JPS586805A - Conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent vertical waving motion of a pallet by placing a pallet directly and freely on a running conveyor chain and by running the chain on a guide rail made of a material which is smooth and has high wear resistance. CONSTITUTION:Two erect frames 22 and 22 placed in parallel with each other, are is provided with a traverse board 32 which crosses the frames at specified intervals. On an erect inside surface of each frame 22, two long strip-formed supporting members 36 and 38 are attached at specified intervals forming an upper and lower rows. On the top of these long strip-formed supporting members 36 and 38, channel sections having cross sectional shape of ? are fitted respectively as guard rails. And the conveyor chain 20 is laid out on the bottom of the groove of these guard rails. When the conveyor chain 20 runs in the specified direction, a pallet 24 supported by the chain is conveyed together with the chain. Although the pallet 24 is stopped slipping by a stopper, the conveyor chain 20 continues to run.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a free XXX conveyor, and more particularly to an improvement of a free XXX conveyor suitably used in automatic production lines for various electronic circuit units.

Pallets for loading workpieces are freely placed on a continuously running conveyor chain, and the pallets can be manually or automatically stopped at any work stage while the conveyor chain continues to run. It is used in automatic production lines and is commonly referred to as a free XXX conveyor. For example, an automatic production line for electronic circuits for audio and electrical equipment can save labor.
Automation has progressed significantly, and most of the processes of mounting various electronic components onto printed circuit boards and assembling sets such as travel drive mechanisms are automatically performed using automatic electronic component insertion machines, automatic soldering equipment, etc. It looks like this.

In this automatic production line, a large number of pallets (conveying plates) are placed on a μm rack train that runs endlessly and continuously, at appropriate intervals, and transported to a constant distance. When the pallet carrying the electronic four-way unit arrives at the work stage position, the stopper is activated and the pallet is automatically stopped.The stopper is released after the parts are automatically assembled on this work stage. The pallet is then moved towards the next work stage. In this case, even when a specific pallet is automatically stopped, the conveyor chain itself is running freely, and other pallets are being conveyed in a fixed direction by the conveyor chain.

The structure of a conventional free “××× conveyor (for example: y0 top) used in such an automatic production line is schematically illustrated in FIG. A pair of roller chains 10.1
A large number of resin rollers 16 having a diameter Ca> larger than the link rating 140 mm are rotatably pivoted at appropriate intervals on the outside of the roller 16, and a pallet 18 is freely placed on the rollers 16. ing.

However, in this conventional structure of the free conveyor, there is unavoidable play when the rollers 16 are pivoted to the roller chain 710, so when the pallet 18 is automatically stopped at the work stage serving position, 1 The noglet 18 is moved in the vertical direction k161 by the row 216 that slides through the underdrawing of the pallet 18! There is a tendency to

In this way, the stopped pallet 18 is swung up and down and
In this case, the smooth automatic assembly work by the aforementioned various automatic mounting and assembly machines used for each work stage on the single-motion production line will be hindered, resulting in major problems in terms of production efficiency and quality management. In addition, since the row 216, which has a fairly large diameter, is arranged along with the conveyor chain, a considerable amount of lateral space is taken up by the row 15, and the row 15 (outward path) f) It was not possible to reduce the distance between the chain and the return 1Il (return trip) chain very much, and a large-diameter drive tin rocket was required, resulting in the conveyor equipment as a whole becoming a large wave. Furthermore, a roller 16 for carrying one pallet 18
Because a large number of conveyors are required, the capacity of the motor that drives the conveyor must also be increased, and additional drawbacks such as noise caused by vibration of the conveyors cannot be avoided at present. be.

Therefore, the inventor has proposed the above-mentioned prior art.
x, In view of the inherent drawbacks of conveyors, as a result of repeated studies to develop an ideal free ××× conveyor that eliminates these drawbacks, we decided to replace the conventional method of placing pallets on freely rotating rollers. The pallet is now placed freely on a running conveyor chain, and the conveyor chain is configured to run on a guide rail made of a smooth and wear-resistant material. This eliminates the vertical tilting of the pallet while the pallet is stopped, and completely avoids the above-mentioned negative effect of inhibiting the automatic assembly operation. Furthermore, with this #c configuration, there is no need for a large number of rollers for placing pallets, so it is possible to reduce the space in the lateral direction of the conveyor chain.
Since the distance between the upper and lower chains on the return trip can be adjusted, a smaller diameter drive spruker can be used, reducing drive energy and manufacturing costs, among other benefits. I found out that I can get it.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the vertical movement of the pallet 7) to avoid mounting errors in the automatic mounting process of an automatic assembly line, improve production efficiency, and reduce the size of the conveyor line equipment. and reduction of noise during transportation.

In order to achieve this objective, the free-xxxx according to the present invention
The conveyor has a pair of frames spaced apart in a predetermined direction and arranged opposite to each other in the horizontal direction, with elongated support members disposed above and below 29 on the inner surface of each of the seven frames.

A channel-shaped guide rail is disposed on the upper surface of each of the elongated support members, a conveyor chain is supported on the guide rail in a movable manner, and a pallet is freely placed on the conveyor chain.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, one preferred embodiment of the free XXX conveyor according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, for convenience of explanation, let us assume an automatic production line for 5 electronic circuit units as shown in Fig. 2, and apply the 79-XXX conveyor according to the present invention having the structure shown in Fig. 3 to this production line. shall be. Of course, since the illustrated embodiment is one example, the 79-XXX conveyor of the present invention is not limited to use in the automatic production line shown in FIG.・It can be widely used in conveyance systems.

Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of automatically produced fins for electronic circuit units for audio equipment such as tape recorders and stereo second geocuts, and the conveyor line basically uses a vertical circulation system. has been done. That is, a conveyor chain 20 traveling in the direction of arrow A in the figure as an outbound path is housed in an upper frame 22 extending in the horizontal direction,
Pallets 24 are freely placed on this conveyor chain 20 at predetermined intervals or closely adjacent to each other, and are conveyed in the direction of the arrow. An electronic circuit unit (not shown) is placed on the pallet 24, and a stopper (not shown) provided at a predetermined position on the twin detects the arrival of the pallet 24 and automatically stops it. Position the stopper on the work stage■
Automatic assembly work is performed by an automatic mounting and assembly machine (not shown). The pallet 24, which is intermittently conveyed in this manner, is returned by a return conveyor chain housed in the lower seven frames 281C, and then moved to an elevator (not shown).
Then, the outbound conveyor chain 2 (I) is returned again.

Free × according to the present invention used in this single-motion production line
The XX conveyor is shown as a cross section in Figure 3. That is, reference numeral 22.22 in FIG.
There are shown upright frames 22, 22 arranged parallel to each other with a spacing substantially equal to 0 lateral beam, each of which has a suitable leg (e.g., designated by reference numeral 30 in FIG. 2).
From K, identification is instructed horizontally in the longitudinal direction. On the two upright frames 22'', ), 22 arranged in parallel in this way, traverse plates 32 for laterally spanning both seven frames are arranged at predetermined intervals (see Fig. 4), and bolts 34 are tightened. The frame 221' (1!) is connected and fixed from k. The traverse plate 32 is partially cut out at its end as shown in FIG. Further, on the upright inner wall surface of each frame 22, elongated support members 36 and 58 are arranged in two stages, upper and lower, spaced apart by a predetermined distance.
6 is securely fixed to the 7 frame 22 by a long bolt 40 connecting the frame 22 and the notched end of the traverse plate 32, and a lower rectangular support member 38 is inserted through the bottom of the traverse plate 32. 42. Next, on the upper m of the elongated support members 36 and 38, channel members each having a U-shaped cross section are connected to the guide rails 4.
4, and are screwed to the respective elongated support members with screws 46 at appropriate locations. Since this guide rail 44 serves as a running path for the conveyor chain as described later, a synthetic resin with excellent wear resistance, low sliding resistance, and good surface smoothness is selected as its material. be done. As a result of actually testing various materials for their suitability as guide rails, we found that a synthetic resin material known under the trade name ``Soligel'' was the most suitable. Since the guide rail 44 is a long member, in consideration of expansion and contraction due to changes in ambient temperature, each end is formed as a female-shaped recess 48 and a male-shaped central origin 50, as shown in 5th wAK. The recessed portion 48 at the other end of the guide rail 44 is followed by the following! It is preferable that the protrusion 50 provided at the tip of the idle rail 44 be exposed and a gap of 5111181Wt be maintained between the ends.

A conveyor chain 20 is disposed in a groove of a guide rail 44 configured in a shape of 5. It is recommended that this conveyor chain 20 be of a type that uses flat link plates (rather than the link plate that is shaped like a pedestal), and rollers 52 that have a diameter smaller than the width of the link plates are recommended. It is desirable to have two low chains.

In Fig. 3, the conveyor chains 20 disposed on the upper and lower guide rails 44, 44 are the chains on the outbound side in the upper stage and the chains on the left side in the lower stage.
(It is not shown) It is driven to travel in a certain direction by k. On the conveyor chain 20.20 of the outgoing route 1Il (upper stage),
A pallet 24 is freely placed.

Therefore, when the conveyor chain 20 travels in a certain direction, the pallet 24 is carried by the conveyor chain 20 and conveyed together, and if a restraining force is applied to the pallet 24 from the outside (for example, a stopper), the pallet 24
Although the conveyor chain 20 slips and stops running, the conveyor chain 20 continues to run. In this case, in the present invention, the conveyor chain 20 runs extremely smoothly because it is supported on the guide rail 44, and the surface of the guide rail 44 has almost completely flatness, and the conveyor chain 20 itself has links. All plates have exactly the same dimensions! Because of this structure, vertical swinging of the pallet 24 when the chain runs is completely eliminated. Therefore, even if assembly work is performed by the automatic mounting and assembly machine in each work stage, the electronic circuit units and the like on the pallet 24 are not disturbed, and the efficiency of one work is improved.

In addition, unlike the conventional 79-XXX conveyor, it does not require a large number of pallets to be placed, so the entire conveyor line is lighter and space-saving, reducing manufacturing costs. Since less power is required, savings in power consumption can also be achieved.

In addition, in the present invention, a free XXX conveyor mainly used in a production line for automatic assembly of electronic circuit units has been described as an example, but it is not limited to such an application, and is applicable to various production lines and other logistics・Widely used in conveyance lines (suitable for use).

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an end view of a free XXX conveyor according to the prior art, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a self-produced twin electronic circuit unit, and Fig. 3E is a cross section of a 79-XXX conveyor according to the present invention.
Figure M and Figure 4 are perspective views of a pallet placed on the free XXX conveyor according to the present invention □, and m1ss shows the connected and fixed state of the guide rail used in the 79-xxxx conveyor of the present invention. FIG. 1Ω...Loaf chain 14...Link plate 16...Four-ra 18...HaL/t) 20-...
...Conveyor chain 22...Top 7 frames 24...-/Wedge 26...Wedge 28...Lower frame 30-...
...Stand 32...G9A-1 [34...
...Lt 34.58...Long support member 40.4
2...Bolt 44...Guide rail 46...Countersunk screw 48...Recessed portion 50...Original part 52-...
Roller 1st figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A long support member is arranged on the inside mK112 stage of each frame of a pair of frames arranged opposite each other in the horizontal direction with a predetermined distance apart, and a channel-shaped guide rail is installed in one corner of the long support member. A conveyor chain is freely supported on the guide rail, and the conveyor chain is
A 7-lead XXX conveyor characterized by the ability to freely place pallets on one conveyor.