JPH092632A - Transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce manufacturing cost of a product by shortening the transfer time of a work and using an automatic assembly device. CONSTITUTION: A guide plate 14 holds a carrier 12 for loading a work such that the work can be moved only in a direction of transfer. A driving shaft 15 having a groove 16 formed on the peripheral surface thereof is arranged near the guide plate in parallel to the direction of transfer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device for transferring a work intermittently.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a transfer device for intermittently transferring a work to each stage in an automatic assembling apparatus, there is, for example, a synchronous carrier transfer conveyor shown in FIG.

4A and 4B are views showing a conventional transfer conveyor. FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a side view. This transfer conveyor is a so-called chain conveyor, and a substantially flat plate-shaped pallet 2 is fixed to the upper part of a chain 1 extending in the transfer direction (left and right direction in FIG. 4), and a work mounting carrier 3 is placed on this pallet 2. It has a structure. Guide plates 4 are provided on both sides of the chain 1 in parallel with the chains 1, and the guide plates 4 guide both sides of the carrier 3 on the pallet 2.

The pallet 2 has a holding frame 2a formed at both front and rear sides in the carrying direction, and the holding frames 2a hold the carrier 1 from the top of the pallet 2 so as not to drop to the front or rear side in the carrying direction. It has become. The distance between the holding frames 2a, 2a is set to be longer than the length of the carrier 1.

That is, when the chain 1 is carried, the position of the pallet 2 tends to shift with respect to the stage (not shown) when the chain 1 is stretched, so that the carrier 3 is carried in the carrying direction. The workpiece (not shown) on the carrier 3 can be positioned at an accurate position with respect to the stage by slightly moving the workpiece 3 along.

In order to position the work on the carrier 3 with respect to the stage, a positioning member 5 is used in FIG. The positioning member 5 is provided for each stage of the automatic assembling apparatus, and has a structure in which it is brought into contact with and separated from the carrier 3 by a positioning apparatus (not shown). That is, by inserting the wedge portion 5a formed at the tip of the positioning member 5 into the triangular concave portion 3a on the carrier side portion, the carrier 3 is positioned at an accurate position with respect to the stage.

In the automatic assembling apparatus using the conveyer configured as described above, the work is transferred from the stage of the previous process to the stage of the next process by the conveyer and after the positioning member 5 positions the work, the stage assembling work is performed. Be seen.

[0008]

The automatic assembling apparatus can shorten the working time in each stage, and shorten the cycle time, that is, the time required to complete the assembling work in all stages as much as possible. It is important from the viewpoint of cost reduction.

However, since the above-mentioned transfer conveyor is used, the transfer time required to transfer the work between the stages (when the work in the previous process stage is completed and then the work in the next process stage is started) The time required to be able to do so) may be longer than the time required for the assembly work at each stage, and there is a limit to shortening the cycle time. The carrying time is long because the carrier 3 is moved between the stages and then positioned by the positioning member 5 with respect to the stage.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to shorten the time for transferring a work and to reduce the cost for manufacturing a product by an automatic assembling apparatus.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carrying device, in which a carrier carrying an object to be carried is held by a rail member so that the carrier can be moved only in the carrying direction. A drive shaft having a thread groove formed on its outer peripheral surface is arranged such that its axis is parallel to the transport direction, and the carrier is connected to the drive shaft via a cam follower fitted into the thread groove. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a conveying device according to the first aspect, in which the moving speed of the carrier in the thread groove of the drive shaft gradually increases at the beginning of the conveying process and gradually at the end of the conveying process. It is a cam groove that decreases.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transporting device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the drive shaft has a transport start end portion and a transport end end portion, the outer diameter of which is a thread groove. The structure is formed so that the diameter is substantially equal to the diameter at the bottom, and both ends of the screw groove are open.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the invention, as the drive shaft rotates, the cam follower of the carrier is pushed by the side wall of the thread groove, and the carrier moves along the axis of the drive shaft. As described above, when the carrier is driven by the drive shaft, the drive shaft does not expand as compared with the chain, so that the movement amount of the carrier per unit rotation angle of the drive shaft is always constant.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the carrier can be decelerated and then stopped without changing the rotational speed of the drive shaft. Further, since the sudden braking is not applied when the carrier is stopped, even if the carrier is moved at a high speed, the stop position does not shift to the front side in the feeding direction due to the inertia generated when the carrier stops.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the cam follower is disengaged from the thread groove of the drive shaft when the carrier is positioned above the carrying start end and the carrying end end of the drive shaft.
The carrier can be moved laterally with respect to the drive shaft. That is, it is possible to supply the carrier from the side to the start point of the transport system constituted by the drive shaft and to discharge the carrier to the side from the end point.

[0017]

【Example】

Embodiment 1 An embodiment of the first invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 1A and 1B are views showing a main part of a carrying device according to a first invention, FIG. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1A, and FIG. ) Is a side view.

In these figures, reference numeral 11 denotes a transfer device according to this embodiment, which is an object to be transferred onto the stage of an automatic assembly device (not shown) in which a plurality of assembly stages are arranged in a line. The work is transported. Reference numeral 12 is a carrier for mounting a work (not shown), and the carrier 12 is formed in a flat plate shape.
As shown in (b), a cam follower 13 is provided at the bottom. In this embodiment, the cam follower 13 is formed by rotatably supporting the cylindrical body on the support shaft 12a below the carrier 12 via a bearing member (not shown).

In addition, the carrier 12 is supported by a pair of guide plates 14 as rail members according to the present invention at both sides which are the upper and lower sides in FIG. 1 (a).
These guide plates 14 are linearly formed with a length over the entire stage arrangement range, and are arranged in the vicinity of the stage in parallel with each other. As shown in FIG. 1B, the portions of the guide plates 14 holding the carrier 12 extend in the longitudinal direction of the guide plates 14 by forming the side portions facing each other in a substantially U-shaped cross section. The guide groove 14a is formed, and the side portion of the carrier 12 is slidably fitted into the guide groove 14a. That is, the carrier 12 held by the guide plate 14 is allowed to move only in the longitudinal direction of the guide plate 14, that is, in the transport direction.

A drive shaft 15 for driving the carrier 12 is provided below the pair of guide plates 14, 14.
Are arranged so that the axis is parallel to the guide plate 14. The drive shaft 15 is arranged at a position directly below a portion between the two guide plates 14 and 14.

The drive shaft 15 has a thread groove 16 formed on the outer peripheral surface, and the shaft end is connected to a motor type drive device (not shown). In the present embodiment, this drive device has a structure in which the drive shaft 15 is intermittently rotated in a fixed direction by one rotation.

The thread groove 16 is formed with a groove width and a groove depth into which the cam follower 13 of the carrier 12 fits, and has a structure such that the cam follower 13 can roll on the side wall. By fitting the cam follower 13 into the screw groove 16 from above and rotating the drive shaft 15, the cam follower 13 is pushed by the side wall of the screw groove 15 so that the carrier 12 moves in the longitudinal direction of the guide plate 14 (the axis of the drive shaft 15). Direction).

The pitch of the thread groove 16 is set so that the cam follower 13 moves by the interval between the stages arranged side by side when the drive shaft 15 makes one rotation.

The carrier device 11 thus constructed is used with the carrier 12 held by the guide plate 14 and the cam follower 13 fitted in the thread groove 16. That is, by mounting the work on the carrier 12 and starting the driving device in the above state, the carrier 12
Moves and the work is conveyed between the stages of the automatic assembling apparatus.

At this time, since the pitch of the thread groove 16 is set to the interval between the stages, the work is driven by the drive shaft 15
Is rotated once, the sheet is conveyed from the stage of the previous process to the stage of the next process. Further, since the drive shaft 15 is rotated intermittently, the work is conveyed between the stages and then stopped for a certain period of time, and then further moved to an adjacent stage and stopped. By matching the stop time with the work time on the stage, the assembly work is continuously performed on each stage.

In this way, the carrier 12 is driven by the drive shaft 15.
In driving, since the drive shaft 15 does not expand as compared with the chain, the movement amount of the carrier 12 per unit rotation angle of the drive shaft 15 is always constant. Therefore, the only factor that determines the stop position of the carrier 12 is the rotation angle of the drive shaft 15.
It is not necessary to separately provide a positioning member for accurately positioning the stage with respect to the stage.

That is, since the carrying end position is the positioning position, the time required for positioning the carrier can be saved as compared with the conventional chain conveyor.

In this embodiment, the carrier is moved once from the start point to the end point between the stages by one rotation of the drive shaft 15, but the rotation angle of the drive shaft 15 during intermittent rotation and The pitch of the thread groove 16 can be changed appropriately. That is, when the spacing between the stages is wider than that in this embodiment, the drive shaft 15 is rotated more than once, or the pitch of the thread groove 16 is made longer than that in this embodiment. Further, when the interval between the stages is shorter than that of this embodiment, the configuration opposite to the above is adopted. Further, even when the interval between the stages is the same as that of this embodiment, the thread groove 16
By changing the pitch of, the rotation angle of the drive shaft 15 when the carrier is sent between the stages at once can be increased or decreased.

Embodiment 2 The drive shaft 15 can also be formed as shown in FIG. The configuration shown in FIG. 2 is an embodiment of the second invention. In this embodiment, the other members of the drive shaft have the same structure as that of the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of the carrying device according to the second invention. The drive shaft 21 shown in the figure has a cam groove 22 formed on the outer peripheral surface. Although the cam groove 22 is formed in a screw shape, a linear portion 22a extending in the circumferential direction of the drive shaft 21 is provided for each pitch. Further, in the portion of the cam groove 22 which is continuous with the linear portion 22a, the side wall is gradually inclined so that the portion deviated from the linear portion 22a by 1/2 pitch becomes a spiral shape.

The drive shaft 2 having the cam groove 22 thus formed
When 1 is used, even if the drive shaft 21 is rotating at a constant rotation speed, the cam follower reaches the straight portion 22a from the spiral portion of the cam groove 22 so that the carrier is gradually decelerated and stopped. Is the straight part 2
By reaching the tip spiral portion of 2a, the carrier is gradually accelerated and moves at a constant speed.

Therefore, even if the drive device for rotating and driving the drive shaft 21 has a simple structure in which the drive shaft 21 is repeatedly rotated and stopped, the work on the carrier is stopped when the carrier is stopped and the movement is started. No large inertial force acts. Moreover, since the sudden braking is not applied when the carrier is stopped, even when the carrier is moved at high speed, the inertial force generated at the time of stopping does not cause the stop position to shift forward in the feeding direction.

When the drive shaft 21 is formed as shown in this embodiment, the carrier stops at the straight portion 22a, so it is not always necessary to rotate the carrier intermittently.

Example 3 The transfer apparatus shown in Examples 1 and 2 is the same as that shown in FIG.
It can also be configured as shown in. The configuration shown in FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the third invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a transfer device according to a third aspect of the present invention, in which the upper portion of the guide plate is cut away. In this figure, the same or equivalent members as those described in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 31 is a conveying device according to this embodiment. This transfer device 31 is provided with transfer paths A and B extending in parallel along the direction in which the stages of an automatic assembly apparatus (not shown) are arranged in parallel, and the ends of these transfer paths A and B are connected to each other by a connecting path C. , D are connected. A configuration is adopted in which the work is transported from the assembly start side to the assembly end side (right side in the figure) on one transport path A, and the carrier is returned from the assembly end side to the assembly start side (left side in the figure) on the other transport path B. There is.

In the transfer path A, the carrier 12 and the work (not shown) are transferred by the drive shaft 15, and in the transfer path B, a conventionally-used conveyor (not shown) such as a chain conveyor is used. The carrier 12 is conveyed. These transport paths A and B are provided on the guide plate 1
4 has a structure for guiding the carrier 12. The transport path C has a structure in which the carrier 12 is sent from the transport path A to the transport path B by the turn pusher 32, and the transport path D is configured to send the carrier 12 from the transport path B to the transport path A by the supply pusher 33. Further, a push-pusher 34 for urging the carrier 12 in the transport direction of the transport path A is provided at the terminal end of the transport path D. The transport paths C and D support the carrier 12 with the same structure as the guide plate 14 and guide the cam follower support portion projecting downward from the carrier 12. This guide portion is indicated by reference numeral 35 in FIG.

The drive shaft 15 is formed such that the carrying start end portion 15a and the carrying end end portion 15b are thinner than other portions. The outer diameters of the both end portions 15a and 15b are set to be equal to the diameter at the bottom portion of the thread groove 16 formed in the conveying portion (the portion between the both end portions). By forming the both ends 15a and 15b of the drive shaft 15 in this way, two step portions are formed on the drive shaft 15, and both longitudinal ends of the screw groove 16 are opened to the step portions.

In order to carry the work by the carrying device 31, the carrier 12 is first supplied from the carrying path D to the carrying path A. At this time, the carrier 12 loaded in the transport path B is pushed by the supply pusher 33. As a result, the carrier 12 is guided from the transport path B to the transport path A while moving along the transport path D in a state where the traveling direction is restricted by the guide portion 35. When the carrier 12 is sent to the transport path A, the cam follower 13 comes to face above the transport start end portion 15 a of the drive shaft 15.

Next, with the drive shaft 15 being driven to rotate intermittently, the push-in pusher 34 is driven to drive the carrier 12
Is urged toward the front side of the transport path A in the transport direction. By doing so, the cam follower 13 is fitted into the thread groove 16 from the opening end. Then, when the drive shaft 15 that intermittently rotates stops, the work is mounted on the carrier 12. The work may be mounted when the carrier 12 is located on the transport path B or the transport start end 15a.

After mounting the work as described above, the drive shaft 15 rotates intermittently to move the carrier 12 and the work between the respective stages of the automatic assembly apparatus as described in the first embodiment. The above-described loading operation of the carrier 12 onto the transport path A is performed every time the drive shaft 15 makes one rotation, and the plurality of carriers 12 are continuously moved along the transport path A. Then, after all the assembling work in this automatic assembling apparatus is completed, the carrier 12 is pushed out above the carrying end portion 15b of the drive shaft 15.

After that, the carrier 12 sent to the carrying end portion 15b is pushed by the turn pusher 32 and sent to the carrying path B via the carrying path C. At this time, carrier 1
Similarly to the conveyance path D, 2 is guided by the guide portion 35 to move in parallel and be guided to the conveyance path B. Then
The carrier 12 sent to the transport path B is returned to the transport path D side by a conveyor (not shown).

In this transporting device 31, both ends of the drive shaft 15 are formed to have a small diameter, so that the transporting start end 15a and the transporting end 15b are provided so that the carrier 12 can move laterally. Since the transport path B is connected to the start point and the end point of the transport path A constituted by the shaft 15 via the transport paths D and C, respectively, the transport system of the carrier 12 can be continuously formed without interruption. The carrier 12 can be loaded and unloaded from the road A by an automatic machine.

Although the drive shaft shown in FIG. 1 is used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, this drive shaft may be the drive shaft shown in FIG.

[0044]

As described above, in the carrying apparatus according to the first invention, the carrier carrying the object to be carried is held by the rail member so as to be allowed to move only in the carrying direction, and the vicinity of the rail member is provided. In addition, a drive shaft having a thread groove formed on the outer peripheral surface is arranged so that the axis line is parallel to the transport direction, and the carrier is connected to the drive shaft via a cam follower fitted in the screw groove, so that the drive When the shaft rotates, the cam follower of the carrier is pushed by the side wall of the thread groove, and the carrier moves along the axis of the drive shaft. As described above, when the carrier is driven by the drive shaft, the drive shaft does not expand as compared with the chain, so that the movement amount of the carrier per unit rotation angle of the drive shaft is always constant.

For this reason, the only factor that determines the stop position of the carrier is the rotation angle of the drive shaft. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately provide a positioning member for accurately positioning the carrier with respect to the stage. Therefore, as compared with the conventional transfer device, the transfer time can be shortened by the amount that the positioning member does not perform positioning. Therefore, by adopting the transfer device according to the present invention in the automatic assembly device, the cycle time is shortened and the cost is reduced. Can be planned.

A transfer device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the transfer device according to the first aspect, wherein the moving speed of the carrier in the thread groove of the drive shaft gradually increases at the beginning of the transfer process and gradually at the end of the transfer process. Since the cam groove is lowered,
The carrier can be decelerated and then stopped without changing the rotational speed of the drive shaft.

Therefore, even if the drive device for rotating and driving the drive shaft has a simple structure in which the drive shaft repeatedly rotates and stops, even when the carrier is stopped and starts moving, the object to be conveyed on the carrier is A large inertial force does not act on. Therefore, it is not necessary to use an expensive drive device having a built-in rotation control device, so that the cost can be reduced in manufacturing the transport device.

Further, since the sudden braking is not applied when the carrier is stopped, even if the carrier is moved at a high speed, the stopping position does not shift to the front side in the feeding direction due to the inertia generated at the time of stopping. Therefore, there is an effect that the carrier can be accurately positioned with respect to the stage.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transporting device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the drive start end and the transport end end of the drive shaft have a groove with an outer diameter of a thread groove. Since the screw groove is formed so as to have a diameter substantially equal to the diameter at the bottom so that both ends of the screw groove are open, the cam follower of the drive shaft is positioned when the carrier is positioned above the transport start end and the transport end end of the drive shaft. Since it is disengaged from the thread groove, the carrier can be moved laterally with respect to the drive shaft. That is, it is possible to supply the carrier from the side to the start point of the transport system constituted by the drive shaft and to discharge the carrier to the side from the end point.

Therefore, when the carrier is put into the carrier according to the present invention or the carrier is discharged from the carrier, it can be performed by an automatic machine, so that the automation rate can be increased to further reduce the cost. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a main part of a carrying device according to a first aspect of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. c) is a side view.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of a carrying device according to a second invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a carrier device according to a third invention.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a conventional transfer conveyor, which is shown in FIG.
Is a plan view, and FIG. 2B is a side view.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 31 ... Conveying device, 12 ... Carrier, 13 ... Cam follower, 14 ... Guide plate, 15, 21 ... Drive shaft,
15a ... Transport start end, 15b ... Transport end end, 16
... Screw groove, 22 ... Cam groove, 22a ... Straight section.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A carrier for carrying an object to be transported is held by a rail member extending parallel to the transport direction so as to be allowed to move only in the transport direction. A drive shaft in which a screw groove is formed and driven to rotate is arranged such that its axis is parallel to the conveying direction, and the carrier is connected to the drive shaft via a cam follower fitted in the screw groove. Characteristic transport device. 2. The conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the screw groove formed on the drive shaft is a cam groove in which the moving speed of the carrier gradually increases at the beginning of the conveying process and gradually decreases at the end of the conveying process. A transport device characterized by. 3. The transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer start end and the transfer end end of the drive shaft are
A conveyance device having a structure in which both ends of the screw groove are opened in the axial direction by forming the screw groove so that its outer diameter is substantially equal to the diameter of the screw groove at the groove bottom portion.