JPH0550402B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a pallet loading/unloading device for storing articles and transporting and supplying the articles.

[Prior Art] Currently, in factories and the like, parts for assembling products are often transported in pallets of this type. Furthermore, with the spread of automatic assembly machines such as robots, pallet transportation has become increasingly automated, and furthermore, the loading and unloading of pallets stored in storage units such as stockers has also been automated.

Automatic assembly machines that assemble electronic components stored in these automatically transported pallets,
For example, US Patent No. 4651863 (JP 60-56702
(see publication).

In addition, the applicant's earlier application, Japanese Patent Application No. 159610/1984, is a supply device for the articles constituting the automatic assembly machine.
When supplying parts, units, and other items to automatic assembly machines such as robots, these devices pull out the items needed for assembly from the items stored in the stocker and perform the assembly process. transport it to a predetermined location. drawers of these items;
During transportation, an article storage container called a pallet or tray is used to store the articles, and the stocker is provided with a shelf for storing the containers. Article storage containers are stored in this shelf, and the containers are taken in and out of the shelf by a loading/unloading device.

An example of the loading/unloading device is the structure shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1750/1983 or Publication No. 1751/1984.

For example, the device shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1750/1983 includes a storage shelf configured in a matrix and a container transfer table movable vertically and horizontally in front of the storage shelf, and automatically transfers storage containers to the storage shelf. In the apparatus for loading and unloading, the container gripper is movable from one end of the conveyor table to the other in a direction toward or away from the storage shelf, and is provided on the container conveyor table and has a small size in the movable direction. a member, and a member provided on the container conveying table with the container gripping member in between.
a pair of container guide members, wherein the container gripping member includes a housing having a height lower than the upper surface of the container guide member, and an engagement member attached to the front and rear ends of the housing in the movable direction to obtain engagement with the container. The engaging member is movable between a higher position and a lower position than the upper surface of the container guide member.

Furthermore, as a delivery device for pallets or trays constituting the above-mentioned automatic machine, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-206708
The publication includes a tray storage section for loading and unloading trays, a transfer device for loading and unloading trays into the tray storage section, and an elevating body, and the transfer device includes a hook body for hooking and holding the tray, and A configuration including a chain that allows the hook body to move freely in the horizontal direction is disclosed.

In this automated conventional pallet loading/unloading device, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a pawl 103 is attached to the collar 102 of the pallet 101.
is provided, and the structure is such that a hook 104 of a pallet drive device is hooked to the pawl 103.

That is, the motor 105 causes the transmission pulley 1 to
06 and 107 are rotated via a timing belt 108 stretched between them, and the transmission pulley 1
07 is transmitted to the coaxial drive pulley 109. The hook support base 110 moves in the A direction by the driving force of the driving pulley 109. At this time, the hook support base is guided by the guide 111 and moves. Then, the hook support base is in a predetermined position, that is, the claw 103.
After a sensor (not shown) detects that the hook 10 has stopped at a position where it can be hooked, the cylinder 112 moves the hook 10
4 was raised and hooked onto the pawl 103, and the pallet was again moved in the direction A by the motor 105.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case of the pallet loading/unloading device configured as described above, the width of the insertion portion of the hook formed by the pallet body and the pawl must be at least as wide as possible in order to ensure smooth insertion. It must be larger than the width of the hook. Therefore, when moving the pallet by hooking the hook onto the pawl, the movement at the start of the operation is not smooth due to the gap between the hook and the pawl, and if the pallet is moved at a high speed above a certain level, the pallet may There was a problem that the hook and pawl could come off due to the vibration of the hook.

Furthermore, in order to hook the pawl, it is necessary to move the hook in at least two directions: lowering the hook and raising it again, making it difficult to speed up the hooking operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide a system in which the relative movement of pallets for pallet selection also serves as a joining operation in the operation accompanying the loading and unloading of pallets, and the joining is performed without play. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pallet loading and unloading device which can increase the speed of loading and unloading pallets and which does not become disconnected due to vibrations when driving the pallets.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the present invention provides a stocker having a plurality of storage parts for storing pallets containing articles, and a storage part for loading and unloading pallets between the storage part and the pallet drawer part. In the pallet loading and unloading device, notches each having two tapered surfaces are formed on both side surfaces in the loading/unloading direction of the pallet, and the tapered surfaces of each of the notches are opposite to both side surfaces of the pallet. taperly engages with, and
A hook member having a rotary body that rotates in the tapered engagement state, and a hook member that moves each of the rotary bodies in a direction in which they engage with and disengage from the notch of the pallet, and when the respective rotary bodies are engaged, It is characterized by comprising means for elastically biasing and holding the pallet, and means for engaging each of the rotating bodies and the pallet to move it in the loading/unloading direction.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, when the rotating body of the hook member engages with the notch of the pallet, the elastic biasing force of the rotating bodies on both sides of the pallet prevents the tapered engagement between the rotating body and the notch. A synergistic action takes place.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an apparatus to which an embodiment of the pallet loading/unloading apparatus of the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 indicates the entire pallet loading/unloading device, 2 is a stocker that moves a selected pallet to the position of the pallet loading/unloading device 1 by vertical movement, and the stocker 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped made up of 12 stocker columns. and multiple shelves inside it. Each of these shelves is formed by a total of four slide plates 2A, two on each side. The pallet loading/unloading device 1 moves the hooks 7 and 7' in the direction of arrow B' in the figure, stops them at a predetermined position of the stocker 2, which will be described later in Figure 2, and connects them to the pallet. The pallet is pulled out by moving 7 and 7' in the direction of arrow B in the figure.

Figures 2A, B and 3 are a top view and a side view, respectively, showing details of a part of the pallet loading/unloading device.Since each element except the drive system is arranged symmetrically in each figure, only one side is shown. show. Furthermore, FIG. 2A shows a state in which the pallet 5 has been pulled out from the stocker 2, and FIG. It shows a state of being connected by relative movement.

In FIG. 2 or 3, 3 is the main body of the pallet driving device, and 4 and 4' are pallet guides formed perpendicularly on the main body 3. Reference numeral 5 indicates a pallet, the collar of which is placed on pallet guides 4 and 4'. 6 and 6' are notches provided at the ends of the pallet 5, and there are 4 notches in total, 2 each on the left and right sides of the pallet 5.
There are several. Reference numerals 7 and 7' denote hooks that are connected to the notches 6 and 6', and the notch 6 and the hook 7 and the notch 6' and the hook 7' are connected in close contact with each other. 8 and 8' are LM guides that support hooks 7 and 7' movably in the direction of arrow A or A' in the figure, and 9 and 9' are LM guides, respectively.
This is a holding member that holds the respective hooks 7 and 7' via guides 8 and 8'.

Cylinders 10 and 10' are provided on the holding members 9 and 9', respectively, and their viscous force biases the hooks 7 and 7' in the directions of arrows A and A' in the figure, respectively. The hooks 7 and 7' clamp the pallet 5 by the biasing force of this bias. 11 and 11' are holding members 9, respectively.
and 9' are movably supported in the directions of arrows B and B' in the figure, and 12 and 12' are holding stands that hold the holding members 9 and 9' via the LM guides 11 and 11', respectively; The holding stands 12 and 12' are attached to the main body 3.

13 is a motor, and 14 is a pulley that connects the central shaft of the motor 13 when it rotates. 15 is a pulley, 16 is a timing belt, and pulley 14
and pulley 15. Drive pulleys 17 and 17' are provided coaxially with pulley 15, and are engaged with holding members 9 and 9', respectively, via belts 20 and 20'.

Note that the biasing force for biasing the hooks 7 and 7' is not limited to a cylinder, and may be an elastic force such as a spring.

With the above configuration, the rotational driving force of the motor 13 is transmitted to the pulley 17 and the pulley 17' connected to the pulley 17 by the shaft 17A, and thereby the hooks 7 and 7' are moved through the movement of the belts 20 and 20'. Move in the direction of arrow B or B' in the figure.

Reference numeral 21 is a stopper for positioning the pallet 5 at its pulled out position. Guides 22 and 22' allow the hooks 7 and 7' to move relative to each other on the holding members 9 and 9', and springs 23 and 23' restrain the movement.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the hook 7 and the notch 6 are connected. The hook 7 is composed of a roller 7A and a roller holding member 7B, and the roller 7A is rotatably supported on a rotating shaft 7C attached to the roller holding member 7B. With this configuration, it is possible to connect any pallet by moving the stocker 2, that is, the pallet stored in the stocker 2, up and down with respect to the hook 7 that is stopped at the position where it is connected to the pallet. In other words, the notch 6 of the pallet and the roller 7A can be engaged and disengaged in both directions by rotating the roller 7A, and the pallet to be selected moves to the position where it is connected to the hook 7 and stops. Then, the connection is completed by this operation alone.
Note that if a member with a small friction coefficient is used as the roller 7A, it is not necessarily necessary to rotate.

According to the above configuration, since the roller 7A engages with the notch 6 while pressing and rotating, the engagement is reliably performed even if there is a positional error in the pulling direction of the notch or a dimensional error of the notch itself.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a control system for the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and a robot (not shown). In the figure, 30 is a central processing unit (CPU), which has a read-only memory (ROM) 31 and a random access memory (RAM) 32, and controls the operations of the pallet loading/unloading device 1, the stocker 2, and the robot (not shown). Control.

The ROM 31 stores processing procedures related to control of the entire apparatus, such as processing procedures described later in FIG. 6. Further, the RAM 32 is used as a work area for storing the types of pallets to be pulled out, storage positions, etc., and for controlling the entire apparatus.

Pallet loading/unloading device 1 having the above-described configuration
The operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In the flowchart of FIG. 6, the pallet 5 is connected to the hooks 7 and 7' by the vertical movement of the stocker 2, the pallet 5 stored in the stocker 2 is pulled out, the parts are taken out, and then the pallet 5 is transferred to the stocker 2. The process is shown until the stocker 2 is moved up and down again.

Step S1: First, the stocker 2 is moved up and down by a signal from a robot (not shown). At this time, hook 7
and 7' are in positions where they can engage with the notches 6 and 6'.

Step S2: The vertical movement of the stocker 2 is stopped when the pallet 5 requested by the robot reaches the take-out position.

Step S3: Stopping of stocker 2, that is, completion of coupling of hooks 7 and 7' with pallet 5, is detected by an encoder (not shown).

Step S4: After detecting the connection between the hooks 7 and 7' and the pallet 5, the motor 13 is rotated. The rotational driving force of the motor 13 is transferred to the transmission pulley 14 and the timing belt 1.
6, transmission pulley 15, drive pulley 17 and 1
7' to the holding members 9 and 9'.
As a result, the holding members 9 and 9' are attached to the LM guide 1.
1 and 11', the robot moves in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

Step S5: Completion of drawing out the pallet 5 is detected by the encoder 19.

Step S6: After detecting the completion of drawing out the pallet, issue a command to the robot to pick the parts in the pallet.

Step S7: While the robot is picking up parts in response to the above-mentioned pick command, the pallet drawing device is stopped at the above-mentioned position until a command to complete the picking is received from the robot.

Step S8: When a pick completion command is received from the robot, the motor 13 is rotated in the opposite direction to that in step S4, the pallet is moved in the direction of arrow B' in Fig. 2, stored in the stocker 2, and the pallet is placed in the picker 2. 7 and 7'
will stop at the retracted position.

Step S9: Completion of storing the pallet 5 in the stocker 2 is detected by the encoder 19.

After completing step S9, return to step S1 again.
The above steps S1 to S9 are repeated.

In this embodiment, the shapes of the hooks 7, 7' and the notches 6, 6' are such that they engage at the front surfaces of the hooks and notches, as shown in FIG. As shown in Figures 7 and 8, even if the shape has a gap between the hook and the notch in the engaged state, at least two
Any shape may be used as long as it is in contact with a line or more, is completely fixed in position, and does not cause backlash during movement.

Further, contrary to the above example, a concave portion may be formed on the hook, a convex portion may be formed on the pallet, and these may be connected together.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, when the pallet drawer of the present invention pulls out the pallet in the storage shelf, the pallet drawer uses the elastic biasing action of the engagement force of the hook members on both sides of the pallet and the rotating body of the hook member. Since the pallet is positioned at a predetermined position in the drawer section by the engagement between the engaging surface and the side surface of the pallet cutout, the position of the pallet in the drawer section and, by extension, the position of the articles within the pallet can be accurately positioned. This made it possible to improve the accuracy of pick-up operations by robots and other devices.

Further, due to the elastic biasing effect of the engagement force and the tapered engagement between the rotating body of the hook member and the side surface of the notch, it was possible to prevent the pallet from coming off during movement.

It was also possible to speed up the loading and unloading of pallets.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device to which the present invention is applied;
3 and 3 are a top view and a sectional view, respectively, of the pallet driving device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. The figure is a block diagram of the control system of the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operating procedure of the device shown in FIG.
7 and 8 are schematic views of other embodiments of the hook and notch, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are top views and sectional views of a conventional pallet loading/unloading device. 1...Pallet drive device, 2...Stocker, 2
A...Slide plate, 2B...Stotsuka pillar, 3...
Pallet drive unit body, 4, 4'... Pallet guide, 5... Pallet, 6, 6'... Notch, 7,
7'...Fuku, 7A, 7A'...Koro, 7B, 7
B'...Roller holding member, 7C, 7C'...Rotating shaft,
8, 8', 11, 11'...LM guide, 9, 9'
...Hook holding member, 10,10'...Cylinder,
13...Motor, 14,15...Transmission pulley, 1
6...Timing belt, 17, 17'...Drive pulley, 18a, 18b, 18a', 18b'...Sensor, 19...Encoder, 20...Belt, 2
1... Stopper, 22, 22'... Guide, 23,
23'...spring, 103...claw, 104...hook.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pallet loading and unloading device for loading and unloading pallets between the storage section and the pallet drawer section of a stocker, which is equipped with a plurality of storage sections for storing pallets containing articles, the pallet loading/unloading device cutout portions each having two tapered surfaces are formed on both side surfaces in the loading/unloading direction of the pallet; a hook member having a rotating body that rotates in a tapered engagement state; and a hook member that moves each of the rotating bodies in a direction in which they engage with and disengage from a notch of the pallet, and that when the respective rotating bodies are engaged, the hook member has a rotating body that rotates in a state of tapered engagement. A pallet loading/unloading device comprising: means for elastically biasing and holding the pallet; and means for engaging each of the rotating bodies and the pallet to move the pallet in the loading/unloading direction.