A single-drive intermittent electric rotating gripper

Abstract

The present invention discloses a single-drive intermittent electric rotating clamp, comprising a motor, a screw, an internal thread sleeve, a planetary transmission mechanism, a clutch mechanism, a linkage mechanism and a plurality of flexible claw fingers; the screw is fixed to the output end of the motor, the internal thread sleeve is threadedly connected to the screw, the internal thread sleeve, the linkage mechanism and the flexible claw fingers are connected in sequence, the plurality of flexible claw fingers are flipped and installed on one end of the planetary transmission mechanism, and the clutch mechanism is used for connecting the internal thread sleeve with the planetary transmission mechanism; the present invention imitates the principle of manually tightening bottle caps, and realizes clamping and rotation with only one motor, which greatly saves space and economic costs, and creatively solves the problem that the robot arm cannot reach the workpiece in a small space, and the clamping force remains unchanged and will not damage the workpiece; the use of flexible claw fingers will not damage the workpiece and reduce the number of degrees of freedom, making the clamp lightweight and simple as a whole.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of manipulators, and in particular to a single-drive intermittent electric rotating clamp. Background Art

[0002] With the advancement of science and technology and the development of the times, in industrial production, due to high labor costs and low efficiency, production needs cannot be met. Therefore, robots occupy an irreplaceable position in industrial production. In the design of robots, the end gripper is an indispensable device. Due to different working conditions, the structure of the gripper is also different, and it is even subdivided into a special field of manipulators. In view of the assembly and maintenance problems of high-density electronic equipment due to small installation space, dense equipment, and limited operating space, most of the research on manipulators on the market today is aimed at realizing intelligent grasping and putting back, and there are few studies on the assembly of screw-mounted parts. There are also grippers for the purpose of rotation, but the grasping and rotating manipulators are mostly axially fed, which may cause interference when targeting screw-mounted parts. And some manipulators are large in size and are not suitable for working in a small space. Compared with the continuous rotation method of traditional manipulators, there is a disadvantage: there can be no other interference in the axial direction of screw-mounted parts. For example, if there is a wire at the end of the screw-mounted part, the ordinary manipulator may cause the wire to entangle with the manipulator during the rotation process, causing damage to the parts or damage to the manipulator. If radial feeding and continuous rotation are adopted, the space occupied by the clamp is large and there will be many interferences with equipment in a narrow space; if radial feeding and intermittent rotation are adopted, the working range of the clamp is fixed and the problem caused by the change in the diameter of the clamped workpiece cannot be solved. Therefore, the present invention develops a single-drive intermittent rotating clamp to overcome the above shortcomings.

[0003] In view of the above-mentioned defects, the inventors of the present invention finally obtained the present invention after a long period of research and practice. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to provide an electric clamp which can realize intermittent rotation and opening and closing by using a single drive.

[0005] The present invention solves the above technical problems through the following technical solutions. The present invention includes a motor, a screw, an internal threaded sleeve, a planetary transmission mechanism, a clutch mechanism, a linkage mechanism and a plurality of flexible claw fingers; the screw is fixed to the output end of the motor, the internal threaded sleeve is threadedly connected to the screw, the internal threaded sleeve, the linkage mechanism and the flexible claw fingers are connected in sequence, and the plurality of flexible claw fingers are flipped and installed on one end of the planetary transmission mechanism. The clutch mechanism is used for connecting the internal threaded sleeve with the planetary transmission mechanism, and the operation of the motor enables it to have two states of separation and engagement. In the separation state, the motor drives the linkage mechanism to move along the axial direction of the screw to realize the opening and closing of the plurality of flexible claw fingers; in the engagement state, the motor drives the plurality of flexible claw fingers to open and close and rotate at the same time.

[0006] Preferably, the planetary transmission mechanism includes a sun gear, multiple planetary gears, a planet carrier and an inner ring gear; the sun gear is located inside the inner ring gear, the multiple planetary gears are evenly distributed between the sun gear and the inner ring gear, the multiple planetary gears are all meshed and connected with the sun gear and the inner ring gear, the planet carrier is fixed to the screw, and the multiple planetary gears are all installed on the planet carrier through the rotation of the wheel axle.

[0007] Preferably, it also includes a clamping jaw housing, which is fixed between the motor and the planetary transmission mechanism, the screw rod and the internal thread sleeve are located inside the clamping jaw housing, and the motor and the clamping jaw housing are fixedly connected by a plurality of studs.

[0008] Preferably, the planetary transmission mechanism also includes a sealing cover and a flange; the sealing cover is rotatably mounted on the clamp housing through the flange, the inner gear ring is fixed to the inner wall of the sealing cover, and the multiple flexible claw fingers are flipped and mounted on the end face of the sealing cover, and the multiple flexible claw fingers are distributed in a circular array.

[0009] Preferably, the number of the planetary gears is three.

[0010] Preferably, an opening is provided at the center position of the sun gear; the clutch mechanism guide key and the arc groove; the internal threaded sleeve passes through the opening, the guide key is fixed to the outside of the internal threaded sleeve, the arc groove is opened in the sun gear and connected with the opening, and the guide key is located in the arc groove, the circumferential length of the arc groove is greater than the circumferential length of the guide key, and when the guide key contacts with a side wall of the arc groove, the sun gear is restricted from rotating in an engaged state; the guide key is in a separated state when it moves relatively in the arc groove.

[0011] Preferably, the linkage mechanism includes a pull rod, a connecting disk and a plurality of connecting rods; the pull rod is rotatably connected to the internal threaded sleeve, the connecting disk is fixed to the end of the pull rod, the inner ends of the plurality of connecting rods are hinged to the connecting disk, and the outer ends of the plurality of connecting rods are respectively hinged to a plurality of flexible claw fingers.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0013] 1. Based on the principle of manually twisting the bottle cap, the clamping and rotation are realized with only one motor, which greatly saves space and economic costs, and creatively solves the problem that the manipulator cannot reach the workpiece in a small space. The clamping force remains unchanged and will not damage the workpiece;

[0014] 2. The use of flexible claws will not damage the workpiece and reduce the number of degrees of freedom, making the overall gripper lighter and simpler. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 2 It is a structural diagram of a planetary transmission mechanism;

[0017] Figure 3 It is a cross-sectional structural schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 4 It is a structural diagram of the separation mechanism.

[0019] The numbers in the figure represent:

[0020] 1-soft claw finger; 31-connecting plate; 32-connecting rod; 33-pull rod; 4-sealing cover; 5-motor; 6-flange; 7-claw housing; 8-planetary gear; 9-axle; 10-inner ring gear; 11-sun gear; 12-fixing hole; 13-inner threaded sleeve; 14-planet carrier; 15-screw; 16-arc groove; 17-guide key. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The above and other technical features and advantages of the present invention are described in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0022] This embodiment provides a technical solution: a single-drive intermittent electric rotating gripper, such as Figure 1-4 As shown, it includes a motor 5, a screw rod 15, an internal threaded sleeve 13, a planetary transmission mechanism, a clutch mechanism, a linkage mechanism and a plurality of flexible claw fingers 1. The screw rod 15 is fixed to the output end of the motor 5, and the motor 5 is preferably a stepping motor 5; the internal threaded sleeve 13 is threadedly connected to the screw rod 15, and the internal threaded sleeve 13, the linkage mechanism and the flexible claw fingers 1 are connected in sequence. A clamping jaw housing 7 is fixed between the motor 5 and the planetary transmission mechanism, the screw rod 15 and the internal threaded sleeve 13 are located inside the clamping jaw housing 7, and the motor 5 and the clamping jaw housing 7 are fixedly connected by a plurality of studs, and the clamping jaw housing 7 plays the role of connecting the motor 5 and the planetary transmission mechanism and accommodating the screw rod 15 and the internal threaded sleeve 13;

[0023] The planetary transmission mechanism includes a sun gear 11, multiple planetary gears 8, an inner ring gear 10, a sealing cover 4 and a planetary carrier 14; the sealing cover 4 is fixed to the clamp housing 7 through a flange 6, the flange 6 is rigidly connected to the clamp housing 7, and a plurality of fixing holes 12 are opened on the periphery of the flange 6 for fixing the flange 6; the sealing cover 4 is rotatably installed on the flange 6, and a plurality of flexible claw fingers 1 are flipped and installed on the end surface of the sealing cover 4, and the plurality of flexible claw fingers 1 are distributed in a ring-shaped array, and the number of the plurality of flexible claw fingers 1 is 3-4, and 3 in this embodiment. The inner ring gear 10 is rotatably installed inside the sealing cover 4, the central axes of the sun gear 11, the internal threaded sleeve 13 and the inner ring gear 10 are located on the same axis, and multiple planetary gears 8 are evenly distributed between the sun gear 11 and the inner ring gear 10, and multiple planetary gears 8 are meshed and connected with the sun gear 11 and the inner ring gear 10, the planet carrier 14 is connected with the screw 15 with set screws, and multiple planetary gears 8 are rotatably installed on the planet carrier 14 through the wheel axle 9. When the screw 15 is driven to rotate by the motor 5, it will drive the planet carrier 14 and the multiple planetary gears 8 to rotate synchronously in a circle. The number of planetary gears 8 in this embodiment is 3.

[0024] The module of the planetary gear system inside the gripper is 0.7, the number of teeth of the planetary gears is 17 each, the number of teeth of the sun gear 11 is 29, the tooth thickness is 5mm, the screw rod 15 is 20mm long, and the detailed parameters are not repeated in detail. Due to the special characteristics of the flexible soft claw fingers, the working range is 15-30mm. The three soft claw fingers 1 can enhance the bite force, and the structure is not complicated. It is driven by a single motor 5. The overall structure of the gripper is simple and beautiful.

[0025] An opening is provided at the center of the sun gear 11; the clutch mechanism includes a guide key 17 and an arc groove 16; the internal threaded sleeve 13 passes through the opening, the guide key 17 is fixed to the outside of the internal threaded sleeve 13, the arc groove 16 is provided in the sun gear 11 and is connected to the opening, and the guide key 17 is located in the arc groove 16, and the circumferential length of the arc groove 16 is greater than the circumferential length of the guide key 17.

[0026] The clutch mechanism and the planetary transmission mechanism have two states of separation and engagement due to the operation of the motor 5. When the guide key 17 contacts one side wall of the arc groove 16, the sun gear 11 is restricted from rotating to the engagement state; when the guide key 17 moves relatively in the arc groove 16, it is in the separation state. In the separated state, the motor 5 drives the internal threaded sleeve 13 and the linkage mechanism to move axially along the screw 15, realizing the opening and closing of multiple flexible claw fingers 1, and performing preliminary clamping or loosening of the workpiece. At this time, the screw 15 will also synchronously drive the planetary carrier 14 to rotate, and the planetary carrier 14 drives the three planetary gears to make circular motion around the sun gear 11, which will drive the sun gear 11 to rotate until the guide key 17 contacts the side wall of one side of the arc groove 16 and switches to the meshing state; in the meshing state, the sun gear 11 cannot rotate due to the force of the guide key 17, so the power of the rotating planetary carrier 14 and the planetary gear 8 is transmitted to the inner gear ring 10 at this time, thereby causing the sealing cover 4 and multiple soft claw fingers 1 to start rotating, realizing the rotation of the workpiece, and the motor 5 will continue to drive the internal threaded sleeve 13 to move and continue to clamp the workpiece.

[0027] The linkage mechanism includes a pull rod 33, a connecting disk 31 and three connecting rods 32; the pull rod 33 is rotatably connected to the internal threaded sleeve 13, the connecting disk 31 is fixed to the end of the pull rod 33, the inner ends of the three connecting rods 32 are hinged to the connecting disk 31, and the outer ends of the three connecting rods 32 are respectively hinged to the three flexible claw fingers 1. When the pull rod 33 moves toward the side of the motor 5, the soft claw fingers 1 will be flipped inward and closed due to the action of the three connecting rods 32, otherwise the three connecting rods 32 will flip the soft claw fingers 1 outward and open.

[0028] In this embodiment, in the initial state, the guide key 17 contacts the side wall on one side of the arc groove 16, the motor 5 rotates forward, the internal threaded sleeve 13 will move to one side of the motor 5, and the pull rod 33 moves synchronously with the internal threaded sleeve 13. The multiple soft claw fingers are flipped inward and closed due to the pulling of the connecting rod 32, so that the workpiece can be clamped. The clamping claw is in a semi-clamped state. During this process, the planetary carrier 14 will also drive the three planetary gears 8 to make a circular motion around the sun gear 11, which will drive the sun gear 11 to rotate, and the guide key 7 will move relatively in the arc groove 16 until the guide key 17 contacts the side wall on the other side of the arc groove 16, which is meshing. state; when the motor 5 continues to run, since the multiple soft claw fingers are made of flexible materials, after the clamp is half-clamped, the internal threaded sleeve 13 will still be subjected to the circumferential force when the screw rod 15 rotates, further causing the internal threaded sleeve 13 to continue to move toward the side of the motor 5, and the flexible claw fingers 1 will continue to clamp the workpiece; and the sun gear 11 is restricted from rotating by the guide key 17, the planetary gear 8 will drive the inner ring gear 10 and the sealing cover 4 to rotate, and then the multiple soft claw fingers 1 installed on the sealing cover 4 will rotate, and the workpiece clamped by the multiple soft claw fingers 1 will also rotate to the specified angle. In this process, the clamping and circumferential rotation of the workpiece are completed.

[0029] As the motor 5 rotates, the clamping jaws are clamped and rotated, and when the motor 5 rotates reversely, the clamping jaws are released and returned to the normal position. In order to explain the working state of the clamping jaws, the forward rotation and reverse rotation of the motor 5 can be analyzed separately.

[0030] When rotating forward, the actions are formed in the following order:

[0031] 1) The motor 5 rotates forward, and the pull rod 33 pulls the soft claw to turn inward, thereby achieving semi-clamping of the workpiece;

[0032] 2) Under the action of the clutch mechanism, the internal threaded sleeve 13 meshes with the sun gear 11;

[0033] 3) The clamping jaws can drive the workpiece to rotate a certain angle while further clamping it.

[0034] When reversing, the actions are formed in the following order:

[0035] 1) When the motor 5 reverses, it synchronously drives the screw 15 to reverse. At this time, the screw 15 causes the internal thread sleeve 13 to move a certain distance to the side away from the motor 5, and the flexible claw finger 1 flips outward, and the clamp is semi-loosened; at the same time, the planet carrier 14 drives the planetary gear 8 to rotate in the opposite direction, and then drives the sun gear 11 to rotate in the opposite direction. Since the length of the arc groove 16 in the circumferential direction is greater than the length of the guide key 17 in the circumferential direction, the sun gear 11 reverses within a certain angle, and the guide key 17 moves relatively inward in the arc groove 16, so it cannot drive the inner gear ring 10 to rotate, and the clamp will not rotate;

[0036] 2) When the guide key 17 rotates to the other side of the arc groove 16, the clamping jaws are fully opened and the clutch mechanism switches to the engaged state;

[0037] 3) When the motor 5 continues to run, the sun gear 11 cannot rotate due to the restriction of the guide key 17, and the planetary gear 8 will drive the inner ring gear 10 and the sealing cover 4 to rotate, thereby rotating the multiple soft claw fingers 1 installed on the sealing cover 4, so that the clamping claw returns to the center.

[0038] When the motor 5 rotates a certain number of times, the electric clamping jaw performs the above-mentioned action. When the motor 5 rotates the same number of times, the electric clamping jaw performs the return action. This is a cycle to realize the assembly and disassembly of the workpiece.

[0039] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is only illustrative and not restrictive of the present invention. Those skilled in the art understand that many changes, modifications, and even equivalences may be made to the present invention within the spirit and scope defined by the claims of the present invention, but all of them will fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A single-drive intermittent electric rotary gripper, characterized in that: It includes a motor, a screw rod, an internal thread sleeve, a planetary transmission mechanism, a clutch mechanism, a linkage mechanism and a plurality of flexible claws; the screw rod is fixed to the output end of the motor, the internal thread sleeve is threadedly connected to the screw rod, the internal thread sleeve, the linkage mechanism and the flexible claws are connected in sequence, and the plurality of flexible claws are all flipped and installed on one end of the planetary transmission mechanism, the clutch mechanism is used for connecting the internal thread sleeve with the planetary transmission mechanism, and the operation of the motor enables it to have two states of separation and engagement, and in the separation state, the motor drives the linkage mechanism to move along the axial direction of the screw rod to realize the opening and closing of the plurality of flexible claws; In the meshing state, the motor drives the multiple flexible claws to open, close and rotate simultaneously; The planetary transmission mechanism includes a sun gear, a plurality of planetary gears, a planet carrier and an inner gear ring; The sun gear is located inside the inner gear ring, and multiple planetary gears are evenly distributed between the sun gear and the inner gear ring. Multiple planetary gears are meshed with the sun gear and the inner gear ring. The planet carrier is fixed to the screw rod, and multiple planetary gears are rotatably mounted on the planet carrier through the wheel axle. An opening is opened at the center of the sun gear. The clutch mechanism includes a guide key and an arc groove. The internal threaded sleeve passes through the opening, and the guide key is fixed to the outside of the internal threaded sleeve. The arc groove is opened in the sun gear and connected with the opening, and the guide key is located in the arc groove. The circumferential length of the arc groove is greater than the circumferential length of the guide key. When the guide key contacts a side wall of the arc groove, the sun gear is restricted from rotating to an engaged state. The guide key is in a separated state when it moves relatively in the arc groove.

2. A single-drive intermittent electric rotary gripper as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a clamping jaw housing, which is fixed between the motor and the planetary transmission mechanism. The screw rod and the internal thread sleeve are located inside the clamping jaw housing, and the motor and the clamping jaw housing are fixedly connected by a plurality of studs.

3. A single-drive intermittent electric rotary gripper as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The planetary transmission mechanism also includes a sealing cover and a flange; the sealing cover is rotatably mounted on the clamp housing through the flange, the inner gear ring is fixed to the inner wall of the sealing cover, and the multiple flexible claw fingers are flipped and mounted on the end face of the sealing cover, and the multiple flexible claw fingers are distributed in a circular array.

4. A single-drive intermittent electric rotary gripper as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The number of the planetary gears is three.

5. A single-drive intermittent electric rotary gripper as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The linkage mechanism includes a pull rod, a connecting disk and multiple connecting rods; the pull rod is rotatably connected to the internal threaded sleeve, the connecting disk is fixed to the end of the pull rod, the inner ends of the multiple connecting rods are hinged to the connecting disk, and the outer ends of the multiple connecting rods are respectively hinged to multiple flexible claws.

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