A micro spring sorter

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of spring inspection and discloses a miniature spring sorting machine, comprising an equipment mounting platform, on which are mounted a hopper feeding mechanism, a loading and transporting mechanism, a visual transfer system, a visual inspection system, and a controller. The loading and transporting mechanism transports material from the hopper feeding mechanism, which then enters the visual inspection system for inspection via the visual transfer system. Finally, the controller classifies the material as scrapped or qualified based on the inspection results. The hopper feeding mechanism comprises a material box and a loading tray, which is inserted into the material box from the bottom. The material box has an inlet at the bottom, and the inlet and the loading tray are sealed by a sealing brush or a sealing rubber ring. The sorting machine has the advantages of high efficiency and accurate sorting.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of spring detection, and in particular to a micro spring sorting machine. Background Art

[0002] Chinese patent CN201810317435.7 discloses a quality inspection system, method and device for micro springs. The system includes a cabinet and a loading assembly, a manipulator picking assembly, a detection assembly, a defective product sorting assembly and a good product discharging assembly installed on the cabinet. It also includes a visual inspection device connected to the detection assembly and a programmable logic controller connected to the loading assembly, the manipulator picking assembly, the detection assembly, the defective product sorting assembly, the good product discharging assembly and the visual inspection device, respectively. When the present invention receives a request for quality inspection of a micro spring to be tested, first, the inspection camera is controlled to collect a spring image of the micro spring to be tested. Then, the visual inspection device is controlled to perform product identification and size inspection on the collected spring image to obtain a quality inspection result of the micro spring to be tested, and the quality inspection result is sent to the programmable logic controller. Finally, the programmable logic controller is controlled to send a processing signal to the good product discharging assembly or the defective product sorting assembly according to the quality inspection result, so that the micro spring to be tested is processed accordingly, thereby improving the automation level of micro spring quality inspection and further improving the efficiency of quality inspection.

[0003] However, this system has the following problems: it is not suitable for testing very small springs, and it cannot load and unload multiple materials at a time. Moreover, each part only provides a single frame structure, which makes it unlikely to be used in actual applications. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Aiming at the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a micro spring sorting machine.

[0005] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention is solved by the following technical solutions:

[0006] A miniature spring sorting machine includes an equipment installation platform, on which a hopper feeding mechanism, a loading and transporting mechanism, a visual transfer system, a visual detection system, and a controller are arranged;

[0007] The loading and handling mechanism transports the materials from the silo feeding mechanism, and then enters the visual inspection system for inspection through the visual transfer system. Finally, the controller classifies the materials as scrapped or qualified based on the inspection results.

[0008] The silo feeding mechanism includes a material box and a loading tray. The loading tray is inserted into the material box from the bottom. An inlet is set at the bottom of the material box, and the inlet and the loading tray are sealed by a sealing brush or a sealing rubber ring.

[0009] Preferably, the hopper feeding mechanism includes an adjustment mechanism, which includes a horizontal motion mechanism for the horizontal reciprocating motion of the material box and a vertical motion mechanism for the vertical motion of the loading tray; the horizontal motion mechanism includes a slide rail 1, and the slide rail 1 has two tracks respectively arranged on both sides of the material box. A slider 1 is installed on the slide rail 1, and the slider 1 is fixedly connected to the material box. The slider on one side of the material box is connected to a guide block, and a vertical guide groove is provided on the guide block; it also includes a guide wheel and a drive motor 1, and a connecting arm is provided at the shaft end of the drive motor 1, and the guide wheel is installed on the connecting arm, and the guide wheel is provided in the guide groove. The guide wheel can roll up and down along the guide groove, and the motor shaft drives the connecting arm to rotate, and the guide wheel rolls up and down along the guide groove while pushing the guide block to move forward and backward.

[0010] Preferably, the loading tray is a plate, which is vertically inserted into the material box. The loading tray is positioned with a discharge trough for placing the spring. A slide groove is provided on the loading tray, which is located at the lower side of the entrance. It also includes a lifting cylinder, and a support wheel is provided at the end of the piston rod of the lifting cylinder. The support wheel is installed in the slide groove, and the slide groove and the support wheel can slide relative to each other. The lifting cylinder drives the loading tray up and down through the support wheel.

[0011] Preferably, it also includes a vertical slide rail 2, and the support wheel is installed on the slide rail 2 through a connecting piece. When the loading tray moves horizontally, the support wheel is equivalent to the guide wheel supported in the slide groove.

[0012] Preferably, the top of the loading tray is an arched surface, and there are multiple discharge troughs, which are arranged in an "I" shape along the front-to-back direction of the top of the loading tray.

[0013] Preferably, the loading and handling mechanism is arranged above the loading tray and can slide back and forth. The loading and handling mechanism includes a vacuum adsorption mechanism. The vacuum adsorption mechanism includes a plurality of vacuum suction head assemblies. The vacuum suction head assemblies and the discharge troughs are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence. Each vacuum suction head assembly is individually connected to a solenoid valve that controls the vacuum switch. The vacuum suction head assembly includes a vacuum suction head. The end of the vacuum suction head is provided with a slot with an arc-shaped cross-section. The slot is adapted to the side shape of the spring, and the suction head of the vacuum suction head is arranged at the bottom of the slot.

[0014] Preferably, the visual transfer platform is used to move the spring holding slide, the upper end surface of the holding slide is provided with a holding groove for placing the spring, and also includes a ball screw assembly for driving the holding slide to move back and forth, and the ball screw assembly is driven by a servo motor; the visual inspection system includes a vertical visual component arranged above the visual transfer platform and a horizontal visual component arranged on one side of the visual transfer platform; the controller controls the lateral feed of the holding slide, and the visual inspection system performs visual inspection on the springs in each holding groove in turn, and transmits the inspection results to the controller.

[0015] Preferably, the slide is made of transparent material.

[0016] Preferably, a material unloading system is also included, which includes a cross-transfer platform and a vacuum gripping mechanism installed on the cross-transfer platform. The controller processes the springs as qualified or unqualified according to the detection signals in each holding slot transmitted by the visual detection system.

[0017] The present invention has the following significant technical effects due to the adoption of the above technical solution:

[0018] The present invention designs a micro spring sorting machine, which can load multiple springs at a time, and the loading is simple, the springs in each placement slot will not interfere with each other, and can test multiple indicators of the springs at the same time, and perform unified processing after testing. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the device.

[0020] Figure 2 It is a structural diagram of the silo feeding mechanism.

[0021] Figure 3 It is a structural diagram of the silo feeding mechanism.

[0022] Figure 4 It is a structural diagram of the loading and handling mechanism.

[0023] Figure 5 It is a structural diagram of the visual transfer system and the visual inspection system.

[0024] Figure 6 yes Figure 5 A partial enlarged view of .

[0025] Figure 7 It is a structural diagram of the feeding system.

[0026] Figure 8 It is a structural diagram of a vacuum suction head.

[0027] The technical names of the figures in the figure are: 1-equipment installation platform, 2-silo feeding mechanism, 3-loading and handling mechanism, 4-visual transfer system, 5-visual inspection system, 6-controller, 7-entrance, 8-material box, 10-loading tray, 11-slide rail one, 12-slider one, 13-guide block, 14-guide groove, 15-guide wheel, 16-discharge trough, 17-slide, 18-lifting cylinder, 19-support wheel, 20-slide rail two, 21-vacuum adsorption mechanism, 22-vacuum suction head, 23-card slot, 24-holding slide, 25-holding trough, 26-ball screw assembly, 27-servo motor, 28-vertical vision component, 29-horizontal vision component, 30-unloading system, 31-cross transfer platform, 32-vacuum grasping mechanism. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0029] Example 1

[0030] A micro spring sorting machine includes an equipment installation platform 1, on which a silo feeding mechanism 2, a loading and transporting mechanism 3, a visual transfer system 4, a visual detection system 5, and a controller 6 are provided;

[0031] The loading and transporting mechanism 3 transports the materials from the silo feeding mechanism 2, and then enters the visual inspection system 5 for inspection via the visual transfer system 4. Finally, the controller 6 classifies the materials as scrapped or qualified according to the inspection results.

[0032] The hopper feeding mechanism 2 includes a material box 8 and a loading tray 10. The loading tray 10 is inserted into the material box 8 from the bottom. The bottom of the material box 8 is provided with an inlet 7. The inlet 7 and the loading tray 10 are sealed with a sealing brush or a sealing rubber ring. In this solution, the loading tray 10 can grab multiple springs simultaneously, greatly improving efficiency by testing multiple springs at once.

[0033] In this embodiment, the hopper feeding mechanism 2 includes an adjustment mechanism, which includes a horizontal motion mechanism for the horizontal reciprocating motion of the material box 8 and a vertical motion mechanism for the vertical motion of the loading tray 10; the horizontal motion mechanism includes a slide rail 11, and the slide rail 11 has two tracks arranged on both sides of the material box 8 respectively. A slider 12 is installed on the slide rail 11, and the slider 12 is fixedly connected to the material box 8. The slider on one side of the material box 8 is connected to a guide block 13, and a vertical guide groove 14 is provided on the guide block 13; it also includes a guide wheel 15 and a drive motor 1, and a connecting arm is provided at the shaft end of the drive motor 1, and the guide wheel 15 is installed on the connecting arm, and the guide wheel 15 is provided in the guide groove 14. The guide wheel 15 can roll up and down along the guide groove 14, and the motor shaft drives the connecting arm to rotate. The guide wheel 15 rolls up and down along the guide groove 14 while pushing the guide block 13 to move forward and backward.

[0034] The loading tray 10 is a vertically arranged plate, which is vertically inserted into the material box 8. The loading tray 10 is positioned with a discharge trough 16 for placing the spring. A slide groove 17 is provided on the loading tray 10, and the slide groove 17 is located on the lower side of the entrance 7. It also includes a lifting cylinder 18, and a support wheel 19 is provided at the end of the piston rod of the lifting cylinder 18. The support wheel 19 is installed in the slide groove 17, and the slide groove 17 and the support wheel 19 can slide relative to each other. The lifting cylinder 18 drives the loading tray 10 up and down through the support wheel 19.

[0035] Since the micro springs in this solution are relatively soft and have an annular earring structure at both ends, the springs are prone to hooking and getting stuck, which can lead to loading failures. Therefore, this solution designs a loading tray 10 that can move back and forth and up and down to continuously shake the springs in the material box 8, thereby ensuring that no extra springs are hung on the entire loading tray 10 except for the holding groove 25.

[0036] It also includes a second vertical slide rail 20, onto which a support wheel 19 is mounted via connectors. When the loading tray 10 moves laterally, the support wheel 19 acts as the guide wheel 15 supported within the chute 17. The top of the loading tray 10 is arched, and multiple discharge chutes 16 are arranged in a "I" shape along the top of the loading tray 10 in a front-to-back direction. The arched top surface of the loading tray 10 ensures that excess springs can slide away smoothly, thereby ensuring that no excess springs accumulate around the receiving troughs 25.

[0037] In this embodiment, the loading and handling mechanism 3 is disposed above the loading tray 10 and is capable of sliding back and forth. The loading and handling mechanism 3 includes a vacuum suction mechanism 21, which includes a plurality of vacuum suction head 22 assemblies. The vacuum suction head 22 assemblies are disposed in a one-to-one correspondence with the discharge trough 16. Each vacuum suction head 22 assembly is individually connected to a solenoid valve that controls the vacuum switch. The vacuum suction head 22 assembly includes a vacuum suction head 22, the end of which is provided with a slot 23 having an arc-shaped cross section. The slot 23 is adapted to the side shape of the spring, and the suction head of the vacuum suction head 22 is disposed at the bottom of the slot 23. Because the micro-spring is relatively lightweight and the coils of the spring in the central elastic zone are tightly fitted together under the action of the elastic force, in this embodiment, only vacuum suction is required to complete the material transportation. Moreover, this transportation method does not cause the position of the spring to move or shake during transportation.

[0038] In this embodiment, the visual transfer platform is used to move the spring holding slide 24. The upper end surface of the holding slide 24 is provided with a holding groove 25 for placing the spring. It also includes a ball screw assembly 26 for driving the holding slide 24 to move back and forth. The ball screw assembly is driven by a servo motor 27. The visual inspection system 5 includes a vertical visual component 28 arranged above the visual transfer platform and a horizontal visual component 29 arranged on one side of the visual transfer platform. The controller 6 controls the lateral feed of the holding slide 24. The visual inspection system 5 performs visual inspection on the springs in each holding groove 25 in turn and transmits the inspection results to the controller 6. The use of a ball screw to control the feed of the holding slide 24 ensures the controllability of the feed. The vertical visual component 28 can detect whether the diameter of the circular structure at both ends of the micro spring and the overall size of the micro spring meet the requirements. The horizontal visual component 29 is used to detect whether the earrings at both ends of the spring are on the same plane and whether the spring as a whole is bent.

[0039] In order to facilitate lateral detection, the holding slide 24 is made of a transparent material, specifically a transparent plastic plate.

[0040] This solution also includes a material unloading system 30, which includes a cross-transfer platform 31 and a vacuum gripping mechanism 32 mounted on the cross-transfer platform 31. A controller 6 determines whether springs are qualified or unqualified based on the detection signals within each holding slot 25 transmitted by the visual inspection system 5. The material unloading system 30, the machine vision system, the vacuum suction assembly, and the servo motor 27 for the ball screw are all connected to the controller 6. The controller 6 can independently control the on / off of each suction assembly, thereby enabling independent loading and unloading of materials at each workstation.

[0041] The workflow of this solution is as follows:

[0042] A spring is placed in the material box 8, and then the motor drives the material box 8 and the loading tray 10 to move horizontally, and at the same time the cylinder drives the loading tray 10 to move up and down to complete the spring loading. After the loading is completed, the loading and handling mechanism 3 uses a vacuum component to suck up the spring in the holding groove 25 and place it on the visual transfer system 4, and then the servo motor 27 uses the ball screw mechanism to inspect the springs on the sliding platform one by one through the machine vision system, and then the controller 6 statistically records the data of each spring inspection, and then after the inspection is completed, the material is unloaded through the unloading mechanism.

[0043] The present invention designs a micro spring sorting machine, which can load multiple springs at a time, and the loading is simple, the springs in each placement slot will not interfere with each other, and can simultaneously detect multiple indicators of the springs and perform unified processing after detection.

[0044] Example 2

[0045] The difference from Example 1 is that the number of the discharge troughs 16 on the sliding platform and the discharge troughs 16 on the loading box are the same.

[0046] Example 3

[0047] The difference from embodiment 1 is that it further includes a loading bin, which is connected to the material box 8 .

Claims

1. A miniature spring sorting machine, characterized by: The device comprises an equipment installation platform (1), on which a silo feeding mechanism (2), a loading and transporting mechanism (3), a visual transfer system (4), a visual detection system (5), and a controller (6) are arranged; The loading and transporting mechanism (3) transports the materials from the silo feeding mechanism (2), and then enters the visual inspection system (5) for inspection via the visual transfer system (4). Finally, the controller (6) classifies the materials as scrapped or qualified according to the inspection results. The silo feeding mechanism (2) comprises a material box (8) and a loading tray (10), wherein the loading tray (10) is inserted into the material box (8) from the bottom of the material box (8), an inlet (7) is provided at the bottom of the material box (8), and a sealing brush or a sealing rubber ring is used to seal the inlet (7) and the loading tray (10); The hopper feeding mechanism (2) includes an adjustment mechanism, which includes a horizontal movement mechanism for causing the material box (8) to reciprocate horizontally and a vertical movement mechanism for causing the loading tray (10) to move vertically; the horizontal movement mechanism includes a slide rail (11), which has two tracks, which are arranged on both sides of the material box (8), and a slider (12) is installed on the slide rail (11). The slider (12) is fixedly connected to the material box (8). The slider on one side of the material box (8) A guide block (13) is connected, and a guide groove (14) in a vertical direction is provided on the guide block (13); a guide wheel (15) and a driving motor are also included, and a connecting arm is provided at the shaft end of the driving motor. The guide wheel (15) is installed on the connecting arm, and the guide wheel (15) is arranged in the guide groove (14). The guide wheel (15) can roll up and down along the guide groove (14). The motor shaft drives the connecting arm to rotate, and the guide wheel (15) rolls up and down along the guide groove (14) while pushing the guide block (13) to move forward and backward. The loading tray (10) is a plate member, and the loading tray (10) is vertically inserted into the material box (8). A discharge trough (16) for placing a spring is provided on the top of the loading tray (10). A chute (17) is provided on the loading tray (10), and the chute (17) is located on the lower side of the inlet (7). The loading tray (10) also includes a lifting cylinder (18). A support wheel (19) is provided at the end of the piston rod of the lifting cylinder (18). The support wheel (19) is installed in the chute (17). The chute (17) and the support wheel (19) can slide relative to each other. The lifting cylinder (18) drives the loading tray (10) to move up and down through the support wheel (19); It also includes a vertical slide rail 2 (20), and the support wheel (19) is installed on the slide rail 2 (20) through a connecting piece; The top of the loading tray (10) is an arched cambered surface, and the number of the discharge troughs (16) is multiple and arranged in a straight line along the front-to-back direction of the top of the loading tray (10).

2. A micro spring sorting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The loading and transporting mechanism (3) is arranged above the loading tray (10) and can slide back and forth. The loading and transporting mechanism (3) includes a vacuum adsorption mechanism (21). The vacuum adsorption mechanism (21) includes a plurality of vacuum suction head assemblies. The vacuum suction head assemblies and the discharge trough (16) are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence. Each vacuum suction head assembly is individually connected to a solenoid valve for controlling a vacuum switch. The vacuum suction head assembly includes a vacuum suction head (22). The end of the vacuum suction head (22) is provided with a slot (23) with an arc-shaped cross section. The slot (23) is adapted to the side shape of the spring. The suction head of the vacuum suction head (22) is arranged at the bottom of the slot (23).

3. The micro spring sorting machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: The visual transfer platform includes a holding slide (24) for moving springs, the upper end surface of the holding slide (24) is provided with a holding groove (25) for placing the spring, and also includes a ball screw assembly (26) for driving the holding slide (24) to move back and forth, and the ball screw assembly (26) is driven by a servo motor (27); the visual inspection system (5) includes a vertical visual assembly (28) arranged above the visual transfer platform and a horizontal visual assembly (29) arranged on one side of the visual transfer platform; the controller (6) controls the lateral feed of the holding slide (24), and the visual inspection system (5) performs visual inspection on the springs in each holding groove (25) in turn, and transmits the inspection results to the controller (6).

4. A micro spring sorting machine according to claim 3, characterized in that: The slide (24) is made of transparent material.

5. The micro spring sorting machine according to claim 3, characterized in that: The invention also includes a feeding system (30), which includes a cross-transfer platform (31) and a vacuum gripping mechanism (32) installed on the cross-transfer platform (31). The controller (6) processes the springs as qualified or unqualified according to the detection signals in each holding slot (25) transmitted by the visual detection system (5).

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