Abstract:
The article conveyor employs two cams of different configuration. One cam imparts oscillatory motion to an output shaft; whereas the other cam imparts a reciprocating motion. The article conveyor moves in a conveying direction from a first position to a second position and back to the first position. Motion is such that the time taken to move from the first position to the second position is longer than the time taken to move from the second position back to the first position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present application claims priority upon Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-222042 filed on Jul. 23, 2001, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is related to an article conveyor device. In particular, the present invention relates to an article conveyor device having an input shaft supported movably to a housing, an output shaft supported movably in respect to the housing, a first cam to oscillate the output shaft by cooperating with the input shaft, and a second cam different to the first cam, to reciprocate the output shaft by cooperating with the input shaft, and an article conveyor portion which oscillates and reciprocates with the output shaft. 
     2. Related Art 
     Conventionally, there has been proposed various devices to convey and align articles such as so-called unpackaged parts, and to feed them one by one. These devices are generally referred to as a “parts feeder”. There are various types of parts feeders such as a vibratory type, a rotating type, an oscillating type, a belt type, and a shaking type, in which a vibratory parts feeder is the most common. This vibratory parts feeder is a device where articles to be conveyed are placed on a vibrating surface, and by use of a relative slip and jump phenomenon between them, alignment and conveying of the articles are performed. 
     An exemplary structure of a vibratory parts feeder is described referring to FIG.  8 . As shown in FIG. 8, a bowl  100  is supported in a state biased by a few pairs of supporting springs  104  in respect to a base  102 . Further, the base  102  is provided with an electromagnet  106 , and the bowl  100  may be drawn near by this electromagnet  106 . Therefore, if an alternating voltage with a predetermined frequency is applied to the electromagnet  106 , the bowl  100  vibrates according to the frequency. In this way, the article (work) W accommodated in the bowl  100  is appropriately aligned and conveyed and fed from a gate  100   a  one by one. 
     However, a vibratory parts feeder having such a structure has various problems. For example, the problems are such as a lot of time in adjustment, magnetization of work, and generation of noise. In particular, regarding noise, in the case of a vibratory parts feeder with the above described structure, the work is made to jump in respect to the bowl  100  and conveyed, thus noise is generated when the work lands on the bowl  100 . 
     In view of the above problems, there is proposed a vibratory parts feeder using a cam, for example, such as that shown in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 58-6810 (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho 63-24891). A device described therein has a bowl supported rotatably about a center shaft. The bowl is rotated while horizontally vibrated by a cam so that a significant difference in accelerations for back and forth strokes exists, so as to convey the work inside it using friction force and inertial force. 
     In this device, since a cam is used, and the bowl horizontally oscillates and does not reciprocate in an up-and-down direction, the work does not jump on the bowl, and thus this device is advantageous in that a conventional problem regarding noise may be eased. However, since with this device the bowl horizontally oscillates and does not reciprocally move in the up-and-down direction as described above, the work on the bowl is always contacted toward the bowl with a predetermined force by gravity. 
     In order to efficiently convey the work in the bowl, it is preferable for a contact pressure of the work in respect to the bowl to vary depending on a direction of the bowl movement, i.e., in the case the bowl moves in the conveying direction of the work, and in the case the bowl moves in an opposite direction to the above. In other words, it is preferable at the time the bowl moves in the conveying direction of the work, to make the work contact against the bowl with a stronger force, to suppress slipping of the work in respect to the bowl and to actively convey the work, whereas, it is preferable at the time the bowl moves in an opposite direction to a conveying direction of the work, to make the work contact against the bowl with a slighter force, to encourage the work to slip in respect to the bowl and to suppress the work from returning to an opposite direction of the conveying direction of the work. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above problems, one object of the present invention is to provide an effective article conveyor device having a first cam, and a second cam different to the first cam. 
     One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above and other objects is an article conveyor device conveying an article, comprising: 
     an input shaft movably supported in respect to a housing; 
     an output shaft movably supported in respect to the housing; 
     a first cam to make the output shaft oscillate by cooperating with the input shaft; 
     a second cam different to the first cam, to make the output shaft perform a reciprocating motion by cooperating with the input shaft; and 
     an article conveyor portion oscillating and performing a reciprocating motion with the output shaft. 
     For example, the first cam may be a roller gear cam, 
     the output shaft may be provided with a plurality of cam followers contacting the roller gear cam, and 
     the roller gear cam and the cam followers may constitute a roller gear cam mechanism. 
     The output shaft may be provided with a contacting portion contacting the second cam, and the contacting portion may be contacting a peripheral surface of the second cam as biased towards the input shaft by the biasing member. 
     At the time the output shaft is oscillated by the first cam, the contacting portion may slide in respect to the second cam as contacting the second cam. 
     The output shaft may be provided with a concave engaging portion which engages the second cam, and 
     the engaging portion may be engaged with the second cam of the input shaft. 
     At the time the article conveyor portion is oscillated by the first cam, the engaging portion may slide in respect to the second cam as engaged with the second cam. 
     The oscillation may be in a horizontal direction, and the reciprocating motion may be in a vertical direction. 
     At the time the article conveyor portion is oscillated to move from a first position in a conveying direction of an article to a second position, and to move from the second position to an opposite direction in a conveying direction of the article to the first position, 
     a time taken for the article conveyor portion to move from the first position to the second position may be longer than a time taken for the article conveyor portion to move from the second position to the first position. 
     In an oscillating motion of the article conveyor portion, the article conveyor portion may perform constant speed travel for a predetermined time, during a time period since movement of an article in a conveying direction is started until the movement is ended. 
     At the time a speed of the article conveyor portion directed upwards is increasing, the article conveyor portion may perform the constant speed traveling in an oscillating motion. 
     At the time the article conveyor portion is moving in a direction opposite to a conveying direction of an article in an oscillating motion, a speed of the article conveyor portion directed downwards may increase. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of further example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a transverse cross sectional view of a device; 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the device; 
     FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a modification of the device; 
     FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of an article conveyor device; 
     FIG. 5 is a diagram explaining a reciprocating motion of the device; 
     FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining an oscillating motion of the device; 
     FIGS. 7A-7F are timing charts of the oscillation and reciprocating motion; and 
     FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a structure of a conventional vibratory parts feeder. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A structure of an article conveyor device according to the present invention is explained referring to FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5  and  6 . FIG. 1 is a transverse cross section of the device, and FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the device. FIG. 3 is a vertical section of a modification of the device. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a structure of the article conveyor device. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a reciprocal motion of the device. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the oscillating motion of the device. 
     An input shaft  30  is rotatably supported by a housing  10  via an input shaft bearing  50 , and is driven and rotated by a drive source such as a motor which is not shown. 
     An output shaft  20  is rotatably and slidably supported by an output shaft supporting portion  12  provided in the housing  10  via an output shaft bearing  40 . Further, the output shaft supporting portion  12  may be formed integrally with the housing  10 , or may be manufactured as a separate part, and then fixed to the housing  10  by means such as screw fastening. 
     The input shaft  30  is provided with a first cam  32  to oscillate an output shaft  20  by cooperating with the input shaft  30 , and a second cam  34  different to the first cam  32  to reciprocate the output shaft  20  by cooperating with the input shaft  30 . When the input shaft  30  rotates, the first cam  32  and the second cam  34  rotate with the input shaft  30 . 
     The first cam  32  is provided with an eleventh cam surface  32   a,  and a twelfth cam surface  32   b  different to the eleventh cam surface  32   a,  along a rotating direction of the input shaft  30 . Further, the output shaft  20  is provided with a first cam follower  26   a  corresponding to the eleventh cam surface  32   a,  and a second cam follower  26   b  different to the first cam follower  26   a  corresponding to the twelfth cam surface  32   b.    
     As can be seen, the first cam  32  is a roller gear cam, and the output shaft  20  is provided with a plurality of cam followers (the first cam follower  26   a  and the second cam follower  26   b ) which contact the roller gear cam, and the roller gear cam and cam followers constitute a roller gear cam mechanism. 
     Since the roller gear cam is constituted in this way, by adjusting a distance between the input shaft  30  and the output shaft  20 , a contacting state of the cam surface and the cam followers is adjusted to create a pre-compression state where backlash can be avoided. Therefore, with a simple mechanism, the cam device provided in the article conveyor device may be made faster, with higher precision, and greater rigidity. 
     Further, when the first cam  32  rotates the output shaft  20  in a predetermined direction, the eleventh cam surface  32   a  presses the first cam follower  26   a,  and at this time, the first cam follower  26   a  is inhibited from detaching, i.e. jumping from the eleventh cam surface  32   a  by the twelfth cam surface  32   b  and the second cam follower  26   b,  and when the first cam  32  rotates the output shaft  20  to an opposite direction of a predetermined direction, the twelfth cam surface  32   b  presses the second cam follower  26   b,  and at this time, and at this time the second cam follower  26   b  is inhibited from detaching, i.e. jumping from the twelfth cam surface  32   b  by the eleventh cam surface  32   a  and the first cam follower  26   a.    
     The second cam  34  is formed with a cam surface at its peripheral surface along the rotation direction of the input shaft  30 . Further, the output shaft  20  is provided at a tip portion with a lifting arm  24  having a concave engaging portion  25 . The engaging portion  25  engages with a peripheral surface of the second cam  34 . In this way, the output shaft  20  is certainly reciprocally driven due to the cam surface of the second cam  34 . From a state shown in FIG. 2, a state where the input shaft  30  has rotated approximately 60 degrees is shown in FIG.  5 . As can be clearly seen from FIG. 5, when the input shaft  30  rotates approximately 60 degrees, the output shaft  20  is lowered a predetermined amount in respect to the housing  10 . Further, when the input shaft  30  rotates approximately another 60 degrees from the state shown in FIG. 5, the output shaft  20  is raised to a state shown in FIG.  2 . 
     Further, as shown in FIG. 6, at the time the output shaft  20  is oscillated by the first cam  32 , the engaging portion  25  oscillates in respect to the second cam  34  in an engaged state with the second cam  34 . Therefore, with the oscillation of the output shaft  20 , the action of a reciprocating motion of the output shaft  20  by the second cam  34  is not impaired. 
     Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a contacting portion  25   c  is provided contacting the second cam  34  at the tip portion of the lifting arm  24 , and the contacting portion  25   c  may be made to contact the second cam  34  in a state biased in the direction of the input shaft  30  by a biasing member  60  such as a spring, radially and inwardly to input shaft  30 . Further, also in this case, at the time the output shaft  20  is made to oscillate by the first cam  32 , the contacting portion  25   c  oscillates in respect to the second cam  34  in a state contacting the second cam  34 . Therefore, with the oscillation of the output shaft  20 , a reciprocating motion of the output shaft  20  by the second cam  34  is not impaired. 
     In this way, it is possible to use a structure shown in FIG. 3 in place of a structure shown in FIG. 2, but the structure of FIG. 2 is advantageous in that, while the input shaft  30  rotates once, the output shaft  20  can be oscillated and moved up and down a plurality of times, and further jumping of the engaging portion  25  in respect to the second cam  34  may be inhibited. 
     On the other hand, in the structure shown in FIG. 2, the shape of the second cam  34  yield to a certain restriction in order to engage the peripheral surface of the second cam  34  to the engaging portion  25 , but in the structure shown in FIG. 3 is advantageous in that there is no such restriction. 
     Further, in this embodiment, the lifting arm  24  was screwed to the output shaft  20 , however the lifting arm  24  maybe integrally formed with the output shaft  20 . 
     The second cam  34  has a twenty-first cam surface  34   a,  and a twenty-second cam surface  34   b  different to the twenty-first cam surface  34   a.  The engaging portion  25  is provided with a first engaging portion  25   a,  and a second engaging portion  25   b  different to the first engaging portion  25   a.  The twenty-first cam surface  34   a  and the first engaging portion  25   a,  and the twenty-second cam surface  34   b  and the second engaging portion  25   b  are provided at opposite sides from each other in respect to a rotation axis of the output shaft  20 . Therefore, a reciprocating motion of the output shaft  20  by the second cam  34  may be certainly performed. 
     Further, the output shaft  20  has an output flange  22  at its end portion in the direction of its rotation axis, and the output flange  22  is attached with a bowl which functions as an article conveyor portion  70 . Therefore, when the input shaft  30  is rotationally driven, the bowl oscillates and reciprocates with the output shaft  20 . Further, the oscillation is in a horizontal direction, and the reciprocating motion is in a vertical direction, so that an article accommodated in the bowl can be conveyed by using the action of gravity. Further, since the structure of the bowl is similar to that known conventionally, a detailed explanation will not be given. 
     Operation of Device According to the Embodiment 
     An operation of the article conveyor device according to this embodiment is described in FIGS. 7A-7F. FIGS. 7A-7F are timing charts of oscillation and reciprocating motion. The timing charts in the upper half, FIGS. 7A-7C, show, from the left in order, a relationship between an oscillation displacement and time, a relationship between an oscillation speed and time, a relationship between an oscillation acceleration and time, respectively. The timing charts in the lower half, FIGS. 7D-7F, show, in order from the left, a relationship between an up-and-down motion displacement and time, a relationship between an up-and-down motion speed and time, a relationship between an up-and-down motion acceleration and time, respectively. The time axis of the three drawings in the upper half and the three drawings in the lower half match the respective drawings above and below. 
     As described above, when the first cam  32  and the second cam  34  rotate, the output shaft  20  and the bowl attached to the output shaft  20  oscillate and reciprocate. First, the oscillating motion is described. As shown in FIGS. 7A-7C, the bowl oscillates from a point A in an article conveying direction to a point B, and from point B moves in an opposite direction to the article conveying direction to point A. In other words, the bowl performs oscillation between point A and point B in a horizontal direction. 
     At this time, a time taken for a bowl to move from point A to point B is longer than a time taken for a bowl to move from point B to point A. Therefore, it becomes possible to actively convey the article. This is because by increasing the time for the bowl to move the article in a conveying direction, acceleration in the conveying direction of the bowl may be suppressed, so that slip of the article in the bowl in respect to the bowl does not easily occur. On the contrary, at the time the bowl moves to an opposite direction to that of the conveying direction of the article, a sudden movement is performed so that acceleration is increased, and slip of the article on the bowl may easily occur in respect to the bowl. 
     Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, in the oscillating motion of the bowl, during the time period since movement of the article starts from point A until it reaches point B, the bowl travels at a constant speed for a predetermined time. When the bowl is performing a constant speed movement, a force caused by acceleration of the article conveyor portion  70  does not apply to the article supported on the bowl, thus the article does not slip in respect to the bowl. Therefore, at least while the bowl is performing a constant speed traveling, slipping of the article may be suppressed. 
     Next, a reciprocating motion of the bowl in the up-and-down direction (vertical direction) is described. As shown in FIGS. 7D-7F, when the bowl is positioned at point A, the bowl is being lowered. The bowl is further lowered and reaches a point D which is a lowest point. When the bowl reaches point D, then it rises and reaches a point E which is a highest point. In this way, the bowl performs a reciprocating motion in the up-and-down direction between point D and E. 
     Next, a relationship between oscillation and reciprocating motion is described. As shown in FIGS. 7A-7F, when the speed of the article conveyor portion  70  directing upwards is increasing, that is when acceleration of the reciprocating motion is positive, the article conveyor portion  70  performs constant speed travel in the oscillating motion in a horizontal direction. Here when the speed of the article conveyor portion  70  directed upwards is increasing, the article on the article conveyor portion  70  is pressed against the article conveyor portion  70 . Further, when the article conveyor portion  70  is performing a constant speed travel in an oscillating motion in a horizontal direction, a force applying to the article in a horizontal direction resulting from acceleration of the article conveyor portion  70  is not generated. Therefore, in the above case, it is possible to certainly suppress slipping of the article in respect to the article conveyor portion  70 . 
     Further, in the oscillating motion of the article conveyor portion  70 , at the time the article conveyor portion  70  is moving to an opposite direction to the conveying direction of the article, a speed of the article conveyor portion  70  directed downwards increases, that is, the reciprocating motion acceleration becomes negative. Here, when the speed of the article conveyor portion  70  directed downwards is increasing, the contact pressure between the article on the article conveyor portion  70  and the article conveyor portion  70  decreases, and the friction force decreases, so that the article easily slips on the article conveyor portion  70 . Therefore, in the oscillating motion of the article conveyor portion  70 , at the time the article conveyor portion  70  is moving to an opposite direction to the conveying direction of the article, the speed of the article conveyor portion  70  directed downwards increases so that the article slips in respect to the article conveyor portion  70 , and thus movement to an opposite direction to the article conveying direction is suppressed, and as a result the article may be satisfactorily conveyed in the conveying direction. 
     Furthermore, at the time of lowering the bowl in the reciprocating motion in the up-and-down direction as described above, the maximum acceleration of the bowl is preferably in a range in which the article on the bowl does not bound in respect to the bowl. With the maximum acceleration set in such a range, generation of noise due to the article jumping on the bowl may be prevented. 
     In the timing charts as described above, the time taken for the bowl to move from point A to point B is made longer than the time taken for the bowl to move from point B to point A, and in the oscillation motion of the bowl, the bowl is made to travel at a constant speed for a predetermined time, from the time the movement of the article is started from point A until it reaches point B. However, a common timing chart, that is, a timing chart with a sine curve where time taken for the bowl to move from point A to point B is the same as the time taken for the bowl to move from point B to point A, may also be used. 
     Even with such a common timing chart, since this embodiment is provided with a first cam  32  and a second cam  34  different to the first cam  32 , by these two cams, the oscillation motion and the up-and-down motion may respectively be set freely (independently). Therefore, by appropriately setting the shape of the first cam  32  and the second cam  34  in accordance with the use conditions, an effective article conveyor may be realized. 
     According to this embodiment, an oscillation and a reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion are performed by separate cams. In other words, the oscillation of the article conveyor portion is performed by the first cam, and the reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion is performed by the second cam, respectively. Thus, the respective motions of oscillation and the reciprocating motion may be optimized. Furthermore, since the first cam and the second cam both cooperate with the input shaft, it becomes possible to accurately match the timing of the oscillation and the reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion. Thus, a reliable article conveyance becomes possible. Furthermore, generation of noise which was a conventional problem may also be suppressed. 
     Further, the first cam is a roller gear cam, and the output shaft is provided with a plurality of cam followers contacting the roller gear cam, and since the roller gear cam mechanism is constituted by the roller gear cam and cam followers, the oscillation of the article conveyor portion may be certainly performed. 
     The contacting portion provided in the output shaft contacts the peripheral surface of the input shaft in a state biased to a direction of an input shaft by a biasing member, so that a reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion may be certainly performed. 
     At the time the article conveyor portion is oscillated by the first cam, the contacting portion slides in respect to the second cam in a state contacting the second cam, so that the action of a reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion by the second cam is not impaired by the article conveyor portion oscillating. 
     Since the concave engaging portion provided in the output shaft is engaged with the peripheral surface of the input shaft, the reciprocating motion of the output shaft may be certainly performed. Therefore, the reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion which oscillates and performs reciprocation motions with the output shaft, may be certainly performed. 
     At the time the article conveyor portion is oscillated by the first cam, the engaging portion slides in respect to the second cam in a state engaged to the second cam, so that at the time the article conveyor portion is oscillated, a reciprocating motion of the article conveyor portion by the second cam is not impaired. 
     The oscillation is in a horizontal direction, and the reciprocating motion is in a vertical direction, thus the article may be efficiently conveyed using the action of gravity. 
     A time taken for the article conveyor portion to move in a conveying direction of the articles is longer than a time taken to move in an opposite direction to the conveying direction of the articles. Therefore, it becomes possible to certainly convey the article. 
     While the article conveyor portion is performing constant speed traveling, force applied to an article resulting from acceleration of the article conveyor portion is not generated against the article supported on the article conveyor portion, thus the article does not slip in respect to the article conveyor portion. Therefore, it becomes possible to accurately convey the article. 
     When the speed of the article conveyor portion directed upwards is increasing, the article on the article conveyor portion is pressed against the article conveyor portion, and a contact pressure between the article on the article conveyor portion and the article conveyor portion increases, and a friction force increases. Therefore, in this case, if the article conveyor portion performs constant speed traveling in the oscillating motion, the slip of the article in respect to the article conveyor portion maybe suppressed, and as a result the article may be surely conveyed in the conveying direction. 
     In the case the speed of the article conveyor portion directed downwards is increasing, the contact pressure between the article on the article conveyor portion and the article conveyor portion decreases, and the friction force decreases, so that the article easily slips on the article conveyor portion. Therefore, in the oscillating motion of the article conveyor portion, at the time the article conveyor portion is moving to an opposite direction to a conveying direction of the article, with the speed of the article conveyor portion directed downwards increasing, the article slips in respect to the article conveyor portion and it is suppressed from moving to an opposite direction to the article conveying direction, and as a result the article may be satisfactorily conveyed in the conveying direction. 
     While the present invention has been described in detail by way of illustrative and exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art to make various alterations and modifications of the invention set forth herein, without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, all such alterations and modifications are construed to be included within the scope of the present invention, except insofar as limited by the prior art.