JPH11235688A - Transfer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously transfer a plurality of objects and adjust intervals of objects each other in process of the transfer. SOLUTION: A work chuck head 4 provided with five work chuck blocks 6 is moved by a moving means provided with a single-shaft robot and five works 2 are simultaneously transferred. The work chuck head 4 is provided with a pitch switching cylinder 12, a pair of levers 14 and a link lever 21. The work chuck blocks 6 are mounted on the link lever 21 along both the side directions. When a cylinder rod 24 of the pitch switching cylinder 12 is driven in the vertical direction, operating force is transmitted to the link lever 21 via the pair of levers 14, this link lever 21 is extended and contracted along both the side directions and intervals of the work chuck blocks 6 each other are changed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for transferring a plurality of objects and changing the distance between the objects.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a process of manufacturing a lithium secondary battery, in order to process a work stored in a tray, that is, an electrode coil of the lithium secondary battery, a plurality of works are simultaneously taken out from the tray and transferred to a conveyor. 2. Description of the Related Art A transfer device including a plurality of work chuck blocks to be transferred is known. Further, from the viewpoint of effective use of space, that is, space saving, the works are stored as close to each other as possible in the tray, that is, at a narrow pitch. On the other hand, in the work after the transfer to the transport conveyor, it is necessary to spread the works at a predetermined interval, that is, at a wide pitch, in order to avoid interference between apparatuses for processing the works. For this reason, by providing one actuator with respect to each work chuck block holding each work and moving each work chuck block relatively, pitch switching for changing the interval between the work chuck blocks is performed. Has become.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional construction, in a transfer apparatus having a large number of work chuck blocks on a work chuck head, the work chuck head becomes large and heavy, and furthermore, This has led to an increase in the size of the single-axis robot that drives the work chuck head and an increase in the size of the entire transfer device. Further, when the weight of the work chuck head increases, it becomes difficult to increase the moving speed of the one-axis robot that drives the work chuck head, it becomes difficult to improve the work efficiency, and the life of the one-axis robot is shortened. Have a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a transfer device capable of transferring a plurality of objects by changing the distance between the objects and reducing the size and weight. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transfer device, which comprises a telescopic means, a driving means for expanding and contracting the telescopic means, and an object which is attached to the telescopic means at predetermined intervals in the direction of expansion and contraction. And a moving unit for moving the head unit.

In this configuration, a plurality of objects are transferred at the same time by moving the head section by the moving means while holding the objects by the respective holding means.
At the time of this transfer, the expansion and contraction means is expanded and contracted by driving the driving means to advance and retreat the driving unit, and the distance between the holding means attached to the expansion and contraction means at a predetermined interval changes.
The interval between the objects is switched. Since a plurality of holding means can be moved by one driving means, the size and weight of the head can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to increase the speed of the moving means for moving the head portion and extend the life.

[0007]

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

1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a transfer device, which is a work 2 as a target housed in a tray (not shown), that is, a lithium secondary battery, in a manufacturing process of a lithium secondary battery. A plurality of electrode coils of the battery are simultaneously taken out and transferred to a transport conveyor (not shown).

The transfer apparatus 1 includes a work chuck head 4 as a head unit, and a moving unit 5 for moving the work chuck head 4. The work chuck head 4 has a plurality of, in this embodiment, five work chuck blocks 6 serving as holding means.
The work 2 can be sucked by the work chuck 7 provided in each work chuck block 6.

The work chuck head 4 has a base body 11, on which a pitching cylinder 12, which is a driving device, ie, an actuator, as a driving means, a pair of levers 14, 14, and a pair of upper and lower levers. Linear guides 16 and 17 are attached. Further, a link lever 21 as a telescopic means is attached to these linear guides 16 and 17, and through this link lever 21,
Each work chuck block 6 is supported.

The pitch switching cylinder 12 includes a cylinder main body 23 fixed to the base body 11, a cylinder rod 24 projecting downward from the cylinder main body 23, and moving up and down in a vertical direction as a second direction. And a connecting plate 25 connected to the lower end of the cylinder rod 24. Further, the connecting plate 25 has a pair of cylinders as drive units having axial directions in front and rear directions which are directions orthogonal to the surface direction of the base body 11 at symmetric positions in both side directions as the first direction. Shafts 26, 26 are provided.

The pair of levers 14 has an L-shape that is symmetrical on both sides, and a support shaft 31 whose axial direction is in the front-rear direction is rotatably supported by the base body 11. From the support shaft portion 31, an upper arm portion 32 protrudes inwardly and upward, and a lower arm portion 33 protrudes downward and inward. Furthermore, these arms 32, 33
Has a groove-shaped bearing that opens to the tip side along the longitudinal direction.
The bearing 34 of the upper arm 32 is slidably connected to the cylinder side shaft 26 of the pitch switching cylinder 12 so as to be rotatable and advanceable / retractable. The lower arm
The length 33 is larger than the length of the upper arm 32, and the upper arm 32 and the lower arm 33 are formed at an angle slightly smaller than 90 degrees with each other.

The linear guides 16 and 17 are vertically arranged parallel to each other with the longitudinal directions on both sides, respectively.
Positioning pins 36 are provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction. Each of the linear guides 16 and 17 is provided with two slidable sliders 37, each of which is movably supported in both sides.

The link lever 21 includes a plurality of elongated plate-shaped links 41, eight in this embodiment, and these links 41 are rotatably connected to each other in the vicinity of both ends by shafts. The link 41 is disposed in a state of being bent in a wave shape, that is, the link lever 21 is disposed so that the length dimension can be extended and contracted in both side directions. That is,
The shaft 42 at the lower center is fixed to the center of the upper linear guide 16 and the work chuck block 6 at the center.
It is connected to. In addition, the lower shafts located on both sides of the shaft 42 at the center lower part are respectively connected to the upper linear guide.
The work chuck block 6 is connected to two work chuck blocks 6 via a slider 37 supported by the shafts 16.
Are connected to the two work chuck blocks 6 via sliders 37 respectively supported by the lower linear guides 17. Further, the shaft 4 on the upper outer side of the link lever 21
The bearings 35 of the lower arm 33 are slidably connected to the bearings 6 and 46 such that the bearings 35 are rotatable and advance / retreat.

As shown in FIG. 2, the moving means 5 comprises:
One-axis robot 51, also called transfer robot
The single-axis robot 51 is connected to the work chuck head 4 via a work chuck head elevating cylinder 53.

The entire apparatus is controlled by a control device including a CPU (not shown).

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, while the cylinder rod 24 of the pitch switching cylinder 12 is raised or retracted, the work chuck head lifting / lowering cylinder 53 is driven to lower the work chuck head 4, and each work chuck head is lowered. The blocks 6 are arranged at a predetermined narrow pitch A from each other, and five works 2 arranged at a predetermined narrow pitch A are sucked and held by a work chuck 7 on an actual tray (not shown).

Next, the work chuck head raising / lowering cylinder 53 is driven to raise the work chuck head 4, and the one-axis robot 51 is driven to move the work chuck head 4 in a horizontal direction or the like, and is transferred to the transport conveyor. .

Then, during this transfer, the cylinder rod 24 of the pitch switching cylinder 12 is lowered or protruded.
Then, the cylinder-side shaft portion 26 of the pitch switching cylinder 12 pushes the upper arm portion 32 downward while slidingly contacting the bearing portion 34 of the lever 14, and rotates around the support shaft portion 31 as a fulcrum. In this state, the tip of the lower arm 33 of the lever 14 moves outward, and the shaft 46 of the link lever 21 connected to the bearing 35 at the tip of the lower arm 33 is The link lever 21 is extended outward in both directions while sliding on the workpiece, that is, the work chuck blocks 6 connected to the link lever 21 are separated from each other while being guided by the linear guides 16 and 17. Move on a straight line. When the sliders 37 contact the positioning pins 36 on both sides, the work chuck blocks 6 are positioned and stopped, and are arranged at a predetermined wide pitch B as shown in FIG. And 1
With the work chuck head 4 moved to a predetermined position by the axis robot 51, the work chuck head lifting / lowering cylinder 53 is driven to lower the work chuck head 4 to release the suction of the work chuck 7, thereby releasing the work chuck 7 from the conveyor. The workpieces 2 can be arranged at a predetermined wide pitch B.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the lever 14 provided on the left and right is pushed and rotated while slidingly contacting with the vertical movement or linear movement of the pitch switching cylinder 12 as one driving device. With this, the extensible link lever 21 is pushed and extended while slidingly contacting the tip end of each lever 14, and the four work chuck blocks 6 interlocked with the link levers 21 are linearly moved to an arbitrary interval. Can be spread or narrowed. The moving work chuck block 6 and the central work chuck block 6 can cope with the transfer of the work 2 while the loading pitch is different between the preceding process and the subsequent process.

Therefore, a large number of work chuck blocks 6
Can be moved by one pitch switching cylinder 12 to be switched to a predetermined pitch for positioning, so that the number of driving devices provided in the work chuck head 4 can be reduced. For example, one driving device is provided for each work chuck block. The work chuck head 4 can be reduced in size and weight, and can be installed in a narrow space, as compared with the configuration having the above.

Further, as a result, the load on the one-axis robot 51 for driving the work chuck head 4 can be reduced, the moving speed can be improved, the manufacturing efficiency can be improved, and the life of the one-axis robot 51 can be extended.

The pitch switching cylinder 12 can be constituted by an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, or the like.
It can also be configured using other motors and the like.

The work 2 as an object can be applied not only to an electrode coil of a lithium secondary battery but also to a work having a different loading pitch between a preceding process and a subsequent process.

The expansion and contraction means is provided by the link lever 21 described above.
In addition, for example, a member in which a plurality of portions along the longitudinal direction expand and contract while maintaining a predetermined ratio, such as a tong (rotating tongue) in which each link is rotatably connected at the center and both ends can be used.

[0027]

According to the transfer apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of objects can be transferred at the same time by moving the head section by the moving means while holding the objects by the respective holding means. At the time of this transfer, the driving means is driven to move the driving unit forward and backward, thereby expanding and contracting the expanding / contracting means, changing the distance between the holding means attached to the expanding / contracting means at a predetermined interval, and changing the distance between the objects. Can be switched and adjusted. Since a plurality of holding means can be moved by one driving means, the size and weight of the head can be reduced. As a result, the moving speed of the moving means for moving the head portion can be increased, and the life can be extended.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a work chuck head in a narrow pitch state, showing one embodiment of a transfer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the transfer device in a narrow pitch state.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the work chuck head of the transfer apparatus in a wide pitch state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transfer device 2 Work as an object 4 Work chuck head as a head part 5 Moving means 6 Work chuck block as a holding means 12 Pitch switching cylinder 14 as a driving means 14 Lever 21 Link lever as a telescopic means 26 As a driving part Cylinder side shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A head unit comprising: telescopic means which can be extended and contracted; driving means which expands and contracts the telescopic means; and a plurality of holding means which are attached to the telescopic means at predetermined intervals along the direction of expansion and contraction and respectively hold an object. And a moving means for moving the head portion. 2. An expansion and contraction means which expands and contracts along a first direction,
A drive unit provided with a drive unit that moves back and forth along the second direction;
A rotatably supported lever for connecting a driving section of the driving means and a predetermined point of the expansion / contraction means, and a plurality of holding means which are attached to the expansion / contraction means at predetermined intervals along the expansion / contraction direction and hold respective objects. A transfer device, comprising: a head unit having a unit; and a moving unit that moves the head unit. 3. An expansion / contraction means which expands and contracts along both sides, a driving means provided with a driving part which advances and retreats in a direction perpendicular to the both sides, and a driving part of the driving means and a side part of the expansion and contraction means. It comprises a pair of levers on both sides slidably connected and rotatably supported, respectively, and a plurality of holding means respectively attached to the expansion / contraction means at predetermined intervals along the expansion / contraction direction and holding respective objects. A transfer device, comprising: a head portion; and a moving means for moving the head portion.