JPH04354649A - Rotary work feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically position a work on a pallet in a rotary work feeder. CONSTITUTION:A pallet feeder 4 circulating a pallet 5 on the preset circulation path is provided on a rotary table 2 mounting the work conveying pallet 5. Multiple guide bars 12 positioning a work among them are erected on the pallet 5. An interlocked centripetal system 8 centripetally operating the guide bars 12 is provided, and racks 15, 16 engaged with gears 11a, 11b constituting the interlocked centripetal system 8 are provided at part of the forward path and return path of the circulation path of the pallet 5. When the pallet 5 mounted with the work is moved on the forward path and return path of the circulation path, the gears 11a, 11b of the interlocked centripetal system 8 are rotated by the racks 15, 16, and the guide bars 12 of the pallet 5 are centripetally operated or centripetally released.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary work feeder for feeding workpieces to machine tools such as lathes.

0002

[Prior Art] Conventionally, machine tools such as turret lathes are equipped with a rotary work feeder that rotates a pallet carrying a workpiece in a predetermined orbital path on a rotary table. It is used to supply machine tools.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a front view and a plan view, respectively, of a turret lathe 31 employing such a conventional rotary work feeder 20 as a work transfer device. On the rotary table 21 of the rotary work feeder 20, a plurality of pallets 24 connected to an endless chain 23 wound between a pair of sprockets 22a and 22b revolve, and each pallet 24 has a workpiece placed thereon. A guide bar 25 for positioning W is provided upright. This guide bar 25 is centripetally operated by an interlocking centripetal mechanism 26 shown in plan view and longitudinal sectional view in FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively.

That is, the interlocking centripetal mechanism 26 is composed of one gear 29 disposed at the center of the pallet truck 28 and three gears 30 disposed around the gear and meshing with the gear 29, respectively. The guide bars 25 are provided upright on each of the three gears 30, and these guide bars 25 pass through guide holes 24a formed in the pallet 24. The pallet truck 28 is mounted on the rotary table 21 via casters 27 so as to be freely movable.

According to this rotary work feeder 20, after the work W is placed on the pallet 24 at the work supply position P1, the gear 30 of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 26 is manually rotated by the worker. In this operation, each guide bar 25 protruding above the pallet 24 moves centripetally as shown by the arrow in FIG. 6, and the workpiece W is positioned at the center of the pallet 24 by the guide bar 25. When the pallet 24 with the workpiece W positioned in this manner rotates around while stopping at predetermined pitches and reaches the workpiece delivery position P2, the gantry loader 32 of the turret lathe 31 grips the workpiece W here. That is, by positioning the workpiece W on the pallet 24 as described above, the accuracy of workpiece delivery to the gantry loader 32 is improved.

The gantry loader 32 has a back-and-forth moving table 35 installed on a running body 34 installed on a rail 33, and a loader head 3 at the lower end of an elevating rod 36 supported by the back-and-forth moving table 35.
7. The movement of the traveling body 34, the back-and-forth moving table 35, and the elevating rod 36 causes the loader head 37 to move in three orthogonal axes directions. Loader head 37
Two loader chucks 38 are provided on the surface facing the main shaft 39 and the lower surface, and the positions of both loader chucks 38 can be changed by a turning mechanism (not shown).

Gantry loader 32 holding workpiece W
supplies this to the main shaft 39 of the turret lathe 31. The work W processed by the turret 40 of the turret lathe 31 is again held by the gantry loader 32 and conveyed to the product conveyor 41.

[0008]

However, in the conventional rotary work feeder 20 described above, the pallet 2
4, the interlocking centripetal mechanism 26
By manually rotating the gear 30, the guide bar 2
5 was moved centripetally, which caused the problem that the work required manpower and became a bottleneck for automation.

An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary work feeder that can automatically position works placed on a pallet.

0010

[Means for Solving the Problems] The structure of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 1 corresponding to an embodiment. This rotary work feeder has racks (15,
A pallet feeding device (17) is provided to circulate the pallet (5) on a predetermined circumferential path on which the pallet (16) is arranged.
5) has a plurality of guide bars (12
) was established.

[0011] The racks (15, 16) are connected to an interlocking centripetal mechanism (8).
) and rotates the gears (11a, 11b) as the pallet (5) rotates, thereby causing the guide bar (12) to perform centripetal movement or centripetal release movement. be.

0012

[Operation] When the pallet (5) carrying the workpiece is moved along the outbound path of the circuit path by the drive of the pallet feeder (17), the gear (11a) of the interlocking centripetal mechanism (8) engages with the rack (15) on the way. rotates, the guide bar (12) of the pallet (5) moves centripetally, and the workpiece is positioned. Further, when the pallet (5) moves on the return path of the circumferential route, the gear (11b) of the interlocking centripetal mechanism (8) that engages with the rack (16) on the way rotates, causing the pallet (
The guide bar (12) of 5) performs a decentering operation. In addition,
Only on either the outbound or return trip, the rack (15),
(16) The guide bar may be operated as follows.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. As shown in a plan view in FIG. 2, on the rotary table 2, a plurality of workpiece mounting pallets 5 are connected to an endless chain 4 wound between a pair of sprockets 3a and 3b, and the endless chain is driven by a drive device (not shown). 4, it rotates in the direction shown by arrow A to arrow B. These sprockets 3a,
3b and the endless chain 4 constitute a pallet feeding device 17.

The pallet 5 is placed via an interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 on a pallet truck 7 placed on the rotary table 2 via casters 6, as shown in FIG. The interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 includes, as shown in FIG.
a, 10b, 10c, two of them gears 10a,
It is composed of two slip clutches 11a, 11b, etc., which are coaxially connected to each of the clutches 10b. Each of the slip clutches 11a, 11b has an outer periphery formed into a gear. A guide bar 12 for positioning the workpiece W on the pallet 5 is provided upright on each of the gears 10a, 10b, and 10c, and these guide bars 12 penetrate through arc-shaped guide holes 5a formed in the pallet 5. ing.

One side of the pallet truck 7 is connected to the endless chain 4 via a connector 13, as shown in FIG. That is, the pallet 5 is connected to the endless chain 4 via the connecting tool 13, the pallet truck 7, the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8, and the guide bar 12. Further, above the rotary table 2, on both sides of the circumferential path of the pallet 4, guide members 14 are arranged to support both left and right ends of the pallet 5 and guide the circumferential movement thereof.

A rack 15 that engages with the sliding clutch 11a of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 is provided on the side wall of the outgoing path of the pallet circumferential path on the rotary table 2, that is, the path along which the pallet 5 moves in the direction of arrow A in FIG. It is being Further, a rack 16 that engages with another sliding clutch 11b of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 is provided on the side wall of the return path of the pallet circumferential path, that is, the path along which the pallet 5 moves in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

Next, the operation when the rotary work feeder 1 is used as a work supply device for a turret lathe, for example, will be explained. A workpiece W is placed on a pallet 5 at an outgoing workpiece supply position P1 shown by an arrow A in FIG. 2 on the pallet circulation path, and the pallet 5 moves toward a workpiece delivery position P2 while stopping at predetermined pitches. At this time, each gear 10a, 10 of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8
b and 10c are in a rotational position in which the guide bar 12 is opened outward from the center of the pallet 5 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the guide bar 12 does not interfere with placing the work W on the pallet 5.

When the pallet 5 passes through the installation part of the rack 15 on the outgoing path of the pallet circumference path, the slip clutch 11a of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 engages with this rack 15 and rotates, and is connected coaxially with the slip clutch 11a. gear 1
0a rotates to the left in FIG. This rotation is transmitted via the central gear 9 to the other two gears 10b and 10c. As a result, the three guide bars 12 erected by the three gears 10a, 10b, 10c move centripetally along the guide holes 5a of the pallet 5 as shown by arrows. When these guide bars 12 move centripetally to the point where they are pressed against the work W on the pallet 5, the slip clutch 11a
is overloaded, and the slip clutch 11a begins to idle relative to the gear 10a. Therefore, even if the slip clutch 11a remains engaged with the rack 15 thereafter, the rotation of the slip clutch 11a is not transmitted to the gear 10a. In this way, the work W placed on the pallet 5 is positioned at the center by the guide bar 12.

When the pallet 5 reaches the work transfer position P2 on the pallet rotation path, the work W on the pallet 5 is gripped by a gantry loader (not shown) and supplied to the main shaft of the turret lathe. At this time, since the workpiece W on the pallet 5 is positioned at the center by the guide bar 12,
The operation of transferring the workpiece W to the gantry loader can be performed accurately.

The pallet 5 that has transferred the work W to the gantry loader at the work transfer position P2 is then transferred to the U
Turn and move to the return route shown by arrow B in FIG. When the pallet 5 passes through the installation part of the rack 16 on the way back, the sliding clutch 11b of the interlocking centripetal mechanism 8 engages with this rack 16 and rotates, and this sliding clutch 11b
The gear 10b, which is coaxially connected to the gear 10b, rotates clockwise in FIG. This rotation is transmitted via the central gear 9 to the other two gears 10a and 10c. As a result, the three guide bars 12 erected by the three gears 10a, 10b, 10c are aligned with the guide holes 5 of the pallet 5 as shown by arrows.
Centrifugal movement along a. When these guide bars 12 are centrifugally moved to the point where they are pressed against the ends of the guide holes a, an overload is applied to the slip clutch 11b, and the slip clutch 11b starts to idle relative to the gear 10b. Therefore, even if the slip clutch 11b remains engaged with the rack 16 thereafter, the rotation of the slip clutch 11b is not transmitted to the gear 10b. In this way, the guide bar 12 protruding above the pallet 5 returns to the open position from the center so as not to interfere with workpiece placement at the workpiece supply position P1.

By repeating the above operation, the guide bar 12 of each pallet 5 automatically moves centripetally to center the workpiece W on the pallet 5 on the outbound path of the pallet circuit path, and also on the return path of the pallet circuit path. Then, the guide bar 12 automatically returns to its original open position.

[0022]

Effects of the Invention The present invention provides a rotary work feeder equipped with an interlocking centripetal mechanism that interlocks and centripetally moves guide bars on a pallet, in which a rack that engages with a gear constituting the interlocking centripetal mechanism is moved along the circumferential path of the pallet. Since the guide bar is provided in the central part, the guide bar can be automatically operated centripetally or decentered as the pallet rotates around the pallet.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing essential parts of a rotary work feeder that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an outline of the rotary work feeder.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the rotary work feeder.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a lathe using a conventional rotary work feeder.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the lathe.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing main parts of a conventional rotary work feeder.

[Figure 7] V of the main part of the rotary work feeder shown in Figure 6
II-O-VII is a sectional view taken in the direction of arrows.

[Explanation of symbols]

2...Rotary table, 3a, 3b...Sprocket, 4
... Endless chain, 5... Pallet, 8... Interlocking centripetal mechanism, 9
, 10a, 10b, 10c... Gear, 11a, 11b... Sliding clutch, 12... Guide cover, 15, 16... Rack, 17... Pallet feeding device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary table on which a pallet for transporting workpieces is placed is provided with a pallet feeding device for rotating the pallet in a predetermined circular path, and the pallet has a plurality of guides for positioning the workpieces therebetween. In a rotary work feeder in which bars are set upright and an interlocking centripetal mechanism is provided for interlocking and centripetal movement of these guide bars, a rack that engages with a gear constituting the interlocking centripetal mechanism is attached to a part of the pallet's circumferential path. A rotary work feeder characterized by the following: