Positioning prism for screw distributor and screw distributor

Abstract

The invention relates to a positioning prism (1) for a screw dispenser (100) for automatically providing screws (2), the screw dispenser (100) comprising a sliding plate (3) with screw receptacles (30) for moving individual screws (2) from a conveying position into a gripping position, the positioning prism (1) being arranged on the sliding plate (3) in such a way that the screws (2) can be moved from the conveying position to the gripping position. The shaft of the screw (2) accommodated on the sliding plate (3) rests on the positioning prism (1), and the positioning prism (1) is at least partially permanently designed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a positioning prism for a screw dispenser for automatically providing screws, and to such a screw dispenser having a positioning prism according to the invention. Background Art

[0002] When producing screw connections within the framework of automated production, screw dispensers are often used in the prior art for automatically providing screws. These screw dispensers convey the required screws from a magazine into a gripping position, where they are gripped one by one by an associated screwdriver and used for the screw connection ("pick-and-place").

[0003] A common embodiment has a conveying mechanism, for screws are sent to a conveying position in sequence from a magazine, in which screws are accommodated one by one by a sliding plate with a matching screw receiving portion and are moved to a final gripping position by means of the sliding of the sliding plate. The screw receiving portion is formed by a recess on the sliding plate, and the size of its diameter is determined to be used to accommodate a screw rod, wherein the screw head of the accommodated screw is placed flat on the upper side of the sliding plate. When grabbing the screw, a stable connection with a screwdriver is established, for example by means of magnetic interaction or by means of negative pressure, and the screw is pulled out upwards from the screw receiving portion of the sliding plate. When pulling out the screw, in practice, sometimes the screw thread is stuck at the sliding plate and therefore the screw is undesirably dropped from the screwdriver. This causes an unfavorable process interruption. Summary of the invention

[0004] The object of the present invention is to improve a screw dispenser of the type mentioned in the introduction in such a way that a more secure, ie less error-prone, gripping of the provided screws is ensured.

[0005] This object is achieved based on a locking prism according to claim 1 and a screw dispenser equipped with the locking prism according to claim 5. Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

[0006] The technical teaching of the present invention discloses a positioning prism of a screw dispenser for automatically providing screws, wherein the screw dispenser includes a sliding plate with a screw receiving portion for moving individual screws from a conveying position to a gripping position, wherein, in order to be arranged on the sliding plate, the positioning prism is arranged in such a way that the rod of the screw received on the sliding plate abuts against the positioning prism, wherein the positioning prism is at least partially constructed to be permanently magnetic.

[0007] The present invention is based on the idea that the process of grabbing the accommodated screw by means of a positioning prism is appropriately guided in such a way that the screw is pulled out vertically from the sliding plate and the screw thread is prevented from getting stuck at the sliding plate. For this purpose, the positioning prism is particularly arranged below the screw receiving portion of the sliding plate and provides a contact surface for the rod of the guiding screw, wherein, due to the permanent magnetic structure of the positioning prism, the rod of the (magnetizable) screw is firmly abutted against the contact surface. The contact surface of the positioning prism is configured so that the accommodated screw is oriented perpendicular to the sliding plate. When the screw is pulled up during the grabbing process, due to the magnetic interaction of the attraction of the permanent magnetic positioning prism, the rod is kept in a vertical position relative to the sliding plate, thereby ensuring that the screw will not get stuck in the sliding plate when it is pulled out from the screw receiving portion. The screw distributor of the prior art can be equipped with a positioning prism according to the present invention in an advantageous manner.

[0008] In particular, the positioning prism has a cylindrical concave contact surface for partially surrounding the shaft of a screw received on the sliding plate. The cross section of the contact surface is, for example, semicircular and surrounds the shaft of the received screw on one side.

[0009] For example, the positioning prism can be constructed completely from a permanent magnetic material, for example in the form of a sintered magnet. In an advantageous embodiment, the positioning prism comprises a carrier and a permanent magnetic insert arranged thereon. The carrier can be made of aluminum, for example, and / or the permanent magnetic insert is designed as a ferrite magnet or a rare earth magnet. The insert is received in a suitable position on the carrier, for example bonded to the carrier, so as to ensure the desired effect of promoting the contact of the shaft of the received screw on the contact surface of the positioning prism by magnetic interaction.

[0010] In particular, the surface of the permanent magnetic insert can form at least one section of the contact surface.For example, the insert is arranged flush in the base of the contact surface in a recess of the carrier.

[0011] Furthermore, the invention relates to a screw dispenser for automatically providing screws, wherein the screw dispenser comprises a sliding plate with a screw receptacle for moving individual screws from a delivery position to a gripping position, wherein the screw dispenser has a positioning prism according to one of the above-described embodiments, wherein the positioning prism is arranged on the sliding plate in such a way that the rod of the screw received on the sliding plate abuts against the positioning prism.

[0012] In particular, the screw receptacle surrounding the sliding plate provides a bearing surface for the head of the received screw, wherein the positioning prism is arranged below the sliding plate.

[0013] Except positioning prism, according to the screw distributor of the present invention can correspond to the embodiment known in the prior art.In particular, the screw distributor has a magazine for storing screws and a suitable conveying mechanism, so that the screws are introduced one by one into the conveying position at the sliding plate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Other measures for improving the present invention are shown below with the aid of schematic drawings together with the description of preferred embodiments of the present invention. Shown in the figure:

[0015] Figures 1a to 2b : A top view of a section of a screw distributor;

[0016] Figure 3 : Top view of the positioning prism;

[0017] Figure 4a , 4b : A side view of an embodiment of a positioning prism; and

[0018] Figure 5a , 5b : Side view of a section of a screw distributor. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Attached Figures 1a to 2b A section of the screw dispenser 100 according to the invention is shown in a top view from above, wherein for the sake of clarity only the upper part is shown. Figure 1b and 2b The screw dispenser 100 comprises a conveying rail 4, through which the screws 2 are conveyed one by one from a not shown magazine by means of a not shown conveying mechanism, and a sliding plate 3, which has a screw receiving portion 30 for conveying each screw 2 from a conveying position at the end of the rail 4 (see Figure 1b ) moves to the grab position (see Figure 2b ), the screws 2 can be gripped out one by one from this gripping position by an associated screwdriver. The sliding plate 3 can be linearly moved between the two extreme positions shown here in the illustrated plane. The edge side recesses forming the screw receiving portions 30 on the sliding plate 3 are dimensioned in such a way that the shanks of the screws 2 can be received therein, and a bearing surface for the heads of the received screws 2 is provided around the screw receiving portions 30. When the sliding plate 3 moves, the received screws 2 are carried along, wherein the mating retaining element 5 resting against the sliding plate 3 prevents the screws 2 from slipping out.

[0020] The screw 2 is pulled out upward, that is, perpendicular to the plane shown in the figure, to achieve Figure 2bThe gripping position shown grips the screw 2, and the problem solved by the invention is to prevent the screw 2 from getting stuck on the sliding plate 3 during the extraction from the screw receptacle 30. For this purpose, a positioning prism according to the invention is installed below the sliding plate 3, which is located at Figures 1a to 2b The sliding plate 3 is covered in the figure and is shown in the subsequent figures.

[0021] Figure 3 The present invention shows a top view of a positioning prism 1, which is arranged for arrangement on a sliding plate in such a way that the shaft of a screw received on the sliding plate rests on the positioning prism 1, wherein the positioning prism 1 is at least partially permanently magnetically designed. The positioning prism 1 has a cylindrical concave contact surface 10 for partially enclosing the shaft of the screw received on the sliding plate.

[0022] Figure 4a and Figure 4b Two embodiments of the positioning prism 1 are shown in side views (corresponding to Figure 3 The dashed line in the figure). Figure 4a In the embodiment, the positioning prism 1 is made completely of a permanently magnetic material, so that a magnetic interaction with the received (magnetizable) screw exists over the entire contact surface 10 , whereby the screw assumes a vertically centered position.

[0023] exist Figure 4b In the embodiment, the positioning prism 1 comprises a non-magnetic carrier 11 and a permanent magnetic insert 12 arranged thereon. The insert 12 is arranged in the base body of the contact surface 10 in such a way that the surface of the insert 12 forms a section of the contact surface 10 .

[0024] Figure 5a and Figure 5b The side view shows a section of a screw dispenser 100 according to the invention with a locking prism 1, which is arranged below the sliding plate 3, wherein Figure 5b In the illustration of , the screw 2 is received on the sliding plate. The positioning element 1 is arranged centrally below the screw receiving portion 30 and the inner diameter of the cylindrical concave contact surface 10 corresponds substantially to the outer diameter of the shank of the screw 2. A bearing surface for the head of the screw 2 is provided around the screw receiving portion 30, and due to the magnetic attraction force of the permanent magnetic insert 12, the screw 2 is in contact with the contact surface 10 in a vertically centered position. Starting from this position, the screw 2 can be gripped by means of a screwdriver in such a way that the screw is pulled upwards out of the screw receiving portion 30, wherein the permanent magnetic insert 12 ensures that the shank of the screw also remains in a vertically centered contact with the contact surface 10 during the extraction, thereby preventing the screw 2 from tilting and getting stuck on the sliding plate 3.

[0025] The invention is not limited to the preferred exemplary embodiments given above in terms of its embodiment. On the contrary, a number of variants are conceivable, which also use the solution shown in essentially different embodiments. All features and / or advantages (including structural details and spatial arrangements) derived from the claims, the description or the drawings may be essential to the invention both individually and in various combinations. Reference numerals list

[0026] 100 screw distributor

[0027] 1 Positioning prism

[0028] 10. Adhesion surface

[0029] 11 Carrier

[0030] 12 Inserts

[0031] 2 screws

[0032] 3 Sliding panels

[0033] 30 Screw receiving portion

[0034] 4 conveyor rails

[0035] 5. Matching retainer

Claims

1. A positioning prism (1) for a screw dispenser (100) for automatically providing screws (2), wherein: The screw dispenser (100) comprises a sliding plate (3) with a screw receptacle (30) for moving individual screws (2) from a conveying position to a gripping position, wherein the positioning prism (1) is arranged on the sliding plate (3) so that the shaft of the screw (2) received on the sliding plate (3) abuts against the positioning prism (1), wherein the positioning prism (1) is at least partially designed to be permanently magnetic.

2. The positioning prism (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The positioning prism (1) has a cylindrical concave contact surface (10) for partially enclosing the shaft of a screw (2) received on the sliding plate (3).

3. The positioning prism (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The positioning prism (1) comprises a carrier (11) and a permanent magnetic insert (12) arranged on the carrier.

4. The positioning prism (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that: The surface of the insert (12) forms at least one section of the contact surface (10).

5. A screw dispenser (100) for automatically providing screws (2), wherein: The screw dispenser (100) comprises a sliding plate (3) with a screw receptacle (30) for moving individual screws (2) from a conveying position to a gripping position, characterized in that the screw dispenser (100) has a positioning prism (1) according to any of the above claims, wherein the positioning prism (1) is arranged on the sliding plate (3) such that the shaft of the screw (2) received on the sliding plate (3) rests on the positioning prism (1).

6. The screw dispenser (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that: A screw receptacle (30) surrounding the sliding plate (3) provides a bearing surface for the head of the received screw (2), wherein the positioning prism (1) is arranged below the sliding plate (3).

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