JPH09219598A - Parts supplier device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To fetch a specific part from parts loaded in bulk by a method wherein a suction port is movably formed as a conveying mechanism by connection with a suction passage having a restriction member installed with an air hole for restricting a suction air by an air suction machine between the air suction machine and the suction port. SOLUTION: An arm part 3 of a robot is actuated according to signals from a controller 5 to drop a hand 2b. The hand 2b is dropped up to above a tray 11 included in parts 10 loaded in bulk, and attracts only one of the parts 10 by a suction air from an air suction machine 1. The, an air hole 2bd is closed, a negative pressure degree in a coupling value 2bb is increased, a pressure sensor perceives it, the controller 5 transmits signals to an arm part 3b, and the hand 2b is lifted up. After the hand 2b is moved to upward of a housing 13 according to signals by the controller 5, the hand 2b is dropped and the air suction machine 1 is stopped operating. The attracted parts 10 are dropped within the housing 13. Thereby, it is possible to fetch a specific part from the parts loaded in bulk.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component supply device in a manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-539 discloses a component supply device used in a manufacturing process such as a factory.
There was one described in No. 17.

In the above prior art, the semiconductors sequentially conveyed on the guide rails are vacuum-sucked one by one and moved to the table.

Another prior art relating to the component supply device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-239431. In this method, the screws sequentially conveyed on the feeder are sucked one by one by a suction device and moved to a predetermined position.

All of the above-mentioned prior art component feeders take out and move the components already aligned one by one, and cannot take out one of the arbitrarily placed components and move it. It was

[0006] As a component supply device for extracting and moving one of the components which are arbitrarily stacked, the image of the component obtained by a camera for recognizing the component is processed, and the controller controls the robot to control the component. It is possible to take out and move the parts, but the recognition of parts by image processing is easily affected by the brightness, color, shape of objects and the degree of overlap with each other, and it is difficult to take out a specific number of parts. And was a very costly device.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost component supply device which can easily take out a specific number of components and is highly reliable.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the claims of the present invention, an air blower, and one end is connected to the air blower and has a suction port at the other end, and the air blower and the A suction path having a restricting member in which an air hole for restricting the suction of air by the air suction device is installed between the suction port and a transport mechanism capable of moving the suction port by connecting to the suction path. It was a parts supply device.

According to the component supply device by the means described in the above claims, some components are sucked from the suction port of the suction passage due to the negative pressure generated by the air blower, but a certain number of them are used. Since the air holes in the restricting member of the suction path are closed, the suction force of the air blower does not reach other parts, and the suction port can suck only a specific number of parts. After sucking a specific number of components, the suction port is moved to a predetermined position, whereby only a specific number of components can be extracted from the arbitrarily stacked components and supplied to the predetermined position.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a component supply apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an air blower usually called a blower, which has an outside air port 1a and is connected to a suction passage 2 described later. A fan (not shown) connected to an electric motor (not shown) is housed in the air blower 1. When the electric motor is driven, the fan is rotated and the air in the suction passage 2 is sucked into the outside air. It is discharged from the mouth 1a to the outside.

The suction passage 2 has a flexible hose 2a.
And a hand 2b connected to the flexible hose 2a. The hand 2b will be described in detail later.

The robot 3 comprises a main body 3a having a drive mechanism (not shown), and an arm portion 3b which operates by the operation of the drive mechanism. The clamp portion 3ba installed at the tip of the arm portion 3b is fixed to the hand 2b,
By operating the arm portion 3b, the hand 2b can be moved to a desired position without changing its posture.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hand 2b is composed of a suction port 2ba at the tip and a connecting pipe 2bb connected to the suction port 2ba, and the air blower is provided between the suction port 2ba and the connecting pipe 2bb. A restriction member 2bc including an air hole 2bd that restricts the amount of movement of the air generated by 1 is interposed. The suction port 2ba and the connecting pipe 2bb are fixed by being fastened to each other with a bolt (not shown) while the restriction member 2bc is sandwiched.

The pressure sensor 4 fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the connecting pipe 2bb detects the degree of negative pressure in the connecting pipe 2bb, and the detection signal is fixed to the hand 2b via a signal line (not shown). It is transmitted to the controller 5. The controller 5 is provided with a main switch 5a for starting the component supply device according to the present invention.

The controller 5 is connected to the blower 1, the main body 3a of the robot 3 and the arm portion 3b by a signal line (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, the component supply apparatus according to the present invention is a tray 1 in which a plurality of components 10 before assembly are stacked in bulk.
1 is installed near the work table 12 on which the work table 1 is mounted.
A housing 13 which is a part of a product for arranging one part 10 of each of the parts 10 adjacent to each other to form an assembly.
An assembly table 14 on which is mounted is installed.

Next, the function of the limiting member 2bc will be described with reference to FIG. The suction port 2ba is the part 1
When the blower 1 is operated while it is on the tray 11 containing 0, air is generated to the component 10 through the air holes 2bd, as shown in the left diagram of FIG. Several parts 10 are sucked and rolled up.

When one of the wound-up parts 10 closes the air hole 2bd of the restriction member 2bc, the suction force of the air blower 1 does not act on the other parts 10, and the right part of FIG. 3 shows. Thus, the other component 10 falls.
As a result, the tray 1 is sucked by the suction port 2ba.
It is possible to take out only one component 10 out of 1.

Next, the operation of the component supply apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. When the operator of the component supply device activates the main switch 5a (step 21), the controller 5 detects the activation of the component supply device and drives an electric motor (not shown) of the air blower 1 to operate a fan (not shown) (step). 22).

Thereafter, the arm 3b of the robot 3 is operated by a signal from the controller 5 to lower the hand 2b fixed to the arm 3b (step 23, represented by a solid line in FIG. 1). ). The completion of the lowering of the hand 2b may be detected by a limit switch (not shown).
In step 24, the hand 2b lowered to above the tray 11 containing the components 10 stacked in bulk sucks only one component 10 on the tray 11 by the air suction from the air blower 1 as described above.

When one part is sucked by the restriction member 2bc and closes the air hole 2bd, the negative pressure in the connecting pipe 2bb increases, and the pressure P in the connecting pipe 2bb increases to a predetermined value P. _The connection pipe 2bb is lower than _0.
Is detected by the pressure sensor 4 installed in (step 25)
When a signal is sent to the controller 5, the controller 5 sends a signal to the arm portion 3b to raise the hand 2b (step 26).

After that, the hand 2b is moved above the housing 13 which is a part of the product on the assembly table 14 by the signal from the controller 5 (step 2).
7 (represented by the broken line in FIG. 1), the hand 2b is lowered (step 28), and the operation of the blower 1 is stopped (step 29), so that the component 10 that has been sucked is removed from the housing. It falls into 13 (step 30).

The hand 2b that has dropped the component 10 into the housing 13 is raised by a signal from the controller 5 (step 31), and then moved again above the tray 11 (step 32). In addition, the completion of the raising of the hand 2b in step 26,
Completion of movement of the hand 2b in step 27, completion of lowering of the hand 2b in step 28, step 31
Completion of ascent of hand 2b at step 32
Completion of the movement of the hand 2b in 1 is preferably detected by a limit switch or the like not shown.

In step 25, the pressure sensor 4
When the pressure P in the connecting pipe 2bb detected by is detected to be equal to or higher than the predetermined value P ₀ , the suction of the component 10 by the air blower 1 is continued above the tray 11.

In the above embodiment, the limiting member 2 is used.
The bc is provided with one air hole 2bd, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be appropriately changed according to the shape, size, weight and quantity of the parts to be sucked. . In particular, a mesh formed of various materials may be used.

Further, it is needless to say that the number of parts to be sucked is not limited to one, and can be appropriately changed according to the product to be applied.

According to the present invention, it is possible to take out a specific quantity of parts from the parts stacked in bulk, and since there are few incidental facilities and there is no mechanical separation structure, there are few failures such as clogging, and Since it is not necessary to switch to a dedicated hopper or the like, it is possible to configure a highly reliable and easily controllable component supply device capable of preventing mixing of different products at low cost.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to take out a specific quantity of parts from the parts stacked in bulk and to construct a highly reliable parts supply device at a low cost. The tact can be shortened and the manufacturing cost of the product can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a component supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of a hand of the component supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a component suction function by a hand of the component supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the component supply device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Blower 2 Suction path 2ba Suction port 2b
c Restricting member 2bd Air hole 3 Robot

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An air blower and an air hole, which is connected to the air blower at one end and has a suction port at the other end, between the air blower and the suction port, for restricting the air sucked by the air blower. A component supply device including a suction path having the above-described restriction member, and a transport mechanism that is connected to the suction path and is capable of moving the suction port.