JPS6214345B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for marking characters, symbols, etc. on the surface of products, materials, etc.

In products such as pipes and plates, or in their manufacturing processes, the marking work on the surface of the products, such as line marking, is automated using NC equipment, etc.
Character markings such as component specifications and processing method instructions are still manually marked using brushes, marker pens, etc. However, when marking is done manually, errors, omissions, blurring, and other imperfections may occur, which may result in work losses. In addition, when manual marking is used, the work is time-consuming, a large number of products, etc. accumulate during the marking work process, and there are disadvantages in that it is necessary to increase the number of personnel in order to improve work efficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned current situation, and an object of the present invention is to automate the marking work of characters, symbols, etc., and to improve work efficiency and simplify the work. The gist of the present invention to achieve this object is to provide a head body that is three-dimensionally moved by a manipulator and positioned relative to the material to be marked, and an annular stencil that is supported by the head body and has a large number of marking holes. an indexing mechanism that indexes and rotates the stencil in order to index the marking hole to be marked on the material to be marked at a predetermined index position; a spray gun that injects paint, and a brush that is provided above the stencil and contacts the stencil at a position other than the indexed position is rotated by pressurized water, and the pressurized water is supplied to the brushing part by the brush. Further, an upper cleaning head surrounds the brushing portion with an air curtain to prevent leakage of the water, and a brush is provided below the stencil opposite to the upper cleaning head and comes into contact with the stencil. is rotated by pressure water, and the area brushed by the brush is surrounded by an air curtain to prevent leakage of water, and water supplied at the upper washing head and flowing down through the marking hole is discharged. The marking device is characterized in that it comprises a lower cleaning head and a lower cleaning head.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 10 show the entire structure and parts of an automatic marking device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the material to be marked is a pipe material.

As shown in FIG. 1 showing the overall configuration, the marking device consists of a marking head 1, a manipulator 2 that supports the marking head and moves in three dimensions, and a control mechanism. The manipulator 2 includes a left-right (X-axis) movable part 2a that is movable in the left-right (X-axis) direction;
The front-back direction (Y-axis direction) is movable in the front-back direction (Y-axis direction).
The marking head 1 is made up of a vertically movable part 2b and a vertically (Z-axis) movable part 2c that is movable in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction).
support. A material W to be marked, such as a raw pipe for piping, is conveyed by a conveyor 3 and stopped below a marking head 1 of a marking device.
A rotation device 4 with a chuck is connected to one end of the material W to be marked on the conveyor 3, so that the material W to be marked is indexed and rotated about its axis.

2 and 3 show details of the marking head 1 in plan and front view. A rotary stainless steel mill 6 in the form of an annular disc in which a large number of marking holes 5 in the shape of characters, symbols, etc. are arranged in an annular manner is connected to the output shaft of an indexing motor 8 built vertically into the head body 7 of the marking head 1. installed. Examples of the indexing motor 8 include a pulse motor, a hydraulic swing motor, a servo motor, and the like. An automatic spray gun 9 that sprays paint is positioned at an appropriate height above the pitch circle of the marking hole 5 of the rotary stencil 6, and is supported by the head body 7 by a telescoping arm 10, and is positioned coaxially between them for shielding. ring 1
1 is supported by the head body 7. A forced dryer 12 such as a hot air dryer is attached to the head main body 7 via an arm 13, radially outward from the automatic spray gun 9 and the shielding ring 11 and facing downward. At a position shifted to both sides from the automatic spray gun 9, hold the rotary stencil 6 from both sides and align the center with the pitch circle of the marking hole 5, then open the upper cleaning head 14 and the lower cleaning head 15.
is attached to the head body 7 via telescopic arms 16 and 17.

4 and 5 show a variant of the marking head 1 in plan and front view. In this marking head 1', the rotary stencil 6' has a cylindrical shape, and marking holes 5 are arranged in a ring shape along its circumferential surface. This rotating stencil 6' is connected to a horizontal output shaft of an indexing motor 8 incorporated in the head body 7' of the marking head 1', and is adapted to be indexed and rotated around the axis. . An automatic spray gun 9 is fixed to the head body 7' via a telescoping arm 10 directly below the marking hole 5 at the bottom of the rotary stencil 6'.
A shielding ring 11 is mounted on the head body 7' coaxially between the spray gun 9 and the automatic spray gun 9. A forced dryer 12 is attached to the side of the head body 7' via an arm 13 so as to face the surface of the material W to be marked. At a position shifted approximately 45 degrees on both sides of the installation position of automatic spray gun 9,
The upper cleaning head 14 and the lower cleaning head 15 sandwich the rotating stencil 6', and the telescopic arms 16, 17
The head body 7' is attached to the head body 7'.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the shielding ring 11 is formed by fitting a ring-shaped sponge 18 with a hole slightly larger than the marking hole 5 in the center into a ring-shaped holder 19 having a U-shaped cross section.

FIG. 8 shows upper and lower cleaning heads 14, 15.
represents the structure of

First, the upper cleaning head 14 will be explained. An outer cylinder 22 is screwed into the rotating stencil 6 side end of the cleaning head main body 21, through which the rotating shaft 20 passes, to form a ring-shaped gap 23. An air introduction pipe 24 for introducing compressed air is connected to the outer cylinder 22.
A ring-shaped water wheel chamber 25 is formed between the rotating shaft 20 and the cleaning head main body 21, and a water wheel 27 is attached to the rotating shaft 20 via a sliding key 26 inside the ring-shaped water wheel chamber 25. A pressure water introduction pipe 28 for introducing pressure water to the water turbine chamber 25 is connected to the washing head main body 21 . A through hole 2 is provided between the rotating shaft 20 and the main body 21 on the rotating stencil 6 side of the water turbine chamber 25.
A partition plate 30 having 9 is provided. A brush 33 having nylon or steel bristles 31 implanted therein and having a large number of through holes 32 therebetween is integrally attached to the end of the rotating shaft 20 on the side of the rotating stencil 6 by a set screw 34. A counterweight 35 is attached to the other end of the rotating shaft 20 with a split pin 36 to prevent it from falling off. Note that 37 is a bearing provided on the main body 21 to support the rotating shaft 20, and 38 is an O-ring for sealing the rotating shaft 20 and the main body 21.

The lower cleaning head 15 is set between the rotating stencils 6 and is symmetrical in structure to the upper cleaning head 14. However, a drainage channel 39 is formed in the lower part of the water turbine chamber 25, and a drain pipe 40 connected to this drainage channel 39 is connected to the main body 21'. A retaining screw 41 is screwed into the lower part of the cleaning head main body 21', and the tip of the retaining screw 41 and the rotating shaft 20 are screwed together.
A spring 42 is provided between the brush 3 and the
3 is pressed against the surface of the rotating stencil 6.

FIG. 9 shows a cross section of the upper cleaning head 14. The brush 33 is formed to be slightly larger than the center hole of the shielding ring 11, and the diameter of the cleaning head body 14 itself is within the width of the rotating stencil 6.
As shown in this figure, drainage holes 43 are provided between the marking holes 5 of the rotary stencil 6 to completely drain water from the upper cleaning head 14 to the lower cleaning head 15 side.

FIG. 10 shows the control mechanism of the automatic marking device. Character information D to be marked (e.g. material symbol, charge number, drawing number, block number, etc.)
An input device (for example, a typewriter) 44 is connected to the input side of a microcomputer 45 .
This microcomputer 45 has previously determined the position (rotation angle) of the marking hole 5 of the rotary stencil 6;
Marking operation programs and the like are stored.
The output side of the microcomputer 45 is connected to each controlled part of the marking head 1 (indexing motor 8, automatic spray gun 9, etc.), each movable part 2a, 2b, 2c of the manipulator 2, and the conveyor 3 and chuck of the auxiliary equipment. It is connected to each control device of the rotary device 4 and a detector for checking the operation. These control devices and detectors are sequentially connected to G1, G2a, and G2.
b, G2c, G3, and G4.

Marking of the material to be marked W using this device is performed in the following manner.

First, the material W to be marked is placed on the conveyor 3 by means such as a crane.

Based on the marking information D, it is manually input using the keyboard of the input device 44 or read via a separately prepared paper tape, card, etc., and the start button is pressed.

The conveyor 3 is operated according to instructions from the microcomputer 45, and the material W to be marked is inserted into the rotating device 4 with a chuck and chucked.

Each movable part 2a, 2b, 2c of manipulator 2
By this operation, the marking head 1 is moved to the required marking position on the material W to be marked, and the rotating stencil 6 is moved directly above the center of the material W to be marked.
It is stopped at a position where there is a gap of about 3 to 5 mm.

The rotary stencil 6 is rotated by the operation of the indexing motor 8, and a predetermined marking hole 5 is indexed to a position directly below the automatic spray gun 9.

This completes the preliminary marking process.

Next, the automatic spray gun 9 is operated to spray the water-based paint, and the shape is applied to the surface of the material W to be marked through the marking hole 5 of the rotary stencil 6. At this time, the sponge 18 of the shielding ring 11 absorbs the oversprayed paint, so that no excess paint is attached to the rotary stencil 6.
The moisture of the paint adsorbed on the sponge 18 is removed from the holder 1.
It accumulates at 9.

After marking one character, the rotary stencil 6 is rotated by the indexing motor 8 to either the left or right upper or lower cleaning head 14, 15 position.

Pressure water is supplied to the water wheel chamber 25 of the upper washing head 14 through the pressure water introduction pipe 28, and the rotating shaft 20 is rotated together with the water wheel 27. The brush 3 rotates together with the rotating shaft 20 and is pressurized by the counterweight 35.
The paint adhering to the surface of the rotary stencil 6 is washed away by water supplied through the brushing of No. 3 and the through holes 29 of the partition plate 30 and the through holes 32 of the brush 33. The water passes through the marking hole 5 or drain hole 43 and flows to the lower cleaning head 15. In the lower cleaning head 15, the rotary shaft 20 and brush 33 are rotated together with the water wheel 27 by pressure water, and the brush 33 is pressed against the back surface of the rotary stencil 6 by the spring 42, thereby washing away the paint adhering to the back surface. The waste water from the upper wash head 14 and the waste water from the lower wash head 15 are discharged through a drain channel 39 and a drain pipe 40. During cleaning, compressed air is blown out from the ring-shaped gap 23 toward the front and back surfaces of the rotating stencil 6, forming an air curtain.
Cleaning water is prevented from leaking outside.

After cleaning is completed, the rotary stencil 6 indexes the next marking hole 5 in response to the next character command.

Before or after this indexing, the manipulator 2
The left/right movable part 2a operates to move the marking head 1 in pitches so that the characters do not overlap.

Thereafter, marking and cleaning of the rotary stencil 6 are performed in the same manner as described above.

When the markings extend over two rows, the rotating device 4 with a chuck operates to rotate the material W to be marked by a predetermined amount.

After marking is completed, the material to be marked W is rotated by the rotating device 4 with a chuck to move the marking to the lower part of the forced dryer 12 and dry it.

Thereafter, the marking head 1 is moved back to the origin by the manipulator 2.

The material to be marked W is released from the rotating device 4 with a chuck, and the material to be marked W is carried out by the conveyor 3.

As described above with reference to the embodiments, according to the present invention, it is possible to automate the marking work of characters, symbols, etc., saving labor, shortening processes, reducing costs, and eliminating errors in writing. or,
The device according to the invention has a simple structure, is easy to control, reduces equipment costs, and, as a result of continuous automatic cleaning of the rotary stencil, clear markings can be made continuously for a long time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 and 3 are a plan view and a front view of one embodiment of the marking head, 4 and 5 are plan views and a front view of another embodiment of the marking head, and 6 and 7 are plan views of the shielding ring. 8 is a half sectional view of the upper and lower cleaning heads, FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view of FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a system diagram of the control mechanism. In the drawing, W is the material to be marked, 1 and 1' are marking heads, 2 is a manipulator, 3 is a conveyor, 4 is a rotating device with a chuck, 5 is a marking hole, 6 and 6' are a rotating stencil, and 9 is an automatic sprayer. 14 is an upper cleaning head, and 15 is a lower cleaning head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A head body that is moved three-dimensionally by a manipulator and positioned relative to the material to be marked;
an annular stencil supported by a head body and having a large number of marking holes; an indexing mechanism that indexes and rotates the stencil in order to index and rotate the marking holes to be marked on a material to be marked at a predetermined index position; A spray gun that sprays paint toward an indexed marking hole provided above the indexing position, and a brush that is provided above the stencil and in contact with the stencil at a position other than the indexed position are sprayed with pressure water. an upper washing head which supplies the pressurized water to the brushing part by the brush and further surrounds the brushing part with an air curtain to prevent leakage of the water; A brush provided under the stencil and in contact with the stencil is rotated by pressurized water, and an air curtain is placed around the area brushed by the brush to prevent leakage of water, and further in the upper cleaning head. a lower washing head adapted to discharge the water supplied and flowing down through the marking hole.