stacked in multiple stages and placed in a fixed position. An ingot feeder for stably gripping and feeding the ingot, and an ingot feeder for continuously transferring the ingot to a fixed position of the ingot feeder, such as the ingot feeder or other general-purpose robot, based on instructions from the ingot feeder or the ingot feeder. This invention relates to an ingot feeding device that is capable of continuously and automatically feeding a large amount of metal ingots one by one by combining a conveyor for an ingot feeding device and the above-mentioned ingot feeding device and a conveyor for an ingot feeding device. .

[Prior Art and its Problems] Conventionally, various devices have been used to automatically feed metal ingots to a melting furnace or the like or for machining.

For example, when supplying a large quantity to a large melting furnace, etc., various conveyors, lifters, cranes, etc. are used, and when supplying pieces one by one, articulated general-purpose robots and packaging from an ingot casting line are used. In many cases, the system for this purpose was modified and used freely.

In recent years, patent application number 63-22207 in Figure 2
Devices that are capable of stably supplying single ingots at low cost, such as the example of invention 2, have also appeared and are achieving good results.

However, the initial cost and running cost of general-purpose robots and dynamic devices from ingot casting lines are relatively high, and although they may be tried on prototyping lines and development lines, they are not suitable for production of general-purpose products that require strict cost calculations. It can be said that it is difficult to use it for lines etc. from an economic principle, and in the case of the example of the invention shown in Figure 2, if the amount required per hour by the supplied device is large, the frequency of reloading of metal ingots stacked in more than 10 tiers will increase. In practice, it is about once an hour, for example, in the case of aluminum ingots, the weight of a single ingot is 500 kg per hour.
However, it was difficult to supply single ingots in larger quantities.

Furthermore, there is no inexpensive means for transporting a general-purpose robot or the like to a fixed position for efficient continuous use.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is intended to further strengthen the ability of an inexpensive, stable and reliable ingot feeding machine that can be used in a production line for general-purpose products, or to We provide an inexpensive conveyor device for ingot feeders that efficiently and continuously utilizes ingot feeders such as robots, and stably delivers ingots stacked in multiple stages in a fixed position one by one to the equipment being fed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive ingot feeder and an ingot feeder that can be used for multiple purposes with a high degree of freedom and at low cost by combining the two.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the structure of a conveyor device for an ingot feeder, an ingot feeder, and an ingot feeder constructed by combining these, according to an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a front view, (b) is a side view, and (C) is a plan view.

500kg made up of around 100 single ingots
The metal ingot 50 carrying the above-mentioned load, the centering unit 8, and the centering base unit 2 are placed on top of the centering base unit 2, which can stably hold all the loads. is gently placed on an ingot loading plate 83 fixed by a loading plate fixing air cylinder 82 equipped with a loading plate fixing handle 81 constituting the centering unit 8.

Turn off the loading plate fixing switch on the control panel of the conveyor device for the ingot feeder (not shown), and the air cylinder 85 for fixing the metal ingot 50 on the ball bearing 84 constituting the centering unit 8 by the air cylinder 82 for fixing the loading plate. Ingot loading plate 83
The fixation of the ingot loading plate 83, which can be freely moved with a small amount of human power as long as the degree of freedom of the metal ingots 50 is not lost, is released, and the direction of the metal ingots 50 is corrected manually in a fixed direction (not shown).

At this time, when the centering push button on the control panel for the ingot feeder conveyor (not shown) is pressed to turn on, the centering plate 86 is erected by the centering air cylinder 87.

Then, the metal ingot 50 is lightly pressed against the centering plate 86 by human power while maintaining a slight gap, for example, 10 mm, between the metal ingot 50 and the orthogonal reference plate 88. The metal ingot is now placed in a fixed position on the centering unit 8.

Furthermore, when the load fixing switch on the control panel for the ingot feeder conveyor (not shown) is pressed, the centering plate 86 is pressed.
is brought down by the centering air cylinder 87, and the load fixing air cylinder 85 works to move the ingot loading plate 83
is fixed together with the metal ingot 50.

Here, when a lift-down switch (not shown) on the control panel of the conveyor device for the ingot feeder is pressed, the lift of the lift-down air cylinder 21 is released, and the centering unit 8 descends together with the metal ingots 50, and the chain constituting the chain conveyor 1 A metal ingot 50 is placed on top of the metal ingot 15, and the metal ingot 50 is further lowered.

The lift-down air cylinder 21 lowers all the mechanisms of the centering unit 8, including the ingot loading plate 83, to a position where they do not interfere with the movement of the chain conveyor, and then stops.

In this way, - units of metal ingots are set at the first fixed position of the conveyor device in one embodiment of the present invention.

When the ingot movement switch (not shown) on the control panel of the conveyor device for the ingot feeder is pressed, the metal ingot 50 moves laterally on the chain conveyor 1, and when detected by the second fixed position sensor 31, the metal ingot 50 moves horizontally on the chain conveyor 1. The operation is stopped, and the first metal ingot 50 is set at the second fixed position 3 of the chain conveyor 1.

Then, press the centering unit original position pushbutton on the control panel of the conveyor device for the ingot feeder (not shown) to return all of the centering unit 8 and centering base unit 2 to their original positions, and stack them in another dozen or so tiers. The process is repeated by transporting the metal ingot with a forklift or the like and placing it on the ingot loading plate 83.

However, there are some conditions for stopping the chain conveyor in a fixed position after the second loading.

In other words, the command to stop the chain conveyor 1 is given when the second loaded metal ingot is detected by the second fixed position sensor 31 at the second fixed position 3. It is given priority that the ingot fixed position sensor 41 detects that the ingot has moved from the position 3 to the ingot fixed position 4 for the ingot feeder 20 .

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, one more unit of metal ingots can be placed on the chain conveyor, so the same loading operation is repeated for the second time.

However, in this case, of course, the chain conveyor will not be operated.

Here, in the case of combination with the ingot feeder 20 in the embodiment of the present invention, the metal ingot 50 is packed with thin metal or resin hands, so all three sets of hands are cut and removed.

Furthermore, depending on the packaging specifications of the metal ingots 50, it may be necessary to manually correct the orientation of the single ingots in the upper tier by hand.

Similarly, depending on the packaging specifications of the metal ingot 50, for example, in the case of a forklift, a base material, also known as a geta, for inserting a fork is placed under the single ingot in the lower layer. This base material is not supplied to the supplied device by the ingot feeder 20, but is discharged from the chain conveyor 1 onto the floor by the base material discharge chute 5.

When used in combination with an expensive general-purpose robot rather than in combination with the ingot feeder 20 as in the above embodiment, cutting and removing the band, correcting the orientation of the uppermost ingot, and ejecting the base ingot can be performed. There is no need for

In the above embodiment, three sets of metal ingots 50 are loaded at fixed positions on the chain conveyor 1 and are sequentially supplied to other equipment by the ingot feeder 20, but depending on the operating conditions of the factory in which it is used, the number of sets of metal ingots is 12-2. Alternatively, it is possible to easily load four or more sets of metal ingots 50 at fixed positions by changing the specifications of the chain conveyor 1.

In this embodiment, if three sets of metal ingots 50 are set in fixed positions on the conveyor device for the ingot feeder,
On the ingot feeder control panel (not shown), the number of stages and the required number of rows of groups are input as packaging specifications for each of the three sets of metal ingots 50. If the lamp on the ingot feeder control panel (not shown) does not indicate that the ingot feeder is in its original position,
By pressing the home position command push button switch, the positioning chucking unit 7, rotation axis unit 9, vertical movement rack unit 11, slide unit 10, and air cylinder 51 for moving the feeder forward and backward are operated to the home position programmed in advance. The camera will return to its original position and the lamp mentioned above will be displayed.

[Ingot feeder control not shown here] 3 If the operation selection switch on the panel is set to automatic, the supply of single ingots to other equipment to be supplied (not shown) will be automatically based on the supply command from the other equipment to be supplied. This process is repeated until all single ingots of the three sets of metal ingots have been fed.

Subsequently, automatic operation of the ingot feeder 20 in the present invention based on this embodiment will be explained below.

When an ingot supply command is issued from another equipment to be supplied (not shown) and accepted by the ingot feeder control panel (not shown), the positioning chucking unit 7 and It is determined whether the positional relationship in the original position of the metal ingot 50 with the single ingot in the upper row is a relatively parallel relationship or a right-angled crossing relationship, and if it is a right-angled crossing relationship, a chuck line (not shown) is connected to the marine electromagnetic A command is received from the ingot feeder control panel (not shown) to operate the air cylinder 91 for chuck rotation to the valve, and the rotation axis unit 9 is rotated by 90 degrees.] 4- If the relationship is parallel, continue as is and proceed to the next operation. Move.

Subsequently, in the positioning chucking unit 7, the ingot detection photosensor 17 detects the topmost stage of the metal ingot 50 by the downward movement of the vertical movement unit composed of the vertical movement rack unit 11, the slide unit 10, and the chuck vertical movement motor 16. Descend until it is detected.

Here, the two ingot detection photosensors 17 mentioned above are arranged on a line that intersects at right angles to the straight line connecting the two ingot search photosensors 71 of the positioning chucking unit 7, so that the ingots are continuously supplied. It is possible to detect the top stage at that point in the process.

The positioning chucking unit 7 is a metal ingot 50
When the chuck lateral movement motor 72 moves and the positioning chucking unit 7 moves leftward, it stops when the ingot search photosensor 71 searches for a single ingot.

Immediately, the chuck air slide block 74 to which the two sets of ingot chucks 73 are attached is operated by a chuck opening/closing electromagnetic valve (not shown), and the ingot chuck 73 grips the single ingot.

Then, the above-mentioned vertical movement unit performs a lifting operation, and while holding the single ingot in the positioning and chucking unit 7, it moves up until the lift limit switch 95 is activated.

If a supply command is received from another equipment to be supplied and a turning operation was performed at the original position, a reverse rotation is performed here.

The positioning chucking unit 7 now moves to the right in the direction of the original position, is stopped by the limit switch 75, and then moves to the single ingot receiving section of another equipment to be supplied (not shown) located in front of the main ingot feeder 20. The supply machine moves forward by a forward and backward movement unit that is moved by the driving force of the air cylinder 51 for forward and backward movement.

When the positioning chucking unit 7 reaches the single ingot receiving part of the other equipment to be supplied (not shown) by the air cylinder 51 for forward and backward movement of the feeder, the single ingot of the ingot chuck 73 is moved by the chuck air slide lock 74. Release the grip and supply the single ingot to other equipment to be supplied.

Immediately, the positioning unit 7 moves backward to the original position and stops.

This completes one cycle of supplying single ingots to other equipment to be supplied.

Thereafter, as soon as a supply command is received from another equipment to be supplied, the automatic series of operations of the ingot supplying machine 20 are performed to feed a set of metal ingots 50 placed at the ingot fixed position 4 on the conveyor device 1 for the ingot supplying machine. Repeat until all single ingots have been fed.

In this process, once the initially input number of rows has been supplied, the turning operation at the original position will no longer be performed if it had been performed at 90 degrees, and will be performed if it had not previously been performed. That is, the alignment direction of the single ingots is determined for each stage, and the single ingots are reliably grasped at each stage and supplied to other equipment to be supplied.

When the series of operations is repeated and the supply of all single ingots of the set of metal ingots 50 placed at the ingot fixed position 4 on the conveyor 1 for the ingot supply machine is completed, the ingot supply (not shown) is completed. A chain conveyor operation command is issued from the machine control panel to the conveyor device control panel for the ingot feeder.

When a control panel for a conveyor device for an ingot feeder (not shown) receives a chain conveyor operation command, the chain conveyor 1 operates the metal ingot 50 at the second fixed position until the ingot fixed position sensor 41 detects the ingot fixed position. When the sensor 41 detects the detection and the chain conveyor 1 stops, the metal ingot 50 at the second set mouth is set at the ingot fixed position 4 on the chain comparer, and the metal ingot 50 at the third set mouth is set at the second fixed position 4 on the chain conveyor 1. This means that it is set to position 3.

When the third set of metal ingots 50 is detected by the ingot fixed position sensor 41 and the chain conveyor 1 is stopped, the ingot feeder 20 waits for a feed command from other equipment to be fed on the ingot feeder control panel (not shown). state.

When the ingot feeder control panel (not shown) receives a feed command from another equipment to be fed, a series of automatic operations are repeated based on the third set of metal ingot packaging specification data that is input first.

When the supply of the third set of metal ingots 50 is completed in the same way as the first set, a series of operations starts from moving the third set of metal ingots 50 from the second fixed position 3 on the chain conveyor 1 to the ingot fixed position 4. Same as above.

In this way, when the supply of the third set of metal ingots 50 is completed for the second set, all of the metal ingots 5o on the chain conveyor have been supplied to other equipment (not shown). This will be notified by a buzzer, warning light, etc., and the transportation will be repeated using a forklift or the like.

As described above, if the ingot feeder 20 and the ingot feeder single conveyor assembly N1 are used in an integrated manner,
An ingot supplying device that has a high degree of freedom, is inexpensive, and can be used for multiple purposes is established.

In the above embodiments, electric motors, air cylinders, air slide blocks, etc. are used as individual drive sources. Any mechanism can be used as long as it has a forward and backward movement function.

Similarly, although photosensors are used for ingot detection and searching, these sensors may also be used as long as they have basic detection capabilities.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention allows metal ingots, which are stacked in more than ten tiers with each tier being alternately intertwined, to be continuously and stably reliably produced for various purposes. We have realized an ingot feeder, a conveyor device for the ingot feeder, and an ingot feeder that can automatically feed ingots one by one to a large number of facilities with sufficient economy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an ingot feeder conveyor device and an ingot feeder related to an embodiment of the present invention, and an ingot feeder formed by combining them, with (a) being a front view and (b) being a side view. , (C) is a plan view. FIG. 2 is a diagram related to the invention of patent application number 63-222072, in which (a) is a front view, (b) is a side view, (C,
) is a plan view. 1... Chain conveyor 2... Centering base unit 3... Second fixed position 4... Ingot fixed position 5... Base material discharge chute 6... Frame unit 8. 12. 15. 16. 20 ・ 74 ・ ・Positioning chucking unit ・Centering unit ・Swivel axis unit ・Slide unit ・Vertical movement rack unit Movable line unit ・Chain ・Motor for vertical movement Ingot detection photo sensor ・Ingot feeder ・Lift down air cylinder ・Second Fixed position sensor, ingot fixed position sensor, metal ingot, air cylinder for forward and backward movement of feeder, ingot search photo sensor, chuck left and right movement motor, ingot chuck, air slide block for chuck, right-hand movement limit switch 81...loading Plate fixing handle 82... Loading plate fixing air cylinder 83... Ingot loading plate 84... Ball bear 85... Load fixing air cylinder 86... Centering plate 87... Centering air cylinder 88. . . . Perpendicular direction reference plate 89 . . Centering base 91 . = 23 Procedural amendment (method) Indication of case 2, Name of invention Conveyor device for ingot feeding machine, ingot feeding machine, and person who amended the ingot feeding device Relationship with the case Patent applicant (dispatch port) Showa-1999 January 1st, 5, Column 6 of "2. Scope of Claims" of the specification to be amended and "2. Scope of Claims" in the description of the contents of the amendment shall be amended as shown in the attached sheet. 2. Scope of Claims ■ A device that receives metal ingots stacked in more than ten stages, with each stage being alternately intertwined, transported by a transport means such as a forklift, and easily and stably supplies the metal ingots one by one. Inboll supplying single inbobo +- to
-f A centering air cylinder equipped with a centering plate that can be placed in a fixed position on a chain conveyor to be transferred to a fixed position of an ingot supply device such as a mutual feeder or a general-purpose robot, a perpendicular direction reference plate, and an ingot loading plate. a centering unit consisting of a loading plate fixing air cylinder with a loading plate fixing handle, a plurality of ball pairs for moving the ingot loading plate with a small amount of human power, and a plurality of load fixing air cylinders; Stably holding the metal ingots stacked in more than ten stages loaded on the centering unit and in a relative positional relationship with the chain conveyor, together with the centering unit, and lowering the metal ingots onto the chain conveyor. A centering base unit consisting of a centering base equipped with four sets of lift-down air cylinders and a stand that stably holds the load containing the metal ingots, and a centering base unit that can be used as an ingot feeder or a general-purpose robot 1. A conveyor device for an ingot feeder, comprising: a chain conveyor having a sensor for determining the fixed position in multiple stages in order to transfer the ingot to the fixed position of the ingot feeder. ■ Placed in a fixed position on the conveyor device for the ingot feeder, or placed in a fixed position on another fixed-position transfer device, the ingots are stacked in more than ten stages, alternating each other. Search from the top to the bottom of the metal ingot in the height direction, and when supplying the metal ingot to other equipment to be supplied, search the height to a position that will not interfere with other mechanisms related to the present invention or other equipment to be supplied. A vertical movement unit consisting of a slide unit that moves up and down in the horizontal direction, a vertical movement rack unit, and a chuck up and down motor automatically moves the metal ingots to 90 degrees depending on the direction in which the metal ingots are alternately interlaced and stacked in each row. A pivot unit for rotating the positioning chucking unit described below, and two sets of search units for the height and row-related positions of the metal ingots to be supplied when supplying the metal ingots one by one to other equipment to be supplied. a positioning chucking unit that uses a sensor to search and properly and stably grips each metal ingot one by one; and a positioning chucking unit located in front of the ingot feeder of the present invention to feed the metal ingots one by one from the ingot feeder of the present invention. A forward and backward movement unit consisting of an air cylinder for forward and backward movement of the feeder and a solenoid valve for forward and backward movement of the feeder for moving the chucking unit to the metal ingot receiving part of the other equipment to be supplied, and a control panel (not shown) A movable line unit and a movable line unit to ensure that the signal lines and power lines supplied from 1. An ingot feeder comprising: a stand unit capable of safely holding an ingot for a long period of time; (2) An ingot feeding device characterized by being realized by combining the conveyor device for an ingot feeding device as set forth in claim (2) and the ingot feeding machine as set forth in claim (2).

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Receive metal ingots stacked in more than ten tiers, alternating each tier, transported by a transportation means such as a forklift, and easily and stably supply single ingots one by one to the supplied device. A centering air cylinder equipped with a centering plate that can be placed in a fixed position on a chain conveyor to transfer the ingot to a fixed position in an ingot feeding device such as an ingot feeding machine or a general-purpose robot, a perpendicular direction reference plate, an ingot loading plate, and a loading plate. A centering unit consisting of an air cylinder for fixing the loading plate with a handle for fixing the plate, multiple ball bearings for moving the ingot loading plate with a small amount of human power, and multiple air cylinders for fixing the load, and a centering unit on the centering unit. 4 sets capable of stably holding the metal ingots stacked in more than ten stages, which are stacked in a relative position to the chain conveyor, together with the centering unit, and lowering the metal ingots onto the chain conveyor. A centering base unit consisting of a centering base equipped with a lift-down air cylinder and a stand that stably holds a payload containing the metal ingot, and an ingot feeding device such as the ingot feeding machine or a general-purpose robot. 1. A conveyor device for an ingot feeder, comprising: a chain conveyor having a sensor for determining a multi-stage fixed position for transporting an ingot to a fixed position; (2) The ingots are placed in a fixed position on the conveyor device for the ingot feeder, or are placed in a fixed position by another fixed-position transfer device, and are stacked in more than ten stages while being alternately interlaced. Search in the height direction from the top to the bottom of the metal ingot, and when supplying the metal ingot to other equipment to be supplied, reach a position that will not interfere with other mechanisms related to the present invention or other equipment to be supplied. A vertical movement unit consisting of a slide unit that moves up and down in the height direction, a vertical movement rack unit, and a motor for raising and lowering the chuck automatically rotates the vertically A pivot unit for rotating the positioning chucking unit described below, and two sets of searches for positions related to the height and row of metal ingots to be supplied when supplying the metal ingots one by one to other equipment to be supplied. a positioning chucking unit for searching and stably gripping each metal ingot one by one using a sensor; A forward and backward movement unit consisting of an air cylinder for forward and backward movement of the feeder and a solenoid valve for forward and backward movement of the feeder for moving the chucking unit to the metal ingot receiving part of the other equipment to be supplied, and a control (not shown) The movable line unit and the above units are stabilized to ensure that the signal lines and power lines supplied from the panel and the pneumatic piping connected to the external pneumatic source are operated while being safely protected without being damaged during operation. 1. An ingot feeder comprising a stand unit that can be safely held for a long period of time. (3) An ingot feeding device characterized by being realized by combining the conveyor device for an ingot feeding device according to claim 2 and an ingot feeding device.