An automatic shaft feeding device and method

Abstract

This invention relates to an automatic shaft feeding device and method, comprising a storage box, a screening base, and a pushing mechanism; the storage box has an opening at its upper end, and a positioning seat and a feeding unit are provided on the side of the opening near the screening base; a lifting unit is provided on the inner wall of the storage box; the positioning seat has a positioning groove for positioning the shaft in a lying position, and when the shaft is placed in the positioning groove, part of its side surface is exposed outside the positioning groove; the device also includes a flipping unit for driving the positioning seat to rotate longitudinally, a fixture located above the positioning seat, and a lifting unit for driving the fixture to rise and fall; the fixture has a contour groove corresponding to the part of the shaft exposed outside the positioning groove; the device also includes a monitoring component for monitoring the downward movement of the fixture; the screening base has a screening inclined surface; it can automatically identify and screen conical or quasi-conical shafts in both directions and perform secondary error-proof screening on the inclined surface, thereby achieving accurate automatic shaft orientation identification and feeding.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of plastic mold technology, and more specifically, to an automatic shaft feeding device and method. Background Technology

[0002] Plastic mold is a type of combined mold used for compression molding, extrusion molding, injection molding, blow molding, and low-foaming molding. The coordinated changes of the mold's punch, die, and auxiliary molding system can produce a series of plastic parts of different shapes and sizes.

[0003] When producing plastic molds, it is often necessary to press shafts into the mold for assembly. Some shafts have inconsistent dimensions at both ends, such as one end being larger than the other and having a certain taper. This makes it necessary to distinguish the front and back during loading. If this problem is not solved, automatic loading cannot be achieved. Currently, the solution to this problem relies more on manual identification, which is labor-intensive, inefficient, and has a relatively high error rate. A better approach is to use visual recognition to confirm the front and back, but this method is more expensive, and the maintenance cost is also high, resulting in poor cost-effectiveness. There is a need for a low-cost and effective shaft front and back identification mechanism that can solve the above problems and address the issue of shaft front and back identification in automatic loading. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an automatic shaft feeding device and an automatic shaft feeding method, in view of the above-mentioned defects of the prior art.

[0005] The technical solution adopted by this invention to solve its technical problem is:

[0006] An automatic shaft feeding device is constructed, comprising a storage box for storing shafts, a screening seat, and a pushing mechanism arranged side by side in sequence; the storage box has an opening at its upper end, and a positioning seat and a feeding unit for laterally feeding shafts to the positioning seat are arranged on the side of the opening near the screening seat; the inner wall of the storage box is provided with a lifting unit for feeding shafts from inside the storage box into the feeding unit; the positioning seat is provided with a positioning groove for positioning shafts in a lying position, and when the shaft is placed in the positioning groove, a portion of its side surface is exposed outside the positioning groove; the device also includes a mechanism for driving the positioning seat to rotate longitudinally. The device includes a flipping unit, a fixture located above the positioning seat, and a lifting unit that drives the fixture to rise and fall. The fixture has a contour groove corresponding to the portion of the shaft exposed outside the positioning groove. The device also includes a monitoring component for monitoring the downward movement of the fixture. The screening seat has a screening ramp, and a limit baffle is provided on one side of the screening ramp. The limit baffle has an elongated positioning groove that matches the smaller end of the shaft and is parallel to the screening ramp. When the pushing mechanism operates, it picks up the shaft rolling down from the screening ramp and pushes it out to complete the feeding.

[0007] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention includes a feeding unit comprising a feeding belt and a feeding plate arranged in a V-shape, the feeding plate being located between the feeding belt and the lifting unit, and a baffle plate being provided on the side of the feeding belt away from the feeding plate; the feeding plate being provided with an anti-stacking inclined surface inclined toward the storage box, the anti-stacking inclined surface being located between the lifting unit and the positioning seat, and the length of the anti-stacking inclined surface being greater than the length of the shaft.

[0008] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention includes a lifting unit that is a stepped feeder; the bottom surface of the storage box is provided with a first inclined surface directly opposite the stepped feeder, a second inclined surface that guides the shaft into the first inclined surface, and a third inclined surface that guides the shaft into the second inclined surface, wherein the anti-stacking inclined surface and the positioning seat are both located directly above the third inclined surface.

[0009] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention includes a stepped feeder that feeds multiple horizontally placed shafts into the feeding unit each time, and the multiple shafts are arranged linearly along the feeding direction of the feeding unit.

[0010] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention includes a fixture connected to the movable end of the lifting unit via an elastic element; the monitoring component includes two distance sensors respectively disposed at both ends of the fixture, the distance sensors detecting the distance of the shaft or the distance to the positioning seat.

[0011] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention includes a pushing mechanism comprising a receiving groove located at the lower side of the sieve inclined surface and a pushing unit for pushing the shaft out of the receiving groove.

[0012] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention has a screen inclined surface in the shape of a parallelogram, and a limiting baffle is provided on the side of the screen inclined surface that forms an obtuse angle with its upper side.

[0013] The automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention further includes a recycling box, which is located directly below the side of the inclined screen that forms an acute angle with its upper side.

[0014] In the automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention, the positioning groove is V-shaped or U-shaped.

[0015] An automatic shaft feeding method, applied to the automatic shaft feeding equipment described above, is implemented as follows:

[0016] During operation, the shafts are poured into the storage box in batches, and then the lifting unit lifts the shafts and sends them into the feeding unit;

[0017] The feeding unit feeds the lying shaft horizontally into the positioning slot on the positioning seat. The lifting unit drives the fixture to move downward to match the shape of the shaft in the positioning slot, distinguish the positive and negative directions of the shaft, and the monitoring component sends the monitoring results to the flipping unit.

[0018] For shafts with incorrect orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft back into the storage box. For shafts with correct orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft onto the sieve slope. The sieve slope is used for secondary screening. Shafts with correct orientation will roll down the sieve slope and be received and pushed out by the pushing mechanism to complete the feeding.

[0019] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: During operation, shafts are poured into the storage box in batches, and then the lifting unit lifts the shafts and sends them into the feeding unit; the feeding unit sends the horizontally placed shafts into the positioning slots on the positioning seat; the lifting unit drives the fixture to move downwards to match the shape of the shafts in the positioning slots, distinguishing the positive and negative directions of the shafts, and the monitoring component sends the monitoring results to the flipping unit; for shafts with unqualified orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shafts back into the storage box; for shafts with qualified orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shafts back into the storage box. The material is poured onto the inclined screen surface, where it undergoes secondary screening. Qualified shafts roll down the inclined screen surface and are then received and pushed out by the pushing mechanism to complete the feeding process. Using the method described in this application, automatic identification and screening of conical or cone-shaped shafts, as well as secondary screening on the inclined surface to prevent errors, can be achieved. This ensures accurate and automatic shaft orientation identification for feeding. Based on actual equipment usage, a 100% screening accuracy rate can be achieved, allowing for completely manual feeding. Furthermore, the overall structure is extremely compact, with a reasonable layout and minimal space occupation. Attached Figure Description

[0020] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. The drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort:

[0021] Figure 1 This is a top view of the automatic shaft feeding device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention (the fixture and lifting unit are not shown).

[0022] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the positioning seat and fixture cooperation structure of the automatic shaft feeding device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 This is a side view of the screen seat of the automatic shaft feeding device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0024] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, a clear and complete description will be provided below in conjunction with the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative effort are within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0025] The preferred embodiment of the automatic shaft feeding device of the present invention, such as... Figure 1 As shown, see also Figure 2 and Figure 3 The device includes a storage box 1 for storing shafts, a screen seat 2, and a pushing mechanism 3 arranged side by side. The storage box 1 has an opening at its upper end, and a positioning seat 10 and a feeding unit 11 for laterally feeding shafts to the positioning seat 10 are provided on the side of the opening near the screen seat 2. The inner wall of the storage box 1 has a lifting unit 12 for feeding shafts into the feeding unit 11. The positioning seat 10 has a positioning groove 100 for positioning shafts in a lying position. When the shaft is placed in the positioning groove 100, part of its side surface is exposed outside the positioning groove 100. The device also includes a flipping unit 4 (which can be a flipping motor, etc.) for longitudinally flipping the positioning seat 10. The equipment includes a fixture 5 located above the positioning seat 10 and a lifting unit 6 that drives the fixture 5 to rise and fall. The fixture 5 is provided with a contour groove 50 corresponding to the part of the shaft exposed outside the positioning groove 100. The equipment also includes a monitoring component 7 for monitoring the downward state of the fixture 5. The screening seat 2 is provided with a screening inclined surface 20. A limit baffle 21 is provided on one side of the screening inclined surface 20. The limit baffle 21 is provided with a long strip positioning groove 210 that matches the smaller end of the shaft. The positioning groove 210 is parallel to the screening inclined surface 20. When the pushing mechanism 3 is running, it picks up the shaft rolling down from the screening inclined surface 20 and pushes the shaft out to complete the feeding.

[0026] During operation, the shafts are poured into the storage box 1 in batches, and then the lifting unit 12 lifts the shafts and sends them into the feeding unit 11. The feeding unit 11 sends the shafts in the lying state laterally into the positioning groove 100 on the positioning seat 10. The lifting unit 6 drives the fixture 5 to move down to match the shape of the shafts in the positioning groove 100, distinguish the positive and negative directions of the shafts, and the monitoring component 7 sends the monitoring results to the flipping unit 4. For shafts with unqualified orientation, the flipping unit 4 drives the positioning seat 10 to flip and pour the shafts back into the storage box 1. For shafts with qualified orientation, the flipping unit 4 drives the positioning seat 10 to flip and pour the shafts onto the screening slope 20. The screening slope 20 is used for secondary screening. Shafts with qualified orientation will roll down the screening slope 20 and be received and pushed out by the pushing mechanism 3 to complete the feeding.

[0027] By applying the method of this application, it is possible to automatically identify and screen conical or cone-shaped shafts in both directions, as well as perform secondary error-proof screening on inclined surfaces. This achieves the purpose of accurate automatic identification and feeding of shafts. According to the actual use results of the equipment, a screening accuracy of 100% can be achieved. The feeding can be done without any manual intervention. At the same time, the overall structure is extremely compact, the layout is reasonable, and it occupies little space.

[0028] Preferably, the feeding unit 11 includes a feeding belt 110 and a feeding plate 111 arranged in a V-shape. The feeding plate 111 is located between the feeding belt 110 and the lifting unit 12. A baffle plate 112 is provided on the side of the feeding belt 110 away from the feeding plate 111. An anti-stacking inclined surface 113 inclined towards the storage box is provided on the feeding plate 111. The anti-stacking inclined surface 113 is located between the lifting unit 12 and the positioning seat 10. The length of the anti-stacking inclined surface 113 is greater than the length of the shaft.

[0029] During operation, after the lifting unit 12 lifts the shaft, the shaft rolls along the feeding plate 111 into the V-shaped groove formed by the combination of the feeding belt and the feeding plate. The baffle plate 112 blocks the material to prevent the shaft from rolling out. Then, the feeding belt 110 drives the shaft to move towards the positioning groove 100. When there is a shaft in the positioning groove 100, the subsequent shaft will be blocked and stay on one side of the positioning groove 100. If there is a stacking of shafts at this time, the upper shaft will roll back into the storage box 1 along the anti-stacking slope 113 to ensure the continuity and reliability of feeding the positioning groove 100.

[0030] Preferably, the lifting unit 12 is a stepped feeder (existing components can be used, and will not be described in detail here); furthermore, in order to ensure that all shafts in the storage box are fed, a first inclined surface 13 facing the stepped feeder, a second inclined surface 14 guiding the shafts into the first inclined surface 13, and a third inclined surface 15 guiding the shafts into the second inclined surface 14 can be provided on the bottom surface of the storage box 1. The anti-overlapping inclined surface 113 and the positioning seat 10 are both located directly above the third inclined surface 15. The setting of the first inclined surface 13 and the second inclined surface 14 can ensure that most of the shafts can enter the lower end of the stepped feeder, while the third inclined surface 15 is for facilitating the receiving of shafts that roll back from the anti-overlapping inclined surface 113 and shafts that are flipped and poured into the positioning seat 10. The structure is simple and the design is reasonable, which can ensure the refeeding of the rolled-back shafts.

[0031] Preferably, the stepped feeder feeds multiple horizontally placed shafts into the feeding unit 11 each time, and the multiple shafts are arranged linearly along the feeding direction of the feeding unit 11. The purpose of this design of feeding multiple shafts at a time is to ensure that a shaft is fed into the feeding unit 11 each time.

[0032] Preferably, the movable ends of the fixture 5 and the lifting unit 6 are connected by an elastic element 8. If the fixture 5 is obstructed during descent, the elastic element 8 will contract to buffer the movement, thereby protecting the fixture and the lifting unit. The elastic element 8 can be an existing component such as a buffer pad or a buffer spring structure, and is not limited thereto. Of course, it is understandable that for some components with built-in protection, such as motors with stall protection or cylinders with buffers, the drive will stop automatically when obstructed, and the elastic element 8 may not be required. The monitoring component 7 includes two distance sensors 70 respectively disposed at both ends of the fixture 5. The distance sensors 70 detect the distance of the shaft. The distance to or from the positioning seat; the distance sensors set at both ends can accurately measure whether there is an obstruction (whether it is obstructed on one side or both sides). The distance sensor 70 can detect the distance to the shaft or the distance to the positioning seat 10. Accordingly, when the distance sensor 70 detects the distance to the shaft, it is set at the bottom of the contour groove 50. When the distance sensor 70 detects the distance to the positioning seat 10, it is set in the non-contour groove 50 at the end of the fixture 5. Both methods can achieve the detection purpose and both fall within the scope of protection of this application.

[0033] Preferably, the pushing mechanism 3 includes a receiving groove 30 located at the lower side of the screening slope and a pushing unit 31 that pushes out the shaft in the receiving groove; this facilitates pushing out the screened shaft for feeding the robot; wherein, the pushing unit 31 can be implemented using components such as a cylinder.

[0034] Preferably, the inclined screen 20 is in the shape of a parallelogram, and a limit baffle 21 is provided on the side of the inclined screen 20 that forms an obtuse angle with its upper side. It should be noted that the length, width and angle of the inclined screen 20 need to be adapted to the actual size and shape of the shaft to be screened in order to ensure smooth rolling of the material. The equipment also includes a recycling box 9, which is provided directly below the side of the inclined screen that forms an acute angle with its upper side, so as to collect the shaft that is screened out in the wrong direction.

[0035] Preferably, the positioning groove 100 is V-shaped or U-shaped, which facilitates centering of the shaft and prevents it from shaking.

[0036] An automatic shaft feeding method, applied to the automatic shaft feeding equipment described above, is implemented as follows:

[0037] During operation, the shafts are poured into the storage box in batches, and then the lifting unit lifts the shafts and sends them into the feeding unit;

[0038] The feeding unit feeds the lying shaft horizontally into the positioning slot on the positioning seat. The lifting unit drives the fixture to move downward to match the shape of the shaft in the positioning slot, distinguish the positive and negative directions of the shaft, and the monitoring component sends the monitoring results to the flipping unit.

[0039] For shafts with incorrect orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft back into the storage box. For shafts with correct orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft onto the sieve slope. The sieve slope is used for secondary screening. Shafts with correct orientation will roll down the sieve slope and be pushed out by the pushing mechanism to complete the feeding.

[0040] By applying the method of this application, it is possible to automatically identify and screen conical or cone-shaped shafts in both directions, as well as perform secondary error-proof screening on inclined surfaces. This achieves the purpose of accurate automatic identification and feeding of shafts. According to the actual use results of the equipment, a screening accuracy of 100% can be achieved. The feeding can be done without any manual intervention. At the same time, the overall structure is extremely compact, the layout is reasonable, and it occupies little space.

[0041] It should be understood that those skilled in the art can make improvements or modifications based on the above description, and all such improvements and modifications should fall within the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An automatic shaft feeding device, characterized in that, The device includes a storage box for storing shafts, a screening seat, and a pushing mechanism arranged side by side. The storage box has an opening at its upper end, and a positioning seat and a feeding unit for laterally feeding shafts to the positioning seat are located on the side of the opening near the screening seat. The inner wall of the storage box has a lifting unit for feeding shafts from inside the storage box into the feeding unit. The positioning seat has a positioning groove for positioning shafts in a lying position; when the shaft is placed in the positioning groove, a portion of its side surface is exposed outside the positioning groove. The device also includes a flipping unit that drives the positioning seat to rotate longitudinally, and a mechanism located at... The device includes a fixture above the positioning seat and a lifting unit that drives the fixture to rise and fall. The fixture is provided with a contour groove corresponding to the portion of the shaft exposed outside the positioning groove. The device also includes a monitoring component for monitoring the downward movement of the fixture. The screening seat is provided with a screening inclined surface. A limit baffle is provided on one side of the screening inclined surface. The limit baffle has an elongated positioning groove that matches the tip of the conical shaft. The positioning groove is parallel to the screening inclined surface. When the pushing mechanism operates, it picks up the shaft rolling down from the screening inclined surface and pushes the shaft out to complete the feeding. The fixture is connected to the movable end of the lifting unit via an elastic element; the monitoring component includes two distance sensors respectively disposed at both ends of the fixture, the distance sensors detecting the distance of the shaft or the distance to the positioning seat; the pushing mechanism includes a receiving groove located at the lower side of the sieve inclined surface and a pushing unit that pushes the shaft out of the receiving groove; the sieve inclined surface is in the shape of a parallelogram, and the limiting baffle is provided on the side of the sieve inclined surface that forms an obtuse angle with its upper side.

2. The automatic shaft feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The feeding unit includes a feeding belt and a feeding plate arranged in a V-shape. The feeding plate is located between the feeding belt and the lifting unit. A baffle plate is provided on the side of the feeding belt away from the feeding plate. The feeding plate is provided with an anti-stacking inclined surface that is inclined toward the storage box. The anti-stacking inclined surface is located between the lifting unit and the positioning seat. The length of the anti-stacking inclined surface is greater than the length of the shaft.

3. The automatic shaft feeding device according to claim 2, characterized in that, The lifting unit is a stepped feeder; the bottom surface of the storage box is provided with a first inclined surface directly opposite the stepped feeder, a second inclined surface for guiding the shaft into the first inclined surface, and a third inclined surface for guiding the shaft into the second inclined surface, and the anti-stacking inclined surface and the positioning seat are both located directly above the third inclined surface.

4. The automatic shaft feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The stepped feeder feeds multiple horizontally placed shafts into the feeding unit each time, and the multiple shafts are arranged linearly along the feeding direction of the feeding unit.

5. The automatic shaft feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The device also includes a recycling box, which is located directly below the side of the inclined screen that forms an acute angle with its upper side.

6. The automatic shaft feeding device according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The positioning groove is V-shaped or U-shaped.

7. An automatic shaft feeding method, applied to the automatic shaft feeding equipment as described in any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The implementation method is as follows: During operation, the shafts are poured into the storage box in batches, and then the lifting unit lifts the shafts and sends them into the feeding unit; The feeding unit feeds the lying shaft horizontally into the positioning slot on the positioning seat. The lifting unit drives the fixture to move downward to match the shape of the shaft in the positioning slot, distinguish the positive and negative directions of the shaft, and the monitoring component sends the monitoring results to the flipping unit. For shafts with incorrect orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft back into the storage box. For shafts with correct orientation, the flipping unit drives the positioning seat to flip and pour the shaft onto the sieve slope. The sieve slope is used for secondary screening. Shafts with correct orientation will roll down the sieve slope and be received and pushed out by the pushing mechanism to complete the feeding.

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