Abstract:
A wheel feeder for supplying a wheel to a wheel mounting factory is disclosed. The wheel feeder includes: a vertical lifter for receiving a wheel transferred from a transferring conveyor; a vertical conveyor for receiving the wheel from the vertical lifter and transferring the wheel to a wheel mounting factory; and a wheel stopper unit mounted to the vertical lifter to supply the wheel to the vertical conveyor without damaging the wheel.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0095405 filed on Sep. 19, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a wheel feeder, and more particularly, to a wheel feeder in which a wheel stopper unit is installed in a vertical lifter. 
         [0004]    2. Background Art 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  shows an operation of a wheel feeder according to a conventional art. The conventional wheel feeder of  FIG. 1  comprises a transferring conveyor  1  for transferring a wheel  2 , a vertical conveyor  5  for supplying the wheel transferred from the transferring conveyor  1  to a wheel mounting factory (not shown) arranged therebelow, and a conveying rail  3  installed between the transferring conveyor  1  and the vertical conveyor  5  to convey the wheel  2  from the transferring conveyor  1  to the vertical conveyor  5 . 
         [0006]    A guide rail  6  for receiving the wheel  2  from the conveying rail  3  is inclinedly installed in one side of the vertical conveyor  5 , and the vertical conveyor  5  has a wheel guide bar  5   a  on which the wheel  2  supplied from the guide rail  6  is rested. 
         [0007]    A seesaw stopper  4  for guiding the wheel  2  to the wheel guide bar  5   a  from the guide rail  6  is installed between the guide rail  6  and the wheel guide bar  5   a.    
         [0008]    An operation of the conventional wheel feeder is described below. 
         [0009]    The wheel  2  transferred by the transferring conveyor  1  is rested onto the conveying rail  3 , and one side of the conveying rail  3  is raised so that the conveying rail  3  gets inclined at the same angle as the guide rail  6  which inclines to the vertical conveyor  5 . The wheel  2  is transferred along the conveying rail  3  and the guide rail  6  which are inclined and is guided by the seesaw stopper  4  to be rested onto the wheel guide bar  5   a  formed in the vertical conveyor  5 . 
         [0010]    When the wheel is rested on the wheel guide bar  5   a , the vertical conveyor  5  rotates to supply the wheel to the wheel mounting factory (not shown) located below the vertical conveyor  5 . 
         [0011]    However, due to an impact generated during the process for transferring the wheel from the conveying rail to the vertical conveyor, a frame and a tire of the wheel may get damaged, and the guide rail  6 , the seesaw stopper  4  and the wheel guide  5   a  which are arranged in the vertical conveyor  5  bar may get damaged. 
         [0012]    The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0013]    The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the aforementioned problems associated with prior arts and one primary object of the present invention is to provide a wheel feeder which can feed a wheel without damaging a frame and a tire. 
         [0014]    In one aspect, the present invention provides a wheel feeder for supplying a wheel to a wheel mounting factory, comprising: a vertical lifter for receiving a wheel transferred from a transferring conveyor; a vertical conveyor for receiving the wheel from the vertical lifter and transferring the wheel to a wheel mounting factory; and a wheel stopper unit mounted to the vertical lifter to supply the wheel to the vertical conveyor without damaging the wheel. 
         [0015]    In a preferred embodiment, the wheel stopper unit comprises a seesaw stopper on which the wheel transferred from the transferring conveyor is firstly rested and a stop arm on which the wheel supplied from the seesaw stopper is secondly rested. 
         [0016]    Preferably, in the embodiment, the seesaw stopper is provided with a sensor for detecting position of the transferred wheel such that when the wheel is detected to be rested on the seesaw stopper, the seesaw stopper can be moved in an upper direction of the vertical lifter. 
         [0017]    Also preferably, in the embodiment, the stop arm comprises a resting portion on which the wheel supplied from the seesaw stopper is rested, a link portion which is hinge-coupled to the resting portion to rotate the resting portion in order to supply the wheel rested on the resting portion onto the vertical conveyor, and a cylinder portion for operating the link portion. 
         [0018]    Suitably, the link portion is provided with a sensor for detecting rotation direction of the wheel such that when the rotation direction is detected to be in a predetermined range, the speed of the stop arm can be reduced for the wheel rested on the resting portion of the stop arm to be rested onto the wheel guide bar at a low speed. Also suitably, the cylinder portion is supported by a bracket installed in the vertical lifter. Further suitably, one side of the link portion is hinge-coupled to the bracket. 
         [0019]    In another preferred embodiment, a wheel guide bar on which the wheel supplied from the stop arm is rested is formed in the vertical conveyor in a direction crossing a longitudinal direction of the vertical conveyor. 
         [0020]    Other aspects of the invention are discussed infra. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    The above and other features of the present invention will be described in reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1  shows an operation of a wheel feeder according to a conventional art; 
           [0023]      FIG. 2A  shows a state that a wheel is rested on a seesaw stopper of a wheel feeder according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 2B  shows a state that the wheel is rested on a stop arm of the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0025]      FIG. 2C  shows a state that the wheel is rested on a wheel guide bard of the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0026]    Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures. 
         [0027]      FIG. 2A  shows a state that a wheel is rested on a seesaw stopper of a wheel feeder according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0028]      FIG. 2B  shows a state that the wheel is rested on a stop arm of the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2C  shows a state that the wheel is rested on a wheel guide bard of the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0029]    As shown in  FIGS. 2A to 2C , the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises a vertical lifter  10  for receiving a wheel  40  from the transferring conveyor, a vertical conveyor  20  for receiving the wheel  40  from the vertical lifter  10  and transferring the wheel  40  to the wheel mounting factor (not shown), and a wheel stopper unit  30  mounted to the vertical lifter  10  to supply the wheel  40  to the vertical conveyor  20  without damaging the wheel  40 . 
         [0030]    The wheel stopper unit  30  comprises a seesaw stopper  31  on which the wheel  40  transferred from the transferring conveyor is firstly rested on and a stop arm  32  on which the wheel  40  supplied from the seesaw stopper  31  is secondly rested. The seesaw stopper  31  comprises a sensor  31   a  for moving the seesaw stopper  31  in an upper direction of the vertical lifter  10  when the wheel is rested on the seesaw stopper, and the stop arm  32  comprises a resting portion  32   a  on which the wheel  40  supplied from the seesaw stopper  31  is rested, a link portion  32   b  which is hinge-coupled to the resting portion  32   a  to rotate the resting portion  32   a  in order to supply the wheel rested on the resting portion  32   a  onto the vertical conveyor  20 , and a cylinder portion  32   c  for operating the link portion  32   b.    
         [0031]    A wheel guide bar  21  on which the wheel  40  supplied from the stop arm  32  is rested is formed in the vertical conveyor  20  in a direction crossing a longitudinal direction of the vertical conveyor  20 . A rotation direction detecting sensor  33  which controls a speed of the stop arm  32  to rest the wheel  40  rested on the resting portion  32   a  of the stop arm  32  onto the wheel guide bar  21  at a low speed is mounted to the link portion  32   b.    
         [0032]    The cylinder portion  32   c  is supported by a bracket  34  installed in the vertical lifter  10 , and one side of the link portion  32   b  may be hinge-coupled to the bracket  34 . 
         [0033]    An operation of the wheel feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described below. 
         [0034]    When the wheel transferred from the transferring conveyor is supplied to the vertical lifter  10 , the wheel  40  is rested on the seesaw stopper  31  installed on the vertical lifter  10 , and when the sensor  31   a  mounted to the seesaw stopper  31  detects when the wheel  40  is rested on the seesaw stopper  31 , the seesaw stopper  31  is raised in the upper direction of the vertical lifter  10 , so that the wheel  40  is transferred to and rested on the resting portion  32   a  of the stop arm  32 . 
         [0035]    After the wheel  40  is rested on the resting portion  32   a  of the stop arm  32 , a limit switch (not shown) connected with the rotation direction detecting sensor  33  is switched to a low speed down mode, and so the cylinder portion  32   c  of the stop arm  32  operates to rotate the resting portion  32   a  of the stop arm  32  through the link portion  32   b , so that the wheel  40  is rested on the wheel guide bar  21  formed in the vertical conveyor  20 . 
         [0036]    When the wheel  40  is rested on the wheel guide bar  21 , the wheel  40  is supplied to the wheel mounting factory (not shown) located below the vertical conveyor  20  by rotation of the vertical conveyor  20 . 
         [0037]    After the above described process is completed, the seesaw stopper  31  moves down to prepare for transferring the next wheel, and the stop arm  32  also returns to an original state by switching of the limit switch (not shown). Thereafter, the above described process is repeated. 
         [0038]    As described above, the wheel feeder according to the present invention comprises the vertical lifter for receiving the wheel from the transferring conveyor, the vertical conveyor for receiving the wheel from the vertical lifter and transferring the wheel to the wheel mounting factor, and the wheel stopper unit mounted to the vertical lifter to supply the wheel to the vertical conveyor without damaging the wheel  40  and thus supplies the wheel to the wheel mounting factory without damaging the wheel. 
         [0039]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and variations may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims, and their equivalents.