Online flexible feeding machine and method

Abstract

The invention provides an on-line flexible feeding machine which comprises a rack, a feeding mechanism, a feeding mechanism and a feeding mechanism. The vibration material overturning assembly is arranged on the workbench and used for overturning the raw materials; the material taking assembly is arranged on the workbench and is used for taking out the raw materials in the preset direction from the vibration material turning assembly; the transfer jig is arranged on the workbench and used for receiving the raw materials taken out by the material collecting assembly; the material moving mechanism is arranged on the workbench and used for moving the raw materials on the transfer jig; and the discharging mechanism is arranged on the workbench and used for receiving the raw materials on the material moving mechanism.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of precision machining technology, and in particular to an online flexible feeding machine and method for micro-accessories. Background Art

[0002] With the increasing social demand for some precise and tiny portable devices or accessories, the demand for automated production lines for precision equipment is becoming more and more urgent; for example, the automated production line for headphones is a complex system involving multiple links and equipment. The automated production line for headphones itself is a highly technical and automated field. With the continuous advancement of technology and the growth of market demand, the degree of automation will be further improved. It is still ideal to achieve full automation in the production of headphones, especially the assembly of the headphones themselves. Although automation can be achieved in welding, dispensing, testing, etc., assembly, line arrangement and other links still require a lot of manpower. Automated assembly systems can significantly improve production efficiency, reduce costs, and improve product quality. Through automated processes, human errors can be reduced, product consistency and reliability can be improved, and each product can be ensured to meet quality standards. Automated assembly systems can reduce the number of workers on the production line, thereby reducing labor costs. This is particularly important in the context of rising labor costs and difficulty in recruiting workers.

[0003] At present, the loading of headphone speaker bases is still done manually, but with the increase in labor costs and the many uncertainties brought about by manual work in production practice. The requirements for the directionality of the base in the circumferential plane and the front and back sides are relatively high, and the accuracy requirements for positioning on the fixture are also relatively high. In addition, the base is a tiny component and is randomly stacked in a box. There is no regularity in the front and back and the direction of the notch, which makes it impossible to achieve automation. Based on this, the automated assembly technology of the headphone speaker base is an effective means to improve production efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure product quality. With the continuous advancement of technology, the application of automated assembly in the field of headphone manufacturing will become more and more extensive.

[0004] Therefore, how to achieve automatic loading when assembling tiny accessories such as headphone speaker bases, and then realize full-line automated assembly technology to improve production efficiency, is a technical problem that technical personnel in this field need to solve. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide an online flexible loader to realize fully automatic loading of tiny accessories, especially tiny accessories with plane alignment notch requirements, front and back side orientation requirements, and precise positioning requirements in a fixture. The online flexible loader can realize front and back side adjustment, plane reference point alignment, and precise positioning in the fixture.

[0006] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solution: an online flexible loading machine, comprising:

[0007] A frame, wherein a workbench is arranged on the frame;

[0008] A vibrating material turning component is arranged on the workbench and is used for turning the raw materials;

[0009] A material taking component is arranged on a workbench and is arranged to take out the raw materials in a predetermined direction from the vibrating material turning component;

[0010] The transfer fixture is arranged on the workbench and is used to receive the raw materials taken out by the material taking component;

[0011] The material transfer mechanism is arranged on the workbench and is used to move the raw materials on the transfer jig;

[0012] A material unloading mechanism is arranged on the workbench and is used to receive the raw materials on the material transferring mechanism;

[0013] Controller;

[0014] It is characterized in that

[0015] The vibrating material turning assembly includes a vibrating material tray and a first camera module located directly above the vibrating material tray. The first camera module takes pictures of the raw materials on the vibrating material tray to obtain position information and orientation information of each raw material.

[0016] Furthermore, the first camera module includes:

[0017] A first camera is located directly above the vibrating tray and shoots downward;

[0018] A first camera light source is located directly above the vibrating tray and irradiates downwards;

[0019] When viewed from above, the first camera is located in the middle of the light source of the first camera, and the controller can obtain the image taken by the first camera and process it to acquire the position information and orientation information of the raw material.

[0020] Furthermore, the material taking component comprises:

[0021] The Z-axis mounting plate of the material pickup head can move in the X, Y, and Z space;

[0022] Multiple material picking suction heads are arranged on the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate, and the multiple material picking suction heads are arranged at equal intervals along the Y direction. The multiple material picking suction heads can be moved directly above the vibrating material tray, and the multiple material picking suction heads can move up and down independently relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate.

[0023] Furthermore, it also includes a second camera module, wherein the second camera module includes:

[0024] The second camera is arranged on the workbench and located between the vibrating material tray and the transfer fixture, shooting upward, and the multiple material taking suction heads can be moved to the top of the second camera;

[0025] Each material picking suction head is rotatable along its own axis, and the controller can determine the angle of the mark on the raw material through the picture taken by the second camera and control the rotation of the material picking suction head to adjust the mark on the raw material to a specified angle.

[0026] Further, the transfer fixture is arranged on the workbench through the transfer fixture mounting frame, and a plurality of positioning grooves are arranged on the transfer fixture, the number of the plurality of positioning grooves is the same as the number of the material picking suction heads, the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves is the same as the arrangement direction of the plurality of material picking suction heads, and the spacing between adjacent positioning grooves is equal to the spacing between adjacent material picking suction heads;

[0027] The radial dimension of each positioning groove matches the dimension of the raw material;

[0028] A notch is formed on each positioning groove, and the direction of each notch is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves;

[0029] A positioning block is provided at the position corresponding to each notch on the transfer jig mounting frame, and the positioning block can move back and forth in the direction close to or away from the notch. When the raw material is placed in the positioning groove, the positioning block can move toward the notch and push the raw material against the groove wall of the positioning groove to complete the positioning.

[0030] Furthermore, the material moving mechanism includes a plurality of magnetic heads, which are arranged along the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves and the number of the magnetic heads is the same as the number of the positioning grooves; the magnetic heads include an outer tube and an inner rod which are vertically arranged, the lower end of the inner rod is inserted into the outer tube, the inner rod can move up and down relative to the outer tube, a magnet is arranged at the lower end of the inner rod, the magnet can follow the inner rod to move up and down relative to the outer tube to selectively expose or retract from the lower end of the outer tube, when the magnet is exposed from the lower end of the outer tube, the magnet can directly contact the raw material, and then absorb the raw material, when the magnet is retracted to a distance exceeding a predetermined value from the lower end of the outer tube, the suction force of the magnet on the raw material is less than the gravity of the raw material, and the raw material falls.

[0031] Furthermore, the material moving mechanism further comprises a material moving module arranged on the workbench through a material moving bracket, a material moving mounting plate arranged on the output end of the material moving module, a first cylinder mounting plate movably arranged on the material moving mounting plate, and a magnetic head mounting plate arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate, the outer tube is arranged on the magnetic head mounting plate, an inner rod lifting cylinder is arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate, the inner rod lifting cylinder is connected to the inner rod, and the extension and retraction of the inner rod can be realized by the extension and retraction of the inner rod lifting cylinder;

[0032] A magnetic suction head lifting cylinder is arranged on the material transfer mounting plate, and the magnetic suction head lifting cylinder is connected to the first cylinder mounting plate and is used to drive the magnetic suction head to move up and down;

[0033] The material transfer module can drive the magnetic suction head to move back and forth between the transfer fixture and the material unloading mechanism.

[0034] Further, the unloading mechanism comprises an unloading module arranged on the workbench, the unloading module has two output ends, the two output ends are independently controlled, a feeding pallet is arranged on each output end, a feeding tool can be placed on each feeding pallet, and when viewed from above, the parts of the two feeding pallets supporting the feeding tool are located on the same straight line;

[0035] One of the feeding pallets can be lifted and lowered relative to the unloading module. When the two feeding pallets move toward each other and get close to each other, the liftable feeding pallet moves upward by a certain distance so that the two feeding pallets are staggered up and down.

[0036] Furthermore, it also includes a tool loading and unloading mechanism, including two jaws, the two jaws move synchronously, the arrangement direction of the two jaws is perpendicular to the moving direction of the two output ends of the unloading module, and the two jaws can move along the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the two output ends of the unloading module, so as to move the feeding tool without raw materials from the conveyor line that transports the feeding tool to one of the feeding pallets, and can place the feeding tool with raw materials on the feeding pallet from the feeding pallet to the conveyor line.

[0037] The present invention also provides an online flexible feeding method, which uses the above-mentioned feeding machine and specifically includes the following steps:

[0038] Step 1: transport the raw materials to be loaded onto the vibrating tray, and vibrate the vibrating tray for a period of time;

[0039] Step 2: The first camera shoots the raw material on the vibrating tray, and the controller obtains the position information and orientation information of the raw material according to the shot image;

[0040] Step 3: The controller controls the material taking suction head to move to the top of the raw material in the required direction and suck up the raw material. If there are multiple raw materials to be taken out, the material taking suction head moves to the top of the corresponding raw materials in turn and sucks up the raw materials;

[0041] Step 4: Multiple material picking suction heads pass over the second camera in sequence, and the second camera takes pictures of the raw materials on the material picking suction heads in sequence. The controller obtains the angle of the mark on the raw material according to the taken pictures, and determines whether the current angle of the mark is within the predetermined angle. If it is not within the predetermined angle, the controller controls the corresponding material picking suction head to rotate so that the mark rotates to the predetermined angle.

[0042] Step 5: The material taking suction head places the raw material into the corresponding positioning groove;

[0043] Step 6: The positioning block moves toward the raw material in the positioning groove to position the raw material;

[0044] Step 7: The magnetic suction head moves the positioned raw material to the feeding fixture at the receiving position of the unloading mechanism. The feeding fixture carrying the raw material moves along the unloading direction, and the other feeding fixture moves toward the receiving position. When the two feeding fixtures are close to a certain distance, the feeding support plate that can move up and down moves up a distance, so that the two feeding fixtures are staggered up and down;

[0045] Step 8: After the feeding tool carrying the raw materials moves to the designated position, unload the feeding tool together with the raw materials.

[0046] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0047] The present invention can realize automatic turning over, angle positioning and position positioning of the raw materials, thus providing guarantee for subsequent automatic processing of the raw materials. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on the provided drawings without paying creative work.

[0049] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the component layout structure of an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a side cross-sectional structure of an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 4 A schematic structural diagram of a first camera module 61 in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0053] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structural layout of a three-axis gantry module, a material taking component, and a material moving mechanism in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0054] Figure 6A schematic structural diagram of a material taking component in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0055] Figure 7 for Figure 6 Another perspective structural diagram of;

[0056] Figure 8 A structural schematic diagram of a material transfer mechanism in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0057] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a transfer fixture in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0058] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a magnetic suction head of a material transfer mechanism in an online flexible loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0059] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the structure of a material unloading mechanism in an online flexible material loading machine provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0060] Fig.12 A schematic structural diagram of a loading module in an online flexible loading machine provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] The core of the present invention is to provide an online flexible loading machine to realize the fully automatic loading of tiny parts that require alignment points on the front and back sides and the circumferential plane, and then realize the full-line automated assembly technology to improve production efficiency. The tiny parts can be the base of the earphone speaker or other parts that require alignment points on the front and back sides and the plane, which is not limited in this embodiment, and this embodiment only uses the base of the earphone speaker as the implementation target case.

[0062] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and implementation modes.

[0063] Please refer to Figures 1 to 12 The present invention discloses an online flexible feeding machine, which can realize full-automatic feeding of raw materials, such as Figure 1 , Figure 2As shown in the figure, the online flexible loader includes a frame 1 and a casing placed on the upper part of the frame 1, and also includes a workbench 2 located on the upper part of the frame 1 and inside the casing. The frame 1, the casing, and the workbench 2 are common basic components of processing equipment. The description cited here is to better express the innovation of the present invention. The main innovation of this embodiment is that a vibration turning component 6 for turning the raw materials is provided on the workbench 2. Since the present loader is aimed at tiny and very light accessory raw materials, the raw materials can be turned over by the principle of vibration, which is a conventional principle. The vibration turning component 6 in this embodiment includes a vibration material tray and a first camera module 61 located on the upper side of the vibration material tray. The first camera module 61 takes pictures of the raw materials on the vibration material tray, obtains the position information and front and back information of each raw material, and transmits the position information and front and back information to the material picking component 8 through the control system. The material picking component 8 performs the material picking action according to the position information and front and back information, grabs the raw material at the front side at a certain position, and transfers it to the transfer fixture 91. During this period, the material picking component 8 can take a second picture of the grabbed raw material through the second camera module 12 to obtain the angle of the raw material plane alignment point in the grabbing state, and then send the angle information to the control system. The control system controls the self-rotation of the material picking component 12 according to the angle information to rotate it to the loading reference angle; Regarding the setting method of the material picking component 8, as shown in FIG. Figure 5 In the figure, the workbench 2 is provided with a material picking assembly 8 through a three-axis gantry module 7, that is, the material picking assembly 8 is provided on the three-axis gantry module 7 through a slider structure, and the three-axis gantry module 7 drives the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis to follow the movement. The three-axis gantry module 7 is a common three-axis gantry industrial robot, and has three motion axes: X-axis (lateral movement), Y-axis (longitudinal movement), and Z-axis (longitudinal movement). This structure provides stable support for the material picking assembly 8, enabling it to handle large loads and work under high acceleration. In this embodiment, the three-axis gantry module 7 is not the innovation of this solution, but the material picking assembly 8 loaded on the form of the motion axis. The picking component 8 is provided with a picking suction head 85, which has the function of rotating in a horizontal plane, and the picking suction head 85 sucks the raw material through a vacuum generator 810 and rotates in the horizontal plane to adjust the horizontal reference angle or alignment position of the raw material; the three-axis gantry module 7 provides movement support for it, and the picking component 8 realizes the function of sucking the raw material and rotating in the horizontal plane through its own structure. The specific implementation structure of the suction and the horizontal rotation will be introduced in detail below.

[0064] After the material is picked up by the material picking component 8 and the horizontal reference angle or alignment position of the raw material is adjusted by rotating in the horizontal plane, the raw material is oriented to a predetermined angle. Driven by the three-axis gantry module 7, the material picking component 8 places the raw material on the transfer fixture 91 set on the workbench 2 and positions it on the transfer fixture 91. After the positioning is completed, the material moving mechanism 9 moves the raw material from the transfer fixture 91 to the unloading mechanism 10, and then the unloading mechanism 10 sends the adjusted and positioned raw material to the conveyor line, thereby realizing fully automatic loading.

[0065] The workbench 2 is also provided with a material waiting box 3 for placing raw materials. The material waiting box 3 can accommodate a large amount of raw materials. The material waiting box 3 is provided with a discharge port 31 relative to the vibration material turning component 6. The lower part of the material waiting box 3 is provided with a vibration motor 32. Through the vibration action of the vibration motor 32, the raw materials in the material waiting box 3 are discharged from the discharge port 31 to the material tray at the vibration material turning component 6. According to the amount of raw materials in the material tray, the control system can control the vibration motor 32 to work or not work, and adjust the amount of materials in the material tray in time.

[0066] The first camera module 61 is as shown in the attached Figure 4 As shown in the figure, it includes a first camera light source fixing plate 63 fixed by a first camera fixing plate 62 and a first camera supporting column 66, a first camera 67 is fixedly connected to the first camera light source fixing plate 63 by a first camera mounting member 68, and a first camera light source 65 is mounted on the first camera light source fixing plate 63 by a first camera light source mounting plate 64. The first camera module 61 is mounted on the top of the housing by a first camera module mounting frame 69, and the first camera light source 65 provides a light source for the first camera 67 to take pictures. The photographing range of the first camera 67 and the irradiation range of the first camera light source 65 are slightly larger than the size of the material tray in the vibration turning assembly 6.

[0067] Regarding the material taking assembly 8 described in the above embodiment, as shown in the attached Figure 6 and attached Figure 7As shown in , this part of the content will combine with the accompanying drawings to illustrate the specific principles of the function of the material picking component 8 described in this embodiment to suck materials and adjust the horizontal reference angle or alignment position of the raw materials in the plane. As shown in the accompanying drawings, the material picking component 8 includes a material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 fixed on the gantry slider mounting plate 81, and the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 is provided with a material picking suction head 85 that can move up and down relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83, and also includes a rotating motor 86 arranged on the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 to drive the material picking suction head 85 to rotate. Regarding the material picking suction head 85 being able to move up and down relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83, it can be seen from the accompanying drawings that the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 is provided with a material picking suction head mounting plate 87 which can move up and down relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83, and the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 is fixedly provided with a material picking lifting motor 812, and the output shaft of the material picking lifting motor 812 is provided with a driving wheel, and the driving wheel is connected to the driven wheel 82 through a belt, and the material picking suction head mounting plate 87 is connected to the belt through a fixed block, and a guide rail slider matching structure is provided between the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 and the material picking suction head mounting plate 87, through the guide rail slider matching structure, the material picking lifting motor 812 drives the driving wheel and the driven wheel to make the material picking suction head mounting plate 87 on the guide rail slider move up and down relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83, thereby making the material picking suction head 85 move up and down relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83. Moreover, as a preferred solution of this embodiment, a material picking shield 88 is arranged on the top of the material picking head mounting plate 87, and the material picking shield 88 protects the position sensor structure of the material picking head mounting plate 87; in order to further control the up and down moving range of the material picking head 85, a material picking head mounting plate sensor 813 is arranged on the top of the material picking head mounting plate 87, and the sensor can monitor the rising distance of the material picking head mounting plate 87 to control the rising and falling distances of the material picking head 85, so as to facilitate the safe realization of material picking, suction and displacement.

[0068] Regarding the implementation means of the rotation positioning of the material picking suction head 85, the material picking suction head mounting plate 87 is installed with a material picking R-axis motor mounting plate 84 at the bottom, and a rotating motor 86 is arranged on the material picking R-axis motor mounting plate 84, and the material picking suction head 85 is installed on the material picking R-axis motor mounting plate 84; the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate 83 is provided with a vacuum generator 810 for providing an air source for the material picking suction head 85, and a solenoid valve 811 for controlling the on-off of the air source is also provided, and a negative pressure gauge 89 for displaying the air source pressure is also provided. The lower side of the material picking component 8 is provided with a second camera module 12 for photographing and identifying the raw materials sucked by the material picking suction head 85. The rotating motor 86 can drive the material picking suction head 85 to rotate. Moreover, after the material picking suction head 85 sucks the raw material, such as the headphone speaker base 001 in the attached figure, the three-axis gantry module 7 will carry the material picking suction head 85 through the second camera module 12 in turn, and the second camera module 12 will take pictures of the headphone speaker base 001 sucked by multiple material picking suction heads 85, and then transmit the pictures to the image processing module to identify the angle position of the notch on the headphone speaker base 001, which is the horizontal reference angle or alignment position of the raw material. Then the control system controls the rotating motor 86 to rotate according to the initial angle information obtained by taking the picture, so that the reference mark (for example, the notch of the headphone speaker base 001 needs to correspond to the position of the speaker installation line) is adjusted to a predetermined position, and the raw material after the angle adjustment is placed on the transfer fixture 91 by the material picking suction head 85 to complete this process operation.

[0069] The realization of the multi-position linkage of the material picking suction head 85 has been described above. It is realized by adopting the three-axis gantry module 7. In order to further describe the specific realization structure and principle of the three-axis gantry module 7, this part will further describe it; the three-axis gantry module 7 includes a gantry X-axis guide module 71, a gantry X-axis slider guide group 72 arranged parallel to the gantry X-axis guide module 71, and a gantry Y-axis guide module 73 arranged between the gantry X-axis guide module 71 and the gantry X-axis slider guide group 72. The material picking assembly 8 can be slidably set on the gantry Y-axis guide module 73 through the gantry slider mounting plate 81, and the three-axis gantry module 7 is installed on the workbench 2 through the gantry column 74. By cooperating with the gantry X-axis guide rail module 71, the gantry X-axis slider guide rail module 72 and the gantry Y-axis guide rail module 73, the X-axis and Y-axis movements of the material picking component 8 and the material picking suction head thereon are realized, and then the Z-axis movement of the material picking suction head 85 is realized through the material picking suction head mounting plate 87 in the material picking component 8, thereby completing the movement of the vibration turning component 6 position → the second camera module 12 position → the transfer fixture 91 position, as well as the lifting and lowering action of the material picking suction head 85.

[0070] After the angle adjustment is completed, the raw material on the transfer jig 91 needs to be positioned in the plane again to avoid the raw material sucked by the material pickup head 85 from being radially offset relative to the material pickup head 85 itself (for example, the raw material and the material pickup head 85 are not concentric). The transfer jig 91 is set on the transfer jig mounting frame 914, and a plurality of positioning grooves 916 are set on the transfer jig 91. The number of the plurality of positioning grooves 916 is the same as the number of the material pickup heads 85, the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves 916 is the same as the arrangement direction of the plurality of material pickup heads 85, and the spacing between adjacent positioning grooves 916 is equal to the spacing between adjacent material pickup heads 85. The radial size of each positioning groove 916 is consistent with the size of the raw material. A notch is formed on each positioning groove 816, and the direction of each notch is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves 816. A positioning block 913 is set at the position corresponding to each notch on the transfer jig mounting frame 914, and the positioning block 913 can move back and forth in the direction close to or away from the notch. When the raw material is placed in the positioning groove 916, the positioning block 913 moves toward the notch and exerts a certain force on the raw material, so that the raw material fits against the groove wall of the positioning groove 916 to complete the positioning.

[0071] Preferably, a plurality of positioning blocks 913 are arranged on the same driving rod 915 , and springs are arranged on the driving rod 915 and the positioning blocks 913 , so that a certain buffer can be achieved by the springs to avoid damage to the raw materials. The driving rod 915 is driven by a cylinder 917 .

[0072] Then, the material transfer mechanism 9 absorbs the positioned raw material and places it on the feeding tool 101 of the unloading mechanism 10 .

[0073] The material transfer mechanism 9 includes a plurality of magnetic suction heads, which are arranged along the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves and the number of the magnetic suction heads is the same as the number of the positioning grooves. The magnetic suction head includes an outer tube 92 and an inner rod 97 arranged vertically, the lower end of the inner rod 97 is inserted into the outer tube 92, the inner rod 97 can move up and down relative to the outer tube 92, and a magnet 912 is arranged at the lower end of the inner rod 97, the magnet 912 can follow the inner rod 97 to move up and down relative to the outer tube 92 to selectively expose or retract from the lower end of the outer tube 92, when the magnet 912 is exposed from the lower end of the outer tube 92, the magnet 912 can directly contact the raw material, and then suck up the raw material, when the magnet retracts to a distance from the lower end of the outer tube 92 exceeding a predetermined value, the suction force of the magnet 912 on the raw material is less than the gravity of the raw material, and the raw material falls.

[0074] The material shifting mechanism 9 also includes a material shifting module 94 arranged on the workbench 2 through a material shifting bracket 911, a material shifting mounting plate 93 arranged on the output end of the material shifting module 94, a first cylinder mounting plate 95 arranged on the material shifting mounting plate 93 movably arranged up and down, and a magnetic suction head mounting plate 96 arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate 95, the outer tube 92 is arranged on the magnetic suction head mounting plate 96, and an inner rod lifting cylinder 910 is arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate 95, and the inner rod lifting cylinder 910 is connected to the inner rod 97, and the extension and contraction of the inner rod 97 can be realized by the extension and contraction of the inner rod lifting cylinder 910. A magnetic suction head lifting cylinder 99 is arranged on the material shifting mounting plate 93, and the magnetic suction head lifting cylinder 99 is connected to the first cylinder mounting plate 95, and is used to drive the magnetic suction head to move up and down. The material shifting module 94 can drive the magnetic suction head to move back and forth between the transfer fixture 91 and the unloading mechanism 10.

[0075] The unloading mechanism 10 includes an unloading module 102 disposed on a workbench. The unloading module 102 has two output ends, and the two output ends are independently controlled. A feeding pallet 103 is disposed on each output end. A feeding tool 101 can be placed on each feeding pallet 103. When viewed from above, the parts of the two feeding pallets 103 supporting the feeding tool 101 are located on the same straight line, so that it can be ensured that the magnetic suction head only needs to move to the same position each time to place the raw material on the feeding tool 101. One of the feeding pallets 103 can be raised and lowered relative to the unloading module 102. When the two feeding pallets 103 move toward each other and approach each other, the lifting feeding pallet 103 moves upward by a certain distance so that the two feeding pallets 103 are staggered up and down to avoid collision. The feeding pallet 103 is driven by a cylinder 105.

[0076] In the above summary, the material is picked up and positioned at the reference angle by the material picking component 8, and then further coaxially positioned on the transfer fixture 91. The material is then kept positioned by the material moving mechanism 9 and transferred to the loading and feeding fixture 101 while being positioned, so that the raw material is in a fully constrained assembly positioning state on the feeding fixture 101, and then the feeding fixture 101 loaded with the raw material can be loaded and assembled. As for further supplements to this embodiment, in order to realize automatic loading, it also includes a tool loading and unloading mechanism 11 located at the rear of the unloading mechanism 10, and the tool loading and unloading mechanism 11 includes a clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 connected by a loading bracket 111 and a clamping jaw X-axis support arm 114, and the bottom end of the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 is provided with a clamping jaw 119 which is controlled to open and close by a clamping jaw cylinder, and the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 is connected to the clamping jaw X-axis support arm 114 through a clamping jaw Z-axis fixed plate 113, and the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 can be moved up and down relative to the clamping jaw Z-axis fixed plate 113 when driven by the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm motor 116; the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 is in the clamping jaw Driven by the Z-axis fixed plate 113, the clamping jaw X-axis support arm 114 can be reciprocated by the clamping jaw X-axis support arm motor 115, thereby realizing the lifting and lowering and X-axis movement of the clamping jaw 119; the bottom of the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112 is connected to a rotating cylinder 118 for controlling the rotation of the clamping jaw 119 through a clamping jaw adapter block 117; a conveyor line 5 is arranged at the bottom of the tooling loading and unloading mechanism 11; a large bottom plate 1110 is arranged at the bottom of the tooling loading and unloading mechanism 11 relative to the conveyor line 5, and the large bottom plate 1110 is used to support the tooling loading and unloading mechanism 11, and a bottom plate discharge port 1111 is opened on the large bottom plate 1110 for the tooling loading and unloading mechanism 11 to place the feeding tooling 101 on the conveyor line 5. When the unloading module 102 delivers the feeding jig 101 loaded with raw materials in the correct position to the lower part of the jig loading and unloading mechanism 11, the clamping jaw 119 in the jig loading and unloading mechanism 11 moves to the upper part of the feeding jig 101 under the drive of the clamping jaw X-axis support arm 114 and the clamping jaw X-axis support arm motor 115, and then descends to the same height as the feeding jig 101 under the drive of the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm motor 116 and the clamping jaw Z-axis movable arm 112, and adjusts the clamping angle by rotating the rotary cylinder 118 and clamps the feeding jig 101, and finally places it on the conveyor line 5, and the conveyor line 5 delivers the feeding jig 101 to the assembly station. Of course, the jig loading and unloading mechanism 11 can also clamp the empty feeding jig 101 delivered by the conveyor line 5, and place the empty feeding jig 101 on the alternating feeding pallet 103 on the unloading module 102, so as to facilitate the unloading module 102 to realize loading and unloading.

[0077] It should be noted that, in this article, the material picking suction head 85 in the material picking component 8 can be multiple or one, and the corresponding motion execution control structure can also be multiple or one, and there is no specific limitation. Of course, one or more inner rods 97, transfer fixture positioning grooves 916, and feeding tooling 101 can be set corresponding to or not corresponding to the number of material picking suction heads 85 in the material picking component 8; the corresponding number can be adjusted according to actual work needs, and the number of parallel processes before and after can be kept consistent to achieve maximum work efficiency.

[0078] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables one skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but rather to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An online flexible feeder, comprising: A frame, wherein a workbench is arranged on the frame; A vibrating material turning component is arranged on the workbench and is used for turning the raw materials; A material taking component is arranged on a workbench and is arranged to take out the raw materials in a predetermined direction from the vibrating material turning component; The transfer fixture is arranged on the workbench and is used to receive the raw materials taken out by the material taking component; The material transfer mechanism is arranged on the workbench and is used to move the raw materials on the transfer jig; A material unloading mechanism is arranged on the workbench and is used to receive the raw materials on the material transferring mechanism; Controller; It is characterized in that The vibrating material turning assembly includes a vibrating material tray and a first camera module located directly above the vibrating material tray. The first camera module takes pictures of the raw materials on the vibrating material tray to obtain position information and orientation information of each raw material.

2. The online flexible feeder according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first camera module comprises: A first camera is located directly above the vibrating tray and shoots downward; A first camera light source is located directly above the vibrating tray and irradiates downwards; When viewed from above, the first camera is located in the middle of the light source of the first camera, and the controller can obtain the image taken by the first camera and process it to acquire the position information and orientation information of the raw material.

3. The online flexible feeder according to claim 2, characterized in that: The material taking component comprises: The Z-axis mounting plate of the material pickup head can move in the X, Y, and Z space; Multiple material picking suction heads are arranged on the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate, and the multiple material picking suction heads are arranged at equal intervals along the Y direction. The multiple material picking suction heads can be moved directly above the vibrating material tray, and the multiple material picking suction heads can move up and down independently relative to the material picking suction head Z-axis mounting plate.

4. The online flexible feeder according to claim 3, characterized in that: Also included is a second camera module, wherein the second camera module includes: The second camera is arranged on the workbench and located between the vibrating material tray and the transfer fixture, shooting upward, and the multiple material taking suction heads can be moved to the top of the second camera; Each material picking suction head is rotatable along its own axis, and the controller can determine the angle of the mark on the raw material through the picture taken by the second camera and control the rotation of the material picking suction head to adjust the mark on the raw material to a specified angle.

5. The online flexible feeder according to claim 4, characterized in that: The transfer jig is arranged on the workbench through the transfer jig mounting frame, and a plurality of positioning grooves are arranged on the transfer jig, the number of the plurality of positioning grooves is the same as the number of the material picking suction heads, the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves is the same as the arrangement direction of the plurality of material picking suction heads, and the spacing between adjacent positioning grooves is equal to the spacing between adjacent material picking suction heads; The radial dimension of each positioning groove matches the dimension of the raw material; A notch is formed on each positioning groove, and the direction of each notch is perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves; A positioning block is provided at the position corresponding to each notch on the transfer jig mounting frame, and the positioning block can move back and forth in the direction close to or away from the notch. When the raw material is placed in the positioning groove, the positioning block can move toward the notch and push the raw material against the groove wall of the positioning groove to complete the positioning.

6. The online flexible feeder according to claim 5, characterized in that: The material moving mechanism includes a plurality of magnetic heads, which are arranged along the arrangement direction of the plurality of positioning grooves and the number of the magnetic heads is the same as the number of the positioning grooves; the magnetic heads include an outer tube and an inner rod which are arranged vertically, the lower end of the inner rod is inserted into the outer tube, the inner rod can move up and down relative to the outer tube, a magnet is arranged at the lower end of the inner rod, the magnet can follow the inner rod to move up and down relative to the outer tube to selectively expose or retract from the lower end of the outer tube, when the magnet is exposed from the lower end of the outer tube, the magnet can directly contact the raw material, and then absorb the raw material, when the magnet is retracted to a distance exceeding a predetermined value from the lower end of the outer tube, the suction force of the magnet on the raw material is less than the gravity of the raw material, and the raw material falls.

7. The online flexible feeder according to claim 6, characterized in that: The material moving mechanism also includes a material moving module arranged on the workbench through a material moving bracket, a material moving mounting plate arranged on the output end of the material moving module, a first cylinder mounting plate movably arranged on the material moving mounting plate, and a magnetic head mounting plate arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate, wherein the outer tube is arranged on the magnetic head mounting plate, and an inner rod lifting cylinder is arranged on the first cylinder mounting plate, wherein the inner rod lifting cylinder is connected to the inner rod, and the extension and retraction of the inner rod can be realized by the extension and retraction of the inner rod lifting cylinder; A magnetic suction head lifting cylinder is arranged on the material transfer mounting plate, and the magnetic suction head lifting cylinder is connected to the first cylinder mounting plate and is used to drive the magnetic suction head to move up and down; The material transfer module can drive the magnetic suction head to move back and forth between the transfer fixture and the material unloading mechanism.

8. The online flexible feeder according to claim 7, characterized in that: The unloading mechanism comprises an unloading module arranged on a workbench, the unloading module having two output ends, the two output ends being independently controlled, a feeding pallet being arranged on each output end, a feeding tooling can be placed on each feeding pallet, and when viewed from above, the parts of the two feeding pallets supporting the feeding tooling are located on the same straight line; One of the feeding pallets can be lifted and lowered relative to the unloading module. When the two feeding pallets move toward each other and get close to each other, the liftable feeding pallet moves upward by a certain distance so that the two feeding pallets are staggered up and down.

9. The online flexible loading machine according to claim 8, characterized in that: It also includes a tool loading and unloading mechanism, including two jaws, the two jaws move synchronously, the arrangement direction of the two jaws is perpendicular to the moving direction of the two output ends of the unloading module, and the two jaws can move along the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the two output ends of the unloading module, so as to move the feeding tool without raw materials from the conveyor line for transporting the feeding tool to one of the feeding pallets, and can place the feeding tool with raw materials on the feeding pallet from the feeding pallet to the conveyor line.

10. An online flexible feeding method, using the online flexible feeding machine according to claim 9, specifically comprising the following steps: Step 1: transport the raw materials to be loaded onto the vibrating tray, and vibrate the vibrating tray for a period of time; Step 2: The first camera shoots the raw material on the vibrating tray, and the controller obtains the position information and orientation information of the raw material according to the shot image; Step 3: The controller controls the material taking suction head to move to the top of the raw material in the required direction and suck up the raw material. If there are multiple raw materials to be taken out, the material taking suction head moves to the top of the corresponding raw materials in turn and sucks up the raw materials; Step 4: Multiple material picking suction heads pass over the second camera in sequence, and the second camera takes pictures of the raw materials on the material picking suction heads in sequence. The controller obtains the angle of the mark on the raw material according to the taken pictures, and determines whether the current angle of the mark is within the predetermined angle. If it is not within the predetermined angle, the controller controls the corresponding material picking suction head to rotate so that the mark rotates to the predetermined angle. Step 5: The material taking suction head places the raw material into the corresponding positioning groove; Step 6: The positioning block moves toward the raw material in the positioning groove to position the raw material; Step 7: The magnetic suction head moves the positioned raw material to the feeding fixture at the receiving position of the unloading mechanism. The feeding fixture carrying the raw material moves along the unloading direction, and the other feeding fixture moves toward the receiving position. When the two feeding fixtures are close to a certain distance, the feeding support plate that can move up and down moves up a distance, so that the two feeding fixtures are staggered up and down; Step 8: After the feeding tool carrying the raw materials moves to the designated position, unload the feeding tool together with the raw materials.

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