JPH03111371A - Sheet stacking device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the work stacking condition from being disturbed which is likely to be caused by touching of a work under transport with the stacked works, by retracting a supporting means after the applicable work is placed, putting a scraping means in contact with the end of the work, and dropping it onto a stacking means. CONSTITUTION:After a work 3 processed with a press is pinched by a chuck 16, a supporting plate 12 is moved in the direction of arrow (v) for advancing to the over position of a stacking means 10. Then, chuck 10 is moved in the direction of arrow (ii), and the work 3 is arranged on the supporting plate 21, and then a kickout plate 19 is moved in the direction of arrow (iii), and the work 3 is pushed out of shuck 15 and placed on the supporting plate 21. Then this supporting plate 21 is moved in the direction of arrow (iv), and works 3 are dropped one after another and stacked on a placing plate 11 stably in the condition as restricted by a scraping means 24 about movement in the same direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a sheet stacking device, and particularly to a stacking device suitable for stacking soft and flexible sheets such as flexible printed circuit boards.

[Prior art J] In the production of flexible printed circuit boards (hereinafter referred to as FPCs), predetermined locations on a sheet on which multiple print patterns are formed are punched out using a press, or half-cuts (with some parts left uncut) are performed. (punching) process is being carried out.

FIG. 3 shows a conventional example of the punching device described above.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a punching press, and by repeatedly operating the punching press 1 in the vertical direction in the figure, the receiver punches out a workpiece (FPC) 3 on a table 2 in a predetermined pattern. Further, on one side of the punching press 1, unprocessed workpieces 3 are accumulated on a supply mechanism 4, and the thus accumulated workpieces 3 are sent one by one to the tray 2 for punching processing. After that, they are stacked in the stacking mechanism 5 on the other side. Further, the positions of the supply mechanism 4 and the stacking mechanism 5 in the vertical direction are controlled in order to align the upper surfaces of the stacked works 3 to a predetermined level.

"Problem to be Solved by the Invention" By the way, in the punching device described above, the movement of the workpiece 3 is achieved by holding one end (the end on the stacking mechanism 5 side) with a chuck or the like and pulling it in the surface direction. Therefore, when the stacking mechanism 5 moves upward, the other end of the workpiece 3 hangs down as shown by the chain line in the figure, and the surface of the workpiece 3 that has already been stacked is rubbed.

When the metal foil portion and the resin portion of the workpiece 3 come into contact, the resin portion may be damaged, and furthermore, the metal foil may be peeled off depending on the direction in which it is rubbed.

Also, the hanging part is the workpiece 3 that has already been accumulated.
This may disturb the stacking condition by pressing the side of the container.

Furthermore, when the workpiece 3 freely falls onto the stacking mechanism 5, it is stacked while changing from the bent state shown in the figure to a flat state (so that when it tries to become a flat state, it can move in either direction, one end side or the other end side). Therefore, it is unavoidable that the ends of the accumulated works 3 will be uneven.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and aims to achieve stable integration of FPCs and to prevent damage caused by the integration.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a stacking means in which sheet-like works are placed in a stacked state and is movable in the stacking direction of the works, and a moving means for moving a plane in a plane direction between a position above the accumulating means and a position away from this position, and a plane that includes a movement locus of the moving means and the accumulating means intersects the moving direction of the moving means. support means that is movable in a direction intersecting the support means and that moves in a plane direction between a position above the accumulation means and a position away from this position; A scraping means provided along the edge of the workpiece on the means and in a direction intersecting a plane containing the support means, and a scraping means formed along the moving direction of the support means in an intersecting range with the scraping means on the support means. It consists of a penetrating portion.

"Operation J" With the above configuration, by moving the moving means to a position above the accumulating means with the supporting means moved above the accumulating means, the supporting means supports the work in a planar manner while the accumulating means Further, when the scraping means is disposed at a position intersecting the supporting means through the penetrating portion and the supporting means is retracted from the upper position of the accumulating means, the scraping means can be disposed at the end of the workpiece. The movement of the workpiece is restricted by coming into contact with the workpiece, and only the support means is retracted and the workpiece falls onto the stacking means below.

"Example" Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 10 denotes an accumulation means, and this accumulation means 10 includes a flat mounting plate 11 on which a workpiece (FPC) 3 is placed;
It is composed of a rod-shaped guide 12 provided at the bottom of the mounting plate 11 and a linear head motor 13 that moves the mounting plate 11 in the vertical direction via this guide 12. It is provided on the side of a press machine or the like where workpieces 3 are accumulated. Further, the linear head 13 is controlled based on data regarding the upper surface position (height) of the workpiece 3 obtained from the photo ink clubters 14a and 14b having scanning lines parallel to the mounting plate 11. By descending sequentially, the position of the upper surface of the workpiece 3 is maintained constant.

Further, reference numeral 15 is a chuck serving as a transfer means. This chuck 15 is operated by opening and closing a pair of clamping plates 16 and is driven by a reciprocating means 17 to move the mounting plate 1
It moves one-dimensionally in a plane parallel to the plane containing 1. In the open state shown in the figure, it moves in the direction of arrow A in the figure to approach the workpiece 3, and rotates at this position. The workpiece 3 is held by closing it, and by moving in the direction of the arrow in the figure in this held state, the workpiece 3 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow and moved above the mounting plate 11. Above the chuck 15, a chuck 15 is provided.
A workpiece ejecting means 18 having the same moving direction is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, this kicking means 18 is composed of a U-shaped kicking temporary 19 arranged so as to sandwich the chuck 15, and a reciprocating means 20 for driving this. By moving in the convex direction of the arrow in the figure by the moving means 20, the workpiece 3 reaches a predetermined position above the mounting plate 11, and presses the tip of the workpiece 3 released from the chuck 15 in the same direction, and chucks it. It is pushed out from between the 15 holding plates 16, and then retracted in the two directions of the arrows.

Note that instead of moving the kicking means 18 in the two directions of the arrows as shown in the figure, by fixing the kicking means 18 and further moving the chuck 15 in the direction of the arrows, the end of the workpiece 3 can be moved. It may be made to abut against the kicking plate 19 and be relatively kicked out.

Above the accumulation means 1o is a support plate 21 that supports the workpiece, one end of which is held by the chuck 15, from below.
is provided. This support plate 21 is driven by a rodless cylinder 22 as a reciprocating means in the direction of arrow H or in the figure, and is moved in the direction of movement of the chuck 15 within a plane parallel to the plane containing the mounting plate 11. It is designed to move in cross directions.

Further, the support plate 21 has a plurality of slit-like penetration parts 23 formed along its moving direction, and rod-shaped scraping means 24 pass through each of these penetration parts 23. These scraping means 24 are supported in a vertical position by, for example, a fixed frame (illustrated path) near the accumulation means 10, and as the support plate 21 moves, the relative position with respect to the penetration part 23 moves. It looks like this.

The stacking device configured as described above stacks the works 3 one after another through the following steps.

■The chuck 16 is moved in the direction of arrow A in the figure by the reciprocating means 17, and brought close to a device that performs a predetermined process, such as a press device (path shown), and the workpiece 3 that has been subjected to the process
is held by the chuck 16.

(2) Move the support plate 21 in the direction of the small arrow and advance it to a position above the accumulation means 10 as shown in the figure.

■Move the chuck 16 in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and
is placed on the support plate 21.

(2) When the kicking plate 19 is moved in the convex direction of the arrow, the workpiece 3 is pushed out from between the clamping plates 16 of the chuck 15 and placed on the support plate 21. Further, the kicking plate 19 moves in the two directions of the arrows until the next operation, and returns to the position shown in the figure.

■When the support plate 21 is moved in the two directions of the arrows, the scraping means 24 restricts the movement of the workpiece 3 in the same direction, so only the support plate moves in the same direction, and as a result, the workpiece 3 is placed It falls onto the board 11 and is accumulated. Furthermore, when - pieces of the workpieces 3 are stacked, this is detected by the photo ink printers 14a and 14b, and the linear head motor 13 is activated to lower the mounting plate 11 over the desired distance. It works.In this way, the mounting plate 11
By controlling the position of the uppermost surface of the upper workpiece 3 to be constant, the workpieces 3 on the upper support plate 21 are kept in a flat shape and are stacked one after another in a stable manner.

By repeating the operations ① to ① above, the works 3 can be stacked on the mounting plate 11 in an aligned state.

It goes without saying that the accumulating means of the present invention can be applied not only to the press apparatus of the embodiment, but also to other apparatuses that perform predetermined processing on sheet-like or plate-like works one by one.

In addition, the method of holding a workpiece using a chuck as a means of transporting the workpiece is not limited to the method of mechanically holding the workpiece as in the embodiment. Of course, a method may also be used.

"Effects of the Invention" As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention has the following advantages: by moving the moving means to a position above the accumulating means while the supporting means is moved above the accumulating means, the supporting means is placed above the accumulating means while supporting it in a plane, and after the work is placed, the supporting means is retracted so that the scraping means comes into contact with the end of the work and the work is placed on the lower accumulating means. Since the workpiece being transferred in a planar direction by the transfer means is supported in a plane by the support means, the workpiece being transferred does not come into contact with the workpieces that have already been accumulated. There is no risk of disturbing the stacking state of the already stacked workpieces or damaging the surface. In addition, since the workpieces, which are in a flat state on the support means, are dropped as they are and are accumulated while maintaining a constant falling distance, they can be accumulated in an orderly manner, and therefore the workpieces can be stacked in a sequential order before being processed in the next process. There is no need to align them again, and the process can be simplified by reducing the alignment process required at various locations on a processing line such as an FPC.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a front view of a conventional example of a press apparatus equipped with an accumulating device. 3...Work, 10...Accumulation means, 1
1... Placement plate, 15... Chuck, 1
8... Kick-out means, 21... Support plate, 23... Penetration portion, 24... Scraping means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A stacking means in which sheet-like works are placed in a stacked state and is movable in the stacking direction of the works, and the workpieces are moved in the plane direction between a position above the stacking means and a position away from this position. a moving means that is movable in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the moving means between a plane including a locus of movement of the moving means and the collecting means, and is provided at a position above the collecting means and away from this position. a scraping means provided along an edge of the workpiece on the accumulating means and in a direction intersecting a plane containing the supporting means; and a scraping means in the supporting means; and a through portion formed along the moving direction of the support means in the intersecting range of the sheet stacking device.