Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Unstacking apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-05
2002-07-02
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Unstacking apparatus
C414S222070, C414S225010, C414S286000, C414S788700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06413035
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a sheet working system for performing sheet metal working on a workpiece by means of a sheet metal working machine.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a laser working system
101
as a sheet metal working system includes, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a housing rack
105
, which has a plurality of shelves
103
, for housing pallets P on which workpieces W are placed in a vertical direction. An elevator
107
for taking the pallets P in/out of the shelves
103
and moving up/down the pallets P, is provided on a side of the housing rack
105
(on the left side in FIGS.
1
and
2
).
A workpiece separator apparatus
109
is arranged so as to be adjacent to the housing rack
105
, and a laser working machine
111
and a plurality of carry-out/piling apparatuses
113
are arranged in this order on a right side of the workpiece separator apparatus
109
in
FIGS. 1 and 2
. Furthermore, a guide rail
117
for moving the workpiece separator apparatus
109
and a carry-out unloader
115
in a horizontal direction in FIG.
1
and in a vertical direction in
FIG. 2
is provided.
According to the above structure, a pallet P selected from the pallets P housed on the plural shelves
103
of the housing rack
105
is pulled out into the elevator
107
. Next, the elevator
107
is lowered so as to be stopped in a bottom shelf of the housing rack
105
. The pallet P on which the workpieces W are placed is transferred from the elevator
107
stopped in the bottom shelf of the housing rack
105
onto a pallet table
119
which is capable of moving up/down. The pallet table
119
is provided below the workpiece separator apparatus
109
.
When an upper-most workpiece W on the pallet P on the pallet table
119
is taken by the workpiece separator apparatus
109
, the workpiece separator apparatus
109
is guided along the guide rail
117
so as to be transported to the laser working machine
111
, and the workpiece W is transferred onto a working table of the laser working machine
111
. Then, the workpiece W is laser-worked by the laser working machine
111
. The laser-worked workpiece W is transported above a piling table
121
by the carry-out unloader
115
so as to be carried out onto the collecting table
121
.
In the above-mentioned conventional laser working system
101
, since a portion which is represented by slanted lines in
FIG. 2
is a useless space. Furthermore, since the carry-in/out apparatuses
119
and
113
are located on the right and left sides of the laser working machine
111
in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, there arises a problem such that operability is not satisfactory when a number of lots is small and when a workpiece W is carried in/out by an operator without the carry-in/out apparatuses
119
and
113
(off-line operation).
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet working system which reduces an installation space and improves operability at the time of off-line operation.
In order to achieve the above object, a sheet working system according to the present invention comprises: a housing rack provided with a plurality of shelves in its vertical direction for housing pallets on which workpieces are placed; a pallet transport means provided on a side of the housing rack, the pallet transport means being capable of moving up/down, the pallet transport means having a traverser for putting the pallets into/out of the housing rack; a pallet. holding means located on a bottom shelf of the housing rack, the pallet holding means temporarily holding a pallet transported by the pallet transport means; a workpiece separator means located above the pallet holding means, the workpiece separator means taking a single workpiece; a workpiece table means located adjacently to the housing rack, the workpiece table means being capable of moving, the workpiece table means temporarily placing the single workpiece taken by the workpiece separator means; a sheet working machine and a workpiece piling means arranged so as to sandwich the workpiece table means; and an loading/unloading means being capable of moving among the workpiece table means, the sheet working machine and the workpiece piling means.
Therefore, the pallets on which the workpieces are placed are housed on the plurality of shelves of the housing rack. After the pallet which is selected from the pallets on the plurality of shelves is pulled out by the traverser provided to the pallet transporting means, the pallet transport means is lowered so that the pallet is transported into the bottom of the housing rack. The transported pallet is temporarily held by the pallet holding means provided on the bottom shelf of the housing rack.
In the state that an upper-most workpiece of the workpieces on the pallet temporarily held by the pallet holding means is lifted up by the workpiece separator means, the workpiece table means is moved from the side of the housing rack to a position below the workpiece separator means so as to be stopped. After the workpiece is unloaded from the workpiece separator means and placed onto the workpiece table means, the workpiece table means is moved to the side of the housing rack.
In this state, the workpiece on the workpiece table means is held by the loading/unloading means which waits in the side position of the pallet transport means, and the loading/unloading means is moved to the sheet working machine, then the workpiece is placed onto a specified position of the sheet working machine so that desired sheet working is performed on the workpiece by the sheet working machine. The workpiece which was worked by the sheet working machine is carried out to the workpiece piling means by the loading/unloading means so that the worked workpiece is piled thereon.
Therefore, an installation space is reduced and operability at the time of off-line operation is improved.
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Amada Company Limited
Crawford Gene O.
Ellis Christopher P.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
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