JPH0347998B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a cable handling device for an industrial robot, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a cable handling device for an industrial robot. The present invention relates to a cable handling device for an industrial robot supporting cables guided into a possible swiveling housing.

(Prior art) Industrial robots are fixed to the floor or mounted on a base that can move along the floor. Figure 7 shows an industrial robot with a base fixed to the floor. FIG. 2 is a side view showing an example of a robot.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a base fixed to the floor of the installation location, and a support housing 2 is provided at the top of the base 1 to serve as the θ-axis fixed side, and the upper part is rotatable within a predetermined rotation range. A rotating housing 3 is provided on the θ-axis movable side. Then, the support part 05 of the first arm 04 is inserted from above the rotating housing 3, and by controlling the height (Z) of the support part 05, the height of the first arm 04 from the floor is adjusted. controlled. 06
is a second arm rotatably provided at the tip of the first arm 04, and a wrist 07 is provided at the tip of the second arm 06.

In such industrial robots, in order to guide power cables, signal cables, etc. from the outside to the rotating housing 3 that supports the first arm 04, etc., it is necessary to connect them to the supporting housing 2 via the base 1. After being introduced, it is normal to guide it into the rotating housing 3. The parts of these cables on the side of the turning case 3 are connected to the turning case 3.
Since the cable moves in the turning direction according to the turning operation of the support case 2, the cable is accommodated inside the support case 2 by a predetermined length that does not interfere with the turning of the turn case 3. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to prevent the accommodated cable from being subjected to excessive bending stress and the surface of the cable from being damaged during the swinging operation of the swinging housing 3.

For this reason, in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-0732027, as a cable support device for an industrial robot, as shown in FIGS.
A strip-shaped plate member 4 having spring properties is disposed on the outer circumferential surface 31 of the rotating housing 3 facing the inner circumferential surface 21, and a plurality of cable holders are provided at predetermined positions on the plate member 4. 41, a proposal is made to support power cables and signal cables.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the above-mentioned proposal for a cable support device for an industrial robot, the plate member 4 having spring properties is composed of a stainless steel plate and a resin plate such as nylon,
Since the cable holder 41 has a plurality of shelf shapes, it is suitable for supporting cables. However, each time the rotating housing 3 rotates relative to the supporting housing 2, the plate member 4 repeatedly bends, and especially in a relatively small industrial robot, the plate member 4 at the part A shown in FIG. 5 has a narrow space. Since the radius of curvature of the bending of the member 4 is small, there is a risk that the plate member 4 may break due to fatigue due to repeated bending stress during long-term use. Furthermore, the plate member 4 that is moved to the outer circumferential surface 31 by the rotating operation of the rotating case 3 has a radius of curvature smaller than that of the plate member 4 on the inner circumferential surface 21 of the support case 2, and furthermore, the plate member 4 that is moved to the outer circumferential surface 31 by the turning operation of the rotating case 3 has a radius of curvature smaller than that of the plate member 4 on the inner circumferential surface 21 of the support case 2. Since it is bent, it is difficult to bend due to the stress of the plate member 4 and the cable in this part, which has the problem of causing damage to the plate member 4 and the cable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to prevent damage even if excessive bending stress is applied to the cable handling device that supports the cable led from the outside to the swing housing via the support housing. To provide a cable handling device for an industrial robot that can support cables without having to do so.

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, the present invention includes a cylindrical support housing and a rotating housing that is supported by the support housing and rotates. In a cable handling device for an industrial robot equipped with a cable guided into a rotating housing, in a space where an outer guide provided in the supporting housing and an inner guide provided in the rotating housing face each other,
A chain part assembly in which a plurality of chain parts of the same shape are connected in a band shape and can be bent in the direction of the turning surface of a turning case, and each chain part is provided with a cable entrance and exit that communicates with a cable passage and has a lid. Provided is a cable handling device for an industrial robot, characterized in that the cable is bent and stored, and the cable is stored in a cable passage communicating through a chain assembly.

(Function) A chain part assembly connected to be able to bend left and right within a predetermined curvature is bent and stored in a space where an outer guide provided on the support case and an inner guide provided on the swing case face each other, Since the chain part assembly is provided with a cable passage through which the cable is inserted, the chain part assembly can be freely bent left and right in the space, and the cable stored in the cable passage can be bent during the swinging operation of the swinging housing. This can be sufficiently protected without applying excessive bending stress. In addition, each chain part that makes up the chain part assembly has an entrance/exit for inspecting and removing cables, and a lid that can be opened and closed to cover it. Inspection or removal can be easily done by opening the lid, and when the equipment is actually in operation, closing the entrance with the lid will prevent cables from jumping out of the chain assembly. do not have.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a cable processing device for an industrial robot according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the part, and Fig. 3 is a cut along the cutting line -' shown in Fig. 2. FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 22 is an outer guide with a U-shaped cross section provided on the support housing 2, and forms a fan shape with a predetermined angle according to the rotation range (θ°) of the rotating housing 3. There is. The U-shaped opening is facing inward. Reference numeral 32 denotes an inner guide having a U-shaped cross section provided in the rotating housing 3, which forms a fan shape with a predetermined angle according to θ° of the rotating housing 3, and is connected to the outer guide 2.
The U-shaped opening faces outward so as to face the opening of No. 2.

In a half-doughnut-shaped space V formed by the outer guide 22 and the inner guide 32 facing each other, a plurality of block-shaped chain parts 5, which will be described in detail later, are connected to each other to form a belt, into which a cable is inserted and housed. The two chain assembly units CA are bent into a substantially modified U-shape and housed so as to face each other. One end of the chain assembly CA is attached to the support casing 2 side, and the other end is attached to the swing casing 3 side, details of which will be described later.

Made of synthetic resin molded product, chain assembly
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the chain portion 5 constituting the CA has a U-shaped opening 52 with a pin hole 51 on one side in the connection direction and an interval P, and an opening on the other side of the one side. The connecting part 53 is connected to the part 52, and the height direction of the connecting part 53 forms a dimension Q to be inserted into the interval P. Furthermore, it has a pin 54 in the vertical direction, and has a pin 54 in the vertical direction. 51. Therefore, the openings 52 and connecting parts 53 of the plurality of chain parts 5 are inserted into each other, and the pin holes 51 are inserted into each other.
When the pins 54 and 54 are engaged with each other, a long chain assembly CA can be constructed as shown in FIG.

In addition, as clearly shown in the perspective view of the chain section shown in FIG. 2, the opening 5
2 and the connecting portion 53 form notches 52a and 53a in both the vertical direction, respectively.
The connected chain portions 5 can be bent left and right with ease around the pin 54, and the shape of the cutout portion 53a of the connecting portion 53 is formed so that it does not come into contact with the adjacent chain portion 5 and has a curvature less than a predetermined curvature. There is.

Furthermore, the chain section 5 has a cable passage 55 that passes through the partition plate 55a vertically in the connecting direction, so that even when a plurality of chain sections 5 are connected,
The cable passages 55 are formed to engage and communicate with each other. Note that the partition plates 55a are configured such that their number, removal, and movement are possible.

The entrance/exit 56 shown in FIG. 2 is an entrance/exit for mounting or replacing cables stored in the cable passage 55.
It is provided on the side surface of the chain section 5. and,
A lid 57 having a claw 57a is provided so as to cover the entrance/exit 56 when the rotating housing 3 is turned, and the recess 5a provided on the upper surface of the chain portion 5 and the claw 57a engage to close the entrance/exit 56. has been done.
Note that the lower part of the lid 57 and the lower surface of the chain part 5 are
They are connected in a flexible manner by a synthetic resin hinge part 5b that is molded when the chain part 5 is molded.

Next, in FIG. 4, reference numeral 58 denotes a support-side fixture provided at one end of the connected chain part assembly CA, and one side of which is provided with a screw hole 58a for attaching to the end of the outer guide 22. For example, a pin 58b similar to the pin 54 in the connecting part 53 of the chain part 5 is provided on one side of the chain part 5, and is connected to the opening part 52 of the chain part 5. Further, 59 is a swing side fitting provided at the other end of the connected chain part assembly CA, and one side thereof is provided with a screw hole 59a for attaching to the end of the inner guide 32, and the other side is provided with, for example, Pin hole 5 in opening 52 of chain part 5
It has a pin hole 59b similar to 1, and is connected to the connecting part 53 of the chain part 5. The chain part shown in FIG. 4, in which the supporting side fixture 58 and the swinging side fixture 59 are connected to both ends, is composed of an outer guide 22 and an inner guide 32, both of which have openings facing each other, as shown in FIG.
They are attached to the ends of the support side attachment 58 and the rotation side attachment part 59, respectively.

Note that the shaded area shown in FIG. 4 indicates one frame of the chain section 5.

In FIG. 1, 6 passes through the connected cable passage 55 of the connected chain assembly CA,
This is a cable that extends from the outer guide 22 side to the inner guide 32 side, and is a conducting wire that supplies power and sends and receives signals. Further, the guide rail 7 is installed on the support case 2 with a mounting bracket 71, and when the swing case 3 is rotated and the swing side fixture 59 is operated in the direction of pushing back the connected chain part assembly CA. , which is a guide for the purpose of preventing irregular meandering of the chain portion 5.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be explained.

In FIG. 1, cable 6 is connected to cable passage 5.
5 and are connected to each other, one end of which is fixed to the end of the outer guide 22 by a supporting side fitting 58, and the other end is fixed to the inner guide 32 by a swinging side fitting 59. When the rotating housing 3 rotates due to the rotating operation of the industrial robot, the connected chain portions 5 are sequentially pulled forward and pushed back from the rotating side fixture 59 side. When the outer guide 22 is pulled forward, the inner chain portion 5 of the outer guide 22 rotates about the pin portion 54 relative to the adjacent chain portion 5, and sequentially moves the inner guide 32.
The cable 6 is moved to the inside of the inner guide 32 so as to surround the inner wall of the inner guide 32. In addition, the rotating housing 3
Due to the rotation of the chain part 5, the rotation side fitting 59
During the operation of sequentially pushing back from the side, the connected chain part assembly CA is prevented from meandering irregularly by the guide rail 7, and the shape of the notch 53a of the connecting part 53 of the chain part 5 is maintained. According to
Since the bending exceeds a predetermined curvature, the chain assembly CA located inside the inner guide 32 is sequentially housed inside the outer guide 22, and at the same time, the cable 6 also moves from the inner guide 32 to the outer guide 22. I will do it.

Note that when replacing the cable 6 stored in the cable passage 55 of the chain section 5, the cable inside the chain section 5 can be easily replaced by removing the lid 57 provided on the chain section 5 and opening the entrance 56. .

As mentioned above, the present invention has been explained using one embodiment, but various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, the present invention provides an outer guide provided on a support casing and an inner guide provided on a rotating casing that are connected in a space where they face each other so that they can be bent left and right within a predetermined curvature. Since a chain part assembly is installed and a cable path is provided in the chain part assembly for passing the cable, the power and signal cables from the support case housed in the cable path to the swing case are subjected to excessive bending stress. In addition, damage to the surface of the cable can be prevented, and the cable can be sufficiently protected.

Further, according to the present invention, a synthetic resin molded product is used for the chain part that stores the cables, and the cable passage is provided with an entrance and a cover for mounting and replacing cables, so that the cables are stored in the chain part. In addition, in the event of an abnormality in the chain part assembly, only the abnormal chain part can be removed and the chain part for repair can be replaced, making maintenance work easier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a cable processing device for an industrial robot according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the part, and Fig. 3 is a cutting line -' shown in Fig. 2.
4 is a top view showing the connected chain parts, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional cable support device, FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the main parts, and FIG. 7 is a top view showing the connected chain parts. FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of an industrial robot. 2... Support case, 3... Swivel case, 5... Chain section, 6... Cable, 7... Guide rail,
22...outer guide, 32...inner guide, 51...
Pin hole, 52... Opening, 53... Connecting part, 54
...Pin, 55...Cable passage, 56...Entrance/exit, 57...Lid, CA...Chain part assembly, V
……space.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical support case, a rotating case that is supported by the support case and rotates, and a cable that is guided from the outside through the support case and into the swing case. In cable handling equipment for industrial robots,
A plurality of chain parts having the same shape are connected in a band-like manner in a space where an outer guide provided on a support case and an inner guide provided on a swing case are opposed, and can be bent in the direction of the turning surface of the swing case. , a chain part assembly having a cable entrance/exit communicating with the cable passage and having a lid is bent and stored in each chain part, and the cable is stored in the cable passage communicating through the chain part assembly. Cable handling equipment for industrial robots. 2. The chain section has a cable passage passing through the interior thereof, and has a pin at one end that engages with a pin hole in an adjacent chain section, and a pin hole at the other end that engages with a pin in the other chain section. A cable processing device for an industrial robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: 3. The cable processing device for an industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein the chain assembly is bendable to both sides at least about the cable passage.