JPH0325884Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to a pallet exchange device for delivering and receiving pallets on which workpieces are placed to and from a machining center.

[Conventional technology]

In order to increase the operating rate of a machining center, a multi-sided pallet changer 41 is sometimes provided facing a pallet fixing table 43 of a machining center 42, as in the machining apparatus shown in FIG. This multi-sided pallet changer 41 transports a plurality of pallets 44 in a circular manner by placing them on a pallet carrier (not shown), supplies the pallets 44 on which workpieces are placed to a table 43 of a machining center 42 by a pallet supply/take-out device 45, or It is taken out from the table 43. A setup station 46 is provided outside the conveyance path of the pallet changer 41 in order to make effective use of the pallet changer 41.

However, in the above-mentioned machining equipment, a plurality of pallet carriers are provided, and prepared workpieces are prepared in advance, and pallets 44 are continuously supplied to the machining center 42, thereby reducing the operating rate of the machining center 42. Although it can be made taller, it has the disadvantage of requiring a large space because it is arranged flat.

For this reason, a pallet exchange device has been proposed in which a multi-stage pallet stocker is arranged in an annular manner around a pallet exchange mechanism in which a single pallet transfer table is mounted on a rotary table so as to be able to move up and down. No. 1131).

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, with the three-dimensional pallet exchange device, the pallet exchange mechanism is equipped with only one pallet transfer table that can be moved up and down, so there is a complaint that pallets cannot be exchanged efficiently. be.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, this invention has a two-sided pallet exchange mechanism in which a pair of pallet transfer tables are provided at opposite positions of the rotation center of a rotary table that is rotatably provided in a horizontal plane. , and a pallet stocker provided around the two-sided pallet exchange mechanism, the pair of pallet transfer tables can be raised and lowered independently, and the pallet stocker is configured in the form of a multi-stage shelf. This is what I did.

[Effect]

In such a pallet exchange device, pallets are transferred by changing the height of the pallet transfer table in accordance with the height of the pallet stocker, setup station, or machining center. While a workpiece is being processed on the machining center, a pallet with the workpiece to be processed next is prepared on one pallet transfer table, and when the machining center has finished machining, the pallet is placed on the empty pallet transfer table. A pallet with a processed workpiece placed thereon is accommodated, the rotary table is rotated, the other pallet transfer table faces the machining center, and the prepared pallet is supplied to the machining center.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In Figures 1 and 2, 1 is a two-sided pallet exchange mechanism, which is mounted on a base 2 and is rotatable in a horizontal plane by a drive device (not shown) provided inside the base 2. A rotary table 3 is provided, and a gate-shaped support tower 4 is erected on the rotary table 3, and the base is placed on both sides of the support tower 4 at positions opposite to the center of rotation of the rotary table 3. A pair of pallet transfer tables 5, 5 which are supported by the tower 4 so as to be able to rise and fall are provided, and inside the support tower 4 there is an elevating device (which raises and lowers each of the pallet transfer tables 5, 5 independently). (not shown) is provided. This lifting device is provided with a positioning device (not shown) that adjusts the height of the pallet transfer table 5 to the height of the pallet table 7 of the machining center 6 or the height of each shelf 9 of the pallet stocker 8. Further, each of the pallet transfer tables 5 is provided with a pallet transfer mechanism 10 as shown in FIGS. 3 to 8. That is, a mounting member 11 is provided protruding from the upper surface of the base of the pallet transfer table 5, and a main hydraulic cylinder 12 is pivotally attached to the mounting member 11 by a pin 14 with a mounting fitting 13 provided at its base end. , is rotatably mounted in a horizontal plane.
The other end of the main hydraulic cylinder 12 (on the piston rod 15 side) has a pallet transfer table 5 on the lower surface.
Support member 1 that slides on sliding guide surface 16 fixed to
7 is provided, and the tip of a piston rod of an auxiliary hydraulic cylinder 18 that is substantially perpendicular to the main hydraulic cylinder 12 is pivotally attached to this support member 17, so as to rotate the main hydraulic cylinder 12 in a horizontal plane. It's getting old. Main hydraulic cylinder 12
A hook 21 that engages with a hook 20 provided on the end surface of the pallet 19 is attached to the tip of the piston rod 15, and this hook 21 and the support member 1
A guide rod 22 is installed between the piston rod 15 and the piston rod 7 to prevent deformation of the piston rod 15.

Around the two-sided pallet exchange mechanism 1, there are a pallet table 7 of the machining center 6, a pallet stocker 8 consisting of multi-tiered shelves 9, and a setup station 23. They are arranged at appropriate intervals in the circumferential direction at equal distances. In this example,
One machining center 6 and four three-stage pallet stockers 8 are arranged in an arc shape in a plan view, and one setup station 23 has the same arc on one side of the pallet stocker 8. However, the number of bases, the number of shelves, or the arrangement may be changed as appropriate.

A pair of pallet guides 24 are provided on the shelf 9 of the pallet stocker 8, the setup station 23, the pallet table 7 of the machining center 6, and the pallet transfer table 5, and are in contact with the side surfaces of the legs 19a of each pallet 19. Inside the pallet guide 24, a plurality of rollers 25 for supporting the pallet 19 are rotatably provided. The shelves 9 of the pallet stocker 8 and the setup station 23 have springs 27 attached to the mounting members 26.
It consists of a pin 28 which is supported in a rotatable manner by being biased upwardly by the pin 28, and an arm 30 attached to this pin 28 and having a protrusion 29 in the center. A positioning device 32 is provided for fixing the pallet 19 by inserting the protrusion 29 into a recess 31 provided on the lower surface. A release mechanism 36 is provided which presses and lowers the end of the arm 30 by a pressing member 35 at the end of the piston rod 34 of the release hydraulic cylinder 33 to disengage the protrusion 29 and the recess 31.

Next, the operation of the pallet exchange device constructed as described above will be described.

First, in order to transfer the pallet 19 from the pallet stocker 8 to the two-sided pallet exchange mechanism 1, the rotating table 3 is rotated by the drive mechanism and the empty pallet transfer table 5 is transferred to the pallet stocker 8. After extending the main hydraulic cylinder 12 of the transfer mechanism 10 facing the shelf 9, the sub-hydraulic cylinder 18 is extended and retracted to engage the hook 21 at the tip of the piston rod 15 of the main hydraulic cylinder 12 with the hook 20 of the pallet 19. After that, extend the release hydraulic cylinder 33,
Arm 30 on top of shelf 9 of pallet stocker 8
lower the protrusion 29 of the arm 30 and the pallet 19.
The main hydraulic cylinder 12 is retracted by disengaging from the recess 31 on the lower surface. Palette 19 moves,
When the pallet is guided by the pallet guide 24 of the pallet transfer table 5 and reaches a predetermined position, the positioning mechanism 32
is activated and the pallet is fixed to the pallet transfer table 5. The above is from the pallet stocker 8 to the pallet transfer table 5.
Although the process of transferring the pallet 19 was described above, the transfer between the pallet table 7 of the machining center 6, the setup station 23, and the pallet transfer table 5 is performed in the same way, and conversely, the transfer from the pallet transfer table 5 to another When transferring, the process is the reverse of the above. When the machining center 6 finishes machining the previous workpiece, the clamp on the pallet 19 on the pallet table 7 is released, the empty transfer table 5 is placed facing the pallet table 7, the height is adjusted, and the transfer mechanism 10 is activated. Then, the pallet 19 on which the work is placed is stored on the transfer table 5. Then, the rotary table 3 is rotated so that the other transfer table 5 faces the pallet table 7 of the machining center 6, and the drive mechanism is activated.
The height of the transfer table 5 is adjusted to the pallet table 7, and the transfer mechanism 10 is operated in the opposite manner to the above to move the transfer table 5.
The upper pallet 19 is transferred to the pallet table 7. Then, the pallet 19 with the processed workpiece placed thereon is returned to the shelf 9 of the pallet stocker 8, and
The pallet 19 on which a new work is placed is transferred from the shelf 9 of the pallet stocker 8 to the transfer table 5, and waits until the machining center 6 finishes machining the work.

As mentioned above, when loading and unloading the pallet 19 to the pallet table 7 of the machining center 6,
A two-sided pallet exchange mechanism 1 having a pair of transfer tables,
Since one transfer table 5 is emptied and the next pallet 19 is placed on the other transfer table 5 and is on standby, there is no loss time in the machining center 6 and the operating rate is improved.

This pallet exchange device is equipped with a control device (not shown).
The vehicle may be operated automatically according to a preset program, or may be operated manually by a person.

In the above, the pallet 19 prepared in advance is prepared in the pallet stocker 8,
The pallets 19 are sequentially supplied to the machining center 6 for processing, and while the machining center 6 is processing, the two-sided pallet exchange mechanism 1 is driven to transfer the pallets from the shelf 9 of the pallet stocker 8 to the setup station. By taking appropriate methods such as loading and unloading pallets into and out of the machining center 6 to perform setup, or sending a once-processed work to the setup station 23, performing new setup there, and sending it again to the machining center 6, The efficiency of this pallet exchange device is further improved. In that case, the pallet stocker 8 is not flat but three-dimensional and can accommodate many pallets 19 even in a small space. It acts as a buffer (buffer) and expands the capacity of the device. In addition, the shelves 9 are arranged three-dimensionally, the distance of transportation is relatively short, and the rotating table 3 can be rotated and the transfer table 5 can be moved up and down at the same time, so that the time required for transportation can be shortened. The effect of this will be even stronger. Further, even when the setup is performed directly on the transfer table 5, there is an advantage that work efficiency is improved by moving the transfer table 5 up and down.

Note that the transfer table 5 is placed perpendicularly to the plane of the support tower 4.
If the workpiece is configured to rotate in a plane parallel to , so that the workpiece can be turned upside down, cutting chips and the like attached to the workpiece after processing can be dropped and removed. In addition, by making it possible to take the workpiece in and out of the lowest stage of the pallet stocker 8 in the reversed state, the height can be reduced as much as possible without creating wasted space at the lowest part of the pallet stocker 8. can do.

[Effect of idea]

As detailed above, this invention consists of a two-sided pallet exchange mechanism in which a pair of pallet transfer tables are provided at opposite positions of the center of rotation of a rotary table rotatably provided in a horizontal plane, and a two-sided pallet exchange mechanism. The pallet stocker is provided around the exchange mechanism, and the pair of pallet transfer tables can be raised and lowered independently, and the pallet stocker has a multi-stage shelf shape. Since it is said to be composed of
Not only can a pair of pallet transfer tables work simultaneously to transfer two pallets at once, increasing efficiency, but also accommodating a large number of pallets in a small space, expanding the capacity of the device, and shortening the transfer distance. This has excellent effects in that the time required for transportation can be shortened and the capacity of the device can be expanded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 8 show an embodiment of this invention, with Figure 1 being a front view of the whole, Figure 2 being a plan view, Figure 3 being a plan view of the pallet transfer mechanism, and Figure 4 being a plan view of the pallet transfer mechanism. Figure 3 - arrow view, Figure 5 is the same -
6 is a view in the direction of the arrow, FIG. 7 is a view in the direction of the arrow, FIG. 8 is a view in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is a plan view of the conventional example. 1...2-sided pallet exchange mechanism, 3...rotating table,
4... Support tower, 5... Pallet transfer table, 6... Machining center, 8... Pallet stocker, 9
……shelf.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A two-sided pallet exchange mechanism is provided with a pair of pallet transfer tables at opposite positions of the rotation center of a turntable that is rotatably provided in a horizontal plane, and a pallet stock is provided around the two-sided pallet exchange mechanism. 1. A pallet exchange device comprising: a pallet exchanger, wherein the pair of pallet transfer tables are individually movable up and down, and the pallet stocker is in the form of a multi-stage shelf.