JPH10156658A - Clamp device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a clamp device capable of easily gripping various different- shaped work pieces and capable of reliably holding the gripped different-shaped work pieces. SOLUTION: A plurality of side plates 21 are erected, a cylindrical cage- shaped bucket 20 provided with longitudinal slits S is formed between mutually adjacent side plates and arranged on a base 2. A clamp mechanism 10 provided with a plurality of gripping claws 11 is driven by a driving unit 12, the gripping claws 11 are inserted to the lower parts of the slits S between respective side plates and driven in the axial direction of the bucket 20. The inner surface of the bucket 20 is formed into a conical side surface shape in which the inside diameter is gradually increased from the lower part to the upper part, the supporting surfaces are formed in the upper positions at the prescribed distance from the lower ends of the slits S in the bucket 20, and hook parts extending in the axial direction of the bucket 20 at the position lower than the supporting surfaces of the bucket 20 are formed on the lower ends of the gripping claws 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention
The present invention relates to a clamp device that transports a workpiece in a suspended state, and more particularly to a clamp device that can securely hold a deformed work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various types of article transport systems. For example, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a lifting mechanism 101 having an electromagnet 100 mounted below is provided, and a workpiece W is attracted to the electromagnet 100. A transport system configured to move along the transport path 102 is widely used. Note that 103 in FIG. 11 represents a work stock turntable, and 104 represents a pallet. According to this, it is possible to hold the work W in various forms, and it is also possible to transport the deformed work W as shown in FIG.

Further, as a clamp device for mechanically gripping a work, there is known a device capable of holding a gripping force of a clamp as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-35094.

[0004]

In the apparatus using the above-described electromagnet, the work falls when the power supply to the electromagnet is cut off. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures for an emergency stop such as a power failure. Further, even when the work is conveyed at a high speed, the possibility of dropping becomes large. For this reason, a work receiver (indicated by R in FIG. 12) is generally provided below the electromagnet, but the operation becomes complicated, and the effect of using the bent electromagnet is reduced.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-35094
With the use of the clamp device described in the above publication, it is possible to hold the gripped article even when the drive signal to the drive unit is interrupted. However, in the clamp device described in the publication, it is not easy to grip the deformed work targeted by the present invention, and only when the deformed work is in a predetermined posture, or the form of the work that can be gripped is limited. Limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a clamp device that can easily grip various deformed works and reliably hold the gripped deformed work.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a plurality of side plates are erected, and a vertical slit is provided between adjacent side plates. A cylindrical basket-shaped bucket, a plurality of gripping claws that can be inserted into slits between the side plates of the bucket, and a drive that inserts the plurality of gripping claws below the slits and drives the bucket in the axial direction of the bucket. And a unit.

Further, as set forth in claim 2, the inner surface of the bucket is formed in a conical side shape whose inner diameter gradually increases upward from a lower portion, and is located a predetermined distance above a lower end of the slit in the bucket. It is preferable that a support surface is formed at the position described above, and a hook portion extending in the axial direction of the bucket at a position below the support surface of the bucket is formed at the lower end of the gripping claw.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention having the above configuration will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a transport system including a clamp device according to one embodiment. A plurality of columns 3 are erected on a base 2 (omitted in FIG. 1), and a guide rail 4 Is installed. A clamp mechanism 10 is provided for the guide rail 4.
Is movably mounted. Also, on the base 2,
A bucket 20 for storing the deformed work W is placed thereon. Further, as shown in FIG.
Is mounted movably, and a magnet 6
Is installed. The driving device 7 is configured so that the magnet 6 can move in parallel with the base 2 and can move in the vertical direction.

Thus, the deformed work W is accommodated in a pallet 8 arranged near the base 2 and the deformed work W is attracted by the magnet 6, which is indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Move to position. Further, the robot advances to the position of the bucket 20 (however, when the clamp mechanism 10 does not exist), the magnet 6 is de-energized, and the deformed work W is stored in the bucket 20. The transport by the magnet 6 and the driving device 7 is the same as that of the conventional device, but is limited to a short section from the pallet 8 to the storage in the bucket 20, and the moving speed does not need to be very high. There is no risk that W will fall. In addition, even if the device falls down at the time of an emergency stop such as a power failure, the device is still on the base 2, so that the conventional work receiver is unnecessary. On the other hand, since the clamp mechanism 10 conveyed along the guide rail 4 moves at a high speed to a long distance, it is necessary to reliably hold the deformed work W. For this reason, the clamp device 1 of the present embodiment includes a clamp mechanism 10 and a bucket 20, each of which is configured as described below.

First, the bucket 20 will be described.
The bucket 20 of the present embodiment is formed as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and is fixed to the base 2. That is, the bucket 20 has a plurality of side plates (represented by 21) as the base 2.
2 and is formed in a cylindrical basket shape. Therefore,
Slits (represented by S) are formed in the longitudinal direction between adjacent side plates. In the present embodiment, each side plate 21 has an outer surface supported by a triangular support plate 23 as shown in FIG. Have been. The support surface P is formed at a position above the lower end of the slit S in the bucket 20 by a predetermined distance.

When the deformed work W is stored in the bucket 20, the work W is placed on the support surface P. A positioning pin 5 is fixed to the base 2 near the bucket 20, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, and is used for positioning the gripping claws 11 as described later. Note that a plurality of buckets 20 may be arranged side by side as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIGS. 3 and 4, and carry-in and carry-out may be performed alternately.

Next, the clamp mechanism 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, eight gripping claws 11 which can be inserted into the slits S between the respective side plates 21 of the bucket 20, and these gripping claws 1
1 is provided in the lower part of the slit S and has a drive unit 12 for driving in the axial direction of the bucket 20. Further, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the lifting unit 13 drives the gripping claws 11 and the driving unit 12 in the vertical direction, and the traveling unit 14 drives the entire unit along the guide rail 4.

As shown in FIG. 9, each gripping claw 11 is formed in, for example, a U-shape, and a hook 11a extending in the axial direction of the bucket 20 is formed at the lower end thereof. The upper end of each gripping claw 11 is movably supported along a guide rail 12 a arranged in the radial direction of the drive unit 12. A roller 11b is provided at the upper end of each gripping claw 11, so that the roller 11b fits into a guide groove 12c formed in the guide plate 12b of the drive unit 12, and can move along the guide groove 12c. It is configured.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the guide plate 12b. The guide plate 12b is rotatably supported at the center of the drive unit 12, and is configured to be rotationally driven by a drive mechanism 12d. As is apparent from the figure, the guide plate 12b has a circular shape, and the guide groove 12c is formed so as to extend from the outer peripheral portion toward the center. The roller 11b fitted in the guide groove 12c rotates the guide plate 12b. Can move in the radial direction along the guide rail 12a. The drive mechanism 12d may be any drive mechanism that drives the guide plate 12b to rotate, but in the present embodiment, the guide plate 12b is driven to rotate by a pneumatic cylinder via a rack and pinion. (Since this mechanism is well known, its description is omitted.)

As shown in FIGS. 2, 7 and 8, a guide 15 is provided on the side of the drive unit 12, and as the drive unit 12 descends, the positioning pins 5 provided on the base 2 are moved. The distal end is inserted, and the relative positional relationship between the drive unit 12 and thus the gripper 11 and the bucket 20 is regulated. At the lower center of the drive unit 12, as shown in FIGS.
Is provided, and is urged downward by a spring 16a. The lifting unit 13 and the traveling unit 14
Although an electric motor is used in the present embodiment, a well-known driving device using a pneumatic pressure, a hydraulic pressure, or the like as a driving source may be used.

After the deformed work W is stored in the bucket 20, the clamp mechanism 10 is moved by the traveling unit 14 with the gripping claws 11 expanded as shown in FIGS.
, And is driven downward by the lifting unit 13. Thus, when the positioning pin 5 is inserted into the guide 15, the gripping claw 11 is reliably inserted into the slit S of the bucket 20, and the hook 11 a of the gripping claw 11 is guided by the positioning pin 5. It reaches below the support surface P.

Subsequently, when the gripping claws 11 are driven by the drive unit 12 from the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 9 to the position shown by the two-dot chain line, the deformed workpiece W is gripped from all sides. At this time, while the deformed workpiece W is placed at the position indicated by P in FIG. 9 (corresponding to the support surface P of the bucket 20 shown in FIG. 6), the hook portions 11a of the gripping claws 11 are set.
Is inserted below the support surface P, the deformed work W is gripped by the hook 11a so as to be picked up from below, and moves in a stable state according to the gripping operation by the gripping claws 11. During this time, the pressing plate 16 abuts on the deformed work W and moves against the urging force of the spring 16a in accordance with the movement of the deformed work W, so that the deformed work W is held in a stable state.

The deformed workpiece W gripped by the gripping claws 11 is lifted upward by the lifting unit 13 and held at a position separated from the bucket 20. When the traveling unit 14 is driven in this state, the clamp mechanism 10 moves along the guide rail 4, but the deformed work W is held in a stable state by the eight gripping claws 11, so To the position.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the deformed work W is accommodated in the bucket 20, it is guided to the bottom of the bucket 20. When each gripping claw 11 is driven in the axial direction of the bucket 20 through the slit S, it is gripped by the hook 11a of each gripping claw 11 so as to be picked up from below. The deformed work W can be easily gripped by the cooperative operation of the deformed work W.
Can be reliably held.

[0021]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the clamp device of the present invention, as described in claim 1, a plurality of side plates are erected, a cylindrical basket-shaped bucket having a vertical slit between adjacent side plates, and each of the buckets Since it has a plurality of gripping claws that can be inserted into the slit between the side plates and a drive unit that inserts these gripping claws below the slits and drives the bucket in the axial direction of the bucket, The deformed work can be easily gripped by the cooperative operation, and the deformed work can be reliably held by the gripping claws.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the inner surface of the bucket is formed into a conical side surface shape whose inner diameter gradually increases upward from the lower portion, and is located at a position above the lower end of the slit in the bucket by a predetermined distance. A supporting surface is formed, and a hook portion extending in the axial direction of the bucket at a position lower than the supporting surface of the bucket is formed at a lower end of the gripping claw. Since the hooks of the gripping claws are inserted below the support surface in the state of being placed on the work, the deformed work is gripped by the hooks by scooping up from below. Thus, the deformed work can be more easily gripped by the gripping claws.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of a transport system including a clamp device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a transfer system including the clamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a transfer system including the clamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a transport system including the clamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a bucket provided to the clamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional front view of a bucket provided to the clamp device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a clamp mechanism according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a clamp mechanism according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a partial cross-sectional front view showing a state where a deformed work is gripped by a clamp mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a guide plate provided to the drive unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a transfer system including a conventional clamping device.

FIG. 12 is a partial sectional front view of a conventional clamping device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Clamp device 2 Base, 3 Column 4 Guide rail 5 Positioning pin 6 Magnet 7 Drive device 8 Pallet 10 Clamp mechanism 11 Gripping claw 12 Drive unit, 12b Guide plate 13 Lifting unit 14 Traveling unit 15 Guide 16 Press plate 20 Bucket 21 Side plate, S slit 22 base 23 support plate W irregular work

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical basket-shaped bucket having a plurality of side plates erected, each having a vertical slit between adjacent side plates,
A plurality of gripping claws that can be inserted into slits between the side plates of the bucket; and a drive unit that inserts the plurality of gripping claws into lower portions of the slits and drives the bucket in the axial direction of the bucket. And clamping device. 2. An inner surface of the bucket is formed in a conical side surface shape whose inner diameter gradually increases upward from a lower portion, and a support surface is formed at a position above a lower end of the slit in the bucket by a predetermined distance, At the lower end of the gripping claw,
A clamp device, wherein a hook portion extending in an axial direction of the bucket is formed at a position below a support surface of the bucket.