JPH11171467A - Ingot chucking method and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ingot chucking method capable of chucking an ingot without fail and a device thereof. SOLUTION: A pair of holding claws 16A and 16B are moved in a direction of making them come nearer to each other from the specified reference position, and when either of these holding claws 16A and 16B abuts upon the end face of an ingot (In), its movement is stopped. Next, each travel S of the paired holding claws 16A and 16B from the reference position is detected, and the detected travel S is substituted to a expression of x=(T-D-2S)/2, T: space between holding members situated in the reference position, D: length of ingot)and thereby (x) is calculated. Then, a chuck unit 5 is horizontally moved as far as a portion of this (x). With this, since both centers of the ingot In and the chuck unit 5 are accorded with each other, if subsequently both these holding claws 16A and 16B are moved as far as this (x) in a direction of making them come nearer to each other, the ingot In is held in a state that its center is accorded with that of the chuck unit 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ingot chuck method and apparatus, and more particularly, to an ingot chuck method and apparatus applied to an ingot transport apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since an ingot is heavy, an ingot transport device is used for transporting the ingot. As shown in FIG. 5, the ingot transport device 1 is provided on a guide rail 2 disposed along a transport route of the ingot In, a traveling body 3 traveling on the guide rail 2, and a traveling body 3. It comprises a vertically movable slide body 4 and an ingot chuck device 5 provided at the lower end of the slide body 4. And the ingot chuck device 5
It comprises a chuck device main body 6 and a pair of gripping claws 7, 7 movably provided on the chuck device main body 6, and grips both ends of the ingot In with the pair of gripping claws 7, 7. Thus, the ingot In is chucked.

In order to reliably chuck the ingot In with the ingot chuck device 5, the center O _{In of the} ingot In and the center O of the chuck device body 6 are required.
It is necessary to grip the ingot In with the pair of gripping claws 7 in a state where _C is completely matched. For this reason,
Conventionally, an operator positions an ingot In to be transported at a predetermined position and mounts the ingot. The ingot In thus positioned is chucked by the ingot chuck device 5 and transported.

[0004]

However, there is a limit in manual positioning, and there is a case where a deviation occurs even if it is intended to perform accurate positioning. In such a case, the ingot In cannot be reliably chucked, and there is a risk that the ingot In may drop during the transportation.

[0005] Further, if the operator positions the ingot In for each transfer, there is a problem that efficient processing cannot be performed. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ingot chucking method and apparatus that can reliably chuck an ingot.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ingot by an ingot chuck device having a pair of gripping members which move by the same amount in a direction approaching and moving away from the chuck device body. In the ingot chucking method, the pair of gripping members are moved in a direction approaching each other from a predetermined reference position, and the pair of gripping members are moved at a position where one of the gripping members abuts on the end surface of the ingot. Stop,
The amount of movement S of the pair of gripping members from the reference position is detected, and based on the amount of movement S, the chuck device main body is horizontally moved to the gripping member side in contact with the end surface of the ingot. X = (T− D-2S) / 2 x: amount of movement in the horizontal direction T: distance between gripping members located at the reference position D: length of the ingot The pair of gripping members are moved by moving the pair of gripping members x in a direction approaching each other. It is characterized in that both ends of the ingot are gripped by members.

In the present invention, the following procedure is used for gripping an ingot. First, a pair of grip members are moved from a predetermined reference position in a direction approaching each other. Then, when one of the gripping members comes into contact with the end face of the ingot, the movement of the gripping member is stopped. Next, the movement amount S of the gripping member from the reference position is detected. Then, the detected movement amount S is substituted into the following equation x = (T−D−2S) / 2 x: horizontal movement amount T: distance between gripping members located at the reference position D: length of ingot and x Is calculated. This x is the amount of deviation between the center of the ingot and the center of the chuck device main body. Therefore, if the chuck device main body is moved horizontally by this shift amount x, the centers of the two will coincide. For this reason, the chuck device main body is moved x to the gripping member side in contact with the end surface of the ingot. Thereby, the center of the ingot and the center of the chuck device main body coincide with each other. In this state, if the pair of gripping members are moved x in a direction approaching each other, the ingot is gripped by the pair of gripping members.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the ingot chuck method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiment, an example in which the ingot chuck device according to the present invention is applied to an ingot transport device will be described. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the ingot chuck device 5 of the present embodiment is attached to the lower end of a vertically movable slide body 4 provided on the traveling body 3.

1 to 3 are a front view, a front sectional view, and a side sectional view of the ingot chuck device 5, respectively.
As shown in the figure, a main body frame (apparatus main body) formed in a rectangular shape is horizontally fixed to the lower end of the slide body 4. A pair of guide rails 12, 12 are laid on the lower surface of the body frame 10, and a pair of slide plates 14A, 14B are slidable on the guide rails 12, 12 via slide members 14a, 14b. It is supported by.

The pair of slide plates 14A, 14
On the lower surface of B, gripping claws 16A and 16B are vertically fixed, respectively, and the tips of the gripping claws 16A and 16B are formed in a hook shape. The ingot In is chucked by gripping both ends with the gripping claws 16A and 16B. Nut members 18A, 18B are fixed to upper surfaces of the slide plates 14A, 14B, respectively. The nut members 18A, 18B are screwed to a pair of screw rods 20A, 20B having different winding directions. I have. The screw rods 20A, 20B are disposed along the guide rails 12, 12, and are connected to each other via a joint 22 at the center of the main body frame 10. Both ends are rotatably supported by bearing members 24 provided on both ends of the main body frame 10.

A gear 26 is fixed to one of the pair of screw rods 20A, 20A, and the gear 26 is meshed with a drive gear 28 fixed to an output shaft of a feed motor 30. ing. The feed motor 30 is provided on the main body frame 40. By driving the feed motor 30, the screw rods 20A, 20B
Rotates. When the screw rods 20A and 20B rotate, the gripping claws 16A and 16B move by the same amount along the guide rail 12.

Here, since the screw rods 20A and 20B have different winding directions, the grip claws 16A and 16B move in opposite directions when the screw rods 20A and 20B are rotated. That is, they move in a direction toward or away from each other. As a result, the pair of gripping claws 16
The interval between A and 16B is variable. The feed motor 3
0 is provided with an encoder 32, and is configured to be able to detect the number of revolutions. The control device 34 detects the amount of movement of the gripping claws 16A, 16B from the number of rotations of the feed motor 30 detected by the encoder 32.

Further, sensors 36A and 36B (for example, a reflection type photoelectric switch and a proximity switch, etc.) which are activated when the end surfaces of the ingot In contact with each other are provided at the tips of the pair of gripping claws 16A and 16B. ing. By inputting the operation signals of the sensors 36A and 36B, the control device 34 detects that the end surfaces of the ingot In have come into contact with the grip claws 16A and 16B.

An ingot I gripped by the gripping claws 16A and 16B is provided at the center of the main body frame 10.
A cover plate 38 is provided to prevent n from falling. The cover plate 38 includes
It is formed so as to cover the ingot In gripped by 16B, and a pair of rods 40, 40 is erected on the upper surface thereof. The rods 40, 40 are slidably supported by bearing members 42, 42 provided on the main body frame 10, and are urged downward by springs 44, 44 incorporated in the bearing members 42, 42. ing. The ingot In gripped by the gripping claws 16A and 16B is surely chucked when its upper surface is pressed by the cover plate 38.

Next, a description will be given of a method of chucking the ingot In by the chuck device 5 of the present embodiment configured as described above. First, the operator places the ingot In on the tray 46. This tray 46
Are installed on the transport route of the ingot. When the ingot In is placed on the tray 46, the traveling body 3 moves to a position directly above the tray 46. Thereafter, the slide body 4 descends by a predetermined amount, and the chuck device 5 moves to a predetermined ingot gripping position.

When the chuck device 5 moves to the ingot holding position, a pair of holding claws 16A and 16B provided in the chuck device 5 are located on both sides of the ingot In as shown in FIG. At this time, the pair of gripping claws 16A and 16B are located at positions farthest from each other, that is, at the position of the end of the guide rail 12. This position is the reference position for the gripping claws 16A and 16B.

When the chuck device 5 moves to the ingot gripping position as described above, the feed motor 30 is driven, and the pair of gripping claws 16A and 16B move in a direction approaching each other. Here, as shown in FIG.
When the center O _{In of the} ingot In placed on the plate 6 does not coincide with the center O _C of the chuck device 5, one of the gripping claws 16A, 16B abuts on the end face of the ingot In first.

In the case of FIG. 4B, the center O _{In of the} ingot In is shifted to the right with respect to the center O _C of the chuck device 5, so that the right gripping claw 16B is first placed on the end face of the ingot In. Abut. When the right gripping claw 16B comes into contact with the end surface of the ingot In, the sensor 36B provided on the gripping claw 16B is activated, and an operation signal is output to the control device 34.

The control device 34 stops driving the feed motor 30 by inputting an operation signal of the sensor 36B. At the same time, the gripping claws 16A and 16B
Of the reference position is calculated. Here, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the gripping claws 16A, 16
If the interval of B is T, the length of the ingot In to be gripped is D, and the amount of movement of the gripping claws 16A, 16B from the reference position is S, the center O _{In of the} ingot _In becomes the center O _In of the chuck device 5. It can be seen that x is shifted to the right with respect to _C by x = (TD-2S) / 2.

The control device 34 controls the gripping claws 16A, 16A
After calculating the amount of movement S from the reference position of B, the calculated amount of movement S is substituted into the above equation to calculate the amount x of the center between the ingot In and the chuck device 5. After the calculation, the traveling body 3 of the ingot transport device 1 is moved, and the chuck device 5 is moved x in the right direction in FIG. 4B. As a result, as shown in FIG.
The center O _{In of} n coincides with the center O _C of the chuck device 5.

When the chuck device 5 is moved and aligned as described above, as shown in FIG. 4C, the distance from each of the gripping claws 16A and 16B to the end surface of the ingot In becomes x. . After moving the chuck device 5, the control device 34 drives the feed motor 30 again to move the gripping claws 16A and 16B in the direction approaching each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4D, the center O _In of the ingot In has the center O _{C of the} chuck device 5.
The both sides are gripped by the gripping claws 16A and 16B in a state in which they match.

Thus, the chuck of the ingot In is completed. Then, after the chucking of the ingot In is completed, the slide body 4 rises by a predetermined amount and lifts the ingot In from the tray 46, and the traveling body 3 travels to convey the ingot In. As described above, the ingot chuck device 5 of the present embodiment has the ingot I with the center O _{In of the} ingot _In and the center O _C of the chuck device 5 aligned.
n can be chucked. Therefore, the ingot In can be reliably chucked.

Further, when the operator places the ingot In on the tray 46, it is not necessary to perform positioning, so that the operator's labor is reduced and the processing efficiency of the ingot In is improved.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the ingot can be chucked in a state where the center of the ingot is aligned with the center of the chuck device main body, the ingot can be reliably gripped. Also,
Since the alignment is performed on the apparatus side, the labor of the operator can be reduced, and the processing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of an ingot chuck device.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing a configuration of an ingot chuck device.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of an ingot chuck device.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of an ingot chuck method.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the configuration of the ingot transport device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ingot conveyance apparatus 3 ... Running body 4 ... Slide body 5 ... Ingot chuck apparatus 10 ... Main body frame 16A, 16B ... Gripping claw 30 ... Feed motor 32 ... Encoder 34 ... Control apparatus 36A, 36B ... Sensor In ... Ingot

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ingot chuck method for chucking an ingot by an ingot chuck device having a pair of grip members that move by a same amount in a direction approaching and moving away from the chuck device body, wherein the pair of grip members are fixed to a predetermined amount. Moving in a direction approaching each other from a reference position, stopping movement of the pair of grip members at a position where one of the grip members abuts on the end surface of the ingot, and moving the pair of grip members from the reference position. The amount S is detected, and based on the amount of movement S, the chuck device main body is moved in the horizontal direction to the gripping member side in contact with the end face of the ingot. X = (TD-2S) / 2 x: the amount of movement in the horizontal direction T: The distance between the gripping members located at the reference position D: The length of the ingot Moved, and the pair of gripping members are moved x in a direction approaching each other. Ingot chuck wherein the gripping both ends of the ingot by the gripping member pairs. 2. A chuck device main body, first moving means for moving the chuck device main body, and both end portions of the ingot which are provided on the chuck device main body and move by a same amount of movement in a direction approaching and away from each other. A pair of gripping members, a second moving unit that moves the pair of gripping members, and an end surface detecting unit that is provided on the pair of gripping members and detects an end surface position by contacting an end surface of the ingot. Moving amount detecting means for detecting the moving amount of the pair of gripping members; controlling the first moving means to move the chuck device main body; and controlling the second moving means to control the pair of gripping members. Control means for moving the members in a direction approaching each other from a predetermined reference position, wherein an end face detecting means provided on one of the gripping members comprises The movement of the pair of gripping members is stopped at the position where the end face is detected, and at this time, based on the movement amount S from the reference position of the pair of gripping members detected by the movement amount detection means, the end surface of the ingot is moved. The chuck device main body is moved in the horizontal direction on the side of the detected end face detecting means. X = (TD-2S) / 2 x: horizontal movement amount T: interval between gripping members located at the reference position D: ingot length movement And a control means for moving the pair of gripping members by x in a direction approaching each other.