JP4438530B2 - Loader device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gantry type loader device for supplying a work to a lathe or other machine tools.

  As shown in the conceptual configuration in FIG. 8, the loader chuck 41 of this type of loader device grips the workpiece W with the opening / closing claw 42, but is provided with a pusher 44 used when handing over to the target machine. Yes. The pusher 44 is always urged by the elastic member 43. When the opening / closing claw 42 is opened when the work W is transferred to the target machine, the work W is pressed against the chuck of the target machine to ensure delivery and seating. Plan.

  However, in the loader device configured as described above, when the loader chuck 41 is in the downward posture as shown in FIG. 8, the weight of the workpiece W and the urging force of the elastic member 43 act in the direction of dropping the workpiece W. Since the loader chuck 41 grips the workpiece W only by the frictional force of the opening / closing claw 42, the workpiece W falls from the loader chuck 41 when the biasing force of the elastic member 43 is applied to the workpiece weight as described above. In order to prevent this, it was necessary to increase the gripping force of the opening / closing claw 42. Increasing the gripping force of the opening / closing claw 42 entails an increase in the size of the drive source for opening and closing, leading to an increase in the size and cost of the loader head portion.

An object of the present invention is to provide a loader device that can prevent the workpiece from dropping even if the gripping force of the workpiece by the opening / closing claw is reduced, and can reliably deliver the workpiece to the target device.
Another object of the present invention is to ensure that the fall prevention can be performed even when the workpiece is gripped downward.
Still another object of the present invention is that the operation of changing the pusher's pressing force between when it is necessary and when it is not necessary can be performed without using a dedicated drive source, and the pressing force can be changed with a simple configuration. It is.

The loader device according to the present invention is a loader device that supplies a workpiece to the target device, and includes a loader head that moves relative to the target device, and an elastic member that is provided on the loader head and is movable toward the target device. And a pusher that pushes out the workpiece when supplying the workpiece to the target device, an opening / closing claw that opens and closes the workpiece in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the pusher, and an opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes the opening / closing claw. The opening / closing mechanism includes an advance / retreat member that is driven by a drive source and is movable in parallel with the moving direction of the pusher, and a conversion mechanism that converts the movement of the advance / retreat member into the movement of the opening / closing claw. It is provided between the member and the pusher, and the distance between the advance / retreat member and the pusher is longer when the opening / closing claw is closed than when the opening / closing claw is opened.
According to this configuration, when the opening / closing claw is closed and the workpiece is gripped, the advancing / retreating member moves backward to increase the distance between the advancing / retreating member and the pusher, and the urging force of the elastic member to the pusher that pushes out the workpiece is reduced. For this reason, even if the gripping force of the opening / closing claw is small, the workpiece can be securely gripped so as not to fall. Further, when the opening / closing claw is opened when the workpiece is transferred to the target device, the advance / retreat member advances, the distance between the advance / retreat member and the pusher is shortened, and the biasing force of the elastic member to the pusher for pushing out the workpiece increases. Thereby, delivery of the workpiece | work to a target apparatus can be performed reliably.

In this invention, the loader head has one or a plurality of loader chucks having the opening / closing claw, the opening / closing mechanism, and the pusher, and the loader head or the loader chuck has the pusher moving in the vertical direction. The posture may be changed so that the workpiece is directed downward.
In the case of this configuration, the posture change enables, for example, an operation to receive the workpiece on the loading table in a downward posture and pass it to the chuck facing the horizontal of the target machine. Although the work gripped by the loader chuck may face downward, in the downward posture, the urging force of the elastic member and the weight of the work are applied to the work. However, also at this time, since the urging force is reduced as described above, even when the gripping force by the opening and closing claw is small, the workpiece can be securely gripped by the opening and closing claw so that the workpiece does not fall from the loader chuck. .

In the present invention, a plurality of the opening / closing claws may be provided, and the conversion mechanism may change the movement of the advance / retreat member into the movement of the plurality of opening / closing claws.
When there are a plurality of open / close claws, the movement of one advancing / retracting member is transmitted to the multiple open / close claws as described above, so that each open / close claw can be opened and closed with one drive source. By using such advancing and retracting members used for interlocking a plurality of opening and closing claws to support the elastic member for urging the pusher, the operation of changing the pushing force of the pusher according to necessity is unnecessary. This can be done without using a drive source, and the pressing force can be changed with a simple configuration.

A loader device according to the present invention includes a pusher provided on a loader head and urged by an elastic member to push out a work, an open / close claw that opens and closes in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the pusher, and holds the open / close claw. An open / close mechanism that opens and closes, and the open / close mechanism includes an advance / retreat member that is driven by a drive source and is movable in parallel with the movement direction of the pusher, and a conversion mechanism that converts the movement of the advance / retreat member into the movement of the opening / closing claw Since the elastic member is provided between the advance / retract member and the pusher, the distance between the advance / retreat member and the pusher is longer when the open / close claw is closed than when the open / close claw is opened. When the workpiece is gripped by the pusher, the urging force of the pusher is loosened, so that the workpiece can be prevented from dropping even if the gripping force is small, and when the workpiece is transferred to the target device, Pass operation increases the biasing force also can be reliably performed.
When the loader head or its loader chuck can be changed in posture so that the pusher moves in the vertical direction and the workpiece is directed downward, While delivery is possible, the weight of the workpiece becomes stronger when the workpiece is in the downward position, but even in that case, because of the change in the urging force of the above pusher, both gripping and delivery can be ensured with a small gripping force. Is possible.
When there are a plurality of opening / closing claws and the conversion mechanism changes the movement of the advancing / retracting member to movements of a plurality of opening / closing claws, an operation of changing the pressing force of the pusher between when necessary and when not required This can be done without using a dedicated drive source, and the pressing force can be changed with a simple configuration.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a loader device of this embodiment and a machine tool that is a target device to which a workpiece is supplied by the loader device. The machine tool 31 is a lathe and includes a main shaft 32 and a tool support 35. The main shaft 32 has a main shaft chuck 33 as a work supporting means at its tip, and is rotatably supported by a main shaft base 34 provided on a bed 37. The spindle chuck 33 has a plurality of chuck claws 33a for gripping the workpiece W. The tool support 35 is a tool post and is a turret type. The tool support 35 is movable via a feed base 36 in a direction along the spindle axis (Z-axis direction) and in a horizontal direction (X-axis direction) perpendicular to the spindle axis. The workpiece W is transferred to the spindle chuck 33 by the loader device 1.

The loader device 1 is a gantry type device that is installed above the machine tool 31 and is driven in an orthogonal coordinate system. As shown in the front view and the side view in FIGS. 1 and 2, the loader device 1 is provided with a lifting rod 5 on a traveling body 3 traveling along a construction rail 2 via a front / rear moving table 4, and a loader device at the lower end thereof. A head 6 is provided.
As shown in FIG. 3, the loader head 6 has a turntable 8 to which two loader chucks 7A and 7B for gripping the workpiece W are attached, and the turntable 8 rotates around a tilted rotation center Q. Both loader chucks 7A and 7B are exchanged between the downward position and the spindle chuck facing position.

  4 shows a bottom view of the loader chuck 7A in the downward position in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. A pusher 9 is provided on the installation surface of the loader chuck 7 </ b> A in the turntable 8 so as to be capable of moving forward and backward relative to the loader head 6 toward the installation side of the loader chuck 7 </ b> A (lower side in FIG. 5). The pusher 9 is a member that pushes out the workpiece W when supplying the workpiece W to the spindle chuck 33 of the machine tool 31, and is a star-shaped pusher having branch portions 10a extending radially in three directions as shown in FIG. The plate 10 and a sleeve-like spring receiving seat 11 provided at the tip of the guide rod 12 and pressed against the back surface of the central portion of the pusher plate 10.

  On the back surface of each branch portion 10a of the pusher plate 10, guide rods 13 inserted respectively in guide holes 14 provided on the loader chuck installation surface of the turntable 8 are provided. By guiding these guide rods 13 through the guide holes 14, the pusher plate 10 can be moved forward and backward with respect to the turntable 8. On the outer periphery of the rear end of the guide rod 13, there is provided a locking portion 13 a that is locked to a ring-shaped stopper 15 provided at the rim of the guide hole 14, thereby restricting the advancement amount of the pusher plate 10. . The spring seat 11 is biased toward the advance side by a coil spring 16 that is an elastic member, and this biasing force acts on the pusher plate 10 via the spring seat 11.

  On the loader chuck installation surface of the turntable 8, as shown in FIG. 4, three open / close claws 17 that open and close in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the pusher 9 and grip the work W are arranged around the guide rod 12. It is provided at a uniform position in the direction. These open / close claws 17 are engaged with the respective guide grooves 18 provided on the loader chuck installation surface of the turntable 8 so as to correspond to the open / close claws 17, and can advance and retract in the radial direction around the guide rod 12. The three open / close claw support bases 19 are detachably attached by fastening with bolts 20. The opening / closing claws 17 are driven to open / close in synchronization with each other by an opening / closing mechanism 21.

  The opening / closing mechanism 21 includes an advance / retreat member 23 that is driven by a drive source 22 and is movable in parallel with the advance / retreat direction of the pusher 9, and a conversion mechanism 24 that converts the movement of the advance / retreat member 23 into the movement of the opening / closing claw 17. . The advancing / retracting member 23 is a cylindrical member that is inserted into a guide hole 25 concentric with the guide rod 12 provided on the turntable 8 so as to freely advance and retreat, and the guide rod 12 passes through the center hole of the advancing / retreating member 23. Is penetrating freely.

  The conversion mechanism 24 includes three link members 26 provided at the same equidistant positions as the open / close claws 17 around the advance / retreat member 23 in the turntable 8. Each of the link members 26 has two arm portions 26a and 26b, and is supported so as to be swingable about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the advancing / retreating direction of each opening / closing claw 17, and one of the arm portions 26a. The front end engages with an engagement groove 23a formed on the peripheral surface of the advance / retreat member 23, and the front end of the other arm portion 26b engages with an engagement recess 19a formed on the back surface of the corresponding opening / closing claw support base 19. is doing. As a result, when the advance / retreat member 23 advances / retreats along the guide hole 25, each link member 26 swings around the axis, and the opening / closing claw support 19 moves forward / backward along the guide groove 18, thereby opening / closing the opening / closing claw 17. To do.

  A driving source 22 of the opening / closing mechanism 21 is composed of a fluid pressure cylinder such as an air cylinder, and the advance / retreat rod 27 is provided on the turntable 8 so as to face a direction orthogonal to the guide rod 12. The advance / retreat operation of the advance / retreat rod 27 is transmitted as the advance / retreat operation to the advance / retreat member 23 via another link member 28. The link member 28 has two arm portions 28a and 28b, and is supported so as to be swingable about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the advance / retreat direction of the advance / retreat rod 27. The tip of one arm portion 28a engages with an engagement recess 27a formed on the peripheral surface of the advance / retreat rod 27, and the tip of the other arm portion 28b is an engagement recess formed on the peripheral surface of the advance / retreat member 23. 23b is engaged.

A coil spring 16 that biases the pusher 9 toward the advancing side is interposed between the front end of the advance / retreat member 23 and the spring seat 11. The distance between the advancing / retreating member 23 and the pusher 9 is set to be longer when the opening / closing claw 17 is closed than when the opening / closing claw 17 is opened due to the operation of the advancing / retreating member 23.
The above description is about the loader chuck 7A, but the configuration of the other loader chuck 7B is the same as that of the loader chuck 7A.

  Next, the operation of the loader device 1 will be described. At the standby position (not shown) of the unprocessed workpiece W, the loader device 1 grips the workpiece W with a loader chuck (for example, 7A) at the downward position of the loader head 6. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the opening / closing claw 17 is opened before gripping the workpiece. From this state, when the loader head 6 is lowered and the pusher plate 10 is pressed against the workpiece W as shown in FIG. 6, the pusher 9 moves backward toward the turntable 8 and the coil spring 16 is compressed.

  If this state is maintained, a strong biasing force by the coil spring 16 is applied to the workpiece W, but the biasing force of the coil spring 16 is reduced by the next closing operation of the opening / closing claw 17. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the advance / retreat rod 27 of the drive source 22 moves backward, the link member 28 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing, and the advance / retreat member 23 moves backward. When the advance / retreat member 23 moves backward, each link member 26 of the conversion mechanism 24 rotates counterclockwise. Along with this, each open / close claw support 19 moves along the guide groove 18 toward the guide rod 12, thereby closing the open / close claw 17 and gripping the workpiece W in a well-balanced manner.

In this gripping state, the advance / retreat member 23 moves backward as described above, so that the distance between the advance / retreat member 23 and the pusher 9 becomes longer and the coil spring 16 extends, and the coil spring 16 applied to the workpiece W via the pusher 9 is extended. The biasing force is reduced.
For this reason, the workpiece W can be reliably gripped without falling from the loader chuck 7A without increasing the gripping force of the opening / closing claw 17. In particular, when the loader chuck 7A is in the downward position, the weight of the work W is applied downward to the urging force of the coil spring 16 with respect to the work W, so that the work W easily falls from the loader chuck 7A. In the state where the opening / closing claw 17 grips the workpiece W as described above, the urging force of the coil spring 16 is reduced, so that it is possible to reliably prevent the workpiece W from dropping from the loader chuck 7A in this state.

  The loader device 1 that holds the workpiece W moves the traveling body 3 traveling along the installation rail 2 in the left-right direction (X-axis direction), the front-rear movement table 4 moves back and forth (Z-axis direction), and raises and lowers the lifting rod 5. The workpiece W is conveyed to the front surface of the main shaft 32 by (in the Y-axis direction). At this time, the processed workpiece W is first received from the main spindle chuck 33 by the loader chuck 7B at the position facing the main spindle chuck (lateral position) by moving the loader head 6 back and forth. Next, due to the rotation of the turntable 8, the loader chuck 7 </ b> A that grips the unprocessed workpiece W is switched from the downward position to the lateral position facing the spindle chuck 33. From this state, when the loader head 6 moves forward to a predetermined position on the front surface of the spindle chuck 33 and then opens the opening / closing claw 17, the work W is pushed out by the pusher 9 that moves forward by the urging force of the coil spring 16 to the spindle chuck 33. Delivered.

  When the opening / closing claw 17 is opened, the advance / retreat member 23 advances and the distance between the advance / retreat member 23 and the pusher 9 is shortened as shown in FIG. 5, so that the coil spring 16 is compressed more than when the opening / closing claw 17 is closed. The urging force applied to the pusher 9 increases accordingly. For this reason, the transfer operation of the workpiece W to the spindle chuck 33 and the seating of the workpiece W on the spindle chuck 33 are more reliably performed.

  In addition, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where it applied to the gantry type loader, this invention is applicable to an articulated type and other various loader apparatuses.

It is a front view showing a schematic structure of a loader device concerning one embodiment of this invention, and a machine tool which is an object device of this loader device. It is side surface sectional drawing of the loader apparatus. It is a side view which shows schematic structure of the loader head in the loader apparatus. It is a bottom view of the loader chuck in the downward position in the loader device. It is AA arrow sectional drawing of the loader chuck | zipper in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state just before the workpiece | work holding | grip by the loader chuck. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state immediately after the workpiece | work holding | grip by the loader chuck. It is explanatory drawing of a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Loader apparatus 6 ... Loader head 9 ... Pusher 16 ... Coil spring (elastic member)
17 ... Opening / closing claw 21 ... Opening / closing mechanism 22 ... Drive source 23 ... Advance / Retract member 24 ... Conversion mechanism W ... Workpiece

Claims (3)

  A loader device for supplying a workpiece to a target device, the loader head moving with respect to the target device, and being supplied to the target device by being urged by an elastic member so as to be movable toward the target device. A pusher that pushes out the workpiece when opening, an opening and closing claw that opens and closes in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the pusher, and an opening and closing mechanism that opens and closes the opening and closing claw. An advance / retreat member that is driven and movable in parallel with the moving direction of the pusher, and a conversion mechanism that converts the movement of the advance / retreat member into the movement of the opening / closing claw, and the elastic member is disposed between the advance / retreat member and the pusher. The loader device is characterized in that the distance between the advancing / retreating member and the pusher is longer when the opening / closing claw is closed than when the opening / closing claw is opened.   The loader head has one or a plurality of loader chucks having the opening / closing claw, the opening / closing mechanism, and the pusher, and the loader head or the loader chuck has a movement direction of the pusher and a workpiece facing downward. The loader device according to claim 1, wherein the posture can be changed as follows.   The loader device according to claim 1, wherein the loader device includes a plurality of the opening / closing claws, and the conversion mechanism changes the movement of the advance / retreat member to the movements of the plurality of opening / closing claws.

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