JPH03205203A - Rotary pallet type work stocker - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase a stocking quantity even in a small space, in a two-stage upper and lower type work stocker, by supporting a pallet with a fixing frame on an endless chain which runs along a horizontal rail and a vertical rail, and keeping a horizontal posture by an action of an epicyclic gear mechanism while a movement from horizontal direction to vertical direction or a contrary movement to the above is being made. CONSTITUTION:A pallet 15 is supported on an endless chain 13 by a fixing frame body 16, and a two-stage upper and lower loop is formed along a horizontal rail 11 and a vertical rail 12 for circular movement. When the traveling direction of the pallet 15 is changed from a horizontal one to a vertical one or in a contrary way to the above, a traveling gear 17 provided on a pallet fixing frame body 16 engages with an epicyclic gear 24. The epicyclic gear 24 revolves around a fixed sun gear 23 in a normal direction at the same angular speed as a sprocket 20 by the endless chain 13, so the traveling gear 17 rotates in a contrary direction. As a result, the pallet 15 is always kept horizontal. It is thus possible to perform stocking at two stages upper and lower, providing a large amount of stocking even in a small space.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to a rotary pallet type work stock. More specifically, the present invention relates to an 11-type rotary pallet work stocker with two upper and lower stages that can stock and supply a large amount of materials or workpieces with a minimum floor space.

[Prior Art] In a component supply system for a machine tool, a rotary pallet type work feeder is used to timely supply materials or workpieces to a station of a processing device. However, in the conventional rotary pallet type work feeder, pallets are connected to a chain and arranged in a plane. That is, the conveyor connected to the pallets is configured to rotate endlessly on a horizontal plane.

Focusing on the movement of the pallet, the pallet moves in a straight line and then changes direction when it approaches one end of the conveyor. At this time, it is forced to make a sudden turning motion, but soon it begins to move straight in the opposite direction again. Next, when approaching the other end of the conveyor, it performs a turning motion to change direction. This is repeated one after another to perform endless rotational motion.

In a rotary pallet type work feeder that moves on a horizontal plane, in order to increase the stock amount of materials or workpieces, it is necessary to increase the number of pallets or increase the length of the pallets. If the pallet length is increased by, for example, the width L, the work feeder's straight movement area is on both sides, so the increase in the work feeder's total width will be 2L. Similarly, since there are two turning areas for changing direction, the total length of the work feeder increases by 2L.

Therefore, the floor space occupied by the work feeder is 2L.
(B+C+2L) will increase. However, B is the width of the work feeder, and C is the length. In this way, if you try to increase the stock amount of materials and workpieces only in the horizontal direction in order to improve the stocking function as a work feeder,
It is unavoidable that the area occupied by the work feeder inevitably increases and the work area becomes narrower.

On the other hand, when paying attention to the movement of the pallet, when the pallet turns, the radius of rotation differs between the outer and inner end surfaces of the pallet by the length of the pallet, resulting in a difference in peripheral speed.

As a result, the outer end face receives more acceleration than the inner end face. That is, there is a problem in that the materials or works placed on the pallet are placed in environments where the magnitude of lateral shear stress varies depending on the positional relationship in which they are placed.

Additionally, as the pallet becomes longer, the accuracy of the stopping position at the part away from the connection point of the pallet to the chain becomes worse.
Another problem was that a positioning device was required as an auxiliary device.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The purpose of the invention is to allow a pallet to move endlessly in the horizontal and vertical directions, and to stock workpieces in two stages, upper and lower, in order to obtain the maximum amount of stock with the minimum occupied area. This provides a rotary pallet type work stocker that can be used.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary pallet type work stocker that can maintain a horizontal posture even when the pallet is moving vertically.

[Means to solve the problem] In order to solve the above problem, the following measures are taken.

a. a stocker body (10); b. a horizontal rail (11) provided on the stocker body 10; c. a vertical rail (12) provided on the stocker body (10); d. An endless chain (13> and ′) guided and driven within (10>), e. A sprocket (20> that engages with this endless chain (13>), and f. A sprocket (20>) that is connected to the endless chain (13) and holds the pallet (15). The pallet fixing frame (16) is guided by the horizontal rail (11) and the vertical rail (12).
> and g. A planetary gear mechanism (20>.(23>.(2) for keeping the pallet (15) in a horizontal position when the endless chain (13>) moves from a horizontal position to a vertical position.
4). (17) and h. It is a rotary pallet type work stock consisting of:

The planetary gear mechanism (20>, (23), (24), (1
7) is a movable gear (17) provided on the pallet fixing frame (16), and a planetary gear (24) meshed with the movable gear and rotatably provided on the sprocket (20>).
It is even more effective to use a rotary pallet type work stocker consisting of a fixed sun gear (23) that meshes with the planetary gear (24) and is fixed to the stocker body (10).

[Function] The pallet fixing frame 16 having the pallet ■5 moves along the horizontal rail 11 due to the movement of the endless chain 13, but as soon as it is released from the horizontal rail 11, the pallet fixing frame 16 that is attached to the pallet fixing frame 16 moves. The moving gear 17 is brought into mesh with the planetary gear 24 located below it.

The moving gear 17 and the planetary gear 24 are connected to the endless chain 1
3, it revolves around the fixed sun gear 23 in the positive direction at the same angular velocity as the sprocket 20. At this time, moving gear 1
7 is meshed with the planetary gear 24, so it also rotates in the opposite direction.

The pallet fixing frame 16 is delivered to the vertical rail 12 at a position (opening) that has revolved 90 degrees from the position (a), and is moved by the slide rollers 18a, 18c moving along the vertical rail 12.

During the movement, if the gear ratio of the moving gear 17 and the fixed sun gear 23 is constant, the moving gear 17 revolves around the fixed sun gear 23 by 90 degrees in the positive direction.
Because it rotates 90 degrees in the opposite direction due to the engagement with the
As a result, the pallet fixing frame 16 remains held horizontally.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing the arrangement relationship between a machine tool and a two-stage rotary pallet type work stocker 2, which is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a plan view thereof. FIG. 3 is an oblique axis projection view of the upper and lower two-stage rotary pallet type work stocker 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view of the feeder with the cover and feeder main body 10 removed.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view showing the moving process part when the pallet 15 moves from horizontal movement to vertical movement in the upper and lower two-stage rotary pallet type work stocker according to the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. Machine tool 1
is a processing machine such as an NC lathe. On the side of machine tool 1, there is a rotary pallet type work stocker (upper and lower) with two stages (upper and lower).
Below, a work stocker>2 is arranged. A transfer robot 3 is arranged between the workpiece stocker 2 and the machine tool 1. The transfer robot 3 includes a beam 5 between two support columns 4.4. A hand device 6 is provided on the beam 5 so as to run between the workpiece stocker 2 and the machine tool 1.

The hand device 6 grasps a workpiece from above the workpiece stocker 2, lifts it up, travels on the beam 5, and moves it to the machine tool 1@. At this position, the hand (not shown) that grips the workpiece of the hand device 6 descends and supplies the workpiece to the machine tool 1.The workpiece that has been processed is transferred to the workpiece stocker by moving in the opposite direction.
Return the work to. Note that the transport robot 3 has a well-known structure and function, and will not be described in further detail here.

The feeder main body 10 has a rectangular box shape and is made by welding angle materials, steel plates, or the like.

This feeder main body 10 has horizontal rails 1 on the upper and lower stages.
1 is provided with vertical rails 12 at the front and rear, respectively (see FIG. 5). Horizontal rail 11, vertical rail 12
An endless chain 13 is guided and spanned over a sprocket 20. The endless chain 13 is provided with one end of a pallet shaft 14 rotatably.

The other end of the pallet shaft l4 is rotatably provided on the other endless chain 13a. Therefore, the two endless chains 13.13a are driven and moved in unison.

On the other hand, the endless chain 13a is engaged with the other sprocket 20a. A slide roller 18e is provided at the other end of the pallet shaft 14 via a support member 16a. The slide roller 18e is slidably guided by the other horizontal rail lla (see FIG. 6). A pallet 15, which is a rectangular plate, is integrally fixed on the pallet shaft 14. Furthermore, a pallet fixing frame 6 and a moving gear 17 are integrally connected to the pallet shaft 14. Furthermore, slide rollers 18a, 18b, 18c, and 18d are provided at four locations on the pallet fixing frame 16 (see FIG. 5).

The slide rollers 18a, 18b, 18c, and 18d are guided and rolled along each of the horizontal rails 11 and vertical rails 12.

In particular, the slide rollers 18b, 18c, and 18d roll on the horizontal rail 11, and the slide rollers 18a and 18c roll on the vertical rail 12, respectively. slide roller 18b,
When the pallets 18c and 18d roll on the horizontal rail 11, the pallet fixing frame 16 holds the pallet 15 in a horizontal state, and the slide rollers 18a and 18c roll on the vertical rail 1.
2 also when rolling the pallet fixing frame 16, that is,
The pallet 15 fixed to the pallet fixing frame 16 is maintained in a horizontal state. This occurs when moving from horizontal rail 11 to vertical rail 12 or from vertical rail 12 to horizontal rail 11.
This becomes possible by installing a horizontal attitude maintenance device at the branch point when moving to the next step. The horizontal attitude maintenance device will be described below.

FIG. 5.6 is an enlarged view showing a horizontal position maintaining device for a pallet, and the horizontal position maintaining device will be explained next. A sprocket 20 is engaged with the endless chain 13. A sprocket shaft 21 supporting the sprocket 20 is rotatably attached to the feeder body 10 by bearings 22, 22. A fixed sun gear 23 is fixed to the feeder body 10 at one end of the sprocket shaft 21 . That is, the fixed sun gear 23 does not rotate.

A planetary gear 24 is rotatably supported by a shaft 25 on the sprocket 20 on the outer periphery of the fixed sun gear 23 . in the end,
The fixed sun gear 23 and the planetary gears 24 form a planetary gear mechanism. As the endless chain 13 moves, the sprocket 20 rotates, and the moving gear 17 provided in a pair with the endless chain 13 moves.
meshes with the planetary gear 24.

At the same time, the planetary gear 24 rotatably supported by the sprocket 20 revolves around the fixed sun gear 23 while meshing therewith. Similarly, as the endless chain 13 moves, the pallet fixing frame 16 rotates together with the sprocket 20. At this time, the movable gear 17 revolves on the fixed sun gear 23 while meshing with the planetary gear 24, and also rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of revolution.

Next, the operation of the pallet fixing frame 16 between the horizontal rail 11 and the vertical rail 12 will be explained (FIG. 5). A pallet fixing frame 16 having a pallet 15 moves along the horizontal rail 11 due to the movement of the endless chain 13. As soon as the pallet fixing frame 16 is released from the horizontal rail 11, the moving gear 17, which is fixed integrally with the pallet fixing frame 16, is moved to the planetary gear 2 held below.
4 and becomes engaged.

The moving gear 17 and the planetary gear 24 are connected to the endless chain 1
3, it revolves around the fixed sun gear 23 in the positive direction at the same angular velocity as the sprocket 20. At this time, moving gear 1
7 also meshes with the planetary gear 24, so it rotates in the opposite direction.

After the pallet fixing frame 16 is delivered to the vertical rail 12 at the position (B), which is rotated 90 degrees from the position (A),
The slide rollers 18a, 18c are moved by rolling along the vertical rail 12.

At this time, if the gear ratio of the movable gear 17 and the fixed sun gear 23 is constant, the movable gear 17 will revolve around the fixed sun gear 23 by 90 degrees in the positive direction, but due to the meshing with the planetary gear 24, the movable gear 17 will rotate 90 degrees in the positive direction. Since it also rotates 90 degrees in the direction of , the pallet fixing frame 16 remains held horizontally as a result.

[Other Examples] The endless chain 13 described above is a chain.

However, as understood from the above description, it does not necessarily have to be a chain, but any power transmission means such as a flat belt, a belt, or a toothed belt that does not slip can be used. Similarly, the sprocket 20 may also be a belt wheel, a pulley, a toothed belt wheel, or the like. Therefore, here, the endless chain 13 includes a flat belt, a belt, and a toothed belt. Similarly, sprocket 20 means a belt pulley, a V-pulley, or a toothed belt pulley.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, the upper and lower two-stage rotary pallet work stocker according to the present invention occupies about half the floor area compared to the conventional rotary pallet work stocker when the stock amount is the same. and does not cause excessive uneven stress on the materials or workpieces mounted on the pallet.

Furthermore, since a pallet leveling device is provided, the pallet can always be maintained horizontally, and its operating mechanism is simple and reliable using planetary gears.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing the arrangement relationship between a machine tool and two upper and lower rotary pallet type work stockers according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3 is a diagram of Figs. 1 and 2. 4 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 5 is an oblique axis projection view of a rotary pallet type work stocker with upper and lower two stages according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 is an enlarged front view of the movement process part from horizontal movement to vertical movement of the pallet in Figure 5.
−■ It is a sectional view.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. a. a stocker main body (10); b. a horizontal rail (11) provided on the stocker main body (10); and c. a vertical rail provided on the stocker main body (10). (12); d. An endless chain (13) guided and driven within the stocker body (10); e. A sprocket (20) that meshes with the endless chain (13); f. The endless chain (13). a pallet fixing frame (16) connected to the horizontal rail (11) and the vertical rail (12) to hold the pallet (15) and guided by the horizontal rail (11) and the vertical rail (12);
), and g, planetary gear mechanisms (20), (23), (2) for keeping the pallet (15) in a horizontal position when the endless chain (13) moves from a horizontal position to a vertical position.
4) A rotary pallet type work stocker consisting of (17) and h. 2. In claim 1, the planetary gear mechanism (20), (
23), (24), and (17) are a movable gear (17) provided on the pallet fixing frame (16), and a planetary gear meshed with the movable gear and rotatably provided on the sprocket (20). (24); and a fixed sun gear (23) that meshes with the planetary gear (24) and is fixed to the stocker body (10).