JPH0687523A - Parts alignment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a parts alignment device provided with an automatic parts detection and replenishing mechanism for surely aligning parts on a pallet without requiring human hands by automatically detecting a dent on the pallet, in which no parts is yet provided, by shorting the position, and by automatically replenishing the parts in the vacant recess. CONSTITUTION:A parts alignment device mainly comprises a parts alignment part 3, a parts replenishing part 4, and an automatic parts detection and replenishing mechanism 7. The mechanism 7 is provided with a camera 11 and a finger 12 mounted on an arm 10 moving horizontally, vertically and laterally on a robot base 9, and with a computer 13 for storing a recess in which no parts is yet provided, and which is detected y the camera, and for instructing the finger to feed parts to the recess, to which no parts is yet provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention excites and further rocks a component stationary pallet having a large number of recesses into which a large number of components having a predetermined shape can be inserted, respectively. The present invention relates to a component aligning device having a component aligning unit that aligns and arranges a large number of components in respective recesses of a pallet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a component arranging device aligns and arranges components in a large number of recesses provided on the upper surface of a pallet, but it is impossible to always align and arrange 100% of the components. . Therefore, in the process of taking out a part from the pallet put on the manufacturing and assembly line with a robot or the like, when the part supply finger to which a part detection mechanism is added reaches the part unallocated recess, the unallocated recess is removed. It detected it, moved to the position of the next part on the pallet, and then fed the part to the assembly line. If the robot does not have such a component detection mechanism, the operator will perform a visual inspection before the pallet is loaded into the assembly line, and if an undistributed dent on the top surface of the pallet is found, the operator will place the component there. The pallet was thrown in after replenishing.

However, in the above-mentioned case, it is possible to meet the necessity of supplying at the same time when a plurality of undistributed dents are provided at one time, even if it is not so difficult when supplying one part. Therefore, the supply efficiency of parts is reduced and the assembly line efficiency is also reduced.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional example,
First of all, the personnel cost is increased because it is necessary to have a person to detect the dents that have not been distributed or to replenish the parts. In addition, if the parts become smaller, mistakes in discovery and replenishment will likely occur. Especially when it is necessary to supply a large number of parts at the same time, it is difficult to completely supply the parts, and not only the part supply rate per pallet decreases but also the line efficiency of the assembly line that receives the parts decreases. There was a drawback that caused it. There is also a drawback that it cannot be inlined.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to automatically detect an undistributed part among the recesses on the pallet, store the position of the recess, and automatically supply the part to the undistributed part. It is an object of the present invention to provide a parts aligning device equipped with an automatic parts detecting and supplementing mechanism that surely arranges parts on a pallet without requiring human labor.

[0006]

The component aligning apparatus of the present invention automatically inspects the aligned state of the components in the component aligning section, and if it detects an undistributed dent, stores the position and In the component replenishing section, there is an automatic component detecting and replenishing mechanism capable of automatically replenishing a component in the undistributed dent.

The automatic parts detecting and replenishing mechanism is provided in the vicinity of the parts arranging section and the parts replenishing section, and is attached to the robot base, an arm movable horizontally on the robot base, and the arm. A camera that detects an undistributed dent on the pallet and a finger that grips the part from the replenishment parts holder and supplies it to the undistributed dent, and the undistributed dent detected by the camera is stored in the undistributed dent It is desirable to have a computer that instructs the fingers to replenish parts and controls the operation of each part of the apparatus.

[0008]

When a pallet having a large number of dents is transferred from the empty pallet stocker to the parts aligning section, the pallet to which a large number of parts have been supplied is vibrated and rocked to form the respective dents on the pallet. The parts are fitted and aligned, and the aligned state is inspected by the camera attached to the arm of the automatic part detection / replenishment mechanism (robot). If there is an indentation that does not have parts, this is detected and stored in the computer as position data.

Next, when the pallet is moved to the component replenishing section, the fingers attached to the arm, in accordance with the instruction of the computer, grab the component from the replenishing component container and supply it to the component-unrecessed recess. When this parts replenishing operation is completed, the pallet is delivered to the parts-aligned pallet stocker.

As described above, the present apparatus is provided with the computer mechanism to automatically detect the dents in which the parts are not yet distributed on the pallet and to replenish the dents with the parts. The parts can be aligned on top.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which an automatic component detecting / replenishing mechanism 7 is detecting the presence or absence of a component-unrecessed dent 17 in an embodiment of a component aligning apparatus of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an example of a state after the automatic component detection / replenishment mechanism 7 performs a component 15 ₁ replenishment operation.

In FIG. 1, the component aligning apparatus 1 includes an empty pallet stocker 2, a component aligning unit 3, a component replenishing unit 4, and a component replenishing unit 4.
Replenishing parts container 5 and parts aligned pallet stocker 6
And an automatic parts detection and replenishment mechanism 7. Parts alignment section 3
The device for loading parts into the pallet and the mechanism for oscillating and oscillating the pallet are not shown except for the oscillating shaft 8 shown by the dotted line.

The automatic parts detection and replenishment mechanism 7 includes a parts alignment section 3
Also, the robot base 9 is provided in the vicinity of the component replenishment unit 4, the arm 10 that horizontally moves on the robot base 9 and moves laterally, and is attached near the tip of the arm to detect the dent that is not distributed to the component. A finger 12 that grips a component from the camera 11 and the replenishment component holder 5 and supplies the component to the unallocated dent, and a finger 1 that stores the component unallocated dent detected by the camera 11 and refills the dent.
2 and a computer 13 for controlling the operation of each part of the apparatus.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

Empty pallet stocker 2 to pallet 14 ₁
When sent to the parts aligning section 3, the parts are set on the table of a parts aligning machine (not shown). A large number of parts are put on the pallet 14 ₁ from a parts feeder (not shown). Next, the pallet is vibrated in the horizontal direction (arrow A) by the aligner,
Further, by swinging (symbol B) with the swing shaft 8 as an axis, parts are fitted into the respective recesses 16 (30 in the example of FIGS. 1 and 2) on the pallet 14 ₁ and arranged in line. Next, in order to confirm the aligned state, the arm 10 horizontally lays on the robot base 9 and slides sideways on the robot base 9 in accordance with an instruction from the computer 13, so that the camera 11 attached to the tip of the arm 10 is moved. The pallet 14 ₁ is inspected from above and if, for example, as shown in FIG.
If there is 7, it is detected and the computer 13 stores it as position data.

Next, the pallet 14 ₁ is connected to the parts replenishing unit 4
Move to. Here fingers 12 mounted near the distal end of the arm 10 is supplied by the instruction of the computer 13, gripping the part ₁₅₁ from the supplementary component insertion 5, the component Mihai recess 17. If there are two undistributed depressions 17, this operation is performed twice. In this way, when the replenishing operation is completed and the parts are arranged in all the recesses on the pallet 14 ₁ , the pallet 14 ₁ is moved and stored in the part-aligned pallet stocker 6.

The pallet 14 ₁ moves from the component arranging section 3 to the component replenishing section 4 and at the same time, the next pallet 14 ₂
Moves from the empty pallet stocker 2 to the parts aligning unit 3.

Computer 1 of automatic parts detection and replenishment mechanism 7
3 not only controls the operation of the arm 10, the camera 11 and the fingers 12, but also automatically controls all the operations until the pallet moves from the empty pallet stocker 2 to the part-aligned pallet stocker 6. That is, since the parts aligning operation to the pallet is surely and completely performed by the unmanned operation, the present apparatus can remarkably reduce the labor cost as compared with the conventional example.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the parts arranged and arranged on the pallet are automatically inspected, and when a recessed part is detected, the position of the recessed part is stored and the part is placed in the recessed part. By providing an automatic component detection and replenishment mechanism for automatically replenishing components, it is possible to provide a component arranging device capable of reliably arranging components on a pallet without manpower. There is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a component aligning device of the present invention in a state where an automatic component detecting / replenishing mechanism is detecting the presence / absence of a component unallocated dent.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state after the automatic component detecting / replenishing mechanism of the present embodiment performs a component replenishing operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Parts Aligning Device 2 Empty Pallet Stocker 3 Parts Aligning Part 4 Parts Replenishing Part 5 Replenishing Parts Insertion 6 Parts Aligned Pallet Stocker 7 Automatic Parts Detection and Replenishing Mechanism 8 Swing Axis 9 Robot Base 10 Arm 11 Camera 12 Fingers 13 Computer 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ Pallet 15 Parts 15 ₁ Replenished parts 16 Recesses 17 Recessed parts Not recessed A A Excitation direction B Oscillation direction

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A component pallet having a plurality of recesses into which a large number of parts having a predetermined shape can be fitted, is vibrated and further swung, whereby the large number of parts are aforesaid. In a component aligning device having a component aligning unit that aligns and aligns with each recess of the pallet, automatically checks the alignment state of the components in the component aligning unit, and when the undistributed recess is detected, the position is stored, and A parts aligning device having an automatic parts detecting and replenishing mechanism capable of automatically replenishing parts to the undistributed parts in the next parts replenishing section. 2. The automatic component detecting / replenishing mechanism is provided in the vicinity of the component aligning unit and the component replenishing unit, and is attached to the robot base, an arm movable horizontally on the robot base, and the arm. A camera for detecting an indentation of a component on a pallet and a finger for grasping a part from a replenishing parts container and supplying it to an indentation of the component, and storing the indentation of the indentation detected by the camera to the indentation A computer for instructing the fingers to replenish the parts and controlling the operation of each part of the device,
The component aligning device according to claim 1, further comprising: