JPH11165874A - Article holding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To transfer an article held by an article holding device without a clearance to another adjacent article finished with transfer. SOLUTION: An article A is clamped by a pair of clamping bodies 11a, 11b of an article holding device, and two faces, that is, a side face and an upper face, of the article A are sucked by first and second suction means 24, 27. At the time of transferring the article A, one clamping body 11a is retreated by a moving means to release clamping of a pair of clamping bodies 11a, 11b. While holding the article A only by suction of the first and second suction means 24, 27, the article A is transferred without a clearance to another adjacent article finished with transfer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article holding device used for, for example, a loading device and an unloading device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an article holding apparatus of this type has a base mounted on the tip of an arm of a cargo handling robot such as a loading apparatus or an unloading apparatus. A pair of clamp bodies to be sandwiched are provided so as to be capable of opening and closing.

[0003] During loading, the side of the article is sandwiched by a pair of clamp bodies, and the article is moved to a predetermined loading position on a pallet, for example, by movement of an arm of a cargo handling robot. To release the clamping and pull it upward to transfer the articles.

However, when an article is transferred adjacent to an already-transferred article, even if an attempt is made to transfer the article close to the already-transferred article, the article is transferred between another article adjacent thereto. Since the clamp body that holds the article to be sandwiched is interposed, a gap is generated between adjacent articles by at least the thickness of the clamp body, and the posture of the load is deformed when the loaded article is transported. There is an inconvenience that the product does not fit even if it is collapsed or the outer dimensions in the loaded state are so large that it is stored in a rack.

Therefore, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-41175, an adsorbent for adsorbing the side surface of an article is provided on one clamp body so as to be able to move up and down, so that the side surface of the article is a pair of clamps. After moving above the loading position with the body clamped and adsorbed by the adsorbent, the other clamp is released to release the clamping, and the adsorbent that is adsorbing the article is lowered to the loading position. , The gap between adjacent articles can be reduced.

However, since only the side surface of the article is sucked and held in a cantilever state, it can be used only for a light article, and a heavy article may fall off at the other end and lose the suction.

For example, as described in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 2-135192, there is a method of adsorbing and holding only the vicinity of the center of the upper surface of an article. Opening and closing part (flap part) in the center
When the ends are joined together and the joint is stopped with an adhesive tape, a large load is applied to the opening / closing portion and the adhesive tape in a suction state, and the adhesive tape may be peeled or broken.

[0008]

As described above, in the article holding device in which the side surface of the article is sandwiched between a pair of clamp bodies,
There is a problem that a gap is generated by a clamp body interposed between another adjacent article, and the article is released by clamping the clamp body so that the clamp body does not intervene with another adjacent article. If only one of the side surfaces or the upper surface is sucked and transferred, there is a problem that the article cannot be held securely.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and can reliably hold an article only by suction when the clamping by a pair of clamp bodies is released, and can hold the held article to another adjacent article or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article holding device capable of transferring without gaps.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article holding apparatus, comprising: a base body; and a pair of clamp bodies provided on the base body so as to be openable and closable opposing each other, and holding a side surface of the article. Moving means for moving one clamp body between a clamping position facing the other clamp body and a retreat position retracting from the facing area of the other clamp body; The apparatus comprises a first suction means for suctioning and a second suction means provided on the base body side for sucking a surface of the article facing the base body.

The article is securely held by clamping the article between the pair of clamp bodies and adsorbing two surfaces of the article by the first and second suction means. Further, by moving one clamp body to the retreat position by the moving means, the article is held only by suction, and the article is transferred to another adjacent article without any gap, and only this suction is performed. However, the article is securely held by adsorbing the two surfaces of the article.

The article holding device according to the second aspect is the first aspect.
In the article holding device described above, one of the clamp bodies has a clamp plate supported swingably between a clamping position and a retracted position with an end on the base body side as a fulcrum, and the moving means includes: Is to swing.

By configuring the clamp plate of one clamp body to swing between the holding position and the retracted position with the end on the base body side as a fulcrum, the one clamp body is simply constructed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article holding apparatus.
In the article holding device according to the second aspect, the second suction means is provided integrally with the one clamp body, and suctions a portion of the surface of the article facing the base body near the edge near the one clamp body. is there.

By providing the second suction means integrally with one clamp body, the vicinity of the edge of the article close to the one clamp body is suctioned, and the suction of the article is compared with the case where the center part of the article is suctioned. The burden on the part is reduced, and the article is securely held.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article holding apparatus.
4. In the article holding device according to any one of the above items 3, the pair of second suction means are provided at positions separated from each other in a direction orthogonal to the opening and closing movement direction of the pair of clamp bodies, and It absorbs the vicinity of the edge.

By arranging a pair of second suction means at positions separated from each other in a direction orthogonal to the opening and closing movement direction of the pair of clamp bodies, the vicinity of the edge of the article is suctioned and the center of the article is suctioned. As compared with the case, the load on the suction portion of the article is reduced, and the article is securely held.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article holding apparatus.
5. In the article holding device according to any one of Items 4 to 4, the second suction means has an adsorbent and an advancing / retreating means for moving the adsorbent forward and backward.

Since the second adsorbing means has the adsorbent and the reciprocating means for moving the adsorbent forward and backward, the adsorbent is pressed against the article and is reliably adsorbed.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the article holding device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view in which a part of the article holding device is omitted, FIG. 2 is a front view showing driving means of a clamp plate of the article holding device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the article holding device, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a right side view of the article holding device.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a base body, which is composed of a pair of frames 2 and a pair of frames 2.
1 has a connecting frame 3 for connecting between both end portions thereof.
And FIG. 3). A support plate 4 having a mounting portion (not shown) as a center is attached to the upper surface of the base body 1, and the mounting portion of the support plate 4 is attached to a tip of an arm of a cargo handling robot such as a loading device or an unloading device. .

A pair of guide rails 5 are respectively mounted along the lower surfaces of the pair of frames 2, and a pair of moving frames 6a and 6b are slidably mounted on the pair of guide rails 5.

Each of the moving frames 6a and 6b is formed to have a substantially L-shaped cross section having an upper surface portion 7 and a side surface portion 8 and has a width greater than the width of the pair of frames 2 of the base body 1. A pair of slide portions 9 slidably engaged with the respective guide rails 5 are attached to the upper surface of the upper surface portion 7.

A pair of clamp bodies 11a and 11b are attached to side surfaces 8 of the pair of moving frames 6a and 6b.

One clamp body 11a has a horizontally long clamp plate 12, a plurality of mounting pieces 13 are fixed to the upper edge of the clamp plate 12, and each of the mounting pieces 13 is
It is stuck to. The swing shaft 14 is rotatably supported by a pair of support pieces 15 protruding from the side surface 8 of the moving frame 6a.

At both ends of the moving frame 6a, clamp plates 12 are provided.
Between a clamping position (solid line position in FIG. 1) facing the other clamp body 11b almost in parallel and a retreat position (a two-dot chain line position in FIG. 1) to retreat outward from the facing area of the other clamp body 11b. There is provided a moving means 16 for swinging by. The moving means 16 has an air cylinder 17 as a driving means, and a cylinder portion 18 of the air cylinder 17 is rotatably supported by a holder 19 having a substantially U-shaped cross section fixed to the moving frame 6a,
A lever 21 is attached to the tip of a rod 20 that is advanced and retracted from the cylinder section 18.
One end of the lever 21 is rotatably connected, and the other end of the lever 21 is fixed to the swing shaft 14. Therefore, the air cylinder 17
By this operation, the clamp plate 12 is swung between the holding position and the retreat position with the swing shaft 14 as a fulcrum.

The other clamp body 11b has a clamp plate 22 attached to the side surface 8 of the moving frame 6b.

The other clamp body 11b is integrally provided with a first suction means 23. The first suction means 23 has a plurality of adsorbents 24, and these adsorbents 24 are attached to a mounting plate 25 disposed outside the clamp plate 22, and the suction pads 26 of the adsorbent 24 are Are projected through circular openings (not shown) formed in the clamp plate 22.

A second suction means 27 is integrally provided on one clamp body 11a. Second adsorption means
27 has a pair of adsorbents 28, and these adsorbents 28
The suction pad 30 of the suction body 28 is attached to both ends of the lifting frame 29 arranged along the lower side of 6a and protrudes from the lower surface of the lifting frame 29.

The elevating frame 29 is supported by a pair of air cylinders 31 provided as moving means disposed on the moving frame 6a. The cylinder part 32 of the air cylinder 31 is fixed to the moving frame 6a, and the tip of a rod 33 that advances and retreats from the cylinder part 32 is fixed to the lifting frame 29.

A timing pulley 41 is rotatably supported on the upper surface of each connecting frame 3 of the base body 1, and a timing belt 42 is stretched on the timing pulley 41 in an engaged state. Each of the moving frames 6a,
A connecting member 43 attached to the upper surface portion 7 of 6b is connected.

Inside each frame 2, a pair of air cylinders 44 as clamp driving means is provided.
The cylinder portion 45 of each air cylinder 44 is attached to the frame 2 by a support piece 46, and the cylinder portion 45
The tip of a rod 47 that is advanced and retracted from the other is connected to the other moving frame 6b via a connector 48.

The other moving frame 6b is moved along the guide rail 5 of the base 1 by the operation of the pair of air cylinders 44, and one moving frame 6a is moved to the base 1 via the timing belt 42. The pair of moving frames 6a and 6b are moved along the guide rails 5 so as to be opened and closed in synchronization with each other.

A negative pressure is led to each of the adsorbers 24 and 28 by the control of an unillustrated suction control device, and the compressed gas is supplied to each of the air cylinders 17, 31, and 44 by the control of an unillustrated air cylinder control device. Or a negative pressure is introduced.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

First, a case will be described in which the article holding device is mounted on the tip of the arm of the loading robot of the loading device, and the rectangular box-shaped articles A conveyed one by one by a conveyor or the like are transferred onto a pallet. .

The pair of clamps 11a and 11b are moved away from each other by the movement of the arm of the loading robot of the loading device, and the clamp plate 12 of one clamp 11a is moved.
With the pair of clamp bodies 11a
, 11b from above the article A into both side areas of the article A, and then the pair of clamp bodies 11a, 11b are moved closer to each other to clamp the side face of the article A.

When the side of the article A is sandwiched between the pair of clamps 11a and 11b, the plurality of adsorbents 24 of the first adsorbing means 23 disposed on the other clamp 11b are elastically attached to the side of the article A. Crimp. By introducing a negative pressure to these adsorbents 24, the side surfaces of the article A are adsorbed.

By lowering the elevating frame 29 by the operation of the air cylinder 31 of one clamp body 11a, the pair of adsorbers 28 of the second adsorbing means 27 is elastically pressed against the upper surface of the article A. The position at which the pair of adsorbents 28 are pressed against the upper surface of the article A is near the edge of the article A, which is closer to the one clamp body 11a, and in the direction perpendicular to the clamping direction of the pair of clamp bodies 11a, 11b. Near both edges. By introducing a negative pressure to these adsorbents 28, the upper surface of the article A is adsorbed.

As described above, the pair of clamp bodies 11a, 11b
By holding the side surface of the article A with the first and second suction means 23, 27, the article A can be securely held by sucking the two sides of the side face and the upper surface of the article A.

Then, by moving the arm of the cargo handling robot, the article A is moved to a region above a predetermined transfer position on the pallet. It is assumed that another article is transferred on the pallet, and the article A is transferred adjacent to the article.

Clamp plate of one clamp body 11a
12 is swung from the holding position to the retracted position, the holding of the article A by the pair of clamp bodies 11a, 11b is released, and the article A is held only by suction by the first and second suction means 23, 27. At this time, the first and second suction means 23 and 27 are used to suck the two sides of the article A, namely, the side face and the top face, and to suck the vicinity of the edge of the article A near one clamp body 11a. By adsorbing the vicinity of both edges of the article A in a direction orthogonal to the direction of clamping by the clamp bodies 11a and 11b, the article A can be reliably held only by suction.

The article A held only by suction is lowered to the transfer position, and is transferred in a state where the side surface of the article A is closely contacted with another adjacent article without any gap. At this time, the side of the article A to which the adsorbent 24 can be brought into close contact can be any of the three sides except the side to which the adsorbent 24 is adsorbed.

After the transfer of the article A, the supply of the negative pressure to the adsorbers 24 and 28 is stopped to release the suction, and the holding of the article A is released.

Then, the movement of the arm of the cargo handling robot shifts to the transfer operation of the next article A. At this time, the clamp plate 12 at the retracted position is returned to the clamping position.

As described above, the pair of clamp bodies 11a, 11
b, the article A is held by the first and second suction means 23, 27 by adsorbing the two surfaces of the article A.
Can be reliably held, and by moving the clamp plate 12 of the one clamp body 11a to the retracted position,
By holding the article A only by suction and transferring the article A to another adjacent article or the like without a gap, the article A can be adsorbed by adsorbing two surfaces of the article A only by suction.
Can be reliably held.

Further, by providing the second suction means 27 integrally with the one clamp body 11a, the vicinity of the edge of the article A close to the one clamp body 11a is suctioned, and the center portion of the article A is suctioned. As compared with the case, the load on the suction portion of the article A can be reduced, and the article A can be reliably held.

Further, by arranging a pair of the second suction means 27 at positions separated from each other in the direction perpendicular to the opening and closing movement direction of the pair of clamp bodies 11a and 11b, the vicinity of the edge of the article A is suctioned, The load on the suction portion of the article A can be reduced as compared with the case where the center portion of the article A is sucked, and the article A can be reliably held.

Further, since the second adsorbing means 27 has the adsorbent 28 and the air cylinder 31 for moving the adsorbent 28 forward and backward, the adsorbent 28 can be pressed against the article A to be surely adsorbed.

Further, by configuring the clamp plate 12 of one clamp body 11a to swing between the clamping position and the retracted position with the end on the base body 1 side as a fulcrum,
One clamp body 11a can be easily configured.

Next, in the case where the article holding device is mounted on the tip of the arm of the cargo handling robot of the unloading device, and the rectangular box-shaped articles A loaded on the pallet are transferred one by one onto a conveyor or the like. Will be described.

The distance between the pair of clamp bodies 11a and 11b corresponds to the clamping distance of the article A, and one clamp body 11a
In the state where the clamp plate 12a is moved to the retreat position, the other clamp body 11b and the suction body 24 of the first suction means 23 are pushed to the side of the article A by the movement of the arm of the cargo handling robot of the unloading device. At the same time, the adsorbent 28 of the second adsorbing means 27 is pressed against the upper surface of the article A, and a negative pressure is led to the adsorbents 24 and 28 to adsorb the article A.

After the adsorbed article A is lifted and lifted off the side area of another adjacent article, the clamp plate 12
Is swung toward the clamping position, and a pair of clamp bodies 11a,
Hold with 11b.

By moving the arm of the cargo handling robot of the unloading device, the held article A is moved to the unloading position of a conveyor or the like, the suction by the first and second suction means 23 and 27 is released, and a pair of clamps is released. The bodies 11a and 11b are moved away from each other to release the holding, and the article A is transferred.

The unloading operation has the same operation and effect as the loading operation.

[0057]

According to the article holding device of the first aspect,
By holding the article between the pair of clamp bodies and adsorbing the two surfaces of the article by the first and second suction means, the article can be securely held, and the moving means moves one clamp body to the retracted position. By doing so, it is possible to hold the article only by suction and transfer the article to another adjacent article without gaps, and to securely hold the article by sucking two surfaces of the article by this suction alone. it can.

According to the article holding device of the second aspect, in addition to the effect of the article holding device of the first aspect, the clamping position and the retreating position of the clamp plate of one of the clamp bodies with the end on the base body side as a fulcrum. And one of the clamp bodies can be easily configured.

According to the article holding device of the third aspect, in addition to the effect of the article holding device of the first or second aspect, by providing the second suction means integrally with one of the clamp bodies, In this case, the vicinity of the edge of the article close to the clamp body can be suctioned, and the load on the suction portion of the article can be reduced as compared with the case where the center portion of the article is suctioned.

According to the article holding device of the fourth aspect, in addition to the effect of the article holding device of any one of the first to third aspects, in addition to the effect of the second suction means in the opening and closing movement direction of the pair of clamp bodies. By arranging a pair at positions separated from each other in the orthogonal direction, it is possible to absorb the vicinity of the edge of the article, reduce the load on the suction part of the article as compared with the case of suctioning the center part of the article, and securely hold the article it can.

According to the article holding device of the fifth aspect, in addition to the effect of the article holding device of any one of the first to fourth aspects, the second adsorbing means includes an adsorbent and an advancing / retreating device for moving the adsorbent. By having the means, the adsorbent can be pressed against the article to be surely adsorbed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view in which a part of an article holding device according to an embodiment of the present invention is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a driving means of a clamp plate of the article holding device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the article holding device.

FIG. 4 is a left side view of the article holding device.

FIG. 5 is a right side view of the article holding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base body 11a, 11b Clamp body 12 Clamp plate 16 Moving means 23 First suction means 27 Second suction means 28 Suction body 31 Air cylinder as advance / retreat means A Article

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A base body, a pair of clamp bodies provided on the base body so as to be openable and closable to face each other, and holding a side surface of an article, and a holding position where one clamp body faces the other clamp body. A moving means for moving between the second clamp body and a retreat position for retreating from the facing area of the other clamp body; a first suction means provided on the other clamp body for sucking a side surface of an article; And a second suction means for suctioning a surface of the article facing the base body. 2. One of the clamp bodies has a clamp plate that is swingably supported between a holding position and a retreat position with an end on the base body side as a fulcrum, and a moving unit swings the clamp plate. The article holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article holding apparatus is moved. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second suction means is provided integrally with the one clamp body, and suctions a portion of the surface facing the base body of the article near an edge near the one clamp body. Item 3. The article holding device according to Item 1 or 2. 4. A pair of second suction means are provided at positions separated from each other in a direction perpendicular to the opening and closing movement direction of the pair of clamp bodies, and suction the vicinity of an edge of a surface of the article facing the base body. The article holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: 5. The article holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second suction means has an adsorbent and an advancing / retreating means for moving the adsorbent back and forth.