Barrel positioning device

Abstract

The application provides a kind of material bucket positioning device, it includes: turntable body, turntable driving mechanism, material bucket and positioning mechanism;The material bucket is arranged on the turntable body, and is arranged around the center of the turntable;The turntable driving mechanism drives the turntable body to pivot, and makes corresponding material bucket stay at the preset position by the positioning mechanism;The positioning mechanism is arranged below the turntable body, it includes: sensor and the mark that can be identified by the sensor;The mark is correspondingly set according to the discharge position of each material bucket, and the discharge position of each material bucket can be uniquely represented by the corresponding mark.The material bucket positioning device of the application can identify different material buckets through the positioning mechanism, and then assist the turntable driving mechanism to control the material bucket on the turntable body to stay at the discharge port.The positioning mechanism based on binary setting represents the number and position of the mark of discharge port, which has the advantages of high precision and low cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of cooking automation technology, and in particular to a material container positioning device. Background Technology

[0002] Currently, with the development of automation technology, automated cooking products are being used in kitchens of canteens, restaurants, fast food outlets, and homes. Existing automated cooking products mainly include stir-fry robots and seasoning dispensing robots. Among them, the seasoning dispensing robot provides different types of seasonings by using a container on a turntable. Therefore, it is necessary to propose further solutions to ensure that the container accurately stops at the dispensing position. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The present invention aims to provide a material bucket positioning device to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.

[0004] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

[0005] A material bucket positioning device includes: a turntable body, a turntable drive mechanism, a material bucket, and a positioning mechanism;

[0006] The material bins are disposed on the turntable body and arranged circumferentially around the center of the turntable; the turntable driving mechanism drives the turntable body to pivot and the positioning mechanism causes the corresponding material bins to stop at a preset position; the positioning mechanism is disposed below the turntable body and includes: a sensor and an identifier that can be identified by the sensor; the identifier is set according to the discharge position of each material bin, and the discharge position of each material bin can be uniquely represented by the corresponding identifier.

[0007] As an improvement to the material barrel positioning device of the present invention, the turntable drive mechanism includes: a turntable drive motor, a drive wheel, a driven wheel, and a wheel pivot seat;

[0008] The output end of the turntable drive motor is connected to the drive wheel. The wheel pivot seat is located on one side of the turntable drive motor. The driven wheel is mounted on the wheel pivot seat and is linked to the drive wheel via a transmission belt. The driven wheel is further fixedly connected to the bottom of the turntable body.

[0009] As an improvement to the material bucket positioning device of the present invention, the mark is set on the lower surface of the driven wheel, and the sensor is set on the motor base where the turntable drive motor is located.

[0010] As an improvement to the material bucket positioning device of the present invention, the turntable drive mechanism further includes a brake structure, which includes: a brake gear, a brake motor and an encoder;

[0011] The brake gear is connected to the output end of the brake motor and abuts against the transmission belt that links the driving wheel and the driven wheel; the encoder is linked to the transmission belt and can provide feedback of the coded signal of the position of the turntable body linked to the transmission belt; the brake motor controls the brake gear to brake according to the coded signal.

[0012] As an improvement to the material bucket positioning device of the present invention, the marking is a protrusion or a hole, and the protrusion or hole expresses the number of each material bucket in binary form; the sensors are arranged according to the distribution of the protrusion or hole, and the number of the sensors is set according to the number of binary bits.

[0013] As an improvement to the material barrel positioning device of the present invention, the protrusions or holes representing the material outlet positions are arranged circumferentially at intervals, and the protrusions or holes in any group are arranged on an oblique line at an angle to the radial direction.

[0014] As an improvement to the material bucket positioning device of the present invention, the positioning mechanism further includes a calibration sensor, which is located outside the other sensors and is movably disposed in the adjustment groove of the sensor fixing frame; the turntable body or the turntable drive mechanism is provided with a calibration mark corresponding to the discharge position of each material bucket.

[0015] As an improvement to the material bucket positioning device of the present invention, each calibration mark is distributed on a circular trajectory with the center of the turntable body as the center.

[0016] As an improvement to the material barrel positioning device of the present invention, the turntable body is also provided with a number of fixed frames arranged circumferentially, the top of each fixed frame is fixedly connected to a ring bracket, and each material barrel is installed between the corresponding two sets of fixed frames.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: the material bucket positioning device of the present invention can identify different material buckets through the positioning mechanism, thereby assisting the turntable drive mechanism in controlling the material buckets on the turntable body to stay at the discharge port. Furthermore, the aforementioned positioning mechanism is based on binary settings to characterize the number and position of the discharge port markers, which has the advantages of high accuracy and low cost. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0019] Figure 1This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the turntable body in one embodiment of the material bucket positioning device of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the turntable drive mechanism and the positioning mechanism in one embodiment of the material bucket positioning device of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 3 for Figure 2 Enlarged 3D schematic diagram of the turntable drive mechanism and positioning mechanism. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0023] like Figures 1-3 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides a material bucket positioning device, which includes: a turntable body 11, a turntable driving mechanism 12, a material bucket, and a positioning mechanism 13.

[0024] The turntable body 11 is used to support the containers for providing solid and liquid seasonings. To assist in the installation and fixation of the containers, the turntable body 11 is also provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced fixing brackets 111, the top of each fixing bracket 111 being fixedly connected to a ring bracket 112. Thus, an installation position is formed between any two adjacent fixing brackets 111. In one embodiment, any fixing bracket 111 is an L-shaped fixing bracket.

[0025] The turntable drive mechanism 12 is used to drive the turntable body 11 to rotate around its own central axis. The turntable drive mechanism 12 includes: a turntable drive motor 121, a drive wheel 122, a driven wheel 123, a wheel pivot seat 124, and a brake structure 125.

[0026] The turntable drive motor 121 is vertically mounted on a motor mounting base, and its output end is connected to the drive wheel 122. A turntable pivot seat 124 is located on one side of the turntable drive motor 121, and a driven wheel 123 is mounted on the pivot seat 124. The driven wheel 123 and the drive wheel 122 are linked via a transmission belt 126. The driven wheel 123 is further fixedly connected to the bottom of the turntable body 11. Thus, when the turntable drive motor 121 operates, it can drive the turntable body 11 to rotate via the drive wheel 122 and the driven wheel 123, thereby moving the material bucket on it to the discharge port.

[0027] The positioning mechanism 13 is used to identify different material containers, thereby assisting the turntable drive mechanism 12 in controlling the material containers on the turntable body 11 to stop at the discharge port. The solid and liquid material containers are arranged circumferentially on the turntable body 11.

[0028] Specifically, the positioning mechanism 13 is located below the turntable body 11 or the driven wheel 123, and preferably at the discharge port. The positioning mechanism 13 includes a sensor 131 and a marker 132, identifiable by the sensor 131, located on the lower surface of the turntable body 11 or the driven wheel 123. The marker 132 corresponds to the position of each material container on the turntable body 11. Therefore, based on the sensor 131's recognition of the marker 132, the position of each material container on the turntable body 11 at the discharge port can be determined.

[0029] In this embodiment, to reduce the cost of the positioning mechanism 13, the number and position of the markings 132 representing the discharge port are set based on binary settings. In this case, the sensor 131 can be an infrared sensor. Correspondingly, the markings 132 can be protrusions or holes that can be identified by the infrared sensor 131.

[0030] In one embodiment, when it is necessary to characterize 15 discharge positions, each protrusion or hole can be represented as: 0001, 0010, 0011, ..., 1110, 1111. That is, when one protrusion or hole is set as identifier 132, arranging this one protrusion or hole in different positions can represent 4 discharge positions. When two protrusions or holes are set as identifier 132, arranging these two protrusions or holes in different positions can identify 1326 discharge positions. When three protrusions or holes are set as identifier 132, arranging these three protrusions or holes in different positions can represent 4 discharge positions. When four protrusions or holes are set as identifier 132, one discharge position can be represented.

[0031] In order to match the movement of the turntable body 11 or the driven wheel 123, the protrusions or holes indicating the discharge position are arranged circumferentially at intervals. Furthermore, the protrusions or holes in any group are arranged on an oblique line at an angle to the radial direction. This helps to reduce the area occupied by the indicator 132, and consequently prevents the turntable body 11 or the driven wheel 123 containing the indicator 132 from becoming too large.

[0032] Accordingly, in order to identify the protrusions or holes set in binary form, four sensors 131 arranged along an oblique line at the same angle to the radial direction are required. Preferably, the identifier 132 is set on the lower surface of the driven wheel 123, in which case each sensor 131 is located below the driven wheel 123 and is mounted on the side wall of the wheel pivot seat 124 through the sensor 131 fixing seat. In this way, when each protrusion or hole representing the discharge port moves to a position opposite to each sensor 131, each sensor 131 can identify it and then feed back a braking signal indicating that the corresponding discharge port of the material bucket has reached the discharge port, so that the turntable drive motor 121 can control the turntable body 11 to stop rotating.

[0033] Furthermore, considering the potential error in the alignment of sensor 131 with the protrusion or hole that functions as marker 132—that is, when the discharge port indicated by marker 132 is not rotated to the position directly opposite the discharge port—sensor 131 can also be triggered. Therefore, the positioning mechanism 13 also includes a correction sensor 133, which is located outside the other four sensors 131 and is movably disposed in the adjustment groove 135 of the sensor holder 134. Correspondingly, a correction marker 136 corresponding to the discharge position of each material hopper is provided on the lower surface of the turntable body 11 or the driven wheel 123. Each correction marker 136 is distributed on a circular trajectory centered on the center of the turntable body 11.

[0034] Thus, when the other four sensors 131 are triggered, because the calibration sensor 133 is located outside the four sensors 131, its corresponding pivot radius is larger. At this time, the corresponding calibration mark 136 has not pivoted to the range that can be sensed by the calibration sensor 133. At this time, the turntable drive motor 121 continues to drive the turntable body 11 to pivot, so that the calibration mark 136 reaches the position that can be sensed by the calibration sensor 133, which means that the corresponding discharge position has been reached, and the turntable drive motor 121 can control the turntable body 11 to stop rotating.

[0035] Considering the impact of different weights of seasonings in the hopper on deceleration, the brake structure 125 is used to assist the turntable body 11 in accurate braking, and includes: brake gear 1251, brake motor 1252 and encoder (not shown).

[0036] The brake motor 1252 is mounted on a motor mounting base. The brake gear 1251 is connected to the output end of the brake motor 1252 and abuts against the transmission belt 126 of the driving pulley 122 and driven pulley 123. Thus, when the brake motor 1252 operates, it drives the brake gear 1251 to move in the opposite direction, thereby braking the transmission belt 126. Correspondingly, the outer surface of the transmission belt 126 is provided with meshing teeth that cooperate with the brake gear 1251.

[0037] The encoder is linked to the transmission belt 126, so that it can feed back an encoded signal after pivoting to a certain angle to help identify the position of the turntable body 11 linked to the transmission belt 126. According to the encoded signal, the brake motor 1252 can control the brake gear 1251 to brake the transmission belt 126 to help the material bucket on the turntable body 11 stay at the required position.

[0038] In summary, the material bucket positioning device of the present invention can identify different material buckets through a positioning mechanism, thereby assisting the turntable drive mechanism in controlling the material buckets on the turntable body to stop at the discharge port. Furthermore, the aforementioned positioning mechanism uses binary settings to characterize the number and position of the discharge port markers, which has the advantages of high accuracy and low cost.

[0039] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as exemplary and non-limiting, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims are intended to be included within the present invention. No reference numerals in the claims should be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

[0040] Furthermore, it should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This narrative style is merely for clarity. Those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A material bucket positioning device, characterized in that, The hopper positioning device includes: a turntable body, a turntable drive mechanism, a hopper, and a positioning mechanism; The material bins are disposed on the turntable body and arranged circumferentially around the center of the turntable; the turntable drive mechanism drives the turntable body to pivot and the positioning mechanism causes the corresponding material bins to stop at a preset position; the positioning mechanism is disposed below the turntable body and includes: a sensor and an identifier that can be identified by the sensor; the identifier is set according to the discharge position of each material bin, and the discharge position of each material bin can be uniquely represented by the corresponding identifier; The turntable drive mechanism includes: a turntable drive motor, a drive wheel, a driven wheel, and a wheel pivot seat; The output end of the turntable drive motor is connected to the drive wheel. The turntable pivot seat is located on one side of the turntable drive motor. The driven wheel is mounted on the turntable pivot seat and is linked to the drive wheel via a transmission belt. The driven wheel is further fixedly connected to the bottom of the turntable body. The turntable drive mechanism also includes a braking structure, which includes: a brake gear, a brake motor, and an encoder; The brake gear is connected to the output end of the brake motor and abuts against the transmission belt that links the driving wheel and the driven wheel; the encoder is linked to the transmission belt and can provide feedback of the coded signal of the position of the turntable body linked to the transmission belt; the brake motor controls the brake gear to brake according to the coded signal.

2. The material bucket positioning device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The marking is set on the lower surface of the driven wheel, and the sensor is set on the motor mount where the turntable drive motor is located.

3. The material bucket positioning device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The identifier is a protrusion or a hole, and the protrusion or hole represents the number of each material barrel in binary form; the sensors are set according to the distribution of the protrusion or hole, and the number of sensors is set according to the number of binary bits.

4. The material bucket positioning device according to claim 3, characterized in that, Each group of protrusions or holes representing the discharge position is arranged circumferentially at intervals, and the protrusions or holes in any group are arranged on an oblique line at an angle to the radial direction.

5. The material bucket positioning device according to any one of claims 1, 3, and 4, characterized in that, The positioning mechanism also includes a calibration sensor, which is located outside the other sensors and is movably disposed in the adjustment groove of the sensor fixing frame; the turntable body or the turntable drive mechanism is provided with a calibration mark corresponding to the discharge position of each material bucket.

6. The material bucket positioning device according to claim 5, characterized in that, Each calibration mark is distributed on a circular trajectory centered on the center of the turntable body.

7. The material bucket positioning device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The turntable body is also provided with several fixed frames arranged circumferentially, and the top of each fixed frame is fixedly connected to a ring bracket. Each material bucket is installed between two corresponding sets of fixed frames.

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