JPH11239992A - Piping structure of robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a piping structure having excellent adaptability to a robot action and having its pipe member easily handleable while avoiding a decline of gas supply ability. SOLUTION: An air supply port installing part A is provided on a base 11, and an air output port installing part B or C is provided on the second arm 13 or on a wrist part 15. After air supplied to the air supply port 21 from an air source is divided to plural flexible tubes 23, 24 from an air branch connection 22, it flows through an air branch connection 32 on the air output side and is then merged, and is taken out from the air output port 31. The tubes 23, 24 can be placed so as to pass through an internal part in a body of a robot 1 or along its external surface, as shown by a double broken line a, b, or a, c. Since parallel flow passages comprised of plural flexible tubes 23, 24 are formed in an area from the air input port 21 to the air output port 31, gas supply ability is high and a bending radius can be set small.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a piping structure for a robot, and more particularly, to a piping structure for supplying gas required in connection with the robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, industrial robots (hereinafter simply referred to as "robots") are almost always used by mounting various working tools such as a hand and a processing head.
Some of these tools require a supply of air or other gas. For example, in a hand driven by an air cylinder, a welding gun, a laser processing machine using an assist gas, or the like, it is necessary to supply air or another kind of gas from the outside.

[0003] Conventionally, such gas supply has been performed using a single tube or hose as a conduit member. As a piping structure using such a conduit member, there are a structure arranged along the outer surface of the robot body, a structure inserted through the inside of the robot body, and the like. Sufficient flexibility is required.

That is, if the flexibility of the gas supply conduit member is insufficient, the allowable bending radius is reduced, and the adaptability to the operation of the robot is reduced, so that the range is limited or the conduit member is unreasonable. Deterioration or damage due to deformation is likely to occur. In addition, handling becomes difficult, and it becomes difficult to adopt a piping structure for inserting a conduit member into the robot body.

[0005] In general, conduit members such as tubes and hoses become less flexible (the bending radius is smaller) as the diameter increases. Therefore, it is sufficient to use a small-diameter conduit member for the gas supply pipe, but there is a problem that the absolute amount of gas that can be supplied under the same supply pressure becomes small. For example, an air cylinder causes insufficient power, and a laser processing machine causes insufficient assist gas.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a piping structure which is excellent in adaptability to the operation of a robot and can easily handle a conduit member while avoiding a decrease in gas supply capacity. Another object of the present invention is to facilitate the adoption of a piping structure in which a gas supply conduit is provided inside the robot body.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a gas supply port,
In a robot piping structure provided with a gas outlet and a gas flow path means connecting them, the above technique is provided by providing the gas flow path means with a parallel flow path formed by a plurality of flexible conduit members. It is a solution to the problem.
In a preferred embodiment, the parallel flow paths formed by the plurality of flexible conduit members are arranged so as to pass through the inside of the body of the robot.

A feature of the present invention is that by employing a plurality of flexible conduit members, the flexibility of the conduit members can be ensured while compensating for a decrease in the gas supply capacity of the entire gas passage. It is in. That is, while reducing the bending radius by reducing the diameter of each conduit member in order to increase the adaptability to the operation of the robot, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the gas supply capacity by using a plurality of conduit members to be used. .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an application form of a piping structure of a robot according to an embodiment of the present invention and a diagram illustrating a form of a conduit member. As shown in the figure, the robot indicated by reference numeral 1 as a whole has a first arm 12, a second arm 13,
It has a third arm 14, a wrist 15, and the like. Base 1
An air supply port installation section A is provided at an appropriate location of the first arm, and an air outlet installation section B is provided at an appropriate location of the second arm.

As indicated by arrows in the accompanying drawings attached to the left side, an air supply port 21 is provided in the air supply port installation section A, and an air supply port 3 is provided in the air supply port installation section B.
1 is provided. Air supply port 21 and air outlet 31
Are paired, and between them, there are multiple
A parallel flow path composed of flexible tubes (conduit members) 23 and 24 of the present invention is formed.

The ends of the tubes 23 and 24 are connected to the air supply port 21 and the air outlet 3 via air branch joints 22 and 32, respectively.
1 connected. The air supply port 21 is connected to an air source (for example, an air cylinder) via a suitable conduit member,
Air is supplied from the air source at a required pressure. The air supplied to the air supply port 21 is branched from the air branch joint 22 on the air supply side to the two tubes 23 and 24, then merges through the air branch joint 32 on the air extraction side, and flows from the air outlet 31. Taken out.

The arrangement of the tubes 23 and 24 forming the parallel flow path from the air supply port 21 to the air outlet 31 is, for example, as shown by a double dashed line with reference numerals a and b. Can be carried out inside or along the outside. Although illustration is omitted, it goes without saying that the air outlet 31 and the equipment that actually uses air are connected by an appropriate conduit member as needed.

In general, the location where the air outlet is provided may be selected in consideration of design considerations.
Instead of the air outlet installation section B above, an air outlet installation section C may be installed on the wrist portion 15. In that case, the tubes 23 and 24 are arranged along the paths indicated by reference numerals a and c, for example.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show flexible tubes 23 and 2 respectively.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an arrangement mode of the robot inside the body (FIG. 2) and an arrangement mode along the outer surface of the robot body (FIG. 3).

Referring first to FIG. 2, an air supply port 21 is provided in a side opening F of the base 11, and flexible tubes 23 and 24 are disposed by utilizing a cavity G in the base 11. I have. That is, the flexible tubes 23 and 24 connected to the air supply port 21 via the air branch joint 22 are inserted through the clamps 51 provided on the bottom wall 60 of the base 11 at a portion close to the air supply port 21. And moored.

A tube portion 61 is formed at an appropriate position on the base 11, and the flexible tubes 23 and 24 inserted and anchored in the clamp 51 further pass through the hollow portion G and enter the tube portion 61. , Is drawn out of the robot body through an opening 62 of the cylindrical portion 61. The flexible tubes 23 and 24 drawn out of the robot body are connected to the outer wall 6 of the first arm 12 and the like.
It is inserted and moored in clamps 52 and 53 provided at appropriate places on the 3 and 64, and is disposed along the outer surface of the robot body.

As can be understood from this example, when a piping structure that passes through the inside of the robot body is adopted, there is a tendency that a particularly small bending radius is required for the conduit member (for example, reference numerals d, e, f). Part shown). In this example, since two tubes 23 and 24 are used as the conduit members, it is possible to secure an air flow rate of about two tubes while disposing the conduit members with substantially the same bending radius.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the flexible tube 2
The situation where 3, 24 are disposed along the outer wall 81 of the first arm to the outer wall 82 of the third arm is shown. The flexible tubes 23 and 24 are inserted and anchored in clamps 71 and 72 provided at appropriate positions on the outer walls 81 and 82, respectively.
In the case of this example, the third arm is indicated by arrows P and Q during the operation of the robot.
Since the swing swings as shown in FIG.
When the tubes 23 and 24 are to be moored, it is preferable to give an appropriate amount of slack to the portion indicated by the symbol g.

As in the present embodiment, even in a portion where a piping structure is provided along the outer surface of the robot body, there is a tendency that a small bending radius is required for the conduit member in order to prepare for bending deformation during operation of the robot. (Part indicated by reference character g). Therefore, a plurality of pipe members (two in this case)
The use of the tubes 23, 24 is that the supply of air by reducing the diameter of the conduit members while preparing for bending deformation during robot operation (arrows P, Q) by reducing the diameter of the individual conduit members (tubes 23, 24). This is advantageous in suppressing a decrease in performance.

Although an example in which an air pipe is provided to a robot has been described above, the present invention can be similarly applied to a pipe for supplying a gas other than air (for example, a nonflammable assist gas). Needless to say. Further, the number of flexible conduit members forming the parallel flow path is not limited to two, and may be freely selected within a range selected in design. In addition, deformation such as adding a pipe joint in the middle of a portion from the air supply port 21 to the air outlet 31 is also allowed.

[0021]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a gas supply piping structure which is excellent in adaptability to the operation of a robot and can easily handle a conduit member while avoiding a decrease in gas supply capacity. Further, it becomes easy to adopt a piping structure in which a gas supply conduit is provided so as to pass through the inside of the robot body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an application form of a piping structure of a robot according to an embodiment, together with a view illustrating a form of a conduit member.

FIG. 2 is a diagram exemplifying a mode of disposing a flexible tube inside a body of a robot.

FIG. 3 is a view exemplifying an arrangement of flexible tubes along the outer surface of the body of the robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Robot 11 Base 12 1st arm 13 2nd arm 14 3rd arm 15 Wrist part 21 Air supply port 22, 32 Air branch joint 23, 24 Tube which forms parallel flow path 31, 41 Air outlet 51, 52, 53 , 71, 72 Clamp 60 Bottom wall of robot body 61 Tube section 62 Opening of cylinder section 63, 64 Robot body wall 81 First robot arm outer wall 82 Third robot arm outer wall A Air supply port installation section B, C Air outlet installation Part G hollow part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A piping structure for a robot comprising a gas supply port, a gas outlet, and a gas flow path means connecting between the gas supply port and the gas outlet, wherein the gas passage means includes a plurality of gas passages. The piping structure of the robot, comprising a parallel flow path formed by a flexible conduit member. 2. The piping structure of a robot according to claim 1, wherein the parallel flow path passes through the inside of the body of the robot.