JP4487319B2 - Positioning device and mounting table using the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article positioning apparatus and a mounting table using the article positioning apparatus, and relates to centering an article smoothly by its own weight.

As a positioning device using a free roller, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-69923. In this apparatus, a free roller is provided on the lifting platform to place the article, and while the lifting platform is lowered, the centering roller is brought into contact with the article from the left and right for positioning. However, the apparatus of Patent Document 1 requires a lifting mechanism for the lifting platform and a driving mechanism for the centering roller.
JP 05-69923 A

An object of the present invention is to perform positioning using the weight of an article, and to automatically return the positioning device to its original state when the article is removed.
An additional problem in the present invention is to guide the up-and-down movement of the inner member in a compact manner and to smoothly lower the push-down member by the article.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mounting table that can position an article in at least two directions.

The positioning device of the present invention includes an inner member having an outer surface fitted on the inner surface of the outer member, and guides the vertical movement of the inner member by the outer member.
An elastic body for urging the inner member upward;
A floating unit having a plurality of balls on the bottom surface, arranged on the inner member and supported by the inner member by the inner member so as to be horizontally movable;
A push-down member that is provided at the bottom of the inner member and moves up and down together with the inner member;
A pair of left and right swing levers swingable about a swing shaft supported by the outer member;
At least a pair of left and right centering rollers attached to each swing lever;
When the push-down member is lowered, at least a pair of left and right lever driving members that swing the swing lever in a direction in which each centering roller advances toward the floating unit,
An elastic body that urges the swing lever in a direction in which each centering roller moves away from the floating unit;
And.

Further, the mounting table of the present invention comprises a plurality of the above positioning devices at the top, changing the direction in which the centering roller operates to at least two types,
In addition, at least a pair of centering rollers on the left and right of each positioning device is provided in accordance with the pillars or bars of the article.

In this invention, the weight of the article acts on the inner member via the floating unit, and the push-down member is lowered. As a result, the swing lever swings, and the centering roller presses the article from the left and right, and moves to the left and right together with the floating unit for positioning. When the article is removed, the swing lever returns to its original state by the elastic body, and the inner member returns to its original height. For this reason, it can position with the dead weight of an article | item, and a drive mechanism is unnecessary. When the article is removed, the original state is automatically restored.
Further, since the inner member is urged upward by the elastic body, when the article is delivered between the positioning device and the external device, the manner in which the load from the article is applied gradually between the external device and the positioning device. It is possible to reduce the impact at the time of delivery.

  Here, when the vertical movement of the inner member is guided by fitting the outer surface of the inner member and the inner surface of the outer member, the vertical movement of the inner member can be compactly guided. When the push-down member is attached to the bottom of the inner member, the push-down member descends smoothly due to the load of the article.

  In the mounting table of the present invention, the article can be positioned in at least two directions within the horizontal plane by the weight of the article.

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be shown.

FIGS. 1-6 shows the positioning device 2 of an Example and the mounting base 44 using the same. In each figure, 4 is an outer casing of the positioning device, which is made of metal, plastic, or the like, and 6 is an inner casing, which is similarly made of metal, plastic, or the like. Reference numeral 8 denotes a floating unit, which can move in the movable space 10 formed of a recess provided in the inner casing 6 in an arbitrary direction within a horizontal plane. A plurality of balls 12 are exposed from the bottom surface of the floating unit 8, and the balls 12 circulate in the floating unit 8, for example. When the positioning direction of the article is limited to one direction, the moving direction of the floating unit in the movable space may be restricted to one direction, and the floating unit may be supported by a roller (not shown) instead of the ball 12. However, in this invention, since the positioning is performed in two directions, a ball is provided instead of a roller.

  A cam 14 as a push-down member is provided at the bottom of the inner casing 6, and the cam 14 projects, for example, horizontally to the outside of the inner casing 6. The inner casing 6 is urged upward by an elastic body such as a spring 16 at a plurality of positions. As shown in FIG. 3, the outer peripheral surface of the inner casing 6 moves up and down while sliding with the guide surface 18 formed of the inner surface of the outer casing 4. Since there is almost no gap between the outer surface of the inner casing 6 and the inner surface of the outer casing 4, it is said that they are fitted together. Further, a limiter 19 made of, for example, a ring-shaped protrusion is provided on the inner surface of the outer casing 4 to limit the depth at which the inner casing 6 sinks.

  Returning to FIG. 1 and the like, 20 is a centering roller, for example, a pair of left and right is provided. It is biased away from the cam 14, that is, away from the cam 14 on its extension. Reference numeral 25 denotes a bearing, and 26 denotes a shaft of the centering roller 20, which is fixed to the lever 22.

  As shown in FIG. 2 and the like, the levers 22 and 22 are swingably attached to the outer casing 4 by a shaft 28, and their lower ends are connected to each other by a spring 24. The roller 30 protrudes from the lever 22 toward the cam 14, and when the cam 14 descends, the roller 30 is pushed down, the lever 22 swings, and the centering roller 20 advances toward the article. Reference numeral 32 denotes a small hole for attaching the spring 24.

  4 and 5 show the operation of the embodiment. Here, the example which positions the crosspiece 40 of the cassette of a flat panel display is shown. When the crosspiece 40 is placed on the floating unit 8, the inner casing 6 sinks together with the floating unit 8, and the cam 14 also descends. As a result, the pair of left and right rollers 30, 30 are pushed down, the lever 22 swings, and the crosspiece 40 is positioned by the left and right centering rollers 20, 20. At this time, since the floating unit 8 can freely move in the movable space 10 in any direction, it can be easily positioned even if the force from the roller 22 is small. When the crosspiece 40 is removed from the positioning device 2, the positioning device 2 is restored to the original state by the springs 24 and 16.

  Since the inner casing 6 is biased upward by the spring 16, when the crosspiece 40 is transferred to / from another member such as a rack or an external transfer device, the load of the crosspiece 40 is instantaneously moved. Not. For example, when the crosspiece 40 is placed on the floating unit 8, the elastic force from the spring 16 increases while the floating unit 8 descends, and the load gradually changes to the positioning device 2 side. For this reason, goods can be exchanged smoothly.

  Conversely, when the crosspiece 40 is moved from the positioning device 2 to the outside, part of the load is kept on the positioning device 2 side until the crosspiece 40 is raised and until the contact with the floating unit 8 is cut off. To join. For these reasons, the impact when delivering goods is small.

  FIG. 6 shows a mounting table 44 using the positioning device 2 of the embodiment. Reference numeral 46 denotes a SCARA arm, which may be a slide fork or the like. Here, a pair of SCARA arms 46 are provided on the turntable 48, but the turntable 48 may not be provided, and one SCARA arm 46 may be provided. Reference numeral 50 denotes an elevator, which raises and lowers the turntable 48 to the mounting table 44 and is provided, for example, on a stacker crane not shown.

  The cassette 42 includes a plurality of crosspieces 40. The distance between the pair of left and right centering rollers 20, 20 in the positioning device 2 is slightly wider than the width of the crosspiece 40 before contacting the crosspiece 40. Try to be narrower than. A plurality of positioning devices 2 are provided on the mounting table 44, and two types of directions for positioning the crosspiece 40 are provided in the horizontal plane, for example, the X direction and the Y direction, so that the cassette 42 can be positioned in both the X direction and the Y direction. To do. The positioning direction is a direction perpendicular to the interval between the centering rollers 20 and 20 in the horizontal plane.

  In the embodiment, a pair of left and right centering rollers 20 are provided. However, a centering roller may be provided on each of the front and rear sides of the swinging lever 22, for example, a total of two pairs of left and right centering rollers may be provided. A pair of swing levers 22 may be provided on both the front and rear sides of the inner casing 6. The rollers 30 may be a left-right pair or a left-right pair.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Positioning is performed by the weight of the article, and when the article is removed, the positioning device automatically returns to the original state. For this reason, since the drive mechanism of the positioning device is not required, it is particularly suitable for a mounting table 44, a rack, a buffer for temporarily placing articles.
(2) When reloading an article, the load of the article gradually changes between the positioning device 2 and the outside. For this reason, the impact accompanying transshipment can be reduced.
(3) Since the floating unit 8 is supported by the balls 12, the floating unit 8 does not rattle during positioning. The floating unit 8 can move in any direction within the horizontal plane. If two pairs of centering rollers 20 and 20 are provided for positioning in the horizontal plane with respect to each of the X direction and the Y direction, one positioning device 2 can perform positioning in both the X direction and the Y direction.
(4) Since the inner casing 6 moves up and down by fitting with the outer casing 4, it can be moved up and down compactly. Since the cam 14 is attached to the bottom of the inner casing 6, the cam 14 operates by receiving the entire load applied to the inner casing 6 from the article. The cam 14 is smoothly pushed down by the article.
(5) The mounting table 44 can position the article in all directions of X and Y with the small positioning device 2.

The mounting table 44 is not limited to being mounted on the lifting platform 50 of the stacker crane, but may be mounted on a transfer device of an automated guided vehicle, or may be mounted on a transfer device fixed on the ground side. Further, it may be provided in a rack or a buffer for temporarily placing articles. Articles to be positioned are not limited to those having pillars or crosspieces, but may be anything that protrudes from the bottom surface and pushes down the floating unit 8 and can be positioned by the centering roller 20. For example, when there are two convex pieces parallel to the bottom surface of the cassette, the convex pieces may be positioned.

Plan view of the positioning device of the embodiment II-II vertical sectional view of Fig. 1 III-III direction vertical sectional view of Fig. 1 The figure which shows the state just before the positioning start in an Example The figure which shows the positioning operation | movement of an Example Top view of transfer device using positioning device of embodiment

Explanation of symbols

2 Positioning device 4 Outer casing 6 Inner casing 8 Floating unit 10 Movable space 12 Ball 14 Cam 16 Spring 18 Guide surface 19 Limiter 20 Centering roller 22 Lever 24 Spring 25 Bearing 26, 28 Shaft 30 Roller
32 Small hole 40 Crosspiece 42 Cassette 44 Mounting table 46 SCARA arm 48 Turntable 50 Lifting table

Claims (2)

An inner member having an outer surface fitted on the inner surface of the outer member is provided, and the vertical movement of the inner member is guided by the outer member, and
An elastic body for urging the inner member upward;
A floating unit having a plurality of balls on the bottom surface, arranged on the inner member and supported by the inner member by the inner member so as to be horizontally movable;
A push-down member that is provided at the bottom of the inner member and moves up and down together with the inner member;
A pair of left and right swing levers swingable about a swing shaft supported by the outer member;
At least a pair of left and right centering rollers attached to each swing lever;
When the push-down member is lowered, at least a pair of left and right lever driving members that swing the swing lever in a direction in which each centering roller advances toward the floating unit,
An elastic body that urges the swing lever in a direction in which each centering roller moves away from the floating unit;
And a positioning device. The positioning device according to claim 1 is provided with a plurality of upper portions by changing the direction in which the centering roller operates to at least two types,
In addition, at least a pair of centering rollers on the left and right of each positioning device is provided in accordance with a column or bar of the article.

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