KR20160069153A

KR20160069153A - Blank gripper for blank transporting robot

Info

Publication number: KR20160069153A
Application number: KR1020140174718A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김성수; 류명인
Original assignee: 주식회사 포스코
Priority date: 2014-12-08
Filing date: 2014-12-08
Publication date: 2016-06-16

Abstract

Disclosed is a blank holding apparatus for holding a blank attached to an arm of a blank conveying robot for injecting a blank into a mold. The disclosed blank gripping device comprises a frame connected to an arm of a blank transfer robot; A gripper having two pairs of grippers each of which is fixed to grip both sides of the front and rear sides of the blank in the frame and has a gripping arm rotatable between a gripping position for holding the blank and a releasing position for releasing the gripping of the blank; And a hole detecting mechanism fixed to the frame to detect a reference hole formed in the blank at the time of holding the blank. The hole detection mechanism includes a main body, a detection rod that is vertically movable through the main body so as to be inserted into the reference hole of the blank at the time of holding the blank, a detection projection provided on one side of the detection rod, And a proximity sensor provided at a predetermined distance from the rod to detect the detection protrusion.

Description

[0001] BLANK GRIPPER FOR BLANK TRANSPORTING ROBOT [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot press forming method, and more particularly, to a holding apparatus for holding a heated blank mounted on a blank conveying robot for feeding a heated blank into a mold.

The Hot Press Forming method, which produces high strength and lightweight body parts, is a processing technique that heats the blank to a high temperature of 930 ° C, inserts it into a water-cooled molding die, and rapidly cools the molding with high speed.

The process flow of such hot press forming is schematically shown in Fig. As shown in the figure, when the blank is conveyed along the conveyor 10, the conveying robot 50 having the holding device 100 for holding the blank conveys the blank from the conveyor 10 to the conveying roller 20 in the heating furnace 20, . The blank conveyed to the heating furnace 20 is heated to a high temperature by the heat applied from the heater in the heating furnace 20 while moving along the conveying roller. The blank heated at a high temperature is gripped by the transfer robot 50 again at the end of the heating furnace and introduced into the hot press mold 30. [

A transfer robot 50 for transferring the blank from the conveyor 10 to the heating furnace 20 and from the heating furnace 20 to the mold 30 is provided with a blank gripping device 100). The blank holding apparatus 100 shown in Fig. 2 is adapted to grasp and convey a pair of blank B at the same time, and has a pair of grippers B, And a frame part 110 for supporting the pair of grip parts with respect to the arm of the transfer robot 50.

The frame unit 110 has a substantially H shape and a center beam 112 crossing the center of the frame unit 110 extends and is coupled to an arm (not shown) of the transfer robot, And is coupled to the transfer robot.

The pair of grip portions are disposed on both sides of the frame portion 110, and each grip portion includes four grippers 122, that is, two pairs of grippers 122. The two pairs of grippers 122 are fixed to the frame portion 110 so as to grasp the front and rear sides of the blank B as shown in the drawing and are fixed to the frame portion 110 to assist fixing of the gripper 122, 110 may have auxiliary beams 114 on both sides thereof.

At the lower end of each gripper 122, there is provided a gripping arm 124 rotatable between a gripping position for holding the blank B and a releasing position for releasing the gripping of the blank B. When the conveying robot 50 is moved to the blank take-out position of the heating furnace 20 and the gripping device 100 is lowered to the height at which the blank B is located, two grippers 122 And the gripping arm 124 is rotated from the released position to the gripping position, the blank B is gripped by the gripping apparatus 100. As shown in Fig. When the gripping of the blank B is completed, the transfer robot 50 lifts the gripping device 100 and places it in the hot press die 30. [ Then, as the gripping arm 124 of the gripper 122 is rotated from the gripping position to the release position, the insertion of the blank B into the mold 30 is completed.

On the other hand, since the product formed by such hot press forming has a strength of approximately 1470 MPa, it is difficult to ensure trimming quality only by molding with a mold. As a result, trimming is performed to cut the semi-finished product formed by the mold using a laser. Conventionally, since there is no separate reference point in the laser trimming process, quality problems such as the existence of a considerable positional deviation in the completed products have occurred.

In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed a method of forming a hole ("H" in FIG. 2) indicating a reference position on a blank to be inserted in a hot press forming process. When the blank having the hole is inserted into the jig for laser trimming or the mold, the pin provided in the mold or the jig is inserted into the hole of the blank. Thus, the hole serves as a reference point in the machining operation, .

The problem is that a blank which is not formed with a hole due to defects during blanking operation is often injected into the mold. In this case, the mold may be damaged during press processing by the mold, and in the laser trimming step There is a problem that the blank can not be inserted into the jig and thus the operation can not be performed.

Korean Patent No. 10-1034687

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention, which is devised to solve the problems as described above, is to provide a blank conveyance capable of detecting a blank in which no hole is formed so that a blank in which no hole indicating a reference position is inserted into a mold of a hot press forming process There is provided a blank holding apparatus for a robot.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a blank holding apparatus for holding a blank by being attached to an arm of a blank conveying robot for injecting a blank into a mold, the blank holding apparatus comprising: part; A gripping portion including two pairs of grippers fixed to the frame portion so as to grip both sides of the front and rear sides of the blank and each having a gripping arm rotatable between a gripping position for holding the blank and a releasing position for releasing gripping of the blank; And a hole detecting mechanism fixed to the frame portion so as to detect a reference hole formed in the blank at the time of gripping the blank, the hole detecting mechanism comprising: a body; and a through hole penetrating the body to be inserted into the reference hole of the blank at the time of holding the blank And a proximity sensor for detecting the detection protrusion at a predetermined distance from the detection rod at an upper side of the main body, wherein the sensing rod is provided on the upper side of the detection rod, A blank gripping device is provided.

Preferably, the hole detecting mechanism may include an elastic member for elastically supporting the detection rod downward, the frame portion may have an 'H' shape, and a pair of grip portions may be provided on both sides of the frame portion.

Preferably, the blank has two reference holes, and the hole detecting mechanism can also be provided with two holes corresponding to the holes.

The proximity sensor and the sensing protrusion are arranged such that the sensing protrusion is detected by the proximity sensor when the sensing rod is inserted into the hole of the blank or the sensing protrusion is detected by the proximity sensor when the sensing rod is not inserted into the hole of the blank .

According to the blank holding apparatus for a blank conveying robot according to the present invention, a blank is removed from a blank in which a reference hole is not formed in the process of transferring a blank from a heating furnace to a mold, It is possible to prevent problems such as breakage of the mold that may occur.

Fig. 1 is a view schematically showing a general hot press working process facility.
2 is a perspective view showing a blank gripping apparatus provided in a conventional blank conveying robot.
3 is a perspective view illustrating a blank gripping apparatus for a blank transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A blank gripping apparatus for a blank transfer robot according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Fig.

As shown in the figure, a blank holding apparatus 200 for a blank conveying robot according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a frame unit 210 coupled to an arm of a blank conveying robot, And a hole detecting mechanism (230) provided in the grip portion and each grip portion.

The frame unit 210 has a substantially H shape and a central beam 212 extending across the center of the frame unit 210 extends and is coupled to the arm of the transfer robot 210, .

One pair of grip portions are provided on both side portions of the frame portion 210, respectively. Accordingly, the transfer robot having the blank holding apparatus 200 according to the present invention can transfer the pair of blankes B at the same time.

Each of the grip portions includes two pairs of grippers 222 formed on opposite sides of the blank B so as to face each other with an interval corresponding to the width of the blank B, respectively. A gripping arm 224 rotatable between a gripping position for holding the blank B and a releasing position for releasing the gripping of the blank B is provided at the lower end of each gripper 222. Auxiliary beams 214 may be provided on both sides of the frame portion 210 to assist in fixing the gripper 222 to the frame portion 210. [

The hole detecting mechanism 230 is fixed to the frame portion so as to be disposed at a position corresponding to the hole H of the blank B and is provided with the number of reference holes H formed in the blank B to be transferred per each grip portion A corresponding number is provided.

The hole detecting mechanism 230 includes a body 232, a detecting rod 234 vertically penetrating the body 232, an elastic member 236 supporting the detecting rod 234 downward, And a proximity sensor 238 for detecting the sensing protrusion 235. The sensing protrusion 235 is provided on one side of the sensor 234,

The main body 232 is coupled to a proper position of the frame portion 210 through the connecting member 231. [ The detection rod 234 extends through the hole formed in the main body 232 so as to be movable up and down. When the grasp portion grasps the blank B, the lower end of the rod 234 is inserted into the reference hole H of the main body 232. In this case, The elastic member 236 may be a conventional coil spring which is disposed between the bottom surface of the main body 232 and the support rim formed on the lower side of the detection rod 234, As shown in Fig.

The detection protrusion 235 is provided on the upper portion of the detection rod 234 and is located within a distance that can be detected by the proximity sensor 238 in the operation of the hole detection sensor 230 according to an embodiment of the present invention The diameter of the detection rod 234 is larger than that of the detection rod 234.

The proximity sensor 238 is installed on the upper surface of the main body 232. The proximity sensor 238 and the sensing protrusion 235 are arranged such that the proximity sensor 238 detects the sensing protrusion 235 when the sensing rod 234 is inserted into the hole H of the blank B, ) Can not be inserted into the hole (H) of the blank (B), the detection protrusion (235) can not be detected. The proximity sensor 238 and the sensing protrusion 235 can not detect the sensing protrusion 235 when the sensing rod 234 is inserted into the hole H of the blank B And to detect the detection protrusion 235 when the detection rod 234 can not be inserted into the hole H of the blank B, as shown in FIG.

The blank holding apparatus 200 of the blank conveying robot according to the present invention having the above-described structure moves the arm of the robot to the blank take-out position of the heating furnace, and the gripping apparatus 200 moves the blank The gripping arms 224 at the releasing positions of the grippers 222 are rotated to the gripping position to grip the blank B. [

When the gripping device 200 is lowered in the grasping process, the hole detecting mechanism 230 is also lowered so that the detection rod 234 of the hole detecting mechanism 230 is formed on the blank B to be gripped Is inserted into the reference hole (H).

When the reference hole H of the blank B is normally formed in accordance with the specification, the detection rod 234 passes through the reference hole H without being subjected to any resistance in the process of being inserted into the reference hole H . The distance between the sensing protrusion 235 provided on the upper portion of the sensing rod 234 and the proximity sensor 238 provided on the upper portion of the sensing rod 234 is not changed so that the sensing protrusion 235 is continuously sensed in the proximity sensor 238, The signal generated from the sensor 238 is not changed.

In this case, on the basis of the signal received from the proximity sensor 9238 in the control panel controlling each step of the hot press forming step, the blank B is recognized as normal and the blank B held by the transfer robot is put into the hot press mold .

If the blank B to be conveyed is defective and the reference hole H is not formed in the blank B, the detection rod 234 contacts the blank B when the holding portion descends. The detection rod 234 is clogged with the blank B so that the detection rod 234 can not descend and relatively rise with respect to the main body 232 as the grasping portion continues to descend. The detection protrusion 235 provided on the upper portion of the detection rod 234 also ascends so that the distance between the detection protrusion 235 and the proximity sensor 238 is increased so that the detection protrusion 235 is detected by the proximity sensor 238 The signal generated from the proximity sensor 238 is changed.

In this case, in the control panel that controls each step of the hot press forming process, based on the signal received from the proximity sensor 238, the control unit recognizes that the blank B is defective and inserts the blank B held by the transfer robot into the hot press mold Instead of injecting, orders are issued to dispose of them in a separate waste site.

According to the blank holding apparatus for a blank conveying robot according to the present invention as described above, in the process of transferring the blank from the heating furnace to the mold, the bad blank on which the reference hole is not formed is discarded and discarded, It is possible to prevent a problem such as breakage of a mold which may be caused by the injection of a poor blank that has not been formed into the mold.

In one example of the present invention, a mechanical configuration is employed to detect whether or not a rod is inserted into a hole by a hole detecting mechanism for detecting a reference hole of a blank to determine whether or not the hole is defective. However, the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited to the description disclosed in the detailed description of the specification, and can be modified into various forms in any number of ways. For example, it is possible to measure the diameter and the position of the hole more precisely by using a laser displacement measuring sensor. The laser displacement measurement sensor may include a diode laser for generating a laser beam and a photosensor for detecting a laser beam generated from the diode laser.

In the foregoing, the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventive concept as defined by the appended claims. You can do it.

B: blank H: reference hole
200: gripping device 210: frame part
212: center beam 214: auxiliary beam
222: gripper 224: gripping arm
230: Hall detecting mechanism 232:
234: Detection rod 235: Detection projection
236: elastic member 238: proximity sensor

Claims

1. A blank gripping apparatus for holding a blank by being attached to an arm of a blank transfer robot for inputting a blank into a mold,
A frame connected to the arm of the blank conveying robot;
A grasping portion having two pairs of grippers each of which is fixed to the frame portion so as to grasp both sides of the blank, and which has a gripping arm rotatable between a gripping position for holding the blank and a releasing position for releasing gripping of the blank; And
And a hole detecting mechanism fixed to the frame portion to detect a reference hole formed in the blank at the time of holding the blank,
The hole detecting mechanism includes:
A main body,
A detection rod installed vertically movably through the body so as to be inserted into a reference hole of the blank at the time of holding the blank,
A detection projection provided on one side of the upper portion of the detection rod,
And a proximity sensor disposed above the main body and spaced apart from the detection rod by a predetermined distance to detect the detection protrusion.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the hole detecting mechanism further comprises an elastic member for elastically supporting the detection rod downward,
Wherein the frame portion has an " H " shape, and a pair of holding portions are provided on both sides of the frame portion.

The method according to claim 1,
The blank has two reference holes,
And the hole detection mechanism is provided in two numbers corresponding to the holes.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The proximity sensor and the sensing protrusion are arranged such that the sensing protrusion is detected by the proximity sensor when the sensing rod is inserted into the hole of the blank, or when the sensing rod is not inserted into the hole of the blank, Is detected so as to detect the blank position of the blank conveying robot.