JP2825014B2 - Article pick-up device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an article pickup apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to a position detection device of an article pickup device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an article picking-up apparatus is used variously for sending out a sheet film such as an X-ray photographing apparatus or an automatic developing machine or for sending out a cloth or a board. It is used for feeding sheets in the apparatus. Information storage cards such as telephone cards and orange cards are made of plastic or paper insulating material, and a magnetic material serving as an information storage unit is applied to one surface of the card, and various information is stored on the applied surface. In addition, the other surface is provided with a color print portion of various designs, landscapes, or plain colors, etc., in order to enhance the commercial value, and is subjected to a surface treatment. And to make this kind of card,
On one insulating sheet, a color printing section and an information storage section are formed at regular intervals corresponding to a plurality of parts to be cards, and a large number of sheets as articles are stored in a storage section in a stacked state. An elevating means for elevating and lowering a vacuum suction pad as a pick-up member is provided above the storage unit, and a horizontal moving device for horizontally moving the elevating means is provided, and the suction pad is caused to adsorb a sheet by descending the suction pad. By lifting the suction bat, the sheet is picked up from the storage unit to the predetermined delivery position and horizontally moved to be sent to the transport device, and simultaneously released the vacuum, the transport device transports the sheet to the processing position of the punch press machine, and The cards are intermittently moved at regular intervals to punch out the cards one after another.

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, when the elevating means descends, when the suction bat reaches the uppermost sheet position, which sequentially changes as the number of sheets decreases, the descending stop is controlled by, for example, a fluid cylinder constituting the elevating means. Therefore, there is a problem that the fluid control device becomes complicated and the lowering accuracy of the suction pad is lowered, and the suction pad presses the sheet too strongly, and the sheet is easily damaged.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 49-83160 discloses
In the gazette, the laminated sheets etc.
And keep it slightly separated by
Pick-up and pick-up
The suction rod is attached to the piston rod
A detection switch is provided in addition to the
The detection switch comes into contact with the sheet as the rod descends.
When it is detected, the piston rod stops immediately and rises
Is described. This is Vacuum
The sheet is too strong against the sheet, and this sheet
Two or more sheets
Prevents the upper sheet from being sucked up and taken up
To stop.

However, the detection switch for the piston rod is
When the position of the switch is fixed, for example, pick up the sheet
After transporting by moving the cylinder,
Release the sheet, and transport the sheet by another transport device.
If you try to feed the sheet horizontally, the detection
The switch may be rubbed and damaged.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the invention] As mentioned earlier, the sheet
The detection switch, which is a contact sensor that contacts
Detects the lowering position of the vacuum cup
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 4 to control the elevating of the vacuum cup
In the pick-up device described in JP-A-9-83160, the vacuum
The position of the detection switch with respect to the
The sheet horizontally out of the vacuum cup
When the detection switch is rubbed on the sheet,
Was.

[0007] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides a contact sensor.
In the article pick-up device with improved detection accuracy of the lowering position of the pick-up member , the contact sensor scratches the article
It is an object to surely prevent the situation.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an article pick-up apparatus according to the present invention has a storage portion, and a lifting means provided above the storage portion for raising and lowering a pick-up member. In an article pick-up device in which a pick-up member is lowered to contact an article stored in a stacked state in the storage section and an article is picked up from the storage section by raising the pickup member,
An actuator having an axis that moves up and down in the vertical direction is provided at an elevating part of the elevating means .
Plastic ball that comes in contact with the product
A contact sensor comprising a limit switch to be operated is provided, and the contact sensor is located at substantially the same height as the pick-up member in the advancing state of the shaft, and stops the lowering of the elevating means by an output of the contact sensor. Further, a control means for retreating the shaft is provided.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF] By the above configuration, in the advanced state of the shaft, the pick member by the lifting means is in contact with the article is lowered, this
The plastic ball of the contact sensor comes in contact with the article
Detecting an article by operating the limit switch
Shaft having a simultaneous contact sensor stops the descent of Tojobu member is retracted.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 7, a sheet 1 as an article is made of an insulating material such as plastic or paper, and is color-printed in a 3 × 8 arrangement pattern corresponding to a portion to be a card. The sections 2 are formed at equal intervals on the front side, and the information storage section 3 is formed on the back side. Then, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the uppermost sheet 1 of the multi-layered sheet stack stored in the container 5 serving as the storage section of the sheet feeding device 4 is picked up by the lifting device 6, and the sheet conveying device is used. 7 is conveyed to the conveyor belt 8, and a thickness sensor (not shown) detects erroneous feeding of two sheets taken in the middle of this conveyance path. The positioning operation is performed, and the sheet 1 conveyed by the sheet conveying device 7 is intermittently transferred at equal intervals to a punching position by a front roller 10 and a rear roller 11 disposed before and after the punching die 9 to sequentially punch the sheet. Then, the punched-out card is stored in a product storage container (not shown), and the remaining portion is stored in the scrap storage unit 12. In the sheet feeding apparatus 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a large number of sheets 1 are stored in a container 5 in a stacked state, and the sheet stack is raised by a lift 13 comprising a cylinder or the like as necessary. It has become. In this case, the sheet 1 in the container 5 is shown in a reduced state. A sheet sending detection sensor 14 is provided on the transfer start end side of the conveyor belt 8, and an elevating means 15 such as a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder is vertically provided above the container 5. vacuum suction pad 17 via the attachment member 16 is provided at the front end of the lifting portion 15A etc., the vacuum pump is connected, not shown in the suction pad 17. The elevating means 15 is adapted to move horizontally to the conveyor belt 8 via a rail (not shown) by a horizontal moving device 18 such as a cylinder. The position detector 19 is a linear shaft such as a pneumatic cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, or an electromagnetic solenoid.
Includes a Actuator et Ta 21 having a 20, the axis 20
A contact sensor 22 is provided at the tip of the. The actuator 21 is integrally provided vertically with the elevating part 15A of the elevating means 15 so that the contact sensor 22 is substantially at the same height as the suction pad 17 when the shaft 20 is in the advanced state, that is, in the lowered state. doing. The contact sensor 22 is configured to output to the control unit 26 a detection signal ON operation of the limit switch 25 of the plastic tubular body 24 when for example a plastic ball 23 contacts the seat 1. The control means 26 outputs from the contact sensor 21 when the contact sensor 21 comes into contact with the sheet 1 when the suction pad 17 reaches a position suitable for sucking the uppermost sheet 1 by the lowering of the elevating means 15. Said lifting means by signal
At the same time, the shaft 20 is retracted instantaneously via the switching means 27 such as a switching valve or a relay, and further, the elevation unit 15A is raised to operate the horizontal movement means 18. The control means 26 detects the sheet 1 by the sheet sending detection sensor 14.
Is detected to be sent to the conveyor belt 8, the vacuum is released.
Control to lower 15A and supply vacuum.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the start switch is turned on, the suction pad 17 is in a state where the suction pad 17 is advanced by the lowering operation of the lifting / lowering means 15.
Lowered in the same manner as 22 and the top sheet 1 in the container 5
When the suction pad 17 contacts the seat 1 in an appropriate state, the ball 23 of the contact sensor 22 simultaneously contacts the seat 1 and the limit switch
25 turns ON and outputs a detection signal, the elevating means 15 stops, and the shaft 20 of the actuator 21 also instantaneously retreats or ascends via the switching means 27. Next, the sheet 1 adsorbed on the suction pad 17 is raised by the elevating means 15 and horizontally moved by the horizontal moving device 18 so that the sheet 1 is conveyed by the conveyor belt 8.
When the sheet feed detection sensor 14 detects that the sheet 1 has started to be fed out by the sheet transport device 7, the vacuum of the suction pad 17 is released and the horizontal transfer device 18 is released.
Is returned, and when it is detected that the feeding is completed, the lifting / lowering means 15 is lowered, and the same operation is repeated. In this way, the sheet 1 is sequentially conveyed to the processing position, intermittently transported by the front and rear rollers 10 and 11 at the lowered position, and the cards are punched out by the punching die 9 in units of three.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the position detecting device 19 is connected to the actuator 21 having the linear shaft 20.
A contact sensor 22 is provided at the tip of the shaft 20, and the actuator 21 is moved up and down by the elevating means 15 so that the contact sensor 22 is substantially at the same height as the suction pad 17 in the advanced state of the shaft 20. And the control unit 26 detects the sheet 1 by the contact sensor 22 at the same time that the suction pad 17 contacts the sheet 1 in an appropriate state when the lifting unit 15 is lowered. The signal is controlled to instantaneously retract the shaft 20 simultaneously with the stop of the lifting / lowering means 15, so that the uppermost sheet position, which sequentially changes due to the decrease in the number of sheets 1 in the container 5, can be accurately detected by a simple configuration. Since the lowering of the suction pad 17 is appropriately stopped, a complicated fluid control device is not required unlike the related art, and the suction pad 17 can be prevented from strongly pressing the sheet 1 to damage the sheet 1. Further, at the time of pick the sheet 1 and the contact sensor 22 is retracted That increase, thereby contacting the sheet 1 during the feeding of the sheet 1 sensor 22
And the contact sensor 22 can be arranged corresponding to a part that cannot be damaged, such as the color printing unit 2 and the information storage unit 3. Space constraints are also eliminated. Further, a contact portion of the contact sensor 22 with the sheet 1
Is made of plastic balls 23, so
Further confirm the damage of the sheet 1 due to the contact of the sensor 22
Indeed it can be prevented. In other words, it becomes an information storage card,
Made of relatively sensitive material such as plastic or paper
Color printing that should not be damaged
Sheet 1 having the section 2 and the information storage section 3 is reliably prevented from being damaged.
Can be stopped.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, a sheet for punching out an information storage card as an article has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a sheet such as an X-ray film or the like that cannot be scratched, a variety of sheets having a printing portion, various cloths and plates, etc. The present invention can be applied not only to a punching device but also to various take-out devices such as a packaging machine.

[0015]

According to the present invention, there is provided a storage portion, and a lifting means provided above the storage portion for raising and lowering the pickup member. The pickup member is lowered to be stored in the storage portion in a stacked state. In an article pick-up device that is brought into contact with the picked-up article and picks up the article from the storage section by raising the pick-up member,
An actuator having an axis that moves up and down in the vertical direction is provided at an elevating part of the elevating means .
Plastic ball that comes in contact with the product
A contact sensor comprising a limit switch to be operated is provided, and the contact sensor is located at substantially the same height as the pick-up member in the advancing state of the shaft, and stops the lowering of the elevating means by an output of the contact sensor. The control means for retreating the shaft is provided, and the detection accuracy of the lowering position of the pick-up member can be improved by a simple configuration. Further , the contact sensor retracts after detecting the article, and
The product is separated from the product so that
Can prevent the contact sensor from rubbing and scratching the product.
The contact part to the article in the contact sensor is made of plastic
Since it is made up of balls,
The damage of goods can be more reliably prevented, for example,
A sheet used as an information storage card, which is made of plastic
Made of relatively fragile materials such as paper or paper,
Has a part that should not be damaged especially such as information storage
Ru suitable der also in the case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of an article take-out apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an operation state of the position detection device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory view showing an operation state of the position detection device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an operation state of the position detection device.

FIG. 5 is an overall plan view of the punch press device.

FIG. 6 is an overall front view of the punch press device.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sheet (article) 5 Container (storage part) 6 Pickup device 15 Elevating means 15A Elevating part 17 Suction pad (takeup member) 20 Axis 21 Actuator 22 Contact sensor 23 Ball 25 Limit switch 26 Control means

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An article having a storage portion and elevating means provided above the storage portion for raising and lowering a pickup member, wherein the pickup member is lowered to store articles stacked in the storage portion in a stacked state. In the article pick-up device in which the article is brought into contact with the pick-up member and picked up from the storage section by raising the pick-up member, an actuator having a shaft that moves up and down in the up-and-down direction is provided at the elevating part of the elevating means, and a tip of the shaft is provided. Contact the goods
Plastic ball and make this ball work
A contact sensor comprising a limit switch , the contact sensor is located at substantially the same height as the pick-up member when the shaft is in an advanced state, and the output of the contact sensor stops lowering of the lifting / lowering means; An article pick-up device comprising a control means for retreating a shaft.