Hand at the tip of a robot arm device and method for handling a crucible using the same

Abstract

To provide a hand of a robot arm device that can densely arrange a plurality of crucibles on a placing surface of transportation means such as a belt conveyor.SOLUTION: A hand 10 attached to the tip of a robot arm device 31 has a strip-shaped plate member 11 having through portions 12 for holding one or more crucibles C. The through portions 12 are open on a longitudinally extending first edge 11a side of the plate member 11 so that the crucibles C can be inserted and removed from the first edge 11a side. The robot arm device has: a function of placing one or more crucibles C at a pre-charge crucible placing position 32a upstream of a charging port of a melting furnace 33 on placing surface of a belt conveyor 32 conveying the plurality of crucibles C; and a function of picking up the one or more crucibles C waiting at a post-exit crucible waiting position 32b downstream of the exit port of the melting furnace 33.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a hand attached to the tip of a robot arm device and a method for handling a crucible using the hand.

Background Art

[0002] As a method for quantitatively analyzing precious metal components such as gold and silver contained in ores, a dry assay method is known. In the dry assay method, a sample prepared by mixing an ore to be analyzed with lead oxide and a flux is placed in a crucible, and this is charged into a melting furnace and melted to dissolve precious metals such as gold and silver into lead and separate them from other metals. It is a quantitative analysis method in which only the precious metal is taken out and its mass is measured by treating the obtained alloy of the precious metal and lead by the cupellation method.

[0003] In the above dry assay method, after charging the crucible containing the sample into the melting furnace and sufficiently melting the sample in the crucible by heating it for a predetermined time under temperature conditions of, for example, 1200°C, it is necessary to take out the crucible from the melting furnace and quickly pour the molten sample inside into a mold. Conventionally, an operator has manually performed these series of operations using crucible tongs. Therefore, the operator has to work close to the melting furnace in a high-temperature environment, which places a heavy workload on the operator and requires various measures to ensure safety.

[0004] Therefore, in order to reduce the workload of the operator and eliminate safety problems, it has been proposed to automate the handling of the crucible during dry assay analysis that relied on manual work as described above. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sample melting apparatus including a rotatable circular pedestal having a placement surface for a plurality of crucibles, a melting furnace that sequentially charges a plurality of crucibles continuously conveyed by the pedestal and melts the samples inside, and a robot arm device that places a crucible containing a sample before melting on the placement surface upstream of the loading port of the melting furnace or lifts a crucible containing a molten sample placed on the placement surface downstream of the discharge port of the melting furnace.

[0005] Patent Document 1 describes that by using the above sample melting device, the melting operation of dry assay analysis samples can be simplified, so that the working efficiency can be greatly improved. However, the robot arm device of the sample melting device in Patent Document 1 grips the crucible by the chuck means composed of an openable and closable claw-shaped member provided at its tip, and places the crucible on the placement surface of the pedestal or lifts it from the placement surface. Therefore, in order to avoid physical interference with the claw-shaped member during opening and closing and its driving part for operation, etc., a plurality of crucibles cannot be arranged densely on the placement surface of the pedestal, and the processing capacity of the sample melting device cannot be increased.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0006]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and when arranging a plurality of crucibles on the placement surface of a conveying means such as a belt conveyor and sequentially loading them into a heating furnace such as a melting furnace, it is possible to arrange the plurality of crucibles densely on the placement surface. The purpose is to provide a hand of a robot arm device.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the hand attached to the tip of the robot arm device according to the present invention is a strip-shaped plate member having a through-hole for holding one or a plurality of crucibles and a rod-shaped fall prevention means provided above the through portion so as to straddle the through portion, to prevent the crucible held in the through portion from falling off when the crucible is tilted by rotating about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member and the through-hole is open on the one-side edge side so that the crucible can be taken in and out from the one-side edge side extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate member, and among the placement surfaces of the conveying means for continuously or intermittently conveying a plurality of crucibles, the samples in the plurality of crucibles conveyed by the conveying means are sequentially heated on the conveying meansIt is characterized by having a function of placing one or more crucibles at a position upstream of the charging port of the heating furnace, and a function of lifting one or more crucibles waiting at a position downstream of the discharging port of the heating furnace.

[0009] Further, the method for handling a crucible according to the present invention is a method for handling a crucible using a hand attached to the tip of a single robot arm device, and the hand is a strip-shaped plate member having a through-hole for holding one or more crucibles and a rod-shaped fall prevention means provided above the through portion so as to straddle the through portion, to prevent the crucible held in the through portion from falling off when the crucible is tilted by rotating about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member and the through-hole has one side edge portion side that is open so that the crucible can be inserted and removed from one side edge portion side extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate member, and a plurality of crucibles are continuously or intermittently conveyed and sequentially on the conveying means A step of placing one or more crucibles containing the pre-heated contents at a position upstream of the charging port of the heating furnace on the placement surface of the conveying means for sequentially loading a plurality of crucibles into the heating furnace and heating them, and a step of lifting one or more crucibles containing the post-heated contents waiting at a position downstream of the discharging port of the heating furnace and discharging the contents are alternately repeated.

Advantages of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, when a plurality of crucibles are sequentially loaded into a heating furnace by a conveying means and heated, the plurality of crucibles can be arranged in a high density on the placement surface of the conveying means, so that the processing capacity of the heating furnace can be increased.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of the hand according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The hand of this embodiment of the present invention is a so-called end effector attached to the tip of a robot arm device, and it continuously or intermittently conveys a plurality of crucibles containing an object to be heated and sequentially loads them into a heating furnace. Among the placement surfaces of the conveying means, it has a function of placing one or more crucibles at a position upstream of the loading port of the heating furnace, and a function of lifting one or more crucibles waiting at a position downstream of the discharge port of the heating furnace.

[0013] The above heating furnace is not particularly limited. It may be a heating furnace that continuously heats a plurality of crucibles conveyed by a belt conveyor on an endless track running in one direction by sequentially passing them through a tunnel-shaped heating furnace, or it may be a heating furnace that continuously heats a plurality of crucibles conveyed by a circular or annular base rotating around a central axis by sequentially passing them through a tunnel-shaped heating furnace. Also, the use of the heating furnace is not particularly limited. However, in the following embodiments of the present invention, for the quantitative analysis of precious metals such as gold and silver contained in ore by dry assay analysis, a melting furnace that melts a sample by sequentially loading a plurality of crucibles containing a sample prepared by mixing the ore with lead oxide and a flux into the furnace by conveyance by a belt conveyor on an endless track will be described as an example.

[0014] 1. Melting device A melting device for melting a sample, which is the content of a crucible handled by a hand in an embodiment of the present invention, includes a conveying means for continuously or intermittently conveying a plurality of crucibles placed on a placement surface, and a melting furnace for melting the sample, which is the content of these crucibles, by heating them while the plurality of crucibles conveyed by this conveying means sequentially pass through a tunnel-shaped furnace.

[0015] Specifically, the conveying means is, for example, a belt conveyor having an endless track, and is configured to enter from the loading port of the melting furnace, travel in one direction along the bottom part of the melting furnace, and then exit from the exit on the opposite side. As a result, among the conveyor surfaces that serve as the placement surfaces of the belt conveyor, the crucibles sequentially placed at the pre-loading crucible placement position upstream of the loading port of the melting furnace by a robot arm device described later are loaded from the loading port of the melting furnace by the continuous or intermittent running of the belt conveyor, and the sample in the crucible is melted by being heated inside the melting furnace. The crucible containing the sample melted in the melting furnace is conveyed from the exit of the melting furnace by the continuous or intermittent conveyance of the belt conveyor and then to the post-exit crucible standby position downstream of this exit, where it is lifted by the above-described robot arm device.

[0016] 2. Robot arm device For a robot arm device that places a crucible on the above conveyor surface or scoops up the crucible from the conveyor surface, it is preferable to use a robot with a vertically articulated structure, also referred to as a manipulator having, for example, the shape shown in FIG. 1. The robot arm device shown in FIG. 1 generally includes a base portion 1 fixed to the floor surface with bolts or the like, a swivel portion 2 provided on the upper surface portion of the base portion 1 so as to be horizontally rotatable about the A1 axis, and a vertical link portion (lower arm portion) 3 connected to the upper end portion of the swivel portion 2 so as to be rotatable back and forth about the A2 axis, a horizontal link portion (upper arm portion) 4 connected to the tip end portion of the vertical link portion 3 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction about the A3 axis, and a wrist portion 5 connected to the tip end portion of the horizontal link portion 4 so as to be rotatable about the A4 axis. This wrist portion 5 is bent about the A5 axis at the central portion, and the hand 10 of the embodiment of the present invention is rotatably attached to the tip end portion about the A6 axis. Next, the hand 10 of the embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described.

[0017] 3. Hand 3.1 First Embodiment As shown in FIG. 2, the hand 10 of the first embodiment of the present invention is composed of a strip-shaped plate member 11, and this plate member 11 has three through-holes 12 for holding three crucibles C respectively. Thereby, the hand 10 of the first embodiment has the function of placing one or more crucibles one by one at a position upstream of the charging port of the melting furnace on the placement surface of the conveying means that runs continuously or intermittently, and the function of scooping up one or more crucibles waiting at a position downstream of the discharge port of the melting furnace.

[0018] The above three through-holes 12 are provided at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the plate member 11, and of the both side edge portions extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate member 11, the position corresponding to each through-hole 12 on one side edge portion (first side edge portion 11a) side is partially cut away to be open. Thereby, when placing or scooping up the crucible C by the hand 10, the crucible C can be taken in and out through the open portion of the first side edge portion 11a of this plate member 11.

[0019] As shown in Fig. 3(a), the inner diameter D of each through-hole 12 is not particularly limited as long as the crucible C can be stably held. However, as shown in Fig. 3(b), it preferably has a size such that the outer diameter portion of the crucible C corresponding to the height H1, which is 60 to 70% of the total height H of the crucible C, with reference to the lower end surface of the crucible C, fits. Further, as shown in Fig. 3(b), since the shape of the crucible C has a diameter-reducing shape as it goes downward, the width W of the open portion of each through-hole 12 shown in Fig. 3(a) is preferably such that the outer diameter portion of the crucible C corresponding to the height H2, which is 30 to 40% of the total height H, can just pass through at a position lower than the outer diameter portion at the height H1. In addition, as shown in Fig. 2, the inner wall surface of the substantially circular through-hole 12 preferably has a smoothly curved convex shape when cut along any plane including the central axis of the through-hole 12.

[0020] When placing one to three crucibles C pre-held in the through-holes 12 of the hand 10 having the above structure at a predetermined position on the placement surface of the conveying means, as shown in Fig. 4, first, the hand 10 is moved directly above the predetermined placement position on the placement surface S of the conveying means by a robot arm device (not shown), and then the hand 10 is lowered vertically along the normal direction of the placement surface S to bring the lower end surface of the crucible C into contact with the placement surface S. At this time, the height of the central portion in the thickness direction of the plate-like member 11 from the placement surface S corresponds to the height H1 shown in Fig. 3. The hand 10 is further lowered from this position of the height H1 so that the height of the central portion in the thickness direction of the plate-like member 11 from the placement surface S becomes equal to or less than the height H2 shown in Fig. 3. While maintaining this height, the hand 10 is moved in a direction in which the plate-like member 11, which is parallel to the placement surface S and in the right direction of the paper surface of Fig. 4, separates from the crucible C. Thereby, the placement of the crucible C at the predetermined position on the placement surface S is completed.

[0021] When picking up one to three crucibles C placed at a predetermined position on the placement surface S of the conveying means one by one using the hand 10, basically, the hand 10 may be operated in the direction opposite to that in the case of FIG. 4 above. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, first, while maintaining the posture of the plate-like member 11 substantially parallel to the placement surface S of the conveying means, the hand 10 is moved by the robot arm device to a position where the height from the placement surface S at the central portion in the thickness direction is equal to or less than the height H2 shown in FIG. 3. At this time, the first side edge portion 11a side of the plate-like member 11 faces the crucible C. By bringing the plate-like member 11 closer to the crucible C in this posture, one to three crucibles C enter the through holes 12 through the open portions of the three through holes 12 provided on the first side edge portion 11a side thereof. When the entry of one to three crucibles C into the through holes 12 is completed, the horizontal movement of the hand 10 is stopped. Next, by raising the hand 10 straight up along the normal direction of the placement surface S, the side surface of the crucible C is brought into contact with the inner peripheral edge portion of each through hole 12 as a whole. At this time, the height from the placement surface S at the central portion in the thickness direction of the plate-like member 11 corresponds to H1 shown in FIG. 3. By further raising the hand 10, the picking up of the crucible C by the plate-like member 11 is completed.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 2, the hand 10 of the first embodiment is provided above the through hole 12 such that a rod-shaped body 13 extending parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 straddles the through hole 12. Thereby, when the crucible C held in the through hole 12 is tilted by rotating the plate-like member 11 about an axis parallel to its longitudinal direction, it is possible to prevent the crucible C from falling out of the through hole 12. The support structure of the rod-shaped body 13 is not particularly limited as long as it does not physically interfere when the crucible C is taken in and out through the open portion of the through hole 12 provided on the first side edge portion 11a side of the plate-like member 11. For example, at both ends of the rod-shaped body 13, one ends of a pair of support portions 14 extending perpendicular to the axial direction of the rod-shaped body 13 are respectively provided, and the other ends of the pair of support portions 14 are preferably supported by the side edge portion opposite to the first side edge portion 11a of the plate-like member 11.

[0023] In addition, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when taking the crucible C in and out through the open portion of the through-hole 12, since the height from the placement surface S at the center in the thickness direction of the plate-like member 11 is set to be equal to or less than the height H2 shown in FIG. 3, the separation distance from the plate-like member 11 to the rod-like body 13 at this time needs to be longer than the distance from the plate-like member 11 to the upper end of the crucible C when the crucible C is held in the through-hole 12 so that the rod-like body 13 does not physically interfere with the upper portion of the crucible C at this time.

[0024] In this case, in order to easily adjust the above-mentioned separation distance, for example, a fixed shaft parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 is provided on the side edge portion opposite to the first side edge portion 11a of the plate-like member 11, and the other ends of a pair of support portions 14 are rotatably supported on this fixed shaft, and a structure is preferably adopted in which the pair of support portions 14 can be fixed at a predetermined angular position by using fixing means such as screws. Alternatively, a rotatable shaft that can be axially fixed at a predetermined angular position may be rotatably provided on the side edge portion opposite to the first side edge portion 11a of the plate-like member 11, and the other ends of a pair of support portions 14 may be attached to this rotatable shaft. In any of the above structures, by appropriately adjusting the above-mentioned angular position, the separation distance from the plate-like member 11 to the rod-like body 13 can be easily adjusted.

[0025] Furthermore, when using the above-mentioned fixed shaft, it is preferable to rotationally control a pair of support portions 14 with an actuator, and when using the above-mentioned rotatable shaft, it is preferable to rotationally control the rotatable shaft with an actuator. In this way, by rotationally controlling with an actuator, the angular position of a pair of support portions 14 can be controlled, so that the separation distance from the plate-like member 11 to the rod-like body 13 can be automatically adjusted according to each operation stage of the hand 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in the stage (a) of taking the crucible C in and out through the open portion of the through-hole 12, the angular position of a pair of support portions 14 is controlled to α, and in the stage (b) of holding the crucible C in the through-hole 12, the angular position of a pair of support portions 14 is controlled to β, so that the separation distance can be adjusted according to different operation stages where the distances from the plate-like member 11 to the upper end of the crucible C are different.

[0026] By providing the rod-shaped body 13 with the above structure, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, with the crucible C held in the through-hole 12 of the plate-like member 11, the plate-like member 11 is rotated about an axis extending in its longitudinal direction, thereby tilting the crucible C. When pouring the molten sample in the crucible C into the mold M, even if the crucible C tends to roll or slide off with both ends of the open portion of the through-hole 12 as fulcrums, as indicated by the dashed line, the rod-shaped body 13 abuts against the peripheral portion of the upper end opening of the crucible C, so that the crucible C can be prevented from falling out of the through-hole 12. Thus, the hand 10 of the first embodiment does not grip or hold the crucible C using a movable member. Despite having an extremely simple structure without a movable part, even when the crucible C held in the through-hole 12 is tilted to a horizontal position (i.e., 90°) or more, the crucible C does not fall out of the through-hole 12.

[0027] As described above, since the hand 10 of the first embodiment is provided with a plurality of through-holes 12 along the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11, one or a plurality of crucibles C can be placed on a predetermined placement surface in one operation, and one or a plurality of crucibles C can be lifted from the predetermined placement surface in one operation. Further, by rotating the hand 10 of the first embodiment about an axis along its longitudinal direction, the molten sample can be poured into a plurality of molds M from one or a plurality of crucibles C respectively. Note that the hand 10 shown in FIG. 2 has three through-holes 12 in the plate-like member 11, but it is not limited thereto. The number of through-holes 12 may be a plurality other than three, or may be only one.

[0028] 3.2 Second Embodiment The hand of the second embodiment of the present invention is composed of two strip-shaped plate-like members having functions of placing one or a plurality of crucibles respectively and lifting one or a plurality of placed crucibles respectively. These two plate-like members have a shape that is mirror-symmetrical to each other. Further, these two plate-like members are joined so that their longitudinal directions are parallel to each other and their short-side directions are perpendicular to each other.

[0029] More specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, the hand 100 of the second embodiment is composed of a first plate-like member 111 and a second plate-like member 121. Among these, the first plate-like member 111 has substantially the same shape as the plate-like member 11 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, and the second plate-like member 121 is in a mirror-symmetrical relationship with respect to the first plate-like member 111. That is, the first plate-like member 111 is provided with three through-holes 112 at equal intervals along its longitudinal direction for holding three crucibles C respectively, and each through-hole 112 is open on the side of the first side edge portion 111a. Similarly, the second plate-like member 121 is provided with three through-holes 122 at equal intervals along its longitudinal direction for holding three crucibles C respectively, and each through-hole 122 is open on the side of the first side edge portion 121a. In this way, the first plate-like member 111 and the second plate-like member 121, which are in a mirror-symmetrical relationship with each other, are joined to each other at the side edges opposite to the first side edge portions 111a and 121a.

[0030] By using the hand 100 having such a structure, by rotating it 90° about the axis extending in the longitudinal direction of these first plate-like member 111 and second plate-like member 121, as shown in FIG. 9, when placing the crucible C at a position on the conveyor surface of a belt conveyor (not shown) upstream of the loading port of the heating furnace, the first plate-like member 111 side in a horizontal posture as shown on the left side of the paper surface is used by the rotation of the hand 100, and when lifting the crucible C waiting at a position on the conveyor surface downstream of the discharge port of the heating furnace, the second plate-like member 121 side in a horizontal posture as shown on the right side of the paper surface is used by the rotation of the hand 100. As a result, it becomes possible to densely convey more crucibles C on the conveyor surface.

[0031] Note that, similar to the hand 10 of the first embodiment, the hand 100 of this second embodiment can also rotate about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the first plate-like member 111 and the second plate-like member 121 while holding the crucible C in the through-hole 112 or 122. When the crucible C held in the through-hole 112 or 122 is tilted, it is preferable to provide a rod-shaped body straddling the through-holes 112 and 122 so that the crucible C does not fall off from the through-hole 112 or 122. In this case, since the first plate-like member 111 and the second plate-like member 121 are orthogonal to each other with the side edges on the side opposite to their first side edges 111a and 121a joined together, as shown in FIG. 8, one end of a pair of support portions 114 having an inclination angle of 45° with respect to both the first plate-like member 111 and the second plate-like member 121 is attached to the portion where the above-mentioned side edges are joined together, and it is preferable to provide a rod-shaped body 113 at the other end. As a result, it is possible to straddle both the through-holes 112 and 122 with a single rod-shaped body 113, so that a single rod-shaped body 113 can also be used as a means for preventing the fall of both the first plate-like member 111 and the second plate-like member 121.

[0032] 4. Method for Handling a Crucible Using a Hand Next, a method for handling a crucible using the hand of the embodiment of the present invention described above will be described. First, an operation of scooping up one or more crucibles containing a sample before heating using the hand 10 of the first embodiment described above and placing them on the conveyor surface of a belt conveyor, and an operation of scooping up one or more crucibles containing the melted sample after heating from the conveyor surface and discharging the sample in the molten state inside will be described for the case of alternately repeating these operations with a single robot arm device.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 10, in the case of the hand 10 of the first embodiment, by operating the robot arm device 31, three crucibles C are scooped up from a container (not shown) using the plate-like member 11 of the hand 10 attached to the tip thereof, and after temporarily holding them with the through-hole 12, the operation shown in FIG. 4 described above is performed, and these three crucibles C are placed on the pre-loading crucible placement position 32a on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32 upstream of the loading port of the melting furnace 33. At the time of this placement, it is preferable that the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 is parallel to the width direction of the belt conveyor 32, and the first side edge portion 11a on the side where the through-hole 12 is open among both side edge portions extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 faces the melting furnace 33.

[0034] The crucible C placed on the pre-loading crucible placement position 32a of the belt conveyor 32 in this way is loaded into the melting furnace 33 by the continuous or intermittent running of the belt conveyor 32, and here, heat treatment is performed on the sample in the crucible C under predetermined temperature conditions. The crucible C containing the sample that has become molten by this heat treatment exits from the exit of the melting furnace 33 by the continuous or intermittent running of the belt conveyor 32, and then is conveyed to the post-exit crucible standby position 32b on the downstream side of this exit on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32.

[0035] When scooping up the three crucibles C waiting in a row in the width direction of the belt conveyor 32 at this post-exit crucible standby position 32b with the hand 10, the operation shown in FIG. 5 may be performed by operating the robot arm device 31. At that time, it is preferable that the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 is parallel to the width direction of the belt conveyor 32 and the other side edge portion on the side opposite to the first side edge portion 11a on the side where the through-hole 12 is open faces the melting furnace 33. After scooping up the crucible C from the conveyor surface, the molten sample is poured into the mold M by performing the operation shown in FIG. 7 by the robot arm device 31.

[0036] Incidentally, in the handling of the crucible using the hand 10 of the first embodiment described above, in both the case of placing the crucible C at the pre-charging crucible placement position 32a and the case of lifting the crucible C from the post-withdrawal crucible standby position 32b, the hand 10 is in the same posture as shown in FIG. 10. In this case, the operation of the robot arm device 31 can be simplified. However, when lifting the crucible C, it is necessary to approach the plate-like member 11 to the crucible C from the upstream side of the belt conveyor 32. Therefore, it was necessary to make the interval between the rows of crucibles C adjacent to each other in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 32 wider than the lateral width of the hand 10.

[0037] Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, when placing the crucible C at the pre-charging crucible placement position 32a, the posture of the hand 10 is not changed from that in FIG. 10. When lifting the crucible C waiting at the post-withdrawal crucible standby position 32b, it is preferable to rotate the hand 10 180° about an axis parallel to its longitudinal direction to invert the plate-like member 11 before that. That is, when lifting the crucible C waiting at the post-withdrawal crucible standby position 32b with the hand 10, it is desirable that the longitudinal direction of the plate-like member 11 is parallel to the width direction of the belt conveyor 32 and the first side edge portion 11a on the side where the through portion 12 is open faces the melting furnace 33.

[0038] Thereby, when placing the crucible C on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32 or lifting the crucible C from the conveyor surface, it is not necessary to insert the hand 10 between the rows of adjacent crucibles in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor 32 described above. Therefore, it becomes possible to place a plurality of crucibles C on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32 in a more dense state, and it becomes possible to increase the processing capacity in the melting furnace 33. Further, in both the case of placing and lifting the crucible C, since the first side edge portion 11a side where the through portion 12 is open in the plate-like member 11 faces the melting furnace 33, by utilizing the conveyance of the crucible C by the belt conveyor 32, it becomes possible to omit the horizontal movement of the hand 10 when placing and lifting the crucible C described above.

[0039] That is, when placing the crucible C held by the plate-shaped member 11 on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32, since the open portion of the through-hole 12 faces the downstream side of the belt conveyor 32, the plate-shaped member 11 is lowered until the distance between the central portion in the thickness direction of the plate-shaped member 11 and the conveyor surface becomes equal to or less than the height H2 shown in FIG. 3, and the crucible C is simply placed on the conveyor surface. Then, due to the running of the belt conveyor 32, the crucible C can pass through the open portion and be detached from the through-hole 12. Conversely, when lifting the crucible C with the plate-shaped member 11 from the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32, since the open portion of the through-hole 12 faces the upstream side of the belt conveyor 32, the plate-shaped member 11 is lowered and standby is maintained until the distance between the central portion in the thickness direction of the plate-shaped member 11 and the conveyor surface becomes equal to or less than the height H2. Then, due to the running of the belt conveyor 32, the crucible C can pass through the open portion and be taken into the through-hole 12.

[0040] However, when the rod-shaped body 13 is attached to the plate-shaped member 11 of the hand so as not to move as shown in FIG. 2, when the plate-shaped member 11 is inverted from the posture shown in FIG. 2, the rod-shaped body 13 side will protrude downward. Therefore, it becomes impossible to lower the plate-shaped member 11 to a height of H2 or less with respect to the conveyor surface as described above. In this case, a mechanism may be provided in the hand 10 such that the rod-shaped body 13 rotates so as to move to the opposite side of the plate-shaped member 11 in accordance with the 180° rotation of the plate-shaped member 11. However, it is preferable to handle the crucible C using the hand 100 of the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of placing one or more crucibles containing a sample before heating on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor using the hand 100 of the second embodiment of the present invention, and the operation of lifting one or more crucibles containing a sample after heating from the conveyor surface and discharging the sample will be described for the case where these operations are alternately repeated by a single robot arm device.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 11, when placing the crucible on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32, similar to the case of the hand 10 of the first embodiment, by operating the robot arm device 31, three crucibles C are scooped up from inside a container (not shown) by the first plate-like member 111 of the hand 100 attached to its tip, and after being temporarily held by the through-hole 112, these three crucibles C are placed at the pre-charge crucible placement position 32a on the upstream side of the charging port of the melting furnace 33 on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor 32 by performing the operation shown in FIG. 4. At this time, the first plate-like member 111 is positioned such that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the width direction of the belt conveyor 32 and the one-side edge portion 111a on the side where the through-hole 112 is open faces the melting furnace 33. The crucible C placed on the conveyor surface in this way is conveyed into the melting furnace 33 by the belt conveyor 32 and charged inside, and after the sample is melted here, it exits through the exit port and is conveyed to the post-exit crucible standby position 32b of the belt conveyor 32.

[0042] When scooping up the three crucibles C waiting in a row at this post-exit crucible standby position 32b with the hand 100, by operating the robot arm device 31, as shown in FIG. 9, after rotating the hand 100 90° around an axis parallel to its longitudinal direction, by operating the robot arm device 31 and performing the operation shown in FIG. 5, the crucible C is scooped up using the second plate-like member 121. At this time, the second plate-like member 121 is positioned such that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the width direction of the belt conveyor 32 and the first side edge portion 121a on the side where the through-hole 122 is open faces the melting furnace 33.

[0043] In this way, by using the hand 100 of the second embodiment for handling the crucible, when placing one or more crucibles on the conveyor surface of the belt conveyor or scooping them up from the conveyor surface, the hand 100 does not physically interfere with other adjacent crucibles in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor. Therefore, compared with the hand 10 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, it becomes possible to place more crucibles per unit area of the conveyor surface.

[0044] The hand of the present invention and the method for handling a crucible using the same have been described based on the first and second embodiments above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described first and second embodiments, and various modifications and alternative examples can be included without departing from the spirit of the present invention. That is, the scope of the rights of the present invention extends to the scope of the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0045] 1 Base portion 2 Swivel portion 3 Vertical link portion 4 Horizontal link portion 5 Wrist portion 10, 100 Hand 11 Plate-like member 11a, 111a, 121a First side edge portion 12, 112, 122 Through-hole 13, 113 Rod-like body 14, 114 Support portion 31 Robot arm device 32 Belt conveyor 32a Pre-loading crucible placement position 32b Post-withdrawal crucible standby position 33 Melting furnace 111 First plate-like member 121 Second plate-like member A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 Rotation axis C Crucible D Inner diameter H Total height of crucible M Mold S Placement surface W Width of open portion

Claims

1. A hand attached to the tip of a robotic arm device, comprising: a strip-shaped plate member having a through-hole for holding one or more crucibles; and a rod-shaped drop prevention means provided above the through-hole so as to straddle the through-hole to prevent the crucible held in the through-hole from falling off when the crucible is tilted by rotating about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate member. The through-hole is open on one side edge side so that the crucible can be inserted and removed from one side edge side extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate member. The hand has a function of placing one or more crucibles at a position upstream of the loading port of a heating furnace on the conveying means for sequentially heating the objects to be heated in a plurality of crucibles conveyed by the conveying means on the placement surface of the conveying means for continuously or intermittently conveying the plurality of crucibles, and a function of lifting one or more crucibles waiting at a position downstream of the unloading port of the heating furnace one by one.

2. The hand according to claim 1, wherein the through-hole has a size such that a portion corresponding to a height of 60 to 70% of the total height of the crucible fits with reference to the lower end surface of the crucible.

3. The hand according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hand has two plate members, which have a shape that is mirror-symmetrical to each other, and the other side edge sides on the side opposite to the one side edge side where the through-hole is open are joined to each other such that their longitudinal directions are parallel to each other and their short-side directions are perpendicular to each other.

4. A method for handling a crucible using a hand attached to the tip of a robot arm device, wherein the hand includes a strip-shaped plate member having a through-hole for holding one or more crucibles, and a rod-shaped drop prevention means provided above the through-hole so as to straddle the through-hole for preventing the crucible held in the through-hole from falling off when the crucible is tilted by rotating about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction of the plate member. The through-hole is open on one side edge side from which the crucible can be inserted and removed so that the crucible can be inserted and removed from one side edge side extending in the longitudinal direction of the plate member. Among the mounting surfaces of the conveying means for continuously or intermittently conveying a plurality of crucibles and sequentially loading them into a heating furnace on the conveying means, a step of placing one or more crucibles containing the content before heating at a position upstream of the loading port of the heating furnace; and a step of alternately repeating a step of scooping up one or more crucibles containing the content after heating and discharging the content while waiting at a position downstream of the discharge port of the heating furnace. A method for handling a crucible.

5. In the placing step, in the plate member holding the crucible, the longitudinal direction thereof is parallel to the width direction of the conveying means, and the open side edge of the through-hole faces the loading port of the heating furnace. In the scooping-up step, in the plate member used when scooping up the crucible, the longitudinal direction thereof is parallel to the width direction of the conveying means, and the plate member is rotated about an axis extending in the longitudinal direction thereof so that the open side edge of the through-hole faces the discharge port of the heating furnace. The method for handling a crucible according to claim 4.

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