JPS63202521A - Tray feeding/discharging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify structure and reduce the feeding/discharging time of a tray by linearly placing a tray feeding/discharging device in the order of a pickup stage, a tray stacking part, and an empty tray stacking part. CONSTITUTION:During the operation of pickup, the tray on the lowermost part of a tray stacking part 2 is housed on the upper stage of a tray elevator 4. When the pickup operation is over, an emptied tray on a pickup stage 1 is conveyed to the lower stage of the tray elevator 4 by means of a tray conveying arm 10 while, at the same time, an empty tray which has been housed on the lower stage of the tray elevator 4 is conveyed to an empty tray stacking part 3 by means of an empty tray discharging claw 11 installed on the tray conveying arm 10. After that, a shutter 13 is opened and the conveyed empty tray is stacked on the empty tray stacking part by means of an empty tray stacking cylinder 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a tray supply/discharge device in an automatic assembly machine that picks up and assembles works in a tray.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention provides a tray feeding and discharging device including a pickup stage,
The tray stacking section and empty tray stacking section are arranged linearly in this order, making it possible to arrange other material supply devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage. In addition, there is a two-stage tray elevator that moves up and down, storing trays on the upper stage and empty trays that have been picked up on the lower stage, a U-shaped tray transport arm that moves horizontally, and a tray transport arm that moves horizontally. By supplying and discharging trays using the attached empty tray discharge pawl, tray supply and discharge can be performed in three operations: empty tray discharge, tray elevator lowering, and tray supply.
The tray supply and discharge time is shortened and the structure is simplified.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, trays have been supplied and discharged using a tray supply and discharge device as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The trays containing the workpieces are stacked on the left side, the center stage is the pickup stage 1 where the workpieces are picked up, and the right side is the stage 1 where the workpieces have been picked up.
Empty trays are piled up. The tray at the bottom of the tray stacking section is handled by the tray take-out unit 15.
It is taken out and translated onto the transport rail 8. After the workpieces in the trays on the pickup stage 1 have been picked up, the trays at the bottom of the work tray stacking section 2 and the empty trays on the pickup stage 1 are simultaneously moved by the tray transfer arm 10 attached to the tray transfer cylinder 9. Tray is at pickup stage 1
The empty trays are transported to the position of the empty tray stacking section 3. After that, picking up the workpieces in the tray is started. The transported empty trays are stacked in the empty tray stacking section 3 by the empty tray stacking cylinder 12. A lighting 14 is installed at the bottom of the pickup stage 1, allowing the image processing device to recognize the workpiece.

Furthermore, a tray supply/discharge device as shown in FIG. 7 has also been conventionally used. The pickup stage 1 is located on the left side, trays are stacked in the center, and empty trays are stacked on the right side. The tray at the bottom of the tray stacking section 2 is taken out by the tray take-out unit 15 and placed on the transport rail 8. After the pickup is completed, the pickup stage 1 is lowered by the pickup stage upper and lower cylinders 16, and the empty trays that have been picked up are conveyed to the empty tray stacking section 3 by the empty tray conveyor belt 17 driven by a motor. After the empty tray is ejected by the pickup stage 1, the pickup stage 17 moves up. Thereafter, the trays at the bottom of the tray stacking section 2 are conveyed onto the pickup stage 1 by a cylinder, and pickup is started.

The empty trays conveyed to the empty tray stacking unit 3 are transferred to the empty tray stacking unit 3 by the empty tray stacking cylinder 12.
are piled up.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the tray feeding and discharging apparatus shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the pickup stage is located at the center of the tray stacking section and the empty tray stacking section. Therefore, when this tray feeding device is used in combination with a conveyor, the conveyor can only be arranged parallel to the conveying direction of the trays.

If the tray feeding and discharging device is arranged perpendicularly to the conveyor, the conveyor and the tray stacking section or the empty tray stacking section will interfere with each other. In addition, replenishing trays and collecting empty trays will become more intense. If the tray feeding/discharging device is arranged parallel to the conveyor, it becomes impossible to arrange another material feeding device or an auxiliary work unit around the pickup stage due to the tray stacking section and the empty tray stacking section. Furthermore, when a robot is used to pick up a workpiece in a tray on a pickup stage, the movable area of the robot becomes small due to the empty tray stacking section and the tray stacking section.

Therefore, a tray supply/discharge device as shown in FIG. 7 was devised.

Since the pickup stage is located at the left end of the tray supply/discharge device, the conveyor can also be arranged at right angles to the tray conveyance direction. Thereby,
It becomes possible to arrange other material supply devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage, and the robot can be used effectively. However, the tray supply/discharge device shown in FIG. 7 has a complicated mechanism and requires a large number of drive sources to supply and discharge the trays, making it expensive. Also,
The operation for supplying and discharging trays requires 4vJ operations of lowering the pickup stage, discharging the empty tray, raising the pickup stage, and supplying the tray, and it takes a long time to supply and discharge the tray.

Therefore, in this invention, in order to be able to arrange other material supply devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage, the pickup stage, tray stacking section, empty tray The purpose is to obtain a tray supply/discharge device which has a configuration in which trays are arranged linearly in the order of the stacking section, has a simpler structure and is cheaper than the tray supply/discharge lit shown in Fig. 7, and takes less time to supply and discharge trays. It is said that

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has a structure in which the tray supply/discharge device is linearly arranged in the order of a pickup stage, a tray stacking section, and an empty tray stacking section, It is located at the bottom of the tray stacking section, moves up and down, has a two-tiered tray storage section, has a tray elevator that stores trays on the upper tier, and empty trays on the lower tier, and a U-shaped arm that moves horizontally. Trays are supplied and discharged using a tray conveyance arm and an empty tray discharge pawl attached to the tray conveyance arm.

(Function) In the tray supply/discharge device a2 configured as described above, it is possible to arrange other material supply devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage.

During tray supply and discharge, the tray transfer arm transfers empty trays on the pickup stage to the bottom of the tray elevator, and the empty tray discharging pawl attached to the tray transfer arm simultaneously transfers empty trays from the bottom of the tray elevator to the empty tray stacking section. transport. The tray elevator descends. The tray stored in the upper part of the tray elevator is transported to the pickup stage by the tray transport arm. These three operations make it possible to shorten the tray supply and discharge time. This simplifies the structure of the tray feeding and discharging device, leading to lower costs and improved reliability of the device.

(Example) The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the pickup stage 1, the tray stacking section 2, and the empty tray stacking section 3 are arranged linearly with the pickup stage 1 as an end. Therefore, it is possible to arrange other material supply devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage 1. The tray has a shape as shown in Figure 4,
There are separation steps on both sides. A workpiece is stored in the tray.

A two-stage tray elevator 4 located at the lower part of a work tray stacking part is raised by an elevator vertical motor 5, all stacked trays are raised, and a tray shutter 6 is separated from the trays. After that, the shutter is moved by the rM country cylinder 7 to the tray shutter 6.
Then, the tray elevator 4 is lowered by one tray by the elevator vertical motor 5, and the tray shutter 6 is closed. Thereafter, the tray elevator 4 is lowered to a position where the lower part of the tray elevator 4 is at the height of the transport rail 8, and then waits. By the above operation, the lowest tray of the tray stacking section 2 is moved to the tray elevator 4.
It can be stored in the upper part of the.

When the workpieces in the tray on the pickup stage 1 have been picked up, the empty tray is transferred by the tray transfer arm 10 attached to the tray transfer cylinder 9.
The tray is transported to the lower stage of the elevator 4. Then, until the upper stage of the tray elevator 4 reaches the height of the transport rail 8,
Lower the tray elevator 4. Tray transfer arm 1
The tray is housed in a tray transfer arm 10, and the tray transfer arm 10 is moved by a tray transfer cylinder 9 to transfer the tray to the pickup stage 1. After that, picking up the workpieces in the tray is started.

While the tray is being picked up, the lowermost tray of the tray stacking section 2 is stored in the upper stage of the tray elevator 4 again by the same operation as described above. When the pickup is finished again, the empty tray on the big up stage is transported to the lower stage of the tray elevator by the tray transport arm 10, but at the same time, the empty tray discharging pawl 11 attached to the tray transport arm 10 transports the empty tray to the lower stage of the tray elevator. , the empty trays stored in the lower stage of the tray elevator 4 are transported to the empty tray stacking section 3. Thereafter, the transported empty trays are stacked in the empty tray stacking section 3 by the empty tray stacking cylinder 12 through the empty tray shutter 13. After that, repeat the same action.

The operations during tray supply and discharge are 3II11 operations: tray discharge, tray elevator 4 lowering, and tray supply, and the time for tray supply and discharge is shortened. Since the tray transfer arm 10 is U-shaped and located outside the tray, the lighting 14 can be installed at the bottom of the pickup stage 1, and the workpiece in the tray can be recognized by the image processing system. It is possible.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, the present invention provides a tray feeding and discharging device that
The pickup stage, tray stacking section, and empty tray stacking section are arranged linearly in this order, making it possible to arrange other material feeding devices and auxiliary work units around the pickup stage. In addition, there is a two-tiered trail beta that moves up and down, storing trays in the upper part and empty trays that have been picked up in the lower part, a U-shaped tray transport arm that moves horizontally, and a tray transport arm that moves horizontally. The empty tray ejection pawl attached to the arm allows
By supplying and discharging the tray, it is possible to perform the supply and discharge of the tray in three operations: tray discharge, tray elevator lowering, and tray supply, thereby shortening the tray supply and discharge time. As a result, the structure of the tray feeding and discharging device was simplified, and it was possible to reduce costs and improve reliability as described in [1].

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tray supply/discharge device according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the same. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tray. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a conventional tray supply/discharge device, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the same. FIG. 7 is a front view of another conventional tray feeding device. 1...Pickup stage 2...Tray stacking section 3...Empty tray stacking section 4...Tray elevator 10...Tray transfer arm 11...Empty tray discharge claw Applicant: Agent for Seiko Electronic Industries Co., Ltd. Person Patent Attorney Mogami 5. -5 wood part 1
Guo%o% filtration 1 picture of a thousand faces of the device! i! Front view of 10 Side view of funeral 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Perspective view of Toshi Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a tray supply/discharge device in an automatic assembly machine that performs assembly by picking up the workpieces from a tray storing the workpieces to be assembled, a pickup stage in the tray for picking up the workpieces, and a stacking tray in which the trays are stored. an empty tray stacking section for storing empty trays; a tray elevator located at the bottom of the tray stacking section and having a two-stage tray storage section on the top surface and moving up and down; and the pickup stage. It is composed of a tray transfer arm that moves horizontally between the tray stacking section and an empty tray discharging catch attached to the tray transfer arm that transfers empty trays to the empty tray stacking section. A tray supply/discharge device characterized in that a stacking section and the empty tray stacking section are arranged in this order.