JP2011104773A - Workpiece machining system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveying system capable of minimizing an action space of a manipulator required for conveying, not becoming a large sized facility and enabled in efficient production. <P>SOLUTION: The conveying system between steps includes at least one working machine; the articulated manipulator 1 having a joint of 7 or more of shafts; and an interference article existing between a plane including a first turning shaft of the articulated manipulator 1 and a positioning point to the working machine 3, and performs conveying between the working machines. The conveying system has an interference avoidance attitude by moving at least one shaft. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer system for transferring a workpiece, and in particular, moves at least one axis of an interference existing between a plane including a first pivot axis of an articulated manipulator and a positioning point to the processing machine. The present invention relates to a transfer system between processes having an interference avoidance posture.

  A conventional articulated manipulator is composed of six axes, and positioning of control points is performed with three basic axes (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The basic three axes are a swivel axis, a bend 1 axis, and a bend 2 axis. A plane composed of a bend 1 axis and a bend 2 axis is rotated around the swivel axis to achieve control point positioning in a three-dimensional space. Yes. Therefore, it has been necessary to make an arrangement in which no interference exists in the plane including the positioning point to the processing machine or the conveying device and the first turning axis of the manipulator.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-96073 (page 5-8, FIG. 1)

That is, there is a problem that the installation area is increased because it is necessary to arrange the interference machine so that no interference exists in the plane including the positioning point to the processing machine or the conveying device and the first turning axis of the manipulator.
In addition, if there is no interference in the plane including the first swivel axis of the manipulator, there will be an obstacle to changing the type of the processing machine. There was a problem of becoming a system.
Furthermore, the shortest operation path cannot be taken, leading to an increase in cycle time.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and provides a transport system capable of minimizing an operation space of a manipulator necessary for transport and capable of efficient production without becoming a large-scale facility. For the purpose.

In order to solve the above problem, the present invention is configured as follows.
The invention according to claim 1 is provided with a loading / unloading port for loading and unloading a workpiece , a multi-joint manipulator is disposed on a side surface with respect to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine, and the multi-joint manipulator The workpiece is conveyed to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine by a sneak operation .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the articulated manipulator includes a fixed base installed on an installation surface, and a first arm body that rotates relative to the fixed base around a first axis perpendicular to the installation surface. A second arm body that rotates relative to the first arm body about a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and the second arm that rotates about a third axis that is orthogonal to the second axis. A third arm body that rotates relative to the body, a fourth arm body that rotates relative to the third arm body about a fourth axis that is orthogonal to the third axis, and an orthogonal to the fourth axis A fifth arm body rotating with respect to the fourth arm body around a fifth axis, and a sixth arm body rotating with respect to the fifth arm body around a sixth axis orthogonal to the fifth axis. And the sixth arm body around a seventh axis orthogonal to the sixth axis. A seventh arm body that rotates and is characterized in that it has a.
The invention according to claim 3 is provided with a loading / unloading port for loading and unloading a workpiece , a multi-joint manipulator is disposed on a side surface with respect to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine, and the multi-joint manipulator A method of manufacturing a processed product using a workpiece processing system that conveys the workpiece by a sneak operation to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine, wherein the workpiece is processed by the processing machine, It has a step of allowing the articulated manipulator to enter the loading / unloading port of a processing machine to take out the processed workpiece, and a step of transporting the taken-out workpiece to a predetermined position. Is.

According to the present invention, since the interference avoidance posture is obtained by moving at least one axis, the installation space of the transport system can be minimized.
Further, the installation space of the transport system to have an interference avoidance posture by moving the uniaxial even without less can be minimized.

The perspective view of the conveyance system which shows 1st Example of this invention. The front view which shows the articulated manipulator of this invention External view showing the installation posture of the articulated manipulator of the present invention FIG. 2 is an external view showing a positioning posture of the articulated manipulator of the present invention to a processing machine or the like. It is a comparison figure of the conventional manipulator and the conveying apparatus of this invention. The perspective view which shows 1st Example of this invention

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the transport system of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an articulated manipulator that is fixed to a fixed base 7. C1 is a first arm body, C2 is a second arm body, C3 is a third arm body, C4 is a fourth arm body, and C5 is a fifth arm body, C6 is a sixth arm body, and C7 is a seventh arm body (end effector). Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote processing machines, each of which has an opening for carrying in and out the article. The processing machine 2 is a pre-process with respect to the processing machine 3, and is adjacent to each other with the opening portion in the same direction. The manipulator 1 conveys the workpiece to the processing machine 2 and conveys the workpiece that has been processed by the processing machine 2 to the processing machine 3. These processing machines may further include a plurality of processes. In this case, manipulators are arranged on both sides of the processing machine 2 and the processing machine 3 (not shown), and the manipulator 1 is processed before the manipulator of the processing machine 2 (not shown) conveys the workpiece. It is also possible to take out the workpiece of the machine 2. Further, the manipulator of the processing machine 3 (not shown) may take out the work before the manipulator 1 sets the work and enters the processing machine.

  FIG. 2 is a front view of the articulated manipulator. The first arm body C1 rotates about the joint axis J1, the second arm body C2 rotates about the joint axis J2, and the third arm body C3 The fourth arm body C4 rotates about the joint axis J4, the fifth arm body C5 rotates about the joint axis J5, and the sixth arm body rotates about the joint axis J3 (redundant axis). C6 rotates about the joint axis J6, and the seventh arm body C7 rotates about the joint axis J7.

  FIG. 3 shows a typical installation posture in which the multi-joint manipulator is standing upright. This posture state is a posture used when the manipulator 1 is not required to operate after the end of production, when the processing machine is being maintained, or when an operator works without operating the manipulator. This is because the installation posture does not take a place and does not obstruct other devices or workers.

FIG. 4 shows a typical positioning posture with respect to the processing machine or the conveying device. 1st arm body c1 and 2nd arm body c2, 2nd arm body c2 and 3rd arm body c3, 3rd arm body c3 and 4th arm body c4, 5th arm body c5 and 1st The six arm bodies c6 are bent 90 degrees from each other.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are comparison views of the transport device of the present invention and the conventional manipulator 100. FIG. In FIG. 5A, it can be seen that the manipulator 1 has an interference c on the plane a including the first turning axis and the control point to the processing machine. This posture is equivalent to the posture shown in FIG. 4, and it can be seen that the posture shown in FIG. 4 can be realized by rotating the J3 axis clockwise with respect to the X axis. Of course, other than the J3 axis may be operated to pass the shortest path.
The first swivel axis is a swivel axis that the manipulator has and is a swivel axis that is installed for the first time from the fixed base 7. In the manipulator used in the present invention, the first axis with respect to the fixed base 7 is a pivot axis, which is a bending axis and the next arranged axis is a pivot axis, and the first pivot axis. May correspond to
In FIG. 5B, there is no interference in the plane b including the control point to the first swivel axis of the conventional manipulator 100 and the processing machine. Now, when the conventional manipulator 100 is installed at the position where the manipulator 1 is installed, the conventional manipulator can only access the positioning position to the processing machine with only the pivot axis and the two bending axes, and therefore interference c can be avoided. Absent. Therefore, the conventional manipulator 100 can only be arranged at the illustrated position, and the area b necessary for the operation of the manipulator 100 is much larger than the work moving space, and as a result, a vast system needs to be formed. . It can be seen that the operating area a according to the present invention can realize a small system.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment according to the present invention. A manipulator 1 is installed in front of the processing machine 2. The manipulator 1 is wall-mounted at a position where no interference occurs when changing the type of the processing machine. At normal work, the posture 2 is taken, but at the time of changing the mold, the posture 1 of the upright posture in which only the J2 axis is rotated by 90 degrees is taken. In this installed state, the plane including the pivot axis of the manipulator 1 and the positioning point to the processing machine has the processing machine and interference. The posture 2 can be realized by slightly rotating the J1 and J2 axes and rotating the J3 and J4 axes by about 90 degrees.

The processing machine may be any processing machine such as an injection molding machine, a die-casting machine, a lathe, a machining center, a press machine, a laser processing machine, a washing machine, or a forging machine. Usually, a processing machine is generally equipped with a die or a jig for processing. In this case, the front surface of the processing machine is often used as a space necessary for changing the mold adjacent to the exchange area 6 inside the processing machine. This is not a problem when an operator performs work or a system that collects in a drop-type manner. However, when a manipulator is installed adjacent to the replacement area 6 to perform transfer work by a robot, it becomes impossible to change the mold. For this reason, it is often the case that the ceiling is installed on the top of the processing machine or the shelf is installed. However, in such installation, not only the height of the apparatus is increased and the cost is increased, but also the maintenance workability is deteriorated.
When the conveyor 5 is installed at the front part of the processing machine shown in FIG. 6, the conventional 6-axis manipulator increases the operation amount of the manipulator itself and increases the cycle time, which significantly impedes the productivity. . However, in the transfer system of the present invention, the workpiece can be transferred from the processing machine through the shortest path.

In the above two embodiments, the shaft of the manipulator is composed of an actuator in which a joint portion is integrated with a motor and a speed reduction mechanism (FIG. 2). As a result, the width of the arm can be reduced, the interference with the processing machine can be minimized, and conveyance along a further shortest path is possible, leading to a reduction in cycle time.
In addition, interference can be avoided if the inclination of adjacent axes is arbitrarily devised, but if the inclination of the rotation axis of adjacent joints is not 90 degrees, the operation method during teaching is different from the conventional manipulator. A decrease in workability is predicted. However, in the present invention, since the inclination of the rotation axis of the adjacent joint is 90 degrees, the same operation as that of the conventional articulated manipulator is possible, and the teaching time can be shortened. This configuration simplifies the control arithmetic expression and is effective in applications that require real-time performance.

C1 1st arm body C2 2nd arm body C3 3rd arm body C4 4th arm body C5 5th arm body C6 6th arm body C7 7th arm body (end effector)
J1 joint axis J2 joint axis J3 joint axis (redundant axis)
J4 Joint axis J5 Joint axis J6 Joint axis J7 Joint axis 1 Articulated manipulator 2 Processing machine 3 Processing machine 5 Conveyor 6 Type exchange area 7 Fixed base

Claims (3)

A processing machine provided with a loading / unloading port for loading and unloading workpieces;
An articulated manipulator is disposed on the side of the loading / unloading port of the processing machine,
The multi-joint manipulator transports the workpiece by a sneaking operation to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine. The articulated manipulator includes a fixed base installed on an installation surface, a first arm body that rotates relative to the fixed base about a first axis perpendicular to the installation surface, and the first axis A second arm body that rotates relative to the first arm body about a second axis that is orthogonal to the first arm body, and a third arm that rotates relative to the second arm body about a third axis that is orthogonal to the second axis. A body, a fourth arm body that rotates relative to the third arm body about a fourth axis that is orthogonal to the third axis, and a fourth axis that rotates about a fifth axis that is orthogonal to the fourth axis. A fifth arm body that rotates relative to the arm body, a sixth arm body that rotates relative to the fifth arm body about a sixth axis orthogonal to the fifth axis, and the sixth axis A seventh arm that rotates relative to the sixth arm body about a seventh axis orthogonal Work machining system according to claim 1, characterized in that it has the a. A processing machine provided with a loading / unloading port for loading and unloading workpieces;
An articulated manipulator is disposed on the side of the loading / unloading port of the processing machine,
The articulated manipulator is a manufacturing method of a processed product that manufactures a processed product using a workpiece processing system that conveys the workpiece by a wraparound operation to the loading / unloading port of the processing machine,
Processing the workpiece with the processing machine;
Allowing the articulated manipulator to enter the loading / unloading port of the processing machine and taking out the processed workpiece;
And a step of conveying the taken-out workpiece to a predetermined position.

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