JPH07196165A - Pelletizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out compact and high-speed working by coupling a horizontal multi-joint robot to a robot attaching bed on which a longitudinally shifting mechanism and a vertically shifting mechanism are provided. CONSTITUTION:When a workpiece is conveyed to a workpiece positioning bed 27 at the front end of a conveyer line 4, the workpiece positioning bed 27 is elevated up to a predetermined position and is stopped. Then, a longitudinal shifting mechanism and a vertical shifting mechanism are operated, respectively, so as to vertically and horizontally move a horizontal multi-joint robot 14, and accordingly, the workpiece on the workpiece positioning bed 27 is held by a workpiece holder 18 at the distal end of an arm of the robot 14. The robot 14 holding the workpiece is horizontally turned, and shifts the workpiece onto a pallet 19 held by a pallet setting part 3. After the direction of the workpiece is precisely adjusted, the workpiece is released from the workpiece holder 18. With the repetitions of the above-mentioned operation, workpieces are precisely stacked on the pallet 19.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a palletizing device which enables compact and high-speed transfer and loading of articles by using a horizontal articulated robot as a palletizing robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the transfer and stacking work of works such as packages or boxes transferred by a conveyor line onto a pallet or the like is performed by a worker placed at the end of the conveyor line. Individuals transferred and piled up one by one on a pallet, but this work was particularly burdensome to the worker especially when the work was a heavy load, and the hips, knees, and other joints were often damaged. As a remedy for this,
A palletizing device has been developed which places a robot on behalf of a worker at the end point or a midway position of a conveyor line, and performs transfer stacking work of articles by the robot, and has come into the market. An example of this palletizing device is shown in FIG. 4, and its configuration will be described below. The palletizing device 50 shown in FIG. 4 includes a pallet holding jig 51 that can be vertically moved up and down by a link mechanism 51a and a hydraulic mechanism 51b.
2 is placed and held. Further, a palletizing robot 53 including a plurality of arms 53a is arranged at a position adjacent to the pallet holding jig 51. The palletizing robot 53 includes an arm 53a that rotates in a vertical direction, and a holding tool 53c that holds a work is attached to the tip of the arm 53a. Further, the palletizing robot 53 can rotate freely at the mounting portion 53b. Furthermore, this palletizing robot 53
A conveyor line 54 that conveys a work is laid adjacent to the position.

[0003]

In the palletizing apparatus 50, the work sent through the conveyor line 54 is gripped by the palletizing robot 53,
It is transferred to the pallet 52 beside the palletizing robot 53. However, in the palletizing device 50, since the palletizing robot 53 is fixed by the mounting portion 53b, a region where the holder 53c cannot reach is generated in the peripheral position of the mounting portion 53b. For this reason, the conveyor line 54 and the pallet holding jig 51 must be installed at a predetermined distance from the palletizing robot 53, and the palletizing device 50 becomes large in size. There are problems such as having to secure Further, since the work on the conveyor line 54 is transferred to the pallet 52 only by the operation of the palletizing robot 53, the arm 53a of the palletizing robot 53 has to be swung on the conveyor line 54 every time. It has also been pointed out that there is a problem that the work loading time becomes long.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and to provide a compact palletizing apparatus which can perform high-speed work. In order to achieve this object, the palletizing device of the present invention has the following structure. That is, the present invention installs a front-rear moving mechanism having a movable base that can move back and forth on a plane, and attaches a vertical moving mechanism having a robot mounting base that moves up and down to the movable base of the front-back moving mechanism. A horizontal articulated robot equipped with a plurality of horizontally swingable arms is connected to the robot mount of this vertical movement mechanism, and a work holder that can be freely rotated and lifted is attached to the arm tip of this horizontal articulated robot. The fittings are attached. Place a pallet on the peripheral position of the palletizing robot configured in this way to hold the pallet, and a conveyor line for conveying the work is installed, the vertical moving means is installed near the end of the conveyor line, A work positioning table that is vertically movable is installed integrally with the vertical movement means.

[0005]

In the palletizing apparatus, when the work is conveyed to the tip of the conveyor line, the tip of the conveyor line rises to a predetermined position and stops. Then, the front-back movement mechanism and the up-down movement mechanism operate respectively to move the horizontal articulated robot up and down and forward and backward, and hold the work on the tip of the conveyor line by the work holding tool at the arm tip of the horizontal articulated robot. The horizontal articulated robot that holds the work moves horizontally to move the work onto the pallet that is held on the pallet placement section, and after accurately aligning the direction of the work, release the work from the work holder. To do. By repeating such operations, the works can be accurately stacked on the pallet. Further, this palletizing device has an advantage that the arm of the horizontal articulated robot can be set to be as short as possible by the combination of the forward / backward moving mechanism and the horizontal articulated robot.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a palletizing device, a palletizing robot 2 including a horizontal articulated robot 14 attached via a vertical movement mechanism and a front-back movement mechanism, and the palletizing robot 2
And a conveyor line 4 that extends to the front of the palletizing robot 2 and that conveys a box-shaped work.

The palletizing robot 2 has a rectangular base 5 installed on a plane, and linear guides 6 are laid on both sides of the upper surface of the base 5 in parallel with the long sides of the base 5 and a rear end of the base 5 is provided. A rack 7 that meshes with a pinion gear 10 that is integrally attached to an output shaft of a first servomotor 9 described later is fixed to the portion. A rectangular moving table 8 is fitted to the linear guide 6 so as to be movable back and forth. A first servo motor 9 is provided at the rear of the upper surface of the moving table 8.
The pinion gear 10 meshing with the rack 7 is integrally rotatably attached to the output shaft of the first servomotor 9. The palletizing robot 2 includes the base 5, the linear guide 6, the rack 7, the moving table 8, the first servomotor 9, and the pinion gear 10.
The forward-backward moving mechanism is constructed. A motor mounting frame 8a is integrally mounted on the upper surface of the moving table 8, and a second servomotor 11 is mounted on the upper surface of the motor mounting frame 8a. The output shaft of the second servomotor 11 projects inside the motor mounting frame 8a, and there is a ball screw mechanism (not shown) built in the motor mounting frame 8a so as to extend over the entire length in the vertical direction. They are connected together. A bearing nut (not shown) of the ball screw mechanism is connected to a rear surface portion of the robot mounting base 12 located on the front surface of the motor mounting frame 8a, and is configured to guide the robot 12 up and down by driving the second servo motor 11. Has been done. The motor mounting frame 8a and the second servo motor 1
1, the ball screw mechanism and the robot mount 12 constitute a vertical movement mechanism of the palletizing robot 2.

On the front surface of the robot mount 12, a horizontal articulated robot 14 (hereinafter referred to as a robot) equipped with an arm having a horizontal turning radius which is the width of the pallet 19 described later is mounted. The robot 14 includes a first arm 14b installed on an upper surface of a mounting portion 14a fixed to the robot mounting base 12, and the first arm 14b.
The second arm 14c is connected to the lower surface of the front end, and the third servo motor 15 and the fourth arm 14c are provided at the respective connecting portions.
The servo motor 16 is attached, the third servo motor 15 moves the first arm 14b, and the fourth servo motor 16 moves.
Are configured to horizontally rotate the second arms 14c. Further, the upper surface of the tip of the second arm 14c has a fifth
A servo motor 17 is attached, and a work holder 18 located on the lower surface of the tip end of the second arm 14c is rotatably connected to the output shaft of the servo motor 17. The work holder 18 can be replaced and used, but in the present embodiment, an air suction type work holder 18 provided with a suction device 18a that abuts against the upper surface of a box-shaped work and sucks and holds the work by air suction. To adopt.

On the other hand, the pallet mounting portions 3 are installed at positions sandwiching the palletizing robot 2, that is, at both sides of the palletizing robot 2. The pallet mounting unit 3 is composed of a pallet holding jig 20 for mounting and holding pallets 19 on which works are stacked by the palletizing robot 2, and an elevating mechanism 21 for supporting the pallet holding jig 20. The elevating mechanism 21 includes a link 21a. And a hydraulic cylinder (not shown). In addition, the pallet loading section 3
Conveyors 22 each having two upper and lower transfer paths
Are connected to each other, and the empty pallet 19 is connected to the lower transfer path 22.
The pallet 19 having been loaded into the pallet placing section 3 at a and having the work loaded therein is unloaded through the upper transfer path 22b.

The end of the conveyor line 4 extends in front of the palletizing robot 2. The conveyor line 4 is a generally known roller conveyor, and can smoothly convey a work by means of cylindrical rollers 4b rotatably and continuously spread between the frame plates 4a. A gate 23 protruding upward is provided at the tip of the conveyor line 4, a motor (not shown) is built in the upper portion of the gate 23, and an output shaft of a first sprocket shaft 24 described later is provided. A gear (not shown) that meshes with a gear portion (not shown) is attached. The first sprocket shaft 24, which has a gear part meshing with the gear near the middle part and has sprockets 24a attached at both ends, is rotatable above the gate 23, and the sprockets 24a, 24a at both ends are provided from both side surfaces of the gate 23. It is arranged so as to project. Also, this first sprocket shaft 2
Similarly to the first sprocket shaft 24, a second sprocket shaft 25 having sprocket 25a integrally fixed to both ends thereof is also rotatably arranged on the frame plate 4a at the vertically lower position of 4.
The first and second sprocket shafts 24 and 25 are constructed so that a chain 26 is wound between vertically corresponding sprockets 24a and 25a and integrally rotated by driving a motor. It is configured to be a vertically moving means that is driven to.

At the front side of the gate 23, that is, at the position of the leading end of the conveyor line, a work positioning table 27 is provided via a linear guide 28 so as to be vertically movable.
Similar to the conveyor line 4, the work positioning table 27 has rollers 27b continuously arranged between the side plates 27a so that the work transferred from the conveyor line 4 can be smoothly introduced onto the table. . Both side plates 27a of the work positioning table 27 are respectively connected to the chains, and the work positioning table 27 is configured to move up and down when a motor is driven.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described. In the palletizing apparatus 1 configured as described above, the work positioning table 27 in front of the palletizing robot 2 is located on the same plane as the transfer surface of the conveyor line 4, and the pallet 19 is conveyed to the conveyor 22 by the pallet holding jigs 20 of the pallet placing section 3. When a box-shaped work is conveyed from the conveyor line 4 while being conveyed and supplied by the conveyor, the work is continuously transferred onto the work positioning table 27, and when the work is placed, the work is positioned. The table 27 is moved up and down by the drive of the motor and stopped at a predetermined position. This stop position changes each time to a position where the palletizing robot 2 can easily work, depending on the height of the work stacked on the pallet 19 placed on the pallet mounting unit 3.

After the work positioning table 27 is stopped, the first servomotor 9 and the second servomotor 11 of the palletizing robot 2 are driven. As a result, the moving table 8
Is moved in the front-rear direction by the meshing of the rack 7 and the pinion gear 10, and the robot mount 12 is moved in the vertical direction by the ball screw mechanism.
The front and rear and the up and down positioning (hereinafter referred to as the robot 14) are performed. Next, the third servomotor 15 and the fourth servomotor 16 are driven to drive the first and second arms 1 of the robot 14.
4b and 14c are horizontally swiveled to move the work holder 18 at the tip of the second arm 14c above the work placed on the work positioning table 27.

Then, the fifth servomotor 17 is driven,
The workpiece holder 18 is rotated to align the workpiece holder 18 with the direction of the workpiece on the workpiece positioning table 27, and the second servomotor 11 is re-driven to drive the robot 14
Is lowered to such an extent that the lower surface of the work holder 18 contacts the upper surface of the work. As a result, the suction device 18a provided on the lower surface of the work holder 18 contacts the upper surface of the work,
The work is reliably sucked and held by the air suction performed at the same time. When the work is held by the work holder 18, the robot 14 is slightly raised and then the first,
The second arms 14b and 14c start horizontal rotation in the direction of one pallet 19 placed and held on both sides of the palletizing robot 2, and transfer the work above the pallet 19.

After that, the fifth servomotor 17 is driven,
The robot 14 corrects the work direction to a predetermined direction, and after the work direction correction is completed, the robot 14 moves to the second servo motor 11
When the lower surface of the work is grounded on the pallet 19, the suction of the suction device 18a is stopped and the work is opened on the pallet 19. Robot to work 1
4, when the robot 14 is transferred and placed on the pallet 19, the placement position on the pallet 19 is set to the first and second arms 1 of the robot 14.
If it is outside the turning range of 4b and 14c, the first
The moving table 8 is moved to an appropriate position by driving the servo motor 9 to supplement the operation range of the robot 14. For this reason,
There are no areas where the retainer cannot reach.

On the other hand, the work positioning table 27 is the robot 1
After the work is transferred to 4, the work is returned to the same plane as the conveyor line 4, the next work is placed, and the work is moved up or down to a predetermined position to transfer the next work to the robot 14, The robot 14 that has received the work repeats the above-described operation to stack the work on the pallet 19 in a plurality of stages and a plurality of rows. When a predetermined amount of works are stacked on the pallet 19 in this manner, a hydraulic mechanism (not shown) of the pallet mounting unit 3 is activated to move the pallet holding jig 20 to the upper transfer path 22b of the conveyor 22. The pallet 19 that has been held is released while being raised to the same surface as the surface, and the pallet 19 is carried out to the upper transfer path 22b of the conveyor 22. The pallet holding jig 20 carries out the pallet 19 to the upper transfer path 22b of the conveyor 22, then descends to the same surface as the transfer surface of the lower transfer path 22a and stops, and is conveyed through the lower transfer path 22a. Empty pallet 1
9 is placed and held for the next work.

When the work of exchanging the pallets 19 is started, the palletizing robot 2 starts to load the works on the pallets 19 of the other pallet placing section 3. In this way, when a predetermined amount of works are stacked on one pallet 19, the stacking work by the robot 14 is performed by the same operation as described above on the other pallet 19, and the work is stacked without waste. It is possible.

In this embodiment, one pallet holding jig 20 is installed on each side of the palletizing robot 2, but the number of pallet holding jigs 20 is not limited to this, and two or three or more pallet holding jigs 20 are provided. The effect is the same even if each of them is installed, and the pallet holding jig 20 on only one side instead of both sides does not cause any trouble in the work. Further, the works stacked on the pallet 19 are not limited to the box shape.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the forward / backward moving mechanism having the movable base movable back and forth on the plane is attached, and the vertical moving mechanism having the robot mount for vertically moving is attached to the movable base. A palletizing robot is constructed by connecting a horizontal articulated robot equipped with a plurality of horizontally swingable arms to a robot mount, and attaching a work holder that can rotate and lift freely to the end of the arm of this horizontal articulated robot. , A pallet placing part for placing and holding a pallet at a peripheral position of the palletizing robot, and a conveyor line for conveying a work are installed, and an up / down moving means is attached near the end of the conveyor line. It is a palletizing device that has a work positioning table that can move up and down as a unit. In this palletizing device, the palletizing robot is configured with a horizontal articulated robot that can be moved back and forth and up and down by the operation of the forward / backward moving mechanism and the vertical moving mechanism. It becomes possible to dispose the conveyor line and the pallet mounting portion in the vicinity of the palletizing robot, and it is possible to manufacture the palletizing device in an extremely compact manner. Further, since the work positioning table is raised or lowered, the work to be transferred and stacked on the pallet by the palletizing robot is always positioned at a position corresponding to the height of the work stacked on the pallet. The extra operation of the palletizing robot, such as moving the palletizing robot to the conveyor line in order to pick up the next work, is not required, and the work can be efficiently advanced and the work speed can be increased. As described above, the present invention has an effect unique to the present application and can significantly contribute to the industry.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a palletizing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view (not shown) of one pallet mounting portion of the palletizing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an operating state of the palletizing device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Palletizing device 2 Palletizing robot 3 Pallet loading unit 4 Conveyor line 4a Frame plate 4b Roller 5 Frame 6 Linear guide 7 Rack 8 Moving frame 8a Motor mounting frame 9 1st servo motor 10 Pinion gear 11 2nd servo motor 12 Robot mounting base 13 linear guide 14 horizontal articulated robot 14a mounting portion 14b first arm 14c second arm 15 third servo motor 16 fourth servo motor 17 fifth servo motor 18 work holder 18a suction device 19 pallet 20 pallet holding jig 21 lifting Device 21a Link 22 Conveyor 22a Lower transfer path 22b Upper transfer path 23 Gate 24 First sprocket shaft 24a Sprocket 25 Second sprocket shaft 25a Sprocket 26 Chain 27 Over click positioning base 27a side plate 27b around 28 linear guide

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front-rear moving mechanism having a movable base that can move back and forth on a plane is mounted, and a vertical moving mechanism having a robot mount that moves up and down is mounted on the movable base so that the robot mount can swing horizontally. A horizontal palletizing robot comprising a plurality of arms is connected, and a palletizing robot is constructed by attaching a work holder that can be freely rotated and lifted to the end of the arm of this horizontal multi-joint robot.
Place a pallet on a peripheral position of this palletizing robot to hold the pallet, and install a conveyor line for transporting the work, attach a vertical moving means near the end of the conveyor line, and move the vertical moving means. A palletizing device that is equipped with a work positioning table that is vertically movable.