JPS6228616Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an automatic loading machine having a function of separating a large number of plate-shaped members of a fixed shape one by one and sequentially sending them out.

Conventionally, a plate-like material feeder that feeds out a large number of plate-like members of a fixed shape, such as printed wiring boards, one by one and sequentially supplies them to a processing machine has generally had a structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It's getting old.

1 is a large number of plate-like members 2, 2... which are objects to be transported.
It is a pedestal that is constructed so that... can be placed on it and pushed up one after another. To make reading easier, the second
In the figure, the plate members 2, 2, . . . are shown by solid lines, and in FIG. 1, the locations where the plate members 2 are placed are shown by imaginary lines. The above-mentioned pedestal 1 is supported horizontally by support columns 3, 3 on both sides, and is guided so as to be able to move up and down. 4 is a motor for driving the frame, and a bevel gear 5
The feed screws 6, 6 are rotated via the feed screws 6, and the gantry 1 is driven up and down via the feed nuts 7, 7. A phototube 8 detects the position of the top surface of the plate member 2, controls the operation of the gantry drive motor 4, and raises the gantry 1 so that the top surface of the uppermost plate member is always near A. Reference numerals 9 and 9 denote rubber suction cups, which are connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) through a vacuum suction pipe 10. This suction cup 9 is moved in the vertical direction by an air cylinder 11, and in the directions of arrows B and C by an air cylinder 12.

When the above-mentioned suction cup 9 descends, attracts the uppermost plate-like member 2, rises, and is then moved in the direction of arrow B, the sucked plate-like member is sandwiched between the roller devices 13 and moved in the direction of arrow B. sent to. For convenience of explanation, the direction of arrow B will hereinafter be referred to as the feeding direction, and the direction of arrow C will be referred to as the counter-feeding direction.

The above-described conventional plate-shaped member automatic insertion machine has a problem in that when the suction cup 9 suctions and lifts the uppermost plate-shaped member, the second plate-shaped member is lifted up together with the suction cup 9. Such problems of poor separation can sometimes occur even in plate-like members that do not have through-holes, but when through-holes are drilled, such as in semi-finished printed wiring boards, for example, Since the vacuum suction force of the suction cup 9 sucking on the through hole is also applied to the second and subsequent plate-like members, the above-mentioned problem of poor separation is likely to occur.

14, 14 are guide plates installed vertically to align the surfaces of the plate members 2, 2 stacked on the pedestal 1 in the feeding direction. When a worker places a large number of plate-shaped members 2, 2 on the pedestal 1, the plate-shaped members 2, 2... can be easily stacked vertically by pressing these plate-shaped members against the guide plate 14 by hand. be able to. This guide plate 14 was also provided for the above-mentioned purpose in the conventional feeding machine and was used as described above, but it was a member that had no special relationship with the separation of plate-like members.

In order to solve the problem of poor separation of plate-shaped members in the conventional feeding machine as described above, a plurality of suction cups 9, 9...
Efforts have been made to improve the location of the ... and the order of the lifting operations, but these methods make it difficult to perform reliable separation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is intended to provide an automatic sheet member feeding machine that can reliably separate and send out the uppermost sheet sheet member from the second sheet sheet member. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention improves the conventional plate-shaped member automatic feeder with the above-mentioned structure, and makes the plate-shaped member mounting surface on the pedestal inclined in the feeding direction. A guide member having a vertical surface slidingly in contact with the surface in the feeding direction of the plate-shaped members stacked on the pedestal is provided, and the guide member is in contact with the edge in the counter-feeding direction of the uppermost plate-shaped member stacked on the pedestal. A stopper piece that can move in the vertical direction is provided at a position, and the stopper piece has a substantially horizontal surface that abuts the upper surface of the uppermost layer plate member, and the uppermost layer plate member moves in the counter-feeding direction. It is characterized by having a shape including a groove-like recess into which the sheet member is allowed to enter when the sheet is moved, and a stopper surface that prevents the second plate member from above from moving in the opposite direction.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

As shown in Fig. 3, on top of the pedestal 1, which is a member similar to that of the conventional device, there is a
A pedestal 15 for placing a plate-like member having a top surface 15d inclined at this angle is fixed. As a result, the plate members 2, 2, . . . stacked on top of each other are all inclined in the same direction and at the same angle.

A guide plate 14 having a perpendicular surface is provided at a position in contact with the surface on the feeding direction side of the plate-like members 2, 2... piled up as described above. As a result, the plate-like members 2, 2 stacked at an angle are naturally pressed against the guide plate 14 by the force of sliding in the direction of inclination, and while being pushed up by the pedestal 1, they slide against the guide plate 14. The stacked sides are kept vertical in the feeding direction. As mentioned above, there are examples in which the guide plate 14 is provided in conventional automatic loading machines to facilitate alignment of plate-like members, but in the device according to the present invention, the guide plate 14 is used as described in detail later. This is an indispensable member for the structure for separating the plate-like members.

The stopper piece 16 is positioned at a position in contact with the edge in the opposite feed direction (left side) of the uppermost plate member among the plate members 2, 2... stacked on the pedestal 15 as described above. . 17 is the above stopper piece 16
This is a guide means for positioning the holder as described above. Fig. 4 shows the stopper piece 16 and its guide means 1.
7 is shown in an enlarged perspective view.

The support shaft 17a of the guide means 17 is fixed to the column 3 of the feeding machine (see FIG. 3). A sleeve 17b is fitted onto this support shaft 17a so as to be slidable in the directions of arrows DE and FG, and an L-shaped guide bar 17c is fixed to this sleeve 17b. 17d is sleeve 1
Stopper for restricting sliding in the direction of arrow D of 7b, 1
7e is its set screw. Stopper 17 above
While fixing the receiving plate 17f to the sleeve 17
A stopper piece 17g is fixed to b, and by bringing them into contact with each other, rotation of the sleeve 17b in the direction of arrow G is restricted, and when both come into contact as shown in the figure, the root portion 17 _c- of the L-shaped guide bar 17c. ₁ is horizontal and the tip 17 _c-2 is vertical.

A stopper piece 16, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 5, is fitted onto the L-shaped guide bar tip 17c _-2, which is kept vertical as described above.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the stopper piece 16, and the relative positions of the plate-like members are shown with imaginary lines. For convenience of explanation, the top layer of the stacked plate members will be named 2a, the second one from the top will be named 2b, and the third one will be named 2c.

The stopper piece 16 according to the present invention has a substantially horizontal surface 16a that comes into contact with the upper surface of the uppermost plate member 2a.
, a recess 16b that allows the plate-like member 2a to enter in the counter-feeding direction, and a recess 16b that allows the plate-like member 2a to enter in the counter-feeding direction, and a recess 16b in the counter-feeding direction opposite to the edges of the second and third plate-like members 2b and 2c on the counter-feeding direction side. A stopper surface 16c for preventing movement is provided. The stopper pieces 16 in this embodiment are upper, middle,
It is formed into a cylindrical shape with three steps at the bottom, a bush 16d is fitted on the inner surface of the cylinder, and the guide bar tip 17c _-2 is slidably passed through the bush 16d. 17h is a nut with a washer to prevent it from coming off.

When the above-mentioned stopper surface 16c is in a position substantially touching and opposing the side surface J-K on the opposite side of the stacked plate-shaped members in the feeding direction, the upper stage projects beyond J-K and above the plate-shaped member 2a. Dimensions. A groove-shaped recess 16b is formed in the middle section between the upper and lower sections. The groove width dimension w of this groove-like recess 16b is t<<
Set within the range of w≪2t. However, t is the thickness of the plate-like member. The depth of the groove will be described later.
In this example, the outer periphery of the lower step portion is formed into a tapered stopper surface 16c, but this may be formed into a right cylindrical stopper surface as shown by the imaginary line 16c'.

Next, the usage and operation of the plate-shaped member automatic loading machine configured as described above will be described.

(See Figure 4) Turn the L-shaped guide lever 17c by hand in the direction of arrow F to flip the stopper piece 16 upwards, and after stacking the plate-like members as described above, turn the L-shaped guide lever 17c in the direction of arrow G. Turn it to
The substantially horizontal surface 16a of the stopper piece 16 is placed on the plate member. At this time, the stopper 17d is adjusted in the directions of arrows D and E so that the stopper surface 16c of the stopper piece 16 is in a position substantially in contact with and opposite to the side surface J-K of the plate member in the opposite feeding direction.

FIG. 6 shows the stopper piece 16 set as described above. When the uppermost plate member 2a is sucked near the end on the arrow B side (right side) in the feeding direction with the suction cup 9 and lifted upward, the plate member 2a slides directly upward while the right end is in sliding contact with the guide plate 14. The robot is guided to a horizontal position shown by the imaginary line H. During this lifting operation, the plate-like member that had been tilted becomes horizontal and its right end is guided to rise vertically.
The left end of the plate member 2a moves leftward by (1-cos θ) and enters the recess 16b of the stopper piece 16. However, is the length of the plate member in the feeding direction,
θ is the inclination angle of the plate member.

When the uppermost plate member 2a rises as described above, even if the second plate member 2b tries to rise together, the width of the recess 16b is larger than the thickness of the two plate members. Since the left end of the plate member 2b cannot enter the recess 16b due to the narrow width, the stopper surface 1
6c and is prevented from moving in the opposite direction (to the left). For this reason, the second plate-like member 2b cannot take a horizontal position, and is forcibly stopped at its original position and separated from the uppermost plate-like member 2a.

The upper part of the non-feed side surface of the guide plate 14 is drawn by the imaginary line 14
If it is bulged as shown in a, the above-mentioned separation effect will be carried out more reliably.

The uppermost plate member 2a, which has been separated by one release and placed in a horizontal position (imaginary line H) as described above, is sent out by moving the suction cup 9 in the direction of arrow B.

When the uppermost plate member 2a is sent out, the stopper piece 16 is guided by the guide bar tip 17c _-2 and descends by its own weight by the distance t, and rides on the plate member 2b. By repeating the same operations as described above, the plate member 2b is separated from the plate member 2c and sent out.

Since the stopper piece 16 according to the present invention is movable in the vertical direction, as described above, by descending under its own weight, it is automatically placed on the plate-shaped member of the lower layer one after another.

As the plate-shaped members are sent out one after another and their top surfaces become lower, the pedestal 1 pushes up the plate-shaped members to keep the top surfaces at a constant height as described above. If you try to make it precise, the manufacturing cost will increase. Since the stopper piece of the present invention can slide up and down, the accuracy of the automatic push-up operation can be such that it operates every two or three plate-shaped objects. Even if the position of the top surface of the top layer of the stacked plate-like objects goes up or down slightly, the change will not occur because the stopper piece 16 moves to the tip of the L-shaped guide bar 17 _c-
This is because it is absorbed by moving up and down along ₂ . In addition, the depth of the recess 16b of the stopper piece 16 is determined depending on the specifications of the automatic loading machine _.
Set it slightly larger than (1-cosθ). However, _nax is the maximum length dimension of the plate member in the feeding direction.

If the stopper surface 16c of the stopper piece 16 is made into a tapered surface that opens upward as in this embodiment, there will be some parts that protrude slightly in the counter-feeding direction, such as the plate-shaped member 2p in FIG. As it is being pushed up by the pedestal 1 and rising, it comes into contact with the tapered surface and is pushed in the feeding direction, so that it is automatically aligned.
There is no possibility that the protruding plate member 2p will push up the stopper piece 16 and impede its action. As is clear from the comparison with FIG.
It is possible to achieve similar functions and effects without necessarily having a tapered surface that opens upward. That is, the stopper 16c is inclined with respect to the vertical direction, and the direction of the inclination is such that the upper end of the stopper surface 16c is closer to the guide plate 1 than the lower end of the stopper surface 16c.
It should be set close to 4.

As explained above, according to the present invention, among a large number of plate-like members loaded into an automatic plate-like member loading machine, the plate-like member located in the uppermost layer at each time is transferred to the second sheet. It has an excellent practical effect of being able to be reliably separated from the shaped member and sent out.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventionally commonly used automatic sheet material loading machine, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a side view of an automatic sheet material loading machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the stopper piece and its guide means in the above embodiment, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the stopper piece, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the operation of the above embodiment. 1... Frame, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c... Plate member, 9... Suction cup, 13... Roller device, 14...
Guide plate (guide member), 15... cradle with inclined surface, 16... stopper piece, 16a... substantially horizontal surface that abuts on plate-shaped member, 16b... concave portion, 16
c...Same stopper side.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A pedestal 1 on which a large number of plate-like members 2, which are objects to be transported, are placed and pushed up one after another, and a topmost plate-like member among the stacked plate-like members mentioned above is adsorbed. This is an automatic loading machine for plate-like members, which includes a suction cup 9 that lifts the plate-like members by tilting the plate-like member mounting surface 15a of the pedestal 1 in the feeding direction, so that the plate-like members stacked on the pedestal are fed in the feeding direction. A guide member 14 having a vertical surface slidingly in contact with the side end surface is provided, and a stopper piece movable in the vertical direction is provided at a position in contact with the edge in the counter-feeding direction of the uppermost plate-like member stacked on the pedestal. (a) The stopper piece 16 has a substantially horizontal surface 16a that comes into contact with the upper surface of the uppermost layer plate member 2a, and only the uppermost layer plate member 2a. It is provided with a recess 16b that allows the plate members 2b, 2c, . . . (b) The stopper surface 16c has an inclination with respect to the vertical plane, the upper part of the stopper surface 16c approaches the vertical guide member 14, and the lower part of the stopper surface is separated from the guide member 14. (c) The suction cup 9 suctions the end of the plate-shaped member on the side of the feeding direction arrow B and rises, and then is driven in the feeding direction arrow B to remove the plate-shaped member. 1. An automatic loading machine for plate-shaped members, characterized in that the machine has a structure in which the material is transported out in the feeding direction.