TW201515763A - Auxiliary device for production line, production line and method for temporarily storing work pieces of production line - Google Patents

Abstract

An auxiliary device, a production line, and a method for temporarily storing work pieces of production line are provided. The production line includes conveyer belt moving along a first direction. The auxiliary device further includes a temporarily storing device including a ring-shaped transmission device, a number of spaced supporting members, and a driving device. The driving device is used to drive the transmission device to move along a predetermined trajectory. Each supporting members is used to support a work piece or a portion of a work piece. The work pieces are able to move together with the transmission device along a second direction that is different form the first direction.

Description

Auxiliary device for pipeline, pipeline and temporary storage method for workpiece on line

The invention relates to an auxiliary device on a pipeline, in particular to an auxiliary device for temporarily storing a workpiece on a pipeline.

Pipeline production has been applied to the current manufacturing industry on a large scale. Some products must be processed for the next process after a period of time. For example, the previous process is a dispensing operation. In order to ensure that the two parts adhered by the glue do not shift, it is required to be carried out after a certain period of time. A process operation. In this regard, the usual practice is to move the product away from the production line and move it back after the time has arrived. The disadvantage of this is that the handling operation is increased and the labor cost is increased.

In view of this, it is necessary to propose an auxiliary device on the assembly line that can temporarily store the products on the assembly line for a period of time.

An auxiliary device for a pipeline, the pipeline comprising a conveyor belt moving in a first direction, the auxiliary device further comprising a temporary storage device, the temporary storage device comprising an annular transmission device, a plurality of load-bearing units separated from each other, and a driving device for driving the transmission to move along a specific trajectory, each carrying unit for carrying all or a part of the workpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt, so that the workpiece can follow a carrying unit along the different The second direction of motion in the first direction.

A pipeline comprising a conveyor belt moving in a first direction, further comprising a temporary storage device, the temporary storage device comprising an annular transmission device, a plurality of mutually separated carrier units and a driving device, the driving device for driving the transmission device Moving along a particular trajectory, each carrier unit is configured to carry all or a portion of the workpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt such that the workpiece can follow a carrier unit to move in a second direction different from the first direction.

A temporary storage method for a workpiece on a pipeline includes: detecting whether the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position; and controlling the driving device to drive the transmission to move when the workpiece moves to a predetermined position, so that the carrying unit carrying the workpiece is along The second direction is moved by a predetermined distance.

The assembly line of the present invention is capable of temporarily storing the products on the assembly line for a period of time, and the use of two auxiliary devices enables automatic removal of the product and re-placement of the product onto the conveyor belt, saving labor costs.

100, 100a, 100b‧‧‧ assembly line

200‧‧‧Tray

300, 400‧‧‧ workstations

500‧‧‧Workpiece

10‧‧‧Conveyor belt

11‧‧‧First conveyor belt

12‧‧‧Second conveyor belt

13‧‧‧ Third conveyor belt

20, 20a, 20b‧‧‧ auxiliary devices

30, 30a, 30b‧‧‧ temporary storage device

31, 31a, 31b‧‧‧ transmission

33, 33a, 33b‧‧‧ carrying unit

35‧‧‧ drive

40‧‧‧ Controller

50‧‧‧Detector

51‧‧‧Infrared emitter

52‧‧‧Infrared receiver

60‧‧‧Promoting device

61‧‧‧Put

70‧‧‧ Shell

1 is a schematic plan view of a pipeline in a first embodiment of the present invention, and the outer casing of the mask temporary storage device is omitted for clarity.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the pipeline shown in Figure 1, with the outer casing of the mask temporary device omitted for clarity.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of the auxiliary device of the pipeline shown in Figure 1.

4 is a side elevational view of the temporary storage device of the present invention, the outer casing of the mask temporary storage device being omitted for clarity.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the temporary storage device of the present invention, showing that some of the load bearing units of the temporary storage device extend from the rectangular opening of the outer casing.

Fig. 6 is a schematic plan view showing a pipeline in a second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 illustrates a portion of the transmission of the pipeline and the load bearing unit of Figure 6.

Fig. 8 is a schematic plan view showing a pipeline in a third embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 is a side elevational view of the pipeline shown in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is another implementation of the pipelined transmission of Figure 8.

Referring to Figures 1-3, the pipeline 100 in the first embodiment is illustrated. The pipeline 100 includes a conveyor belt 10 and an auxiliary device 20 that moves in a first direction (X-axis direction in Fig. 2). The auxiliary device 20 includes a temporary storage device 30. The temporary storage device 30 includes a transmission device 31, a plurality of carrying units 33 and a driving device 35. The transmission device 31 is an annular structure (Fig. 4), such as an endless belt and an endless chain. The driving device 35 is driven to move along a specific trajectory. A plurality of carrying units 33 are fixed on the transmission device 31. The distance between each two adjacent carrying units 33 is the same, and the space between each two adjacent carrying units 33 is sufficient to accommodate a workpiece. The carrier unit 33 can follow the transmission 31 to circulate along a particular trajectory. In the present embodiment, the specific trajectory is a rectangle having rounded corners. Each of the carrying units 33 is adapted to carry the workpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt 10 so that the workpiece can follow a carrying unit 33 to move in a second direction (the Y-axis direction in Fig. 2) different from the first direction. In this embodiment, the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other.

The temporary storage device 30 of the present invention can temporarily store a plurality of workpieces conveyed by the conveyor belt 10. After a period of time, the temporarily stored workpiece can be manually removed by the operator and placed on the conveyor belt 10 again, so that it can be transferred to the next one. workstation. Of course, the automated removal of the temporary workpiece and the repositioning onto the conveyor belt 10 can also be achieved in the manner described below, the advantages of the temporary storage device 30 of the present invention being embodied in the detailed description below.

In the present embodiment, in order to facilitate the work, the workpiece is placed on a tray 200, and the workpiece and its tray 200 are moved along with the conveyor belt 10. It will be appreciated that the tray 200 can be omitted when circumstances permit and that the workpiece is placed directly on the conveyor belt 10.

In the present embodiment, the auxiliary device 20 further includes a controller 40 and a detector 50 for detecting whether the tray 200 carrying the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position, and when the tray 200 is moved to a predetermined position, The controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the transmission device 31, and the transmission device 31 drives the carrier unit 33 to move by a predetermined distance. In the present embodiment, the controller 40 can be implemented by a central processing unit in an existing computer.

In the present embodiment, the conveyor belt 10 includes a first conveyor belt 11 and a second conveyor belt 12, and two auxiliary devices 20 (hereinafter referred to as auxiliary devices 20a, 20b) are disposed between the first conveyor belt 11 and the second conveyor belt 12. The first conveyor belt 11 is connected to the workstation 300, and the second conveyor belt 12 is connected to the workstation 400. The workstation 300 dispenses the workpiece, and the dispensed workpiece sequentially moves toward the auxiliary device 20a as the tray 200 is driven by the first conveyor belt 11. One of the carrying units 33 (in the present embodiment, a flat plate) of the auxiliary device 20a is slightly lower than the first conveyor belt 11, so that when the tray 200 is moved to the end of the first conveyor belt 11, the tray 200 can be operated by its own gravity It falls onto the carrying unit 33. At this time, the detector 50 detects that the tray 200 is located on the carrying unit 33, and the controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the transmission device 31. The carrying unit 33 carrying the tray 200 is driven by the transmission device 31 along The Y-axis shown in Fig. 2 is moved forward by a predetermined distance. In the above manner, the plurality of trays 200 transported from the first conveyor belt 11 are sequentially stored in the auxiliary device 20a.

Referring to Figures 4 and 5, in the present embodiment, the auxiliary device 20 further includes a pushing device 60 disposed on a housing 70 of a mask temporary storage device 30, the pushing device 60 including a retractable push rod 61 . The pushing device 60 in the auxiliary device 20a is disposed in the vicinity of the topmost carrying unit 33, and the pushing device 60 in the auxiliary device 20b is disposed in the vicinity of the bottommost carrying unit 33. For the auxiliary device 20a, when the push rod 61 is extended, the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20a can be pushed onto the topmost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20b. For the auxiliary device 20b, when the push rod 61 is extended, the tray 200 on the bottommost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20b can be pushed onto the second conveyor 12. After the detector 50 in the auxiliary device 20b detects the tray 200, the controller 40 of the auxiliary device 20b controls all of the carrier units 33 to move a predetermined distance in the negative direction along the Y-axis shown in FIG.

Assuming that the time when the tray 200 is moved from the workstation 300 to the carrying unit 33 in the auxiliary device 20a is T1, the time when the carrying unit 33 is moved from the bottommost position to the topmost position is T1*N, and the tray 200 follows the auxiliary device 20b. The time during which the carrier unit 33 is moved from the topmost position to the bottommost position is T1*N, where N is the number of the carrying units 33. Considering again the time T2 at which the tray 200 moves to the workstation 400 after leaving the auxiliary device 20b, the total time T=T1+T2+2*T1*N that the tray 200 moves from the workstation 300 to the workstation 400. It can be seen that by reasonably setting the number N of the carrying units 33, the total time T of the tray 200 moving from the workstation 300 to the workstation 400 can be satisfied. For example, it takes a certain time after the workstation 300 performs the dispensing operation. The workpiece after the glue is subjected to the next process in the workstation 400, and the above requirements can be satisfied by appropriately setting the number N of the load bearing units 33.

It can be understood that in other embodiments, a robot can be used instead of the auxiliary device 20b. When the carrying unit 33 is moved from the bottommost position to the topmost position, the controller 40 of the auxiliary device 20a controls the robot to carry the tray 200 from the bearing. The unit 33 is removed and the removed tray 200 is placed on the second conveyor 12.

In the present embodiment, the controller 40 includes a timing module. For the auxiliary device 20a, the timing module of the controller 40 first detects that the tray 200 has landed on the carrying unit 33 for the first time. After the time reaches T1*N, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 onto the topmost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20b. Thereafter, every time T1, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 onto the topmost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20b. For the auxiliary device 20b, the timing module of the controller 40 first detects that the tray 200 has landed on the carrying unit 33 for the first time. After the time reaches T1*N, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 onto the second conveyor 12. Thereafter, every time T1, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 onto the second conveyor 12.

It can be understood that in other embodiments, a sensor may be disposed in the vicinity of the topmost carrying unit 33 in the auxiliary device 20a to detect whether there is a tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33. When the tray 200 is detected, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the topmost carrying unit 33 onto the topmost carrying unit 33 of the auxiliary device 20b. Similarly, a sensor may be disposed in the vicinity of the bottommost carrying unit 33 in the auxiliary device 20b to detect whether or not the tray 200 is present on the bottommost carrying unit 33. When the tray 200 is detected, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to push the tray 200 on the bottommost carrying unit 33 onto the second conveyor 12.

In the present embodiment, the driving device 35 is a stepping motor. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the stepping motor can directly drive the transmission device 31, and the stepping motor and the transmission device 31 can also be disposed. A transmission element such as a gear, for example, when the transmission 31 is a transmission belt, the inner side of the transmission belt is provided with a rack that meshes with the gear, and the carrying unit 33 is disposed outside the transmission belt, which is driven by the transmission belt. When the axis is rotated, the trajectory of the carrying unit 33 is a rectangle with rounded corners (shown in Fig. 4).

In the present embodiment, the detector 50 includes an infrared emitter 51 and an infrared receiver 52. When the tray 200 is moved to a predetermined position, the infrared light emitted by the infrared emitter 51 is blocked by the tray 200. While not being received by the infrared receiver 52, the output of the infrared receiver 52 is changed from a high level to a low level, and the controller 40 determines whether the tray 200 is moved to a predetermined position based on the output of the infrared receiver 52. . In other embodiments, the carrying unit 33 may be provided with a pressure sensor. When the tray 200 moves to the carrying unit 33, the output of the pressure sensor changes, and the controller 40 determines the output according to the output of the pressure sensor. Whether the tray 200 is moved to a predetermined position.

As can be seen from the above description, the simplest method of temporarily storing the workpiece using the auxiliary device 20 of the present invention includes: the detector 50 detects whether the tray 200 carrying the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position, and when the tray 200 carrying the workpiece is moved to At the predetermined position, the controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the transmission 31 to move the carrying unit 33 carrying the tray 200 by a predetermined distance in the second direction. At this time, a sufficient number of carrying units 33 are required. After the tray 200 is temporarily stored in the auxiliary device 20 for a predetermined time, the temporarily stored tray 200 can be automatically moved to the conveyor belt 10 manually or using a robot. Although the above method is simple, it requires an operator or a robot to cooperate. It will be appreciated that the auxiliary devices 20a and 20b can also be used in conjunction with the foregoing, as described above, enabling automated removal of the temporarily stored tray 200 and repositioning onto the conveyor 10.

Referring to Figures 6 and 7, a pipeline 100a in the second embodiment is illustrated. The conveyor belt 10 also includes a third conveyor belt 13 between the first conveyor belt 11 and the second conveyor belt 12, the width of the third conveyor belt 13 being less than the width of the workpiece 500. The temporary storage device 30a includes a transmission 31a and a plurality of carrying units 33a, and the carrying unit 33a at this time is a groove formed on the surface of the transmission 31a. Figure 7 illustrates a portion of the transmission 31a, the entirety of which can be designed with reference to the transmission 31. In the present embodiment, the transmission 31a is made of a material having a certain elasticity, such as soft rubber. The distance between the ends of the first conveyor belt 11, the second conveyor belt 12, and the third conveyor belt 13 is very close, and the workpiece 500 can be moved to the third conveyor belt 13 by the first conveyor belt 11. The two temporary storage devices 30a (hereinafter referred to as the left temporary storage device 30a and the right temporary storage device 30a) are placed side by side on the attachment of the third conveyor belt 13, and the opening direction of the carrying unit 33a faces the third conveyor belt 13. Since the width of the third conveyor belt 13 is smaller than the width of the workpiece 500, the opposite side edges of the workpiece 500 may be located outside the side edges of the third conveyor belt 13. Thus, when one of the carrying units 33a of the left temporary storage device 30a is aligned with the side edge of the workpiece 500, the movement of the workpiece 500 with the third conveyor belt 13 causes one of its side edges to enter the carrying unit 33a (shown in FIG. 6). ). When the workpiece 500 is moved to a specific position, for example, the side edge is completely accommodated in the corresponding position in the carrying unit 33a, the controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the transmission 31a, and the transmission 31a drives the workpiece 500 to move upward by a predetermined distance. . In this manner, the plurality of workpieces 500 are temporarily stored in the left temporary storage device 30a.

The pushing device 60 in this embodiment is disposed at a specific position, similar to the foregoing. After a certain time since the first workpiece 500 is temporarily stored in the left temporary storage device 30a, the controller 40 controls the pushing device 60 to pass the specific position. The workpiece 500 is pushed to the right temporary storage device 30a. When the detector 50 detects that the carrying unit 33a of the right temporary storage device 30a completely accommodates the side edge of the workpiece 500, its controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the transmission 31a of the right temporary storage device 30a, so that the workpiece 500 Move the predetermined distance down. Similar to the foregoing, when the predetermined time elapses or when the sensor described above detects that the lowermost workpiece 500 is moved to the vicinity of the pushing device 60, the pushing device 60 pushes the lowermost workpiece 500 onto the third conveyor belt 13. It is moved toward the second conveyor belt 12 by the third conveyor belt 13 and finally reaches the workstation 400.

Referring to Figures 8 and 9, a pipeline 100b in a third embodiment is illustrated. The temporary storage device 30b of the pipeline 100b is similar to the temporary storage device 30, that is, the plurality of carrying units 33b are rotatable about an axis along a specific closed trajectory at the driving energy of the driving device 35. For example, in FIG. 9, the movement trajectory of the plurality of carrying units 33b is a rectangle having rounded corners. In the present embodiment, the carrying unit 33 is disposed on a belt or a transmission chain (hereinafter referred to as a first transmission 37), and the first transmission 37 is engaged with a second transmission (such as a sprocket or a gear), and the driving device 35 can be driven. The output motion is converted to the carrier unit 33b rotating about an axis along a particular closed trajectory.

In the present embodiment, each of the carrying units 33b protrudes from the outside of the first transmission 37, and the distance between each two adjacent carrying units 33b is the same. When the first transmission 37 is a belt, the length of each of the carrying units 33b is the same as the width of the belt (shown in Fig. 8). When the first transmission device 37 is a transmission chain, each temporary storage device 30b requires two transmission chains, which are disposed on both sides of the temporary storage device 30b, and the carrying unit 33b and the transmission chain have the same width or the width of the transmission chain. Slightly smaller (shown in Figure 10).

As shown in FIG. 8 , in the present embodiment, four temporary storage devices 30 b are required. The two temporary storage devices 30 b are arranged side by side and are located on the first side of the third conveyor belt 13 , and the remaining two temporary storage devices 30 b are located on the third conveyor belt 13 . The second side is disposed side by side and opposite to the two temporary storage devices 30b of the first side, respectively. The distance between the ends of the first conveyor belt 11, the second conveyor belt 12, and the third conveyor belt 13 is very close, and the width of the third conveyor belt 13 is smaller than the width of the workpiece 500. In the initial state, one of the carrier units 33b in each of the temporary storage devices 30b is slightly lower than the surface of the third conveyor belt 13. The workpiece 500 can be moved to the third conveyor belt 13 by the first conveyor belt 11. When the detector 50 detects that the workpiece 500 is moved to a specific position by the third conveyor belt 13, such as the position shown in FIG. 8, the two side edges of the workpiece 500 are respectively located below the third. Above the two carrying units 33b of the surface of the conveyor belt 13. The controller 40 controls the driving device 35 to drive the first transmission 37 to move such that the two carrying units 33b move forward in the Y-axis as shown in FIG. 9, thereby causing the workpiece 500 to move upward by a predetermined distance. In this manner, the plurality of workpieces 500 can be sequentially moved to the third conveyor belt 13 by the first conveyor belt 11, and then sequentially driven by the opposite two carrier units 33b to move forward in the Y-axis direction.

Similar to the foregoing, when the predetermined time elapses or when the sensor detects that the workpiece 500 is moved to a specific position (ie, the position of the workpiece 500 at the top in FIG. 9), the controller 40 controls a transfer device (eg, vacuum). The adsorption device moves the workpiece 500 to the two load bearing units 33b of the pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8, and the positional relationship between the workpiece 500 and the two load bearing units 33b is as shown in FIG. The case of the top workpiece 500 is the same. When the sensor detects that the workpiece 500 is moved from the left pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8 to the two load bearing units 33b of the right pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8, the controller 40 The control driving device 35 drives the first transmission 37 to move such that the two carrying units 33b are moved downward by a predetermined distance in the negative direction along the Y-axis shown in FIG. Thus, the workpieces 500 temporarily present on the left pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8 can be sequentially moved to the right pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. When the workpiece 500 is moved to a predetermined position (i.e., the position of the workpiece 500 at the bottom end in FIG. 9), the workpiece 500 is moved onto the third conveyor belt 13, which is moved to the second conveyor belt 12 by the third conveyor belt 13. And eventually moved to workstation 400.

It can be understood that, for the operation of the left pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8 and the operation of the right pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8, it is considered that the third conveyor belt 13 is replaced by two independent conveyor belts. That is, there is a conveyor belt for moving the workpiece 500 conveyed by the first conveyor belt to the left pair of temporary storage devices 30b shown in FIG. 8, and the other conveyor belt for temporarily storing the pair of right sides shown in FIG. The workpiece 500 conveyed by the device 30b is transferred to the second conveyor 12.

It can be understood that when the workpiece 500 is a circuit board, the bearing surfaces of the first conveyor belt 11, the second conveyor belt 12, and the third conveyor belt 13 may be provided with a plurality of small protrusions, and a space formed between the small protrusions can accommodate dust and the like, such that The workpiece 500 supported by the small protrusions is not exposed to dust.

no

100a‧‧‧pipeline

300, 400‧‧‧ workstations

500‧‧‧Workpiece

11‧‧‧First conveyor belt

12‧‧‧Second conveyor belt

13‧‧‧ Third conveyor belt

30b‧‧‧ temporary storage device

33b‧‧‧bearing unit

Claims (10)

An auxiliary device for a pipeline, the pipeline comprising a conveyor belt moving in a first direction, the improvement device further comprising a temporary storage device, the temporary storage device comprising an annular transmission device and a plurality of isolated openings a carrying unit and a driving device for driving the transmission to move along a specific trajectory, each carrying unit for carrying all or a part of the workpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt, so that the workpiece can follow a carrying unit along Different from the second direction movement of the first direction. An auxiliary device for a pipeline according to claim 1, wherein the controller further includes a controller and a detector, wherein the detector is configured to detect whether the workpiece moves to a predetermined position, and when the workpiece moves The controller controls the drive device to drive the transmission device to a predetermined position such that the carrier unit carrying the workpiece moves a predetermined distance along the second direction. An auxiliary device for a pipeline as described in claim 2, wherein the driving device is a stepping motor. An auxiliary device for a pipeline according to claim 2, wherein the detector comprises an infrared emitter and an infrared receiver, and the infrared emitter emits when the workpiece moves to a predetermined position. The infrared light is blocked by the workpiece and cannot be received by the infrared receiver. The output of the infrared receiver changes from a high level to a low level, and the controller determines whether the workpiece moves to the infrared receiver according to the output of the infrared receiver. Pre-determined location. An auxiliary device for a pipeline according to claim 1, wherein the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other. A pipeline comprising a conveyor belt moving in a first direction, the improvement comprising: further comprising a temporary storage device, the temporary storage device comprising a ring-shaped transmission device, a plurality of mutually separated carrier units and a driving device, wherein the driving device is Moving the drive transmission along a specific trajectory, each carrying unit for carrying all or a part of the workpiece conveyed by the conveyor belt, such that the workpiece can follow a carrying unit in a second direction different from the first direction motion. The pipeline of claim 6 , further comprising a controller and a detector, wherein the detector is configured to detect whether the workpiece moves to a predetermined position, when the workpiece moves to a predetermined position, The controller controls the drive device to drive the transmission such that a carrier unit carrying the workpiece moves a predetermined distance along the second direction. The pipeline of claim 7, wherein the driving device is a stepping motor. The pipeline of claim 7, wherein the detector comprises an infrared emitter and an infrared receiver, and when the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position, the infrared light emitted by the infrared emitter is The workpiece is blocked from being received by the infrared receiver, the output of the infrared receiver is changed from a high level to a low level, and the controller determines whether the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position based on an output of the infrared receiver. A method for temporary storage of workpieces on a pipeline, comprising:
Detecting whether the workpiece is moved to a predetermined position;
When the workpiece is moved to the predetermined position, the driving device of claim 1 is controlled to drive the transmission to move such that the carrying unit carrying the workpiece moves a predetermined distance in the second direction.