JPH0363446B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to bending using a press or bender machine, and particularly to a method of operating a work follower that automatically follows a work.

[Conventional technology] When automating the bending process of a single item using a press or bender machine, a robot, etc. that automatically feeds and discharges the workpiece, and a workpiece follower device that continues to follow and hold the movement of the workpiece due to the bending action are required. It becomes necessary.

This work follower is a device that prevents deformation of the workpiece due to bending pressure, positions the workpiece that has been bent at a predetermined position, and allows it to be discharged by a robot or the like.

Such a work-following device has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-207815 (unpublished) by the present applicant. Therefore, in order to clarify the problems to be solved by the present invention, this device will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing this work follower device attached to a bender bending machine.
The bender 1, which has a U-shaped cross section, is provided with a work follower 2, and a ram 3 of the bender machine is provided above this to protrude.
is installed. A lower mold 5 is provided at a position facing the upper mold 4, and a lower mold spacer 6 is provided below it in order to attach the work follower 2. Further, a lower plate 8 on which a work follower 2 is attached is mounted on a bed 7 provided on the bender 1. A workpiece 24, which will be described later and which is supplied by a robot or the like, is positioned on a positioning pin 10 implanted in a workpiece receiver 9 for receiving a workpiece.

Next, the structure of the workflow device will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view of the work follower device. Electromagnetic magnet 11 for adsorbing the workpiece
is attached to a magnetic holder 21, and this magnetic holder 12 is attached to a positioning block 13.
Positioned by The leaf spring 14 has one end attached to the magnetic holder 12 and the other end attached to the drum 15. It has a structure that is wrapped around the drum 15 and is configured to be housed in the drum case 16. Also, drum 1
5 is fixed to the shaft 17, with helical couplings 26 attached to both sides of the clutch 18, and is rotatable by a motor 19 via a gearbox 20. A mounting block 21 for mounting the motor 19 and gearbox 20 is attached to the base 22. The seating confirmation sensor 23 is used to confirm that the magnetic holder 12 has been correctly returned to the positioning block 13 by corresponding to a dog 27 attached to the magnetic holder 12.

Next, the operation of the workflow device will be explained using FIGS. 5 to 8.

Fig. 5 shows the work 24 set before bending, Fig. 6 shows the plate spring 14 pulled out after bending, and Fig. 7 shows the upper mold after bending. Figure 8 shows the state where drum case 1 has risen to the top dead center, and Figure 8 shows the drum case 1 after unwinding the leaf spring.
It shows how it is stored in 6. Note that each of the above figures is for showing the operation of the workflow device, and vendors and the like are omitted.

First, a robot (not shown) moves the workpiece 2.
The positioning holes 25 of No. 4 are positioned on the positioning pins 10, 10 of the workpiece receiver 9. Here, the electromagnetic magnet 11 is turned on by the action of a control section (not shown), and the workpiece 24 is attracted. Then, the upper mold 4 descends to bend the workpiece 24. The electromagnetic magnet 11 adsorbed to the workpiece 24 rises as the workpiece 24 moves. At this time, the leaf spring 14, which has one end fixed to the electromagnetic magnet 11 and the other end wound around the drum 15, is pulled out. In other words, since the clutch 18 is OFF, the leaf spring 14
Then, the drum case 16 is pulled out with a load of only the friction of the drum case 16.

When the upper mold 4 rises, the motor 19 is activated by the action of the control unit.
Then, turn on the clutch 18 and wind up the leaf spring 14. When the magnet holder 12 is positioned on the positioning block 13, the electromagnetic magnet 11
The workpiece 24 that was being attracted is also positioned again by the positioning pins 10, 10 of the workpiece receiver 9. At this point, the electromagnet 11 is turned off and the workpiece 24 is ejected by a robot or the like.

By the way, if the magnetic holder 12 does not return to the positioning block 13 correctly due to some trouble, the seating confirmation sensor 23 is turned OFF.
If it does not turn on within a certain period of time, an error lamp (not shown) is lit and error information is also displayed. At the same time, the clutch 18 and motor 19 are also turned off.

Furthermore, in order to prevent overload due to trouble, etc., a helical coupling 2 is installed on the shaft 17 as described above.
6 is used. The helical coupling 26 is a metal spring coupling in which a spiral cut is made in a cylindrical material, and is structured to break when excessive torque is generated. Moreover, regarding storing the electromagnetic magnet 11 in the positioning block 13,
Adjustment is made so that the elastic force of the leaf spring 14 and the frictional force within the drum 15 are balanced. In this way, the operation method is such that it is confirmed by the signal from the seating confirmation sensor 23 that the magnetic holder 12 is correctly seated on the positioning block 13, and the next operation is repeated.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, according to the method of operating the work-following device described above, the balance between the elastic force of the leaf spring and the frictional force within the drum may not be maintained due to an increase in the operating time of the work-following device.
As a result, the elastic force of the leaf spring becomes stronger, and the magnetic holder connected to the leaf spring lifts up from the positioning block, causing the problem that the operation cannot be restarted, especially at the initial stage. In such cases, the operator would check each time, retract the leaf springs, and restart the machine.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is a press bending workpiece that can be automatically operated without operator intervention when a seating confirmation sensor error is detected during the initial operation of the work follower. The purpose is to provide a method of operating a follower.

[Means for solving problems]

The operating method of the press bending work follower according to the present invention includes adding a brake to brake the rotation of the drum, determining whether the operation is normal or abnormal based on the signal from the seating confirmation sensor, and in the case of abnormal operation, the motor The system is characterized by rotating the drum for a certain period of time to reel in the drum, applying a brake to prevent it from rotating in the opposite direction again, and displaying an error message only if the seating confirmation sensor signal does not turn on.

[Effect]

The operating method of the press bending work follower of the present invention is configured as described above, so that the seating confirmation sensor can confirm and judge whether the operation is normal or abnormal, and when the sensor is in abnormal operation, The brake, which works to give a signal to display an error and brake the rotation of the drum, rotates the motor for a certain period of time to reel in the drum during abnormal operation, and prevents the drum from rotating in the reverse direction after confirming normal operation. work like that.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the main invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a work follower device to which an embodiment of the operating method according to the present invention is applied.
The difference between this and the conventional one is that a clutch/brake combination unit 28 is used instead of a clutch.
It is equipped with The other mechanisms and operations are the same as those in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 61-207815, and the same elements are given the same reference numerals.
Omit duplicate explanations.

This clutch/brake combination unit 28 is
It has a structure in which clutch action and brake action can be switched and used by a control section (not shown), but both cannot be used at the same time; control is such that when one is turned on, the other is turned off. The clutch is for connecting the rotational torque of the motor 19 to the drum 15, and the brake is for braking the rotation of the drum 15.

Next, an example of the operating method according to the present invention will be explained. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the operating method according to this embodiment. First, during the initial operation, the seating confirmation sensor 23 is used to confirm 102 whether the magnetic holder 12 is securely seated on the positioning block 13. while seated
If the ON signal is confirmed, it is in a normal state, and therefore, the brake is turned ON and normal operation immediately begins 104.

If the OFF signal is confirmed due to poor seating, it means that the magnetic holder 12 is not correctly housed in the positioning block 13. Therefore, first of all, the clutch of the clutch/brake combination unit 28 is selected (106). Next, turn on the clutch 108, then turn on the motor 19.
At the same time as turning on 110, turn on time monitoring 1
12. By turning on both the clutch and the motor 19, the torque of the motor 19 is transmitted to the drum 15, and winding of the leaf spring 14 is therefore started.

Then, during a certain period of monitoring (in the example, 1
2), it is checked 114 whether the signal of the seating confirmation sensor 23 has changed to ON or remains OFF.
When the signal of the seating confirmation sensor 23 changes to ON, the time monitoring is turned OFF 116, and then the motor 1
118 to turn 9 off. At the same time, the brake of the clutch/brake combined unit 28 is selected 120 and the brake is turned ON 104. Therefore, the brake is applied when the motor 19 is OFF.
Since this is performed continuously up to the ON state, there is no room for reverse rotation of the drum 15 due to the action of the leaf spring 14. As a result, the seated magnetic holder 12
will be held in a seated position and will resume normal operation.

If the signal of the seating confirmation sensor 23 does not turn ON during monitoring for a certain period of time, that is, if it remains OFF and the time monitoring error turns ON 122, the time monitoring is turned OFF 124, and then the motor 19 Turn OFF 126, and also turn OFF the clutch 1
28. Then, the error lamp is turned on and error information is displayed (130) in the same manner as in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 61-207815. The operator removes the cause of the error and restarts from the initial process.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is determined whether the operation is normal or abnormal based on the signal from the seating confirmation sensor, and if the operation is abnormal, the motor is rotated for a certain period of time to stop the drum. The system involves applying a brake to prevent it from rotating in the opposite direction again, and also displays an error only when the seating confirmation sensor signal does not turn ON. This eliminates initial errors, increases the effectiveness of unmanned operation, and improves robot control. This has the effect of significantly reducing the number of operator error handling operations within the turning range of the vehicle, and is expected to improve safety.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the steps of an operating method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the installation of a work-following device in a vendor according to the basic technology of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a work-following device to which the method of the embodiment is applied, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the work-following device shown in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 5 to 8 are shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the operation of the workflow device. 102... Seating confirmation step, 104... Brake ON step, 112... Time monitoring step, 120... Brake selection step.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method of operating a press bending work follower that follows the movement of a workpiece due to bending action during bending and holds the workpiece, a brake is provided to control the rotation of the drum, and a magnetic holder is a positioning block. It is determined whether the drum is operating normally or abnormally based on the signal from the seating confirmation sensor that confirms that the drum is seated inside the drum. If the robot is not seated, it will be treated as abnormal, and after rotating the motor for a certain period of time and winding up the drum,
The brake is applied to prevent this from rotating backwards again, and then the normal processing described above is performed, and the seating confirmation sensor signal remains ON even after monitoring for a certain period of time.
A method of operating a press bending work follower, characterized in that an error is displayed only when the work is not performed.