JP3663239B2 - Article alignment device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an aligning apparatus for aligning articles, and more particularly to an article aligning apparatus suitable for aligning calipers in a disc brake device manufacturing process.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in this type of automatic alignment apparatus, a vibratory bowl-type parts feeder is used. This vibrating bowl-type parts feeder is composed of a bowl and a vibrator that vibrates the bowl in a single direction. The center of the bottom surface of the bowl is a hopper that is a member case, and a wall surface is provided on the outer edge side of the hopper. The wall is provided with a sorting passage in a spiral shape, and the members are aligned when the member passes through the sorting passage. Further, a chute for storing the aligned members is provided at the end of the sorting passage, and the members aligned by passing through the sorting passage are successively sent to the chute and stored.
[0003]
Here, a procedure for aligning the caliper material using the above-described vibrating bowl-type parts feeder will be described. The caliper material is a name before caliper processing used in a disc brake device, and indicates a form formed by casting.
[0004]
First, several caliper materials are put into the hopper. Then, the vibrator is operated from a state where the caliper material is randomly placed in the hopper, and the vibration is transmitted to the caliper material in the hopper. The caliper material that has received the vibration moves in the hopper and is dispersed on the wall surface that is the outer edge of the hopper, and then enters the sorting passage provided on the wall surface. The sorting passage is spirally raised along the wall surface, and the direction of the caliper material that has gone up the sorting passage in the middle is aligned. A guide is provided to return to the hopper. The caliper material that has entered the sorting passage is given free-running energy by vibration from the vibrator, and slowly moves up the sorting passage. At this time, the caliper material that enters the sorting passage in an unstable state or enters the sorting passage in a posture that does not become the form to be aligned falls by the vibration from the vibrator in the middle of the sorting passage. The guide is repelled from the sorting passage and returned to the hopper again. The caliper material that remains on the sorting path without being separated from the sorting path by the action of these guides rises up in the sorting path in a uniformly aligned form. The aligned caliper materials proceed to the end of the sorting path, and are successively fed into the chute while maintaining the aligned state.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in this type of aligning device, the caliper material is vibrated by a vibrator and the caliper material is self-propelled in the bowl for alignment, so there is a collision between the bowl and the caliper material or between the caliper materials. In this case, there is a problem that noise is generated and the environment around the alignment device is deteriorated.
[0006]
In addition, the vibratory bowl-type parts feeder requires a large area for the hopper itself because it incorporates multiple caliper materials before alignment, and further, a sorting passage is provided on the outer periphery of the hopper. The installation requires a large area, and there is a problem that space saving cannot be achieved.
[0007]
In addition, capital investment for installing the vibratory bowl-type parts feeder is necessary, and as a result, there is a problem that the cost of capital investment increases.
[0008]
The present invention pays attention to the problems of the conventional parts feeder described above, and can promote noise reduction by aligning articles without using vibration, further reduce the installation floor area, and can suppress the capital investment cost. An object is to provide an article alignment apparatus.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-described problems, an article alignment apparatus according to the present invention includes a turntable that can receive articles, a sensor that is disposed at a position that can detect the attitude of an article placed on the turntable, The front / back posture of the article is determined from the output, and the control unit that rotates the turntable to a preset stop position according to the front / back posture, the pushing unit that moves the article, and the article moved by the pushing unit are hooked. It was set as the structure which has a receiving member.
[0010]
Further, when the control unit determines that the posture of the article is other than the front and back postures based on the output of the sensor, the article is corrected to the front and back postures by the pushing unit.
In addition, the receiving member hooks a place other than the position of the center of gravity of the article.
[0011]
Further, when the article is a caliper member for a disc brake, the caliper member protrudes from the cylinder portion in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the piston, and a cylinder portion that fits a piston that presses one of the pads. The caliper member that has a pair of arms, a claw part that presses the other pad, and a bridge part that connects the cylinder part and the claw part, and the caliper member moved by the push-out part is received by the pair of arms. It was decided to be hooked on the member.
[0012]
[Action]
In the article alignment apparatus having the above-described configuration, the output of the sensor varies depending on the attitude of the article placed on the turntable. Therefore, the front and back attitude of the article can be determined based on the output result of the sensor. Further, by stopping the turntable at a position corresponding to the front / back posture of the article based on the determination result, the posture can be divided into the article on the front side and the article on the back side. Further, when the article is pushed out and hooked on the receiving member, the receiving member hooks a place other than the center of gravity of the article, so the article has a contact point with the receiving member as a rotation center, The posture is balanced by its own weight. For this reason, since the article on the front side on the turntable and the article on the back side have the same posture on the receiving member, the articles can be aligned.
[0013]
Further, when the article is in a posture other than the front and back posture on the turntable, the posture of the article can be corrected to the front and back posture by operating the pushing portion.
[0014]
When the article is a disc brake caliper material, the caliper material is moved to the receiving member by the push-out portion. When the pair of arms of the caliper material is hooked on the receiving member, the caliper material has a contact point with the receiving member as a center of rotation and is balanced by its own weight, so that alignment can be performed.
[0015]
As a result, it is possible to align the articles without using the vibratory parts feeder, so that it is possible to prevent generation of noise, occupation of the place, and increase in capital investment cost.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a procedure for aligning caliper materials in the disc brake device manufacturing process using the article alignment apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall view of a caliper material aligning device according to an embodiment. A caliper processing machine (not shown) is arranged immediately after the caliper material aligning apparatus 10 according to this embodiment. The caliper processing machine is a device for processing a caliper material 12 which is a member having an irregular shape manufactured by casting into a caliper used in a disc brake device. Further, immediately before the caliper material aligning device 10, a storage box (not shown) for storing the caliper material 12 before alignment is provided, and the caliper material aligning device is used from the storage box using a material loading machine. The caliper material 12 can be put into 10.
[0017]
The caliper material aligning device 10 is provided with a drum portion 14 that can receive the caliper material 12, and the drum portion 14 includes a turntable 14b serving as a turntable, and the caliper material 12 drops from the turntable 14b. And a drum 14a for preventing this. Further, the volume of the drum portion 14 is received in a uniform posture as much as possible when the caliper material 12 is received, and after the caliper material 12 is received, after the caliper material 12 is received, From the second purpose of preventing malfunction, the caliper material 12 is large enough to enter. A motor 16 is provided in the vicinity of the turntable 14b, and a drive belt 18 is stretched between the turntable 14b and the motor 16. Here, by rotating the motor 16, the driving belt 18 transmits the rotational force of the motor 16 to the rotating disk 14b, thereby enabling the rotating disk 14b to rotate. Furthermore, the upper and lower cylinders 19 are connected to the rotating disk 14b, and by driving the upper and lower cylinders 19, the rotating disk 14b can be moved up and down.
[0018]
A feed bar 20 serving as an extruding unit is provided on the material feeding machine side of the drum unit 14, and this feed bar 20 is provided by a rodless type feed cylinder 22 provided on the upper part of the caliper material aligning device 10. It can move from the side to the caliper machine side. The height of the feed bar 20 is positioned above the top end of the drum 14a. Thus, when the rotating disk 14b on which the caliper material 12 is placed rises up to the top by driving the upper and lower cylinders 19, the feed bar 20 is moved to the caliper processing machine side, so that the caliper is moved from above the rotating disk 14b. The material 12 can be ejected.
[0019]
Further, a pusher 24 is provided at the tip of the feed bar 20, and the pusher 24 can move in the same direction as the feed bar 20. Then, the pusher 24 is moved, and the tip of the pusher 24 is brought into contact with the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14, whereby the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14 can be changed.
[0020]
In addition, two alignment rails 26 serving as receiving members are provided on the caliper processing machine side of the drum portion 14 in parallel with the feed cylinder 22. The spacing between the alignment rails 26 is such that the alignment rail 26 receives the arms 12 a provided on the guide pin side and the lock pin side of the caliper material 12, and the caliper material 12 can be hooked on the alignment rail 26. Is set to Then, the caliper material 12 that is aligned on the alignment rail 26 and that is closest to the caliper machine is clamped by the input hand 28 and sent to the caliper machine.
[0021]
Further, a photoelectric sensor 30 serving as a sensor is provided on the side of the drum 14. The photoelectric sensor 30 includes a light emitting side and a light receiving side, and five photoelectric sensors 30 are provided so as to face each other with the drum portion 14 interposed therebetween. The five photoelectric sensors 30 can determine the posture of the caliper material 12 placed on the turntable 14b from its installation position. Further, the output destination of the photoelectric sensor 30 is provided with a control unit that can determine the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum unit 14 from the output of the photoelectric sensor 30 and performs an operation corresponding to the posture of the caliper material 12 as described later. Yes.
The operation of the caliper material aligning device having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
[0022]
FIG. 2 is a state diagram showing the positional relationship between the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14 and the photoelectric sensor 30, and FIG. 3 shows the state of the photoelectric sensor 30 corresponding to the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14. FIG. 6 shows determination of the posture of a caliper material by output.
[0023]
The material input machine takes out one caliper material 12 before alignment from the storage box and inputs it to the drum section 14 of the caliper material alignment device 10. In the caliper material aligning device, after the caliper material 12 is received in the drum portion 14, the rotating disk 14b is rotated. While rotating the turntable 14b, the photoelectric sensor 30 provided in the vicinity of the side of the drum unit 14 is operated, and the control unit determines the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum unit 14. Here, as a procedure for the posture determination by the control unit, the output from the photoelectric sensor 30 is monitored for at least one rotation of the caliper material 12 before performing the posture determination. Then, it is checked whether there is any output corresponding to a predetermined posture among the outputs of the photoelectric sensor 30 during rotation. If there is a result corresponding to the output result of the predetermined posture as a result of the confirmation operation, the control unit determines that the predetermined posture is set. If there is no corresponding one, it is determined that the posture is other than a predetermined posture.
[0024]
When the caliper material 12 is loaded into the drum unit 14 from the material loading machine, most of the caliper material 12 assumes the posture shown in FIG. In the case of the front side posture as shown in (1), since the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14 blocks the optical axis of the photoelectric sensors 30c and 30d, light does not reach the light receiving portions of the photoelectric sensors 30c and 30d. The light receiving unit output of the sensor 30 is turned on. Further, since the optical axes of the photoelectric sensors 30 a, 30 b, and 30 e are not blocked by the caliper material 12, the light reaches the light receiving portion of the photoelectric sensor 30. For this reason, the light receiving unit output of the photoelectric sensor 30 is turned OFF. In the case of the back side posture shown in (2), similarly, the photoelectric sensors 30d and 30e do not reach the light receiving portion of the photoelectric sensor 30, and the light receiving portion output of the photoelectric sensor 30 is turned on. Further, since the photoelectric sensors 30a, 30b, and 30c reach the light receiving portion of the photoelectric sensor 30, the light receiving portion output of the photoelectric sensor 30 is turned off. Thus, the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14 can be determined from the output results of the photoelectric sensors 30. Then, after determining the posture of the caliper material 12, the motor 16 is stopped and the rotating disk 14b is stopped.
[0025]
However, when the caliper material 12 is put into the drum portion 14, the standing posture shown in FIG. 4 also occurs. In order for the control unit to determine these postures, as described above, the caliper material 12 is put into the drum unit 14 and then the turntable 14b is rotated. And while rotating the turntable 14b, the photoelectric sensor 30 is operated. When the output of the photoelectric sensor 30 is different from the output result indicating the front side posture or the back side posture of the caliper material 12, the control unit determines that the caliper material 12 is in the standing posture. As will be described later, in order to align the caliper material 12, it is necessary to use the above-described front side posture and back side posture. Therefore, in order to correct the standing posture of the caliper material 12, after the determination by the photoelectric sensor 30 is completed, the turntable 14b is temporarily stopped. Then, the upper and lower cylinders 19 and the pusher 24 are driven to correct the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum portion 14. In the posture of the caliper material 12 as shown in (1), it is effective to drive the pusher 24. By driving the pusher 24, the pusher 24 is brought into contact with the caliper material 12, the caliper material 12 is pushed down into the drum portion 14, and the backside posture is corrected. Further, in the posture of the caliper material 12 as shown in (2), it is effective to drive the upper and lower cylinders 19 because the center of gravity of the caliper material 12 is located at the upper part. By driving the upper and lower cylinders 19, the turntable 14 b moves up and down and moves the center of gravity of the caliper material 12. Due to this movement of the center of gravity, the caliper material 12 loses its balance and is corrected to the front side posture by falling down. When these operations are finished, the turntable 14b is rotated again, the photoelectric sensor 30 is operated, and it is confirmed whether the caliper material 30 is in the front side posture or the back side posture. If the control unit determines that the standing posture of the caliper material 12 has not changed by this checking operation, the rotating disk 14b is stopped again, and the upper and lower cylinders 19 and the pusher 24 are driven to correct the posture of the caliper material 12. To do. In addition, when the standing posture is corrected to the front side posture or the back side posture in the first operation, the motor 16 is stopped and the rotating disk 14b is stopped.
[0026]
When the above operation is performed and the caliper posture in the drum unit 14 is determined to be the front side posture or the back side posture, and the rotary plate 14b is stopped, the rotary plate according to the posture of the caliper material 12 in the drum unit 14 The stop position of 14b is changed. FIG. 5 is an upper side view showing the stop position of the turntable 14b. That is, when the caliper material 12 is in the rear side posture as shown in (2), the arm 12a provided on the guide pin side and the lock pin side of the caliper material 12 is positioned at the stop position of the rotating disk 14b. It is stopped at a position orthogonal to the rail 26 and closest to the alignment rail 26. Although not shown, when the caliper material 12 is in the front side posture, the arms 12 a provided on the guide pin side and the lock pin side of the caliper material 12 are orthogonal to the alignment rail 26 and are farthest from the alignment rail 26. Stop at a position where
[0027]
After determining the front and back posture of the caliper material 12 on the turntable 14 b and stopping the turntable 14 b, the turntable 14 b is raised using the upper and lower cylinders 19. Then, the feed bar 20 is brought into contact with the caliper material 12 exposed from the upper part of the drum 14a due to the rise of the rotating disk 14b, and the feed bar 20 is moved to the caliper processing machine side. As the feed bar 20 moves, the caliper material 12 moves to the caliper processing machine side. When the feed bar 20 is further moved to the caliper processing machine side, the caliper material 12 moves toward the guide pin side and the lock pin side. The provided arm 12 a rides on the alignment rail 26.
[0028]
By the way, the center of gravity of the caliper material 12 on the alignment rail 26 is separated from the center of rotation about the arm 12a serving as a latching portion. Therefore, the caliper material 12 immediately after riding on the alignment rail 26 reciprocates like a pendulum with the arm 12a as a rotation center. However, the reciprocating motion stops as time passes, and the caliper material 12 is latched at a balanced position with the arm 12a as the center of rotation. The feed bar 20 is pulled back to the original drum portion 14 side after the caliper material 12 is placed on the alignment rail 26.
[0029]
FIG. 6 is a state diagram showing a state until the caliper material 12 rides on the alignment rail 26 and stops.
The posture of the caliper material 12 when the feed bar 20 pushes out the caliper material 12 is set to the front side posture and the back side posture as described above. Since the stop position of the turntable 14b is changed according to these postures, the direction in which the caliper material 12 is hooked on the alignment rail 26 is the same.
[0030]
By repeating such operations and feeding the caliper materials 12 sent from the material feeding machine one after another to the alignment rails 26, the caliper materials 12 are aligned on the alignment rails 26. Then, the caliper material 12 placed closest to the caliper machine is supplied to the caliper machine using the input hand 28 in order.
[0031]
In this embodiment, the caliper material is used as the article. However, if the article has different front and back postures, and when the article is hooked on the receiving member and the center of rotation and the center of gravity of the article are different, alignment can be performed by the method described above. is there. And the sensor which detects a front and back attitude | position should just be installed in the position which can detect that the front and back attitude | positions of the articles | goods on the turntable 14b differ.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a turntable capable of receiving an article, a sensor arranged at a position where the posture of the article placed on the turntable can be detected, and an output of the sensor, A control unit that determines a front / back posture and rotates the turntable to a preset stop position according to the front / back posture, a push-out unit that moves the article, and a receiving member that holds the article moved by the push-out unit Since the position of the latching portion of the article is different from the position of the center of gravity, the article can be aligned on the receiving member. In addition, when the control unit determines that the posture of the article is other than the front / back posture from the output of the sensor, the article is corrected to the front / back posture by the push-out unit, so that the article has a posture other than the front / back posture. Even if it becomes a posture, it can be corrected.
Further, when the article is a caliper material for a disc brake, the caliper material is moved to the receiving member by the pushing portion. When the pair of arms of the caliper material are hooked on the receiving member, the caliper material has a contact point with the receiving member as a center of rotation and is balanced by its own weight, so that alignment can be performed.
As a result, it is possible to align the articles without using the vibratory parts feeder, so that it is possible to prevent the generation of noise, the occupation of the place, and the increase in capital investment cost.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall view of a caliper material aligning device according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a state diagram showing the positional relationship between the posture of the caliper material and the photoelectric sensor.
FIG. 3 is a judgment table of the posture of the caliper material based on the output of the photoelectric sensor.
FIG. 4 is a state diagram showing the posture of the caliper material in the drum portion.
FIG. 5 is an upper side view showing a stop position of the rotating disk.
FIG. 6 is a state diagram showing a state in which a caliper material is hooked on the alignment rail.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Caliper material alignment apparatus 12 Caliper material 12a Arm 14 Drum part 14a Drum 14b Turntable 16 Motor 18 Drive belt 19 Upper and lower cylinder 20 Feed bar 22 Feed cylinder 24 Pusher 26 Alignment rail 28 Input hand 30 Photoelectric sensor

Claims (4)

A turntable capable of receiving an article; a sensor disposed at a position where the attitude of the article placed on the turntable can be detected; and a front / back attitude of the article is determined based on an output of the sensor; An article alignment apparatus, comprising: a control unit that rotates a table to a preset stop position; an extrusion unit that moves the article; and a receiving member that latches the article moved by the extrusion unit. 2. The article alignment according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit determines that the posture of the article is other than a front / back posture based on an output of the sensor, the article is corrected to a front / back posture by an extruding unit. apparatus. The article alignment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiving member hooks a place other than the center of gravity of the article. The article is a caliper member for a disc brake, and the caliper member includes a cylinder portion that fits a piston that presses one of the pads, and a pair of arms that protrude from the cylinder portion in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston. A caliper that presses the other pad, and a bridge that connects the cylinder and the claw, and the caliper member moved by the push-out portion is hooked on the receiving member by the pair of arms. The article alignment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article alignment apparatus is stopped.

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