Panel Fixtures

Abstract

To provide a panel fixing tool that can fix a panel and also wire a cable. [Solution] The panel fastener 30 is attached to the frame 10 and fastens the panel 20 to the frame 10. The panel fastener 30 has a fixing portion 33 having a contact surface 35 that contacts the panel 20 and to which the panel 20 is fixed, and a placing portion 34 that is provided on the opposite side of the contact surface 35 from the fixing portion 33 and has a placing surface 38 on which the cable 50 is placed. The height dimension L21 from the frame 10 to the placing surface 38 is configured to be smaller than the height dimension L22 from the frame 10 to the upper end of the fixing portion 33.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a panel fastener for fastening a panel to a frame. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, a panel (partition board) such as a clear panel fixed to a frame such as an aluminum frame has been used as a protective fence for industrial robots. When fixing the panel to the frame, a panel fixing tool may be used. Such a panel fixing tool is described, for example, in Patent Document 1. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Utility Model Registration No. 3133662 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Incidentally, cables such as electrical cables and communication cables connected to industrial robots are often routed along protective fences so as not to interfere with the operation of the industrial robot or with the work of workers inspecting, maintaining, and setting up the industrial robot. In this case, it is desirable to route the cables inside the panel along the frame, but there has been a problem in that the panel fixing fixtures fixed to the frame get in the way and make it difficult to route the cables properly.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its main object is to provide a panel fixing device that can fix a panel and also allow cables to be routed through it. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The panel fixing device that solves the above problem is a panel fixing device that is attached to a frame and fixes a panel to the frame, and is equipped with a fixing part that has a contact surface that contacts the panel and to which the panel is fixed, and a placing part that is provided on the opposite side of the contact surface from the fixing part and has a placing surface on which a cable is placed, and the height dimension from the frame to the placing surface is lower than the height dimension from the frame to the upper end of the fixing part.

[0007] This allows the panel to be fixed to the frame and cables to be routed along the frame. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. [Figure 2] FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a panel fixing device, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the panel fixing device with the cover removed. [Figure 3] (a) is a top view of the panel fixture, (b) is a front view of the panel fixture, (c) is a side view of the panel fixture, (d) is a back view of the panel fixture, and (e) is a bottom view of the panel fixture. [Figure 4] Cross section along line II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] An embodiment of a panel fastener according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a protective fence 100 for an industrial robot (not shown). FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of the protective fence 100, specifically a corner portion. As shown in FIG. 1, the protective fence 100 is constructed by fastening a thin plate-like panel 20 within a rectangular frame 10. A panel fastener 30 is used to fasten the panel 20 to the frame 10.

[0010] The frame 10 is, for example, an aluminum frame, but the material may be changed as desired and may be made of steel or resin. The frame 10 is made of aluminum material with a square cross section, and grooves 11 with a roughly C-shaped cross section are formed on each side (all four sides) along the longitudinal direction of the frame 10. The panel 20 is an acrylic plate, but the material may be changed as desired and may be made of polycarbonate, steel, or wood.

[0011] In Fig. 1, the right side is the inside (the side of the industrial robot) and the left side is the outside. In the following, in Fig. 1, the vertical direction of the panel 20 is defined as the X direction, the direction perpendicular to the X direction and the longitudinal direction of the lower frame 10 is defined as the Y direction, and the direction perpendicular to the X direction and the Y direction (the up and down direction in Fig. 1) is defined as the Z direction.

[0012] The panel fastener 30 is attached to the groove 11 of the frame 10 and is configured to fasten the panel 20 to the frame 10. As shown in Figures 2(a) and 3(c), the panel fastener 30 includes a main body 31 that is substantially L-shaped in side view, and a connecting portion 32 that protrudes from the bottom surface of the main body 31.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 3(c), the connecting portion 32 has flange-shaped locking portions 32a and 32b that protrude on both sides in the X direction. As shown in FIG. 3(e), the width dimension L11 of the connecting portion 32 in the Y direction is configured to be shorter than the width dimension of the opening of the groove 11. Therefore, when attaching the panel fastener 30 to the frame 10, the narrow portion of the connecting portion 32 is inserted into the opening of the groove 11 of the frame 10 and rotated in this inserted state, so that the locking portions 32a and 32b sandwich the protruding pieces 11a and 11b on both sides of the groove 11 of the frame 10 between themselves and the bottom surface of the main body portion 31. As a result, the connecting portion 32 of the panel fastener 30 is attached to the frame 10 with its movement in the Z direction restricted by the locking portions 32a and 32b (i.e., prevented from coming off) by the locking portions 32a and 32b.

[0014] In addition, in the Z direction, the gap width L12 (see FIG. 3(c)) between the locking portions 32a, 32b and the bottom surface of the main body portion 31 is set to be approximately the same as the thickness dimension of the protruding pieces 11a, 11b. This allows the protruding pieces 11a, 11b to be suitably sandwiched and fixed in the groove 11 without slipping in the Y direction. Furthermore, when the panel fastener 30 is attached to the frame 10, the bottom surface of the main body portion 31 abuts against the top surface of the frame 10. Therefore, when the panel fastener 30 is attached to the frame 10, the position of the bottom surface of the main body portion 31 is approximately equal to the position of the top surface of the frame 10 in the Z direction.

[0015] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the main body 31 includes a fixing portion 33 to which the panel 20 is fixed, and a placing portion 34 having a placing surface 38 on which the cable 50 is placed.

[0016] The fixing portion 33 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and has a contact surface 35 on one side in the X direction that comes into contact with the panel 20. As shown in Fig. 3(b), a circular screw insertion hole 35a is formed in the fixing portion 33 on the side of the contact surface 35. A nut receiving groove 36 is formed inside the fixing portion 33 so as to be perpendicular to the screw insertion hole 35a.

[0017] As shown in Fig. 2(b), the nut receiving groove 36 is exposed by removing the cover 37 of the fixing part 33. In this state, the nut 51 is inserted into the nut receiving groove 36, and then the cover 37 is attached, thereby covering the nut 51 and the nut receiving groove 36 and fixing the nut 51 in the nut receiving groove 36, as shown in Fig. 4.

[0018] Furthermore, when attaching the panel 20 to the frame 10 using the fixing part 33, first, the panel fixing device 30 is rotated so that the contact surface 35 faces the front (panel 20 side), and the panel fixing device 30 is fixed to the frame 10. Then, as shown in Fig. 1, the panel 20 is brought into contact with the contact surface 35 of the fixing part 33, and screws 52 are inserted into the screw insertion holes 35a through screw holes (not shown) in the panel 20 and fastened to the screw holes 51a of the nuts 51 in the fixing part 33. This completes the attachment of the panel 20.

[0019] The thickness of fixing portion 33 and the position of connecting portion 32 are adjusted so that when panel fixing device 30 is attached to frame 10, the dimension in the X direction from contact surface 35 to the front surface of frame 10 is approximately the same as the thickness of panel 20. This makes it possible to form an even surface in which the front surface of panel 20 and the front surface of frame 10 are approximately aligned when panel 20 is fixed with panel fixing device 30.

[0020] Next, the placement portion 34 will be described. The placement portion 34 is provided on the opposite side of the contact surface 35 with respect to the fixed portion 33 (opposite side in the X direction), and has a placement surface 38 on which the cable 50 is placed. Explaining in more detail, the placement portion 34 is provided so as to protrude from below the fixed portion 33 (the side toward the frame 10 in the Z direction) to the opposite side (inward) of the contact surface 35 in the X direction. In the Z direction, the placement surface 38 on which the cable 50 is placed is formed on the upper surface of the placement portion 34 (the surface opposite the frame 10). As shown in FIG. 3(c), a height dimension L21 from the frame 10 to the placement surface 38 in the Z direction is smaller than a height dimension L22 from the frame 10 to the upper end of the fixed portion 33.

[0021] Furthermore, the width dimension L31 of the mounting portion 34, which corresponds to the protruding width from the fixing portion 33, in the X direction is set so that the rear end of the mounting portion 34 does not protrude from the frame 10 when the panel 20 is fixed to the fixing portion 33. In this embodiment, the sum of the thickness dimension of the panel 20 and the width dimension of the panel fastener 30 is set smaller than the width dimension of the frame 10 in the X direction. In this embodiment, the width dimensions are set so that the margin from the rear end of the mounting portion 34 to the rear surface of the frame 10 is approximately equivalent to the thickness dimension of the panel 20. That is, in this embodiment, the width dimension L31 of the mounting portion 34 in the X direction is set to be approximately the same as the width dimension of the fixing portion 33. As a result, when the panel fastener 30 is attached to the frame 10, the fixing portion 33 is disposed in the half of the frame 10 that faces the panel 20 in the X direction, and the mounting portion 34 is disposed in the opposite half.

[0022] 2 and 3(d), a recess 40 that opens downward in the Z direction (toward the frame 10) is provided at the bottom of the mounting portion 34. The recess 40 is provided to extend in the X direction, and one end of the recess 40 in the X direction opens toward the opposite side from the fixing portion 33.

[0023] 2, a band insertion hole 39 that opens upward in the Z direction is provided in the center of the mounting portion 34 in the Y direction and on the side of the fixing portion 33 in the X direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the band insertion hole 39 is bent in an L shape inside the mounting portion 34 and communicates with a recess 40. A cable tie 53 can be wound around the mounting portion 34 through the band insertion hole 39 and the recess 40. This allows the cable 50 placed on the mounting surface 38 to be fixed to the mounting portion 34 by wrapping the cable tie 53 around the mounting portion 34.

[0024] In this embodiment, the panel fastener 30 is made of resin except for the built-in nut 51. Of the resin parts, the parts excluding the cover 37 are integrally molded. In other words, the fixing portion 33 excluding the cover 37, the mounting portion 34, and the connecting portion 32 are integrally formed.

[0025] The panel fastener 30 of the above embodiment provides the following advantages. Specifically, the mounting portion 34 of the panel fastener 30 is provided on the opposite side of the contact surface 35 from the fixing portion 33 that fixes the panel 20, and the height dimension L21 from the frame 10 to the mounting surface 38 on which the cable 50 is placed is configured to be lower than the height dimension L22 from the frame 10 to the upper end of the fixing portion 33. As a result, when wiring the cable 50 along the frame 10 inside the panel 20, the cable 50 can be placed on the mounting surface 38, which is located at a lower height than the fixing portion 33. This prevents the panel fastener 30 from interfering with the wiring of the cable 50, eliminating the need for the cable 50 to be routed over or around the panel fastener 30, and preventing the cable 50 from protruding inside the protective fence 100. Furthermore, wiring the cable 50 can be performed easily.

[0026] The mounting portion 34 is provided with a band insertion hole 39 through which a cable tie 53 is inserted to secure the cable 50 to the mounting surface 38. More specifically, with the cable 50 placed on the mounting surface 38, the cable tie 53 can be inserted through the band insertion hole 39 and the recess 40 and wrapped around the mounting portion 34 together with the cable 50, thereby securing (binding) the cable 50 to the mounting surface 38. This prevents the cable 50 from coming off the mounting surface 38 and protruding inside the protective fence 100.

[0027] In the above embodiment, the panel fastener 30 is attached to the lower frame 10, but it may also be attached to the side frame 10 (that is, the support pillar), or it may also be attached to the upper frame 10. [Explanation of symbols]

[0028] 10...frame, 20...panel, 30...panel fixing device, 32...connecting portion, 33...fixing portion, 34...mounting portion, 35...contact surface, 37...cover, 38...mounting surface, 39...band insertion hole, 50...cable, 53...cable tie, 100...protective fence.

Claims

1. A panel fastener (30) attached to a frame (10) for fastening a panel (20) to the frame, comprising: a fixing portion (33) having a contact surface (35) that contacts the panel and to which the panel is fixed; a mounting portion (34) provided on the opposite side of the contact surface with respect to the fixing portion and having a mounting surface (38) on which a cable (50) is placed; A panel fixing device in which the height dimension (L21) from the frame to the placement surface is lower than the height dimension (L22) from the frame to the upper end of the fixing part.

2. 2. The panel fixing device according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion is provided with a band insertion hole (39) through which a cable tie (53) for fixing the cable to the mounting surface is inserted.

Images