Insert molding system

Abstract

This provides an insert molding system that can accommodate situations where the inner tray is positioned at an angle relative to the pallet, and where it is required to release the insert molded product to the correct position in the open position. [Solution] Even if the inner tray 11 containing the insert workpieces W is positioned at an angle within the pallet 9, the molded product removal machine changes the position and orientation of the removal head 51 based on the imaging data obtained by imaging the state captured by the imaging device 8, and removes one or more insert workpieces W from the inner tray 11. Furthermore, before releasing the one or more insert molded products MA held by the removal head 51 to the open position, the state of the open position is captured by imaging the state of the open position by the imaging device 8, and based on the imaging data obtained, the one or more insert molded products MA held by the removal head 51 are released to a predetermined appropriate position in the open position.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a molding system for insert molding.

Background Art

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-53161 (Patent Document 1) discloses a molding system using a sheet as an insert work. In this system, one sheet is attached from a large number of sheets (insert works) held by a transfer member to a sheet holding member attached to an entry frame attached to a molded product take-out machine and then conveyed into a mold. When the insert work is not a sheet, a conveying device having a conveying conveyor for conveying the insert work to a standby position held by a take-out head attached to the entry frame of the molded product take-out machine is used.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The conveying device is configured to store one or more insert workpieces in one or more workpiece fitting recesses of an inner tray, which is equipped with one or more workpiece fitting recesses, within a pallet with an open top surface, and then transport the pallet to a waiting position by a conveyor belt. However, the position of the inner tray within the pallet is not always constant, and the inner tray may be positioned at an angle to the pallet. In such cases, the removal head of the molded product removal machine cannot hold one or more insert workpieces in the correct orientation. Furthermore, it may be required to release the insert molded product removed from the mold into the correct position when it is in the open position. However, an insert molding system that can meet these problems and requirements is inevitably expensive.

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide an insert molding system that can accommodate situations where the inner tray is positioned at an angle relative to the pallet, and where it is required to release the insert molded product to the correct position in the open position. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The insert molding system covered by the present invention comprises a molding machine, a molded product removal machine, and a conveying device. The molded product removal machine includes an entry frame with an extraction head at its tip, which is movably mounted on an extraction frame and used to hold one or more insert workpieces and insert them into the mold of the molding machine, and to remove one or more insert molded products from the mold and convey them to an open position; and an operation control device that controls the operation of the extraction frame and the entry frame and the operation of the extraction head. The conveying device conveys one or more insert workpieces to a standby position where the extraction head holds one or more insert workpieces. The conveying device only needs to be configured to convey a pallet that houses an inner tray having one or more workpiece fitting recesses and with one or more insert workpieces fitted into one or more workpiece fitting recesses to the standby position, and its structure is arbitrary. For example, it may of course be a general-purpose stocker. Furthermore, a posture changing mechanism may be provided with respect to the extraction head to change the posture of the extraction head. In that case, the operation control device also controls the operation of the posture changing mechanism.

[0007] In this invention, one or more imaging devices are provided to photograph the arrangement of one or more insert workpieces in a standby position before the extraction head holds one or more insert workpieces, and / or to photograph the state of the one or more insert molded products held by the extraction head in the open position before opening them to the open position. The one or more imaging devices can be any type that can obtain imaging data that includes information indicating the arrangement position of the inner tray within the pallet. The operation control device then controls the molded product extraction machine to hold one or more insert workpieces in a standby position in an appropriate posture using the extraction head, and / or to open the one or more insert molded products held by the extraction head to a predetermined appropriate position in the open position, based on the imaging data captured by the one or more imaging devices.

[0008] According to the present invention, even if the inner tray containing the insert workpieces is positioned at an angle within the pallet, the molded product removal machine can change the position and orientation of the removal head based on imaging data obtained by imaging the inner tray with an imaging device, thereby removing one or more insert workpieces from the inner tray. Furthermore, before releasing the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head to the open position, the state of the open position can be imaged with one or more imaging devices, and based on the imaging data obtained, the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head can be released to a predetermined appropriate position in the open position. Therefore, according to the present invention, an insert molding system that can handle situations where the inner tray is positioned at an angle relative to the pallet, and where it is required to release the insert molded products to an appropriate position in the open position, can be provided with a simple structure and at low cost.

[0009] Furthermore, if one or more imaging devices are placed in an open position and can obtain imaging data that includes information indicating the position of one or more molded product holding recesses of an inner tray having one or more molded product fitting recesses for fitting one or more insert molded products, then one or more insert molded products can be reliably opened into one or more molded product fitting recesses.

[0010] The standby position and the open position may be the same, and the inner tray in the open position may also serve as the inner tray in the standby position. This not only reduces the number of parts or devices that make up the insert molding system, but also reduces the installation space required for the insert molding system.

[0011] Furthermore, while the number and location of the imaging devices are arbitrary, if they are installed in a position where imaging data of the extraction frame or insertion frame can be obtained, the necessary imaging data can be obtained even with just one imaging device. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1]This is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of the insert molding system of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing the components and peripheral equipment used to control the molded product removal machine of this embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure is used to explain the situation when removing an insert workpiece from the inner tray in the standby position in this embodiment. [Figure 4] (A) is a diagram showing an example of how the arrangement of the inner trays in the pallet is captured by an imaging device, and (B) is a diagram used to explain the situation when insert molded products are opened into the inner trays. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] An embodiment of the insert molding system of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the insert molding system 1 of the embodiment, which comprises a molding machine 3, a molded product removal machine 5, a conveying device 7, and an imaging device 8 mounted on the extraction frame of the molded product removal machine 5. The molded product removal machine 5 comprises a removal head 51 equipped with a suction nozzle 51A, a posture changing mechanism 52 for changing the posture of the removal head 51, a moving mechanism 53 for moving the removal head 51, a drive device 54 for driving the moving mechanism 53, and an operation control unit 55 (Figure 2) for giving operation commands to the drive device 54. The posture changing mechanism 52 has the function of swinging the removal head 51 with respect to the entry frame 53C included in the moving mechanism 53 and rotating the removal head 51 with the Z axis as the central axis (θ axis). Of course, depending on the configuration of the moving mechanism 53, the posture of the removal head 51 may be changed by control of the moving mechanism 53 without using the posture changing mechanism 52.

[0014] The moving mechanism 53 is a well-known three-axis moving mechanism, or XYZ type moving mechanism, and comprises a traverse frame 53A extending in the Y direction, a pull-out frame 53B movably mounted on the traverse frame 53A and extending in the X direction, and two entry frames 53C and 53D that move along the pull-out frame 53B and move in the Z direction. The extraction head 51 is mounted on the entry frame 53C via a posture change mechanism 52, and the entry frame 53D is used as a runner axis. The operation control unit 55 of this embodiment is configured with a computing device such as a CPU and performs operation control of the posture change mechanism 52 that changes the posture of the extraction head 51 and operation control of the drive unit 54 that drives the moving mechanism 53.

[0015] Figure 1 shows the state before the multiple insert workpieces W held by the extraction head 51 are inserted into the space between the fixed mold 31 and the movable mold (not shown), with the extraction frame 53B positioned at one end of the traverse frame 53A and extending along the molding machine. As shown in Figure 3, which will be explained in detail later, with the moving mechanism 53 having moved the extraction frame 53B to the other end of the traverse frame 53A, the multiple insert workpieces W located in the inner tray 11 placed in the pallet 9 on the conveyor belt 71 of the conveying device 7 are inserted into the space between the fixed mold 31 and the movable mold (not shown). adsorption The insert workpieces are attracted by the nozzle 51A and transported by the moving mechanism 53 to the position shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1, the three insert workpieces W are stored in the pallet 9, fitted into the three workpiece fitting recesses 11A of the inner tray 11, which has three workpiece fitting recesses 11A [Figure 4(A)], and the pallet 9 is transported by the transport conveyor 71 to the standby position [the state shown in Figures 1 and 3].

[0016] The motion control unit 55 operates the movement mechanism 53 and the posture change mechanism 52, which changes the posture of the extraction head 51, according to the motion sequence, to move the extraction frame 53B from the position shown in Figure 3 to the position shown in Figure 1, and to insert the extraction head 51, which is attached to the tip of the entry frame 53C, into the space between the fixed mold 31 and the movable mold (not shown), and to mount the insert workpiece W held by the extraction head 51 into the fixed mold 31. When the movement mechanism 53 pulls the entry frame 53C upward, the molding machine 3 moves the movable mold toward the fixed mold 31, closes the mold, and then performs molding. When the molding operation is completed and the molding machine 3 opens the movable mold, the insert molded product, including the insert workpiece W, appears attached to the fixed mold 31. From this state, the molding machine 3 pushes the insert molded product out of the fixed mold 31 by the ejection of the ejector pins. Next, the moving mechanism 53 inserts the extraction head 51 between the fixed mold 31 and the movable mold, and the suction nozzle 51A of the extraction head 51 picks up the insert molded product. The moving mechanism 53 then transports the picked-up insert molded product MA [Figure 4(B)] to the release position. At the release position, the suction by the suction nozzle is released, and the insert molded product MA is released. Note that in Figure 4(B), only one insert molded product MA is shown for convenience.

[0017] In this embodiment, the open position is set to the conveying device 7 Transport The inner tray 11 is located inside the pallet 9 on the conveyor belt 71. Therefore, in this embodiment, the inner tray 11 is used as both a means for transporting the insert workpiece W and the insert molded product MA [Figure 4(B)].

[0018] The imaging device 8 is mounted on the side of the extraction frame 53B. As shown in Figure 3, the imaging device 8 photographs the arrangement of the inner tray 11, including the three insert workpieces W, in the standby position (the position shown in Figure 3) before the extraction head 51 holds the three insert workpieces W. When the insert molded product held by the extraction head 51 is released to the open position (the same as the standby position in this embodiment), the imaging device 8 photographs the state of the open position before release, as shown in Figure 4(A).

[0019] As shown in FIG. 4(A), as the imaging device 8, a commercially available vision camera 80 can be used. The specific imaging device 8 of the present embodiment obtains imaging data including information on the arrangement position of the inner tray 11 in the pallet 9 (information on how much the inner tray 11 is inclined with respect to the pallet 9). From the information on the arrangement position of the inner tray 11 in the pallet 9, the inclination of the inner tray 11 in the pallet 9 can be determined. As a result, Operation control unit 55 determines the positions in the X, Y, and Z directions and the angle of the θ axis (the angle centered on the Z axis) of the pick-up head 51 necessary to securely hold the three insert works W with the suction nozzle 51A attached to the pick-up head 51 from the information of this imaging data, and issues a command to the drive device 54. The drive device 54 gives the drive commands created by obtaining this information to a plurality of servo motors that drive the entry frame 53C and the extraction frame 53B included in the movement mechanism 53 and to the servo motors included in the attitude change mechanism 52. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the three insert works W in the three work fitting recesses 11A in the pallet 9 on the transport conveyor 71 of the transport device 7 and in the standby position can be properly held.

[0020] Also, as shown in FIG. 4(A), before the three insert molded products MA held by the pick-up head 51 are released to the release position, the imaging device 8 captures the state of the release position to obtain imaging data. From this imaging data, the inclination in the pallet 9 can be determined. As a result, Operation control unit 55 determines from the information of this imaging data that the three insert molded products MA are securely held in the three molded product holding recesses of the inner tray 11 with the suction nozzle 51A attached to the pick-up head 51 Within the departmentIn order to open to (in this embodiment, the three work fitting recesses 11A also serve as three molded product fitting recesses for fitting three insert molded products), the positions of the extraction head 51 in the X, Y, and Z directions and the angle of the θ axis (the angle centered on the Z axis) are determined and a command is given to the drive device 54. The drive device 54 gives the drive commands created based on this information to the plurality of servo motors that drive the entry frame 53C and the extraction frame 53B included in the movement mechanism 53 and the servo motor included in the attitude change mechanism 52. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4(B), the three insert molded products MA can be properly opened into the three molded product holding recesses ( Workpiece fitting recess 11A ) of the inner tray 11 in the pallet 9 that is on the transport conveyor 71 of the transport device 7 and in the standby position. In FIG. 4(B), only one insert molded product MA is shown for simplicity of illustration, but in this embodiment, the three insert molded products MA are simultaneously opened into the three molded product holding recesses (11A) .

[0021] As described above, according to this embodiment, even if the inner tray 11 in which the insert work W is stored is disposed in a tilted state within the pallet 9, based on the imaging data obtained by imaging this state with the imaging device 8, the molded product extractor 5 can change the position and attitude of the extraction head 51 and take out the insert work W in the inner tray 11. Further, before the insert molded product MA held by the extraction head 51 is opened at the opening position, based on the imaging data obtained by imaging the state of the opening position with the imaging device 8, the insert molded product MA held by the extraction head 51 can be opened at the proper position of the opening position. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even when the inner tray 11 is disposed in a tilted state with respect to the pallet 9, and even when it is required to open the insert molded product MA at the proper position at the opening position, the insert molding system 1 that can cope with this can be provided.

[0022] In this embodiment, the operation program used in the arithmetic unit of the operation control unit 55 includes a program for checking the positioning state (tilt) of the inner tray 11 relative to the pallet 9 from the imaging data obtained by the imaging device 8 and changing the orientation of the retrieval head.

[0023] In this embodiment, one imaging device 8 captures images of the state inside the pallet 9 in both the standby and open positions. However, two imaging devices may be used to capture images of the state inside the pallet 9 in both the standby and open positions. Of course, it is also possible to use even more imaging devices to acquire the necessary data.

[0024] In this embodiment, the imaging device 8 is mounted on the extraction frame 53B, but the location of the imaging device is arbitrary as long as the above imaging data can be obtained, and it may also be installed on the entry frame 53C, and the molded product extraction machine 5 It is, of course, also acceptable to establish it independently outside of the main structure.

[0025] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the open position and the standby position are set to the same position and the same inner tray 11 is used, but of course, the open position may be provided separately from the standby position.

[0026] In the above embodiment, multiple (3) insert workpieces W and multiple (3) insert molded products MA are held simultaneously by the extraction head 51. However, the present invention can naturally also be applied when one insert workpiece W and one insert molded product MA are held by the extraction head 51.

[0027] In the above embodiment, a suction nozzle 51A was used in the extraction head 51, but of course, a chuck may be used instead of the suction nozzle. [Industrial applicability]

[0028] According to the present invention, an insert molding system can be provided that can accommodate situations where the inner tray is positioned at an angle relative to the pallet, and where it is required to release the insert molded product to the correct position in the open position. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0029] 1. Insert molding system 3 Molding machine 5 Molded product removal machine 51A Suction Nozzle 51 Extraction head 52 Attitude change mechanism 53 Moving mechanism 54 Drive unit 55 Operation Control Unit 7. Conveying device 8. Imaging device 9 Palettes 11 Inner Tray

Claims

1. Molding machine and An entry frame is movably mounted on an extraction frame and has an extraction head at its tip used to hold one or more insert workpieces and insert them into the mold of the molding machine, and to remove one or more insert molded products from the mold and transport them to an open position; and a molded product extraction machine is equipped with an operation control device that controls the operation of the extraction frame and the entry frame and the operation of the extraction head. The transport device includes a transporter that transports the one or more insert workpieces to a standby position where the one or more insert workpieces are held by the extraction head, The conveying device is configured to convey a pallet, which houses an inner tray having one or more workpiece fitting recesses and in which one or more insert workpieces are fitted, to the standby position by the conveying device, One or more imaging devices are provided to photograph the arrangement of the inner tray in the standby position before the removal head holds the one or more insert workpieces, or to photograph the state of the inner tray in the open position before the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head are opened to the open position. The one or more imaging devices mentioned above obtain imaging data that includes information indicating the position of the inner tray within the pallet. The insert molding system is characterized in that the operation control device controls the molded product removal machine to hold the one or more insert workpieces in the standby position in an appropriate posture using the removal head, or to release the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head in an appropriate position in the open position, based on the imaging data captured by the one or more imaging devices.

2. Molding machine and An entry frame is movably mounted on an extraction frame and has an extraction head at its tip used to hold one or more insert workpieces and insert them into the mold of the molding machine, and to remove one or more insert molded products from the mold and transport them to an open position; and a molded product extraction machine is equipped with an operation control device that controls the operation of the extraction frame and the entry frame and the operation of the extraction head. The transport device includes a transporter that transports the one or more insert workpieces to a standby position where the one or more insert workpieces are held by the extraction head, The conveying device is configured to convey a pallet, which houses an inner tray having one or more workpiece fitting recesses and in which one or more insert workpieces are fitted, to the standby position by the conveying device, One or more imaging devices are provided to photograph the arrangement of the inner tray in the standby position before the removal head holds the one or more insert workpieces, and to photograph the state of the inner tray in the open position before the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head are opened to the open position. The one or more imaging devices mentioned above obtain imaging data that includes information indicating the position of the inner tray within the pallet. The insert molding system is characterized in that the operation control device controls the molded product removal machine to hold the one or more insert workpieces in the standby position in an appropriate posture with the removal head, and to release the one or more insert molded products held by the removal head to an appropriate position in the open position, based on the imaging data captured by the one or more imaging devices.

3. The insert molding system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the one or more imaging devices are placed in the open position and obtain imaging data that includes information indicating the position of the one or more molded product holding recesses of an inner tray having one or more molded product fitting recesses for fitting the one or more insert molded products.

4. The insert molding system according to claim 3, wherein the standby position and the open position are the same position, and the inner tray in the open position also serves as the inner tray in the standby position.

5. The insert molding system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more imaging devices are provided at a position on the extraction frame or the entry frame from which the imaging data can be obtained.

6. The insert molding system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveying device is a conveying conveyor.

Images