阅读说明：本技术 一种缓存与输送系统及方法 (Caching and conveying system and method ) 是由 梁思文 马涛 班永华 杨羲昊 张磊 孙茗妍 齐学会 于 2019-10-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种缓存与输送系统及方法,属于装备制造技术领域,目的在于通过系统的运行,实现混线生产条件下多品种零件工序间转运同时满足具备临时缓存的功能。系统,包括托盘、定位工装、固定工位、控制模块；托盘上放置定位工装,托盘上具有芯片；定位工装能够满足多种零件的暂存,不同工装兼容零件种类不同,一种零件放置在一类工装上；定位工装包括定位工装A、B；固定工位具有读写头,能够读取芯片信息,对芯片写入信息；读取和写入的信息分别为：在托盘上的定位工装是否空闲和定位工装上的零件身份信息；控制模块,该方法包括步进模式和快速选位模式两种控制内容。通过系统的运行,实现多品种产品混线自动化生产条件下产品工序间自动转运并具备临时缓存的功能,有效衔接上下游工序并进行自主选择判断流转方式,具有柔性强,自动化控制程度高等特点。(The invention discloses a caching and conveying system and a caching and conveying method, belongs to the technical field of equipment manufacturing, and aims to realize transfer among multiple kinds of parts under a mixed line production condition and meet the requirement of having a temporary caching function through operation of a system. The system comprises a tray, a positioning tool, a fixed station and a control module; a positioning tool is placed on the tray, and the tray is provided with a chip; the positioning tool can meet the temporary storage of various parts, different tools are compatible with different parts in different types, and one part is placed on one type of tool; the positioning tool comprises a positioning tool A, B; the fixed station is provided with a read-write head which can read chip information and write information into the chip; the information read and written are: whether a positioning tool on the tray is idle or not and part identity information on the positioning tool; the control module, the method includes two kinds of control content of step mode and fast bit selection mode. Through systematic operation, realize the automatic transfer of product process under the mixed line automatic production condition of many varieties product and possess the function of temporary buffer memory, effectively link up the low reaches process and carry out the autonomous selection to judge the circulation mode, have characteristics such as flexible strong, degree of automation height.)

1. A flexible caching and conveying system is characterized by comprising a tray, a positioning tool, a fixed station and a control module;

a positioning tool is placed on the tray, and the tray is provided with a chip;

the positioning tool can meet the temporary storage of various parts, different tools are compatible with different parts in different types, and one part is placed on one type of tool; the positioning tool comprises a positioning tool A, B;

the fixed station is provided with a read-write head which can read chip information and write information into the chip; the information read and written are: whether a positioning tool on the tray is idle or not and part identity information on the positioning tool;

the control module comprises two control contents of a stepping mode and a quick bit selection mode;

1) step mode

The method comprises two links of upstream process manipulator discharging and downstream process robot material taking:

a upstream process manipulator emptying

A1) Before the manipulator places the part, the chip of each tray is written with the information of whether the positioning tool is idle or not and the part is stored; when the tray flows to the upstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to read the chip information of the tray, and whether the positioning tool A, B is idle is judged;

A2) if the positioning tools A, B are in an idle state, the control module receives part blanking information of an upstream process and judges whether the part is to be placed on the positioning tool A or the positioning tool B, and the control module controls the manipulator to place the part on the corresponding tool; after the parts are placed, the control module controls the read-write head to write the corresponding tool and part type information of the placed parts into the chip;

A3) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the read-write head reads the part information of the tray chip, and the control module reads the chip information through the read-write head and judges whether the type of the idle tool corresponds to the part blanking information; if so, controlling the mechanical handle to place the part on an idle tool, and controlling the read-write head to write the position and type information of the part on the tray chip; if not, no part is placed, and the tray continues to flow downwards;

robot material taking of B downstream process

B1) Before a robot grabs a part, a control module acquires the requirements of downstream processes, namely the type information of the part to be grabbed, and whether a positioning tool is idle or not and the information of the part to be stored are written on a chip of each tray; when the tray flows to a downstream fixed station, the control module controls the read-write head to judge whether the tooling A, B is idle by reading the information of the chip on the tray;

B2) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the tray flows downwards;

B3) if a part is arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the read-write head reads the part information of the chip, the control module reads the tray chip information through the read-write head, whether the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed is judged, and if the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, the control module controls the robot to grab the part; if the two types of the trays are different, the trays are circulated downwards;

B4) if all the parts are arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the control module reads the information of the tray chip through the read-write head according to the information of the parts on the tray chip read by the read-write head, and judges whether the parts are matched with the information of the parts to be grabbed; if the tooling is matched with the tooling, the control module controls the robot to grab the corresponding part from the corresponding tooling, and after the part is grabbed away, the control read-write head writes the idle information of the corresponding tooling into the tray chip, and the tray flows downwards;

2) fast bit selection mode

The circulation of the tray is performed according to the requirements of the manipulator and the robot according to the following three conditions:

a upstream process mechanical arm needs to discharge materials, and a downstream process robot does not need to take materials

A1) Whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on the chip of each tray at the early stage, and a read-write head reads the information of the chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are idle, the positioning tool A or B is idle, the information of parts to be placed on the tray is obtained, and the following conditions at the upstream positioning station are judged:

the material discharging condition is not satisfied: the tooling corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is provided with the part;

the material discharging condition is met: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

if the material discharging condition is not met: the tray is moved downwards, and the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again;

A2) if the material discharging condition is met, the material discharging is carried out according to the content A2) or A3) in the step mode 'A upstream process mechanical arm material discharging';

b, the downstream material taking robot needs to take materials, and the upstream process manipulator does not need to discharge materials

B1) In the early stage, whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on each tray chip, and a read-write head reads the information of the tray chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are provided with parts, and the positioning tools A or B are provided with parts corresponding to the information of the parts to be placed on the tray;

the control module judges the following conditions at the downstream positioning station:

the material taking condition is not satisfied: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

the material taking condition is met: corresponding parts already exist on the tooling corresponding to the parts to be placed on the tray;

if the material taking condition is not met, the tray flows downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

B2) If the material taking condition is met, the robot is operated according to the content B3 or B4 of the step mode 'B downstream process robot material taking';

c, the robot in the upstream process and the robot in the downstream process need to take and place parts at the same time

C1) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material grabbing and placing conditions are met and the material taking conditions are met, the control module controls the upstream process manipulator to operate according to contents of ' A2) or A3) of ' A upstream process manipulator material placing ' in a1) stepping mode; the control module controls the downstream process robot to operate according to the contents of 1) B3) or B4) of 'B downstream process robot material taking' in a stepping mode;

C2) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is met at the manipulator of the upstream procedure and the material taking condition is not met at the robot of the downstream procedure, the control module controls the manipulator to operate according to the contents of A2) or A3) of the step mode A manipulator material placing of 1); the robot temporarily waits for the time when the manipulator finishes discharging, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C3) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is not met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the robot to operate according to the contents of B3) or B4) of the step mode of 'B downstream process robot material taking'; the manipulator temporarily waits, the standby robot finishes taking materials, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C4) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, and if the material taking and placing conditions are not met, the control module controls the trays to continue circulation;

C5) when the material taking and placing time intervals of the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are not obvious and are in front and behind, waiting according to a first-come tray to enable the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot to meet the C1) occurrence condition, and operating according to the content of C1).

2. The flexible buffering and conveying system according to claim 1, wherein B4) if not matched, the tray is turned downwards.

3. The flexible buffer and transfer system of claim 1 wherein the upstream positioning station is a left side positioning station.

4. The flexible buffer and transfer system of claim 1 wherein the downstream positioning station is a right side positioning station.

5. The flexible buffering and conveying system according to claim 1, further comprising a conveyor line body, wherein the tray is circulated with the conveyor line body.

6. The flexible buffer and conveying system according to claim 1, wherein if the upstream and downstream processes do not have the requirement for feeding or taking materials, the conveying line body operates according to a preset advancing, stopping and advancing rhythm, otherwise, the manipulator feeding and the robot taking links of the upstream process and the downstream process are performed according to the requirement or sequence.

7. A flexible cache and conveying method is characterized by comprising two control contents of a stepping mode and a quick bit selection mode;

1) step mode

The conveying line runs according to a set forward, stop and forward rhythm, and comprises two links of upstream process manipulator discharging and downstream process robot material taking;

a upstream process manipulator emptying

A1) Before the manipulator places the part, the chip of each tray is written with the information of whether the positioning tool is idle or not and the part is stored; when the tray flows to the upstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to read the chip information of the tray, and whether the positioning tool A, B is idle is judged;

A2) if the positioning tools A, B are in an idle state, acquiring part blanking information of an upstream process, judging whether the part is to be placed on the positioning tool A or the positioning tool B, and controlling the manipulator to place the part on the corresponding tool; after the parts are placed, controlling a read-write head to write the corresponding tooling and part type information of the placed parts into a chip;

A3) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the read-write head reads the part information of the tray chip, the chip information is read through the read-write head, and whether the type of the idle tool corresponds to the part blanking part information is judged; if so, controlling the mechanical handle to place the part on an idle tool, and controlling the read-write head to write the position and type information of the part on the tray chip; if not, no part is placed, and the tray continues to flow downwards;

robot material taking of B downstream process

B1) Before a robot grabs a part, the requirements of downstream processes are obtained, namely the type information of the part to be grabbed is obtained, and whether a positioning tool is idle or not and the information of the part is stored is written on a chip of each tray; when the tray flows to a downstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to judge whether the tooling A, B is idle or not by reading the information of the chip on the tray;

B2) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the tray flows downwards;

B3) if a part is arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the read-write head reads the part information of the chip, the control module reads the tray chip information through the read-write head, whether the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed is judged, and if the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, the robot is controlled to grab the part; if the two types of the trays are different, the trays are circulated downwards;

B4) if the positioning tools A, B all have parts, the parts information on the tray chip is read according to the read-write head, and whether the parts are matched with the information of the parts to be grabbed is judged; if the tooling is matched with the tooling, the robot is controlled to grab the corresponding part from the corresponding tooling, after the part is grabbed away, the read-write head is controlled to write the idle information of the corresponding tooling into a tray chip, and the tray flows downwards;

2) fast bit selection mode

The circulation of the tray is performed according to the requirements of the manipulator and the robot according to the following three conditions:

a upstream process mechanical arm needs to discharge materials, and a downstream process robot does not need to take materials

A1) Whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on the chip of each tray at the early stage, and a read-write head reads the information of the chip;

acquiring information: the positioning tools A and B are idle, the positioning tools A or B are idle, and information of parts to be placed on the tray is judged, and the following conditions at the upstream positioning station are judged:

the material discharging condition is not satisfied: the tooling corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is provided with the part;

the material discharging condition is met: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

if the material discharging condition is not met: the tray is moved downwards, and the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again;

A2) if the material discharging condition is met, the material discharging is carried out according to the content A2) or A3) in the step mode 'A upstream process mechanical arm material discharging';

b, the downstream material taking robot needs to take materials, and the upstream process manipulator does not need to discharge materials

B1) In the early stage, whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on each tray chip, and a read-write head reads the information of the tray chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are provided with parts, and the positioning tools A or B are provided with parts corresponding to the information of the parts to be placed on the tray;

the control module judges the following conditions at the downstream positioning station:

the material taking condition is not satisfied: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

the material taking condition is met: corresponding parts already exist on the tooling corresponding to the parts to be placed on the tray;

if the material taking condition is not met, the tray flows downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

B2) If the material taking condition is met, the robot is operated according to the content B3 or B4 of the step mode 'B downstream process robot material taking';

c, the robot in the upstream process and the robot in the downstream process need to take and place parts at the same time

C1) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material grabbing and placing conditions are met and the material taking conditions are met, the control module controls the upstream process manipulator to operate according to contents of ' A2) or A3) of ' A upstream process manipulator material placing ' in a1) stepping mode; the control module controls the downstream process robot to operate according to the contents of 1) B3) or B4) of 'B downstream process robot material taking' in a stepping mode;

C2) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is met at the manipulator of the upstream procedure and the material taking condition is not met at the robot of the downstream procedure, the control module controls the manipulator to operate according to the contents of A2) or A3) of the step mode A manipulator material placing of 1); the robot temporarily waits for the time when the manipulator finishes discharging, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C3) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is not met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the robot to operate according to the contents of B3) or B4) of the step mode of 'B downstream process robot material taking'; the manipulator temporarily waits, the standby robot finishes taking materials, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C4) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, and if the material taking and placing conditions are not met, the control module controls the trays to continue circulation;

C5) when the material taking and placing time intervals of the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are not obvious and are in front and behind, waiting according to a first-come tray to enable the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot to meet the C1) occurrence condition, and operating according to the content of C1).

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of equipment manufacturing, and relates to a caching and conveying system and method.

Background

The existing conveying device mainly comprises a roller way or a conveying belt, a control tray and other parts, and is integrated with a conveying device control system to form a conveying system. The conveyed articles are placed on a roller way or a transmission belt or a tray on the upper surface, and the products are conveyed to a designated position through the system. The system is widely applied to the article conveying process in the industries of logistics, industrial automatic manufacturing and the like.

At present, the mainstream roller way conveying device only plays a role in conveying articles, and article caching and product conveying under the mixed line production condition cannot be realized.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a caching and conveying system and a caching and conveying method, and aims to realize transfer among multiple kinds of parts under mixed line production conditions and meet the requirement of temporary caching through operation of the system. Meanwhile, according to the actual situation, the system autonomously selects and judges the control mode through the control of the control module.

A flexible caching and conveying system comprises a tray, a positioning tool, a fixed station and a control module; a positioning tool is placed on the tray, and the tray is provided with a chip; the positioning tool can meet the temporary storage of various parts, different tools are compatible with different parts in different types, and one part is placed on one type of tool; the positioning tool comprises a positioning tool A, B; the fixed station is provided with a read-write head which can read chip information and write information into the chip; the information read and written are: whether a positioning tool on the tray is idle or not and part identity information on the positioning tool; the control module comprises two control contents of a stepping mode and a quick bit selection mode;

1) step mode

The method comprises two links of upstream process manipulator discharging and downstream process robot material taking:

a upstream process manipulator emptying

A1) Before the manipulator places the part, the chip of each tray is written with the information of whether the positioning tool is idle or not and the part is stored; when the tray flows to the upstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to read the chip information of the tray, and whether the positioning tool A, B is idle is judged;

A2) if the positioning tools A, B are in an idle state, the control module receives part blanking information of an upstream process and judges whether the part is to be placed on the positioning tool A or the positioning tool B, and the control module controls the manipulator to place the part on the corresponding tool; after the parts are placed, the control module controls the read-write head to write the corresponding tool and part type information of the placed parts into the chip;

A3) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the read-write head reads the part information of the tray chip, and the control module reads the chip information through the read-write head and judges whether the type of the idle tool corresponds to the part blanking information; if so, controlling the mechanical handle to place the part on an idle tool, and controlling the read-write head to write the position and type information of the part on the tray chip; if not, no part is placed, and the tray continues to flow downwards;

robot material taking of B downstream process

B1) Before a robot grabs a part, a control module acquires the requirements of downstream processes, namely the type information of the part to be grabbed, and whether a positioning tool is idle or not and the information of the part to be stored are written on a chip of each tray; when the tray flows to a downstream fixed station, the control module controls the read-write head to judge whether the tooling A, B is idle by reading the information of the chip on the tray;

B2) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the tray flows downwards;

B3) if a part is arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the read-write head reads the part information of the chip, the control module reads the tray chip information through the read-write head, whether the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed is judged, and if the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, the control module controls the robot to grab the part; if the two types of the trays are different, the trays are circulated downwards;

B4) if all the parts are arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the control module reads the information of the tray chip through the read-write head according to the information of the parts on the tray chip read by the read-write head, and judges whether the parts are matched with the information of the parts to be grabbed; if the tooling is matched with the tooling, the control module controls the robot to grab the corresponding part from the corresponding tooling, and after the part is grabbed away, the control read-write head writes the idle information of the corresponding tooling into the tray chip, and the tray flows downwards;

2) fast bit selection mode

The circulation of the tray is performed according to the requirements of the manipulator and the robot according to the following three conditions:

a upstream process mechanical arm needs to discharge materials, and a downstream process robot does not need to take materials

A1) Whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on the chip of each tray at the early stage, and a read-write head reads the information of the chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are idle, the positioning tool A or B is idle, the information of parts to be placed on the tray is obtained, and the following conditions at the upstream positioning station are judged:

the material discharging condition is not satisfied: the tooling corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is provided with the part;

the material discharging condition is met: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

if the material discharging condition is not met: the tray is moved downwards, and the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again;

A2) if the material discharging condition is met, the material discharging is carried out according to the content A2) or A3) in the step mode 'A upstream process mechanical arm material discharging';

b, the downstream material taking robot needs to take materials, and the upstream process manipulator does not need to discharge materials

B1) In the early stage, whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on each tray chip, and a read-write head reads the information of the tray chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are provided with parts, and the positioning tools A or B are provided with parts corresponding to the information of the parts to be placed on the tray;

the control module judges the following conditions at the downstream positioning station:

the material taking condition is not satisfied: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

the material taking condition is met: corresponding parts already exist on the tooling corresponding to the parts to be placed on the tray;

if the material taking condition is not met, the tray flows downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

B2) If the material taking condition is met, the robot is operated according to the content B3 or B4 of the step mode 'B downstream process robot material taking';

c, the robot in the upstream process and the robot in the downstream process need to take and place parts at the same time

C1) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material grabbing and placing conditions are met and the material taking conditions are met, the control module controls the upstream process manipulator to operate according to contents of ' A2) or A3) of ' A upstream process manipulator material placing ' in a1) stepping mode; the control module controls the downstream process robot to operate according to the contents of 1) B3) or B4) of 'B downstream process robot material taking' in a stepping mode;

C2) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is met at the manipulator of the upstream procedure and the material taking condition is not met at the robot of the downstream procedure, the control module controls the manipulator to operate according to the contents of A2) or A3) of the step mode A manipulator material placing of 1); the robot temporarily waits for the time when the manipulator finishes discharging, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C3) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is not met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the robot to operate according to the contents of B3) or B4) of the step mode of 'B downstream process robot material taking'; the manipulator temporarily waits, the standby robot finishes taking materials, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C4) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, and if the material taking and placing conditions are not met, the control module controls the trays to continue circulation;

C5) when the material taking and placing time intervals of the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are not obvious and are in front and behind, waiting according to a first-come tray to enable the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot to meet the C1) occurrence condition, and operating according to the content of C1).

Further, B4) if there is no match, the tray is circulated downward.

Further, the upstream positioning station is a left side positioning station.

Further, the downstream positioning station is a right side positioning station.

Further, still include the conveying line body, the tray is along with the conveying line body circulation.

Further, if the upstream and downstream processes do not have the requirements for material discharging or material taking, the conveyor line body runs according to a set forward, stop and forward rhythm, otherwise, the upstream process manipulator material discharging and downstream process robot material taking links are carried out according to the requirements or the sequence

A flexible cache and conveying method is characterized by comprising two control contents of a stepping mode and a quick bit selection mode;

1) step mode

The conveying line runs according to a set forward, stop and forward rhythm, and comprises two links of upstream process manipulator discharging and downstream process robot material taking;

a upstream process manipulator emptying

A1) Before the manipulator places the part, the chip of each tray is written with the information of whether the positioning tool is idle or not and the part is stored; when the tray flows to the upstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to read the chip information of the tray, and whether the positioning tool A, B is idle is judged;

A2) if the positioning tools A, B are in an idle state, acquiring part blanking information of an upstream process, judging whether the part is to be placed on the positioning tool A or the positioning tool B, and controlling the manipulator to place the part on the corresponding tool; after the parts are placed, controlling a read-write head to write the corresponding tooling and part type information of the placed parts into a chip;

A3) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the read-write head reads the part information of the tray chip, the chip information is read through the read-write head, and whether the type of the idle tool corresponds to the part blanking part information is judged; if so, controlling the mechanical handle to place the part on an idle tool, and controlling the read-write head to write the position and type information of the part on the tray chip; if not, no part is placed, and the tray continues to flow downwards;

robot material taking of B downstream process

B1) Before a robot grabs a part, the requirements of downstream processes are obtained, namely the type information of the part to be grabbed is obtained, and whether a positioning tool is idle or not and the information of the part is stored is written on a chip of each tray; when the tray flows to a downstream fixed station, the read-write head is controlled to judge whether the tooling A, B is idle or not by reading the information of the chip on the tray;

B2) if the positioning tool A, B is idle, the tray flows downwards;

B3) if a part is arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the read-write head reads the part information of the chip, the control module reads the tray chip information through the read-write head, whether the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed is judged, and if the part type is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, the robot is controlled to grab the part; if the two types of the trays are different, the trays are circulated downwards;

B4) if the positioning tools A, B all have parts, the parts information on the tray chip is read according to the read-write head, and whether the parts are matched with the information of the parts to be grabbed is judged; if the tooling is matched with the tooling, the robot is controlled to grab the corresponding part from the corresponding tooling, after the part is grabbed away, the read-write head is controlled to write the idle information of the corresponding tooling into a tray chip, and the tray flows downwards;

2) fast bit selection mode

The circulation of the tray is performed according to the requirements of the manipulator and the robot according to the following three conditions:

a upstream process mechanical arm needs to discharge materials, and a downstream process robot does not need to take materials

A1) Whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on the chip of each tray at the early stage, and a read-write head reads the information of the chip;

acquiring information: the positioning tools A and B are idle, the positioning tools A or B are idle, and information of parts to be placed on the tray is judged, and the following conditions at the upstream positioning station are judged:

the material discharging condition is not satisfied: the tooling corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is provided with the part;

the material discharging condition is met: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

if the material discharging condition is not met: the tray is moved downwards, and the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again;

A2) if the material discharging condition is met, the material discharging is carried out according to the content A2) or A3) in the step mode 'A upstream process mechanical arm material discharging';

b, the downstream material taking robot needs to take materials, and the upstream process manipulator does not need to discharge materials

B1) In the early stage, whether a positioning tool is idle or not and part information is stored on each tray chip, and a read-write head reads the information of the tray chip;

the control module acquires information: the positioning tools A and B are provided with parts, and the positioning tools A or B are provided with parts corresponding to the information of the parts to be placed on the tray;

the control module judges the following conditions at the downstream positioning station:

the material taking condition is not satisfied: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

the material taking condition is met: corresponding parts already exist on the tooling corresponding to the parts to be placed on the tray;

if the material taking condition is not met, the tray flows downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

B2) If the material taking condition is met, the robot is operated according to the content B3 or B4 of the step mode 'B downstream process robot material taking';

c, the robot in the upstream process and the robot in the downstream process need to take and place parts at the same time

C1) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material grabbing and placing conditions are met and the material taking conditions are met, the control module controls the upstream process manipulator to operate according to contents of ' A2) or A3) of ' A upstream process manipulator material placing ' in a1) stepping mode; the control module controls the downstream process robot to operate according to the contents of 1) B3) or B4) of 'B downstream process robot material taking' in a stepping mode;

C2) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is met at the manipulator of the upstream procedure and the material taking condition is not met at the robot of the downstream procedure, the control module controls the manipulator to operate according to the contents of A2) or A3) of the step mode A manipulator material placing of 1); the robot temporarily waits for the time when the manipulator finishes discharging, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C3) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material placing condition is not met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the robot to operate according to the contents of B3) or B4) of the step mode of 'B downstream process robot material taking'; the manipulator temporarily waits, the standby robot finishes taking materials, and the control module continues to control the circulation of the tray;

C4) the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, and if the material taking and placing conditions are not met, the control module controls the trays to continue circulation;

C5) when the material taking and placing time intervals of the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are not obvious and are in front and behind, waiting according to a first-come tray to enable the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot to meet the C1) occurrence condition, and operating according to the content of C1).

The invention has the technical effects that:

the flexible buffer and conveying device can meet the requirements of conveying and buffering in mixed line production of various products.

The flexible cache and conveying device has two control modes of stepping and quick position selection.

The invention has the advantages that the automatic transfer among the product processes under the condition of mixed line automatic production of various products is realized through the operation of the system, the temporary buffer function is realized, the upstream and downstream processes are effectively linked, and the autonomous selection and judgment circulation mode is carried out, so that the system has the characteristics of strong flexibility, high automatic control degree and the like.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a buffering and delivery system according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

According to the system, the conveying line is in a plane closed-loop circulation layout, and the standard section comprises a speed reducing motor, a station stopper, a station switch, a line body, supporting legs, a rod way protective cover and the like. The corner is provided with a rotary table. According to actual demand, a plurality of transfer trays are simultaneously circulated on line, the trays are circularly circulated in a cache line, a stopper is arranged on the line, and according to a program instruction, the trays either directly pass through or touch the stopper to stop. A set of lifting and positioning mechanism is arranged at the grabbing station of the manipulator, and the tray can be accurately positioned after being stopped, so that the manipulator and the robot can grab parts conveniently.

A flexible buffer and conveying system realizes the transfer of various parts of a product among processes and has a temporary buffer function through the operation of the system. The flexible cache and conveying system consists of a hardware system and a software system. The hardware system comprises a conveying line, a transfer tray, a tray fixing station, a ferry trolley, a lifting positioning mechanism and the like; the software system realizes the functions of transmission line control, control mode selection and the like.

The flexible cache and conveying system consists of a hardware system and a software system. The hardware system comprises a conveying line, a transfer tray, a tray fixing station, a ferry trolley, a lifting positioning mechanism and the like; the software system realizes the functions of transmission line control, control mode selection and the like.

The system conveying line is in a plane closed-loop circulation layout, and the standard section comprises a speed reduction motor, a station stopper, a station switch, a line body, supporting legs, a rod channel protective cover and the like. The corner is provided with a rotary table. According to actual demand, a plurality of transfer trays are simultaneously circulated on line, the trays are circularly circulated in a cache line, a stopper is arranged on the line, and according to a program instruction, the trays either directly pass through or touch the stopper to stop. A set of lifting and positioning mechanism is arranged at the grabbing station of the manipulator, and the tray can be accurately positioned after being stopped, so that the manipulator and the robot can grab parts conveniently. The speed chain conveying roller way is adopted on the line, and the whole conveying line adopts a modular assembly structure, so that the assembly, disassembly, maintenance and replacement are convenient; the transmission part of the conveying line adopts a full-sealing type, and transmission components such as a line body chain wheel, a wheel shaft and the like are fully sealed; the rest part of the upper surface and the side surface of the conveying line are required to be additionally provided with a protective plate to cover the conveying line body so as to prevent small parts such as bolts and the like from falling off and ensure that an assembly line is convenient to maintain; the raceway cover plate fastening screw is subjected to rust prevention treatment, has certain rigidity, and is easy to maintain as electromagnetic valves, cylinders and the like are required to be arranged outside the wire body as much as possible; the support legs of the wire body are rectangular steel pipes, the support legs are provided with adjusting support feet, and the base plate and the foundation are fixed by expansion bolts so that the height of the wire body can be adjusted; the margin of more than 20 percent of the motor power is reserved, the heat balance can be achieved after long-term use, and the phenomena of overheating and tripping are avoided; the joints of the linear body rails are smooth and consistent; the conveying line is provided with more than 2 emergency stop switches for controlling the conveying line, the emergency stop switches are distributed and distributed, manual operation is facilitated, and meanwhile 1 full-line starting switch is arranged; the corner of the conveying line is provided with a rotary table. According to actual demand, a plurality of transfer trays are simultaneously circulated on line, the trays are circularly circulated in a cache line, a stopper is arranged on the line, and according to a program instruction, the trays either directly pass through or touch the stopper to stop. A set of lifting and positioning mechanism is arranged at a grabbing station of the manipulator, and the tray can be accurately positioned after being stopped, so that the manipulator and the robot can grab parts conveniently.

A, B two or more precisely positioned tools are provided on a circulating tray with a read/write head and a chip on which information can be written.

The flexible cache and conveying system adopts the design idea of intelligent manufacturing, and meets the principles of reasonable layout planning, upstream and downstream process integration and the like on the premise of realizing the requirements of transferring and caching functions. After receiving parts grabbed by the manipulator in the upstream procedure on a tray fixing station butted with the upstream procedure, the circulating tray circulates on a conveying line driven by a speed reducer, a stopper is limited when each tray moves to a certain position, the in-place and the leaving of the tray are sensed, and the tray is in place and accurately positioned by a positioning mechanism. The conveying line is controlled by a PLC system and automatically controlled according to a logic program, can run in a stepping mode and can be rapidly selected and stopped, and the requirements of finishing and caching in an upstream process and the requirements of locking and grabbing of a manipulator target in a downstream process are met.

The operation of the flexible cache and conveying system comprises the following steps:

1) the manipulator in the upstream process discharges materials to a circulating tray;

2) the circulation tray circulates on the cache line;

3) and the robot in the downstream process takes materials from the circulation tray.

The operation mode in the step 2) is as follows:

the cache line has two control modes, namely a stepping control mode and a fast bit selection control mode:

21) step control mode

The cache line transport apparatus advances, stops, and advances according to the rhythm in the forced step mode. Waiting time at stop: the following two steps are performed in sequence.

A manipulator emptying

B, taking materials by a robot in the downstream process:

22) fast bit selection mode

The cache line delivery device is controlled by program logic to automatically select whether the tray should pass quickly or stop waiting. The circulation of the buffer conveying line is that the specific position where each tray is supposed to be located is automatically selected according to the grabbing requirements of the manipulator and the robot, and the mode is a variable-speed non-rhythm circulation mode.

Under the state that manipulator or robot were not snatched, the buffer memory transfer chain is in and stops waiting state:

when A is about to discharge materials, the robot (downstream process) does not need to take materials

B when the robot (downstream process) needs to take materials, the manipulator does not need to discharge materials

C, when the robot and the manipulator need to take and place parts at the same time

Further, the flexible caching and conveying system comprises a conveying line body 1, a (circulating) tray 2, a positioning tool 3, a (tray) fixing station 4, a control module and a manipulator.

A, B two or more positioning tools which are accurately positioned are arranged on the circulation tray 2, and the circulation tray is provided with a chip which can be written with information. The read-write head reads information of the chip and writes information into the chip.

The location frock 3 can satisfy the location demand of the temporary storage of multiple part and upstream and downstream process manipulator and robot, and the compatible part kind of different frocks is different, and a part intelligence is placed on a kind of frock.

The (tray) fixing station 4 is provided with a part which can read and write whether the tray tool is idle or not and can position the identity information of the part on the tool on the circulating tray. The feeding and taking part is positioned on the conveying line body 1. And the control module controls the system to operate according to two control modes, namely a stepping control mode and a quick position selection control mode.

1) Step control mode

Under normal conditions, the cache conveying system operates according to a stepping mode, and if the upstream and downstream processes do not have the requirement of discharging or taking materials, the control module can control the system to operate according to a set forward, stop and forward rhythm. In the period, the cache system can have two links of upstream process manipulator discharging and downstream process robot discharging according to the step control mode.

A upstream process manipulator emptying

A1) Before the manipulator places the part, all written on every tray chip and positioned whether frock is idle and deposit part information. The control module acquires the blanking information of parts (which kind of parts are placed) in the upstream process, controls the manipulator to grab the corresponding parts, and when the circulating tray 2 is circulated to the fixed station 4, the read-write head reads the information of the tray chip and judges whether the positioning tool A, B is idle.

A2) If the positioning tools A, B are in an idle state, whether the positioning tools are to be placed on the tool A or the tool B is judged according to received part blanking information (corresponding parts are grabbed by the manipulator) of an upstream process, and the control module controls the manipulator to place the parts on the corresponding tools; after the parts are placed, the control module controls the read-write head to write the corresponding tool and part type information of the placed parts into the chip.

A3) If the positioning tool A or B is idle, the read-write head reads the part information of the tray chip, and the control module reads the information of the tray chip through the read-write head and judges whether the type of the idle tool corresponds to the emptying part information.

If the position information corresponds to the type information, the control module controls the mechanical handle to place the part on an idle tool, and controls the read-write head to write the position and type information of the part on the tray chip; if not, no part is placed, and the tray continues to flow downwards.

Robot material taking of B downstream process

B1) Before the robot grabs the part, control module obtains the part kind information that should snatch of demand of low reaches process, and has all written on every tray chip and has positioned whether frock is idle and deposit the part information. When the tray 2 is transferred to the fixed station 4, the control module controls the read-write head to judge whether the tooling A, B is idle by reading the information of the chip on the tray.

B2) If the positioning tool A, B is idle, the tray is turned down.

B3) If a part is arranged on the positioning tool A or B, the read-write head reads the information of the part, the control module reads the information of the tray chip through the read-write head and judges whether the type of the part is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, and if the type of the part is the same as the information of the part to be grabbed, the control module controls the robot to grab the part; if not, the tray is circulated downwards.

B4) If all parts are arranged on the positioning tool A, B, the control module reads the information of the parts on the tray chip according to the read-write head, and the control module reads the information of the tray chip through the read-write head to judge whether the parts are matched with the information of the parts to be grabbed. If the tooling is matched with the read-write head, the control module controls the robot to grab the corresponding part from the corresponding tooling, after the part is grabbed away, the control module controls the read-write head to write the idle information of the corresponding tooling into the tray chip, and the tray flows downwards.

2) Fast bit selection mode

The tray should be automatically selected to rapidly pass through the fixed station 4 or stop at the fixed station 4 to wait, namely, the tray 2 is automatically selected to be at a specific position according to the requirements of a manipulator and a robot, and the tray is in a variable-speed non-rhythm circulation mode. The mode determines whether the pallet should wait through the fixed station 4 or stop at the fixed station 4, i.e. the pallet 2 selects the specific position the pallet should be in according to the robot requirements

At this time, the robot hand or the robot is in a non-gripping completion state (idle) and the buffer conveyance device is in a stop waiting state.

A upstream process mechanical arm needs to discharge materials, and a downstream process robot does not need to take materials

A1) Whether the positioning tool is idle or not and stores part information is written on each tray chip in the earlier stage, the read-write head reads the tray information, and the control module acquires the information: a and B are both free or A or B is free and is in contact with part information to be placed (blanking information);

the control module judges the following two conditions of the left positioning station 4:

the material discharging condition is not satisfied: the tooling corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is provided with the part;

the material discharging condition is met: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the disc is idle;

if the material discharging condition is not met: the tray is moved downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

A2) If the feeding of the strip is satisfied, the process is executed according to the procedure of 1) step mode 'A2 of A manipulator feeding' or A3).

B, the downstream material taking robot needs to take materials, and the upstream process does not need to discharge materials

B1) Whether the positioning tool is idle or not and stores part information is written on each tray chip in the earlier stage, the read-write head reads the tray information, and the control module acquires the information: a and B both have parts or A or B have parts and correspond to the information of the parts to be placed. The control module judges the following two conditions of the right positioning station 4:

the material taking condition is not satisfied: the tool corresponding to the part to be placed on the tray is idle;

the material taking condition is met: corresponding parts already exist on the tooling corresponding to the parts to be placed on the tray;

if the material taking condition is not met, the tray flows downwards, the next tray entering the fixed station is judged again, and the rest is done in the same way.

B2) If the material taking condition is satisfied, the step is executed according to the program of B3) or B4) of the step mode of 'B downstream process robot material taking'.

C, the robot in the upstream process and the robot in the downstream process need to take and place parts at the same time

C1) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions respectively read tray information, and if the material grabbing and placing conditions are met and the material taking conditions are met, the control module controls (in an upstream process) the manipulator to execute a program of 1) step mode' A2) or A3) of the manipulator material placing; the control module controls (downstream process) the robot to execute the program of 1) the "B downstream process robot picks up material" of B3) or B4) in the step mode.

C2) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, if the material placing condition is met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is not met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the manipulator to execute the program of' A2 for material placing by the manipulator A) or A3) in a stepping mode, the robot temporarily waits for the manipulator to complete material placing, and the control module continues to control tray circulation.

C3) The read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read tray information respectively, if the material placing condition is not met at the manipulator of the upstream process and the material taking condition is met at the robot of the downstream process, the control module controls the robot to execute the program of B3) or B4) of the step mode B downstream process robot material taking, the manipulator temporarily waits, the standby robot finishes material taking, and the control module continues to control the circulation of trays.

C4) And the read-write heads at the material taking and placing positions read the information of the tray respectively, and if the material taking and placing conditions are not met, the control module controls the tray to continue circulation.

C5) When the material taking and placing time intervals of the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are not obvious and are in front of each other, the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot wait according to the first-come tray to enable the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot to meet the C1) occurrence condition, and the upstream process mechanical arm and the downstream process robot are executed according to the program of C1).