JPH06127608A - Laser beam machining system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continue unmanned manufacturing without interrupting the operation of a laser beam machine, by setting a laser beam machining cell comprising a loading station, the first unloading station, the second unloading station and a work carrying device to carry works. CONSTITUTION:A laser beam machining cell comprises a loading station 40 for works, the first unloading station 50, a work carrying device 60, a laser beam machine 70 and the second unloading station 80. A processed work is carried from a table 72 of the laser beam machine 70 by an unloader of the work carrying device 60. Normally, it is carried to the second unloading station 80. In the case of a partially fabricated item, it is carried to the first unloading station 50, moved on a stacker crane 30 by a pallet carrying device 32 of the stacker crane 30, and brought back to the prescribed shelf of a high-rise warehouse. In this way, the operation of the laser beam machine 70 is not interrupted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing system equipped with a laser processing machine and a work transfer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A laser processing cell which has a laser processing machine and a work transfer device to automate laser processing has been put into practical use. The laser processing system that combines this laser processing cell with a stacker crane that conveys the pallet on which the work is placed and a three-dimensional warehouse that stores the pallet is
Unmanned processing can be continued for a long time, and productivity is extremely high. In this type of system, the material work in the loading station is supplied to the laser processing machine by the work transfer device, and the work that has been processed is opposed to the laser processing machine by the work transfer device. It is sent to the unloading station arranged on the side.

[0003]

Workpieces that have been processed are sequentially sent to an unloading station and sorted by an operator on a work station attached to the unloading station. Since the processing is automated, unsorted workpieces will remain on the unloading station unless this sorting operation is performed each time a workpiece is sent. As a result, it becomes necessary to interrupt the laser processing, which makes unmanned production difficult. Therefore, the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned inconvenience by providing a device for storing the processed work in the three-dimensional warehouse again.

[0004]

A laser processing system of the present invention has a three-dimensional warehouse for storing pallets and a stacker crane for conveying the pallets to a laser processing cell. The laser processing cell includes a laser processing machine and a laser processing machine. A loading station on which a work to be supplied to the processing machine is placed; a first unloading station arranged on the loading station side of the laser processing machine to receive the laser-processed work; and a laser processing machine It is provided with a second unloading station arranged on the opposite side of the loading station for receiving a laser-machined work, and a work transfer device for transferring the work between the loading station and the second unloading station. is there. The first unloading station receives the work from the work transfer device, travels along an axis orthogonal to the travel axis of the work transfer device, and a work clamp that holds the work transferred by the carrier. It is composed of a traveling lifter that supports a pallet on which a work is placed and travels along an axis parallel to the traveling axis of the work transfer device, and a pallet base on which the pallet is placed.

[0005]

The work after the laser processing and the semi-finished product that has been partially processed are sent to the first unloading station as needed, stacked on a pallet, and stored in a three-dimensional warehouse. Therefore, unmanned production is continued without interrupting the processing of the laser processing machine.

[0006]

1 is a perspective view showing the outline of a laser processing system according to the present invention. This production system is a three-dimensional warehouse 10.
The stacker crane 30 has a pallet 20 stored in the three-dimensional warehouse 10, and is provided with a stacker crane 30 facing the three-dimensional warehouse 10. A plurality of laser processing cells are arranged on the front surface of the three-dimensional warehouse 10. In FIG. 1, two laser processing cells are shown. The laser processing cell includes a work loading station 40, a first unloading station 50, a work transfer device 60, a laser processing machine 70, and a second unloading station 80.

The work 25 to be laser-processed is a plate-shaped work, and is stacked and stored on the pallet 20.
The stacker crane 30 pulls out the work in the three-dimensional warehouse 10 together with the pallet and conveys it to the loading station 40 of a predetermined laser processing cell. The work carried on the loading station 40 is transferred to the work carrying device 60.
Is supplied to the laser processing machine 70. Laser processing machine 7
The work, which has been subjected to the necessary processing by 0, is transferred to the first unloading station 5 by the work transfer device 60.
0 or to the second unloading station 80. The operation of these series of devices is controlled by the line controller 90.

2 and 3 show details of the work transfer device 60. The work transfer device 60 is the stacker crane 30.
The guide rail 600 is provided along an axis B1 that is orthogonal to the axis A1 that is the moving direction. Guide rail 60
0 connects the loading station 40 and the second unloading station 80, and is arranged at the top of the device. A traveling device 610 is attached to the guide rail 600. The traveling device 610 has a main body 613 guided by the guide rail 600, and is driven by a motor 612. A frame 614 is attached below the main body 613. The frame 614 is equipped with a loader 620 and an unloader 640. The loader 620 includes a work suction device 630, and the unloader 640 includes a work fork device 650.

The loader 620 has a frame 614
The support member 632 is guided by the guide 623 in the vertical direction of the axis C2. Axis C2 of support member 632.
The movement along is driven by the air cylinder 622. The support member 632 includes a number of vacuum pads 634. The suction device 630 descends onto the upper surface of the plate-like work and the vacuum pad 6
When the vacuum is supplied to 34, the suction device 630 vacuum-sucks the work. After that, by driving the air cylinder 622 to raise the suction device 630, the uppermost work among the works stacked on the pallet can be lifted. The unloader 640 moves the fork device 650 guided by the guide 643 with respect to the frame 614.
Have. The movement of the fork device 650 along the axis C3 is
It is driven by the air cylinder 642. Fork device 6
50 has a sub-frame 652 and a fork 654 supported by the sub-frame 652. The forks 654 have a U-shaped cross section, and are mounted side by side at equal intervals on a plane. The upper surface of the fork 654 is inserted into the lower surface of the work to hold the work. A limit switch, for example, is arranged on the abutting surface 657 of the fork 654 bent in a U shape to detect the presence of the work. Therefore, the work transfer device 60 can adsorb the material work by the loader 620 and hold the processed work by the unloader 640. The traveling device 610 travels on the guide rail 600 while holding the work, and conveys the work to a predetermined place.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main part of the laser processing system. A stacker crane 30 traveling on a rail disposed along the axis A1 on the front surface of the three-dimensional warehouse 10 has a mast 300 and a carriage 310 that moves up and down along the mast 300. A pallet transport device 320 is provided on the carriage 310. Pallet transfer device 320
Performs loading and unloading of pallets with respect to the multi-level warehouse 10 and also loading and unloading of pallets with respect to the loading station 40 and the like arranged on the opposite side of the multi-level warehouse 10. The pallet on which the material work is placed is loaded by the stacker crane 30 into the loading station 40.
Be carried to. The loader 620 of the work transfer device 60 sucks the uppermost work of the material works stacked on the pallet and supplies the work to the table 72 of the laser processing machine 70. The laser processing machine 70 performs necessary laser processing on the workpiece supplied on the table 72. The work that has been processed is unloaded from the table 72 of the laser processing machine 70 by the unloader 640 of the work transfer device 60. The processed work is normally conveyed to the second unloading station 80 side. The second unloading station 80 has a large number of rollers 82 arranged in parallel and receives the work 25 from the unloader 640 of the work transfer device 60. The second unloading station 80 includes a chain conveyor in addition to the roller conveyor 82, and can transfer the work to the adjacent work station 84. The work 25 carried to the work station 84 is subjected to necessary processing by the operator,
It is delivered from this laser processing system as a finished product.

Depending on the type of work, it may be desirable to carry out only part of the processing and return it to the three-dimensional warehouse in the state of semi-finished products. In this system, a device for returning this semi-finished product to the side of the three-dimensional warehouse is added. The first unloading station 50 is a device for returning the semi-finished products to the stacker crane side. The first unloading station 50
A carrier 52, a traveling lifter 54, a pallet base 56, and a work clamp 58 are provided. The carrier 52 is provided with a fork member supporting the work at its upper part, and moves on the rail along an axis A2 parallel to the axis A1 of the stacker crane 30.
The work carried from the carrier 52 is gripped by the work clamp 58 and is stacked on the traveling lifter 54. The traveling lifter 54 moves along an axis B2 parallel to the movement axis B1 of the work transfer device to move the pallet to the pallet table 56.
Carry it up. The pallets on the pallet table 56 are carried onto the stacker crane by the pallet transfer device 320 of the stacker crane 30 and returned to the predetermined shelves in the three-dimensional warehouse.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show the details of the device constituting the first unloading station 50.
In FIG. 6, the carrier 52 includes a lower frame 521 and an upper frame 522 supported by a column 523. A drive motor 524 is provided on the lower frame 521, and drive wheels 525 run on the rail 510 to move the entire carrier 52 along the axis A2. Upper frame 5
A fork 526 is attached to 22 in a cantilever manner. When the support member 654 of the unloader of the work transfer device 60 lowers along the axis C3 while supporting the work, the work on the support member 654 is transferred onto the fork 526 of the carrier 52. The carrier 52 supporting the work 25 on the fork 526 moves along the axis A2. Carrier 52
The tip of the work 25 supported and transferred on the top abuts the work clamp 58.

The work clamp 58 has a post 580 and a work gripping device 582 mounted on the post 580. The gripping device 582 is openable / closable and grips the end of the work 25 when the work 25 hits the end. When the carrier 52 returns while the work 25 is gripped by the work clamp 58, the work 25 remains as it is and is stacked on the traveling lifter 54. The traveling lifter 54 has a lower frame 540 and an upper frame 544 supported by a pantograph 542 with respect to the lower frame 540. The traveling vehicle 546 attached to the lower frame 542 is driven by the motor 545, and moves the entire traveling lifter 54 along the rail 530 in the axis B2 direction. The upper frame 544 can be moved up and down in the axis C4 direction by the pantograph mechanism 542. The upper surface of the upper frame 544 supports the pallet 20,
Work pieces 25 are stacked on the pallet 20. When a predetermined number of works 25 are stacked on the pallet 20, the traveling lifter 54 moves along the axis B2 and reaches the pallet table 56. The pallet table 56 has posts 562 standing on both sides. Space between posts 562 is pallet 2
It is erected at intervals that support both side ends of 0. Running lifter 5
4 operates the pantograph mechanism 542 of the upper frame 5
When 44 is lowered along the axis C4, the pallet 20 is supported by the post 562 of the pallet table 56. Post 56
Positioning means 564 for the pallet is provided on the upper part of 2.

The three-dimensional warehouse 10 is a shelf 1 divided in the vertical direction.
Have two. A rail 31 is laid on the front surface of the three-dimensional warehouse 10. Stacker crane 30 traveling on rail 31
Has a mast 300 and a carriage 310 that moves up and down on the axis C1 along the mast 300. The carriage 310 includes a pallet transport device 320. The pallet transport device 320 loads the pallet on the pallet table 56 into the carriage 3.
Pull over 20. The stacker crane 30 in which the pallet is placed on the carriage 320 stores the pallet 20 in the predetermined shelf 12 of the three-dimensional warehouse. With this configuration, this device can return the work partially processed by the laser processing machine 70 to the shelves 12 of the three-dimensional warehouse 10 in a state of being placed on a pallet.

[0015]

As described above, the present invention has a laser processing machine and a stacker crane for supplying a pallet loaded with a work to a laser processing machine cell provided with a work transfer device, and a laser processing having a three-dimensional warehouse for storing the pallet. Since the system is provided with a device for returning the semi-finished products which have been subjected to the laser processing to the pallet, the semi-finished products can be automatically returned to the three-dimensional warehouse again. Therefore, the laser processing machine can continue the continuous processing, and the work can be returned to the three-dimensional warehouse as a semi-finished product or taken out to the unloading station that handles the finished product. In this production system,
Even if there is no operator on the unloading station side of the finished product, the laser processing can be continued unmanned. Therefore, productivity is significantly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a work transfer device.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the work transfer device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the relation of the device of the present invention with respect to a three-dimensional warehouse and a stacker crane.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing details of a carriage and a traveling lifter.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a pallet base.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Three-dimensional warehouse 20 Pallet 25 Work 30 Stacker crane 40 Loading station 50 First unloading station 52 Carrier 54 Traveling lifter 56 Pallet stand 58 Work clamp 60 Work transfer device 70 Laser processing machine 72 Table 80 Second unloading station 90 line controller

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koho Nakamura, Oguchi-machi, Niwa-gun, Aichi No. 1 small character, small character boarding Yamazaki Mazak Co., Ltd. Head Office Factory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A laser processing machine, a loading station on which a work to be supplied to the laser processing machine is placed, and a first laser processing machine disposed on the loading station side of the laser processing machine to receive the laser-processed work. An unloading station, a second unloading station disposed on the opposite side of the laser processing machine from the loading station to receive the laser-processed work, a loading station, a first unloading station, and a second unloading station. A laser processing cell equipped with a work transfer device for transferring a work between unloading stations, a stacker crane for transferring a pallet on which the work is placed with respect to the laser processing cell, and a three-dimensional warehouse for storing the pallet Laser processing system. 2. A first unloading station receives a work from a work transfer device, and carries a work traveling along an axis orthogonal to a travel axis of the work transfer device, and a work holding the work transported by the carrier. 2. The laser according to claim 1, further comprising a clamp, a traveling lifter that supports a pallet on which a work is placed, travels along an axis parallel to a traveling axis of the work transfer device, and a pallet base on which the pallet is placed. Processing system. 3. The work stacked on the pallet is carried into the loading station of the laser processing cell for each pallet from the three-dimensional warehouse, and the work supplied to the laser processing machine is subjected to necessary processing, and thereafter, It is sent to the unloading station of No. 1 and stacked on the pallet,
The laser processing system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a conveyance path for the work carried out to the three-dimensional warehouse.