Workpiece turnover device and method for automatic production line

Abstract

The invention provides a workpiece turnover device for an automatic production line. The workpiece turnover device comprises a basic frame, a turnover mechanism and a turnover mechanism, a table top mounted on the base frame; the swing mechanism is mounted on the table top; the clamping mechanism is mounted on the slewing mechanism; wherein the rotating mechanism can drive the clamping mechanism to rotate, and the clamping mechanism can clamp a workpiece; meanwhile, the invention further provides an automatic production line workpiece overturning method. Compatible rotary centering of aluminum alloy structural parts of various specifications can be achieved, and a high-precision positioning position is provided to facilitate automatic grabbing in the next procedure.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application belongs to the field of automated integrated production technology, and in particular, relates to an automated production line workpiece flipping device and method. Background Art

[0002] With the development of lean production in enterprises, automated integration has become a general trend, so the demand for automated integrated transfer platforms is becoming more flexible and diversified.

[0003] Aviation aluminum alloy structural parts are typical multi-variety small-batch products with nearly a thousand specifications and sizes. The characteristic sizes and phases of each part vary greatly, and there is no unified benchmark except for the process frame.

[0004] In order to meet the needs of automated line connection, a flipping device is required to flip the parts grabbed by the robot to facilitate automatic processing and grabbing of the next back side process; however, the automated unattended flipping processing device in the relative technology has insufficient compatibility and unstable clamping reference consistency. Summary of the invention

[0005] Purpose of the invention: The present application provides an automated production line workpiece flipping device and method, which are used to solve the problems of insufficient compatibility and unstable clamping reference consistency in existing automated unattended flipping processing technologies.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides an automated production line workpiece flipping device, the device comprising:

[0007] Basic framework;

[0008] A table top mounted on the base frame;

[0009] A slewing mechanism for mounting the table top;

[0010] The clamping mechanism is installed on the rotating mechanism; wherein the rotating mechanism can drive the clamping mechanism to rotate, and the clamping mechanism can clamp the workpiece.

[0011] Preferably, the slewing mechanism comprises:

[0012] A rotary cylinder for mounting the table top;

[0013] A rotary flange, arranged on the rotary end surface of the rotary cylinder;

[0014] A first bottom plate connected to the end surface of the swivel flange;

[0015] Preferably, the clamping mechanism comprises:

[0016] A centring parallel cylinder, arranged on the first bottom plate;

[0017] A supporting column, arranged on the first bottom plate;

[0018] A second bottom plate is arranged on the supporting column to form an installation space; a reserved hole is arranged on the second bottom plate;

[0019] A parallel finger is arranged at the end of the centering parallel cylinder, the parallel finger passes through the reserved hole and is positioned and installed by the stopper;

[0020] The clamping fingers are installed at the ends of the parallel fingers, and a moving gap is reserved between the clamping fingers and the second bottom plate.

[0021] Preferably, the clamping mechanism further comprises:

[0022] A polyurethane protective plate is mounted on the clamping surface of the clamping fingers.

[0023] Preferably, the device further comprises:

[0024] A retaining column, fixedly mounted on the lower end surface of the swivel flange;

[0025] A first stopper, fixedly mounting the table top;

[0026] The second stopper is used to fix the table top; wherein the positioning surfaces of the first stopper and the second stopper are tangent to the stopper at the central axis of the swivel flange.

[0027] In a second aspect, the present application also provides a method for turning over workpieces in an automated production line, the method comprising:

[0028] The manipulator grips the workpiece and moves it to the waiting position of the flipping tooling;

[0029] The control system controls the clamping mechanism to open;

[0030] The robot places the part in the centering fixed position of the flip tooling. At this time, the center position of the workpiece coincides with the center position of the flip tooling. The clamping mechanism clamps the workpiece, and the robot leaves and returns to the safe area.

[0031] The control system drives the rotary cylinder to perform the flipping operation until the stop column on the rotary flange stops against the first stopper, and the hard limit is used to ensure that the part flip angle is 180°. At this time, the clamping reference after flipping coincides with the reference before flipping.

[0032] The robot grips the part again in the original position, and the system drives the centering parallel cylinder to perform the release operation;

[0033] The robot grabs the workpiece and leaves for the next operation, thereby realizing the function of automatic flipping of the workpiece.

[0034] Preferably, before the manipulator grips the workpiece and moves to the turning tool waiting position, it also includes:

[0035] The production line control system obtains the command to flip the workpiece.

[0036] Preferably, before the production line control system obtains the workpiece flipping command, it also includes:

[0037] The production line control system identifies and determines that there is no workpiece on the flipping device based on information fed back by the sensor.

[0038] Beneficial technical effects of this application:

[0039] 1. This application has a reasonable structure and is easy to use. It can realize the compatible rotation centering of various specifications of aluminum alloy structural parts, and provide high-precision positioning for automatic grasping in the next process. This application has a good compatible self-centering effect;

[0040] 2. This application can meet the compatibility positioning of nearly a thousand kinds of aluminum alloy structural parts, fully consider the size differences of parts, and the risk points in the transportation process, so that the advantages of automated integration can be fully utilized, and the complexity of automated integration can be reduced through structural design, thereby reducing investment costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the main structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 2 A schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a top view structure provided for an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a side view structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a local structure provided for an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] In the figure: 1. Basic frame; 2. Rotating mechanism; 3. Clamping mechanism; 4. Support column; 5. Parts; 11. Table; 12. First stopper; 13. Second stopper; 21. Rotating cylinder; 22. Rotating flange; 23. First base plate; 24. Second base plate; 25. Stop column; 31. Centering parallel cylinder; 32. Parallel fingers; 33. Clamping fingers; 34. Polyurethane protective plate. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] It should be noted that the mechanism is capable of automatically flipping and processing nearly a thousand types of parts in the range of 60mm long, 60mm wide, 15mm high to 260mm long, 260mm wide, and 60mm high. The mechanism must ensure that the robot's grasping posture remains unchanged after the parts are automatically flipped, and the reference consistency after the parts are flipped is good, which can ensure high picking accuracy. For products of different sizes, the mechanism also needs to meet the requirements of the avoidance of compatible clamping of the gripper, and try to reserve a larger clamping space; the space occupied needs to be compact, etc.

[0048] See also Figures 1 to 5 The present application provides a device for automatically flipping workpieces during automated production line processing, including a basic frame, a rotating mechanism, a clamping mechanism, a supporting column, parts, a table, a first stopper, a second stopper; a rotary cylinder, a rotary flange, a first base plate, a second base plate, a stopper column, a centrifugal parallel cylinder, parallel fingers, clamping fingers, and a polyurethane protective plate.

[0049] Through the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application, it is possible to realize the compatibility centering and flipping of frame-type aluminum alloy structural parts of various specifications, and provide a high-precision clamping and positioning position to facilitate automatic grasping in the next process. The present application has a good compatibility self-centering effect, which can meet the compatibility positioning of nearly a thousand kinds of aluminum alloy structural parts, fully consider the size differences of parts, and the risk points in the transportation process, so that the advantages of automated integration can be fully utilized, and the complexity of automated integration can be reduced through structural design, thereby reducing investment costs.

[0050] The present application provides a device for automatically flipping a workpiece during processing in an automated production line, wherein a table top 11 is provided on a base frame 1, a rotating mechanism 2 is fixedly mounted on the table top 11, and a clamping mechanism 3 is provided on the rotating mechanism 2.

[0051] Furthermore, a rotary cylinder 21 is fixedly installed on the table top 11, a rotary flange 22 is fixedly installed on the rotary end surface of the rotary cylinder 21, a first base plate 23 is fixedly installed on the end surface of the rotary flange 22, a centring parallel cylinder 31 and a supporting column 4 are fixedly installed on the first base plate 23, the second base plate 24 is arranged on the supporting column 4 to form an installation space, a parallel finger 32 is arranged at the end of the centring parallel cylinder 31, passes through the reserved hole of the second base plate 24, and is positioned and installed by a stopper, the clamping finger 33 is installed at the end of the parallel finger 32, and a moving gap is retained with the second base plate 24, and the polyurethane protective plate 34 is installed on the clamping surface of the clamping finger 33.

[0052] The stopper 25 is fixedly mounted on the lower end surface of the swivel flange 22 , and the first stopper 12 and the second stopper 13 are fixedly mounted on the table 11 , and the positioning surfaces thereof are tangent to the stopper 25 at the central axis of the swivel flange 22 .

[0053] The present application is applied in an unmanned fully automated production unit. When in use, the robot gripper first clamps the part along the center position of the illustrated direction and places it on the flipping tooling. At this time, the center position of the part coincides with the center position of the flipping tooling; the system drives the centering parallel cylinder of the flipping station to perform centering and clamping of the part, with a centering accuracy of ≤0.05mm, to achieve center positioning of the part in the thickness direction; the robot gripper releases and returns to the safe zero position, and the system drives the rotary cylinder to perform a flipping operation until the stop column on the rotary flange stops against the first stop block, and the hard limit is used to ensure that the flipping angle of the part is 180°, at which point the clamping reference after flipping coincides with that before flipping; the robot clamps the part again in the original position, and the system drives the centering parallel cylinder to release the part. The robot grips the part and runs it to the machining center to perform CNC processing on the reverse side of the part, thereby achieving full-process automated operation.

[0054] By utilizing the synergistic effect of the rotary cylinder and the parallel cylinder, it is ensured that after the parts are clamped by the parallel cylinder, they are driven by the rotary cylinder to achieve 180-degree flipping, and then clamped by the robot gripper, so as to realize the function of automatic flipping, solve the problem of random and uncontrollable flipping posture caused by part differences, simplify the difficulty of automation integration, be stable and reliable, and reduce costs; this application designs the clamping stroke and the clamping finger structure according to the size distribution of the parts, avoids the robot clamping space, and greatly meets the requirements of compatible clamping; this application uses polyurethane material for the protective plate in contact with the parts, which not only ensures sufficient strength, but also avoids scratching the parts, and also offsets the over-positioning caused by the robot gripper and the parallel fingers of the flip tooling at the same time, ensuring the stability of the clamping accuracy; this application designs the blocking and block structure, which can realize the precise positioning of the rotary position, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the robot clamping parts. Each motion link is equipped with a detection sensor in place to feedback the closed loop to the master control system.

[0055] The benefits of this application are:

[0056] 1. This application has a reasonable structure and is easy to use. It can realize the compatible rotation centering of various specifications of aluminum alloy structural parts, and provide high-precision positioning for automatic grasping in the next process. This application has a good compatible self-centering effect;

[0057] 2. This application can meet the compatibility positioning of nearly a thousand kinds of aluminum alloy structural parts, fully consider the size differences of parts, and the risk points in the transportation process, so that the advantages of automated integration can be fully utilized, and the complexity of automated integration can be reduced through structural design, thereby reducing investment costs.

[0058] In other embodiments of the present application, the method steps provided are as follows:

[0059] The automatic turning tooling work is fed back to the automated production line control system by the in-place detection sensors configured in each motion link, and is controlled by the control system:

[0060] ① The production line control system issues a command to flip the workpiece (at this time, it has been identified and determined that there is no workpiece on the flip tool);

[0061] ② The manipulator grips the workpiece and moves it to the position where the flipping tooling is waiting;

[0062] ③The control system controls the clamping mechanism to open;

[0063] ④ The robot places the part in the centering fixed position of the flip tooling. At this time, the center position of the workpiece coincides with the center position of the flip tooling. The clamping mechanism clamps the workpiece, and the robot leaves and returns to the safe area.

[0064] ⑤ The control system drives the rotary cylinder to perform the flip operation until the stop column on the rotary flange stops close to the first stop block, and the hard limit is used to ensure that the part flip angle is 180°. At this time, the clamping reference after flipping coincides with the reference before flipping;

[0065] ⑥ The robot clamps the parts again at the original position, and the system drives the parallel cylinder to release the parts;

[0066] ⑦The robot grabs the workpiece and leaves to proceed to the next step, thereby realizing the function of automatic flipping of the workpiece.

Claims

1. An automated production line workpiece turning device, characterized in that: The device comprises: Basic framework; A table top mounted on the base frame; A slewing mechanism for mounting the table top; The clamping mechanism is installed on the rotating mechanism; wherein the rotating mechanism can drive the clamping mechanism to rotate, and the clamping mechanism can clamp the workpiece.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The rotary mechanism comprises: A rotary cylinder for mounting the table top; A rotary flange, arranged on the rotary end surface of the rotary cylinder; The first bottom plate is connected to the end surface of the swivel flange.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that The clamping mechanism comprises: A centring parallel cylinder, arranged on the first bottom plate; A supporting column, arranged on the first bottom plate; A second bottom plate is arranged on the supporting column to form an installation space; a reserved hole is arranged on the second bottom plate; A parallel finger is arranged at the end of the centering parallel cylinder, the parallel finger passes through the reserved hole and is positioned and installed by the stopper; The clamping fingers are installed at the ends of the parallel fingers, and a moving gap is reserved between the clamping fingers and the second bottom plate.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that The clamping mechanism also includes: A polyurethane protective plate is mounted on the clamping surface of the clamping fingers.

5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that The device also includes: A retaining column, fixedly mounted on the lower end surface of the swivel flange; A first stopper, fixedly mounting the table top; The second stopper is used to fix the table top; wherein the positioning surfaces of the first stopper and the second stopper are tangent to the stopper at the central axis of the swivel flange.

6. A method for turning over workpieces in an automated production line, characterized in that: The method comprises: The manipulator grips the workpiece and moves it to the waiting position of the flipping tooling; The control system controls the clamping mechanism to open; The robot places the part in the centering fixed position of the flip tooling. At this time, the center position of the workpiece coincides with the center position of the flip tooling. The clamping mechanism clamps the workpiece, and the robot leaves and returns to the safe area. The control system drives the rotary cylinder to perform the flipping operation until the stop column on the rotary flange stops against the first stopper, and the hard limit is used to ensure that the part flip angle is 180°. At this time, the clamping reference after flipping coincides with the reference before flipping. The robot grips the part again in the original position, and the system drives the centering parallel cylinder to perform the release operation; The robot grabs the workpiece and leaves for the next operation, thereby realizing the function of automatic flipping of the workpiece.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Before the manipulator clamps the workpiece and moves to the turning tool waiting position, it also includes: The production line control system obtains the command to flip the workpiece.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that Before the production line control system obtains the workpiece flipping command, it also includes: The production line control system identifies and determines that there is no workpiece on the flipping device based on information fed back by the sensor.

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