JPH02291313A - Pneumatic part feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To feed lightweight, thin parts to be supplied by bringing an air blower port to the bottom of a circular cone, and injecting air along the internal surface of horizontally rotating circular cone. CONSTITUTION:Parts to be supplied are subjected to centrifugal forces by rotation of a conical bowl, and shifted to the outer periphery of the conical bowl. At this time, forcing-up air flow is utilized to obtain air-rotation sufficient to displace the required number of parts. Because the forcing-up air flow 21 enters between the surface of the conical bowl and the parts to be supplied and lifts up the parts, the parts are shifted to a track 2 by a small volume of air. The parts to be supplied shifted to the track 2 are circulated with the rotation of the conical bowl, and only the parts having a specified posture reach a discharge port 15 through a part-straightening wall 10 fixed to an outer wall 11. The parts to be supplied having bad posture are removed from the track 2 by the part-straightening wall 10, and pushed up to the bottom of the conical bowl by part-removing air flow 22 from a part-removing nozzle 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to the supply of parts. It is a well-known fact that a stable supply of parts is an essential task for automation, including automatic assembly, and that the success or failure of this automation determines the success or failure of automation. The present invention relates to automatic supply as part of automation, and can be used in all industrial fields where automation is performed. Conventional technology Conventional parts feeding was mainly done by vibrating parts feeding machines, but these vibrating parts feeding machines had a slow feeding speed, caused damage to the parts to be fed due to vibration, and caused vibrations and noise in the workplace environment. This made it worse. The revolving type parts feeder described in Patent Publication No. 024286 of 1982, which was invented by the applicant earlier, has a circular aligning track with a rotating disc in the center and a hemispherical falling-off prevention wall around the disc. Although there was relatively little damage to the supplied parts, damage to the supplied parts could occur due to improperly positioned parts falling during alignment from the truck to the disc.
In addition, the rotary parts feeder described in Utility Model Publication No. 12290 of 1972 feeds by horizontally rotating a convex disk, but it is not possible to remove parts that are incorrectly positioned. This method could only be applied to supplied parts with simple shapes such as shapes. Furthermore, in the parts alignment and feeding device described in Published Patent Publication No. 131260 of 1975, a guide plate is fixed to the inner surface of a mortar-shaped bowl that rotates horizontally, and the guide plate pushes the parts to be fed onto the outer track. However, since the track is integrated with the bowl, the speed of the truck must be suitable for perfect alignment due to the interaction between the supplied parts and the alignment attachment. , the rotation of the bowl is determined by the peripheral speed of the track. As a result, a large amount of parts to be supplied in the bowl hit the guide plate and end up getting onto the truck or climbing over the guide plate, which not only makes it impractical, but also thin parts to be supplied in the guide plate and bowl. Occasionally, jamming occurred between the parts, making it impossible to supply the product. In addition, the applicant's invention was first published in 1986, as published in Patent Publication No. 1.
In the feeding method and feeding machine described in No. 39809, an alignment track was provided on the outside of the conical bowl, and the whole was tilted to facilitate the transfer of the parts to be fed from the bowl to the track. However, supplied parts that tend to roll easily fall off the top of the truck, reducing supply efficiency and limiting the shapes of supplied parts that can be applied. In addition, an air jet is used to assist the transfer from the bowl to the truck, but since the air is blown from above, the parts to be supplied are pressed against the bowl, and the efficiency of transferring the parts to the truck is not good.
Therefore, the present invention is intended to eliminate this drawback. Problems to be Solved by the Invention In order to facilitate the movement of supplied parts from the bowl to the truck, conventionally the conical bowl was tilted and the movement was assisted with air. By tilting the bowl, the truck rotated tilted, causing a problem. Also, since air assistance was performed from the L side, the air pushed the supplied parts while pressing them against the bowl, increasing friction against movement. The purpose of the present invention is to move the air blowout to the bottom of the cone and inject the air along the inner surface of the cone, thereby introducing the air flow under the parts to be supplied and blowing them away while lifting the parts to be supplied. It is.
By doing this, the axis of rotation of the conical bowl can be set vertically and the truck can be rotated on water, which greatly expands the range of applicable shapes of parts to be supplied. Means for Solving the Problems Figure 1 is an overhead view of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view thereof. The parts feeder to which the present invention is applied is a rotary type parts feeder, which will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 2, the base 4 is supported by members not shown. A rotating shaft 3 is rotatably supported on the base 4 via a bearing 5. The upper end of the rotating shaft 3 is fixed to the center of the bottom of a conical pole 1 that is open upward, and an annular track 2 is fastened and integrated with the outer periphery of the upper end of the conical pole 1. Rotating shaft 3 and conical pole 1
The track 2 is installed so as to be perpendicular to the central axis of the track 2. The track 2 is surrounded by an outer wall 11 fixed to the base 4. An alignment wall 10 is fastened to the outer wall 11 with an appropriate member so that the lower end of the alignment wall 10 is directly above the track 2, and the parts to be supplied are caught between the track 2 and the lower end of the alignment wall IO. It will be adjusted so that there is no In the present invention, in order to move the supplied parts fed into the conical bowl 1 to the track 2 in this rotary parts feeder, an air flow is created from the center of the conical bowl 1 toward the track 2. A means for spraying the supplied parts is installed so that the supplied parts are not accumulated up to the top of the conical bowl 1 in the area where the supplied parts are carefully selected, and this does not impede the removal of the supplied parts in an incorrect orientation. The solution is to install a means of jetting air to eliminate it. The rotating shaft 3 is shaped like a pipe, and an air pipe 6 is provided passing through the rotating shaft 3.
An injection port 8 at the lower end of the air pipe 3 is connected to an air pressure source (not shown), and an injection port 9 is provided at the upper end of the air pipe 3. The nozzle 9 is connected to the upper part of the air pipe 6 so that the injected air forms a jet stream along the surface of the conical pole l from the bottom of the conical pole l toward the track 2. It is installed on the side of the
The lower side of the injection port 9 forms the same surface as the bottom of the conical bowl 1. In order to remove the parts to be supplied that remain in the upper part of the conical bowl 1 at the alignment part, a removal nozzle l6 is provided inside the inner edge of the track 2 in the alignment part to inject air from above, and the air flow causes the parts to be supplied to the conical bowl. Push it towards the bottom of l. Operation The operation of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Since the rotating shaft 3 is rotated by a motor (not shown), the conical bowl 1 connected to the rotating shaft 3 is rotating. The inlet 8 of the air tube 6 is connected to a pneumatic source so that the air is pushed up from the injection port 9 at the upper part of the air tube 6 by the upward air flow 2 shown by the dashed line in FIG.
1 and is ejected along the surface of conical bowl 1 toward track 2. Further, an expelled air flow 22 is ejected from an expelling nozzle 16 provided on the inside of the track from inside the inner edge of the track along the surface of the conical bowl 1 so as to approach the center of the cone from a tangent in the rotational direction of the conical bowl. ．． The parts to be supplied are placed into the conical bowl l. The parts to be supplied on the conical bowl 1 are subjected to centrifugal force by the rotation of the conical bowl 1 and are moved to the outside of the conical bowl 1, but the rotation of the conical bowl 1 causes the parts to be supplied on the conical bowl 1 to Since it is determined by the optimum rotation speed for uniform alignment and the feeding speed of the supplied parts, the speed from conical pole 1 to track 2
It is difficult to obtain sufficient rotation to move the required number of parts to be supplied. Therefore, the force of the upward airflow is used. The parts to be supplied in front of the injection port 9 of the air pipe 6 are pushed up toward the truck by the upward air flow 21 ejected from the injection port 9, and are transferred to the truck 2. At this time, the upward air flow 21 enters between the surface of the conical bowl 1 and the parts to be supplied and lifts the parts to be supplied, so that the parts to be supplied are transferred to the truck 2 with a small amount of air. The supplied parts transferred to the truck 2 rotate with the rotation of the conical pole 1, and only those in the desired attitude reach the discharge port 15 due to the alignment wall 10 fixed to the outer wall 11. Aligned wall 1
0, the supplied parts with incorrect orientation are removed from the track 2. However, if there are supplied parts stored in the conical bowl l up to the upper end of the conical bowl l, the supplied parts with incorrect orientation are removed from the track 2. I can't. A removal nozzle 16 is installed upstream from the place where the incorrectly oriented supplied parts are removed, and the supplied parts inside the truck 2 are removed from the removal nozzle 16.
The removed airflow 22 pushes the conical bowl 1 down toward the bottom, and a space is formed for the rejected incorrectly oriented supplied parts by the alignment wall lO, so that all the incorrectly oriented supplied parts are removed. , only the supplied parts in the normal position reach the discharge port 15. Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The base 4 is supported by members not shown. A pipe-shaped rotating shaft 3 is rotatably supported on the base 4 via a bearing 5. The upper end of the rotating shaft 3 is fixed to the center of the bottom of the conical pole 1, and an annular track 2 is fastened to the outer periphery of the upper end of the conical pole 1 and integrated therewith. The track 2 is surrounded by an outer wall 11 fixed to the base 4. A leveling wall 10 is formed on the outer wall 11 by using appropriate members.
It is fastened so that the lower end of the O is directly above the track 2, and the parts to be supplied are adjusted so as not to get caught between the track 2 and the lower end of the alignment wall 10. An injection port 9 is opened along the surface of the conical pole 1 at the upper end of an air pipe 6 that penetrates through the pipe-shaped rotating shaft 3 and is fixed to the base plate 4 by a support member 7. Inlet 8 is connected to a pneumatic source (not shown). The parts to be supplied placed on top of the conical pole l are rotated on the conical pole l, and the parts to be supplied which have arrived in front of the injection port 9 are pushed up in order by an air flow of 2 l toward the retruck 2. Since the injection port 9 is installed parallel to the bottom of the conical bowl 1, the upward airflow 21 is injected while adhering to the surface of the suction bowl l, flows into the lower side of the parts to be supplied, and pushes the parts to be supplied into the conical bowl. Since the parts to be supplied are pushed up while floating, the friction between the conical pawls of the supplied parts is reduced, making it easier to push them up. At the tip of the upward air flow 2l shown in Fig. 1, the parts to be supplied are transferred to the truck 2, and the truck 2 is fixed to the conical pole l.
The supplied parts rotate along the alignment wall 10 due to the rotation of the parts. An alignment attachment (not shown) is installed on the alignment wall 10, and the parts to be supplied are aligned in the desired posture. The part where this alignment is performed is called the alignment part. At the alignment site, parts that are in the correct position are passed through depending on the position of the center of gravity, height, etc., and parts that are in an incorrect position are removed from the truck 2. Cone pole 1 for elimination
If there is no room to remove the incorrectly oriented supplied parts from the supplied parts in the conical pole 1, the incorrectly oriented supplied parts that should be removed remain on track 2 12, causing an error in alignment. At the alignment site, the removal nozzle 16 installed above the inner edge of the track 2 injects the removal air flow 22 toward the top of the conical bowl 1 in the rotational direction to remove the parts to be supplied at the top of the conical bowl 1. It is pushed toward the bottom of the conical bowl l, making room for the incorrectly oriented supplied parts to be removed from the track 2. In this way, the parts to be supplied are aligned, and by the rotation of the truck 2, only the parts to be supplied in the normal position are placed at the discharge port 15.
It reaches the point where it is supplied to the outside. Effects of the Invention The present invention has not only made it possible to reduce the weight and supply even thin parts to be supplied, but also made it possible to supply fragile parts in an aligned manner. Therefore, the present invention greatly contributes to automatic supply and eventually automation.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 An overhead view of the present invention l: conical bowl, 2: track, 6: air pipe, 9: injection port, 10: uniform wall, l1: outer wall, 152 Vent. l6:
Exclusion nozzle, 21: Upward air flow, 22: Exclusion air flow FIG. 2 Cross-sectional view of the present invention l: Conical bowl. 2: Track, 3: Rotating shaft, 4: Base, 5: Bearing, 6: Air pipe, 7: Support member, 8: Inlet, 9: Injection port, 10: Aligning wall, 11: Outer wall, 12: Motor Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] a rotating hollow rotary shaft, a conical bowl fixed at the center at the upper end of the rotary shaft, an annular track fixed around the upper end of the conical bowl, and a circular track extending through the hollow rotary shaft. The bowl consists of an air pipe fixed to the base, an air injection port installed at the tip of the air pipe, and an injection pipe fixed to the outer wall surrounding the truck and facing the inner edge of the truck. A pneumatic supply machine characterized by having an air injection port that injects a line of air from the bottom toward the track along the surface of the bowl, and an injection pipe that blows air into the bowl inside the inner edge of the track.