JPH0624849B2 - Plate transport / detachment system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] In newspaper printing, the present invention conveys a printing plate from a plate making apparatus to a printing section of a rotary printing machine, and a robot mounts the printing plate on a plate cylinder. The present invention relates to a plate transport / mounting system that removes unnecessary plates from the plate cylinder and disposes of them.

[Conventional technology]

Although there is a conventional method of designating a destination with a push button and transporting a printing plate from a plate making device with a transport carrier, a desired printing plate is created and a position where the created printing plate is mounted is set. Currently, there is a system that automatically notifies a plate to a desired plate by being notified by a host computer and controlling a plate carrier and a robot so that the created plate is properly mounted. I haven't.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The "Newspaper Printing / Shipment Automation System" completed at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. Osaki Plant (Hishiroda Sogyo Co., Ltd.) in 1973 is an NPC system (Newspaper Plant Computeriz) which is a system that controls the process from printing to shipping by a computer.
ed System), the automation of the system has progressed from "lines" to "planes", and recently, total systemization is being considered for "three-dimensional".

The total system as described above includes a group of high-speed real-time processing units such as a rotary printing press management unit, a plate conveyance management unit, a shipping sorting management unit, a truck yard bundle integration management unit, a paper stock management unit, and a shipping material supply management unit. Such as a relatively low-speed processing group, a so-called offline processing group such as a material and maintenance management section, a command information processing group such as a sales quantity increase / decrease management section,
The production process management unit that integrally manages the above-mentioned high-speed real-time processing required group and the comparatively low-speed processable group, etc. respectively executes the given individual processing by either the processor or the intelligent input / output control device. It will be something like that.

As mentioned above, the plate mounting / removing work of the printing plate is conventionally performed manually, but when the total system is completed, it is possible to save the labor of the plate mounting work by automating these work. It is also desirable to prevent misprinting due to an error in the plate mounting position.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, a plate made by a plate making apparatus is automatically conveyed to a plate mounting position of a required printing section under the control of a host computer, and a plate is automatically mounted on a plate cylinder by a robot. The system provides a system that removes the printing plate from the plate cylinder and discards it when updating the printing plate.

FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration of the present invention. Reference numeral 105 in the figure
Is a plate making apparatus for producing a desired printing plate. 112
Is a printing plate carrier, and the printing plate P
A route for transporting to the positions of ₁ , P ₂ ... 1
Reference numeral 18 is a rail, and the scrap printing plate after printing is scrapped 119
Used to transfer to. Reference numeral 120 denotes a plate mounting and plate removing robot. Further, P ₁ , P _2, ... Are printing units,
F ₁ , F ₂ ... Represent folding parts.

[Action]

The printing plates produced by the plate making device 105 correspond to the positions of the desired printing units P ₁ , P _2, ... Corresponding to the control by the production process management unit, the printing plate management unit, and the rotary printing press management unit described later. Then, the robot 120 mounts it on the plate cylinder of the printing unit. Then, when the predetermined printing is completed, the robot 120 removes it and the rail 118 carries it to the scrap printing processing site 119.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the essential part of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a production process management unit, 2 is a rotary printing press management unit, 3 is a printing plate management unit, and 10 is a data highway network. Reference numeral 105 is a plate making apparatus, and 106 is a KE for inputting a page number of a plate made by the plate making apparatus to the plate making management unit 3.
Y board, 107 is an input signal line, 108 is a plate conveying conveyor connected to the plate making device, 109 is a loading device for transferring the plate to the plate conveying carrier, and 110 is a line formed on the plate as an image line. Figure recognition device (OCR) for reading the number indicating the page number, 111 is an OCR input signal line, 112 is a plate carrier, 113 is a plate carrier that unloads a plate carried by the carrier Represents a device. Reference numeral 114 denotes a printing section, which is A, B,
C, D, E, F, G, and H indicate conceptually the printing plate position on the plate cylinder. Usually, it is expressed as A side, B side ...
Denoted at 115 is a plate-conveying subcarrier that conveys the plate transferred from the plate unloading device 113 to a desired surface. Although not shown, a device for transferring the plate is attached to the upper part of each surface. There is. 116 is an abandoned plate unloading section, 117 is an abandoned dolly truck,
Reference numeral 118 is a rail for the scrap printing truck, which is buried in the printing section floor, 119 is a scrap printing processing plant, 120
Is a plate mounting and plate removing robot, 121 is a line indicating the range of movement of the robot, 122 is a robot controller, 123 is a bus connected to the robot controller and the rotary printing press management unit 2. . Further, reference numeral 124 is a plate transport carrier control device, which starts and stops the carrier based on a command from the plate management unit 3. In addition, it also controls the plate transport subcarrier, loading section, unloading section, and plate transport conveyor. Reference numeral 125 indicates a control line. Reference numeral 126 is a motor for driving the plate transport carrier, and 127 is an encoder for measuring the transport distance, which is installed on the carrier drive shaft.

It should be noted that only one plate mounting and plate removing robot 120 is provided between the printing units 114, 114, and the plate mounting and printing plate cylinders before and after the plate mounting and plate removing robot 120 are mounted and pressed. It may be removed. in this case,
The robot controller 122 is provided so as to match the number of robots.

A plate making device 105 and a plate conveying carrier 112 are connected to each other, and the carrier 112 is in communication with each printing section 114 of the rotary printing machine. The plate made by the plate making device 105 is conveyed by the loading device 109 to the plate conveying carrier. It is delivered to 112. By inputting the page No. to the plate management unit 3, the printing plate conveyance destination is obtained by searching for the press No., cylinder No., and mounting position from the surface layout data file stored in advance. The plate conveyed by the plate conveying carrier 112 is unloaded by the plate unloading device 113 provided in each printing unit 114, and is transferred to the plate conveying sub-carrier 115 which is configured to go around the printing unit 114. . When the plate is transported to a predetermined mounting position, the plate mounting robot 120 unloads the plate to a position for receiving the plate.

The plate attachment is notified from the plate management unit 3 to the rotary printing press management unit 2 when the required plate is unloaded to the plate mounting position of each printing unit 114, and the rotary printing press management unit 2 is rotated. The start command is output to a rotary machine control device (main board, electric motor board, not shown), and based on the command, the rotary machine control device drives the electric motor to rotate the plate cylinder, and the absolute
The encoder signal is taken in, the plate insertion position is detected, the plate cylinder is stopped, and the robot controller 122 is notified of the plate start. Based on this command, the robot 120 takes the printing plate from the unloading section and inserts the bending section of the printing plate into the insertion position of the printing plate. Robot controller 12 when insertion is complete
2 sends the completion signal to the rotary printing press management unit 2. Upon receipt of the completion signal, the rotary printing press management unit 2 drives the rotary press control device again, detects the bite position of the printing plate by the absolute encoder, stops the plate cylinder, and transfers the printing plate to the robot control device 122. Give a bite command. The robot controller 122 receives this signal and locks the plate on the plate cylinder. When the lockup completion signal of the printing plate is notified from the robot controller 122 to the rotary printing press management unit 2, the above-described operation is performed to mount the required printing plate on the plate cylinder again for mounting the next printing plate. Is installed.

The discontinuation will be done at the end of printing or before the printing plate is renewed. Similarly to the plate mounting operation, the rotary printing press management unit 2 drives the rotary press control device to detect the plate removal position by the absolute encoder, stops the plate cylinder, and causes the robot control device 122 to discontinue the plate. Send instruction data. Upon receiving the signal, the robot controller 122 releases the plate lockup device, removes the plate from the plate cylinder, and returns it to the plate unloading unit. By performing the above operation, the required printing plate is returned to the printing plate unloading section. When this work is completed, the robot controller 12
2 sends a termination signal to the plate management unit 3.

The plate management unit 3 receives from the unloading unit the plate scraped by the plate transport sub-carrier 115, which is formed around the printing unit 114, from the unloading unit by the plate grip device, and then the scrap unloading unit 116.
And transfer it to the waste plate processing plant 119.

Although not shown in FIG. 2, a plate gripper is attached to the transport chain. The printing plate gripper grips the printing plate at the printing plate loading unit and transfers it to the printing plate transport subcarrier 115 at the printing plate unloading unit. The plate management unit 3 stores the distance from loading to unloading as the number of pulses, and when the plate is conveyed to a predetermined unloading unit in response to a pulse from the encoder 127 (the number of pulses indicates the stored content). When they match)
The plate transfer sub-carrier 1 by the plate transfer device described later.
The printing plate is handed over to 15. Similarly to the plate conveying sub-carrier 115, the plate gripper is installed in the conveying chain, and the chain drive motor and the encoder are also installed in the same manner as described above. The pulse signal of the encoder is input to the plate management unit 3 as described above.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a delivery mode in which a printing plate conveyed from a plate making device is delivered to a plate conveying carrier.

Reference numeral 108 in the figure denotes a chain-driven plate transporting conveyor. Reference numeral 202 designates a printing plate mount attached to the chain, 2
Reference numeral 03 is a printing plate. Reference numeral 204 is a loading chain, 205 is an elevator attached to the loading chain, 206 is an air cylinder, 207 is an air cylinder mount, 2
Reference numeral 08 is a sucker attached to the tip of the rod of the air cylinder, 209 is a plate gripper, and 112 is a plate carrier.

(A) in the figure shows the plate conveyor 105 to the conveyor 108.
Shows the state in which the plate 203 is conveyed to the elevator transfer section of the loading section. (B) is elevator 2
05 is driven to transfer the printing plate 203 to the elevator 205. (C) is a diagram in which the elevator 205 conveys the plate 203 to the loading portion, the cylinder 206 operates, and the sucker 208 sucks the plate 203. After the plate 203 is sucked, the elevator 205 moves downward. The next printing plate. (D) shows a diagram in which the soccer 208 sucks the printing plate 203, the cylinder 206 operates, and the gripper 209 moves to the grip position. After the operation, the gripper 209 'rises to grip the printing plate 203, the sucker 208 stops suction, and the cylinder 206 moves to the start position. The plate 203 conveyed from the plate making device 105 by the above operation is transferred to the plate conveyer 112.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a mode in which the unloading portion of the plate conveying carrier and the plate are transferred to the plate conveying sub-carrier.

In the figure, 203 is a printing plate, 209 is a gripper, 112 is a printing plate carrying carrier, 115 is a printing plate carrying subcarrier, and 21.
Reference numeral 2 denotes an air nozzle, and reference numerals 213, 214, and 215 constitute a plate delivery device. (A) shows a mode in which the printing plate 203 carried by the printing plate transport carrier 112 is received by the delivery device. The plate 203 held by the gripper 209 and conveyed immediately before the unloading part is moved to the position of the plate 203 ′ shown by the dotted line by the air nozzle 212, and the plate conveying carrier 112 is stopped at the plate transfer part. The air nozzle 212 also stops blowing air. Then, the gripper 209 moves to the position of 209 'and is delivered to the plate delivery device. FIG. 2B shows a mode in which the printing plate 203 is transferred to the printing plate transport subcarrier 115. The pedestal 213 receives the printing plate 203, and the pedestal moves about the axis a as shown in the figure. After that, the receiving lever 214 moves to the position 214 'around the axis b, and the gripper 2
The plate 203 is moved to a position where the plate 09 grips the plate, moves to the position of the gripper 209 ″, and is transferred to the gripper.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an operation mode of a plate receiving stand for transferring the plate carried by the plate carrying subcarrier of the printing section to the plate mounting and plate removing robot.

In the figure, 301 is an air cylinder, 302 is a plate support, 2
Reference numeral 03 is a printing plate, 209 is a gripper, and 115 is a printing plate transport subcarrier. (A) shows a state in which the plate 203 is gripped and is at the plate transfer position. (B) shows a state in which the receiving tray 302 moves up to the grip position by the operation of the cylinder 301, and then the gripper 209 moves to the position of 209 'and the printing plate is delivered to the receiving tray 302.
(C) shows a state in which the cylinder 301 has returned to the initial state after receiving the printing plate 203 from the gripper 209.

The transfer device is attached to each surface. The robot 120 receives the printing plate 203 in the state shown in FIG. After the printing, the robot 203 removes the printing plate 203 from the plate cylinder,
It is delivered to the cradle 302 shown in FIG. And (C) →
The printing plate 203 is delivered to the gripper 209 in the operation sequence of (B) → (A).

FIG. 6 shows a plate transport carrier 112, a plate transport subcarrier 115, and a two-dot chain line, which is a rail 118 of the floor portion.
And a disused dolly 117 traveling on the rail 118.

FIG. 7 shows a plate surface layout data file used in the present invention. The file is created by the production process management unit 1 and transmitted to the plate management unit 3 via the data highway network 10 shown in FIG. 2 before plate making, and the file is stored. File is plate No. press No. (printing section N
o.), cylinder No. (plate cylinder No.), page No. to be assigned corresponding to the surface, color designation (used during color printing), and the number of plate making for management of plate making. By inputting the page numbers of the printing plates sequentially created from the plate making device 105 and sent to the conveyor to the printing plate management unit 3, the conveyance destination is searched from the file and the printing plates are printed as required. To the department. The plate management unit 3 stores all information on the plates that have been conveyed.

When the plate is transferred to the pedestal of each plate cylinder according to the plate transfer procedure described above, plate No., press No. side, page N
o., The paired data of the color designation is notified from the plate management unit 3 to the rotary printing press management unit 2 via the production process management unit 1. On the other hand, the rotary printing press management unit 2 stores a plate surface layout data file transmitted from the production process management unit 1 before plate making. Based on the data and the data transmitted from the plate management unit 3, it is checked whether all the plates have been conveyed, and at the time of completion, the work range data (surface data) is notified to the robot, which will be described below. The printing plate is mounted by giving a command to the rotary press control device and the robot.

FIG. 8 shows a mode in which a printing plate is mounted on the plate cylinder of the printing section. "1" and "1 '" are A-planes, "2" and "2'" are B-planes, "3" and "3 '" are C-planes, "4" and "4'" are D-planes, Two identical printing plates are mounted on the circumference, and the printing plates are mounted differently on the A and B sides and the C and D sides.

FIG. 9 shows that the rotational position of the plate cylinder is composed of three positions when the plate is mounted and removed by the robot. That is, the drawing (a) is the plate insertion position, the drawing (b) is the plate biting position, and the drawing (c) is the plate removing position. Twelve positions per cylinder are required for mounting and removing the plate. Therefore, it takes time if each robot mounts a printing plate for each press and each plate cylinder, and the significance of introducing a robot is diminished. A control method for solving this difficulty will be described with reference to FIG.

When the required plate is completely unloaded to the plate mounting position of each printing unit, the plate management unit 3 notifies the rotary printing press management unit 2 that the rotary printing press management unit 2 , Sends a start command to the rotary press control device (main board, electric motor board), drives the electric motor to rotate the plate cylinder, and takes in the signal (absolute rotation angle data of the plate cylinder) by the absolute encoder installed on the main shaft. When the insertion position of the printing plate described above is detected, a rotation stop signal is given to the main board to obtain the position. The rotary printing press management unit 2 immediately detects the robot control devices 1
22 is given a plate insertion start command. Robot 120
Receives the plate and moves it to the plate insertion position on the plate cylinder.
Insert the vent part of 03. The insertion completion signal is notified from each robot control device 122 to the rotary printing press management unit 2, and when the completion signal is received from each robot 120, the rotary printing press management unit 2 again gives a start command to the rotary printing press control device, The plate cylinder is rotated, the plate encoder biting position is detected by the absolute encoder, and a rotation stop signal is given to the rotary press to the main board to obtain the position. The rotary printing press management section 2 immediately gives a plate lockup signal to each robot control device 122. With this signal, the robot controller 122
Drives the lock-up cylinder to press the plate 203 on the plate cylinder.
To attach. When each robot control device 122 sends a lockup completion signal to the rotary printing press management unit 2 and the rotary printing press management unit 2 receives the completion signal from each robot control device 122, a plate mounting work instruction for the next surface is issued. The rotary printing press management unit 2 notifies each robot control device 122. The printing plate is mounted on the plate cylinder by sequentially performing these operations. The movement and movement of the robot arm are omitted.

FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram for automatically mounting / removing a plate using the plate mounting / removing robot.

1 is a production process management unit, 2 is a rotary printing press management unit, 3 is a plate management unit, 10 is a data highway network, 4
Reference numeral 05 is a main board, 406, 408, 409 and 417 are control lines, 407 is an electric motor board, 410 is a main spindle, 411 is an absolute encoder installed on a rotary press main spindle, 412
Is an electric motor, 413 is a printing unit, 414 is a folding unit, 120 is a plate mounting and removing robot, and 122 is a robot controller.

The plate mounting / removing robot 120 and the robot control device 122 may be installed only one between the printing units 413 and 413 as described in the explanation part of FIG.

The removal of the printing plate is apparent from the above-described aspect, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 11 is an example of a printing plate printing layout data file. This file is allocated in the production process management unit 1 and then stored in the storage device, and after each printing plate is completed,
Which page of the next plate is to be changed is transmitted to the printing plate management unit 3 and the rotary printing press management unit 2 and stored in each management unit. This file is used when updating the printing plate. In addition,
The circles in the figure indicate printing.

In the above description, the case of using three computers has been described, but it is obvious that the control can be performed by one computer.

FIG. 12 shows the configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1 is a production process management unit, which performs overall management including preset processing for the management unit of the entire drawing. A rotary printing press management unit 2 controls a folding unit, a printing unit, and a paper feeding unit in the rotary printing press. Reference numeral 3 denotes a plate transport management unit 4, which controls the surface allocation for each press and the like. Reference numeral 4 denotes a shipping sorting management unit, which performs immediate address tag printing control, shipping device control, and the like. Reference numeral 5 is a track yard bundle integration management unit, which performs loading control for each track and gate. Reference numeral 6 denotes a paper storage management unit, which controls the transfer of the rolled paper from the storage to the paper storage and the transfer of the wound paper to the paper feed unit. Reference numeral 7 denotes a delivery material supply management unit, which controls the supply of newspaper delivery materials. Reference numeral 8 is a material and maintenance management unit, which records the number of printed copies,
Perform maintenance management. Reference numeral 9 denotes a copy number increase / decrease management unit, which manages a store, that is, performs copy number, transportation office work, and sales office work.

In FIG. 12, a master control station 13 is provided corresponding to the production process control section 1,
Intelligent stations 14 to 19 are provided corresponding to the management units 2 to 7, and these stations are connected by a ring-shaped data highway network 10, and the highway
Frame information is circulated on the network 10, and information transmission is performed between the respective stations by utilizing the frame information.

Further, a communication line 11 separate from the highway network 10 is provided between the production process control section 1 and the material and maintenance control section 8. In addition, the production process control section 1
An independent bus 12 is also provided between and the copy number increase / decrease management unit 9.

The production process management unit 1 performs overall control of each other management unit by making various presets for the rotary printing press management unit 2. Then, newspaper printing is started, and as newspapers are printed, newspaper stacks are made in the order of shipment by the counter / stacker in the shipping sorting management section 4, and address labels are attached to the relevant stacks by the immediate address tag printing / attaching device. The bundled newspaper bundles are guided to the truck gates, stacked on the trucks in correspondence with the processing of the truckyard bundle integral management unit 5, and delivered.

Corresponding to the processing of the paper storage management unit 6, the roll paper from the storage is conveyed to the paper store, and in response to the instruction from the rotary printing press management unit 2, the roll paper is supplied to the paper feed unit of the rotary printing press. . That is, the paper is spliced automatically and the newspaper is printed.

The material and maintenance management unit 8 keeps a record of the number of printed copies, or performs maintenance management. Further, in the configuration shown in FIG. 21, the production process management unit 1 receives a notification from the copy number increase / decrease management unit 9 in response to the increase / decrease in the number of newspaper copies for each store, and the shipping sorting management unit 4 and the rotary printing. The change in the number of copies is reflected in the machine management unit 2 and the like.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the processing in each management section shown in FIG. 12, and the processing in each management section is outlined in each block shown in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the mounting / removal of the printing plate can be fully automated under the control of the host computer. Further, since the control is performed with reference to the content of the surface layout data file prepared in advance, the problem of mounting the printing plate at the wrong position is completely solved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the essential parts of an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 3 to 5 are explanatory views for explaining the operation of transferring a printing plate, and FIG. 6 is a printing plate. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view for explaining the positional relationship between the transport carrier and the plate transport sub-carrier, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the structure of a plate surface layout data file, and FIGS. FIG. 11 shows the configuration of an embodiment of a printing plate printing layout data file, and FIGS. 12 and 13 show the configuration of a system to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a production process management unit, 2 is a rotary printing press management unit, 3
Is a plate management unit, 105 is a plate making device, 112 is a plate conveying carrier, 114 is a printing unit, and 120 is a plate mounting and plate removing robot.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-59-165659 (JP, A) JP-A-60-52343 (JP, A) JP-A-52-101104 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing plate transport / detachment system comprising a rotary printing press control device for controlling the operation of a rotary printing press, which transports and removes a printing plate for printing on the rotary printing press. Production process management that transmits a surface layout data file consisting of data including press number, cylinder number, plate device position on cylinder, and page number corresponding to the plate to be installed in the rotary press. Section, a rotary printing machine management section that controls a folding section, a printing section, and a paper feeding section of the rotary printing machine, and a desired printing plate by receiving the above-mentioned face-layout data file and printing on the desired rotary printing machine. At least a printing plate management unit for performing control for mounting at the plate mounting position, and the production process management unit, the rotary printing press management unit, and the printing plate management unit are each configured by a data processing device. And a plate making apparatus which is connected to each other via a network so as to be able to send and receive information, and which further makes a printing plate and delivers the created printing plate to the plate carrying carrier, and a plate carrying carrier for controlling the plate carrying carrier. Control device, robot for receiving a plate from the plate carrier and mounting the plate at the plate mounting position and / or removing the plate mounted at the plate mounting position The plate management unit has means for receiving the page number of the plate transferred by the plate making apparatus to the plate conveying carrier, and collating the page number with the contents of the surface layout data file. Based on the result of the collation, the press number, cylinder number, and mounting position to which the plate is to be attached are searched, and the plate carrier control device is set. The plate carrier control device is configured to control the operation of transferring the plate carrier on which the plate is placed to the robot, and the rotary printing press management unit is configured to control the operation. A plate transport / mounting system, which is configured to communicate with a plate management unit to control the rotary printing press and a robot controller for controlling the robot.