JPS6121136Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] This invention relates to an automatic feeder for a workpiece that holds the workpiece by vacuum suction and automatically moves the workpiece.

Generally, this type of automatic feeding device is configured to hold a workpiece under vacuum suction using a plurality of suction cups forming one group and automatically feed the workpiece.
For example, it is used as a means for automatically taking out a workpiece from the mold of a press machine.

Incidentally, the automatic feeding device in such a press machine is designed to move the suction cups up and down and horizontally. That is,
After the suction cups vacuum-suction the workpiece on the mold of the press machine, the suction cups rise once to release the workpiece from the mold, and then the suction cups attach the workpiece to the predetermined workpiece. The suction cups move horizontally to above the take-out position and then descend, and then release the vacuum suction to release the workpiece. From then on, the suction cup group moves up and down and horizontally along this movement trajectory. Therefore, two drive mechanisms are required: a mechanism for raising and lowering the suction cup group and a mechanism for horizontally moving the suction cup group.

Conventionally, a mechanism for raising and lowering a group of suction cups has been such that the group of suction cups is fixed to one holder, and this one holder itself is raised and lowered by a drive unit such as a cylinder. In other words, a plurality of suction cups are raised and lowered by a single drive section, and as a result, the drive section becomes powerful and large, which leads to the problem of an increase in the size of the automatic feeding device itself. . Furthermore, since a plurality of suction cups are raised and lowered all at once, there is a problem in that it is difficult for each suction cup to properly suction the upper surface of a workpiece whose upper surface is undulating.

This idea was made in view of the above circumstances,
To provide a small and lightweight automatic feed device for a workpiece, in which a suction cup reliably adsorbs the workpiece whose upper part is undulating and automatically feeds the workpiece.

An embodiment of this invention will be described below based on the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 in the figure indicates a press machine, which performs a predetermined pressing process on a plate-shaped workpiece W between a lower mold 3 on the side of the bolster 2 and an upper mold 5 on the side of the slide 4. .

An air cylinder 8 extending horizontally is supported on the outside of the bolster 2 via supports 6 and 7. This air cylinder 8 has two piston rods 9, 9 which extend and contract in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 toward a position above the lower mold 3 of the press machine 1. A movable body 10 is attached to the tips of these piston rods 9, 9 in a manner that prevents them from rotating. A bifurcated holding body 11 is attached to the upper part of the movable body 10 by a spindle 12, and gripping members 13, 13 are attached to each of the bifurcated ends of the holder 11. It is attached by 14,14. These holding bodies 11,
The gripping members 13, 13 have their support shafts 12, 1
It can be fixed at an appropriate rotational position in a horizontal plane centering on 4 and 14.

A cylinder 15 extending in the up-down direction is attached to each of the tips of the gripping members 13, 13, as shown in FIG. The cylinder 15 has a cylinder chamber formed therein by a cylinder body 16 and a lower cap 18 that fits around the lower opening of the cylinder body 16 via a seal member 17. . Inside this cylinder 15, the cylinder chamber is divided into a cylinder upper chamber R1 and a cylinder lower chamber R2.
The piston 19 which is divided into two parts is the piston ring 20.
It is provided so that it can be moved up and down in an airtight manner.
A piston rod 21 is provided at the bottom of the piston 19 and extends downwardly from the lower cap 18 of the cylinder 15. In addition, lower cap 1
A seal member 22 is attached to the piston rod 8 in close contact with the circumference of the piston rod 21, thereby allowing the piston rod 21 to move up and down in an airtight manner. In addition, in the case of this embodiment, the piston 1
9 and the piston rod 21 are integrally molded.

A suction cup 23 that opens downward is attached to the lower end of the piston rod 21 by a screw 24. Inside this suction cup 23,
A through hole 25 is formed that passes through the piston 19 and the piston rod 21, and a through hole 26 is formed inside the piston 19 and the piston rod 21, having a larger diameter on the upper side and a smaller diameter on the lower side. These two through holes 25 and 26 form one communication path 27 that communicates the cylinder upper chamber R1 with the inside of the opening of the suction cup 23. In addition, a spring 2 for biasing the piston 19 downward is provided in the large diameter portion above the through hole 26.
8 are deployed.

In the cylinder 15, its cylinder body 16
A negative pressure generation part is formed on the upper outside of the cylinder, and a negative pressure introduction pipe 29 communicating with the cylinder upper chamber R1 is attached.
Further, a positive pressure generating section is formed outside the lower cap 18, and a positive pressure introducing pipe 30 communicating with the cylinder lower chamber R2 is attached. The negative pressure introduction pipes 29, 29 of each cylinder 15, 15 are connected to a vacuum generator (negative pressure generator) 31, while the positive pressure introduction pipe 30 is connected to an air positive pressure generator 33 via a switching solenoid valve 32.
It is connected to the. In this embodiment, the vacuum generator 31 is connected to the positive pressure generator 33 via the solenoid valve 32.
The positive pressure generator 33 generates negative pressure by introducing pressurized air from the positive pressure generator 33.

By the way, when the piston rods 9, 9 of the air cylinder 8 are extended, the movable body 10 moves above the lower mold 3 of the press machine 1, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. When 9, 9 retract, the movable body 10 moves to the outside of the press 1, as shown by the solid line in FIG. A shooter 34 for the workpiece W is provided below the suction cup 23 when the movable body 10 moves to the outside of the press 1.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned component device will be explained.
When the press machine 1 presses the workpiece W, the piston rods 9, 9 of the air cylinder 8 are retracted, and the moving body 10 is waiting outside the press machine 1 as shown by the solid line in FIG. . At this time, the solenoid valve 32 is in the state shown in FIG. 5, and pressurized air is introduced into the cylinder lower chamber R2. Therefore, the piston 19
is raised against the force of the spring 28, as shown in FIG. 3, and the piston rod 21 is retracted upward.

Note that at this time, pressurized air is not introduced into the vacuum generator 31, and the vacuum generator 31 does not generate negative pressure.

When the press machine 1 finishes pressing one workpiece W and raises the upper die 5 to return, the piston rods 9, 9 of the air cylinder 8 extend, and the movable body 10 of the press machine 1 Move above the lower mold 3. At this time, the attachment form of the two suction cups 23 to the moving body 10 is adjusted so that the two suction cups 23 are located above the predetermined suction points on the workpiece W.
It is set in advance by the rotation adjustment in step 3.

After that, the solenoid valve 32 is switched downward, and pressurized air is introduced into the vacuum generator 31.
The positive pressure introduction pipe 30 is opened. Therefore, the pressure inside the cylinder lower chamber R2 is reduced, and as a result, the piston 19 is lowered together with the piston rod 21 by the restoring force of the spring 28, and the suction cup 23 is lowered to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. and comes into contact with the upper part of the workpiece W. At this time, the vacuum generator 31
generates negative pressure to suck the air in the cylinder upper chamber R1, but until the suction cup 23 comes into contact with the upper part of the workpiece W, external air flows through the communication path 27 into the cylinder upper chamber R1. supplied within. Then, after the suction cup 23 comes into contact with the upper part of the workpiece W, the communication passage 27 is closed, so that the cylinder upper chamber R1 and the inside of the communication passage 27 are in a vacuum state, and the suction cup 23 is attached to the workpiece W. Vacuum the upper part. Thereafter, the piston 19 rises together with the piston rod 21 against the force of the spring 28 due to the negative pressure in the upper cylinder chamber R1, and the suction cup 23 retains the workpiece W by suction as shown in FIG. Return to raised position. Therefore, the workpiece W
is reliably separated from above the lower mold 3 of the press 1. Thereafter, the piston rods 9, 9 of the air cylinder 8 retract, and the movable body 10 returns to its original position outside the press 1, as shown by solid lines in FIG.

Thereafter, the solenoid valve 32 is switched upward again as shown in FIG. Therefore, the introduction of negative pressure to the cylinder upper chamber R1 is stopped again, and the introduction of negative pressure to the cylinder lower chamber R2 is stopped.
Pressurized air is introduced into the chamber. Therefore, the suction cup 23 releases the vacuum suction and drops the workpiece W, which was being suctioned and held, onto the shooter 34. At this time, due to the delay in increasing the pressure in the cylinder lower chamber R2, the workpiece W is lowered while the suction cup 23 is being lowered.
can be dropped gently onto the shooter 24. That is, the piston 19 is lowered by the force of the spring 28 until the pressure in the lower cylinder chamber R2 increases. Note that even in this case, the piston 19 rises due to the pressure increase in the cylinder lower chamber R2, and returns to the original standby state outside the press 1 again.

From then on, each time the press machine 1 finishes pressing one workpiece W, this device repeats the same operation as described above and transfers the processed workpiece W to the shooter 34.
automatically move to.

In the above embodiment, the mounting position of the other support 7 with respect to the one support 6 can be adjusted along the left-right direction in FIG. 10 moving positions can be adjusted.

Further, the number of suction cups 23 to be provided is arbitrary.
In addition, since each suction cup 23 individually moves up and down to perform a suction action, it is possible to accurately suction and move a workpiece whose upper portion is raised, for example.

Moreover, this device can be applied not only as a device for taking out a workpiece from a press machine, but also as a variety of feeding devices for automatically moving a workpiece between predetermined positions.

As described in detail above, according to the automatic feed device for a workpiece according to the present invention, the mounting state of the gripping member on the holding body can be changed freely, and the suction cup can be moved individually by the piston of each cylinder. Since they can be raised and lowered individually, even workpieces with undulating tops can be reliably attracted and automatically fed forward or backward to a predetermined location. Furthermore, the automatic feeding device is small and lightweight. Therefore, high-speed feeding can be achieved while suppressing the inertia of the feeding device on the moving path of the workpiece.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of this invention, with Fig. 1 being a front view, Fig. 2 being a plan view, Fig. 3 being an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the main parts thereof, and Fig. 4 being an enlarged side view of the main parts. Fifth
The figure is a diagram shown to explain the drive system. 10... Moving body, 11... Gripping member, 15...
Cylinder, 19...Piston, 21...Piston rod, 23...Suction cup, 27...Communication path,
28... Spring, 31... Vacuumulator (negative pressure generator), 33... Positive pressure generator, R1... Cylinder upper chamber, R2... Cylinder lower chamber, W... Workpiece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A moving body that moves forward and backward between two positions above which a workpiece is to be moved, a holder that is rotatably attached to the moving body and extends into a movement path of the workpiece, and an extension of the holder. It has a plurality of gripping members rotatably attached to the protruding end, and a plurality of cylinders attached vertically to the free ends of the gripping members, and these cylinders are provided inside thereof so as to be movable up and down. a piston that divides the interior of the cylinder into an upper cylinder chamber and a lower cylinder chamber; a piston rod that is connected to the piston and extends downward from the cylinder; and a piston rod that is attached to the lower end of the piston rod and opens downward. a suction cup, a communication passage formed inside the piston and the piston rod to communicate the cylinder upper chamber with the inside of the opening of the suction cup, and a spring attached to the inside of the cylinder upper chamber to urge the piston downward. and a negative pressure generating section formed inside the cylinder upper chamber to apply negative pressure from the outside, and a positive pressure generating section formed inside the cylinder lower chamber to apply positive pressure from the outside, The suction cup adsorbs the workpiece by the negative pressure in the cylinder upper chamber, and the piston is moved up and down by the negative pressure in the cylinder upper chamber and the positive pressure in the cylinder lower chamber. An automatic feeder for workpieces featuring: