JPH0357332Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a torch contact detection device for an industrial robot used for cutting, welding, etc. metal workpieces.

(Prior Art) Industrial robots, particularly cutting robots that automatically cut workpieces such as steel plates, are widely used for the purpose of improving cutting accuracy and workability. This cutting robot usually includes a torch position adjusting means for rotating a torch held in a hanging manner in a horizontal plane and moving it up and down, a traversing means for moving the torch laterally in a horizontal plane, and a traversing means for moving the torch laterally in a horizontal plane. The cutting machine is equipped with vertical feeding means for vertically moving within a horizontal plane, and by appropriately adjusting each of these means, the workpiece is cut into a desired shape.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, among the plate-shaped workpieces to be cut, workpieces with deformations such as lumps and protrusions may be mixed in. If the deformed portion of the work as described above is not noticed during the cutting operation of the torch, the torch may be bent or damaged by the deformed portion.

The present invention was developed in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and by making the torch change its posture when it comes into contact with a deformed part of the workpiece,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a torch contact detection device for an industrial robot that detects this change in posture and promptly stops the cutting operation of the cutting robot.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Means for solving the above problems of the present invention include a torch holder that holds a torch in a hanging state, and a torch position adjustment means that rotates the torch holder in a horizontal plane and moves it up and down. , vertically moving means for vertically moving the torch position adjusting means in a horizontal plane;
The present invention is based on an industrial robot equipped with a horizontal transport means for laterally moving the vertical transport means within a horizontal plane. , the torch position adjusting means includes an elevating mechanism mounted and supported on the vertical feeding means, a torch rotating mechanism connected to a lower part of the elevating mechanism and raised and lowered by the elevating mechanism, and a and an intermediate housing connected to the lower part and rotated by the torch rotation mechanism. The torch holder is connected to the upper part of the torch holder via a connecting shaft, is tiltably supported and accommodated in the intermediate housing, and has three or more conical concave surfaces formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the lower surface. A movable platen, and a support provided on the upper surface of the movable platen so as to be engaged with each conical concave surface of the movable platen, with the connecting shaft being loosely inserted into the lower side of the intermediate housing. an annular stationary plate that transmits the rotational movement of the intermediate housing to the movable plate and the torch holder while horizontally and tiltably supporting the movable plate; It shall be equipped with a detector to detect tilting of the board.

(Function) The effect of the above means is that when a workpiece is being cut, etc. by a torch that moves in a horizontal plane by means of horizontal or vertical feeding means, the lower end of the torch comes into contact with a deformed part of the workpiece, causing the When the torch receives resistance that impedes the feeding operation of the feeding means, this resistance causes a force to tilt the torch.
Due to this acting force, a torch holder that holds the torch and a movable platen connected to the torch holder via a connecting shaft are tilted, and a detector detects the tilting movement of the movable platen. The detection signal from this detector can stop the operation of the industrial robot.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Note that in FIG. 1, the directions in this description are referred to as the horizontal direction in the horizontal plane by the arrow X, the vertical direction in the horizontal plane by the arrow Y, and the vertical direction in the horizontal plane.

FIG. 1 shows a cutting robot 1 that cuts a workpiece W such as a steel plate. The cutting robot 1 includes a base 2, a portal frame 3, a horizontal feed means 4, a vertical feed means 5, a torch position adjustment means 6, a torch holder 7, a robot control panel 8, and a gas control panel 9.
It is composed of the following.

That is, at both ends of the base 2 on which the workpiece W is placed, each column 3a of a gate-shaped frame 3 is erected, with a guide rail 3b horizontally installed on the upper end of the opposing column 3a. . On the guide rail 3b, a cross-feeding means 4 for moving the torch holder 7 in the lateral direction X is reciprocatably provided.
A vertical feed means 5 is provided so as to be able to reciprocate. A torch position adjusting means 6 for rotating the torch holder 7 in a horizontal plane between the horizontal direction X and the vertical direction Y and moving it in the vertical direction Z is provided at one end of the vertical feeding means 5. The torch position adjusting means 6 has an intermediate part of an elevating mechanism 10 formed by a ball screw nut or the like attached to one end of the vertical feeding means 5, and is configured to rotate the torch holder 7 downward from the elevating mechanism 10. A torch rotation mechanism 11 for rotating in the direction, an intermediate housing 12, and the torch holder 7 for holding the torches 13a, 13b, and 13c in a downwardly protruding manner are arranged in this order. The intermediate housing 12 is provided with a torch contact detection device 14 .
The torch contact detection device 14 is connected to the torches 13a, 1
When 3b and 13c come into contact with the deformed portion of the workpiece W, the cutting robot 1 tilts and detects this tilt to immediately stop the cutting operation of the cutting robot 1. Consists of 33.

The torch holder 7 has three torches 13a, 13
b, 13c are held so that their mutual spacing can be adjusted. In FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 showing the torch holder 7, a socket portion 16 is provided at the upper end of the central wall 15, a central grip member 17 is provided at the lower end, and the upper and lower ends of the central wall 15 are provided. The intermediate portions of the guide rods 18a and 18b are respectively fixed to the portions. Both ends of the guide bars 18a, 18b are fixed to the outer walls 19, 20, and the center wall 1 of each guide bar 18a, 18b is fixed to the outer walls 19, 20.
5 Slide bearings 21 on each side
a and 21b are slidably fitted together. Central wall 1
The space 15a formed in the middle part of 5 and the outer wall 1
Both end portions of ball screws 22a, 22b, which are installed parallel to the guide rods 18a, 18b and maintain a distance between their axes, are pivoted to the intermediate portions of the guide rods 9, 20. Ball screw nuts 23a and 23b are screwed into the ball screws 22a and 22b, respectively, and pinions 24a and 24b fixed to the ends of the ball screws 22a and 22b are connected to the hollow spaces 15.
They are housed in a state of engagement with each other at a. A ball screw 22 protruding outward from the outer wall 20
A large toothed pulley 25 is fixed to the end of b, and a toothed belt 27 is engaged with the large toothed pulley 25 and a small toothed pulley 26 connected to a motor (not shown). A slide bearing 21a on one side of the central wall 15 (left side in FIG. 4),
21b and ball screw nut 23a are attached to the upper half of one outer grip member 28 (on the left side in FIG. 4), and the slide bearing 21 on the other side (on the right side in FIG. 4)
a, 21b and a ball screw nut 23b are respectively attached to the upper half of the other outer gripping member 29 (on the right side in FIG. A torch 13a held by a holding member 17;
Torch 13 gripped by outer gripping members 28 and 29
b and 13c are configured so that the mutual distance between them increases and decreases at the same time. Furthermore, torches 13a, 13b, 13 are provided in the socket portion 16 of the central wall body 15.
A movable plate 30, which can be tilted integrally with the split sleeve 31a, is removably connected by a connecting tool 31 (see FIG. 4) formed by screwing a nut 31b into a threaded portion of a split sleeve 31a.

The intermediate housing 12 includes a torch rotation mechanism 11.
While rotating integrally with the torch holder 7, the torches 13a, 1
Movable plate 3 for detecting tilting of 3b and 13c
0, a fixed plate 32 and a detector 33 are housed, and as shown in FIG. The intermediate housings 12 are connected to each other via a connecting base 34.

In FIG. 7, the movable platen 30 includes a main body 30a formed in a circular flange shape, and a connecting shaft 35 into which the split sleeve 31a is fitted, is provided at the center of the main body 30a, and extends along the outer periphery of the lower surface of the movable platen main body 30a. Three conical concave surfaces 30b are formed at equally spaced positions on the circumference. In FIGS. 6 and 7, the annular fixed platen 32 is provided below the intermediate housing 12 so as to face the movable platen 30 below.

The fixed platen 32 is provided with an insertion hole 32a at its center into which the connecting shaft 35 is loosely inserted, and equidistant positions on the circumference surrounding the insertion hole 32a on the upper surface correspond to the conical concave surface 30b. circular recess 32b
are formed at three locations, and in each of the circular recesses 32b, a support member 36 such as a rigid ball that fits and engages the conical concave surface 30b of the movable platen 30 is attached to a bolt 37a and a nut 37.
The height can be adjusted using an adjustment tool 37 indicated by b. The notches 32c (see FIGS. 6 and 8) formed on both sides of the fixed platen 32 are provided with a detector 33 such as a microswitch so that it contacts the movable platen 30 with its detection end 33a facing upward. It is set in. The detector 33 is mounted at a selected position relative to the outer periphery of the movable plate 30 in order to detect even the slightest tilting movement of the movable plate 30. Furthermore, an air cylinder 38 is provided above the movable platen 30 to support the movable platen 30 in a tiltable manner from above.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Torch 13a, 1 held by torch holder 7
3b and 13c are the workpieces W that are moved by the lifting mechanism 10.
The gap between the torch 1 and the top surface is properly adjusted, and the torch 1 is
3a, 13b, and 13c are adjusted by the torch rotation mechanism 11 so that they face each other in parallel or in series.

The workpiece W placed on the base 2 is now guided by the torch 1 by the horizontal transport means 4 and the vertical transport means 5.
3a, 13b, and 13c, if any of the torches 13a to 13c comes into contact with a deformed part of the workpiece W and its feeding operation is hindered, the contacting torch tries to tilt. A force acts, this force is transmitted to the movable platen 30 via the torch holder 7, and the movable platen 30 tilts on the fixed platen 32.
This tilting action causes the bottom of the movable platen 30 to move towards the detector 3.
3, the detector 33 is activated, and this detection signal is input to the robot control panel 8 and gas control panel 9, and the cutting robot 1 immediately stops its cutting operation.

(Effects of the invention) Since the invention has the above-described configuration, when a torch attached to an industrial robot comes into contact with a deformed part of a workpiece and receives a force that tends to tilt the torch,
A movable plate integrated with the torch tilts, and a detector detects the tilting of the movable plate and immediately stops the operation of the robot. This prevents wear and damage to the torch and increases its durability. Not only does the workability improve as the size increases, but the simple structure also makes handling and maintenance easier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings illustrate an embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the external appearance of the cutting robot, FIG. 2 is a front view of the torch holder, FIG. 3 is a right side view of the same, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a front view of the torch rotation mechanism and the intermediate housing; FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the intermediate housing taken from the line - in FIG. 5; FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a side view taken along the - line in FIG. 6. 1... Cutting robot, 4... Lateral feeding means, 5...
...Vertical feeding means, 6... Torch position adjustment means, 7...
...Torch holder, 10... Lifting mechanism, 11... Torch rotation mechanism, 12... Intermediate housing, 13
a, 13b, 13c...Torch, 14...Torch contact detection device, 30...Movable plate, 30b...Conical concave surface, 31...Connector, 32...Fixed plate, 33
...detector, 35 ... connection shaft, 36 ... support member, 37 ... adjustment tool.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A torch holder that holds a torch in a hanging manner, a torch position adjustment means that rotates the torch holder in a horizontal plane and moves it up and down, and a vertically moved torch position adjustment means that vertically moves the torch position adjustment means in a horizontal plane. In an industrial robot equipped with a feeding means and a horizontal feeding means for laterally moving the vertical feeding means within a horizontal plane, the torch position adjustment means includes an elevating mechanism mounted and supported on the vertical feeding means, and the elevating mechanism. a torch rotation mechanism connected to the lower part of the torch rotation mechanism and raised and lowered by the lifting mechanism; and an intermediate housing connected to the lower part of the torch rotation mechanism and rotated by the torch rotation mechanism, the torch holder a movable plate which is connected to the upper part of the housing via a connecting shaft, is tiltably supported and accommodated in the intermediate housing, and has three or more conical concave surfaces formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the lower surface; , with the connecting shaft loosely inserted into the lower side of the intermediate housing, the movable platen is provided opposite to the lower side thereof, and has a support member on its upper surface that fits into each conical concave surface of the movable platen. an annular stationary plate that transmits the rotational movement of the intermediate housing to the movable plate and the torch holder while supporting the movable plate horizontally and tiltably; A torch contact detection device for an industrial robot, characterized by comprising a detector for detecting.