JPH08313243A - Shape measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a shape measuring apparatus which automatically measures the distance between cassette stanchions used to load unbundled long materials into a three-dimensional warehouse and by which whether a shape is goof or not is judged automatically by using respective measured values by two noncontact range finders of different systems, which are fixed and installed so so to be faced on both sides in the direction of movement of the material to be measured. CONSTITUTION: A cassette 2 to which long materials 1 have been loaded is conveyed in the direction indicated by arrow A by a roller table 6. Stanchions 3 are erected and installed on both sides of the cassette 2 at intervals in the length direction, and the long materials 1 are supported. Range finders 4, 5 are installed so as to be faced on both sides in the direction of movement of the stanchions 3 as materials to be measured. As the range finders 4, 5, range finders of mutually different systems are selected out of noncontact range finders such as laser range finders, ultrasonic range finders, X-ray range finders, γ-ray range finders and the like. Measured values by the range finders 4, 5 are input to a computing unit, the width between the stanchions 3 on both sides is computed, and the width is compared with a preset threshold value so as to judge whether a shape is good or not.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a shape measurement for measuring the width of a cassette stanchion or the like used when storing various long materials without binding in a three-dimensional warehouse, or for determining the quality of the shape. It relates to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When storing various long materials such as steel bars, the long materials are loaded in a cassette, and the cassettes are loaded into each area of a three-dimensionally partitioned warehouse. This eliminates the need for bundling long materials, facilitates management by classifying by type or size, and facilitates loading and unloading. FIG. 4 is an example of such a three-dimensional warehouse and shows a cross section of the long material 1. The stanchions 3 are erected on both sides of the cassette 2 to support the long member 1 from the lateral direction. The cassette 2 is loaded on the roller 12 supported in multiple stages by the bracket 11.

When the long material 1 is loaded on the cassette 2, or when the loaded cassette 2 is transported by a roller table or the like, the stanchion 3 may be inclined outward due to the bias of the long material 1 or the collapse of the load. is there. Generally, in a three-dimensional warehouse, the space between the stanchion 3 and the bracket 11 is designed to be narrow in order to use the space efficiently, so that the allowable range of inclination that can be loaded into the warehouse is narrow, and when the inclination exceeds the limit. Need to transfer the long material 1 into another cassette.

By the way, the stanchion 3 is the cassette 2
It is erected at a certain interval on both sides, and usually there are about eight on one side. That is, one cassette 2 has about 16 stanchions 3, and even if one of them has an inclination beyond the limit, the cassette 2 cannot be stored in the warehouse.
If a stanchion 3 tilted beyond the limit is found during the charging operation, the cassette 2 must be pulled out,
Since the charging operation is significantly hindered, it is required to judge the quality of the cassette in advance.

In order to determine whether or not the cassette 2 can be loaded in the warehouse, it is effective to automatically measure the extent of the width of the stanchions 3 on both sides while being transported by a roller table or the like. As the automatic measuring means, there are a method of taking an image with a CCD camera and image processing, a method of using a range finder using a laser or an ultrasonic wave, and the like. However, the CCD camera system is expensive. Also, when the method using laser or ultrasonic waves is adopted, the measurement is performed from both sides at the same time, so the laser and ultrasonic waves emitted from one distance meter are received by the other distance meter, and the distance meters on both sides interfere with each other for measurement. It can be impossible.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention automatically measures the width of a cassette stanchion or the like used when loading various long materials into a three-dimensional warehouse without binding them, or automatically checks the shape. It is an object of the present invention to provide a shape measuring device as an inexpensive, quick and reliable means for making a determination.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to two non-contact distance meters, which are fixedly installed on both sides of a material to be measured in the traveling direction, and which are constructed in different ways. And a calculator for calculating the width of the material to be measured based on the measurement value of the range finder.

[0008]

The device of the present invention will be described with reference to an example shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state where the cassette 2 loaded with the long material 1 is conveyed by the roller table 6 in the direction of arrow A and is measured by the device of the present invention. The stanchions 3 are provided on both sides of the cassette 2 at intervals in the length direction, and support the long member 1. In the shape measuring device of the present invention, the first rangefinder 4 and the second rangefinder 5 are fixedly installed on both sides in the traveling direction of the material to be measured such as the stanchion 2 so as to face each other as shown in FIG. The distance measuring devices 4 and 5 are arithmetically processed to measure the width of the material to be measured or a calculator 9 for determining the quality of the shape is provided, and the distance measuring devices 4 and 5 are different from each other.

The first range finder 4 and the second range finder 5 are of different types among non-contact range finder such as laser range finder, ultrasonic range finder, X-ray range finder and γ-ray range finder. For example, a combination of a laser rangefinder and an ultrasonic rangefinder is adopted. For this reason, even if the two distance meters 4 and 5 provided opposite to each other perform the measurement at the same time, they do not interfere with each other, so that the measurement can be reliably performed.

In the measurement, as shown in FIG.
The distance X between the rangefinder 4 and the stanchion 3 on one side,
And the distance Y between the second rangefinder 5 and the stanchion 3 on the other side, respectively, and amplified by the amplifier 8 to obtain X +
From the distance between Y and both distance meters 4 and 5, the width between the stanchions 3 on both sides is measured by the computing unit 9 or compared with a preset threshold value to determine whether the shape is good or bad. When the width of the material to be measured deviates from the predetermined range or when it is determined that the shape is not acceptable, the alarm device 10 issues an alarm and necessary measures such as marking and rejecting can be taken.

According to the apparatus of the present invention as described above, it is not necessary to separately provide a line for measurement, and continuous measurement can be performed online on a transfer line or the like. Then, even if the position of the measured material changes in the width direction, the measurement can be performed. When the material to be measured passes intermittently like the stanchion 3 shown in FIG. 1, it is detected that the material to be measured 1 has reached the positions of the first distance meter 4 and the second distance meter 5. By providing the synchronization detector 7 for this purpose, as shown in FIG. 2, the signal is taken into the arithmetic unit 9, and the arithmetic operation is performed only at the time of detection,
High-speed response is possible.

As the synchronizing detector 7, a reflection type photoelectric sensor, a proximity switch or the like can be adopted. Then, it is installed in the same traveling direction position as the first rangefinder 4 or the second rangefinder 5 and in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the material to be measured, and the material to be measured is the first distance meter 4 and the second distance meter 5. It is possible to detect that the player has reached the position.

According to the shape measuring apparatus of the present invention, in addition to measuring the shape of the stanchion 3 of the cassette 2 as described above, it is possible to measure the shape of various products being conveyed.
For example, cylindrical products such as bottles and casting rings
When it is erected on a belt conveyor and is continuously or intermittently conveyed, its finishing outer diameter can be measured. In this case, even if the product position is not constant in the conveying direction and the belt width direction, the measurement can be performed without any problem.

[0014]

EXAMPLE As shown in FIG. 1, a steel bar product as a long material 1 was loaded on a cassette 2 and conveyed on a roller table 6, and it was judged whether the stanchions 3 on both sides widened. The length of the cassette 2 is 8.2 m, and the stanchions 3 are opposed to the same position in the width direction of the cassette 2, and 16 pieces are erected at a space of 1 m in the length direction, 8 pieces on each side in total. The width of the outside of each stanchion 3, that is, the measurement surface, in the cassette length direction is 40 mm.

A laser range finder using a red semiconductor laser (wavelength 670 nm) is used for the first range finder 4, and an ultrasonic range finder is used for the second range finder 5. As shown in FIG. Fixed relative to. Cassette 2 30m /
As shown in FIG. 2, the synchronization detector 7 is conveyed while being conveyed at a speed of min.
The position of the stanchion 3 is detected by, the distance X is measured by the first distance meter 4, the distance Y is measured by the second distance meter 5, the calculation is performed by the calculation judging device 9, and the width of the stanchion 3 and its quality are measured. A judgment was made. A reflection type photoelectric switch was used as the synchronization detector 7, and was installed in the same traveling direction position as the second rangefinder 5 and in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the cassette 2.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the output signal of the arithmetic decision unit 9. The width W of the stanchion 3 could be measured with an accuracy of ± 5 mm. No. A stanchion of 1 spreads on both sides, with a tolerance of 1
Since it exceeded 6.5 mm, it was judged to be defective. When such a defective stanchion was detected, an alarm was issued from the alarm device 10, the stanchion was marked, and the cassette was rejected from the loading route to the three-dimensional warehouse.

As a result, when the cassette 2 is stored in the three-dimensional warehouse as shown in FIG. 4, when the distance between the tip of the normal stanchion 3 and the bracket 11 is 37.5 mm, the cassette measured by the device of the present invention will be It could be stored without any problems, and its removal was easy.

[0018]

According to the shape measuring apparatus of the present invention, the non-contact rangefinders constructed by different methods are fixed to each other, and the distance between the rangefinders and the material to be measured passing therebetween is measured. Since it measures, the other distance meter does not receive the light and sound waves emitted from one distance meter, so there is no measurement failure,
Inexpensive, quick and reliable measurement is possible. Therefore, by automatically measuring the width of a cassette stanchion or the like, or by automatically judging the quality of the shape, it is possible to achieve the automatic storage of the multi-story warehouse without binding of long materials.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an application example of a device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of measurement by the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional cassette-type three-dimensional warehouse.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... long material 2 ... cassette 3 ... stanchion 4 ... first rangefinder 5 ... second rangefinder 6 ... roller table 7 ... synchronization detector 8 ... amplifier 9 ... calculator 10 ... alarm 11 ... bracket 12 ... roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Two non-contact distance meters, which are fixedly installed on both sides of the material to be measured in the advancing direction relative to each other and are constructed in different ways, and the material to be measured based on the measured value of the distance meter. A shape measuring device comprising a calculator for calculating a width.