JPH06191644A - Positioning device of multistage loading pallet for thread feeding body transfer robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the reliability of positioning work by providing a positioning mechanism of pallet, a conforming mechanism to conform the up and down position of the uppermost pallet and the up and down position of the positioning mechanism, and control mechanism connected to both mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A positioning mechanism 50 is composed of a driving member 51 and a stopper 52 provided opposing to the driving member 51. The driving member 51 is composed of the plunger of a fluid pressure cylinder to press a pallet C toward the stopper 52. The conforming mechanism 60 is composed of a lifter to hold the pallet group loaded in multistage. The positioning mechanism 50 and the conforming mechanism 60 are connected to a control mechanism. The control mechanism conforms the up and down position of the uppermost pallet C and the up and down position of the positioning mechanism 50 by operating the conforming mechanism 60, and positions the horizontal position of the uppermost pallet C to a specific position by operating the positioning mechanism 50. Consequently, the reliability of the positioning work can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a positioning device for a multistage stacking pallet for a yarn feeder transfer robot system, and more particularly to a yarn feeder formed by stacking a plurality of pallets in which yarn feeders are arranged and stacked. The robot automatically transfers the yarn feeders sequentially from the supply unit to the receiving unit of the robot, and when the transfer of the yarn feeders on the uppermost pallet is completed, the transfer operation is repeated for the lower pallets. The present invention relates to improvement of positioning technology for a multi-tiered pallet in a yarn feeder transfer robot system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the above-described yarn feeder transfer robot system, a position at which a yarn feeder transfer working unit erected at the tip of a robot hand captures a yarn feeder on a pallet is usually initialized. Since the yarn feeder on the pallet is not correctly positioned at the reference position, the work unit for transferring the yarn feeder may hit or contact the yarn feeder when the yarn feeder is caught. , The yarn feeder may be damaged and / or soiled.

When transporting multi-tiered pallets by, for example, a forklift or the like, the positions of the pallets in each tier may be displaced from each other in the horizontal direction during transport or at the time of delivery to a pallet station. That is, interstage variations often occur in the horizontal position of the pallet. As described above, since the yarn feeders are arranged and placed on the pallet, the interstage variation in the horizontal position of the pallet means that the yarn feeders arranged and placed on the pallet are substantially Even if there is no intra-stage variation, there is inter-stage variation. In other words, if there is such inter-stage variation in the horizontal position of the pallet, even if all the yarn feeders on a pallet of a certain stage are at the reference position, all the yarn feeders on the pallet of a certain stage will deviate from the reference position. Therefore, the above-mentioned damage and stain of the yarn feeder is inevitable during the transfer operation by the robot.

In order to avoid such inconvenience, a technique has already been proposed for positioning the pallet prior to the start of the transfer operation by the yarn feeder transfer unit. For example, in the "supply device for warp yarn supply package" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-260132, a conveyor is used to position a multi-stage pallet against a stopper. Further, in the "package supply device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-73763, the pallet is placed at the reference position on the XY table. That is, the XY table is used for transferring the yarn feeders, and the horizontal position of each yarn feeder is adjusted to the table on the side of the work unit for transferring the yarn feeders of the robot.

[0005]

However, the pallet positioning work performed by these prior arts is to position only the pallet at the bottom of the pallet group stacked in multiple stages. As described above, the horizontal position of a multi-tiered pallet usually varies between stages. Therefore, even if the lowermost pallet is correctly positioned, it is not always the case that the uppermost pallet, which is the core of transfer of the yarn feeder, is correctly positioned. That is, the reliability of the positioning work is low.

An object of the present invention is to automatically and automatically transfer a yarn feeder from a feeder to a receiver of a yarn feeder formed by stacking a plurality of pallets in which the yarn feeders are arranged in an array, and to transfer the yarn feeder to the uppermost stage. When the transfer of the yarn feeders on the pallet is completed, the reliability of the positioning operation of the multi-tiered pallets in the yarn feeder transfer robot system that repeats the transfer operation for the lower pallets is to be improved.

[0007]

For this reason, the positioning device of the present invention comprises a positioning mechanism for positioning the pallet at a predetermined horizontal position and a matching mechanism for matching the vertical position of the uppermost pallet with the vertical position of the positioning mechanism. And a control mechanism connected to both mechanisms so as to operate the matching mechanism first and then the positioning mechanism before transferring the first yarn feeder from the uppermost pallet. And

[0008]

By the function of the matching mechanism, the positioning mechanism always positions the pallet in a state where the vertical position of the pallet is matched with the uppermost pallet in the multi-tiered pallet group.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 shows an example of a robot system to which the present invention is applied. The robot 10 has a base 11, and a main body 12 installed on the base 11 is set so as to be capable of horizontally rotating. A robot arm 13 is erected on the main body 12 so as to be movable in the up-down and front-rear directions, and a yarn feeder transfer work unit 20 is erected on the tip thereof. Therefore, the working unit 20 can move in three dimensions. The working unit 20 includes a pair of open / close hands for catching the yarn feeder A, advances to the inner surface of the paper tube portion of the yarn feeder A with the hands closed, and then opens the hand to open the paper tube. The yarn feeder A can be captured from the inner surface of the portion. The yarn feeder A captured by the working unit 20
Are sequentially and automatically transferred to a receiving section such as a creel or winder device.

In the illustrated example, the positioning mechanism 50 is composed of a driving member 51 and a stopper 52 arranged to face the driving member 51. The drive member 50 is for forcibly moving the pallet C toward the stopper 52, and in the example shown in the drawing, is constituted by a plunger of a fluid pressure cylinder that presses the pallet C toward the stopper 52. .

As the driving member 51, a pulling member that pulls the pallet C toward the stopper 52 may be used instead of the pressing member that pushes the pallet C toward the stopper 52. Further, the driving member 51 may be configured by a part of the robot instead of being provided separately from the robot as in the illustrated example. That is, the pallet C may be pressed or pulled by the robot arm 13.

The positioning mechanism 50 positions the pallet C in the horizontal direction, but in the example shown in FIG. 2, two sets of positioning mechanisms 51 are used for positioning in the X direction.
Is used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a positioning mechanism 50 is provided.
2 may be used in each of the X and Y directions. In this case, the positioning mechanism 50 in the X direction is composed of two driving members 51a and two stoppers 52a facing each other with a space therebetween, and the driving mechanism 50 in the Y direction is separated from the two driving members 51b by these driving members 51a. It is composed of two opposing stoppers 52b. It should be noted that the positioning mechanism may be provided in one set in the combined direction of the X and Y directions.

In the illustrated example, the matching mechanism 60 is composed of a lifter that supports a group of pallets stacked in multiple stages. However, instead of this, the matching mechanism 60 may be configured by a lifter that supports the positioning mechanism 5F0.
Furthermore, a lifter that supports the pallet group and a lifter that supports the positioning mechanism may be appropriately combined and used. The positioning mechanism 50 and the matching mechanism 60 are both connected to a control mechanism (not shown) that controls their operation. Before the robot 10 transfers the first yarn feeder A from the uppermost pallet, the control mechanism first actuates the matching mechanism 60 to move the vertical position of the uppermost pallet C and the positioning mechanism 50. The upper and lower positions are matched with each other, and then the positioning mechanism 50 is operated to position the horizontal position of the uppermost pallet C at a predetermined position.

In the example described above, the device according to the invention is used for a group of pallets already stacked. However, since the positioning work of each pallet is required also in the process of preparing the multi-stage pallet group which is the preceding process, the device of the present invention can be adopted.

In addition to the above, positioning of each pallet is necessary even when empty robots are stacked on a pallet by a robot to collect the empty fiber yarns (that is, only the cores). Therefore, the device of the present invention can be adopted.

[0017]

Since the uppermost pallet in the multi-tiered pallet group is correctly positioned, the robot side may contact or hit the yarn feeder due to the movement, even though the robot side performs the initialized transfer operation. And the damage and stain of the yarn feeder are reduced. Further, since the yarn feeder on the uppermost pallet to be transferred is always positioned at the reference position before the transfer is started, the robot side only has to perform the initially set motion, and the yarn feeder position detection work There is no need to install a unit on the robot. In other words, there is also an effect that the structure becomes so simple.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of a pallet positioning device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the configuration of the positioning mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing another example of the positioning mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Robot 13 Robot Arm 20 Yarn Feeder Transfer Working Unit 50 Positioning Mechanism 51 Drive Member 52 Stopper 60 Matching Mechanism

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A robot automatically transfers the yarn feeders sequentially from a feeder to a receiver of the yarn feeders, in which pallets in which the yarn feeders are arranged and stacked are stacked in multiple stages, and is placed on the pallet on the uppermost stage. When the transfer of the yarn feeders is completed, a positioning mechanism for positioning the pallet at a predetermined horizontal position and a vertical position of the uppermost pallet in the yarn feeder transfer robot system that repeats the transfer operation for the pallets below the pallet. Connected to both the matching mechanism to match the vertical position of the positioning mechanism, and to activate the matching mechanism first before moving the first yarn feeder from the top pallet and then to operate the positioning mechanism. A multi-tiered pallet positioning device for a yarn transfer robot system, comprising a control mechanism. 2. The matching mechanism comprises a stopper for restricting the horizontal movement of the pallet and a driving member which is arranged so as to be horizontally opposed to the stopper and forcibly moves the pallet toward the stopper. The device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one set of the positioning mechanism is arranged in at least one of the X and Y directions. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said matching mechanism supports and raises and lowers a group of pallets stacked in multiple stages. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said matching mechanism supports and raises and lowers a positioning mechanism.