阅读说明：本技术 一种800工字轮自动更换系统 (Automatic 800 spool replacing system ) 是由 仲兆岩 王金和 潘久洋 魏华 魏鹏 于 2021-07-15 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供的一种800工字轮自动更换系统,包括：用于移动和转运工字轮的AGV小车、用于抓取、收放、升降工字轮的自控机器人和用于存放工字轮的工字轮存放架,其中自控机器人的抓取,采用六个夹钳从侧面抓夹1300Kg工字轮边缘的方式,实现空、满工字轮的替换,设计上打破常规思维方式,创造了新的结构设计和布局,突破了现有工业机器人抓取500Kg载荷的极限,稳定地实现了1300Kg工字轮的自动抓取、搬运和对放线架上空、满工字轮的装卸,在满足生产工艺要求的前提下,把员工从繁重的工作中替换下来,便于实现24小时连续工作,做到真正的减员增效,进一步降低生产成本,向无人化生产的目标迈进了一大步。(The invention provides an automatic 800I-shaped wheel replacing system, which comprises: the automatic control robot adopts a mode that six clamps grab and clamp the edge of a 1300Kg spool from the side surface to realize the replacement of empty and full spools, breaks through the conventional thinking mode in design, creates a new structural design and layout, breaks through the limit of the existing industrial robot for grabbing 500Kg load, stably realizes the automatic grabbing and carrying of the 1300Kg spool and the loading and unloading of the empty and full spools on a pay-off rack, replaces workers from heavy work on the premise of meeting the production process requirements, facilitates the realization of 24-hour continuous work, truly reduces the number of workers, further reduces the production cost, and takes a great step towards the aim of unmanned production.)

1. An automatic 800 spool changing system, comprising:

an AGV trolley for moving and transferring the spool;

the automatic control robot is used for grabbing, retracting and lifting the spool;

the spool storage rack is used for storing spools;

the AGV comprises a translational and rotational combined platform and a walking vehicle, wherein the walking vehicle is divided into a middle translational and rotational area and storage areas at two sides in a first direction, and the translational and rotational combined platform is arranged in the translational and rotational area;

the spool storage rack is arranged in storage areas on two sides;

the automatic control robot is arranged on the translation and rotation combined platform and comprises a gripping device, a retracting device, a lifting device and a control device;

the lifting device comprises a robot frame, a lifting portal frame and a lifting portal frame driving oil cylinder, wherein the robot frame comprises a first side of the frame and a second side of the frame which are oppositely arranged in a second direction, the first direction is perpendicular to the second direction, the lifting portal frame is arranged on the first side of the frame, the lifting portal frame driving oil cylinder is fixed on the first side of the frame, a piston rod of the lifting portal frame driving oil cylinder is vertically and upwards arranged and is used for driving the lifting portal frame to vertically move on the robot frame;

the retracting device comprises a retracting gantry, two retracting gantry lifting sliding plates and two retracting gantry driving oil cylinders, wherein the two retracting gantry lifting sliding plates are respectively fixed on two sides of the retracting gantry, the two retracting gantry lifting sliding plates are slidably mounted on two sides of the lifting gantry and are used for realizing that the retracting gantry moves up and down along the vertical direction along with the lifting gantry, end cover ends of the two retracting gantry driving oil cylinders are respectively hinged to the two retracting gantry lifting sliding plates in a one-to-one correspondence manner, piston ends of the two retracting gantry driving oil cylinders are connected to the retracting gantry and are used for driving the retracting gantry to retract along the second direction;

the grabbing device comprises a spool gripper support, three gripper clamp oil cylinders and six gripper clamps, wherein the spool gripper support is fixed on the retracting and releasing door frame and retracts along with the retracting and releasing door frame;

the control device is arranged on the second side of the rack and used for controlling the automatic control robot to automatically grab, receive, release and lift the spool.

2. The automatic changing system according to claim 1, wherein the spool gripper bracket comprises a self-holding frame and a gripper mounting frame, the self-holding frame is fixed on the winding and unwinding gantry, the gripper mounting frame has an arc-shaped structure, the diameter of the arc-shaped structure is equal to the outer diameter of the spool plate to be gripped, and three pairs of gripping mechanisms are sequentially erected from top to bottom and hinged on both sides of the arc-shaped structure.

3. The automatic exchange system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 800 h-wheel automatic exchange system further comprises four sets of quick-change battery devices respectively disposed in the two side storage areas for powering the AGV carts and the automated robot.

4. The automatic exchange system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the translation range of the translational and rotational combination platform in the first direction is 0-200 mm.

5. The automatic exchange system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotation range of the translational-rotational combination platform is 0-360 °.

6. The automatic changing system according to claim 1, wherein the spool storage racks include two spool storage racks respectively provided in the two side storage areas, each of the spool storage racks having a multi-layer structure for storing a plurality of spools.

7. The automatic changing system according to claim 6, wherein each spool storage rack has a double structure, a bottom layer for storing full spools, and an upper layer for storing empty spools.

8. The automatic replacing system according to claim 7, wherein the control device comprises a self-controlled robot control cabinet, a self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, a picking and placing control valve island and a lifting portal control valve, the self-controlled robot control cabinet is fixed on the upper portion of the robot frame and is higher than the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, the picking and placing control valve island and the lifting portal control valve, the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station is fixed on the translation and rotation combined platform, one end of the picking and placing valve island is connected to the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, the other end of the picking and placing valve island is connected with the picking and placing device and the picking device through oil pipes, one end of the lifting portal control valve is connected to the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, and the other end of the lifting portal control valve is connected with the lifting portal through oil pipes.

9. The automatic exchange system according to claim 1, characterized in that the spool gripped by the gripping device is located inside the combined translatory and rotary platform when the folding gantry is in the fully retracted state.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of automatic production of electroplating lines, and particularly relates to an automatic 800I-shaped wheel replacing system.

Background

With the rapid development of the metal product industry, process equipment integrating high efficiency, automation and intellectualization has become the pursuit target of various production enterprises. An automatic grabbing, unloading and carrying robot for an 800I-shaped wheel is a key device widely used for switching among working procedures in the drawing process of a steel cord product.

However, the existing 800-shaped spool automatic grabbing, unloading and carrying robot is difficult to directly grab and hoist from the upper part of a gravity center point due to the position limitation of the spool in the pay-off rack, and the grabbing capacity of most existing equipment is exceeded when the 800-shaped spool to be grabbed is fully loaded, so that the empty 800-shaped spool and the full 800-shaped spool need to be replaced by adopting a new grabbing and hoisting mode.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the technical problem, the invention provides an automatic 800-spool replacing system, which is used for solving the problem that the existing automatic 800-spool replacing system is difficult to directly grab and hoist the 800-spool from the upper part of a gravity center point.

The invention provides an automatic replacing system for an 800 spool, which comprises: the AGV comprises a translation and rotation combined platform and a walking vehicle, wherein the walking vehicle is divided into a middle rotating area and storage areas at two sides in a first direction, the translation and rotation combined platform is arranged in the translation and rotation area, the I-shaped wheel storage areas are arranged in the storage areas at two sides, the automatic control robot is arranged on the translation and rotation combined platform, the automatic control robot comprises a gripping device, a retracting device, a lifting device and a control device, the lifting device comprises a robot frame, a lifting portal frame and a lifting portal frame driving oil cylinder, the robot frame comprises a first side of the frame and a second side of the frame which are oppositely arranged in a second direction, the first direction is vertical to the second direction, the lifting portal frame is arranged at the first side of the frame, the lifting portal frame driving oil cylinder is fixed at the first side of the frame, and a piston rod of the lifting gantry driving oil cylinder is vertically and upwards arranged and used for driving the lifting gantry to move up and down on the robot frame along the vertical direction, the retracting and releasing device comprises a retracting and releasing gantry, two retracting and releasing gantry lifting sliding plates and two retracting and releasing gantry driving oil cylinders, the two retracting and releasing gantry lifting sliding plates are respectively fixed on two sides of the retracting and releasing gantry, the two retracting and releasing gantry lifting sliding plates are slidably arranged on two sides of the lifting gantry and used for realizing that the retracting and releasing gantry moves up and down along the vertical direction along with the lifting gantry, end cover ends of the two retracting and releasing gantry driving oil cylinders are respectively hinged on the two retracting and releasing gantry lifting sliding plates in a one-to-one correspondence manner, piston ends of the two retracting and releasing gantry driving oil cylinders are both connected to the retracting and releasing gantry and used for driving the retracting and releasing gantry to retract along the second direction, the gripping device comprises a spool gripper support, three gripper oil cylinders and six gripper grippers, the I-shaped wheel gripper support is fixed on the folding and unfolding door frame and folds along the folding and unfolding door frame, two ends of the three gripper clamp oil cylinders are respectively hinged to the six corresponding clamps to form a pair of grabbing mechanisms, the six clamps are respectively hinged to the I-shaped wheel gripper support, and when the I-shaped wheel is grabbed, three grabbing positions of the three gripper clamps on the same side are just located at the outer edge of the disk surface on the same side of the I-shaped wheel.

The lifting robot further comprises a control device, and the control device is arranged on the second side of the rack and used for controlling the automatic control robot to automatically grab, receive, release and lift the spool.

Optionally, the spool gripper support comprises a self fixing frame and a gripper mounting frame, the self fixing frame is fixed on the retractable door frame, the gripper mounting frame is of an arc-shaped structure, the diameter of the arc-shaped structure is equal to the outer diameter of the spool disc surface to be gripped, and the three pairs of gripping mechanisms are sequentially erected and hinged on two sides of the arc-shaped structure from top to bottom.

Optionally, the 800-spool automatic replacement system further comprises four sets of quick-change battery devices which are respectively arranged in the storage areas on the two sides and used for providing power for the AGV and the automatic control robot.

Optionally, the translation range of the translation and rotation combination platform in the first direction is 0-200 mm.

Optionally, the rotation range of the translational and rotational combination platform is 0-360 °.

Optionally, the spool storage racks include two and are respectively arranged in the storage areas on the two sides, and each spool storage rack is of a multilayer structure and used for storing a plurality of spools.

Preferably, each spool storage rack is of a double-layer structure, the bottom layer is used for storing full spools, and the upper layer is used for storing empty spools.

Optionally, the control device comprises a self-controlled robot control cabinet, a self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, a picking and releasing control valve island and a lifting portal control valve, the self-controlled robot control cabinet is fixed on the upper portion of the robot frame and is higher than the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, the picking and releasing control valve island and the lifting portal control valve are fixed on the translation and rotation combined platform, one end of the picking and releasing valve island is connected to the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, the other end of the picking and releasing valve island is connected with the picking and releasing device and the picking device through an oil pipe, one end of the lifting portal control valve is connected to the self-controlled robot hydraulic pump station, and the other end of the lifting portal control valve is connected with the lifting portal through an oil pipe.

Optionally, when the retracting gantry is in a fully retracted state, the spool grabbed by the grabbing device is located in the translational and rotational combined platform.

Compared with the prior art, the automatic 800-spool replacing system provided by the invention has the advantages that the six clamps are used for grabbing the edge of the spool from the side, the replacement of 1300Kg of empty and full 800-spool can be realized maximally, the conventional thinking mode is broken through in design, the novel structural design and layout are created, the limit of 500Kg of load grabbing of the existing industrial robot is broken through, the automatic grabbing and carrying of the 1300Kg spool and the loading and unloading of the empty and full spool on the pay-off rack are stably realized, and the workers are replaced from heavy work on the premise of meeting the production process requirements.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic 800 spool changing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an autonomous robot according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an autonomous robot according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a retraction device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a capture device according to an embodiment of the invention at a viewing angle;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a capture device according to another view of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a gripping apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention gripping a spool from a viewing angle;

fig. 8 is a schematic view of the gripping device according to an embodiment of the present invention gripping a spool from another view angle.

Detailed Description

In order to further understand the objects, structures, features and functions of the present invention, the following embodiments are described in detail.

In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1, an automatic 800-spool changing system 100 includes:

an AGV for moving and transferring a spool 1.

And the automatic control robot 2 is used for grabbing, storing and lifting the spool.

A spool storage rack 3 for storing spools.

The AGV trolley 1 comprises a translation and rotation combined platform 11 and a walking vehicle 12, wherein the walking vehicle 12 is divided into a translation and rotation area 121 in the middle and storage areas 122 on two sides in the first direction X, and the translation and rotation combined platform 11 is arranged on the translation and rotation area 121.

The automatic control robot 2 is arranged on the translational and rotational combination platform 11, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the automatic control robot 2 includes a gripping device 21, a retracting device 22, a lifting device 23, and a control device 24.

The lifting device 23 comprises a robot frame 231, a lifting portal 232 and a lifting portal driving oil cylinder 233, wherein the robot frame 231 comprises a frame first side 2311 and a frame second side 2312 which are oppositely arranged in the second direction Y, the first direction X is perpendicular to the second direction Y, the lifting portal 232 is arranged on the frame first side 2311, the lifting portal driving oil cylinder 233 is fixed on the robot frame 231, and a piston rod of the lifting portal driving oil cylinder 233 is vertically and upwards arranged and used for driving the lifting portal 232 to move up and down on the robot frame 231 along the vertical direction.

As shown in fig. 4, the retracting device 22 includes a retracting gantry 221, two retracting gantry lifting slides 222 and two retracting gantry driving cylinders 223, the two retracting gantry lifting slides 222 are respectively fixed on two sides of the retracting gantry 221, and the two retracting gantry lifting slides 222 are slidably mounted on two sides of the retracting gantry 221 for enabling the retracting gantry 221 to move up and down along a vertical direction along with the lifting gantry 232, end cap ends of the two retracting gantry driving cylinders 223 are respectively hinged on the two retracting gantry lifting slides 222 in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and piston ends of the two retracting gantry driving cylinders 223 are connected to the retracting gantry 221 for driving the retracting gantry 221 to retract along a second direction.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the gripping device 21 includes a spool gripper support 211, three gripper clamp cylinders 212, and six gripper clamps 213, as shown in fig. 2, the spool gripper support 211 is fixed on the retracting gantry 221, and retracts following the retracting gantry, two ends of the three gripper clamp cylinders 212 are respectively hinged to the six corresponding grippers 212 to form a pair of gripping mechanisms, the six grippers 212 are respectively hinged to the spool gripper support 211, and when gripping a spool, three gripping positions of the three gripper clamps 213 on the same side are just located at the outer edge of the disk surface on the same side of the spool. Due to the adoption of the structure, the edges on two sides of the 800I-shaped wheel can be quickly and stably grabbed.

Optionally, the spool gripper bracket 211 comprises a self-fixing frame 2111 and a gripper mounting frame 2112, the self-fixing frame 2111 is fixed on the retractable door frame 221, the gripper mounting frame 2112 is of an arc-shaped structure, the diameter of the arc-shaped structure of the gripper mounting frame 2112 is equal to the outer diameter of the spool disk surface to be gripped, and three pairs of gripping mechanisms are sequentially erected from top to bottom and hinged on two sides of the arc-shaped structure. The arc-shaped structure facilitates the arc arrangement of the three pairs of gripping mechanisms, so that three gripping positions of the three gripping tongs 213 on the same side are just positioned at the outer edge of the disk surface on the same side of the spool when gripping.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 1, the AGV 1 further includes four sets of quick-change battery devices 13, which are respectively disposed in the storage areas 122 on both sides, and are used for providing power to the AGV and the autonomous robot. The structure is simplified, and charging and replacement are convenient.

Optionally, the translation range of the translation and rotation combination platform 11 in the first direction is 0-200 mm. The arrangement is convenient for mounting and dismounting the spool on the pay-off rack.

Optionally, the rotation range of the translational and rotational combination platform 11 is 0-360 °. Therefore, the wheel is more conveniently replaced by transferring 360 degrees.

Optionally, the spool storage racks 3 include two spool storage racks, which are respectively disposed in the storage areas 122 on two sides, and each spool storage rack 3 has a multilayer structure and is used for storing a plurality of spools. Such a storage arrangement may improve work efficiency.

Preferably, each spool storage rack 3 is of a double-layer structure, the bottom layer is used for storing full spools, and the upper layer is used for storing empty spools. Therefore, stability is considered, and the spool is not easy to fall off. In addition, the wheel is changed without steering, and only the wheels are lifted at different heights, so that the wheel changing efficiency is improved.

Optionally, the automatic control robot 2 further includes a control device 24, and the control device 24 is disposed on the second side 2312 of the rack and is configured to control the automatic control robot to automatically grab, retract, and lift the spool. This makes it possible to achieve automated operation of the autonomous robot 2 well.

Optionally, the control device 24 includes an automatic control robot control cabinet 241, an automatic control robot hydraulic pump station 242, a retracting and releasing grabbing control valve 243 and a lifting gantry control valve 244, the automatic control robot control cabinet 241 is fixed on the upper portion of the robot frame 231, and is higher than the automatic control robot hydraulic pump station 242, the retracting and releasing grabbing control valve 243 and the lifting gantry control valve 244, the automatic control robot hydraulic pump station 242 is fixed on the translational and rotational combination platform 11, one end of the retracting and releasing grabbing control valve 243 is connected to the automatic control robot hydraulic pump station 242, the other end of the retracting and grabbing control valve 243 is connected to the retracting device 22 and the grabbing device 21 through an oil pipe, one end of the lifting gantry control valve 244 is connected to the automatic control robot hydraulic pump station 242, and the other end of the lifting gantry control valve 244 is connected to the lifting gantry 232 through an oil pipe. The arrangement is simple, and the automatic grabbing, the retracting and the lifting of the spool of the automatic control robot 2 are conveniently and stably realized. The retracting and releasing grabbing control valve island 243 and the lifting portal control valve 244 are flexibly controlled in the control process, the controlled action speed is not constant, the control is slow in the beginning, the middle is constant, and the speed is reduced in advance before the control is finished. Therefore, the automatic grabbing, retracting and lifting I-shaped wheel of the automatic robot 2 can be achieved more reasonably and stably.

Optionally, when the retracting gantry 221 is in the fully retracted state, the spool gripped by the gripping device 21 is located in the translational and rotational combination platform 11. The arrangement can avoid the spool storage rack 3 from being collided during transferring.

The working process of one embodiment of the invention is as follows:

the 800-spool automatic replacing system 100 automatically runs to a full spool taking position in a designated full spool storage area according to an operation instruction after receiving the operation instruction, the translational and rotational combination platform 11 rotates by 90 degrees to enable the winding and unwinding door frame 221 to face the full spool, the winding and unwinding door frame 221 opens outwards to drive the spool gripper support 211 to open outwards, six gripper clamps 213 open simultaneously in the opening process, when the spool gripper support 211 reaches a proper position for fully gripping the spool, the gripper clamps 213 clamp the edges of the two side surfaces of the spool, after the gripper clamps 213 clamp, the winding and unwinding door frame 221 starts to be lifted upwards and recovered, in the process of lifting the winding and unwinding door frame 221, the spool gripper support 211 starts to be recovered, when the winding and unwinding door frame 221 and the spool gripper support 211 are both retracted to set positions, the translational and rotational combination platform 11 rotates by 90 degrees to face the full spool storage position on the spool storage frame 3, the unwinding and winding door frame 221 and the spool gripper support 211 are opened outwards in a coordinated manner, the gripper clamp 213 is opened after the full spool is placed at the full spool storage position of the spool storage rack 3, and then the unwinding and winding door frame 221 and the spool gripper support 211 are retracted inwards in a coordinated manner to the set position, so that the loading of the first full spool is completed; and then the 800-spool automatic replacing system 100 moves to the next full spool taking position in the full spool storage area, and the process is repeated to grab a second full spool to be placed at the full spool storage position on another spool storage rack, so that the loading task of the second full spool is completed.

After loading of two full spools is finished, automatically driving to a spool changing position of a pay-off rack needing spool replacement according to production requirements, rotating the translation and rotation combined platform 11 for 90 degrees to enable the take-up and pay-off portal 221 to be opposite to an empty spool of the pay-off rack, opening the take-up and pay-off portal 221 outwards, simultaneously opening the spool gripper support 211 outwards, simultaneously opening the gripper clamp 213 simultaneously in the opening process, clamping the edge of the side face of the empty spool by the gripper clamp 213 when the spool gripper support 211 reaches a proper position for gripping the empty spool, loosening a jacking cylinder of the pay-off rack after the gripper clamp 213 is clamped, enabling the translation and rotation combined platform 11 on the AGV trolley 1 to translate towards the end of the jacking cylinder for a distance of 0-200mm (the specific length is set according to actual conditions), enabling the empty spool to leave a conical surface of a fixed jacking head, firstly recycling the spool gripper support 211, and simultaneously starting to be matched with the take-up and slowly, when the door frame 221 and the spool gripper bracket 211 are retracted to the set positions, the translational rotary combined platform 11 rotates 90 degrees to the direction of the empty spool storage position, the lifting device 23 lifts the gripped empty spool to the empty spool storage position, the door frame 221 and the spool gripper bracket 211 are opened outwards in coordination, the empty spool is placed at the empty spool storage position on the spool storage rack 3, the gripper clamp 213 is opened, then the door frame 221 and the spool gripper bracket 211 are retracted inwards to the set position in coordination, the spool gripper bracket 211 is lifted to the full spool position height, the door frame 221 is opened outwards, the spool gripper bracket 211 is opened outwards, the gripper clamp 213 is also opened outwards in the opening process, and then the spool gripper bracket 211 is lowered to the proper position of the full spool on the spool storage rack 3, after the gripper clamp 213 clamps the edge of the side face of the full spool, the retracting and releasing door frame 221 coordinates with the spool gripper support 211 to lift up and retract, the door frame 221 to be retracted and the spool gripper support 211 are retracted to set positions, the translation and rotation combined platform 11 rotates 90 degrees to return to the empty spool gripping position, the retracting and releasing door frame 221 and the spool gripper support 211 are opened towards the outer side in a coordinated mode, the full spool is placed at the central position of the spool in the pay-off rack, the translation and rotation combined platform 11 translates back to enable the conical hole face of the spool to be attached to the conical face of the top head, after a full spool installation position signal is detected, the jacking cylinder jacks the full spool, the gripper clamp 213 is opened, the spool gripper support 211 is retracted first, meanwhile, the retracting and releasing door frame 221 also starts to cooperate slowly to lift up and retract, the retracting and the retracting door frame 221 to be retracted and the spool gripper support 211 are retracted to set positions, the automatic 800 spool replacing system 100 moves to the next pay-off rack wheel replacing position where the spool needs to be replaced according to production needs, repeats the action flow, and completes the processes of empty spool withdrawing and full spool placing.

During the work period, when the automatic 800-spool replacing system 100 is idle or the two spool storage racks 3 are full, the automatic 800-spool replacing system 100 returns the empty spool to the designated empty spool storage area according to the optimal path, the empty spools are respectively taken down from the AGV trolley 1 and placed in the empty spool storage area, then the empty spool storage area is filled with the full spools, and the operation is repeated in a reciprocating and circulating mode.

According to the automatic 800-spool replacing system, six clamps are used for grabbing the edge of a spool from the side, 1300Kg of empty and full 800-spool can be replaced maximally, a conventional thinking mode is broken through in design, a new structural design and layout are created, the limit of 500Kg of load grabbing of the existing industrial robot is broken through, the automatic grabbing and carrying of the 1300Kg spool and the loading and unloading of the empty and full spool on a pay-off rack are stably realized, and on the premise of meeting the production process requirements, workers are replaced from heavy work.

The present invention has been described in relation to the above embodiments, which are only exemplary of the implementation of the present invention. It should be noted that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention. Rather, it is intended that all such modifications and variations be included within the spirit and scope of this invention.