JPH0134893B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a micro parts alignment device that aligns the directions of micro parts having directionality.
The purpose of this is to effectively align minute parts with shapes that have small dimensional differences due to directionality and are difficult to select based on directionality.

As shown in Fig. 1A and B, a conventional device for aligning parts with directionality is one in which parts 2 fed from a parts feeder 1 etc. are sorted and aligned using a gate 3 provided at the outlet of the parts feeder 1. It was hot. This gate part 3 is equipped with a gate plate 3' having a predetermined directionality as shown in FIG. It was hot.

At this time, if the part 2 is minute and the dimensional difference due to directionality is small, even a slight burr has a large effect, so it is easy to get clogged in the gate part 3.
In addition, even when it is in the correct direction, it may get caught and removed, which poses problems in terms of reliability, operation rate, and alignment efficiency.

The present invention is a micro parts aligning device that eliminates the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and one embodiment thereof will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, as an example of a minute part having directionality, a clamper 6 as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B which clamps an end of a magnetic tape 5 to a hub 4 of a microcassette tape will be considered. Since this clamper is minute and there is not much difference in dimensions A and B, it is difficult to sort it using the conventional gate plate 3'.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main part from direction P in the figure.

The clampers 6 randomly supplied to the parts feeder 7 have four types of postures 6a, 6 as shown in FIG.
The primary alignment unit 8 in any of the postures b, 6c, and 6d.
, and the postures 6c and 6d are removed here due to the dimensional condition of A<C shown in FIG. 2A. The clampers in postures 6a and 6b are straight feeder 9
The rotary table 11 passes through the suction section 10.
The rotary table is held under suction by the rotary table, and when the rotary table is rotated by 90 degrees, the detecting section 12 detects which of the two directions it is in. An output signal from the control section 13 which receives this detection output as input causes the clamper to control the extraction section 14.
They are taken out from the rotary table 11 at points a and 14b, respectively, and aligned in alignment sections 15a and 15b.

Further details of each part will be explained below.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the primary alignment section 8, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view thereof. 7 is a parts feeder to which the clamp 6 is conveyed; 24 is a motor for driving the primary alignment section 8; and 16 is a drive pulley provided on the shaft of the motor 24. 17 is a belt that transmits driving force to the driven pulley 18, and 19 is a rail provided continuously on the parts feeder 7. The driven pulley 18 is located above the rail 19. The pulley 18 has a shape in which a normal pulley and a square plate having one side slightly larger than the diameter of the pulley are fixed together, and the lower surface of this square plate-shaped portion and the conveyance surface of the rail 19 A predetermined distance K is provided between the two.

Here, the clamper 6 conveyed on the rail 19 has four positions shown in FIG. 4A to 4E. Clamper 6
If the length of each part is as shown in FIG. 2A, then in the postures 6a and 6b of FIG. 4, the rail 19
The height from the conveyance surface is A, and the postures 6c and 6d
Similarly, the height will be C. Therefore, if the distance K between the lower surface of the pulley 18 and the conveyance surface of the rail 19 is A<K<C, only the clampers in postures 6a and 6b will be conveyed on the rail.

Therefore, in this primary alignment section 8, the clampers 6 in various postures, which have been transported by the parts feeder 7, are fed to the rail 19 as they are. On the other hand, the rotation of the motor 24 is transmitted to the pulley 18 by the pulley 16 and the belt 17, and the lower surface of this pulley is at a distance K such that A<K<C as described above from the conveyance surface of the rail 19.
Keep it rotating. Therefore, the clampers in postures 6c and 6d, which are being conveyed on the rail at height C, come into contact with the lower end of the pulley 18, and slide off the rail 19, which has one side open and forms a slope. The clamper removed and dropped by the pulley 18 is automatically collected by the parts feeder 7 and conveyed again. On the other hand, the clampers in postures 6a and 6b transported on the rail at height A pass through this rail 19 and are sent to the next device. Furthermore, if the clampers in the postures 6c and 6d come into contact with the pulley 18 and remain on the rail in the postures 6a and 6b, they are conveyed as they are, that is, their postures have been corrected.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the suction unit 10 and the rotary table 11, and FIG. 8 shows a sectional view of the main parts thereof.

The clampers 6 aligned in two directions (postures 6a, 6b) in the primary alignment section 8 are conveyed to the surface of the rotary table 11 by the linear feeder 9. The rotary table 11 is provided with holding holes 20 at intervals of 90 degrees, which communicate the front and back surfaces. A suction section 10 is provided on the back surface of this rotary table 11, and a linear feeder 9
The holding hole 20 is located on an extension of the central axis of the holding hole 20, and the suction port 21 of the suction unit 10 is aligned and opened with respect to the holding hole 20. Therefore, one clamper 6 that has been conveyed to the surface of the rotary table 11 is inserted into the holding hole 20 of the rotary table 11 by the conveyance action using the vibration of the linear feeder 9 and the suction force by the air from the suction port 21. .

Thereafter, the rotary table 11 rotates 90 degrees about its axis 25 and transfers the clamper housed in the holding hole 20 to the detection section 12. At this time, the next clamper is held by suction in the next holding hole at a position 90° different.

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of the detection unit 12. 10A and 10B are front views for explaining the detection state by the detection piece 23. FIG.

In this case, one of the retaining holes 20 is provided with an inclined surface 26, and the tip of the detection piece 23 that comes into contact with the clamper 6 has a shape within a horizontal plane. 22 is a reference sleeve provided at the tip of the cylinder that rises synchronously when the holding hole 20 reaches a predetermined position, and the detection piece 23 is attached to this sleeve 2.
2 and is designed to move up and down independently. Note that the reference sleeve 22 rises and comes into contact with the circumferential end of the rotary table 11, and the detection piece 23 enters into a hole 27 provided to communicate from this circumferential end to the holding hole 20.

Fig. 10A shows the case where the clamper is held in the holding hole 20 in the posture 6a in Fig. 7, and Fig. 10B shows the case when the clamper is held in the posture 6b. It shows the state where it has reached position 12.

With respect to the clamper held in the posture 6a or 6b, the reference sleeve 22 at the tip of the cylinder rises in the detection unit 12, and its upper surface is aligned with the rotary table 11.
When it comes into contact with the circumferential end of the reference sleeve 22, the detection piece 23 in the reference sleeve 22 rises so as to enter the hole 27 in the rotary table. At this time, the clamper 6 inside the holding hole 20
is pushed up by the detection piece 23, but the slope part 2
6 and the postures 6a and 6b, the distance from the upper surface of the reference sleeve 22 to the upper end of the detection piece 23 differs as H ₁ and H ₂ . (Here, H ₁ > H ₂ ) From this difference, the attitude (directivity) of the clamper 6 in the holding hole 20 is detected, so the detection unit 12 sends a signal regarding this attitude to the control unit 13 as a detection output. .

Note that in the detection section, the reference sleeve and detection piece each need to have their shapes determined by minute parts. In addition, the clamper 6 may be of any type as long as its posture (here, there are two types, 6a and 6b) can be determined, and Fig. 11 A and I correspond to Fig. 10 A and I. Another example is shown below. 1st
In FIG. 1, the detection piece 23' in the reference sleeve 22' is a plate-shaped body having a V-shaped notch at the upper part, and it moves up and down in the same way as described above. And Figure 11A,
As shown in FIG. 1, the distance from the upper surface of the reference sleeve 22' to the upper end of the detection piece 23' varies depending on the posture of the clamper (H ₁ '<H ₂ ') when the clamper stops rising.

Next, when the detection unit 12 detects the direction of the clamper, the control unit 13 controls the rotary table 11.
Rotated 180° or 90°. That is, posture 6a
For the clamper in position 6b, a control signal is issued to rotate the holding hole 20 by 180 degrees so that it faces the take-out part 14a, and for the clamper in the position 6b, it is rotated 90 degrees so that its holding hole 20 faces the take-out part 14b. Emit a control signal to rotate. Therefore, a clamper with a single orientation (direction) is supplied to each extraction section, and if one clamper is pushed out to the alignment sections 15a and 15b one by one, the clamper with the attitude 6a will be placed in the alignment section 15a. , the clampers in the posture 6b are aligned and held in the alignment section 15b.

Incidentally, FIG. 12 shows an operational flowchart of the apparatus of this embodiment.

According to the configuration of the above embodiment, the clamper postures in the primary alignment section 8 are limited to two types, 6a and 6b, and clogging of the clampers in the alignment section 8 and the linear feeder 9 can be prevented. Next, the clampers in the postures 6a and 6b fed by the linear feeder 9 can be reliably held one by one in the holding hole 20 of the rotary table 11 by the suction unit 10. Further, the held clamper is moved away from the feed direction in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction by the rotation of the rotary table 11 while being held.
Efficiently, the detection section 12 detects the difference between the clamper postures 6a and 6b, and the control section 13 inputs this detection signal, which controls the rotation angle of the rotary table 11 to 180 degrees or 90 degrees. , and facing the take-out portions 14a and 14b corresponding to the posture 6a or 6b, it is easy to distinguish the remaining two postures and to separate them. And each take-out part 14a, 14
The clampers pushed out to the alignment parts 15a and 15b by b are reliably aligned in only one direction. Therefore, by removing the alignment parts 15a and 15b, two clamper arrays aligned in exactly the same direction can be obtained, which is very efficient.

As described above, the micro parts alignment device of the present invention has the following features:
a rotary table that has at least three or more holding holes concentrically and rotates intermittently; a parts supply unit that feeds micro parts having directionality to the holding holes on the rotary table with primary direction regulation; It has a detection piece that moves from the outer periphery of the rotary table that confines minute parts in a holding hole with directionality, and the distance from the circumferential surface of the rotary table to the minute parts that are confined between the holding hole and the detection piece is determined by rotation of the detection piece. a parts detection unit that detects the movement amount from the table surrounding surface and determines the direction of the micro parts in the holding hole;
a parts extraction section that takes out the micro parts whose direction has been detected by the parts detection section from the holding hole of the rotary table; and a parts extraction section that takes out the micro parts whose direction has been detected by the parts detection section from the holding hole of the rotary table; At a second rotational position, the part detection unit detects the direction of the micropart held in the holding hole of the rotary table, and at a third rotational position, the direction of the micropart detected by the part detection unit is detected. The present invention is characterized by comprising a control unit that controls the extraction of minute parts by the parts extraction unit according to the conditions, and a parts supply unit that controls the primary direction of the minute parts and feeds them to the holding hole of the rotary table. Therefore, the part detection unit can accurately detect the orientation of the parts without causing any clogging when the parts supply unit feeds them into the holding holes of the rotary table, and the parts detection unit can also hold minute parts. Since the directionality of a minute part is detected by the amount of displacement of the detection piece when it is confined in a hole and a detection piece, it has the advantage of simplifying the configuration and making subsequent signal processing easier. Even if the height is the same, the direction can be detected if the shape is asymmetrical. By controlling the rotational position of the rotary table using the detection output of this part detection unit, the holding hole of the rotary table can be accurately and efficiently detected. The parts can be taken out and arranged.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a conventional micro parts alignment device, FIG. 1B is a configuration diagram of its main parts, FIG.
The figure is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.
D is a sectional view of the main part showing the attitude of the clamper, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the primary alignment section, FIG. 6 is a sectional view thereof, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the rotary table section, and FIG. Main part sectional view, Figure 9 is a perspective view of the detection part, 1st
Figures 0A and 0A are front views of the main parts for explaining the detection operation, Figures 11A and 1A are front views of the main parts during detection according to another embodiment, and Figure 12 is a flowchart explaining the operation. . 7...Parts feeder, 8...Primary alignment section, 9
... Straight feeder, 10 ... Suction section, 11 ... Rotary table, 12 ... Detection section, 13 ... Control section,
14a, 14b... Removal part, 20... Holding hole, 2
2...Reference sleeve, 23...Detection piece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary table that has at least three or more concentric holding holes and rotates intermittently, and a parts supply unit that feeds micro parts having directionality to the holding holes on the rotary table with primary direction regulation. , has a detection piece that moves from the outer periphery of the rotary table to directionally confine micro parts in the holding hole, and the detection piece measures the distance of the micro parts trapped in the holding hole from the surrounding surface of the rotary table. A part detection unit that detects the movement amount from the surrounding surface of the rotary table and determines the direction of the minute part in the holding hole, and a part detection unit that detects the direction of the minute part in the holding hole of the rotary table. a parts extraction section to take out the parts from the rotary table; and a part supplying section that supplies minute parts to a holding hole of the rotary table at a first rotational position of the rotary table, and a holding hole of the rotary table that is held by the parts detection section at a second rotational position. a control unit that detects the direction of the minute part held in the hole and controls the part take-out unit to take out the minute part according to the direction of the minute part detected by the part detection unit at a third rotational position; A micro parts alignment device characterized by being equipped with.