KR101061629B1 - Robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of slitter - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a robot hand assembly for automatically replacing a cutter of a slitter, comprising: a slitter (S) for cutting and cutting a metal sheet into a strap shape, and a shear cutter of a ring-shaped weight to be supplied to the slitter (S). And a cutter replacement unit (U) having cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3, ...) for loading replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....). The loading of the replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) into a1, a2, a3, ...) is performed automatically by the cutter of the slitter carried out by the robot R with the hand assembly HA. A replacement robot hand assembly; The hand assembly HA has a holding means for two-point connection with the inner circumferential portion of the ring-shaped weight replacement cutters c11, c12, c13,., And the holding means for two-point connection is the robot ( R) a finger-shaped finger bracket 110 of a roughly a-shape fixed to the hand bracket 100 fixed to the rotational joint K of at least one, one or more linear cylinders 111 and 112 fixed to the finger bracket 110, the at least one The contact fingers 113 and 114 which are attached upright with respect to the operation line of the linear cylinders 111 and 112, and a pair of protruding arc pieces e1 and e2 at the upper end of the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, .. ) Is further provided with a finger receiving groove (f) formed with a gap (q) slightly larger than the width (b) of the contact finger (113, 114), the contact finger (113, 114) of the hand assembly (HA) ) Is inserted to form a smooth connected sliding surface to replace the replacement cutter (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....).

Slitter, Robot, Hand, Shear Cutter

Description

A hand assembly for robot used in a slitting line}

The present invention relates to a robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of the slitter,

More particularly, the present invention relates to the provision of a robot hand assembly for automatic cutter replacement, which is applied to a slitter line including a slitter for cutting and cutting a metal sheet into a strap shape.

Metal plate materials, such as steel plates, are manufactured and supplied as plate materials of a certain standard, such as steel mills, and are reprocessed in order to apply such plate materials for various uses, thereby manufacturing secondary processing materials such as strap shapes and band shapes of various widths.

In particular, the metal plate material of the strap body or the band body is a material for continuous press supply of various mechanical parts and electronic parts, and therefore, a dedicated processing machine for cutting the supplied metal plate material into a strap shape is required. For this purpose, a dedicated machine of various configurations is devised and is used as a slitter machine, a slitter (hereinafter referred to as a 'slitter').

The most common configuration adopted in most of the prior art or known known products of the slitter is an arbor, which is also a pair of long roller-shaped shafts that are parallel between a pair of opposing upright columns. And

On the arbor, a plurality of shear cutters, which are ring-shaped knives, are arranged with a plurality of equally spaced spacers, and a plurality of straps are simultaneously cut by driving a roller while supplying a metal plate material between the shear cutters. As a configuration, most slitters have a similar configuration based on this.

The slitter of the basic configuration as described above is a very general configuration in the industry and is currently widely used in many steel mills and secondary processing plants.

Since the slitter cuts the plate into multiple straps at the same time, a very large shear force must be applied and the overall mechanism is quite large, so that a pair of individual arbors can be used to install or replace a ring-shaped shear cutter with large diameters and weights. It is not easy, and efforts are being made to automate it by hand because of its low efficiency and productivity and high risk of safety accidents.

In particular, the replacement of worn shear cutters should be made from time to time according to the continuous slitting of the sheet metal, and the number of shear cutters arranged on the arbor must be replaced at the same time. This will have a very important impact on productivity and work efficiency.

In the past, a worker performed manual replacement of the shear cutter, but recently, a series of products for shipping a multi-axis robot having a replacement hand has been shipped.

In particular, recently, the slitter and the cutter replacement unit adjacent to the slitter are provided,

This cutter replacement unit provides a cutter stack arbor that is equipped with a number of pre-shear shear cutters that are vertically installed and can be used in Shanghai.

This shear stack arbor (a1, a2, a3, ...) is newly polished and placed in a stacking cell for spare shear cutters, together with spacers, provided at equal intervals to provide The system line for replacing the shear cutter of the cutter stack arbor at the time of abrasion is becoming common. In such a system, the shear cutter is large in diameter and weight, which is not desirable for workability or safety. do.

Conventionally, such a shear cutter is replaced by a grip hand having a finger at the end of the robot arm, and the grip hand grips the shear cutter at the outer diameter side, and there are three support fingers to support the inner diameter of the ring-shaped shear cutter. Various configurations, such as enlarging the finger and gripping it with friction, have been devised.

However, in the conventional configuration, a grip hand having a finger at the end of the robot arm has a defect such as an uneven strap surface cut off by damaging the blade of the sheared shear cutter due to scratches or lateral damage occurring during gripping operation. There is a fear of causing

In the case of the configuration of three support fingers, it is difficult to bear the weight of the shear cutter, which is a large-diameter ring-shaped metal, or in the case of expanding the drive cylinder of the support finger by inserting the support finger toward the inner diameter side for three-point support. If the uniform connection between the three points is not made in one side or a slight slip is caused at any one point, there was a problem of stability, such as the insertion work is very difficult because it does not form a straight line with the inserted arbor.

In the robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of the cutter of the slitter of the present invention, by providing a hand having improved grip configuration of the robot hand, it is easy to grasp and replace the preliminary shear cutter of the heavy body, and improve the stability of the operation. do.

In order to solve this problem, the robot hand assembly for automatic cutter replacement of the slitter of the present invention;

And a cutter replacement unit having a slitter for cutting and processing a metal sheet into a strap shape, and a cutter stack arbor for loading a replacement cutter, which is a shear cutter of a ring-shaped heavy body to be supplied to the slitter. The loading of the replacement cutter of the slitter line is performed by a robot having a hand assembly;

The hand assembly is characterized in that the basic configuration having a holding means for two-point connection with the inner circumferential portion of the replacement cutter of the ring-shaped heavy body,

The two-point gripping means is a finger bracket having a roughly "a" shape, which is fixed upright to the hand bracket 100 fixed to the pivot joint of the robot,

A linear cylinder fixed to the finger bracket,

A contact finger upright attached to the operating line of the linear cylinder,

It is an important feature of the component to include a pusher having the finger bracket and its operating surface in parallel.

In addition, as an additional configuration, the pusher has a roughly "U" shape, and receives one end of the pusher arm, which accommodates all of the contacting fingers in the inner side thereof, and one end of the pusher arm is guided to allow linear driving with a linear guide fixed to the hand bracket. The other end of the pusher arm is provided with a guide channel for guiding the sliding roller at the end of the lever arm connected to the drive shaft of the driving motor fixed to the hand bracket. The lower end is guided in a straight line while the upper end is pushed by the rotation of the lever arm. Advance and retreat are possible in the direction of contact finger.

The robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of the cutter of the slitter of the present invention having the above configuration can ensure the gripping of the shear cutter, which is a ring-shaped heavy body, and the mounting operation to the arbor, as compared to the gripping means of the conventional configuration, It is possible to precisely set the position of the hour, so it has additional usefulness such as smooth control.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described a preferred configuration and operation of the present invention for achieving the above object.

In the following description, the specific slitter line and the slitter (machine) to which the gripping hand of the robot arm end is applied will be briefly described, and the robot hand assembly for replacing the cutter magnet, which is the main part of the present invention, will be described. .

Therefore, the present invention does not claim any right in respect of the slitter, and is not an object of the present invention, and the operation sequence and circuit of the pneumatic and electric devices according to the conventional slitter description will not be described in detail.

Fig. 5 is a front view showing the entire slitter line to which the present invention is applied, showing the application of the present invention.

Conventional slitter line forms the automation line in cooperation with slitter (S), which is a machine for performing slitting processing, and power device (D) and slitter (S) for slitter driving, and the robot hand of the present invention. It consists of a cutter replacement unit (U) which is a part to be employed.

The purpose of the present invention is to briefly explain the slitter (S) for the purpose of explaining and understanding the effect.

The cutter replacement unit (U), which cooperates with the slitter (S) to form an automation line, is a worn shear cutter (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ...) on the arbor (a, b) of the slitter (S). Cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3, ...) loaded to replace.) With new replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) to be.

As shown in the perspective view of FIG. 6, the slitter S is fixed upright on a firm box-shaped base housing 1 and has a box shape incorporating a shaft member and a gear member for providing a rotational driving force inwardly. Of the drive column 10 and the arbor end support column 50 provided on the base housing 1 in the axial direction opposite to the drive column 10 and the slitter as a pair of opposing columns. Is provided.

Between the drive column 10 and the arbor end supporting column 50 on the base housing 1, arbors (a, b), which are upper and lower pairs of solid cylinders and shaft members of considerable diameter, are installed. Arbor shaft (a ", b") of one side end of the, b) is rotatably mounted on the drive column 10 to enable rotational drive, arbor free end (a ') of the other end of the arbor (a, b) , b ') serves as the free end of the cantilever.

Therefore, the arbors (a, b) mounted on the drive column 10 is axially supported by the arbor end support column 50 at its free end to perform slitting processing, and shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-). c2 '....) is worn out and replaced, the shaft support is terminated and the arbor end support column 50 is retracted to be present at the free end so that shear cutters (c1-c1', c2-c2 '..) ..) can be replaced.

As shown in Fig. 7, arbors (a, b) are provided with ring-shaped shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ....) at regular intervals of spacers (s1-s1 ', s2-s2'). It is inserted and fixed while interposing ..) and the metal plate fed to the arbors (a, b) by the upper and lower shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ....) on the arbors (a, b). The ash is sheared at regular intervals to form a strap.

In the drive column 10 of the slitter S, the gears 15 and 16 are connected to the arbor shafts a "and b" supported by a pair of opposed vertical columns 11 and 12, respectively. The arbor shaft (b ") extending from the arbor (b) of the reducer (K) and the coupling shaft (C) to which the motor (M) is connected, the decelerated and increased driving force is transmitted, the reducer (K) and Motor (M) is provided to the power unit (D) as a power unit is configured to be easy to assemble and transport.

The upper and lower arbors (a, b) rotate to rotate smoothly by shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ....) fixed on the arbors (a, b). Since it is important to rotate in synchronization with b, the gears 15 and 16 and the connecting gears fitted to the shafts 17 and 18, not shown, are to be driven and synchronously rotated.

In addition, when the shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ....) are worn or damaged and are to be replaced, the shear cutters (c1-c1 ', c2-c2' ....) are replaced with arbors (a). Since enough free space g should be ensured between upper and lower arbors a and b, the upper arbor a is lifted with respect to the lower arbor b so that the free space g To provide

As shown in FIG. 3 which shows the state before elevating as a lifting mechanism, and FIG. 4 which shows the elevated state, the shaft part 20 ', 21' which accommodates the arbor shaft a "of the upper arbor a is shown. A pair of elevating plates (20, 21) and elevating motor (25), elevating motor (25) for driving the elevating plates (20, 21) up and down while being guided up and down while having a bevel gear By connecting the power at right angles to drive the lifting plates 20 and 21, it provides lifting gears 26 and 27 mounted on the pair of vertical columns 11 and 12, respectively.

The arbor end support column 50 provided on the base housing 1 in the opposite direction to the drive unit column 10 is opened and retracted to exchange the shear cutter to which the configuration of the present invention is applied.

As shown in a perspective view in FIG. 9, an arbor end support column 50 is provided upright at the end of the base housing 1 and a horizontal for guide driving between the arbor end support column 50 and the base housing 1. X-axis guide (L1), which is an LM guide of the interposed therebetween, and the X-axis guide (L1) extends on the drive housing (100) of the outline box type provided at the rear end of one side end of the base housing (1). Of course, the X-axis guide L1 is not installed across the base housing 1 and the driving housing 100, but is segmented and fixed while forming the same straight line) and is moved in the x-axis direction by the pneumatic cylinder H1. Transfer is possible.

The driving housing 100 is placed on the guide housing 200 which is buried and fixed to the base of the installation bottom surface G of the slitter S, and the Z-axis guide L2, which is an LM guide, on the guide housing 200. Is installed to have a pneumatic cylinder (H2) so that the drive housing 100 is guided thereon to allow the slide movement in the z-axis.

[Slitter Movement State to which Robot Hand Assembly is Applied]

In order to ensure the clearance g of the arbor end support column 50 for the replacement of the arbor end support column 50 between the upper and lower arbors, the elevating motor 25 is lifted. A pair of left and right lifting plates 20 and 21 supporting the arbor a above the driving unit column 10 and the lifting plate 51 of the arbor end supporting column 50 connected by a universal joint and a spline shaft. Axial clamping assembly 60 for clamping and clamping the cranking necks a-1 and b-1 fixed to the arbor free ends a 'and b' of the arbor end support column 50 at the same time. The clamping cylinders 61 and 71 of 70 are operated to release the shaft support by releasing the arbors a and b from the unscrewed fixing holes of the arbor free ends a 'and b', thereby releasing the shaft support and waiting for retreat. Shall be.

The arbor end support column 50 retreats to the rear drive housing 100 by the pneumatic cylinder H1 along the X axis guide L1 in the release state of the clamping fixing,

In the retracted state, the driving housing 100 is guided by the Z-axis guide L2 by the operation of the pneumatic cylinder H2 on the guide housing 200 which is embedded and fixed to the base of the installation floor surface G, and moves to the z-axis. As the slide moves, the arbor end support column 50 is completely retracted to the axial center line C of the slitter S. As shown in FIG.

[Configuration and Effect of Robot Hand Assembly]

As shown in Fig. 1 showing the cutter replacement unit U in the above standby state as an exemplary perspective view,

A plurality of spare cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3), which are polished on the cutter stacking cell F, which is a plurality of stacking places, and are ready to be replaced, are loaded and transported up and down. (a4 ...) stacking the newly prepared replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) as remanufactured or polished as a hand assembly (HA) of the cutter loading robot (R), and the cutter stack arbor (a1, a2, a3, a4 ...),

As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 10, the slitter S enters the slitter S by the rail mechanism RL or the like and approaches the arbors a and b of the slitter S at the position where the arbor end support column 50 has retreated. And the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, and c14 toward the arbors (a, b) with the arbors (a, b) and one of the cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3, a4 ...) aligned with their axial centers. ....) by pushing the arbor (a, b) to be installed in succession.

Taking out and loading the replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) on the cutter stacking cell F with the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, ... is a conventional multi-axis drive. At the end of the robot (R) and the arm (A) of the robot (R), a hand assembly (HA), which is the main part of the present invention, is attached to the rotational joint (K) as shown in Figs.

The rotation and configuration of the rotational joint K and the rotational driving of the x, y, and z axes are not described in detail because they are not aspects of the present invention.

The hand assembly HA is shown in FIG. 2 and below.

It is an actuator fixed to the hand bracket 100 fixed to the rotational joint (K) and has a finger bracket 110 of an approximately "a" shape fixed upright.

As shown in the operating plate portion 110 ′ of the finger bracket 110,

The linear cylinders 111 and 112, which are movable in the vertical direction, are fixed while being opposite to each other, and the contacting fingers 113 and 114 are firmly attached to the operating lines of the linear cylinders 111 and 112 at the ends of the linear cylinders 111 and 112. It is.

Of course, any one of the contact fingers 113 and 114 may be fixed, and a method in which only one contact finger 113 or 114 is driven by one linear cylinder 111 or 112 may be adopted.

The pusher 120 having the finger bracket 110 and its operating surface in parallel accommodates all of the contacting fingers 113 and 114 in a substantially "U" shape as shown in the figure, and the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, one end of the pusher arm 120 ', which is provided in a size enough to accommodate a3, ...) and extends to one side of the pusher 120, is fixed to the linear guide 121 fixed to the hand bracket 100. Guided to drive

In addition, the other end of the pusher arm 120 'is provided with a guide channel 125 to guide the sliding roller 133 of the end of the lever arm 132 connected to the drive shaft of the drive motor 130 fixed to the hand bracket 100. do.

With this configuration, the pusher 120 can slide forward and backward in the direction of the contacting fingers 113 and 114 by sliding and sliding the lever arm while the lower end is guided in a straight line.

In the above configuration, there are two contact fingers 113 and 114 fixed to the finger bracket 110 and the contact fingers 113 and 114 are as shown.

Having the contact arc portions 113-1 and 114-1 having the same curvature as the curvature formed by the inner diameter R of the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, and c14... This is a very important point.

The contact fingers 113 and 114 may be made of a rigid metal material or a highly rigid synthetic resin material, and have a configuration that can be replaced due to wear.

Conventionally, the gripping method using three points has been devised for the hand assembly HA of the robot R, but the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, c14 ...., which are actually replaced, have their weights. It is very heavy and difficult to support three points, and it is difficult to accurately position the inner peripheral part of the replacement cutter (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) by driving each of the three points.

This means that the first three-point finger enters the inner diameter and any one finger is connected, while the remaining fingers are connected with a time difference, so that the three points are completely connected, but the replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14) ..) Because of its considerable weight, such positioning could not be done and the finger would be broken or transferred without setting the correct center.

As described above, the advantages obtained by using the finger fingers for holding fingers 113 and 114 as described above are as follows.

(1) Since there are two driving fingers, the capacity of the linear cylinders 111 and 112 for driving mounted on the hand bracket 100 can be maximized to ensure the gripping force of the weight body.

(2) Positioning by contact at two points, so that any one of the contacting fingers 113 and 114 is extended to the linear cylinders 111 and 112 after contact, and each of the contacting fingers 113 and 114 is easily seated on the inner circumference. The contact circular arcs 113-1 and 114-1 of the contact fingers 113 and 114, such as the curvature of the house part, can be connected to the stable replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, and c14 .... so that subsequent robots ( Loading of the replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, ...) to the cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3, ...) under the control of R) is performed smoothly.

Further preferred configurations of the present invention in cooperation with the above configurations are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

As shown in 2 and 4, the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, ... which cooperate with the hand assembly HA of the robot R of the present invention,

A gap q slightly larger than the width b of the contact fingers 113 and 114 with the pair of protruding arc pieces e1 and e2 at the upper end of the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, ... The remaining finger is left to be processed to form the finger receiving groove f .

In this state, any one of the contact fingers 113 and 114 of the hand assembly HA forms a plane in which the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, ... and the contact fingers 113 and 114 are connected. Therefore, the smoothing movement of the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, .. on the contacting fingers 113 and 114 to the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3, ... is achieved.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a robot hand assembly for automatic cutter replacement of a slitter to which the technique of the present invention is applied.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the operating state of the robot hand assembly for automatic cutter replacement of the slitter to which the technique of the present invention is applied.

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a robot hand for pre-cutter exchange to which the technique of the present invention is applied.

4 is a front view showing a connection principle of the robot hand for pre-cutter exchange to which the technique of the present invention is applied and a partial perspective view of a use state.

Fig. 5 is a front view showing an entire slitter line for explaining the application of the present invention.

6 is a perspective view showing a slitter to explain the slitter line to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG. 6 showing the power drive portion of the slitter of FIG. 6 in a longitudinal section; FIG.

8 is a plan view and a front view of the slitter showing a state before retraction of the arbor end support column of the slitter;

9 is a plan view and a front view of the slitter showing a state after the evacuation of the arbor end support column of the slitter;

Fig. 10 is a plan view and a front view of Fig. 9 of the slitter showing a state before retraction of the arbor end support column of the slitter for explaining the application of the present invention.

* Description of the symbols used in the main parts of the drawings *

HA: Hand Assembly

R: Robot

c11, c12, c13,.: replacement cutter

100: Hand Bracket

11: Finger Bracket

113,114: Contacting Finger

Claims (5)

A slitter (S) for cutting and processing a metal sheet into a strap shape, Cutter stack arbors (a1, a2, a3, ...) for loading replacement cutters (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....), which are shear cutters of ring-shaped weights to be supplied to the slitter (S). The cutter replacement unit (U) having a, and the loading of the replacement cutter (c11, c12, c13, c14 ....) to the cutter stack arbor (a1, a2, a3, ...) is a hand assembly (HA) In the robot hand assembly for the automatic cutter replacement of the slitter performed by the robot (R) having a); The hand assembly HA has a gripping means for connecting the inner circumferential portion of the ring-shaped weight cutters c11, c12, c13,. The two-point gripping means is a roughly a-shaped finger bracket 110 fixed to the hand bracket 100 fixed to the pivot joint K of the robot R, fixed to the finger bracket 110. At least one linear cylinder (111, 112), the contact finger (113, 114) upright attached to the operating line of the at least one linear cylinder (111, 112), A gap q slightly larger than the width b of the contact fingers 113 and 114 with a pair of protruding arc pieces e1 and e2 at the upper end of the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3,... Further comprising a finger receiving groove (f) further formed with a), Any one of the contact fingers 113 and 114 of the hand assembly HA is inserted to form a smooth connected sliding surface to perform replacement of the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, and c14 .... Robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of cutters for slitting machines. delete The method of claim 1, The holding means further includes a pusher 120, The pusher 120 includes a linear guide 121 fixed to the hand bracket 100 at one end of the pusher arm 120 ′ which accommodates both the contacting fingers 113 and 114 in the inner side of the U-shape in a substantially U shape. Guided for straight drive, The other end of the pusher arm 120 'is guide channel 125 to which the sliding roller 133 of the end of the lever arm 132 connected to the drive shaft 131 of the drive motor 130 fixed to the hand bracket 100 is guided. ), The lower part is a linear guide while the upper part is capable of moving forward and backward by sliding the lever arm by rotating the robot hand assembly for cutter replacement. The method of claim 1 or 3, The contacting fingers 113 and 114 replace the contacting arc portions 113-1 and 114-1 having the same curvature as the inner circumferences of the replacement cutters c11, c12, c13, .. Robot hand assembly for automatic replacement of cutter for slitter. The method of claim 1, A gap q slightly larger than the width b of the contact fingers 113 and 114 with the pair of protruding arc pieces s1 and s2 at the upper end of the cutter stack arbors a1, a2, a3,... For the automatic replacement of the cutter of the slitter characterized in that any one of the contact fingers (113, 114) of the hand assembly (HA) is inserted into the finger receiving groove (F) further formed to form a smooth connected sliding surface. Robot hand assembly.

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