KR100600025B1 - Automatic Pallete Changer Apparatus of a Machining Center with Enhanced Changing Velocity - Google Patents

Abstract

In the present invention, the pillars are placed on both sides of the upper surface of the bed, the upper plate is installed on the upper part, and the automatic pallet changer frame is installed on the lower part to hold the pallet rotating shaft in the upper plate and the frame in two places, and the driving unit is placed on the upper plate. The present invention relates to an automatic pallet changer of a machining center that can reduce the pallet change speed to minimize the centrifugal force generated during rotation by reducing the distance. As an automatic pallet changer of the machining center, it extends up and down at a predetermined distance from both sides of the bed plane. A pair of pillars 17 installed so as to; An upper plate 18 coupled to an upper end of the pair of pillars so as to extend horizontally; A center shaft 3 extending vertically to move up and down integrally with a pair of change arms 1 for exchanging the pallet 14 and having a vertical beam 11 and a lower end coupled thereto; A pinion (4) installed in the gearbox (19) on the top plate and engaged with the center shaft (3) and a rack (5) engaged with the pinion; A pair of rack cylinders (8) mounted on the gearbox (19) extending horizontally to drive the rack; And a raising and lowering cylinder (6) provided above the gear box and operating up and down by hydraulic pressure.

 Machining Centers, Pallets, Automatic Interchange, Columns, Tops, APC Frames

Description

Automatic Pallete Changer Apparatus of a Machining Center with Enhanced Changing Velocity}

1 to 3 are views showing the automatic pallet changer of a conventional machining center,

Figure 4 is a side view showing an automatic pallet changer of the machining center according to the present invention,

5 is a front view of the device of FIG. 4, FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the B-B line of the device shown in FIG. 4;

8 is a perspective view of a machining center equipped with an automatic pallet changer according to the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

1: change arm 2: housing

3: center shaft 4: pinion

5: rack 6: lifting cylinder

7, 7a: bearing 8: rack cylinder

9: Pin for positioning 10: Bush for positioning

11: riser 12: dog

13: detection switch 14: pallet

15: guide shaft 16, 16a: guide bush

17: pillar 18: top plate

19: Gearbox 20: Bracket

21: stopper 22: bed

50: frame 100: spindle axis

The present invention relates to an automatic pallet changer of a horizontal machining center, and more particularly, to a column on both sides of the upper surface of the bed, a beam is installed on the upper side, and an APC frame is installed on the lower side, so that the pallet axis of rotation is located at the upper and lower positions of the beam and the frame. The present invention relates to an automatic pallet changer of a machining center that improves the exchange rate by minimizing the amount of deflection generated during pallet change by holding at.

In general, in order to process materials with machine tools, work should be done in consideration of processing methods, processing procedures, processing dimensions, shapes, tools used, feed speed, and rotation speed. A machine tool capable of instructing the machine with numerical data and automatically cutting by numerical control is a numerical control (NC) machine tool, that is, a numerically controlled machine tool.

NC machine tools are divided into general-purpose machines such as NC lathes, NC milling machines and machining centers, and machining centers are designed to perform the functions of machines such as drilling machines, boring machines, and milling machines as one. For each side of the workpiece fixed to the table, various machining is performed based on the computer's instructions according to the machining sequence, which can reduce the automation and manpower.

In the automatic pallet changer (APC) of the machining center, a plurality of pallets are mounted in a line along a transport path of a workpiece, and each pallet stands as a table for fixing a workpiece. An arm for carrying out exchange with another pallet is provided. At this time, the arm rotates about a central axis and sequentially supplies a pallet on which a workpiece is seated to the machining center.

Then, by rotating the position of each pallet 180 degrees, as the replacement operation is repeatedly performed, it is possible to process all the workpieces of each pallet on the machining center.

A conventional automatic pallet changer for performing this function is shown in Figs. 1 to 3, in which a housing (2) is installed on an integrated arm (1) and a center is engaged with a pinion (4) therein. A shaft 3 is installed, and a bearing 7 is installed at the bottom thereof, and a lifting cylinder 6 is installed through the bearing 7 around the outer side of the center shaft 3. When the hydraulic pressure is supplied to the cylinder 6 and the cylinder 6 rises, the arm 1 connected to the housing 2 is raised, thereby raising the pallet 14, and then the hydraulic pressure is supplied to the rack cylinder 8. When the rack 5 is engaged with the pinion (4) to rotate the pallet (14).

By the way, in the structure of the automatic pallet changer as described above, as shown in Fig. 3, the positioning pin 9 for selecting the initial position of the arm 1 is fixed to an APC frame (not shown) and the arm 1 The positioning bush 10 is coupled to the upper portion of the c) to determine the initial position of the arm 1 and the position after rotation.

However, in the conventional machining center automatic pallet changer having the above structure, the elevating cylinder 6 is installed at the lower part of the rotating shaft to occupy a certain part of space, so the distance between the rotating shaft and the center of the pallet is far and the centrifugal force generated during rotation is large. This causes a problem of lowering the pallet change speed.

Therefore, the present invention has been devised to solve the above problems, the pillars on both sides of the upper surface of the bed, the upper plate is installed on the upper side and the APC frame is installed on the lower side to support the upper and lower pallet rotating shaft in two places And by installing the APC drive unit on the top plate to reduce the distance between the rotation axis and the center of the pallet to minimize the centrifugal force generated during the rotation to provide an automatic pallet changer that can improve the pallet exchange rate.

In order to achieve the object of the present invention as described above, in the present invention, the automatic pallet changer of the machining center, a pair of pillars installed to extend up and down spaced a predetermined distance from both sides of the bed plane;

A top plate coupled to an upper end of the pair of pillars and installed to extend horizontally;

A center shaft extending vertically to move up and down integrally with a pair of change arms for exchanging pallets and having a vertical beam and a lower end coupled thereto;                         

A pinion installed in the gearbox on the upper plate and coupled to the center shaft, and a rack engaged with the pinion;

A pair of rack cylinders mounted in a gearbox extending horizontally to drive the rack; And,

It is provided above the gear box and provides an automatic pallet exchanger of a machining center, characterized in that it comprises a lifting cylinder for lifting and lowering operation by hydraulic pressure.

On the other hand, the present invention also includes a pin for positioning positioning provided in the frame to determine the initial position of the change arm; It may further include an exact positioning bush installed on the change arm to replace the pallet, it may further include a dog and a detection switch provided on the cylinder to detect the lifting position of the lifting cylinder and the change arm.

The above and other objects and useful effects of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, the automatic pallet changer of the machining center of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments.

4 is a side view of the APC device of the machining center according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a front view of the FIG. 4 drawing device, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line A-A of the drawing device, FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line B, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a machining center equipped with an automatic pallet changer of the present invention.

As shown in Figs. 4 to 7, the APC device of the present invention is configured as follows.

In the automatic pallet changer of the present invention, the pallet 14 mounts an unprocessed workpiece thereon and supplies it to a machining center to perform machining on the workpiece. In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 17) The upper plate 18 is installed on the upper part, and the APC frame is installed on the lower part to support the upper and lower pallet rotating shafts in two places, and the APC driving part is installed on the upper plate.

In the present invention, as shown in Figures 4 to 6, a pair of pallets 14 on which a workpiece to be processed using a tool mounted on the spindle shaft 100 is mounted on a pair of change arms 1 on the upper surface of the bed. A guide shaft 15 extending vertically and a guide bush 16 surrounding the guide shaft 15 are mounted at the center of the arm, and one end of the guide shaft 15 extends vertically. It is coupled to the beam 11.

On the other hand, in the present invention, a pair of pillars 17 extending in the vertical direction spaced apart a predetermined distance on both sides of the vertical beam 11 extending in the vertical direction so as to support the rotating shaft of the pallet 14 also from the top, such a pillar The upper end portion of the upper portion 18 is coupled to the upper plate 18 extending in the horizontal direction.

In addition, in the present invention, as the change arm (1) to replace the pallet 14 installed on the lower side by installing a center shaft (3) movable in the vertical direction on the upper end of the vertical beam extending in the vertical direction as described above The center shaft 3 is configured to extend through the top plate 18 extending horizontally.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, a gear box 19 is mounted directly above the top plate 18 so as to surround the center shaft 3 so that the pinion 4 therein is coupled to the center shaft 3. The pinion 4 is driven by a pair of rack cylinders (see FIG. 8) 8 mounted to both sides of the gearbox 19, and the rack 5 is arranged along the longitudinal direction between the rack cylinders 8. It is constructed to be engaged with the rack cylinder to be driven.

The rack 5 is reciprocated in the longitudinal direction by the rack cylinder 8 provided on both sides, the tooth number is the same as the pinion (4).

On the other hand, the lower portion of the inside of the gear box 19 is mounted with a bush (16a) coupled to surround the center shaft (3).

Subsequently, a lift cylinder 6 is mounted above the gear box 19 through which the center shaft 3 penetrates inside, and the change arm 1 is coupled to the vertical beam 11 by lifting and lowering by supplying hydraulic pressure. Is raised so that the pallet 14 on which the workpiece is mounted is raised. The lifting cylinder 6 is coupled through the center shaft 3 and the bearings (7, 7a) at the upper and lower ends, the bracket 20 is mounted on the upper side.

At this time, when the pallet 914 rises due to the operation of the elevating cylinder 6, hydraulic pressure is supplied to the rack cylinder 8 so that the rack 14 meshes with the pinion 4 and rotates so that the pallet 14 rotates. will be.

In addition, the stopper 21 is mounted at the center of the bracket 20 to prevent rotation of the elevating cylinder 6 which may occur at the same time when the APC rotates, thereby protecting the seal inside the cylinder to prevent leakage.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 7, the pin 9 for positioning an initial position for selecting the initial position of the change arm 91 is fixed to the APC frame 50, and the upper portion of the change arm 1 is used for positioning. Combining the bush 10 is configured to determine the initial position and the position after the rotation of the change arm (1).

Furthermore, in the present invention, the dog 12 provided with the sensing switch 13 is mounted on the elevating cylinder 6 to be configured to sense the elevating position of the elevating cylinder 6.

Hereinafter will be described the operation of the automatic pallet changer of the machining center of the present invention configured as described above.

In order to raise the pallet 14 loaded with the workpiece to be processed to the position of the spindle axis 100 of the machining center, it is necessary to first exchange the pallet 14 loaded with the workpiece to be processed by the change arm 1.

Subsequently, the operation of raising the pallet 14 at the correct position is performed by supplying hydraulic pressure to the elevating cylinder 6 to raise the bar, and the change arm connected to the vertical beam 11 in accordance with the elevation of the elevating cylinder 6. At the same time as the (1) is raised, the pallet (14) on which the workpiece coupled thereto is mounted is raised, and then the rack (8) is supplied with hydraulic pressure to the rack cylinder (8) installed on the side of the gearbox (19) on the upper plate (18). Through the combination of 5) and the pinion (4) is to place the pallet (14) on which the workpiece is mounted to the front of the spindle shaft (100) to perform the work.

At this time, the detection switch 13 mounted on the dog 12 detects the rising position of the elevating cylinder 6 and transmits it to the control unit (not shown) so that proper control is made, and the stopper 21 wins the lift. Rotation of the lowering cylinder 6 is prevented.

As such, in the present invention, the distance between the center shaft 3 and the center of the pallet 14 can be reduced by installing the APC drive unit on the upper plate 18, so that the centrifugal force generated during rotation can be minimized. To improve.

Therefore, according to the machining center automatic pallet changer of the present invention as described above, the following effects are achieved.

First, the distance between the rotating shaft and the center of the pallet is reduced to minimize the centrifugal force generated during rotation, thereby improving the pallet exchange speed.

In addition, it is possible to prevent leakage through the installation of a separate stopper that can prevent the rotation of the lifting cylinder of the pallet.

Claims (4)

An automatic pallet changer of a machining center, comprising: a pair of pillars (17) installed so as to extend up and down at a predetermined distance from both sides of a bed plane; An upper plate 18 coupled to an upper end of the pair of pillars so as to extend horizontally; A center shaft 3 extending vertically to move up and down integrally with a pair of change arms 1 for exchanging the pallet 14 and having a vertical beam 11 and a lower end coupled thereto; Rotation drive means for rotationally driving the center shaft 3; And an elevating cylinder (6) installed on an outer circumference of the center shaft (3) to elevate and operate the center shaft (3) by hydraulic pressure. The method of claim 1, The rotation drive means is installed in the gear box 19, the pinion (4) coupled to the center shaft (3); A rack (5) engaged with the pinion; Automatic pallet changer of the machining center, characterized in that the rack (5) to drive the rack (5) mounted on the gear box 19 The method of claim 1, A positioning pin 9 provided in the frame 50 to determine the initial position of the change arm 1; Automatic pallet changing apparatus of the machining center, characterized in that it further comprises a positioning bush (10) installed on the change arm (1) upper part for replacing the pallet (14). The method according to claim 1 or 2, An automatic pallet changer for a machining center, further comprising a dog (12) and a detection switch provided on the cylinder (6) to detect the lifting position of the lifting cylinder (6) and the change arm (1).

Images