JPS6131829Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a chuck used for chucking and aligning annular articles such as ring-shaped powder compacts.

Since the green compact is fired after being formed, it is desirable to arrange the compacts as closely as possible on the firing plate in order to reduce firing costs.
The alignment work is generally done manually. Therefore, the applicant has already filed an application for an automatic pick-up and alignment device that vacuum-chucks powder compacts, conveys them, and aligns them, and applied this device to a ring-shaped powder compact. Therefore, it was found that the suction position could not be secured with high precision, and positional deviations were likely to occur due to falling of the powder compact when suction was released, making it unsuitable. Therefore, in place of the vacuum suction method, the present applicant designed and prototyped a device in which ring-shaped powder compacts are gripped from the outside with a mechanical chuck and conveyed for alignment. However, it has been found that this method requires a gap between the compacts to be aligned, which is necessary for removing the chuck during alignment, and is disadvantageous for achieving higher-density alignment. Furthermore, it has been found that the chuck force may cause scratches on the outer circumferential surface of the powder compact, and that the shape of the chuck also depends on the outer shape of the powder compact.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to be able to reliably chuck an annular article without damaging its outer peripheral surface, and to reliably chuck an annular article no matter what its external shape.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a chuck for annular articles that is excellent in assemblability and maintainability, and is capable of increasing the arrangement density when arranging annular articles.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

1 in FIG. 1 is a powder compression molding machine for molding a ring-shaped green compact A as an annular article. B or firing plate (not shown). As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic aligning device 2 includes a powder compact positioning mechanism 3, a powder compact conveyance mechanism 4, and a baking dish conveyance mechanism 5.

The compact positioning mechanism 3 includes a compact guide 8 disposed on the upper surface of a belt conveyor 7 which is driven by a motor 6 and which receives the compact A taken out from the chute 1a at one end. A green powder stopper 9 is disposed on the other end side, and a pair of green powder sensors 10 and 11 are provided.
The green compact guide 8 is provided along the longitudinal direction of the belt conveyor 7, and is gradually narrowed from the powder compression molding machine 1 side to the middle part, and from the middle part to the green compact stopper 9, the green compact guide 8 is provided along the longitudinal direction of the belt conveyor 7. It forms a passage approximately equal to the outer diameter. A pair of compacted powder sensors 1
One of the sensors 10 and 11 is disposed on the powder compact stopper 9 side, and the other sensor 11 is disposed a predetermined distance away from the one sensor 10 on the powder compression molding machine 1 side, and the pressure caused by these sensors is The motor 6 is started and stopped based on whether or not the powder A is detected. Therefore, by this mechanism 3, the first green compact A taken out from the powder compression molding machine 1 is conveyed until it comes into contact with the green compact stopper 9 and is stopped, and the subsequent powder compacts are The powder compacts A are conveyed until they come into contact with the previously stopped powder compact A, and are thereby positioned in a straight line with respect to a chuck 12, which will be described later.

The compacted powder conveying mechanism 4 is disposed at the terminal end of the mechanism 3, and includes a chuck 12 according to the present invention, and is configured to move the chuck 12 in the vertical and horizontal directions. In other words, 13 indicates guide rods 1 that are parallel to each other and are arranged along the horizontal direction.
4 and a feed screw rod 15,
A movable base 16 is supported across each of the rods 14 and 15. The movable base 16 is moved along each of the rods 14 and 15 by the feed screw groove 15 being rotated by a motor 31 attached to the fixed base 13. Note that arrows C and D in FIG. 2 indicate the moving direction of the movable table 16, and the movement is controlled to stop at a fixed position by a position sensor such as a limit switch (not shown). A guide rod 17 and a feed screw rod 18 are attached to the movable table 16, and the guide rod 17 and the feed screw rod 18 are attached to the movable table 16, and the guide rod 17 and the feed screw rod 18 are attached to the movable base 16, and the guide rod 17 and the feed screw rod 18 are attached to the movable table 16, and the guide rod 17 and the feed screw rod 18 are attached to the movable table 16, and the guide rod 17 and the feed screw rod 18 are installed in parallel to each other and along the vertical direction.
9 is installed. A chuck mounting base 20 is supported across each of the rods 17 and 18, and this base 20 is moved in the vertical direction of arrows E and F along each of the rods 17 and 18 by rotation of the feed screw rod 18. It's becoming like that. Furthermore, the movable base 16
are provided with position sensors 21, 22, and 23 that detect the position of the chuck mount 20 and output signals for controlling the operation of the motor 19 and the switching valve 30, which will be described later. The chuck 12 is mounted on the chuck mounting base 20. In this embodiment, three chucks 12 are used depending on the number of positions of the powder compact A in the powder compact positioning mechanism 3, but the number of chucks 12 used may be one or more. good.

Details of the chuck 12 are illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the chuck 12 includes a chuck body 24, a holder 25, and a pressing means 26. That is, the chuck main body 24 is moved at least up and down via the chuck mount 20, and includes a rod-shaped portion 24a having an outer diameter H that is somewhat smaller than the inner diameter G of the powder compact A, and the chuck mount 20. The lower end of the rod-shaped portion 24a is chamfered. The holder 25 is provided at the insertion end of the chuck body 24, which is inserted into and removed from the inner cavity of the powder compact A from above. The holder 25 is always retracted into an annular mounting groove 27 formed along the circumferential direction of the insertion end, and protrudes from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion end during chucking. There is. Furthermore, the holder 25 is made of a material with a large coefficient of friction, and in this embodiment, O
This is a case where a squeeze packing such as a ring or a square ring is used as the holder 25. Therefore,
In this embodiment, the holder 25 is always installed in the mounting groove 27 by its own force. Further, the pressing means 26 is internally provided in the chuck body 24, and
This is for making a part of the holder 25 protrude from the mounting groove 27, and in this embodiment, it is made up of pins that are slidably fitted into a plurality of grooves 28 provided radially with respect to the mounting groove 27. . This pressing means 26
is operated by a pneumatic drive means comprising a passage 29 provided inside the chuck body 24 and communicating with the mounting groove 27 via a groove 28, and a switching valve 30 for guiding compressed air to this passage 29. It's becoming like that.

Further, the baking plate conveyance mechanism 5 is disposed below the green compact conveyance mechanism 4, and is formed of a belt conveyor that is intermittently driven by a motor 5a.

In the automatic aligning device 2, when a positioning completion signal is issued from the compact sensor 11 of the compact positioning mechanism 3, the motor 19 receives this signal.
is rotated forward. For this reason, the chuck mounting base 20
By lowering the chuck 12 through the
The lower end of the chuck 12 is inserted into the inner space of the powder compact A that has already been positioned with respect to the chucks 12. Then, since the position sensor 23 detects the chuck mount 20, an operation signal is first sent to the switching valve 30 as the motor 19 is stopped. Therefore, the compressed air is guided into the groove 28 through the passage 29, so that the pressing means 26 is moved in the counter-centripetal direction. Along with this, the holder 25 is elastically deformed and a portion thereof protrudes from the outer peripheral surface of the rod-shaped portion 24a. That is, the fourth
As illustrated in the figure, the protruding portion of the holder 25 is pressed against the inner circumferential surface of the powder compact A, thereby chucking the powder compact A. Next, since the motor 19 is reversely rotated, the chuck 12 is raised via the chuck mount 20 while keeping the powder compact A chucked. This upward movement is stopped based on the detection of the chuck mount 20 by the position sensor 21. When the compact A is removed from the belt conveyor 7 in this way, the motor 6 of the compact positioning mechanism 3 is operated again by the signal from the compact sensor 10.
A powder compact A is positioned with respect to the chuck 12. After this, the chuck 12 is lowered again,
The powder compact A that has already been chucked is stacked on the powder compact A that is to be chucked, and at about the same time, the switching valve 30 is switched to exhaust the air from there. As a result, the holder 25 is inserted into the mounting groove 27, and the chuck of the powder compact A that has already been chucked is released.The chuck 12 is further lowered, and its insertion end is placed above the belt conveyor 7. It is inserted into the inner cavity of the powder compact A. After the above chuck operation is performed again in this state, the chuck 12 is raised. Such an operation is repeated a predetermined number of times, whereby a predetermined number of powder compacts A are stacked on the rod-shaped portion 24a of the chuck 12. Thereafter, the movable base 16 is moved by a certain distance in the direction of arrow C by the drive of the motor 31, and then
By driving the motor 19, the chuck mount 20 is lowered until it is stopped based on the detection by the position sensor 22. Then, the lower end of the chuck 12 is brought close to the upper surface of the baking dish B. In this state, the switching valve 30 is switched to exhaust air based on the signal from the position sensor 22, and the powder compacts A are delivered to the baking tray B while remaining stacked.
Then, before the next stacked green compact A is carried in, the baking tray conveying mechanism 5 is operated, and the baking tray B is moved by a certain distance. By repeating the above steps, the powder compacts A are aligned with high density on the baking tray B, and this state is illustrated in FIG.

Note that the present invention can of course be implemented even when the annular articles are not stacked, and can also be implemented when the chuck body is simply moved up and down and the annular article is delivered to a member inserted downward at the raised position. can. In addition, when implementing the present invention, the chuck body, insertion end,
Holder, pressing means, mounting groove, groove, pin, passage,
The specific structure, shape, position, etc. of the switching valve, pneumatic drive means, etc. are not limited to the examples.
Of course, it can be configured and implemented in various ways.

The gist of the present invention described above is the structure described in the scope of the above-mentioned utility model registration claims. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a chuck that can chuck an annular article from its inner cavity side, thereby preventing damage to the outer peripheral surface of the annular article and chucking regardless of the outer shape of the annular article. can do. Note that even if the inner circumferential surface of the annular article is damaged, the merchantability of the annular article will not be impaired because it is an inner circumferential surface. Furthermore, since the annular article can be chucked and unchucked from the inner cavity side, when the annular article is used for aligning the annular articles, it is necessary to provide a gap between the green compacts arranged in order to remove the chuck. Therefore, it is useful for extremely dense alignment. Moreover, the holder for chucking the annular article from inside the inner cavity is made of a material with a high coefficient of friction, which not only prevents slipping but also allows the holder to slide through the groove without directly deforming the holder due to air pressure. Since the holder is deformed and brought into pressure contact with the inner periphery of the annular article through a plurality of pins,
Since air leakage is minimized, the holder can be accurately deformed, and the chucking condition can therefore be ensured, and the annular article will not fall out inadvertently.
In addition, the drive means is pneumatic and has a simple configuration, and it is easy to assemble by simply fitting the pin into the groove from the outside and then fitting the ring-shaped squeeze packing holder into the mounting groove. In addition, it has practical effects such as extremely easy replacement of a worn holder.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional schematic front view of the automatic alignment device, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional schematic side view taken along line - in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line - in FIG. 3 in the chuck state;
FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the powder compacts. 12...chuck, 24...chuck body, 2
4a... Rod-shaped portion, 25... Holder, 26... Pressing means, 27... Mounting groove, 28... Groove, 29...
Passage, 30...Switching valve, A...Annular article (powder compact).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A chuck body that is moved at least in the vertical direction, a mounting groove carved along the circumferential direction at the insertion end of the chuck body that is inserted into and removed from the inner space of the annular article from above, and a chuck body that is accommodated in the mounting groove. A holder is provided so as to be able to protrude and retract from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion end, and is made of a ring-shaped squeeze packing with a large coefficient of friction and always maintains the recessed state by its own elastic force, and an opening at the rear end of the mounting groove. pins are slidably fitted into a plurality of grooves provided radially in the chuck body, and the holder is projected from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion end and pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the annular article. It comprises a pressing means, a passage provided inside the chuck main body communicating with the deep part of the groove of the pressing means, and a switching valve for guiding compressed air to this passage, and the switching valve moves the pin outwardly and presses the chuck. A chuck for annular articles, comprising a pneumatic drive means for projecting a holder.