JPH0764434B2 - Conveyor device for palletizing robot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a conveyor device for supplying a work such as a box to a palletizing robot.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a conventional device of this type. In the figure, (1) is a conveyor device constituted by a single transfer line, and (2) is a pallet (not shown) that holds and transfers a work (3) such as a box transferred by the conveyor device (1). It is a transfer robot for stacking on top, and is equipped with a hand that can hold up to two of the above works.

That is, the work (3) conveyed on the conveyor path (4) of the conveyor device (1) is temporarily engaged and held by the stopper (6a) of the accumulator (5) of the conveyor device, and the downstream thereof. When the photoelectric sensor (8a) of the arranging part (7) located on the side does not detect the work, the stopper (6a) retreats downward from the conveying surface and is sent to the arranging part (7). . At this time, photoelectric sensors (8b) installed on both upstream sides of the transport path near the stopper (6a) count the number of passages of the work (3), and the number of passages is a set number (one or two).
In this case, the stopper (6a) projects so that the workpiece (3) to be conveyed next is put on standby by the accumulator (5) as shown in the figure. On the other hand, the work (3) transferred to the aligning section (7) is engaged and held by the stopper (6b) installed at the end of the aligning section to be positioned in the carrying direction, and both sides of the aligning section are positioned. Centering is performed by a pair of positioning pushers (10) arranged and driven by an air cylinder (9), and alignment is completed. The transfer robot (2) takes out one or two of the aligned works (3) at a time from the alignment section (7) and transfers them onto the pallet. By repeating this operation, patterning for one step is performed on the pallet and a plurality of steps of work are stacked on the pallet.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in a conventional device in which the conveyor device (1) has only a single transfer line and only one or two works can be positioned at a time for positioning the works (3), for example, FIG. When palletizing a pattern like this, the transfer robot (2) uses (A) (E, I) (L, M) (B, C) (F, J) (N, O) (D, H) ) Like (G, K), it had to make eight round trips between the conveyor and the pallet, which had the drawback of lengthening the cycle time.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a palletizing robot conveyor device that can reduce the cycle time by reducing the number of reciprocating movements of the transfer robot between the conveyor and the pallet.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The palletizing robot conveyor device according to the present invention, a dividing unit having a movable line changing guide for allocating the work conveyed on the conveyance path to a plurality of conveyance lines,
Align the work sent from this accumulator with the accumulator that stores and retains a predetermined number of workpieces sorted by this dividing part on the conveying surface at the downstream of each conveying line by a stopper that can be retracted. And a pallet for assembling into a predetermined pattern, and a conveyor device provided between the pallet and the conveyor device. The workpieces aligned by the arranging unit are held and transferred to the pallet. A conveyor robot for learning and stacking is provided, and the conveyor device is configured such that the work alignment pattern in the alignment portion is determined by a signal from the conveyor robot side and each stopper is driven based on the signal. is there.

[Action]

In the present invention, the conveyor device is divided into a plurality of transfer lines at its accumulation part, and is configured to be able to supply a plurality of lines of work to the alignment part on the downstream side thereof. The work can be transported, and the cycle time can be shortened by reducing the number of round trips between the conveyor and the pallet.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 in which parts corresponding to conventional ones are designated by the same reference numerals, and the conveyor device for a palletizing robot according to the present embodiment is as follows.
The conveyor device (11) distributes the work (3) transported on the transport path (12) to the transport lines (12a) and (12b), the air cylinder (13) driven line change guide (1)
4) and the stoppers (16a) and (16b) provided so that the workpieces sorted by the dividing section (15) can be projected and retracted on the conveying surface at the downstream side of each conveying line. The accumulator part (17) that holds and holds a predetermined number and the one or two rows of works (3) sent from the accumulator (17) are pressed toward the center stopper (16c) by a pair of pushers (10). Centering, and assembling into a predetermined pattern by an aligning section (18). The work (3) having a predetermined pattern aligned by the aligning section (18) of the conveyor device (11) is transferred to the arm (19). ) It is configured to be taken out by the suction hand (20) of the transfer robot (21) equipped with a suction pad (20a) capable of suctioning four works at a time at the tip and transferred to the pallet (22). In addition,
(23) is a workpiece positioning stopper provided at the base end of the suction hand (20), and (24) is a workpiece standby stopper installed at the upstream end of the dividing portion of the conveyor device (11). 25) is a fixed guide provided on the side of the dividing portion (15) facing the line changing guide (14), and (26a), (2
6b) is the transfer line (12) of the accumulation section (17).
a), a photoelectric sensor that detects the full state of (12b), (26
c) and (26d) are the transfer lines (12) of the accumulation section (17).
a), a photoelectric sensor for counting the number of passages of works sent from (12b) to the aligning unit (18), and (26e) for the work detecting photoelectric sensor of the aligning unit (18). The configuration other than the above is the same as the conventional one, and the description thereof is omitted.

The device of the present embodiment configured as described above has the dividing unit (15).
The work (3) introduced into the work piece is moved by the movable line changing guide (14) and the fixed guide (25) regardless of the alignment patterns (a) to (f) as shown in FIG. Are alternately fed to the respective transfer lines (12a) and (12b) until they are full. That is, the work (3) is on the transfer line (12b) side when the piston rod (13a) of the air cylinder (13) is in the extended state, and on the transfer line (12a) side when the piston rod (13a) is in the retracted position. To be sent separately. During the operation of the line changing guide (14), the stopper (24) located on the upstream side of the line changing guide (14) is raised above the conveying surface to prevent the following work from being fed into the dividing section (15). When the accumulation section (17) is full, the photoelectric sensor (26a) or (26b)
When any one of the transport lines (12a) and (12b) is full, the line change guide (14) of the dividing section (15) is not switched to the full one. If all the transfer lines (12a) and (12b) are full,
The stopper (24) rises to stop the flow of the following work (Fig. 3).

However, the shake hand between the alignment section (18) of the conveyor device (11) and the transfer robot (21) has a robot start signal (27) and a take-out completion signal (28) as shown in FIG. 5 (a). ), The alignment pattern command signal (29), and the alignment completion signal (30). That is, the robot start signal (27) indicates that the program on the transfer robot side is running and that the robot's servo power is on, and the removal completion signal (28).
Thus, the aligning section (18) is informed that the workpieces (3) whose positioning has been completed are taken out by the transfer robot (21) and moved to a position where they do not interfere with the conveyor. When the take-out completion signal (28) is input, the aligning section (18) stores the aligning pattern (FIG. 7 (a)) that has been stored so far.
~ (F) is cleared to prepare for the next alignment operation. The alignment pattern command signal (29) is the seventh
This is a signal for instructing the alignment section (18) with 3 bits which of the six alignment patterns shown in FIGS. (A) to (f) is to be used for positioning, and after receiving the extraction completion signal (28). When the alignment pattern command signal (29) is received, the alignment unit (18) positions the work (3) according to the pattern instructed by the transfer robot (21). The alignment completion signal (30) is a signal that informs the transfer robot (21) that the alignment unit (18) has completed positioning of the works (3), and when the transfer robot (21) receives this signal, it transfers the works. It operates to take out (3).

By the way, the apparatus of this embodiment is controlled by a programmable sequence controller having a built-in microcomputer. Hereinafter, taking the pattern of FIG. 7 (a) as an example, the aligning unit (18) will be described based on the flowchart of FIG. 5 (b). )
The sequence control of will be described.

First, the robot start signal (27) is input (Step 1),
It is judged whether or not the transfer robot (21) is activated (Step 2). If the transfer robot (21) is activated, a work removal completion signal (28) is output from the transfer robot (21) side (Step 2).
3). The aligning unit (18) determines whether or not the workpiece removal completion signal (28) is input from the transfer robot side (St
ep4), if received, clears the alignment pattern code stored in memory until now (Step 5), and the 3-bit alignment pattern code instructed by the transport robot (21) with the alignment pattern command signal (29). The patterns (represented by the codes 1 to 6 in the order of patterns (a) to (f) shown in FIG. 7) are stored in the memory cleared in Step 5 (Step
6). Then, the transport lines (12a) and (12b) to be used are determined based on the alignment pattern code stored in Step 6 (St
ep7), the stoppers (16a), (16b) of the used line are lowered (Step8), and the works (3) engaged and held by these stoppers (16a), (16b) are introduced into the alignment section (18). In addition, the number of workpieces
c), counting in (26d) (Step 9), it is judged whether or not the number of introductions reaches the set number (in this case, 2 pieces each) (Step 10). The stoppers (16a) and (16b) are raised (Step 11) to prevent the subsequent work (3) from entering the alignment section (18).
After the completion of Step 11 above, the time counting operation is started (Step
12), determine whether 1.5 seconds have passed (Step 13), and if 1.5 seconds have passed, pusher (10) with center stopper (16
The workpiece (3) is centered by pressing it toward the c) side (Step 14), and it is judged whether or not the centering is completed (Step 15). If completed, an alignment completion signal (30) is sent to the transfer robot. Is output. By repeating the above operation, the alignment section (18) forms an alignment pattern instructed by the transfer robot (21).

The operation of the stoppers (16a) and (16b) for the alignment patterns (a) to (f) of FIG. 7 and the value of the work passage counter are shown below.

Stopper (16a) operation: Pattern (a), Pattern (b), Pattern (c), Pattern (e) Stopper (16b) operation: Pattern (a), Pattern (b), Pattern (d), Pattern (f) The value of the work passage counter is 2 ... Pattern (a),
Pattern (c), pattern (d) The value of the work passage counter is 1 ... Pattern (b),
Pattern (e), Pattern (f) Therefore, when palletizing a pattern as shown in FIG. 6, for example, (A) ... Pattern (e), (Pattern (f)) (B, C) ... Pattern (c), (Pattern (d)) (D, E, F, G) ... Pattern (a) (H, I, L, M) ... Pattern (a) (J, K, N, O) ... Pattern (a) In addition, the transfer robot (21) only needs to make five reciprocating movements between the conveyor and the pallet, so the cycle time is greatly shortened. In the above operation, the work (3)
It is possible to transfer four (4) pieces at a time by using the transfer robot (2
This means that the number of reciprocating operations in 1) can be reduced and the pallet (22) can be stacked by operating the suction hand (20).

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the cycle time can be shortened by reducing the number of times the transfer robot reciprocates between the conveyor and the pallet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are enlarged views of a hand portion of a transfer robot. 2 is a front view, FIG. 2 (b) is a side view, FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing an essential part of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3, and FIG. ) Is a block diagram showing the relationship between the transfer robot and the conveyor side aligning unit, FIG. 5 (b) is a flowchart of sequence control of the aligning unit, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a palletizing pattern, and FIG. 7 (a). ) To (f) are views showing alignment patterns generated in the alignment section, and FIG. 8 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing a conventional device. (3) ... Work, (11) ... Conveyor device, (12) ...
… Transport path, (12a), (12b) …… Transport line, (14)…
… Line change guide, (15) …… Dividing part, (16a), (1
6b) …… Stopper, (17) …… Accumulator, (18)…
Alignment unit, (21) …… Transfer robot, (22) …… Pallet. In each figure, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A dividing section having a movable line changing guide for allocating a workpiece conveyed on a conveying path to a plurality of conveying lines, and a workpiece distributed by the dividing section on a conveying surface at a downstream portion of each conveying line. A conveyor device comprising: an accumulating portion that is held by a stopper that is capable of appearing and retracting and that stores a predetermined number of pieces; and an aligning portion that aligns the works sent from this accumulating portion and assembles them into a predetermined pattern. , A conveyor robot that is installed between the conveyor device and the pallet, holds and transfers the works aligned by the alignment part, and patterns and stacks the work on the pallet, and the conveyor device has the alignment part. The work alignment pattern in is determined by a signal from the transfer robot side, and each stopper is driven based on the signal. Conveyor device for palletizing robot characterized.