Asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain drive

Abstract

This invention belongs to the field of conveying equipment technology and discloses an asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission, including a ring conveying unit, a horizontal holding assembly, a reverse / forward pushing cylinder assembly, and a reverse / forward slide assembly. The ring conveying unit is equipped with a ring guide rail and a sprocket mechanism arranged along a vertical plane. The horizontal holding assembly is driven by a chain and slides synchronously along the guide rail, sequentially passing through the feeding, detection, reverse pushing, and forward pushing stations. The horizontal holding assembly achieves stable horizontal conveying of the workpiece pallet throughout the entire process by meshing a horizontal holding gear with the guide half gear of the central guide assembly in a 1:1 ratio, and cooperating with the guide notch and strip protrusion for limiting. After visual detection identifies the front and back of the workpiece, the reversed workpiece is flipped over via the reverse slide, and the front workpiece is directly conveyed via the forward slide, ensuring that the front faces upward. This invention eliminates the need for machine downtime and reciprocating reset, allowing for continuous and stable operation, effectively preventing workpiece displacement and overturning, and improving production cycle time and versatility.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of conveying equipment technology, specifically relating to an asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of automated assembly and intelligent manufacturing technologies, posture recognition and automatic correction of asymmetrical workpieces with specific process requirements have become an important research direction for improving the production efficiency and assembly accuracy of conveyor lines. Currently, existing conveyor line workpiece correction mainly relies on industrial robots for gripping or manual adjustment of the workpiece posture. However, these methods have significant limitations. On the one hand, traditional industrial robot gripping or manual posture adjustment is costly, the robot gripping process is prone to damaging the workpiece surface, and when dealing with thin parts such as single-sided PCB circuit boards, the gripping is difficult and the stability is poor, making it difficult to accommodate asymmetrical workpieces with different conditions. On the other hand, due to the accuracy issues of chain drives in traditional conveyor mechanisms, unstable torques are easily generated during high-speed transport, causing the workpiece to shift, roll, or even overturn on the pallet, making it unsuitable for transporting asymmetrical workpieces with precision surface protection requirements.

[0003] Meanwhile, the speed and accuracy of manual operation are difficult to guarantee, which can easily lead to excessive idle time in subsequent processes, failing to fully utilize the efficiency of the entire conveyor line. In addition, most existing reversing mechanisms adopt a reciprocating intermittent working mode. When faced with high-frequency, large-scale continuous conveying tasks, frequent pauses, waiting, and reset operations severely restrict the improvement of production cycle time.

[0004] Therefore, developing an automatic direction reversal device that can overcome the above problems and achieve efficient, stable, and precise handling of asymmetrical workpieces has become an important issue that urgently needs to be addressed in the field of automated conveying. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide an asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission, in order to solve the technical problems of frequent pauses and reset operations in the existing asymmetrical workpiece flipping and accompanying transportation process, and the workpiece being prone to uncontrolled displacement, rolling or even overturning on the transportation equipment during high-speed operation, which causes unstable automatic flipping of asymmetrical workpieces and low flipping and conveying efficiency.

[0006] A reversing device for asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction based on chain tooth transmission includes a ring conveying unit, a reverse pushing cylinder assembly, a forward pushing cylinder assembly, a reverse slide assembly, a forward slide assembly, and several horizontal holding units. The ring conveying unit includes a drive device for driving the sprocket mechanism, as well as a ring guide rail and a sprocket mechanism arranged along a vertical plane. The horizontal holding units are all connected to the transmission chain of the same sprocket mechanism and slide along the ring guide rail. The circular conveyor unit is provided with a feeding station, an inspection station, a reverse pushing station and a forward pushing station in sequence along the movement direction of the horizontal holding unit. The feeding station is located at the discharge end of the feeding conveyor belt to receive the workpiece. The inspection station is located below the vision inspection device. The reverse pushing station has a slide inlet of the reverse slide assembly on one side and a reverse pushing cylinder assembly that pushes the workpiece into the reverse slide assembly on the other side. The forward pushing station has a slide inlet of the forward slide assembly on one side and a forward pushing cylinder assembly that pushes the workpiece into the forward slide assembly on the other side. The slide outlets of both the reverse slide assembly and the forward slide assembly are located at the feeding end of the discharge conveyor belt. The horizontal holding unit includes a mounting plate that slides along an annular guide rail, a meshing arc-shaped horizontal holding gear and a straight-shaped horizontal holding gear, and a workpiece tray fixedly connected to the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear. The annular conveying unit is provided with a central guide assembly, which includes a guide half-gear concentric with the arc-shaped guide rail section of the annular guide rail and a strip-shaped protrusion parallel to the straight-shaped guide rail section. When the horizontal holding unit is located on the arc-shaped guide rail, the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear meshes with the guide half-gear, and the resulting gear transmission ratio is 1:1. The end face of the straight-shaped horizontal holding gear is provided with a guide notch feature. When the horizontal holding unit is located on the straight guide rail, the guide notch feature cooperates with the strip-shaped protrusion feature.

[0007] Preferably, the horizontal retaining gear of the straight segment has at least one end face with a protruding platform, and the guide notch feature is a straight edge that can cooperate with the strip-shaped protrusion feature; when the horizontal retaining unit is located on the linear guide rail, the straight edge of the guide notch feature slides along the extension direction of the strip-shaped protrusion feature without rotating.

[0008] Preferably, when the horizontal holding unit is located on the arc segment guide rail, the rotation direction of the arc segment horizontal holding gear is opposite to the overall rotation direction of the horizontal holding unit when it moves along the arc segment guide rail, while the rotation speed is the same, so that the workpiece pallet maintains a horizontal posture throughout the movement on the arc segment guide rail.

[0009] Preferably, the horizontal holding unit further includes a right-angle mounting plate, which is fixedly mounted on the side of the mounting plate away from the annular guide rail. The arc segment horizontal holding gear and the straight segment horizontal holding gear are both rotatably connected between the right-angle mounting plate and the mounting plate.

[0010] Preferably, the horizontal holding unit further includes a guide rail slider and a transmission chain plate. The guide rail slider is slidably connected to the annular guide rail and fixed to the mounting plate on the side facing the annular guide rail. The end of the transmission chain plate extending toward the transmission chain is inserted and connected to the transmission chain, and the transmission chain drives each horizontal holding unit to move synchronously.

[0011] Preferably, the slide structure of the reverse slide assembly includes an arc-shaped portion with a vertical tangent, while the slide structure of the forward slide assembly does not include an arc-shaped portion with a vertical tangent.

[0012] Preferably, the annular guide rail consists of a pair of circular arc segment guide rails and a pair of vertically arranged linear guide rails. The arrangement shape of the transmission chain is similar to that of the annular guide rail. The sprocket mechanism also includes a driving sprocket and a driven sprocket. The driving sprocket and the driven sprocket are respectively concentrically arranged with the corresponding circular arc segment guide rails. The driving sprocket is connected to the output shaft of the drive device.

[0013] Preferably, several horizontal holding units are evenly distributed along the annular guide rail, the sprocket mechanism runs continuously, and the conveying speed of the horizontal holding units is consistent with the conveying rhythm of both the feed conveyor belt and the discharge conveyor belt.

[0014] Preferably, the pushing direction of the reverse pushing cylinder, the pushing direction of the forward pushing cylinder, the slide inlet orientation of the reverse slide assembly, and the slide inlet orientation of the forward slide assembly are all horizontal.

[0015] The technical advantages of this invention are as follows: The annular conveyor unit of this invention adopts a chain drive method, combined with the gear drive in the horizontal holding unit, to ensure the stability of the mechanism during operation; through the coordinated cooperation of reverse and forward pushing cylinder assemblies and slide rails, the workpiece direction flipping action is accurately realized, effectively reducing the need for conveyor line downtime for adjustment and reducing equipment maintenance costs. Simultaneously, through the coordinated work of chain drive and slide rail flipping, there is no need for a reciprocating flipping mechanism or to stop transport and wait for the flipping mechanism to complete the entire flipping process. The flipping process of this solution is consistent with the normal transport process, both achieved through workpiece sliding. Therefore, it can support the conveyor line to remain unobstructed during long-term operation without manual intervention to adjust the workpiece direction. Compared with traditional conveyor lines without this reversing device, it significantly improves the continuous working capacity of the production line, meets the needs of mass production, significantly reduces conveyor line downtime, and improves equipment utilization and work efficiency, making it particularly suitable for large-scale, continuous production scenarios.

[0016] This invention achieves high-precision horizontal transport and directional correction of asymmetrical workpieces, and is unaffected by factors such as workpiece shape, size, and material. It is applicable to the vast majority of asymmetrical workpieces on the market. Therefore, this invention effectively solves the technical pain points of frequent manual intervention and easy pallet tipping during the transport process in traditional conveying, improves the accuracy and stability of the transport process, and eliminates the need to change the conveyor line when the transported products change. Attached Figure Description Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to the present invention. Figure 2 for Figure 1 The structure shown is an exploded view of the structure. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the annular conveying unit in this invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the horizontal holding unit in this invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the reverse pusher cylinder assembly, the forward pusher cylinder assembly, the reverse slide rail assembly, and the forward slide rail assembly in this invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the annular conveying unit and the horizontal holding unit in this invention. Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the cooperation state between the guide notch feature and the strip protrusion feature in this invention; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram showing the cooperative state between the horizontal holding unit, the annular guide rail, and the conveyor chain in this invention. Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the present invention and the feeding conveyor belt, discharging conveyor belt, and visual recognition equipment in the installed state.

[0017] The reference numerals include: 100 Asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth drive, 200 Vision inspection device, 300 Feed conveyor belt, and 400 Discharge conveyor belt; 1. Circular conveyor unit; 11. Upright frame; 111. Vertical plate; 112. Linear guide rail; 113. Circular guide rail; 114. Motor; 115. Drive sprocket; 116. Driven sprocket; 117. Conveyor chain; 12. Center guide assembly; 121. Channel plate; 1211. Strip-shaped protrusion feature; 122. Guide half gear; 123. Hexagonal support column; 2 Horizontal retaining assembly, 21 Guide rail slider, 22 Mounting plate, 23 Right angle mounting plate, 24 Circular arc horizontal retaining gear, 25 Straight line horizontal retaining gear, 2501 Guide notch feature, 26 Workpiece tray, 27 Connecting block, 28 Drive chain plate, 2801 Chain fixing slot feature; 3 Reverse pusher cylinder assembly, 31 Reverse pusher cylinder, 32 Pusher mounting plate, 33 Angle iron; 4 Forward pusher cylinder assembly, 41 Forward pusher cylinder; 5. Reverse slide rail assembly; 6. Forward slide assembly. Detailed Implementation

[0018] The following detailed description of the embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings, will further illustrate the specific implementation of the present invention, in order to help those skilled in the art to have a more complete, accurate, and in-depth understanding of the inventive concept and technical solution of the present invention.

[0019] To address the challenge of automatically identifying and reversing workpiece orientations in existing technologies to improve conveyor line efficiency, embodiments of this invention provide a reversing device for asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction based on chain tooth transmission. This device can convey various asymmetrical parts to a unified 100° orientation without manual intervention, fully utilizing conveyor line efficiency and meeting the demands of high-frequency, large-scale continuous conveying tasks.

[0020] like Figures 1-2 As shown, this invention provides an asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device 100 based on chain tooth transmission, including a ring conveying unit 1, a horizontal holding unit 2, a reverse pushing cylinder assembly 3, a forward pushing cylinder assembly 4, a reverse slide assembly 5, and a forward slide assembly 6. The overall structure of the asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device 100 is as follows: Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown.

[0021] like Figure 3As shown, the annular conveying unit 1 includes an upright frame 11 and a central guide assembly 12. The upright frame 11 includes a vertical plate 111 (a U-shaped vertical plate in this embodiment), on which an annular guide rail, a sprocket mechanism, and a motor 114 are fixedly mounted. The annular guide rail and the sprocket mechanism are located on the same side of the vertical plate 111. The sprocket mechanism is located inside the annular guide rail. The annular guide rail is composed of six 60° circular arc guide rails 113 and two linear guide rails 112. At the upper and lower ends of the annular guide rail, each end is formed by three 60° circular arc guide rails 113 spliced ​​together to form a semi-circular arc section guide rail. The sprocket mechanism includes a driving sprocket 115, a driven sprocket 116, and a conveying chain 117. The driving sprocket 115 is connected to the output shaft of the motor 114 and is driven by the motor 114. The driving sprocket 115 and driven sprocket 116 are concentrically arranged with their corresponding arc-shaped guide rails. The arrangement shape of the transmission chain 117 is similar to that of the annular guide rail. The central guide assembly 12 includes a channel plate 121, guide half-gears 122, and hexagonal support columns 123. The channel plate 121 is mounted on the side of the vertical plate with the annular guide rail via the hexagonal support columns 123. There are two guide half-gears 122, which are symmetrically fixed on the upper and lower parts of the channel plate 121. The two guide half-gears 122 are concentrically arranged with their corresponding arc-shaped guide rails, and the arc-shaped toothed portions of the guide half-gears 122 all face the direction of the arc-shaped guide rail on the corresponding side. A pair of strip-shaped protrusions 1211 are provided on the channel plate 121, and the strip-shaped protrusions 1211 are parallel to the linear guide rail 112.

[0022] like Figure 4As shown, the horizontal holding unit 2 includes a guide rail slider 21, a mounting plate 22, a right-angle mounting plate 23, an arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24, a straight-line horizontal holding gear 25, a workpiece tray 26, a connecting block 27, and a transmission chain plate 28. The guide rail slider 21 is slidably connected to the annular guide rail, restricting the horizontal holding unit 2 from sliding along the annular guide rail. The guide rail slider 21 is fixed to the side of the mounting plate 22 facing the annular guide rail, and the right-angle mounting plate 23 is fixedly installed on the side of the mounting plate 22 away from the annular guide rail. A space for setting the gears is formed between the right-angle mounting plate 23 and the mounting plate 22. The space for setting the gears is open on both the side facing the central guide assembly 12 and on the upper and lower sides, thereby allowing the gears to contact or mesh with external components. The arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 and the straight-line horizontal holding gear 25 are both rotatably connected to the right-angle mounting plate 23 and located in the space for setting the gears. The arc-shaped horizontal retaining gear 24 and the straight-line horizontal retaining gear 25 mesh. The arc-shaped horizontal retaining gear 24 protrudes from the upper and lower sides of the space where the gears are set. The arc-shaped horizontal retaining gear 24 can mesh with the guide half gear 122, forming a gear transmission ratio of 1:1. The straight-line horizontal retaining gear 25 has at least one end face with a protruding platform. The platform facing the central guide assembly 12 has a guide notch feature 2501, which is a straight edge that can cooperate with the strip-shaped protrusion feature. The workpiece tray 26 is fixedly connected to the center of the arc-shaped horizontal retaining gear 24 through the connecting block 27. A transmission chain plate 28 is fixed to the mounting plate 22 facing the annular guide rail. The end of the transmission chain plate 28 extending towards the transmission chain 117 has a chain fixing slot feature 2801. The transmission chain 117 has a cylindrical protrusion feature 1171 that inserts into the chain fixing slot feature 2801. Thus, the transmission chain 117 drives the transmission chain plate 28 to move together via the chain fixing slot feature 2801, allowing the horizontal holding unit 2 to move along the annular guide rail. The arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 and the guide half gear 122 have the same theoretical number of teeth and the same pitch circle diameter. The actual number of teeth on the guide half gear 122 is half of the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 (rounded down). like Figure 9 As shown, the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversing device 100 is positioned between the feeding conveyor belt 300 and the discharging conveyor belt 400. The workpiece conveying direction reversing device 100 also includes a vision inspection device 200 for acquiring images of the asymmetrical workpieces and identifying their placement. The annular guide rail, along the conveying direction of the sprocket mechanism, sequentially includes a feeding station, an inspection station, a reverse pushing station, and a forward pushing station. The feeding station is located at the discharging end of the feeding conveyor belt 300, typically slightly lower than the discharging end. The inspection station is located between the reverse pushing station and the feeding station and has no top obstruction, thus facilitating the vision inspection device 200 in acquiring images of the asymmetrical workpieces.

[0023] The height of the reverse push station is generally higher than that of the forward push station because the workpiece pushed out by the reverse push station needs to be flipped along the corresponding reverse slide rail assembly 5. To ensure smooth flipping, the slide rail structure of the reverse slide rail assembly 5 includes an arc-shaped portion with a vertical tangent. The forward slide rail assembly 6, however, does not need to flip the workpiece, so its slide rail structure does not include an arc-shaped portion with a vertical tangent. In this embodiment, the feeding station, inspection station, reverse push station, and forward push station are located sequentially at the lower end of the left linear guide rail, the top of the upper arc segment guide rail, the upper end of the right linear guide rail, and the lower end of the right linear guide rail.

[0024] The horizontal holding unit 2 sequentially passes through the feeding station, inspection station, reverse pushing station, and forward pushing station, thereby achieving the effects of four stations in sequence: receiving workpieces, visual inspection, reverse pushing to make the workpiece flip and slide down, and forward pushing to prevent the workpiece from flipping and sliding down. In this embodiment, there are 6 horizontal holding units 2. There is a transition station between the feeding station and the inspection station, and another transition station between the forward pushing station and the feeding station. The transition stations serve a transitional function, and the process of conveying the workpiece from one station to another is continuous.

[0025] like Figure 5 As shown, the reverse pusher cylinder assembly 3, the forward pusher cylinder assembly 4, the reverse slide rail assembly 5, and the forward slide rail assembly 6 are all installed on the side of the vertical plate 111 with the annular guide rail. The reverse pusher cylinder assembly 3 is used to push the asymmetrical workpiece on the reverse pusher station into the reverse slide rail assembly 5, and the forward pusher cylinder assembly 4 is used to push the asymmetrical workpiece on the forward pusher station into the forward slide rail assembly 6. The reverse slide rail assembly 5 and the forward slide rail assembly 6 respectively guide the workpiece to slide down to the same position or different positions at the feeding end of the discharge conveyor belt 400.

[0026] Specifically, the reverse pusher cylinder assembly 3 includes a reverse pusher cylinder 31, a pusher mounting plate 32, and an angle iron 33. The pusher mounting plate 32 is mounted on the upright plate 111 and is in a horizontal position. The reverse pusher cylinder 31 is mounted on the pusher mounting plate 32. In this embodiment, the reverse pusher cylinder assembly 3 is installed at the upper end of the right straight section guide rail 112. The output end of the reverse pusher cylinder 31 is aligned with the workpiece tray at the upper end of the straight section of the annular guide rail (reverse pusher station). The reverse slide assembly 5 is installed on the upper left side of the upright frame 11 via three hexagonal pillars. The slide inlet of the reverse slide assembly 5 is also aligned with the workpiece tray at the reverse pusher station and is opposite to the output end of the reverse pusher cylinder 31, used to receive the workpiece pushed out by the reverse pusher cylinder 31. The slide outlet of the reverse slide assembly 5 extends to a position at the feed end of the discharge conveyor belt 400.

[0027] The forward pusher cylinder assembly 4 includes a forward pusher cylinder 41, which is mounted on the upright plate 111 via two hexagonal supports and is in a horizontal position. In this embodiment, the forward pusher cylinder assembly 4 is mounted at the lower end of the right straight section guide rail 112, aligned with the workpiece tray at the lower end of the straight section of the annular guide rail (forward pusher station). The forward slide assembly 6 is mounted on the lower right side of the upright frame 11 via two hexagonal supports. The slide inlet of the forward slide assembly 6 is also aligned with the workpiece tray at the forward pusher station and opposite to the output end of the forward pusher cylinder 41, used to receive the workpiece pushed out by the forward pusher cylinder 41; the slide outlet of the forward slide assembly 6 extends to the same position or another position at the feed end of the discharge conveyor belt 400.

[0028] In this embodiment, six horizontal holding units 2 are evenly distributed at various positions on the annular guide rail and are simultaneously driven by the same conveyor chain 117, thereby allowing the six horizontal holding units 2 to move synchronously along the annular guide rail. Figures 6-8 As shown, when the horizontal holding unit 2 is located on the linear guide rail 112, the guide notch feature 2501 engages with the strip-shaped protrusion feature 1211. That is, the straight edge of the guide notch feature 2501 slides along the extension direction of the strip-shaped protrusion feature 1211 without rotating, thereby restricting the linear horizontal holding gear 25 and the meshing arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 from rotating, keeping the workpiece tray 26 in a horizontal state. When the workpiece is conveyed to the arc-shaped guide rail, the guide notch feature 2501 of the linear horizontal holding gear 25 disengages from the strip-shaped protrusion feature 1211, thus allowing it to rotate. When the horizontal holding unit 2 is located on the arc-shaped guide rail, the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 can mesh with the guide half gear 122. At this time, during the workpiece conveying process, the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear 24 rotates with a gear transmission ratio of 1:1, driving the workpiece tray 26 to rotate synchronously. The rotation direction of the workpiece tray 26 is opposite to the overall rotation direction of the horizontal holding unit when it moves along the arc-shaped guide rail, but the rotation speed is the same. Specifically, in this embodiment, the arc segment horizontal holding gear 24 drives the workpiece tray 26 to rotate clockwise at the same angle value, thereby always keeping the workpiece tray 26 horizontal. During the process, the gear always remains engaged, the movement is precise, the workpiece will not shake, and the overall mechanism transmission is stable.

[0029] The specific working process of the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device 100 in this embodiment is as follows: The feeding conveyor belt 300 feeds in several workpieces (asymmetrical workpieces), at which point the workpieces are in a mixture of two states: face up and back up. The feeding speeds of both the feeding conveyor belt 300 and the discharging conveyor belt 400 are consistent with the conveying cycle of the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversing device 100. The conveying process of the workpiece conveying direction reversing device 100 includes continuous conveying between workstations and a brief stop at each workstation to complete the corresponding processing; therefore, the conveying processes of the feeding conveyor belt 300 and the discharging conveyor belt 400 are also matched accordingly. When the conveying speed of the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversing device 100 does not affect the processing at the workstation (slow operation), the workpiece pallet 26 can carry workpieces through the workstation without a brief stop, and the corresponding actuator at the workstation directly completes the corresponding processing during the movement of the workpiece through the workstation. Each horizontal holding unit 2's workpiece pallet 26 loads only one workpiece at a time.

[0030] The feeding conveyor belt 300 first outputs an asymmetrical workpiece, which may be facing up or down, from the discharge end to the feeding station. The workpiece tray 26 of the horizontal holding unit 2 at the feeding station only loads this one workpiece.

[0031] Afterwards, the horizontal holding unit 2 carries the workpiece through a transition station to the inspection station. When the horizontal holding unit 2 moves below the vision inspection device 200, the vision inspection device 200 acquires an image of the workpiece and performs front and back image recognition and comparison. Subsequently, based on the inspection results, one of the following two options may be entered, and the corresponding station execution mechanism will perform the corresponding action: 1. When the device detects that the workpiece is currently in a reverse-facing state, after the device runs the next cycle, the horizontal holding unit 2 carries the workpiece to the reverse pushing station. The reverse pushing cylinder 31 will perform the pushing action, pushing the reverse-facing workpiece into the reverse slide assembly 5. Due to gravity, the part will slide in the slide to achieve flipping and falling. After being flipped by the reverse slide assembly 5, the workpiece will enter a position at the feeding end of the discharge conveyor belt 400 in a front-facing state; then it will be transported by the discharge conveyor belt 400.

[0032] 2. When the device detects that the workpiece is currently facing upwards, the actuator at the reverse push station remains stationary as the device passes through it. However, as the sprocket mechanism continues to operate, the horizontal holding unit 2 carries the workpiece to the forward push station. The forward push cylinder 41 then performs a push action, pushing the workpiece facing upwards into the forward slide assembly 6. The forward slide assembly 6 does not have a flipping condition. After passing through the slide, the workpiece will continue to enter another position at the feed end of the discharge conveyor belt 400 in a facing position; it will then be transported by the discharge conveyor belt 400.

[0033] If the workpiece is mostly in the face-up position, the forward pushing station can be set to allow the forward pushing cylinder 4 to work continuously, with the working rhythm consistent with the conveying rhythm of the device. Since the reverse pushing station is the station preceding the forward pushing station in sequence, the control complexity of the forward pushing cylinder 41 after detection can be simplified. The forward pushing cylinder 41 can be allowed to work continuously according to a fixed working rhythm, and it can be ensured that the workpiece carried by the horizontal holding unit 2 will be pushed to the discharge conveyor belt 400 in one cycle of transportation. This avoids the error that the horizontal holding unit 2 is carrying two workpieces at the feeding station after one cycle of movement because the workpiece has not been pushed out.

[0034] The above actions are repeated in a cycle, which is the working process of the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device 100. After all workpieces pass through the asymmetrical workpiece conveying direction reversal device 100 in this embodiment, they will all be transported from the discharge conveyor belt 400 to the next process in a frontal state. This realizes high-precision horizontal transfer and directional correction of asymmetrical workpieces, effectively solves the technical pain points of frequent manual intervention and easy pallet tipping during the transfer process in traditional conveying, and significantly improves the production cycle and discharge consistency.

[0035] The present invention has been described above by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the specific implementation of the present invention is not limited to the above-described manner. Any non-substantial improvements made using the inventive concept and technical solution of the present invention, or the direct application of the inventive concept and technical solution of the present invention to other occasions without modification, are all within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission, characterized in that, It includes a ring conveying unit, a reverse pushing cylinder assembly, a forward pushing cylinder assembly, a reverse slide assembly, a forward slide assembly, and several horizontal holding units. The ring conveying unit includes a drive device for driving the sprocket mechanism and a ring guide rail and sprocket mechanism arranged along a vertical plane. The horizontal holding units are all connected to the transmission chain of the same sprocket mechanism and slide along the ring guide rail. The circular conveyor unit is provided with a feeding station, an inspection station, a reverse pushing station and a forward pushing station in sequence along the movement direction of the horizontal holding unit. The feeding station is located at the discharge end of the feeding conveyor belt to receive the workpiece. The inspection station is located below the vision inspection device. The reverse pushing station has a slide inlet of the reverse slide assembly on one side and a reverse pushing cylinder assembly that pushes the workpiece into the reverse slide assembly on the other side. The forward pushing station has a slide inlet of the forward slide assembly on one side and a forward pushing cylinder assembly that pushes the workpiece into the forward slide assembly on the other side. The slide outlets of both the reverse slide assembly and the forward slide assembly are located at the feeding end of the discharge conveyor belt. The horizontal holding unit includes a mounting plate that slides along an annular guide rail, a meshing arc-shaped horizontal holding gear and a straight-shaped horizontal holding gear, and a workpiece tray fixedly connected to the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear. The annular conveying unit is provided with a central guide assembly, which includes a guide half-gear concentric with the arc-shaped guide rail section of the annular guide rail and a strip-shaped protrusion parallel to the straight-shaped guide rail section. When the horizontal holding unit is located on the arc-shaped guide rail, the arc-shaped horizontal holding gear meshes with the guide half-gear, and the resulting gear transmission ratio is 1:

1. The end face of the straight-shaped horizontal holding gear is provided with a guide notch feature. When the horizontal holding unit is located on the straight guide rail, the guide notch feature cooperates with the strip-shaped protrusion feature.

2. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The horizontal retaining gear of the straight segment has at least one end face with a protruding platform, and the guide notch feature is a straight edge that can cooperate with the strip-shaped protrusion feature; when the horizontal retaining unit is located on the linear guide rail, the straight edge of the guide notch feature slides along the extension direction of the strip-shaped protrusion feature without rotating.

3. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the horizontal holding unit is located on the arc section guide rail, the rotation direction of the arc section horizontal holding gear is opposite to the overall rotation direction of the horizontal holding unit when it moves along the arc section guide rail, but the rotation speed is the same, so that the workpiece pallet maintains a horizontal posture throughout the movement of the arc section guide rail.

4. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The horizontal holding unit also includes a right-angle mounting plate, which is fixedly installed on the side of the mounting plate away from the annular guide rail. The arc segment horizontal holding gear and the straight segment horizontal holding gear are both rotatably connected between the right-angle mounting plate and the mounting plate.

5. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The horizontal holding unit also includes a guide rail slider and a transmission chain plate. The guide rail slider is slidably connected to the annular guide rail and fixed to the mounting plate on the side facing the annular guide rail. The end of the transmission chain plate extending toward the transmission chain is inserted and connected to the transmission chain, and the transmission chain drives each horizontal holding unit to move synchronously.

6. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The slide structure of the reverse slide assembly includes an arc-shaped section with a vertical tangent, while the slide structure of the forward slide assembly does not include an arc-shaped section with a vertical tangent.

7. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The circular guide rail consists of a pair of circular arc section guide rails and a pair of vertically arranged linear guide rails. The arrangement shape of the transmission chain is similar to that of the circular guide rail. The sprocket mechanism also includes a driving sprocket and a driven sprocket. The driving sprocket and the driven sprocket are respectively concentrically arranged with the corresponding circular arc section guide rails. The driving sprocket is connected to the output shaft of the drive device.

8. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, Several horizontal holding units are evenly distributed along the circular guide rail, and the sprocket mechanism runs continuously. The conveying speed of the horizontal holding units is consistent with the conveying rhythm of both the feed conveyor belt and the discharge conveyor belt.

9. The asymmetric workpiece conveying direction reversal device based on chain tooth transmission according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pushing direction of the reverse pushing cylinder, the pushing direction of the forward pushing cylinder, the orientation of the slide inlet of the reverse slide assembly, and the orientation of the slide inlet of the forward slide assembly are all horizontal.

Images