JPS6114843A - Conveyor system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve production efficiency by providing a conveyor main line, a pass line, and a return line and automatically conveying a defective article to a repair position. CONSTITUTION:A mainline A conveying a work by bypassing a predetermined work position, and a return line C conveying a work 12 in the reverse direction are provided, and multiple sensors 15 detecting the work 12 on each line, a stopper 10 temporarily stopping the work 12, and multiple pushers 16 transferring the work 12 between the main line A, pass line B, and return line C are included. Accordingly, the straight forward factor of the work is improved and the production efficiency is improved by automatically conveying a defective article to a work position for repair.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Main business: Emperor's desk Adachi! The present invention relates to a conveyor system used for assembly line work, and in particular, it is possible to skip a work body that is a workpiece that is being conveyed, or to transfer a defective workpiece found at a later work position to a previous work body for repair. The present invention relates to a conveyor system that is suitable for assembly line work that requires returning to normal condition, such as the adjustment and inspection process of television tuners.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture of mass-produced devices such as electronic devices for sitting and holding hands, a production system using assembly line operations in which a plurality of work positions are arranged along a conveyor is generally employed. One of the conveyors used in this production system is a slip torque type conveyor (1) as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8. This conveyor (1) has a rotating roller shaft (2
)(2)-- are arranged in large numbers at a predetermined pitch perpendicular to the conveyor conveyance direction, and each roller shaft (2)(2)-
The rollers (3) (3) and - are slidably and rotatably fitted to -. Each roller (3) of this conveyor (1)
) (3) - When the workpiece (4) is placed on the conveying surface formed by the roller shaft (2) (21-), the workpiece (4) is moved in a predetermined direction by the roller (3) rotating together with the roller shaft (2) (21-) due to friction. When it is desired to temporarily accumulate the workpieces (4) in front of the working position, as shown in Fig. 8, by protruding the stopper (5) onto the conveyor (1), the workpieces (4) ) is locked by the stopper (5), and the rollers (3) (3
)- slips with the roller shaft (2) (2L-) and stops rotating, and the conveyance of the workpiece (4) stops.

Although the above-mentioned conveyor (1) is often used with only one conveyor, for example, as shown in Fig. 9, two conveyors with different conveying directions are arranged in parallel, and one conveyor is used. The workpiece (4) placed on the pallet (6) is used as the main line (1a) for transporting it in the working direction, and the other conveyor is used as the main line (1a) to carry the workpiece and reach the final position. It may also be used as a return line (1b) to return to the position.

In the conventional conveyor system mentioned above, it is common to install only one conveyor along the conveyance direction, and once the workpieces are placed on the conveyor at the starting end, they are carried to the end of the conveyor in the order in which they were placed. be transported.

Further, even when a plurality of conveyors are installed in parallel, each conveyor individually conveys the work from the start end to the end in the same manner as described above, and the work is not transferred between conveyor lines during conveyance.

Therefore, when the conventional conveyor system described above is employed in a production line having an irregular flow direction, such as the adjustment/inspection process of a television tuner, the following problem occurs.

The adjustment/inspection process for a television tuner involves assembling the tuner's component parts, such as the rod-shaped chassis, printed circuit board, and electronic components, according to a predetermined procedure, and then inspecting the adjustment parts to make a complete product. Adjustment of the VHF circuit, fixation by applying paraffin to the adjustment part, NF
It consists of many work processes such as (noise figure) characteristic inspection and percussion inspection.

The time required for each of the above-mentioned adjustment/inspection work steps differs, and work steps that are completed in a short time require waiting time until the next work is sent. If this waiting time occurs in manual work, it will significantly reduce work efficiency, so for work that requires a long time, it is recommended to set up multiple identical work positions and improve overall work efficiency through parallel processing. Conceivable. However, in the conventional conveyor system described above, the flow of the workpieces is uniform, and it is not possible to sequentially distribute the workpieces to a plurality of the same work positions.

Furthermore, since television tuners are constructed from a combination of many parts, even if a defective part is discovered during the adjustment/inspection process, in most cases it can be completely repaired by replacing some parts. It is something that can be made into a product.

In this case, all you have to do is return the workpiece from the work position where the defect was discovered to the previous process where it should be repaired, but with the conventional conveyor system mentioned above, such a return operation is not possible, and the workpiece where the defective part was discovered is returned to the previous process where the defective part was discovered. The operator had no choice but to resort to unreasonable methods such as keeping the device in a fixed working position and then having the worker carry it to a working position where it could be repaired later.

The present invention is based on the above-mentioned conventional conveyor system, which can only transfer workpieces in a fixed order of work steps, skipping predetermined work positions, or moving from the work position where a defective part is discovered to the work position where it should be repaired. This was done to eliminate the problem of not having functions such as reverting to .

That is, the present invention is a conveyor system in which a plurality of workpiece conveyance lines are installed in parallel along a plurality of work positions, and includes at least a main line that conveys workpieces in the forward direction, and a main line that conveys the workpieces in the forward direction by skipping over a predetermined work position. A bus line that transports the work in the opposite direction, a return line that transports the work in the opposite direction, multiple sensors installed at predetermined positions on each line to detect the work, and sensors installed at predetermined positions on each line to temporarily stop the work. This conveyor system includes a stopper and a plurality of pushers provided at predetermined positions to transfer workpieces between the main line, bus line, and return line.

In practice, the present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.

In FIG. 1 showing the overall configuration of the converter system (7), (A) is the main line that transports the barend on which the workpiece, the television tuner, is placed in the forward direction, (B)
(C) is a bus line that skips a predetermined position and transports a pallet carrying a television tuner, which is a workpiece, in the forward direction; (C) shows a bus line that carries a workpiece, an empty pallet or a pallet with defective products, in the reverse direction. Three return lines for conveyance (A) and (B) installed in parallel.
(C) are unit conveyors (8) (8)-, each having a length of several meters.
are connected at the positions indicated by dotted lines in the figure. Further, two unit conveyors (8) (8) extending laterally in parallel from one end of the return line (C) are a repair line (D). Note that each unit conveyor (8) (8) may be a type of conveyor other than the slip torque type conveyor described above. The above main line (A) and repair line (D
) has multiple work positions (a) (b)...
(j) are arranged in order of process. Each work position (
a) (b) ... Listing the work items in (j), work positions (a) and (b) are respectively adjusting the UHF circuit of the television tuner, and work position (C)
fixed by paraffin coating of the adjusted UHF circuit,
Work position (d) is for VHF circuit and PIFHF circuit adjustment, work position (e) is for fitting the shield cover and pasting labels, work position (:) is for inspecting noise figure characteristics, and work position (g) is for comprehensive automatic inspection. , working position (h) is swing inspection, working position (+)
is for visual inspection and packaging, and work position (j) is for repair. Each work position (a) (b) ... (j
) are automated work positions (C) (e)
(f) Except for (g), workers (9) and (9) are each deployed.

In the conveyor system (7), a pallet on which a television tuner as a workpiece is placed is conveyed in a flow shown by an arrow in the figure. How this flow is controlled will be explained below with reference to FIG. 2, which shows an enlarged view of the parts corresponding to the working positions (a) and (b) of the conveyor system (7).

In Figure 2, (A) is the main line, (B) is the bus line, (C) is the return line, (10) (10
)-- are provided at predetermined positions on each line (A), (B), and (C), and are moved up and down by a cylinder (not shown) to create a pallet (12) on which a television tuner (1), which is a workpiece, is placed. A stopper that temporarily stops the (1
4) is a fixed stopper,' (15a) (15a)
-1 (15b) (15b) - and (15c)
(15c) - is each line (A) (B) (C
) is installed at a predetermined position of the pallet (12
) A sensor such as a photo sensor that detects (16a)
(16b) ... (16d) are each line (A
) (B) (C) A pallet (1
2) between each line (A), (B), and (C), (17) (17)- are each pusher (16a) (16b)... (16d)
This is a rimming switch that detects the operating position of the In addition, sensors (15a) (15a)--1 (l5b) are placed between each stopper (10) (10)-.
(15b)- are arranged in pairs as workpieces (barens) (12) are stoppers (10
) This is to accurately operate the stoppers (10) (10) by detecting the arrival and passing of (10)-. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, when the pallet (12) has reached the locking position of the stopper (10), only one sensor (15a) is connected to the pallet (
12) and detect the pallet (12) as shown in Figure 4.
When the pallet (15a) and (15b) completely pass through the locking position of the stopper (10), both sensors (15a) and (15b) do not detect the pallet (12). In the state shown in Fig. 3, the stopper (10) can be lowered at any time to remove the pallet (12).
can be sent to the next process, and in the state shown in Fig. 4, if the stopper (10) is raised at this timing,
The stopper (10) can accurately lock the following pallet (12).

The operation of each part of the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. A pallet (12) on which a television tuner (1)), which is a workpiece supplied to the main line (A), is placed
(hereinafter simply referred to as work) is the first pusher (16a)
is transferred to the bus line (B) every other time. This distribution operation is performed by separating the transported workpieces one by one using stoppers (10) (10) on both sides of the first pusher (16a). At this time, the sensor (15c) (15c) confirms that there is no other workpiece at the supplied position, and the movement of the first pusher (16a) is controlled by the limit switch (17).
) (17). The first pusher (
The workpieces that were not transferred by the workpiece line (A) and went straight through the main line (A) are separated one by one by stoppers (10) (10) provided on both sides of the work position (a), and the UHF circuit is adjusted. If a defective product is found here, it is transferred to the return line (C) by the second pusher (16b) at the next stage, and if it is a good product, it is transferred to the bus line (B). Some of the workpieces that have passed through the bus line (B) and reached the position of the third pusher (16c) are distributed by the first pusher (16a) and the adjustment of the UHF circuit has not yet been completed. is selectively transferred to the main line (A) by the third pusher (16c). The transferred workpiece undergoes UHF circuit adjustment at work position (b),
Only those found to be defective are transferred to the return line (C) by the fourth pusher (16d) provided at the next stage. The work transferred to the return line (C) is conveyed via the repair line (D) shown in FIG. 1 to the work position (j) where the repair is to be performed. In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the stoppers (10), (10), etc. control the flow of the workpiece in each line (A), (13, and C), and presses (16a), (16b), and so on.
... (16d) to ensure its movement, and the sensor (
15a) (15a)・-1(l5b) (
15b)-1 (15c) (15c)- and limit switch (17) (17) is the stopper (1
0) (10)- and push+ (16a) (
16b)... The operation timing of (16c) is determined. The portions of the conveyor system (7) of the present invention other than those shown in FIG. 2 are also constructed in the same manner as shown in FIG. 2 so that the work flows as shown in FIG. 1.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, two working positions (a) and (b) are provided for adjusting the UHF circuit, and two workers (9) and (9) are assigned to perform the work. However, if you want more people to process the same work in parallel, you can use two bus lines and arrange them as a work input line and a work discharge line. This allows any number of people to work in parallel.

For example, if there are three people working in parallel, use two bus lines (B1) and (B2) as shown in Figure 5, and use a pusher (
16b') (16b'') (16c') (16c
”) to convey the workpiece in the flow direction shown by the arrow in the figure.

In addition, the computer system of the present invention has the above-mentioned bus line (B
) The main line (A>) and return line (C) can also be optionally added for the same reason.

According to the present invention, workpieces can be appropriately transferred between a plurality of lines installed in parallel, including the main line and bus line in the forward direction, and the return line in the opposite direction. This is done automatically by a pusher, so like the production line used for the adjustment and inspection process of television tuners, it consists of many work processes, and several people process the work processes in parallel, and later It is possible to provide a conveyor system suitable for a production line where it is necessary to return to the previous work process in order to repair defects found in the work process.

Although the conveyor system of the present invention has more bus lines than the conventional conveyor system, the main line and the bus line can act as work reservoirs for accumulating transported works in front of each work position. In particular, the conveyor system of the present invention automatically transports defective products to the work position for repair, thereby reducing the direct delivery rate of workpieces by 10%.
0%, and can be expected to significantly improve production efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the overall configuration of a conveyor system that is an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the parts corresponding to working positions (a) and (b) of the conveyor system shown in Fig. F. 31st floor plan shown! ! 0 and 4 are cross-sectional views each illustrating the state in which the sensor detects a bullet, which is a workpiece, and FIG. 5 is another embodiment of the present invention showing a configuration in which the number of bus lines is increased to increase the number of parallel operations. FIG. Figures 6 to 9 show conventional examples, Figure 6 is a side view of a slip torque type conveyor, and Figure 7 is a perspective view showing a roller shaft fitted with rollers, which are the constituent units of the slip torque type conveyor. , FIG. 8 is a plan view of the slip torque type conveyor shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is a plan view of a conveyor system in which two slip torque type conveyors are provided in parallel. (7)...-conveyor system, (10)...-stopper, (12)...-work (pallet), (15a
) (15b) (15c)--Sensor, (16a
) (16b) (16c) (16d)
- Pusher, (A) - Main line, (B) - Bus line, (C) - Return line, (a) (b)
... (j)・One working position. 151! l l1l! 6 @ IFj7vlJ Figure 8 Figure 9ell

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A conveyor system in which multiple workpiece transport lines are installed in parallel along multiple work positions, at least a main line that transports workpieces in the forward direction, and a main line that transports workpieces in the forward direction by skipping over a predetermined work position. A bus line that transports the work, a return line that transports the work in the opposite direction, multiple sensors installed at predetermined positions on each line to detect the work, and stoppers installed at predetermined positions on each line to temporarily stop the work. and a plurality of pushers provided at predetermined positions to transfer workpieces between the main line, bus line, and return line.