Conveyors: power-driven – With means to facilitate working – treating – or inspecting... – Condition responsive control of conveyor or station apparatus
Patent
1992-08-10
1994-04-19
Valenza, Joseph E.
Conveyors: power-driven
With means to facilitate working, treating, or inspecting...
Condition responsive control of conveyor or station apparatus
1983461, 1984643, 1984653, 1988321, B65G 4300
Patent
active
053038096
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
STATE OF THE ART
The invention is based on a transporting system of the type defined in the main claim. Such a transporting system is disclosed in Examined Published German Patent Application DE-AS 1,556,149. The transporting system disclosed there is intended for charging a continuously operating workpiece cleaning system. It includes a chain conveyor equipped with cam-like spacers which enclose the workpieces to be cleaned between them. A ratchet mechanism equipped with a crank drive serves to provide the step-wise movement of the chain conveyor. A crank arm equipped with a pawl is arranged opposite the teeth of the ratchet wheel in such a way that the acceleration of the ratchet wheel in the initial phase of a 90.degree. rotation rises softly and in the final phase it drops gradually until the wheel is stopped. In this prior art transporting system, the basic cycle is determined by the structural configuration of the ratchet mechanism. A flexible control of the basic cycle is not possible.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
In contrast thereto, the transporting system according to the invention including the characterizing features of the main claim has the advantage that a fast, cyclic advance can be realized with a mechanically simple structure, with the basic cycle being variable at any time with little control expenditures. The cyclic conveyor can thus be integrated without problems into a flexible transfer system for fully automatic assembly and/or workpiece processing lines. By connecting the mechanical stepping gear assembly which realizes the advancing movement of the workpiece carrier, with the signal generators which record the end of processing in the processing station and thus determine the basic cycle, the cyclic conveyor can be adapted to any processing time in the processing station. This permits the realization of high transporting speeds and a cycle time that is optimally adapted to the processing time.
Due to the measures defined in the dependent claims, advantageous modifications and improvements of the transporting system defined in the main claim become possible. It is of particular advantage that a new basic cycle begins only if the absence of the workpiece carrier at the outlet of the cyclic conveyor is recorded. This prevents crash situations at the outlet of the cyclic conveyor. The inclusion of the inlet of the cyclic conveyor in the control of the basic cycle offers the further advantage that a workpiece carrier loaded with a workpiece is grabbed in each basic cycle. A particularly suitable structure for the realization of the cyclic advance is that a plate cam gear assembly is employed as the stepping gear and the drive for the plate cam gear assembly is put out of action during the engagement angle of the cam disc. At high transporting speed, the cyclic advance is free of shocks and jerks. The cooperation of the plate cam gear assembly with the signal generator for switching off the drive of the plate cam gear assembly permits a high repetition accuracy in positioning the workpiece carriers loaded with workpieces in the processing station. The intermediary connection of a further drive between the driven shaft of the plate cam gears and the drive shaft of the cyclic conveyor permits the transporting of workpiece carriers having different length dimensions. It is then merely necessary to adapt the cams attached to the conveyor belt to the length of the workpiece carriers. The detent clutch whose torque is adjustable and which is connected in the path of the force transmission between the plate cam gears and the cyclic conveyor protects the drive against damage in the case of a malfunction. The speed of the cyclic advance can be varied by the use of a frequency converter for changing the number of revolutions of the three-phase motor, by the use of adjustment gears instead of a worm gear assembly or by a change in the transmission ratio of the worm gear assembly.
DRAWINGS
One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be described in greater detail bel
REFERENCES:
patent: 4454939 (1984-06-01), Kampf et al.
patent: 4487309 (1984-12-01), Dorner
patent: 4787496 (1988-11-01), Prodel et al.
patent: 4934507 (1990-06-01), Blocker
Robert & Bosch GmbH
Valenza Joseph E.
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