Various types injection molded products such as molds are produced in a wide range of industrial fields, and an operation of taking out the injection molded product is performed by a take-out robot. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a general type take-out robot. Such a take-out robot may perform X, Y, and Z motions. To allow the take-out robot to travel in an X direction, a moving line 100 is installed and a side-entry arm 200 that moves through a roller wheel on a guide rail is provided. The side-entry arm 200 may meet the moving line 100 at a right angle and has a predetermined length to allow a robot arm 350 to perform the Y motion. In addition, an ascent unit 300, vertical to both the moving line 100 and the side-entry arm 200, is installed onto the side-entry arm 200, and the robot arm 350 that is ascendable and descendible by a belt 1900, gear, or the like is mounted inside the ascent unit 300.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the rotating unit 400 and other components used to perform the function of taking out an injection molded product.
The take-out robot includes the rotating unit 400 at an end of the robot arm 350 to take out an injection molded product 700 from an injection molder. In the rotating unit 400, a support 500 to readily attach and detach a jig 600 is mounted using a fixing element 550. The jig 600 having at least one adhesive element 650 may be fixed to the support 500 using the fixing element 550, for example, a bolt or the like. The rotating unit 400 is in a state of being vertically disposed, and the support 500 and the jig 600 are also vertically disposed in parallel to each other to approach the injection molded product 700.
The robot arm 350 travels along the moving line 100 (the X motion) to set a basic position to approach the injection molded product 700, sets a precise position by the Y motion, moves up and down (the Z motion) to adjust a height, allows the injection molded product 700 to be attached to the adhesive element 650 to lift up again (the Z motion), and places the injection molded product 700 down through the X and Y motion when reaching a destination, for example, a conveyer belt 1900. Here, the rotating unit 400 of the robot arm 350 ascended through the Z motion rotates at 90 degrees prior to the X and Y motions to horizontally convey the injection molded product 700 attached to the adhesive element 650. The horizontal conveyance of the injection molded product 700 is applied to enable a stable arrival of the injection molded product 700 on the conveyer belt 1900 and overcome a space limit. Due to the injection molder continuously operating, the injection molded product 700 to be conveyed by the take-out robot may be damaged by the injection molder. In addition, the injection molded product 700 may fall from the adhesive element 650 due to a turbulent vibration of the injection molder. Further, the injection molded product 700 may collide with a worker around the injection molder. In the case of the injection molded product 700 being vertically conveyed in a small space, a larger space may be required for the conveyance. Thus, the space may need to be reduced (see FIG. 3).
According to a conventional method, the injection molded product 700 conveyed by the robot arm 350 needs to pass through a large-sized expensive electronic scale to measure the weight of the injection molded product 700 prior to being placed on the conveyer belt 900 in order to determine whether the injection molded product 700 is desirable or faulty. The injection molded product 700 may be excessively or insufficiently molded and thus, become faulty, due to various factors such as an injection temperature, pressure, and time. Thus, a conveyer belt 1900 may be placed on a scale 800 and a direction to which a desirable product is conveyed is set. Simultaneously, an opposite direction is set as a direction to which a faulty product is conveyed. The faulty product is set to be put into a collection box. Accordingly, the conveying direction may be differently set based on a result of measuring the weight. To determine whether the injection molded product 700 is desirable or faulty based on the measured weight, a large space may be required for conveyance performed by the robot arm 350, installation of the conveyer belt 1900 used to convey the desirable product, an additional scale, and the determination. For example, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2010-0065950 discloses a lamp faultiness detector provided on a conveyer belt.
In addition, the injection molded product 700 conveyed by the robot arm 350 may not be immediately conveyed to a destination, but pass through the determination subsequent to the measurement of the weight, and thus, time is greatly delayed. Moreover, a moving direction of the conveyer belt 900 needs to be differently controlled due to an amount of time used to reset the scale 800 and accordingly, there is a problem in that a conveying speed greatly decreases and productivity deteriorates.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds