JPH06247544A - Workpiece supply system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smoothly shift workpieces having different shapes or made of soft materials by setting the workpieces on a rotary plate in a plane at equal circumferential intervals, and by successively shifting them onto a delivery position. CONSTITUTION:Workpieces are set on a rotary plate 24 in a plane at equal circumferential intervals, and are positioned by positioning means 12, 14, 15 at a workpiece delivery position. When working to a workpiece located at the workpiece delivery position is completed, indexing means 30 rotates the rotary plate 24, circumferentially, so as to shift an unworked workpiece to the workpiece delivery position. When a working to all workpieces on the rotary plate 24 is completed, the engagement between an engaging parts 24e, 31a of the indexing means 30 and a carrier assembly 20 is released, and shifting means 40 shifts the carrier assembly 20 on which the worked workpieces are stacked one upon another, and then, shifts a new carrier assembly 20 on which unworked workpieces are stacked one upon another, to the workpiece delivery position. Accordingly, it is possible to install the workpiece supply device in a narrow space, and it is possible to prevent the workpieces from being damaged since they are not stacked.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention supplies a non-machined work to a machine such as an NC machine, and is installed adjacent to a robot for taking out a machined work. The present invention relates to a supply system, and more particularly to a work supply system suitable for using a deformed work or a soft material work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an example of arrangement of a conventional work supply system, a robot and an NC machine.

A conventional work supply system 50 comprises a substantially horizontal table 52 and a plurality of carrier assemblies 54 movably mounted on the table 52. The carrier assemblies 54 are connected by the chain 53,
A chain drive mechanism (not shown) sequentially moves the workpiece to the work transfer position A on the horizontal table 52.

The carrier assembly 54 is a base unit 54a having three carriages attached so as to move the table 52.
And an elevating plate 54b attached to the base device 54a so as to be able to ascend and descend. A plurality of works W are stacked and placed on the elevating plate 54b, and the elevator W provided inside the table 52 moves the work W at the uppermost stage to a height that can be handled by the robot 56. .

[0005]

In recent years, the number of workpieces to be machined by an NC machine has been increasing (hereinafter referred to as "deformed workpiece"), and the material thereof is aluminum alloy. There are many things that are soft and easily scratched (hereinafter referred to as "soft material work").

[0006] Such deformed workpieces or soft material workpieces cannot be stacked, or cannot be used by stacking workpieces W like the above-described workpiece supply system 50 because they are not preferable.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a work supply system used for a deformed work or a soft material work.

In the work supply system 58, one work W is placed on each carrier assembly 62, and the table 5 of the work supply system 50 described above is mounted.
A table 60 having an area 4 to 10 times larger than that of the table 2 is used.
Further, the number of carrier assemblies 62 placed on the table 60 having a large area and moved is also determined by the number of the carrier supply systems 50.
The carrier assembly 54 is 4 to 10 times larger.

The work supply system 58 has an advantage of being able to convey irregularly shaped works of any shape and works of any soft material without damaging them, but has a drawback that it requires a large space. there were.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are views for explaining a method of using the work supply system 50 with a spacer interposed.

In FIG. 10A, the lifting plate 54
The works W placed on b are stacked with the spacer S interposed. The work W at the top is the robot 56.
While being gripped by and machined by the NC machine, the spacer S is moved by the robot 56 to another carrier assembly 54 that stacks the machined workpieces.

In FIG. 10B, the spacer S moved from the carrier assembly 54 on which the unprocessed works are stacked is placed on the carrier assembly 54 on which the processed works are stacked. Then, the processed work processed by the NC machine is placed on the spacer S.

This method has the advantage that even soft material works can be stacked without damaging them, but since the process of moving the spacer S is increased by one, the working time becomes long, and in the case of irregularly shaped works, many stacks are performed. There was a drawback that I could not.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a work supply system suitable for both a deformed work and a soft material work. To do.

The work supply system of the present invention comprises a substantially horizontal table; a plurality of carrier assemblies movably mounted on the table, and a table device that moves on the table, and the work in the circumferential direction. A carrier assembly that can be placed at intervals and that has a rotating plate that is rotatably mounted relative to a stand device; each work placed on the carrier assembly is sequentially moved to a work transfer position. Indexing means for rotationally driving the rotary plate in the circumferential direction; and means for sequentially moving one of the carrier assemblies to the work transfer position.

..

The work is placed on the rotating plate in a plane in the circumferential direction at equal intervals. When the work at the work transfer position has been processed, the indexing means rotationally drives the rotary plate in the circumferential direction to move the unprocessed work to the work transfer position. When all the works on the rotary plate have been processed, the moving means moves the carrier assembly in which the processed works are stacked, and moves a new carrier assembly in which unprocessed works are stacked to the work transfer position.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A work supply system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts of an embodiment of a work supply system according to the present invention. The workpiece supply system 1 shown schematically includes a substantially horizontal table 10, a plurality of carrier assemblies 20 having a table device 22 and a rotary plate 24, and indexing means 30 for rotationally driving the rotary plate 24. Then, the moving mechanism 4 for intermittently moving the carrier assembly 20.
It is configured to include 0 and.

The table 10 has on its upper surface a flat surface 10a on which a plurality of carrier assemblies 20 can move. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the area of the flat surface 10a is large enough to accommodate 10 to 20 carrier assemblies 20.

The carrier assembly 20 includes a table device 22 that moves on the table 10 and a rotary plate 24 that is rotatably attached to the table device 22.

The table device 22 has a quadrangular planar shape, and has three carriages 22a so as to hold the upper surface of the table device 22 horizontally and to move smoothly on the flat surface 10a of the table 10. Supported by.

The base device 22 also includes a pair of holes 22c,
22c is formed, and a post 42a of a chain 42 described later is inserted and fixed.

The rotary plate 24 has a circular planar shape, and a total of four notches 24a are provided on the circumference of the circle at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Rotating plate 2
A hole 24b for detachably attaching the work placing jig 26 is formed on the upper surface of the No. 4 corresponding to the notch 24a. The hole 24b is formed with a partially projecting portion 24c, and by fitting the recess 24a formed at a corresponding position of the workpiece placing jig 26, the workpiece placing jig 26 can be accurately positioned. Be seen.

FIGS. 7A to 7E are perspective views of various embodiments of the work placing jig.

FIG. 7 (a) is for a disk-shaped work W, and is formed as concentric steps so as to accommodate works having different diameters. The individual workpieces W are held on the stepped portions having the corresponding diameters. FIG. 7 (b) is for one elbow fitting. 7 (c) to (e)
Has only one hole 24b formed concentrically on the upper surface of the rotary plate 24, and the work W is preliminarily mounted on the work mounting jig 26 to be fitted thereto at equal intervals in the circumferential direction and supplied. An example is shown. More specifically, FIGS. 7 (c)-(e) show four elbow fittings, four Tee fittings, and eight elbow fittings, respectively.
The work placement jig for individual small work pieces is shown.

Referring to FIG. 2, a shaft member 24d is fixed to the lower surface of the rotary plate 24. A disk-shaped block 22b is fixed to the upper surface of the table device 22.
The shaft member 24d of the rotary plate 24 extends through the space in the central portion of the block 22b to the lower side of the table device 22. A thrust bearing 23a and a radial bearing 23b are mounted between the table device 22 and the rotary plate 24, and support thrust and radial forces, respectively.

A rectangular parallelepiped plate member 24e is fixed to the lower end of the shaft member 24d.

At the work transfer position A of the table 10, a pair of idle rollers 12, 12 is rotatably attached adjacent to the work transfer position A (see FIG. 3).

The idle rollers 12, 12 of the table 10
A bracket 11 is fixed at a position facing the. The bracket 11 has a pair of cylinders 1 at positions corresponding to the heights of the base device 22 and the rotary plate 24.
4, 15 are fixed. A head member 14a fitted into the notch 24a of the rotary plate 24 is fixed to the tip of the expanding and contracting rod of the cylinder 14. On the other hand, a head member 15b having a V-shaped groove 15a that is in contact with the end of the base device 22 is fixed to the tip of the expanding and contracting rod of the cylinder 15.

When the cylinder 15 is operated to bring the V-shaped groove 15a of the head member 15b into contact with the end of the base device 22 and the idle rollers 12, 12 with the opposite end of the base device 22, the base device is brought into contact. 22 is fixed at a predetermined position on the table 10.

In this state, the cylinder 14 is operated to
When the head member 14a is fitted into the notch 24a of the rotary plate 24, the circumferential indexing of the rotary plate 24 is accurately performed. Therefore, the work placed on the work placing jig 26 is accurately positioned at the work delivery position A of the table 10.

Holes 10a are formed in the table 10 so as to correspond to the work transfer positions A. A disk-shaped block 10b is fixed around the hole 10a below the table 10. A shaft member 31 is rotatably mounted on the block 10b via a pair of radial bearings 16a and 16b.

A groove-shaped member 31a having a U-shaped cross section is fixed to the upper end of the shaft member 31. This channel member 31a
Has a width slightly larger than the thickness of the rectangular parallelepiped plate member 24e provided at the lower end of the shaft member 24d. Therefore, the plate member 24e can be moved in and out of the channel member 31a in the moving direction of the carrier assembly 20.

A pinion gear 33 is rotatably mounted on the shaft member 31 via a radial bearing 32. A cylinder 34 is fixed to the lower surface of the table 10. A rack 34a that meshes with the pinion gear 33 is fixed to the tip of the extendable rod of the cylinder 34.

The pinion gear 33 includes a ratchet body 3
5 is fixed, and the shaft 35 is attached to the ratchet body 35.
The claw 35b rotatably mounted about a is a triangular tooth 31 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the lower end of the shaft member 31.
It meshes with b at a predetermined pressure.

The carrier assemblies 20 are interconnected by an endless chain 42, and are intermittently moved by a chain drive mechanism (not shown). As for the chain 42, the upper part of the column 42 a is provided with the hole 22 of the stand device 22.
It can be connected by inserting and fixing in c and 22c.

Next, the operation of the work supply system of the present invention will be described.

On the table 10, a plurality of carrier assemblies 20 are connected to each other by an endless chain 42. The carrier assembly 20 is supplied with a plurality of unprocessed works on the rotary plate 24 at a position upstream of the work transfer position A in the moving direction. Workpiece mounting jigs 26 that match the shape of the workpiece to be machined are mounted on the rotary plate 24 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. c) ~
As shown in (e), the number of the work placing jigs 26 is one, but the recesses for placing the work are formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Therefore, the works W are placed on the rotary plate 24 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction simply by placing the works W on the predetermined recesses of the respective work placing jigs 26.

On the other hand, the processed work is the work transfer position A.
Is removed from the carrier assembly 20 at the downstream position in the moving direction of.

The endless chain 42 is driven by a chain drive mechanism (not shown) to move the carrier assembly 20 on which the unprocessed work is placed to the work transfer position A.

The cylinder 15 is operated to bring the V-shaped groove 15a of the head member 15b into contact with the end of the base device 22 and the idle rollers 12 and 12 with the opposite end of the base device 22. As a result, the base device 22 is fixed at a predetermined position on the table 10.

In this state, the cylinder 14 is operated to
The head member 14a is fitted into the notch 24a of the rotating plate 24. As a result, the rotation plate 24 is accurately indexed in the circumferential direction, and the workpiece placed on the workpiece placing jig 26 is accurately positioned at the workpiece transfer position A of the table 10.

The robot receives the workpiece at the workpiece transfer position A, the workpiece is processed by an NC machine or the like, and then the workpiece is returned to the rotary plate 24.

Next, the cylinder 14 is operated to remove the head member 14a from the notch 24a of the rotary plate 24, and the rotary plate 24 is made rotatable.

The cylinder 34 is operated to move the rack 34a.
Is moved in the direction of arrow 37 in FIG. The pinion gear 33 meshing with this rotates in the direction of arrow 38. Since the ratchet body 35 is fixed to the pinion gear 33, it rotates in the direction of the arrow 38 together with the pinion gear 33. At this time, since the pawl 35ba meshes with the triangular teeth 31b formed on the outer peripheral surface of the lower end of the shaft member 31, the shaft member 31 and thus the rotary plate 24 also rotate in the direction of arrow 38.

When the rack 34a moves in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow 37 in FIG. 6, the claw 35a is disengaged from the triangular tooth 31b. Thus the teeth 31 of the nail 35a
Since a mechanism for adjusting the pressing force on b is well known in the art, its description is omitted here.

As a result, the next unmachined work moves to the work transfer position A.

The cylinder 14 and the cylinder 34 are operated in the above-described procedure, and the processing of all the works of the carrier assembly 20 at the work transfer position A is completed.

Carrier assembly 2 at work transfer position A
When processing of all the workpieces put on 0 is finished,
By operating the cylinder 14 and the cylinder 15, the head member 14
a is removed from the notch 24a of the rotary plate 24, and the V groove 15a of the head member 15b and the idle rollers 12 and 12 are separated from both ends of the base device 22. This allows the carrier assembly 20 to move freely.

[0049]

The work supply system of the present invention comprises a substantially horizontal table; a plurality of carrier assemblies movably mounted on the table, and a table device for moving the table, and a work in the circumferential direction. A carrier assembly that can be placed at equal intervals on the base plate and that is rotatably mounted relative to the base device; each work placed on the carrier assembly is sequentially transferred to the work transfer position. The work rotates because it is configured to include indexing means for rotationally driving the rotation plate in the circumferential direction so as to move; and means for sequentially moving one of the carrier assemblies to the work transfer position. A plurality of plates can be placed on the plate at equal intervals in the circumferential direction in a plane.

Therefore, a work of any shape can be placed on the carrier assembly even in a narrow space, and
Work is not scratched because it is not laminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of essential parts of an embodiment of a work supply system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the work supply system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the work supply system of FIG. 1 with a rotary plate removed.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the work supply system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a rotating plate.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of indexing means for rotationally driving the rotary plate.

7 (a) to 7 (e) are perspective views of various examples of the work placing jig, respectively.

FIG. 8 Conventional work supply system, robot and N
It is the perspective view which showed an example of arrangement | positioning of C machine.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a work supply system used for a deformed work or a soft material work.

10A and 10B are views for explaining a method of using the work supply system of FIG. 7 with a spacer interposed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Work Supply System 10 Table 20 Carrier Assembly 22 Unit Device 24 Rotating Plate 26 Work Placement Tool 30 Indexing Means 40 Moving Mechanism

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substantially horizontal table; a plurality of carrier assemblies movably mounted on the table, wherein a table device moving on the table and a work are mounted at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. And a rotating plate mounted so as to be rotatable relative to the table device; each of the works placed on the carrier assembly is sequentially moved to a work transfer position. Indexing means for rotationally driving the rotating plate in the circumferential direction;
And a means for sequentially moving one of the carrier assemblies to the work transfer position, the work supply system. 2. The work supply system according to claim 1, further comprising: a first positioning device that positions the base device of the carrier assembly at a predetermined reference position; and a rotary plate of the carrier assembly that has a predetermined split position. A work supply system characterized by comprising a second positioning device for positioning at a delivery position. 3. The work supply system according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of work placement jigs detachably attached to predetermined positions on a rotary plate of the carrier assembly. Work supply system characterized by becoming. 4. The work supply system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of carrier assemblies are interconnected by an endless chain so as to move on a predetermined track. Work supply system. 5. The work supply system according to claim 4, wherein the indexing means is a rectangular parallelepiped plate member provided at a lower end of a shaft member fixed to the lower side of the rotary plate, and the plate member. And a groove-shaped member having a U-shaped cross section formed so that the carrier assembly can move in and out from the moving direction of the carrier assembly.