JPH05338772A - Part posture judging device in vibrating part carrying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To more easily and surely judge the posture of a part by an image pick-up device in a vibrating part carrying machine. CONSTITUTION:A determined transfer passage 3 formed of side wall parts and a bottom wall part nearly vertical to the side wall parts is vibrated to carry parts. A part of the transfer passage 3 is formed of a transparent acryl plate 31. A light source 13 is arranged on one side of the side wall part 31a consisting of the transparent material, and a CCD camera 11 on the other side. In a part posture judging device in which the shadow of a part (m) by the light from the light source 13 is picked up by the camera 11, and the picked image is compared with a determined posture preliminarily stored in a computer to judge whether the part is transferred in the determined posture or not, the bottom wall part 31b is also formed of a transparent material, and a light (h) is emitted nearly orthogonally to the bottom wall part 31b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component posture discriminating apparatus for a vibrating component carrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a vibrating parts feeder, a spiral component transfer path is formed on the inner peripheral wall of a bowl that receives a large number of parts, and the torsional vibration of the bowl causes the part to travel along the transfer path. Although the parts are transferred, the transfer attitude of the parts is discriminated on the way, and based on this judgment, a part which is not in a desired attitude by some part feeding means moves outward from the transfer path, for example. It is widely known that it is blown into the bowl by compressed air, or it is corrected to a desired posture, for example, it is corrected by a turntable to change the direction by 180 degrees and guided to the downstream transfer path. ing.

However, as a conventional device for discriminating the posture of a component, for example, a plurality of pairs of light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements are formed, and a small hole is formed through the transfer path to allow the light rays from each light-emitting element to pass through. The light receiving element is arranged to receive the light from the light emitting element. Among them, a pair of the light emitting element and the light receiving element are used for so-called synchronization, and when the light is blocked, the posture is determined. It is determined that the tip of the component to be reached has reached the detection position, and in the computer it is determined whether the light from the light emitting element corresponding to which light receiving element in the other pair of light emitting element and light receiving element at this time has arrived, As a result, as compared with the predetermined posture, when the posture is not the predetermined posture, the components are blown toward the inside of the bowl by the component adjusting means on the downstream side, for example, the air jetting means. Alternatively, when it is determined that the front-rear direction is opposite, the component reversing means corrects the posture to a correct posture and supplies it to the downstream side.

However, if the parts stored in the bowl are constant parts, there is no problem, but if the above-mentioned actions are to be performed on parts having other shapes, the attitude of the parts should be judged. It is necessary to change the arrangement of a plurality of pairs of light emitting elements and light receiving elements in order to determine the posture. Or you have to change the number. Recently, since the components to be transported have become very small like electronic components, the work of arranging the light emitting element and the light receiving element is very troublesome. Further, as the size of the component becomes smaller, it is necessary to form a through hole in the transfer path to allow the light from the light emitting element to pass therethrough, but this is also small and it is very difficult to form this.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present applicant can immediately and promptly deal with a change in the shape of a component, and correctly determine the posture of any shape or any small component. For the purpose of providing a component attitude determination device for a vibrating component carrier, which has been developed, a component feeding device for a vibrating component carrier as shown in FIG. 3 has been developed.

In FIG. 3, a spiral track 3 for transferring parts is formed on the inner peripheral wall of the bowl 2 of the vibrating parts feeder 1, and the parts m are moved from the discharge end to the next step in a predetermined posture.
Are being supplied. A movable core 5 is integrally fixed to the bottom wall portion of the bowl 2, and is connected to a base block 6 by a leaf spring 7 arranged at equal angular intervals. An electromagnet 9 around which a coil 8 is wound is fixed on the base block 6. The vibrating parts feeder 1 is constructed as described above, but the whole is supported on the floor by the vibration-proof rubber 10.

At a predetermined position of the bowl 2, a CCD (Charge C
oupled Device) The lens portion 11a of the camera 11 is the bowl 2
It is fixed to the bowl 2 by a mounting member 12 on the side wall of the. Also, the lens part 11a captures an image of the part m that is transported in front of the lens part 11a.
The light source 13 is arranged in front of the camera 11 via the side wall portion 3a 'composed of, and therefore the shadow of the component m is imaged. That is, the black level signal is picked up according to the shape.

An air jetting device 14 is fixed to the bowl 2 in the vicinity of the downstream side of the CCD camera 11 and its nozzle portion faces the track 3 and is desired by a computer as described later. The component m determined not to be in the posture is configured to be blown into the bowl 2 by this compressed air. The solenoid valve 15 connected to this tube is controlled by a computer.

Next, an electric circuit connected to the CCD camera 11 will be described. The driving power is supplied from the driving circuit 20 to the coil 8 of the electromagnet 9 which is the driving unit of the vibrating parts feeder 1. This is an alternating current and is supplied to the synchronizing signal generating circuit 21 to generate a signal synchronized with this frequency. It is connected. This is further supplied to the image input control device 22 connected to the output terminal of the CCD camera 11, where C
Only the image synchronized with the vibration by the CD camera 11 is supplied to the computer 23. Ie CCD
According to the present embodiment, the camera 11 performs an image pickup operation at a frequency higher than the drive frequency of the drive circuit 20, and therefore, when each image pickup signal and the sync signal from the sync signal generation circuit 21 are ANDed and they occur simultaneously. To computer 23 to CC
The image pickup signal of the D camera 11 is supplied. A predetermined posture of the component m is stored in the computer 23 by operating various buttons, and this is compared with an image pickup signal supplied from the image input control device 22, and when they match, a solenoid valve connected to the computer 23. 1
5 does not drive the solenoid portion, but when they do not match, this solenoid portion is driven to output compressed air to the air ejection device 1
I am trying to supply to 4.

The component feeding device in the vibrating component carrier previously developed by the applicant of the present invention is constructed as described above, and its operation will be described below.

When the coil 8 is excited by the drive circuit 20, the bowl 2 vibrates torsionally at the drive frequency of the drive circuit 20, whereby the component m is transferred along the track 3 in the direction indicated by the arrow.

When coming in front of the lens portion 11a of the CCD camera 11, the light source 13 is irradiated with light and its shadow is imaged.
This shutter time is higher than the driving frequency of the bowl 2. This image pickup signal is supplied to the image input control device 22. On the other hand, the excitation signal of the coil 8 is supplied from the drive circuit 20 to the synchronization signal generation circuit 21, and the circuit 21 supplies the rectangular pulse-shaped synchronization signal to the image input control device 22. Here, it is synchronized with the image pickup signal from the CCD camera 11. That is, when the logical product is obtained and coincident, that is, only the synchronized imaging is supplied to the computer 23. Since a desired posture is stored in advance in the computer 23, the solenoid valve 1 is compared when compared with the desired posture.
Since the solenoid section 5 is not excited at all, the component m passes directly in front of the nozzle section and is supplied to the next process through the track 3. If the computer 23 determines that they do not match, the solenoid of the solenoid valve 15 is excited,
Compressed air is ejected from the nozzle portion and blows the part m that is not in the predetermined posture inward of the bowl 2.

As described above, it is possible to supply only one component m having a predetermined posture to the next process, but the input operation of the predetermined posture in the computer 23 is performed by various buttons or in an analog manner. Since it is possible to memorize, it is possible to deal with this promptly even if the shape of the part changes. Further, even when the shape of the part whose posture should be determined is very small, the lens portion 11a of the CCD camera 11 is
The image can be magnified by the magnifying action and image can be compared in the computer 23, so that the present apparatus can be applied to any small parts. Further, even if the shape of the component is changed, only the input operation of the desired posture is required to be performed on the computer 23, so that the change in the shape of the component can be dealt with much faster than before.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bowl 2
The inner track 3 is composed of a side wall portion 3a and a bottom wall portion 3b which is substantially perpendicular to the side wall portion 3a. The side wall portion is formed of an acrylic plate 3a 'made of a transparent material in the posture determining portion (the side wall portion 3a of the bowl 2). A cutout is formed in the acrylic plate 3a ', and the acrylic plate 3a' is fitted and fixed in the cutout.) However, the component m is transferred by torsional vibration in the direction indicated by the arrow a as shown in FIG. In the above device, the shutter is released by the camera 11 in synchronization with the driving force of the feeder drive circuit 20, and since the camera 11 is fixed to the bowl 2, when the component m is moving together with the bottom wall surface 3b,
Since there is no relative motion between the bowl 2 and the component m, the posture of the component m is to be surely determined, but there is a phase in which the component m jumps from the bottom wall surface 3b. If the shutter of the camera 11 is released during this transfer, the shadow of the component m as shown in FIG.
Is imaged by. That is, around the center of gravity G of the part m,
If the camera 11 is rotated by a certain angle and the shutter of the camera 11 is released in such a phase, the bottom wall surface 3b becomes a thin black line and an image is captured. If the light beam from the light source 13 is perpendicular to the acrylic plate 3a ′ forming the side wall, that is, parallel to the bottom wall surface 3b, a black line may not appear, but in reality it is slightly inclined, so , A thin black line appears. Therefore, before the comparison with a predetermined posture in the computer 23, the component m is not rotated about the center of gravity G, that is, is rotated around the center of gravity G so as to be parallel to the bottom wall surface 3b, and the posture is changed to the computer 23. It must be compared to the posture stored in it. That is, coordinate conversion is performed in the computer 23, and the postures are compared on the computer 23. At this time, the bottom wall surface 3b is a black line, and if it is determined that this is a part of the component m, the center of gravity is determined. Since an error occurs when the angle conversion is performed around G, the black line 3b is erased before the angle conversion.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the part m may take its rotational posture even in a vibration phase in which a part of it is landed on the bottom wall surface 3b and is transferred together with the bottom wall surface 3b, as shown in FIG. It does not always take a posture.

[0016]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and in order to determine the posture of a component, the operation of erasing the shadow of the bottom wall surface of the transfer path is not required, and the operation can be performed quickly and quickly. It is an object of the present invention to provide a component posture determination device in a vibrating component carrier that can accurately determine the posture of a component.

[0017]

The above-mentioned object is to convey a component by vibration through a predetermined transfer path composed of a side wall and a bottom wall substantially perpendicular to the side wall, and to make a part of the transfer path transparent. Made of a transparent material, the illuminating means is disposed on one side of the side wall made of the transparent material, and the imaging device is disposed on the other side, and the imaging device captures the shadow of the component caused by the light from the illuminating means. In a component posture determination device in a vibrating component carrier, which is configured to determine whether a product is transported in a predetermined posture as compared with a predetermined posture stored in a computer, the bottom wall is also made of a transparent material. This is achieved by a component attitude determination device in a vibrating component carrier, characterized in that light is projected so as to be substantially orthogonal to the bottom wall portion.

[0018]

In addition to the side wall portion, the bottom wall portion is made of a transparent material, and light is projected so as to be substantially orthogonal to the bottom wall portion. Only the component m is imaged without imaging the shadow of the bottom wall. Therefore, when the angle is converted around the center of gravity, it can be immediately performed in a predetermined pattern.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A component posture discriminating apparatus in a vibrating component carrier according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 3 to 5 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a component posture discriminating apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the component posture discriminating section 30, an acrylic plate 31 made of a transparent material is fitted and fixed to a part of the bowl 2. However, it has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and has a side wall portion 31a and a bottom wall portion 31 that is substantially perpendicular to the side wall portion 31a.
b is integrally formed, and a second light source 32 is provided in a recess 33 formed below the bottom wall portion 31b. Light that is substantially perpendicular to the bottom wall surface f of 31b is projected. The first light source 13 is the same as that previously developed by the present applicant, and from now on, the light q substantially perpendicular to the side wall portion 31a is projected.

The first embodiment of the present invention is constructed as described above. The other structure is exactly the same as that of FIG. 3, but when the coil 8 is energized with an alternating current, the component m is transferred along the track 3 and reaches the attitude determination unit 30.
It is imaged by 1. At this time, even if the shutter is released in a phase synchronized with the state of jumping from the bottom wall surface f, there is no shadow of the bottom wall surface f, and the angle conversion around the center of gravity thereof can be easily performed, and a predetermined angle is obtained. Preprocessing for comparing with the posture can be easily performed.

FIG. 2 shows a component orientation discriminating apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The parts corresponding to those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, also in this embodiment, the side wall portion 41
An acrylic plate 41 having an L-shaped cross section in which a and a bottom wall portion 41b are integrated is fitted in the opening of the bowl 2. Further, inside the acrylic plate 41, the reflecting mirror 50 has an illustrated inclination angle. The second light source 32 is omitted, unlike the first embodiment. That is, in the present embodiment, the light q from the light source 13 projects the side wall portion 41a and is reflected by the reflecting surface of the reflecting mirror 50 as shown by an arrow p to become a light beam substantially orthogonal to the bottom wall surface f.

Although it is clear that the present embodiment has the same effect as that of the first embodiment, the present embodiment may have one light source and can have a simpler structure. The light source 13 'is sized to illuminate almost the entire left surface of the acrylic plate 41.

Although the respective embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the CCD camera 1
Although 1 is fixed to the bowl 2, the shutter may be released in synchronization with the signal from the feeder drive circuit without fixing.

Further, in the above embodiments, as the vibrating component carrier, a vibrating part feeder having a so-called spiral track is described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a vibrating component feeder having a linear trough can be used. The present invention is also applicable to transfer parts.

In the above embodiment, the shutter timing of the CCD camera 11 and the driving force of the vibration driving unit are synchronized to image the posture of the component in synchronization with the vibration. The light source 13 may be composed of a strobe, and the flash timing of the strobe may be synchronized with the vibration driving unit to capture an image.

As a method of synchronizing the vibration of the transfer path and the image pickup of the image pickup device, the shutter itself of the image pickup device may be synchronized with the driving power itself to release the shutter.

In the above embodiments, the electromagnet type driving unit has been described as the vibration driving source, but the present invention can be applied to a vibrating component carrier having another vibration driving unit.

As described above, according to the component attitude determining device in the vibrating component carrier of the present invention, along the predetermined transfer path consisting of the side wall portion and the bottom wall portion substantially perpendicular to the side wall portion,
Since the shadow of the bottom wall surface does not occur when the posture of the component transferred by the vibration is discriminated by the image pickup device, the computer process is facilitated and the posture can be discriminated with certainty.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a component attitude determination device in a vibrating component carrier according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of a component attitude determination device in a vibrating component carrier according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a component feeding device in a component carrier previously developed by the applicant.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of the main part.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front view similar to FIG. 4 for explaining the same action.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Component Attitude Discrimination Section 31 Acrylic Plate 31a Side Wall 31b Bottom Wall 32 Second Light Source 41a Side Wall 41b Bottom Wall 50 Reflector

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takumi Inoue 150 Motoyashiki, Miyaya-cho, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi Inside the Toyohashi factory, Shinko Electric Co., Ltd. Electric Co., Ltd. Toyohashi Works

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A component is conveyed by vibration through a predetermined transfer path consisting of a side wall part and a bottom wall part substantially vertical to the side wall part, and a part of this transfer path is formed of a transparent material. The illuminating means is provided on one of the side wall portions and the image pickup device is provided on the other side wall portion, and the image pickup device picks up an image of the shadow of the part caused by the light from the illuminating means, and the image pickup and a predetermined image stored in advance in the computer. In a component posture determination device in a vibrating component carrier, which is configured to determine whether or not the robot is transported in a predetermined posture as compared with a posture, the bottom wall portion is also made of a transparent material and is substantially orthogonal to the bottom wall portion. A component posture determination device in a vibrating component carrier, characterized in that light is projected as described above. 2. A reflecting mirror is disposed below the bottom wall portion made of the transparent material, the light from the illuminating means is reflected by the reflecting mirror, and the light is projected so as to be substantially orthogonal to the bottom wall portion. The component posture determination device in the vibrating component carrier according to claim 1, wherein the device posture determination device is configured to emit light.