JPH04890B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an inspection method for inspecting the dimensions, etc. of an article such as a workpiece, which is installed in at least one station in a transfer line provided with a plurality of stations. The present invention relates to an article conveyance device in an article inspection apparatus that sequentially conveys articles to the apparatus using a lift-and-carry method.

(Prior Art) A lift-and-carry method is used as a transport method in which objects to be transported, such as workpieces, are sequentially transported at predetermined intervals to each station on a transfer line where various processing devices or inspection devices are installed. There is something called. As shown in FIG. 1, this lift-and-carry system transport equipment includes stations ST ₁ to _{ST 5} , which serve as stages for processing or inspecting a work W, which is an article to be transported, on a transfer line. A workpiece W is placed on each of these stations _ST1 to _ST5 .
For example, a receiving jig with a groove-shaped workpiece receiving part
F ₁ to F ₅ are sequentially arranged at a distance corresponding to a unit transport section (one pitch) in the transport direction of the workpiece W (arrow 1 in the figure). In addition, a transport bar 2 supported movably in horizontal and vertical directions is installed at each station.
Workpiece mounting sections 3 are arranged on both sides of ST ₁ to _{ST 5} , and are arranged on the upper surface 2a of the transport bar 2 at intervals corresponding to the unit transport section.

Then, the conveyor bar 2 is moved by the arrow a in the figure,
As shown by b, c, and d, it is driven to repeatedly perform movements in which one cycle is each stroke of ascending a, advancing b, descending c, and retreating d. As a result, the workpieces W placed on the receiving jigs _F1 to _F5 of the stations _ST1 to _ST5 are all delivered to and picked up by the workpiece mounting section 3 during the upward stroke of the transport bar 2. After being fed one pitch in the transport direction in this state, the receiving jig for each station ST ₂ to ST ₅ , which is the next station along the work transport route, is moved.
F ₂ to F ₅ and placed on an unillustrated unloading conveyor,
Thereafter, the same operation is performed to sequentially transport the paper to each station.

In the above-mentioned lift-and-carry type transport equipment, it is possible to transport objects such as workpieces from a loading station to an unloading station at regular time intervals without causing them to slide or roll. At the same time, a large number of articles to be conveyed can be simultaneously advanced one pitch at a time in the conveying direction.

By the way, at least one of the transfer line stations ST ₁ to ST ₅ as described above
In one case, when an article inspection device is installed, which has an inspection means for measuring the dimensions of the workpiece W, inspects the conveyed workpiece W, and removes defective products from the line, the degree of machining is In order to prevent passing products with good quality from being rejected as defective products,
It becomes necessary to check from time to time whether the testing means is operating normally, that is, the quality of the testing means. For this reason, usually, for example, a reference article such as a master work processed to the standard dimensions of the workpiece W is measured by the inspection means in the same way as the workpiece W to be inspected.
The quality of the inspection means is inspected, but the standard is to inspect the quality of the inspection means provided at at least one station on the transfer line that transports the workpiece W by the lift-and-carry method mentioned above. There are the following problems with an article inspection device that uses a masterwork as an article and a masterwork advancement/retraction device for advancing and retracting the masterwork inspection means.

That is, the workpiece W is a receiving jig (F ₁ to F ₅
), the master work cannot be placed on the receiving jig of the inspection means, so it is impossible to inspect the quality of the inspection means.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, if an article inspection device is installed at the second station ST ₂ and the transfer bar 2 is driven with the master work M placed on the receiving jig F ₂ of the inspection means. , the conveyor bar 2 is the first
During the upward stroke, which is the position indicated by the chain line in the figure, there is a problem that it interferes with both ends of the master work M or the measuring instrument of the inspection device.

One way to solve these problems is to temporarily stop receiving workpieces W sent to the transfer line installed by the article inspection device, and to move the workpieces W in the shape of the transfer line After paying everything out,
With the transfer bar 2 stopped at the lowest position, the master work M is placed on the receiving jig _F2 , and the quality of the inspection means is inspected.After the inspection, the master work M is placed on the receiving jig F2.
A possible strategy is to evacuate the area and resume normal operation of the transfer line. However, when such a measure is adopted, the workpiece W must be carried out of the transfer line every time the inspection means is inspected, which interrupts the processing or inspection inside the transfer line, which wastes time. The disadvantage is that the loss is large.

(Object of the Invention) In view of the above, the present invention provides an inspection means for inspecting the dimensions of articles such as workpieces at at least one station of a transfer line, and a master workpiece for inspecting the quality of this inspection means. The article is transported by a lift-and-carry method to an article inspection device configured with a master work advance/retreat device that advances and retracts a reference article such as the above, and inspects the quality of the inspection means. An object of the present invention is to provide an article conveyance device in an article inspection apparatus that can easily carry out the inspection using a reference article, and can reduce time loss and decrease in conveyance efficiency during quality inspection of inspection means.

(Structure of the Invention) The article conveyance device in the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention has the dimensions of the article to be conveyed in at least one of the plurality of stations equipped with receiving jigs arranged for each unit conveyance section. an inspection means for inspecting, etc.;
A plurality of article loading sections are installed at intervals corresponding to a unit conveyance section for an article inspection device that is provided with a reference article advancing and retracting device that advances and retracts a reference article for quality inspection of the inspection means. arranged, and
A transport bar is provided, the upper surface of which is set to be below the article receiving section of the station where the inspection means is installed at the highest position, and the transport bar is used to raise, advance, lower and lower during normal transport. A plurality of articles to be conveyed are sequentially conveyed to the inspection means by repeatedly driving each backward stroke as one cycle, and when inspecting the quality of the inspection device, the conveyance bar for conveying the articles to be conveyed is temporarily stopped in the middle of its forward stroke. , after completing the quality inspection of the inspection means, the forward stroke is performed again.

With this configuration, it is possible to sequentially transport the transported articles to the inspection device at regular time intervals, and it is possible to extremely rationally avoid interference between the transport bar and the reference article when inspecting the quality of the inspection means. Therefore, the quality of the inspection means can be easily inspected using the reference article, and the transportation of the conveyed article is prevented from being interrupted for a long time, reducing time loss.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a transfer line to which an example of the article inspection apparatus in the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1
is an arrow indicating the conveyance direction of the workpiece W, which is an article to be conveyed, 2 is a conveyance bar, 3 is a workpiece mounting section,
ST ₁ to _{ST 5} are stations, F ₁ to _{F 5} are fixed receiving jigs, and these are constructed and arranged in the same manner as those of the transport equipment shown in FIG. 1 described above. Workpiece receiving parts _f1 to _f5 are formed in the receiving jigs _F1 to _F5 , respectively. In addition, the transport bar 2
A support frame 5 is connected to the column 4 via a column 4.
The conveyance bar 2 and the support frame 5 are capable of vertical vertical movement and horizontal reciprocation.

Two swing arms 6 are located below the support frame 5.
is pivotally supported by a fixed portion by a pin 7, and a slider 9 is connected to its upper end so as to be rotatable about a boss 8. A roller 10 is attached to the slider 9 and rolls into contact with the lower surface of the support frame 5, and the support frame 5 is supported so as to be able to slide horizontally on the roller 10 of the slider 9.

The lower end of the swing arm 6 is rotatably supported via a pin 14 on a rod member 13 connected to a piston rod 12 of a lifting cylinder 11. Further, the tip of a piston rod 18 of a reciprocating cylinder 17 rotatably supported by a pin 16 on a fixed portion is connected to a fixed plate 15 provided on the side of the support frame 5 via a pin 19. ing.

On the other hand, the second station ST ₂ and the third station ST ₃ in the transfer line in this example
In this step, a workpiece W, for example, an inspection unit for measuring dimensions such as the shaft diameter of a crankshaft, and a masterwork M, which is a reference article for inspecting the quality of this inspection unit, are placed at second and third stations.
A master work advancing/retracting device is installed to move the master work forward/backward with respect to the work receivers f ₂ and f ₃ of ST ₂ and ST ₃ ,
An article inspection device is configured. In the article inspection apparatus, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the second station ST ₂ includes three inspection units 20 for inspecting the work W or Air is injected onto the workpiece W or the masterwork M from the air jet holes 21, which are arranged to sandwich the masterwork M and are indicated by broken lines in FIG. 5, and the dimensions of the workpiece W or the masterwork M are measured by changing the flow rate. It is like that.

In addition, the master work advancement/retraction device described above has the structure 2
2, and the piston rod 23 is fixed to the receiving jig F ₂
It has a cylinder 24 that is moved forward and backward on and _F3 , and the tip of the piston rod 23 grips both ends of the master work M.

Then, the transfer bar 2, the workpiece mounting section 3, the receiving jig
The dimensions and positions of each part such as F ₂ and F ₃ are determined by taking into account the shapes of the work W and master work M, the pick-up position of the work W during driving, etc., and as shown by the chain lines in FIG. When the transport bar 2 rises the most during normal transport, move the transport bar 2 to the upper surface part 2.
The position of a is the position of the chain line P in FIG. 4, that is,
Workpiece receiving part _f2 and occupying the upper part of receiving jig _F2 and _F3
It is preset to be below _f3 . In this example, the work receiving parts f ₂ and f ₃ are part of a groove with a triangular cross section, and both ends of the master work M have a circular cross section, so the transport bar 2 is normally When the upper surface part 2a of the transport bar 2 rises to the maximum during transport, the position of the upper surface part 2a of the transport bar 2 may be slightly above the position of the chain line P, and substantially both ends of the master work M placed on the receiving jigs _F2 and _F3 . It is only necessary to set the upper surface portion 2a of the conveyance bar 2 to be located lower.

As mentioned above, the second and third stations ST ₂
The article inspection device of this example, which is configured in relation to the article inspection device installed at ST 3 and ST ₃ , and includes the transport bar 2 operates as follows.

When carrying out normal transportation, first, hydraulic oil is supplied to the right chamber in the lifting cylinder 11 from the original position shown in FIG. 3, and the piston rod 12 protrudes.
The swing arm 6 is made upright. As a result, the reciprocating cylinder 17 rotates clockwise, the support frame 5 is pushed up by the slider 9, the transport bar 2 rises vertically, and the workpiece mounting section 3 provided on the transport bar 2 is moved upward. receives the work W placed on the receiving jigs F ₁ to F ₅ . Next, hydraulic oil is supplied to the right chamber in the reciprocating cylinder 17 to operate it, and the support frame 5 is moved to each station.
The separation distance between each of the receiving jigs F ₁ to F ₅ in ST ₁ to _{ST 5} , that is, only the unit conveyance section (1 pitch),
The conveyance bar 2 is advanced by sliding on the rollers 10, and each workpiece mounting section 3 is loaded with a workpiece W, and each of the workpieces F1 and ₂ of the stations _ST1 to ST5 is moved forward by sliding on the rollers ₁₀ .
~F Only one of _{the 5} reaches above the unloading side. Subsequently, the working pressure oil is removed from the right chamber in the lifting cylinder 11, and the working pressure oil is supplied to the left chamber, thereby lowering the transport bar 2 and moving the receiving jigs _F1 to _F5. Place the workpiece W on.
Then, the working pressure oil is removed from the right chamber of the reciprocating cylinder 17, and the working pressure oil is supplied to the left chamber, and the support frame 5 slides on the rollers 10 and returns to its original position. , the conveyor bar 2 also retreats and returns to its original position. Then, the transport bar 2 repeatedly performs the cycle of each stroke of raising, moving forward, lowering, and retreating, whereby each workpiece W is sequentially sent to each of the stations ST ₁ to ST ₅ , and then to the station ST ₅ . will be removed from.

As mentioned above, during normal unloading, the lift-and-carry method described above is used.
At this time, the work W for the two article inspection devices
transportation is carried out. FIG. 6A shows the unit transport section between the second station ST ₂ and the third station ST ₃ where these article inspection devices are installed. Here, as shown by the arrows, the conveyor bar 2 moves upwards a, forwards b, and descends c with the workpiece mounting section 3.
Each time each workpiece W is moved in such a way that each stroke of "and backward d" constitutes one cycle, each workpiece W is first placed on the receiving jig _F2 in the article inspection device of the second station _ST2 , and then inspected. Then, it is sent to and placed on the receiving jig _F3 in the article inspection device of the third station _ST3 , and another inspection is performed.

Next, when inspecting the quality of the inspection unit 20 of the article inspection device at the second station ST ₂ and the third station ST ₃ , as shown by the arrows in FIG. 6B, the same procedure as above is carried out. The transfer bar 2 is raised a, receives the workpiece W at the workpiece mounting section 3, and moves forward to the middle of the forward stroke _b1
It is forced to stop for a while. At this time, the upper surface portion 2a of the transfer bar 2 is located below the workpiece receiving portions _f2 and _f3 of the receiving jigs _F2 and _F3 , as shown by the chain line P in FIGS. 4 and 6B, so that the transfer bar 2 is bar 2
There is no risk of interference with Masterwork M. In this state, the advancing/retracting cylinder 24 of the master work advancing/retracting device is activated to move the piston rod 23 downward to advance the master work M e ₁ and place it on the receiving jigs F ₂ and F ₃ . Then, the quality of the inspection unit 20 is inspected using this master work M.

Once the inspection of the inspection unit 20 is completed,
The advancing/retracting cylinder 24 is activated, and the piston rod 23 is moved upward to move the master work M.
is retracted e ₂ and evacuated from receiving jigs F ₂ and F ₃ .
After that, operate the reciprocating cylinder 17 again.
b Make _two strokes. Thereafter, operations during normal conveyance are performed.

In this manner, the quality inspection of the inspection unit 20 of the article inspection apparatus is performed without the workpiece W being discharged from the entire transfer line.

In addition, in the above-mentioned example, although the conveyance bar 2 is arranged outside the receiving jigs F ₁ to F ₅ , the conveyance bar 2 may be arranged inside the receiving jigs F ₁ to F ₅ . In such a case, it becomes possible to reduce the area occupied by the entire transfer line.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the article inspection device may be provided at only one station on the transfer line.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, the article conveyance device in the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention inspects the dimensions of articles such as workpieces placed at at least one station in the transfer line. It is possible to sequentially transport multiple objects such as multiple workpieces using a lift-and-carry method, and to check the quality of the inspection means of the product inspection device using a reference object such as a master work. This can be done automatically and easily. In particular, when inspecting the quality of the inspection means, there is no need to take the transported goods out of the transfer line, so processing and inspection of the transported goods are not interrupted for a long time, reducing time loss. This means that the transfer line can be operated efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a lift-and-carry type conveyance equipment, and Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining the positional relationship between a master work and a conveyance bar in a station equipped with an inspection device. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a transfer line to which an example of an article conveying device in an article inspection apparatus according to the present invention is applied, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 3, and FIG. Figures 6A and 6B, which are used to explain the inspection unit, show the operation of an example of the article inspection apparatus in the article inspection apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG. 3 during normal transportation and when inspecting the quality of the inspection unit. FIG. In the figure, 2 is a transfer bar, 3 is a workpiece mounting section, 6 is a swing arm, 11 is a lifting cylinder, 17 is a reciprocating cylinder, 20 is an inspection unit, 24 is a cylinder for advancing and retracting the master work, ST ₁ to _{ST 5} is the station, F ₁ to _{F 5} are the receiving jig, f ₁ to _{f 5} are the workpiece receiving part, W
is work, and M is master work.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 At least one of the plurality of stations equipped with receiving jigs arranged for each unit transport section,
An inspection means for inspecting the dimensions, etc. of an article to be transported; and a reference article advancing/retracting device for advancing and retracting a reference article with respect to an article receiving portion of a receiving jig of a station provided with the inspection means in order to check the quality of the inspection means; A plurality of article loading sections are arranged at intervals corresponding to the unit conveyance section, and the upper surface of the article loading section is arranged such that the inspection means is located at the highest raised position. A transport bar is provided, which is set to be below the article receiving section of the provided station, and the transport bar is raised and lowered during normal transport.
The transporter is configured to sequentially transport a plurality of transported articles to the inspection means by repeatedly driving the forward, downward, and backward strokes as one cycle, and to transport the transported articles when inspecting the quality of the inspection means. An article conveyance device in an article inspection apparatus, characterized in that the bar is temporarily stopped in the middle of its forward stroke, and after the inspection means has completed the quality inspection, the conveyance bar is made to continue its forward stroke again.