JPH088045Y2 - Tool holding structure of automatic tool changer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Industrial Field of the Invention The present invention is a tool holding structure for positioning and holding a tool in an apparatus main body, which comprises two members provided on the apparatus main body side and the tool side of an automatic tool changer. It is about.

2. Description of the Related Art As an automatic tool changer using, for example, a polar coordinate type robot or an articulated type robot, a tool selected from a large number of tool holders is temporarily held at the tip of an arm so that a machine tool, etc. Although it is installed in equipment, in this type of conventional device, as a positioning method when attaching a tool to the tip of an arm, an adapter for mating male and female is previously attached to the arm tip and the tool base. When holding a tool, a pin is often inserted between both adapters with high precision for positioning. In the case of a device of the type in which a pin is inserted between both adapters for positioning, the tool held at the end of the arm is first attached to the processing machine, and then the pin being positioned is first removed and then the tool. It is common to remove the tool or remove the positioning pin and remove the tool at the same time to mount it on the processing machine side (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-12693).

Therefore, in the above-described conventional automatic tool changer, when holding the arm side holding part with respect to the tool at a time by the positioning pin and holding it, when the arm is brought close to the tool In this case, since the pins are fitted with high precision, it is necessary to make the movement speed of the arm extremely slow and perform the alignment. As a result, the conventional automatic tool changer described above has a problem that it takes too much time to connect and disconnect the tools.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a tool holding structure of an automatic tool changing device capable of holding and releasing a tool quickly and reliably.

Means for Solving the Problems In the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, the present invention comprises a first coupling member mounted on the automatic tool changer side and a second coupling member mounted on the tool side, The first coupling member engages with an electromagnet provided so as to be vertically retractable from a surface facing the second coupling member, the second coupling member facing the electromagnet, and the second coupling member serves as the first coupling member. An engaging attracting member for attracting and bringing into close contact with each other and an actuator for driving the engaging attracting member are provided, and the second coupling member attracts the tip of the electromagnet protruding from the first coupling member to attract the first magnet. The attracting member for temporarily positioning the relative position in a state of being separated from the coupling member by a predetermined amount, and the engaging portion with which the engaging pulling member engages, further include the first coupling member and the second coupling member. One of the facing faces A positioning member protruding from the other, a guide portion provided on either of the other, which is fitted with the positioning member to perform final positioning of the relative position, and the first coupling member and the second coupling member are primarily positioned and coupled. And a lock mechanism for releasably locking the opened state.

The first connecting member and the second connecting member of the tool holding structure of the automatic tool changing device are preliminarily attached to predetermined positions of the main body of the device, and to predetermined positions on the tool side. Then, when the tool is mounted on the processing machine or the like, or when the tool is replaced, the first coupling member mounted on the apparatus main body side is mounted on the predetermined tool by the second coupling member.
The electromagnet is moved to the position of the coupling member, and the positioning member of the first coupling member is engaged with the guide portion of the second coupling member so as to project from the first coupling member to the attracted member of the second coupling member. By suction, the relative position is temporarily positioned and the tool is temporarily held while the first coupling member and the second coupling member are separated from each other by a predetermined amount. Next, when the actuator of the first coupling member is actuated to drive the engagement pulling member, the engagement pulling member is engaged with the engagement portion of the second coupling member on the tool side and the second coupling member. The first coupling member is pulled so as to come into close contact with the first coupling member. At this time, the electromagnet in the protruding state is pushed into the first coupling member, and is attracted in the direction in which the first coupling member and the second coupling member come into close contact with each other to engage with the guide portion of the second coupling member. As the engaged positioning member gradually deepens the engagement with the guide portion, the relative position between the first coupling member and the second coupling member is automatically corrected, and when the two are in close contact, the positioning member is By engaging the guide portion with no gap, the main position is accurately adjusted to the correct position, and at the same time, the tool is securely held by the lock mechanism after the first coupling member and the second coupling member are integrally coupled. It

Further, the tool held by the holding structure is transferred to a tool mounting position of a processing machine or the like. At this time, since the holding state is locked by the lock mechanism, the tool does not drop during the transfer. Then, when the tool is supported by the tool mounting portion of the processing machine or the like, the lock is first released, and then the actuator of the first coupling member is actuated to drive the engagement pulling member to drive the second coupling member. After releasing the engagement of
Demagnetize by turning off the power switch of the electromagnet. Then, when the automatic tool changer moves to return to the initial position, the first connecting member and the second connecting member are separated from each other, leaving only the tool mounted on the processing machine and leaving only the first connecting member with the apparatus main body. Move together. When the tool mounted on the processing machine is removed and stored in the tool stocker, the same operation is performed in reverse order between the tool mounting section of the processing machine and the tool storage section of the tool stocker. .

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

The tool holding structure of the automatic tool changer is composed of a first connecting member 2 bolted to the robot tip 1 and a second connecting member 3 bolted to the tool side.

The first coupling member 2 connected to the apparatus body side is the first
The main body 2a of the coupling member 2 and the electromagnetic attraction mechanism 4 for temporarily positioning the relative position of the second coupling member 3 and the clamp mechanism 5 for pulling the second coupling member 3 into close contact with each other to integrally couple them.
A lock mechanism 6 for locking the state of being integrally connected to the second connecting member 3, a pair of positioning taper pins 7, 7 for correcting the relative position of the second connecting member 3, and a fluid coupler 8.
And an electrical coupler 9. Also, the second coupling member 3
Is a pair of the main body 3a of the second coupling member 3, the attracted block 10 attracted by the electromagnetic attraction mechanism 4 of the first coupling member 2, and the positioning taper pins 7, 7 of the first coupling member 2, respectively. It is provided with guide holes 11, 11, engagement pins 12, 12 for engaging the clamp mechanism 5 of the first coupling member 2, a fluid communication hole 13 and an electric coupler 14.

The electromagnetic attraction mechanism 4 has electromagnets 4b and 4b in holes 2b and 2b formed at symmetrical positions with respect to the center of the surface of the first coupling member 2 that is in close contact with the second coupling member 3.
The floating shaft 4c is loosely inserted in a tiltable manner and is elastically biased by a spring 4a in a protruding direction (downward in FIG. 2) to be attached to an end (lower end in FIG. 2) of a floating shaft 4c. This electromagnet 4b is the second
By adsorbing to the adsorbed blocks 10 provided at the opposing positions of the coupling member 3, the second coupling member 3 can be held in a floating state and temporarily positioned.

In addition, the clamp mechanism 5 has pins 15 at positions that are symmetric with respect to the center at a position separated from the pair of electromagnets 4b, 4b.
a pair of clamp claws 15 and 15 provided so as to be swingable in the radial direction around a as a fulcrum, and an air cylinder 16 provided between both clamp claws 15 and 15 to open and close them in the radial direction, Rods 16a, 16 provided on both ends of the air cylinder 16
a is the tip side of each clamp claw 15 (bottom side in FIG. 3)
To the engaging pins 12 and 1 of the second coupling member 3 by driving both clamp claws 15 and 15 in a direction in which they are separated from each other.
It is designed to be engaged and clamped to 2.

The lock mechanism 6 that locks the clamped state is provided with a lock air cylinder 17 provided between the clamp claws 15 and 15 extending to the base end side (upper end side in FIG. 3).
In the lock air cylinder 17, pistons 19 and 19 that are housed back to back and elastically urged in directions away from each other by a spring 18, and rectangular parallelepipeds attached to the tips of the rods of both pistons 19 and 19 are provided. Blocks of 20,20
When the pair of clamp claws 15 and 15 are in a clamped state (state indicated by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3), if the air in the lock air cylinder 17 is discharged, the action of the spring 18 causes both The pistons 19 and 19 slide in the separating direction to move the blocks 20 and 20 at the tips of the rods to the outside. As a result, the blocks 20 are engaged with the respective base ends of the clamp claws 15 in the clamped state, the swing of the clamp claw 15 is restricted, and the clamped state is maintained.

Further, the fluid coupler 8 is hermetically coupled to the fluid communication hole 13 on the second coupling member 3 side when the first coupling member 2 and the second coupling member 3 are in close contact with each other, and the electrical coupler 9 is similarly Second
The electric connector 14 on the coupling member 3 side is brought into contact with and electrically connected.

Next, by the automatic tool changer having the tool holding structure configured as described above, a predetermined tool selected from a large number of tools to which the second coupling member 3 is attached is attached to the tool of the processing machine. The case of mounting on a section will be described.

First, the first connecting member 2 attached to the robot tip portion 1 of the automatic tool changer is moved to the position of a predetermined tool, and the surfaces of the second connecting member 3 attached to this tool are brought into close contact with each other. After facing each other and turning on the switch to excite the electromagnet 4b, the electromagnet 4b is approached in a direction perpendicular to the surface to be adhered. When the first coupling member 2 is brought close to the second coupling member 3, the tip end faces of the pair of electromagnets 4b protruding by the elastic force of the spring 4a come into contact with the pair of attracted blocks 10 provided on the second coupling member 3. Each of them is adsorbed and held in a floating state, and the small-diameter tips of the pair of positioning taper pins 7 provided on the first coupling member 2 move to the second
In a state where the relative positions of the two coupling members 2 and 3 are provisionally positioned by loosely fitting in the pair of guide holes 11 provided in the coupling member 3, the first coupling member 2 and the second coupling member 3 are slightly They are connected with a gap.

When the tool suction-held via the second coupling member 3 starts moving toward the tool mounting portion of the processing machine by the automatic tool changer, the air cylinder 16 causes the pair of clamp claws 15 of the crank mechanism 5 to move. The tip ends of the clamp claws 15, 15 are engaged with the engaging pins 12 provided on the second coupling member 3, and then the clamp claws 15 are driven. When driven further in the separating direction, the swinging crank claw 15 draws the engagement pin 12 toward the first coupling member 2. As a result, as the gap between the coupling members 2 and 3 decreases, the electromagnet 4b
Is pushed into the hole 2a against the elastic force of the spring 4a, and the pair of positioning taper pins 7 are gradually inserted into the guide hole 11 on the large diameter side thereof, so that both coupling members 2,
The relative position of 3 is automatically corrected. At this time, since the floating shaft 4c provided with each electromagnet 4b is allowed to tilt, each electromagnet 4b is not released from the attraction of the attracted block 10 and the first coupling member 2 and the second coupling member 2 The relative position with respect to the connecting member 3 can be corrected.

As a result, when the two coupling members 2 and 3 finally come into close contact with each other, the maximum outer diameter portion of the positioning taper pin 7 is fitted into the guide hole 11 without any gap, thereby performing highly accurate main positioning.

When both the connecting members 2 and 3 are in close contact with each other and clamped together by the clamp mechanism 5, the air in the lock air cylinder 17 of the lock mechanism 6 is discharged to swing the clamp claws 15 by the blocks 20 and 20. Restrict and lock the clamped state.

In this way, while moving toward the tool mounting portion, the relative positions of the two coupling members 2 and 3 are positioned with high accuracy, and they are held at the time when the movement is completed in the state of being reliably clamped. After supporting the tool on the tool mounting part of the processing machine, when the tips of the clamp claws 15 and 15 are oscillated by the air cylinder 16 so as to approach each other, the engagement between each clamp claw 15 and the engagement pin 12 is performed. Is released, and the tool is held only by the attraction force of the electromagnet 4a. (State of FIG. 3).

Therefore, when the robot tip 1 of the automatic tool changer moves toward the initial position after the electromagnet 4a is switched off and demagnetized, the first connecting member 2 is disengaged and the second connecting member 3 is attached. The remaining tool remains supported by the tool mounting portion of the processing machine.

When removing the tool mounted on the processing machine and storing it in the tool stocker, etc., hold the tool mounted on the processing machine in the same way, then transfer the held tool to the tool stocker etc. and hold it. The same can be done by canceling.

As described above, in this embodiment, the movement to the destination is started while the tool is temporarily held by being attracted by the electromagnet 4b, and the robot is moved by the clamp mechanism 5, the positioning taper pin 7 and the guide hole 11 during the movement. Since the tip portion is positioned with high precision and held securely without being stopped, the time required for holding and releasing the tool can be greatly shortened.

Effect of the Invention As described above, in the tool holding structure of the automatic tool changing device of the present invention, first, the electromagnet of the first connecting member on the automatic tool changing device side is connected to the attracted member of the second connecting member on the tool side. The temporary holding and temporary positioning of the tool are performed by performing loose fitting of the positioning member on the side of the first coupling member 2 to the guide portion on the side of the second coupling member while adsorbing to the By engaging the engagement pulling member on the coupling member side with the engagement portion on the second coupling member side and pulling it together, the relative positions of both coupling members are corrected and both coupling members are integrally coupled to form a tool. Since the tool is accurately positioned and held with high accuracy, the tool can be positioned and held reliably in a short time. Further, since the holding state is locked and transferred by the lock mechanism after the main positioning, it is possible to prevent the tool from falling during the transfer.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a second coupling member (a sectional view taken along the line I--I of FIG. 3), and FIG. II-II line sectional view of FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a III-III line sectional view of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a IV-IV line sectional view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a V-V line of FIG. FIG. 2 ... First coupling member, 3 ... Second coupling member, 4 ... Electromagnetic attraction mechanism, 4b ... Electromagnet, 5 ... Clamping mechanism, 6 ...
Locking mechanism, 7-positioning taper pin, 10-adsorbed block, 11-guide hole, 12-engagement pin, 15-clamping claw, 16-air cylinder, 17-locking air cylinder.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshifumi Umemura 6 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Kyoho Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (56) References JP 59-59382 (JP, A) Actual 61-117695 (JP, U) Actually opened: 64-26184 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A first coupling member mounted on the automatic tool changer side, and a second coupling member mounted on the tool side,
The first coupling member faces an electromagnet that is vertically retractable from a surface that faces the second coupling member, and a second magnet that faces the second electromagnet.
An engaging attracting member that engages with the joining member and draws the second joining member into close contact with the first joining member; and an actuator that drives the engaging attracting member.
The coupling member includes an attracted member that temporarily attracts the tip of the electromagnet protruding from the first coupling member and temporarily positions the relative position with the first coupling member separated from the first coupling member by a predetermined amount, and the engagement pulling member. A positioning member that is provided on the other side, and the positioning member is fitted to the positioning member, the positioning member protruding from either one of the surfaces of the first coupling member and the second coupling member facing each other. A guide unit for main positioning of the relative position and a lock mechanism for releasably locking the state where the first connecting member and the second connecting member are main positioned and connected. Tool holding structure for automatic tool changer.