JPH04129636A - Automatic tool exchange device for machine tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove a wasteful operation time through elimination of detection and confirmation of opening and closing of a door and to increase the operation speed of an ATC by effecting opening and closing operation of the door in linkage with exchange operation of a tool exchange arm through drive of the door and the tool exchange arm by means of the same actuator. CONSTITUTION:When a tool exchange command is issued, an automatic tool exchange device (ATC) 1 opens an opening closing door mechanism 40, a tool exchange arm 50 is revolved in a 90 deg. arc to grasp an existing tool held by a main spindle 20 and a new tool held by a waiting pot 30, and the tool exchange arm 50 is moved forward in the direction of the axis of the main spindle to pull off a tool. After the tool exchange arm 50 is revolved in a 180 deg. arc, the tool exchange arm is moved backward, the opening closing door mechanism 40 is closed, and exchange between an existing tool and a new tool is effected. An exchange forward and backward movement mechanism 70, an exchange arm revolving mechanism, and a door opening closing mechanism 90 are operated along a cam and a cam groove formed in a cam body 81, and the operations are effected in linkage with each other. The existing tool and the new tool are exchanged with each other without detection and confirmation of the opening closing operation of the door mechanism 40 and the forward backward movement operation of the tool exchange arm 50.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention is directed to the use of a used tool (hereinafter referred to as an old tool) held on a spindle and a standby bolt or a tool changing arm of an automatic tool changing device. An automatic tool changer (hereinafter referred to as ATC) of a machine tool replaces a tool scheduled to be used (hereinafter referred to as a new tool) held in a standby position by opening and closing a door that is located between them and partitions the inside and outside of the machining area. ).

"Prior Art" A conventional ATC has an opening/closing door between the main shaft and the standby pot or the standby side position of the tool change arm of the ATC,
The old tool is attached to the spindle, and the new tool is attached to the standby pot or the standby side position of the ATC tool exchange arm. When replacing an old tool with a new tool, open the door using the door opening/closing actuator, rotate the tool changing arm using the tool changing arm actuator, and move the old tool and new tool to the tool changing arm. Grip with the grip part.

Next, the tool exchange arm advances to remove the tool from the spindle, rotates through the opening of the opening/closing door to swap the positions of the old tool and the new tool, and then moves backward to place the new tool on the spindle.
Attach the old tool to the standby pot. Release the grip of the tool on the exchange arm, rotate the exchange arm 90 degrees, return to the initial position, and close the opening/closing door. In this way, the new tool can be replaced with the old tool.

``Problem to be Solved by the Invention'' However, in such a conventional ATC, the opening/closing operation of the opening/closing door and the forward/backward movement and turning operation of the tool exchange arm are performed by different actuators, so the opening/closing door and the tool exchange arm are separated by different actuators. It is not possible to synchronize the operation with. Therefore, in order to prevent mutual interference, it is necessary to detect and confirm the door opening/closing state using a door opening/closing detection device before operating the tool exchange arm. For this reason, ATC
There is a problem that time is wasted in the operation and it is impossible to improve production efficiency.

The present invention was made by focusing on the problems of the conventional automatic tool changer for machine tools, and provides a system in which the door opening/closing operation and the tool exchange arm exchange operation are driven by the same actuator and synchronized. Therefore, we provide an automatic tool changer for machine tools that can improve the production efficiency of machine tools such as machining centers by eliminating unnecessary operation time by eliminating detection and confirmation of door opening/closing and speeding up ATC operation. It is intended to.

"Means for Solving the Problems" The gist of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide a spindle that is rotatably supported on a spindle head and holds a tool, and a plurality of tools that are stored in a chain. an automatic tool changer for a machine tool, which is provided between the spindle and the tool storage magazine, and exchanges used tools and tools to be used between the spindle and the tool storage magazine. a door body that is provided between the spindle and the automatic tool changer to partition the inside and outside of the machining area and that can be opened and closed to allow the automatic tool changer to enter and exit through the opening; a tool changing arm that grips and exchanges a scheduled tool; and a drive body that drives the automatic tool changing device.

A cam body formed with a plurality of cams and fixed to a drive shaft that rotates by the driving force of the drive body.

an exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism that engages with a first cam formed on the cam body and moves the tool exchange arm back and forth; and an exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism that engages with a second cam formed on the cam body and moves the tool exchange arm back and forth; It consists of an exchange arm rotation mechanism that rotates the arm, and a door opening/closing mechanism that engages with a third cam formed on the cam body to open and close the door body; The automatic tool changer for a machine tool is characterized in that the opening and closing operations of the door body and the door body are overlapped and linked.

"Operation" When the drive shaft to which the cam body is fixed rotates, the third cam (door opening/closing cam groove) causes the door opening/closing mechanism to operate in the direction in which the door mechanism opens. The exchange arm turning mechanism uses a second cam (swivel cam groove) to turn the tool exchange arm through the opening of the door mechanism to an angular position between the main shaft and the standby bot. The exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism is the first
The tool exchange arm is moved forward by the cam (back-and-forth movement cam groove), and the tool exchange arm grips the heavy tool and the new tool and removes them from the main shaft and standby bot.

The exchange arm rotation mechanism rotates the tool exchange arm further by half a turn to exchange the angular positions of the heavy tool and the new tool.

The exchange arm back-and-forth movement mechanism is the first cam (back-and-forth movement cam groove)
The tool change arm is moved backward, and the new tool and heavy tool are held in the spindle and standby bolt. The exchange arm rotation mechanism rotates the tool exchange arm using a second cam (swivel cam) until the tool exchange arm returns to its initial angular position. The door opening/closing mechanism operates the opening/closing door mechanism in the direction of closing the opening by a third cam (door opening/closing cam groove). In this way, the replacement of the heavy tool with the new tool is completed.

These first cam (back-and-forth movement cam groove), second cam (rotation cam), and third cam (door opening/closing cam groove) are formed in one cam body and are part of the opening/closing door mechanism. It is possible to exchange a heavy tool with a new tool without detecting or confirming the opening/closing operation, the turning operation of the tool exchange arm, or the forward/backward movement.

“Embodiment” An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. Each figure shows one embodiment of the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the machining center has a column lO
It has a spindle head 12 that can move up and down.
The main shaft 20 is rotatably supported.

At the top of the column 10, an automatic tool changer (ATC) 1 is installed.
A base 11 is attached to the base 11, and a standby bot 30 is provided on the base 11. A tool storage magazine (not shown) is provided on the side of the column 10, and a plurality of tools are stored in a chain. ATCl is provided between the spindle 20 and the tool storage magazine. Furthermore, an opening/closing door mechanism 40 is provided between the main spindle 20 and the standby bot 30 for partitioning the inside of the machining area and the outside.
A tool can be attached to the tool by a known tool clamp mechanism (not shown).

The ATC 1 has a tool changing arm 50 that can simultaneously hold a used tool (heavy tool) and a tool to be used (new tool). I am now replacing the new tools with new ones.

When the ATC 1 receives a tool change command, the opening/closing door mechanism 40
, the tool exchange arm 50 is rotated 90 degrees to grasp the heavy tool held on the spindle 20 and the new tool held on the standby bot 30, and the tool clamp mechanism of the spindle 20 is unclamped. , the tool exchange arm 50 is advanced in the direction of the spindle axis, and the tool is pulled out. After rotating the tool exchange arm 50 by 180 degrees and changing the position of the drawing tool, the tool exchange arm is moved backward, the tool clamp mechanism of the spindle 20 is placed in the clamped state, the opening/closing door mechanism 40 is closed, and the heavy tool and new Replace with tools.

For this reason, the ATCI includes, in addition to the tool exchange arm 50, a drive shaft 60, a drive motor 61, a cam body 81, an exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism 70, an exchange arm rotation mechanism 80, and a door opening/closing mechanism 90. .

The tool exchange arm 50 is rotatable about the arm shaft 51, and is a twin arm having a symmetrical shape about the arm shaft 51, and has a stepped portion 52 and a support portion 53 at both ends. A semicircular recess 54 is formed on the step 52 side of the support portion 53, and a presser member 55 capable of holding a tool is attached to the step 52 between the recess 54 and the recess 54. The arm shaft 51 is located between the main shaft 20 positioned at the ATC exchange position and the standby bot 3o. Therefore, when the tool exchange arm 50 rotates 90 degrees clockwise in FIG. 1, it is possible to grasp the heavy tool on the main shaft 20 and the new tool on the standby bot 3o.

The tool exchange arm 50 includes a cam body 8 fixed to a drive shaft 60.
It is possible to move back and forth in the axial direction of the main shaft by the back and forth movement cam groove (first cam) 74 formed in 1 and the back and forth movement mechanism 70. As shown in FIG. 2, the longitudinal movement mechanism 70 includes a cam body 8
1, a link 72, and a shifter 78 that moves the arm shaft 51 back and forth.The tool changing arm 50 is moved back and forth.

The cam body 81 is fixed to the drive shaft 60 that rotates, and has a longitudinal cam groove 74 formed on its side surface. link 72
is pivoted to the shaft 75 at one end or the ATC base 11, and the roller 76 at the other end or the chic 78 at the rear end of the arm shaft 51.
It is engaged with the groove of. Further, the link 72 has a longitudinal movement cam groove 7 between the shaft 75 on one end side and the roller 76 on the other end side.
It has a cam follower 77 that engages with 4. The arm shaft 51 is attached to the ATC base 11 so as to be able to reciprocate.

The tool exchange arm 50 also has a rotating cam (a roller gear cam groove, a second
A pair of cam followers 82 that engage with the cam) 83 and an exchange arm rotation mechanism 80 allow the arm shaft 51 to rotate as a support shaft. As shown in FIG. 3, the exchange arm shaft 80 includes a swing cam 83, a pair of cam followers 82, and an arm shaft 51, and is configured to rotate the tool exchange arm 50.

The swing cam 83 is coupled to the drive shaft 6o and engaged with a pair of cam followers 82. The pair of cam followers 82 are rotatably supported by the arm shaft 51 via splines 84 formed on the outer periphery of the arm shaft 51.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the opening/closing door mechanism 40 includes a guide rail 41 and a door body 42. As shown in FIGS. door body 4
2 is made up of two door parts 43 rotatably connected by a connecting member 44.

The door body 42 is provided between the main shaft 20 and the ATC 1 to partition the inside and outside of the machining area, and can be opened and closed to allow the ATCI to enter and exit through the opening. The door body 42 has a rotation shaft 46 on one end 45 side, and is supported by the guide rail 41 so as to be rotatable in the same plane as the rotation surfaces of the two door parts 43.

On the other hand, the other end 47 side has a roller 48 which is engaged with the guide rail 41 so that it can rotate in the same plane as the rotation surface of the door part 43 and can move along the lever guide rail 41. ing.

The door opening/closing mechanism 90 includes a cam follower 97 that engages with a door opening/closing cam groove (third cam) 91 formed in a cam body 81, a link 92, a reciprocating shaft 93, and a connecting member 101.
and links 102 and 103, and the door body 4
2 to open and close. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, a door opening/closing cam groove 91 is formed on the side surface of a cam body 81 fixed to the drive shaft 60.

The link 92 is pivotally connected to the shaft 95 at one end or the ATC base 11, is engaged with a roller 96 at the other end or a groove in the reciprocating shaft 93, and is connected between the shaft 95 at one end and the roller 96 at the other end.
It has a cam follower 97 that engages with the door opening/closing cam groove 91. The reciprocating shaft 93 is attached to the ATC base 11 so as to be able to reciprocate.

As shown in FIG. 5, the reciprocating shaft 93 is connected to the ATC base 1.
1 and is fixed to the connecting member 101.
01 is fixed to link 102. Link 102 is fixed to link 103, and link 103 is fixed to rotating shaft 46.

Thereby, the door opening/closing mechanism 90 converts the rotational movement of the drive shaft 60 into a reciprocating movement of the reciprocating shaft 93, and converts the reciprocating movement into a rotational movement of the one end 45 of the door body 42. There is.

The longitudinal movement cam groove 74, the swing cam 83, and the door opening/closing cam groove 91 have a range in which the cam body 81 does not interfere with the rotation movement of the tool changing arm 50, the longitudinal movement, and the opening/closing movement of the door mechanism 40. Each operation is designed to overlap and interlock. FIG. 7 shows (a) a cam curve of the door opening/closing cam groove 91, (b) a cam curve of the swing cam 83, and (C) a cam curve of the longitudinally movable cam groove 74.

The drive shaft 60 is configured to rotate by the driving force of a drive motor (driver) 61 via gears 62 and 63, and the drive motor 61 is configured to drive the ATC1.

Next, the action will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 7, when replacing a heavy tool with a new tool, first, the drive shaft 60 is rotated by the drive motor 61. As shown in FIG.

When the drive shaft 60 rotates a degree, the door opening/closing cam mechanism 91 of the cam body 81 begins to rotate, follows the cam follower 97 or the door opening/closing cam groove 91, and the link 92 swings around the shaft 95 at one end. , the reciprocating shaft 93 engaged with the roller 96 at the other end moves forward. At this time, the door opening/closing mechanism 90
The door mechanism 40 is moved in a direction in which the door body 42 is moved to form the opening 49. That is, the reciprocating shaft 93
When the robot moves forward, the rotating shaft 46 rotates accordingly.
The door portion 43 is swung. As the door part 43 swings, the roller 48 moves along the guide rail 41 toward the rotating shaft 46, and the door mechanism 40 begins to open and continues to open until the rotation angle of the cam body 81 reaches d degrees. The door opening/closing mechanism 90 stops operating when the cam body 81 changes from an angle of d degrees to an angle of g degrees, thereby opening the door.

At the same time as the door mechanism 40 begins to open, the arm shaft 51 is rotated by the swing cam 83 via the pair of cam followers 82 and the spline 83.

The rotation of the arm shaft 51 continues until the cam body 81 rotates b degrees, and the arm shaft 51 rotates by an angle b degrees from the angle shown in FIG. At this time, the exchange arm turning mechanism 80 rotates through the tool exchange arm 50 or the opening 49 of the door mechanism 40, and moves the heavy tool held on the main shaft 20 and the new tool held on the standby bot 30 into the recesses at both ends. 54 and the holding member 55, the angular position is such that it can be held. Stop holding the tool holding mechanism of the spindle. At this position, the exchange arm turning mechanism 80 stops rotating until the cam body 81 changes from an angle of b degrees to an angle of 0 degrees.

When the cam body 81 rotates through an angle of b degrees, the link 72 is slid by the longitudinally movable cam groove. That is, link 7
2 engages with the cam follower 77 and the longitudinally movable cam groove 74, so it swings about the one end shaft 75 as a support shaft. The arm shaft 51 engaged with the roller on the other end 76 side is
It moves forward as the link 72 swings. At this time, the forward and backward movement mechanism 70 is in a state where the heavy tool held on the tool exchange arm 50 or the main spindle 20 and the new tool held on the standby bot 30 are held at a position where they can be removed from the main spindle 20 and the standby bot 30. Then, the tool exchange arm 50 is advanced, and the tool exchange arm 50 is further advanced until the angle of the cam body 81 reaches e degrees.

The back and forth movement mechanism 70 stops the operation of the tool exchange arm 50 when the cam body 81 changes from an angle of e degrees to an angle of f degrees.

The exchange arm rotating mechanism 80 rotates the tool exchange arm 50 by half a turn through the opening 49 of the door mechanism 40 until the cam body 81 changes from an angle of 0 degrees to an angle of h degrees. This results in
The angular positions of the heavy tool and the new tool are swapped. The exchange arm turning mechanism 80 allows the cam body 81 to rotate from an angle of h degrees to i.
The rotation of the tool exchange arm 50 is stopped until the angle reaches the angle of .degree.

The exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism 70 moves the tool exchange arm 50 backward until the cam body 81 changes from an angle of f degrees to an angle of 1 degree. At this time, it is held by a heavy tool or by the standby bot 30,
The new tool is held by the holding mechanism of the spindle 20, and the heavy tool and the new tool are exchanged.

In the door opening/closing mechanism 90, the cam body 81 is rotated from an angle of 36 degrees.
The door mechanism 40 continues to be moved in the direction of closing the opening 49 until the angle reaches 0 degrees.

The exchange arm turning mechanism 80 reversely rotates the tool exchange arm 50 to the initial position until the cam body 81 changes from an angle of i degrees to an angle of 360 degrees. As a result, the exchange arm turning mechanism 80 returns the tool exchange arm 50 to the angle shown in FIG. In this way, the replacement of heavy tools with new tools is completed.

In this way, the exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism 70, the exchange arm rotation mechanism 80, and the door opening/closing mechanism 90 operate along the cam and cam groove formed on the cam body 81, and their respective operations are interlocked. A heavy tool and a new tool can be exchanged without detecting or confirming the opening/closing operation of the door mechanism 40, the forward/backward movement of the tool exchange arm 50, or the turning operation.

Further, the operating time of the exchange arm forward/backward movement mechanism 70, exchange arm rotation mechanism 80, and door opening/closing mechanism 90 is reduced by the amount of time required for the ATC operation.

"Effects of the Invention" According to the automatic tool changer for a machine tool according to the present invention, each operation of the exchange arm back-and-forth movement mechanism, exchange arm rotation mechanism, and door opening/closing mechanism is interlocked with each other, so that the door mechanism opening/closing operation, It is possible to omit the detection and confirmation of the forward and backward movement and rotational movement of the tool exchange arm, thereby eliminating wasted operation time and improving the production efficiency of machine tools such as machining centers by speeding up tool exchange operations. It's coming.

The cam shape of the cam body is formed so that the operating time of the exchange arm forward/backward movement mechanism, exchange arm rotation mechanism, and door opening/closing mechanism overlaps, which reduces the tool exchange operation time by the overlap time, further increasing production efficiency. can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 7 show one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an automatic tool changer, FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the main parts thereof, and FIG. 3 is an exchange arm. 4 is a sectional view showing the exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism and the door opening/closing mechanism; FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing the door mechanism in a closed state; and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the door mechanism in an open state. A side sectional view showing the state, and FIG. 7 is a cam curve diagram of the door opening/closing cam groove formed in the cam body, the exchange arm turning cam, and the exchange arm back and forth movement cam. 1... Automatic tool changer (ATC) 10... Column 11... ATC base 20... Main shaft 30... Standby pot 40... Opening/closing door mechanism 41... Guide rail 42... Door body 50... Tool exchange arm 51... Arm shaft 60... Drive shaft 61... Drive motor 70... Exchange arm back and forth movement mechanism 80... Exchange arm turning mechanism 81... Cam body 82...Pair of cam followers 90...Door opening/closing mechanism 93...Reciprocating shaft

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A spindle rotatably supported by a spindle head and holding tools; a tool storage magazine for storing a plurality of tools in a chain; and a spindle provided between the spindle and the tool storage magazine. , an automatic tool changer for a machine tool that exchanges used tools and tools to be used between the spindle and the tool storage magazine, the machine tool having a machining area inside and outside the machining area between the spindle and the automatic tool changer. a door body that is installed as a partition and can be opened and closed to allow the automatic tool changer to enter and exit through the opening; a tool change arm that grips and exchanges the used tool and the tool to be used; and the automatic tool changer. A driving body that drives the device, a cam body fixed to a drive shaft that rotates by the driving force of the driving body and forming a plurality of cams, and a first cam body formed on the cam body.
an exchange arm back-and-forth movement mechanism that engages with a cam and moves the tool exchange arm back and forth; an exchange arm rotation mechanism that engages with a second cam formed on the cam body and rotates the tool exchange arm; , a door opening/closing mechanism that engages with a third cam formed on the cam body and opens/closes the door body, and overlaps the forward/backward movement and rotational movement of the tool exchange arm with the opening/closing operation of the door body. An automatic tool changer for a machine tool, characterized in that the automatic tool changer is interlocked with each other.