JPH0117941B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention involves peeling off a label with desired printing from a tape-like mount using a printer or the like, temporarily placing the label on a label holder, and The present invention relates to a label adsorption detection device in an air-type automatic label applicator that adsorbs a label with a suction cup of a robot and then attaches it to an object conveyed by a conveyor.

(Prior art) Conventionally, this type of label adsorption device was developed by
The one described in Japanese Patent No. 59-37134 is known.

This conventional device is equipped with a detector that detects the presence or absence of a label at the label issuing port through which the label to be pasted is supplied, and after this detector detects the presence of the label, a separately provided label suction body is installed. It operates to suck the label.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, such conventional devices only detect the presence of a label at a predetermined position prior to sucking the label, and do not detect that the label has actually been sucked by the label suction body. There were problems such as not being able to do it.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, in view of the above problems, the present invention provides a system in which a piston having a suction cup is actuated by air supplied into the cylinder from an air compressor, and the piston is provided on the suction cup. In an automatic label pasting machine, the label held by the suction body is pressed against the object to affix the label. It consists of a suction passage whose one end is connected to the panel and the other end is connected to the air control box, and a vacuum switch provided in the air control box to detect the vacuum state in the air control box. The vacuum switch is configured to operate when the label closes the suction body of the suction cup and the inside of the air control box becomes a vacuum state.

(Function) According to the present invention, since the label suction detection device is configured as described above, when a label is suctioned to the suction cup and the suction body is closed, one end is connected to this suction body and the other end is connected to the air control device. The inside of the suction passage connected to the box becomes vacuum state, and the inside of the air control box becomes vacuum state, so that the vacuum switch provided in this air control box detects the vacuum state inside the air control box. This makes it possible to reliably detect that the label has been sucked onto the suction cup.

In addition, in the present invention, since there is no need to install a vacuum switch for detecting label suction operation on or near the suction cup, the structure of the components on or near the suction cup is simple, saving space, and setting the suction cup. There is no need for the position to match or be close to the installation position of the vacuum switch, and therefore the operating range of the suction cup can be expanded by changing the set position of the suction cup as appropriate depending on the application.

(Example) An example of an automatic label pasting machine according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the overall configuration of an example of a label pasting machine. This automatic label pasting machine has a suction cup 1 corresponding to a head located at the tip of the main body 1.
5 is caused to reciprocate and rotate in each direction by means of compressed air from an air compressor 53: vertical rise, vertical fall (vertical direction Y), horizontal advance, horizontal retreat (lateral direction X), and 90° rotation (Z direction). It is.

Specifically, the reciprocating motion in the vertical direction Y is caused by the action of supplying and discharging air from the supply and discharge ports 2a and 2b of the vertical air cylinder 2, thereby causing the main body 1, which moves in conjunction with the operating rod 3 as a piston, to move up and down. Furthermore, a pair of guide rods 5, 5 arranged in parallel with this operating rod 3 are
It is held by the base 4a and the upper support part 4b to stabilize the vertical movement of the main body 1, and a vertical stroke adjustment member 6 is provided at the center of the base 4a and the upper support part 4b. The compressed air to the vertical air cylinder 2 is supplied to the sequence controller 50.
By transmitting a control signal from the air compressor 53 to the air control box 51, the air is sent from the air compressor 53 through the air passage A.

The reciprocating movement in the lateral direction
The forward arm 10a connected to the front arm 10a is moved laterally. Furthermore, a pair of guide rods 1 are slidably fitted to the main body 1 on the forward arm 10a.
1 and 11 are fixed, and a head block 12 of a rotary air cylinder 13 is fixed to the tip of the guide rod 11.

The turning movement of turning Z is performed by the rotating air cylinder 13.
By supplying and discharging air through an air passage C communicating with supply and discharge ports 13a and 13b, the rotary air cylinder 13 is rotated through 90 degrees about the rotating shaft 14 as a fulcrum. A suction cup 15 made of a lightweight aluminum material and corresponding to the head of an automatic label pasting machine is attached to the tip of the rotating air cylinder 13 via an operating rod 29 serving as a piston. Furthermore, this suction cup 15 has its air pipe 24
An air control box 51 equipped with a vacuum switch 52 is connected to the air control box 51 via a suction passage D that communicates with
It is connected to the. This vacuum switch 52 is constructed as follows. In other words, the label is on suction cup 1
5 and closes an adsorbent 16 provided on the suction surface, which will be described later, the inside of the suction passage D becomes a vacuum state, and the vacuum state inside the air control box 51 is detected by the vacuum switch 52. and,
The vacuum switch 52 operates and transmits the signal to the sequence controller 50. still,
This suction cup 15 has a label suction effect by making the air pressure inside thereof negative pressure through the air passage D.

Next, details of the suction cup 15 for sucking the label are shown in FIGS. 6 to 10.

When the label to be sucked is large, the large suction cup 15 shown in FIG. 6 is used, and when the label is a regular size, the parallel type suction cup 15 shown in FIG. 7 is used. The difference between the large-sized suction cup 15 and the regular type suction cup 15 is the suction area and the set number of suction bodies 16, which will be described later, and the two basically have similar configurations.

A plurality of suction pads 20 are provided on the suction surface of the suction cup 15.
A suction body 16 attached thereto is screwed.

The adsorbent 16 has an adsorbent 1 as shown in FIG.
6 a lower screw portion 17 of the main body, a suction hole 18 passing through the center of the absorber 16 main body and the screw portion 17;
An annular fitting hole 19 is provided concentrically with the suction hole 18, and a boss 21b of a suction pad 20 made of a soft rubber material is fitted into the fitting hole 19. The suction portion 21a of the suction pad 20 has a flap shape that opens upward in the figure, and is thin and flexible.

Thus, the adsorbent 16 with the adsorbent pad 20 is
As shown in FIGS. A and 9B, it is loaded into a fitting hole 22a with a threaded portion 22b formed on the plane of the suction cup 15. Further, an air pipe 24 connected to the compressor 53 via a suction passage D is fixed to one side of this suction cup 15, and an air pipe 24 is connected to the compressor 53 through a suction passage D.
is connected to the fitting hole 22a.

Incidentally, the tip of the suction pad 20 of the suction member 16 is configured to slightly protrude from the suction plane of the suction cup 15. (See Fig. 10) The suction cup 15 has a label 6 in a screw hole 23 (see Fig. 9A and 9B) provided on the back side of the suction cup 15.
It is fixed in a replaceable manner with a mounting screw 25 (see FIG. 10) depending on the size of the holder.

Next, details of how the suction cup 15 is attached to the rotary air cylinder 13 and the internal structure will be explained based on FIG. 10.

The suction cup 15 has a metal plate 2 connected to a cushioning material 26 made of rubber material attached to a support member 28.
6b, and the connecting plate 27 is sandwiched therebetween. Further, this cushioning material 26 has hollow portions 26a formed at appropriate locations in order to increase its cushioning force.

The support member 28 has a spring 3 at its center.
0 interposed therebetween, and a detection rod 34 and a guide rod 35 are fixed to the left and right sides thereof. The end of the spring 30 of this operating rod 29 is connected to the spring receiver 3.
1, and this spring receiver 31 is elastically supported by an auxiliary spring 32. The auxiliary spring 32 is fitted in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the sleeve 33 that contacts the spring receiver 31, and the end of the operating rod 29 on the side opposite to the support member 28 is supported by a fastening body 36. .

Further, the leg portion 37 of this sleeve 33 is provided with a guide hole 38 for the detection rod 34, so that the detection rod 34 can be slid freely.
A limit switch S-7 is provided which can be brought into contact with and separated from 4. The switch is connected to electrical wiring g, which will be described later.
It is connected to the sequence controller 50 at. Further, above the sleeve 33 is the guide rod 35.
A guide hole 39 is provided so that the operating rod 29 can be pushed out and retracted smoothly.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the stroke of the head (suction cup 15) of the automatic label pasting machine in the lateral direction Measuring buffer adjustment member 40
is attached to a retracting arm 10b held by a pair of guide rods 11 of the main body 1.

Next, returning to FIGS. 1 and 2, each limit switch S-
1 to S-7 are connected to a sequence controller 50.

For details, please refer to each limit switch S-1 to S-
7 is structured as follows. The lower limit switch S-1 at the lower limit position of the main body 1 is connected to the lower limit switch S-1 at the lower limit position by electrical wiring a.
-2 is the electric wiring b, and the push-out (advance) limit switch S-5 is located at the forward movement limit position of the forward arm 10a.
The reverse limit switch S-6 at the reverse limit position is connected to the electric wire f, and the elevation angle limit switch S-3 at the rotation limit position of the rotary air cylinder 13 is connected to the electric wire c. ) The limit switches S-4 are each connected to the sequence controller 50 via electrical wiring d. Further, limit switches S-7 for detecting label attachment on the suction cup 15 connected to the rotary air cylinder 13 are connected to the sequence controllers 50 through electrical wiring g.

Next, the operation of sucking a desired label and pasting the label onto a desired object using the automatic label pasting machine of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

Prior to explaining this operation, the label used in the present invention is, for example, a label 62 as shown in FIG.
This is a composite label 60 which has an adhesive surface 62b on its back surface and is temporarily attached onto a tape-like mount 61.

Thus, on the printed surface 62a of this label 62,
For example, if you have a printing machine such as a printer, you can display coded information such as part number, serial number, shipping address, etc.
A barcode display is printed. Next, after transferring and turning the tape-shaped mount 61,
A printed label 62 is placed on a label holder 63 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

The printing machine (not shown) is connected to a sequence controller 50, and an output signal indicating the end of printing is sent to the sequence controller 50.
Then, the sequence controller 50 transmits an instruction to the air control box 51 to operate the air compressor 53.

In this way, the compressed air of the air compressor 53 is transmitted to each air passage A, B, and C, and each air cylinder moves vertically upward, downward, horizontally forward (pushing), and
Each operation of retreating or turning is performed, and the suction action is performed by making the inside of the suction cup 15 a negative pressure.

By the way, before each operation of the main body 1 described above starts, it is necessary to complete the following stroke adjustments.

In detail, first, as shown in FIG. 2, the conveyor 64 installed in front of the automatic label pasting machine of the present invention.
The height of the object 65, which is the object to be labeled, placed on and conveyed, and the distance from the main body 1 to the object 65
The vertical stroke and lateral stroke of the main body 1 are adjusted in accordance with the distance.

The height stroke of the main body 1 is adjusted by a stroke adjustment member 6, and a height limit limit switch S-2 is activated at both limits of the adjusted stroke. Also, the forward stroke is controlled by the buffer adjustment member 4.
Limit switch S-6 which is adjusted by 0 and limits the forward stroke at both limits of the adjusted stroke.
Activate. It is assumed that both limits of the downward stroke to the label holder 63 on which the label 62 is placed have already been adjusted for the limit switch S-1.

Thus, the operation of the automatic labeling machine will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. Compressed air from the air compressor 53 is supplied to the vertical air cylinder 2 from the air passage A via the air control box 51, and the downward stroke of the main body 1 is started. In synchronization with this vertical descent of the main body 1, the forward arm 10a, the rotary air cylinder 13, and the suction cup 15, which is a head, are operated and are lowered toward the label 62 waiting on the label holder 63. Then, the lowering limit switch S-1 is turned on and the lowering of the suction cup 15 is stopped, and then the suction passage D is turned on and the suction action by this suction cup 15 is started, and the suction force of the suction pad 20 is used to The label 62 is absorbed.

At this time, the suction pad 20 that has suctioned the label is deformed from a state in which it was protruding from the horizontal plane of the suction cup 15 before suction so as to coincide with the plane of the suction cup 15 after suction.

Next, the suction cup 15 that has attracted the label is raised again by the action of the vertical air cylinder 2, and the lift limit switch S-2 is turned on to stop the suction cup 15 from rising. Next, confirmation of label suction is made by detecting the vacuum switch 52 which detects the degree of vacuum of the suction cup 15.

At this time, if the label adsorption is defective, the re-operation is repeated three times, and if the defective state is still not corrected, an alarm is issued. In this way, if the label suction is defective, the system is configured to return to the step before the vertical lowering operation (printing end). When the label closes the suction body 16 of the suction cup 15 and the suction passage D and the air control box 51 become in a vacuum state, the vacuum switch 52 detects this vacuum state and transmits the signal to the sequence controller 50. It is something to do.

Next, if the label suction to the suction cup 15 is normal, the stroke moves to the next stage. That is, compressed air is supplied to the rotary air cylinder 13, and the suction cup 15 is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise until the elevation angle limit switch S-3 is turned on.
With this rotation, the suction cup 15 turns sideways, and the object 6
You will be able to face 5.

Next, in FIGS. 2 to 4, the object 65
When the object 65 arrives at a predetermined position, a sensor (not shown) set on the side of the conveyor 64 detects the object 65 and transmits an output signal to the sequence controller 50, thereby detecting the object. It is preferable to have a circuit configuration that transmits this signal to the printing machine and starts printing on the next label.

Now, after detecting this object, the extrusion (advance) operation of the suction cup 15 is started. That is, compressed air is supplied to the horizontal air cylinder 7, and the forward arm 10a, the backward arm 10b, and the suction cup 15 are horizontally advanced in the direction of the object 65.

Thus, on the suction pad 20 of the suction cup 15,
The label 62 is attracted with its printed surface 62a in contact with the label 62.
is attached with its adhesive surface 62b facing the object 65 and in contact with the object 65. Almost simultaneously with this operation, the extrusion limit switch S-6 and the limit switch S-7 for detecting label adhesion are turned on.
becomes.

In particular, a reaction occurs when it comes into contact with the suction cup 65, but
As shown in FIG. 10, this reaction is received by a spring 30 interposed in the operating rod 29, and the spring 30 is compressed, causing the detection rod 34 to move back slightly.
Then, the limit switch S-7 located at the tip of the detection rod 34 is activated.

Furthermore, the impact energy generated when attaching the label is absorbed by the cavity 26a provided behind the suction cup 15.
It is absorbed by the attached buffer material 26, the spring 30, and the auxiliary spring 32.

In addition, if the limit switch S-7 is not operated in the above-mentioned label adhesion detection, the horizontal extrusion operation to the adhesion operation are repeated twice, and if still impossible, an alarm is issued. In this way, when label attachment is not possible, the system configuration is such that the process returns to the step before the horizontal extrusion operation (object detection).

Next, if this label adhesion detection is YES, suction to the suction cup 15 is stopped. After this adsorption stops,
Compressed air is supplied to the horizontal air cylinder 7, the suction cup 15 horizontally retreats, and the horizontal air cylinder 7 retreats until the retreat limit switch S-5 is turned on.

Next, compressed air is supplied to the rotary air cylinder 13, and the suction cup 15 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. This rotation causes the suction cup 15 to face downward, returning to the starting state, and returning to the original position when the stop (depression angle) limit switch S-4 is turned on.

In addition, in the present invention, for example, when each of the above-mentioned operations is one cycle, a label with a desired print is adsorbed, and the label is sequentially attached to a desired object, the content of printing on the label is , the size, type, and object of the label can be changed as appropriate.

(Effects) According to the present invention, a piston having a suction cup is actuated by air supplied into the cylinder from an air compressor, and a label held by a suction body provided on the suction cup is pressed against an object. The automatic label pasting machine has an air control box connected to the air compressor to control air supply and discharge, and one end connected to the suction cup and the other end connected to the air control box. It consists of a suction passage connected to the box, and a vacuum switch installed in the air control box to detect the vacuum state inside the air control box. Since the air control box is configured to operate when the inside of the air control box is in a vacuum state, when the label is attracted to the suction cup and the suction body is closed, one end is connected to this suction body and the other end is connected to the air control box. The inside of the suction passage connected to the control box becomes a vacuum state, and the inside of the air control box becomes a vacuum state, so that the vacuum switch installed in this air control box detects the vacuum state inside the air control box. By doing so, it is possible to reliably detect that the label has been suctioned to the suction cup.

In addition, in the present invention, since there is no need to install a vacuum switch for detecting label suction operation on or near the suction cup, the structure of the components on or near the suction cup is simple, saving space, and setting the suction cup. There is no need for the position to match or be close to the installation position of the vacuum switch, and therefore the operating range of the suction cup can be expanded by changing the set position of the suction cup as appropriate depending on the application.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 show the overall configuration of an automatic label pasting machine equipped with the label suction confirmation device of the present invention. The figure shows the state in which the suction cup that has sucked the label is pasting the label on the object, Figure 3 is the same, a flowchart showing the operating order of the automatic label pasting machine, and Figure 4 is the same, an explanation of the operating order Figure, 5th
The figure is a perspective view of a composite label, Figures 6 and 7 are perspective views showing suction cups for large labels and medium-sized labels, respectively, and Figure 8 is a suction cup with a suction pad screwed onto the suction cup. 9A and 9B are cross-sectional side views of the back side of the suction cup and the same main parts, and FIG. 10 is a head of an automatic label pasting machine showing the suction cup and its attachment means. It is a sectional side view of a part. In the figure, A to C...Air passage, D...Adsorption passage, a to g...Electrical wiring, S-1 to S-7...Each limit switch, 1...Automatic label pasting machine body, 2...Vertical Air cylinder, 7... Horizontal air cylinder, 13... Rotating air cylinder, 15...
Suction cup, 16...Adsorption body, 20...Suction part,
50... Sequence controller, 51... Air control box, 52... Vacuum switch, 53...
...Air compressor, 62...Label, 65...
Object.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A piston having a suction cup is actuated by air supplied into the cylinder from an air compressor, and a label held by a suction body provided on the suction cup is pressed against an object to produce a label. The automatic label pasting machine has an air control box connected to the air compressor to control air supply and discharge, and one end connected to the suction cup and the other end connected to the air control box. The vacuum switch is provided in the air control box and detects the vacuum state in the air control box, and the vacuum switch is configured to prevent the label from blocking the suction member of the suction cup and causing the vacuum switch to detect the vacuum state in the air control box. A label suction detection device for an automatic label pasting machine, characterized in that it is configured to operate when the inside of an air control box is in a vacuum state.