Patent Description:
An industrial robot is sometimes used as a plate material feed device to feed plate-shaped workpieces to a plate material processing machine such as a press brake, for example. In this case, in order to accurately set the workpieces at a feed position relative to the plate material processing machine, the workpieces are positioned by contacting workpiece positioning members on the workpiece placement surface of the workpiece placement platform. Then, the workpiece thus positioned is sucked and fed by a vacuum pad or the like provided to the plate material feed device (see Patent Literature <NUM>, for example).

In the configuration described in Patent Literature <NUM>, work materials are positioned in the Y-axis direction by causing their Y-axis reference edges in the Y-axis direction to contact Y-axis reference members provided to a loading device. Moreover, the work materials are positioned in the X-axis direction by causing their X-axis reference edges to contact an X-axis reference member. In short, in the configuration described in Patent Literature <NUM>, the work materials are positioned by causing the work materials' X and Y reference edges, perpendicular to each other, to contact the X- and Y-axis reference members. Hence, with the configuration described in Patent Literature <NUM>, the work materials are accurately positioned in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction on the loading device.

In the configuration described in Patent Literature <NUM>, large work materials long in the X-axis direction are the processing targets, as illustrated in <FIG>. Then, in the case of positioning small workpieces short in the X-axis direction, for example, workpieces in the first stack contact the above-mentioned X-axis reference member and Y-axis reference members and are therefore accurately positioned in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction.

However, while workpieces in the second stack contact the Y-axis reference members and are therefore accurately positioned in the Y-axis direction, they cannot contact the X-axis reference member and are therefore difficult to accurately position in the X-axis direction.

<CIT> discloses a workpiece placement platform device according to the preamble of the appended claim <NUM>.

Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece placement platform device having a workpiece positioning member movable in and out relative to the upper surface of a placement platform on which to place workpieces. The present invention, solving the above object, is defined in independent claim <NUM>. Preferred embodiments are laid down in the dependent claims.

According to the present invention, the workpiece positioning member which partitions the workpiece placement surface of the placement platform into sections is provided to be movable in and out relative to the workpiece placement surface. Thus, when the workpiece positioning member is not used, large workpieces can be placed and positioned on the workpiece placement surface. Further, in the case where the workpieces are small, some workpieces placed on the workpiece placement surface are positioned using the workpiece positioning member. In this case, the workpiece placement surface of the placement platform is partitioned and used as sections. This reduces wasted regions on the workpiece placement surface. Accordingly, more workpieces can be placed and positioned.

Referring to <FIG>, a workpiece placement platform device <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present invention has a mount <NUM>. On this mount <NUM>, a placement platform <NUM> is provided on which to place a stack of plate-shaped workpieces W. Moreover, on one side of the placement platform <NUM>, there is provided an X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> for positioning one side edge (side edge in the X-axis direction) of the stack of workpieces W on the placement platform <NUM> by contacting the one side edge. The X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> is provided such that its position is adjustable in the Y-axis direction according to the size of the workpieces W.

Specifically, the mount <NUM> is provided with a Y-axis direction guide member <NUM>. Further, on this guide member <NUM>, a positioning block <NUM> integrally provided with the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> is provided such that its position is movable. Thus, the position of the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> is adjustable according to the size of the workpieces W in the Y-axis direction.

Also, on another side of the placement platform <NUM>, there are a plurality of Y-axis direction positioning members 13A and 13B that position another side edge (side edge in the Y-axis direction) of the stack of workpieces W on the placement platform <NUM> by contacting the side edge, the Y-axis direction positioning members 13A and 13B being spaced from each other in the X-axis direction. Thus, when the workpieces W on the placement platform <NUM> are positioned by contacting the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> and the Y-axis direction positioning members 13A and 13B, the workpieces W are accurately positioned in the X-axis and Y-axis directions.

Meanwhile, <FIG> exemplarily illustrates a case where large workpieces W with substantially the same dimensions as the placement platform <NUM> are placed on an upper surface (workpiece placement surface) 5U of the placement platform <NUM>. However, there is a case where, as illustrated in <FIG>, precut small cut materials with ordered dimensions are placed and these workpieces W are caused to contact the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> and one Y-axis direction positioning member 13A to position the workpieces W.

In this case, there is an empty space on the other Y-axis direction positioning member 13B side of the upper surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM>. In a case where similar cut materials (workpieces) W are placed in this empty space, they can be positioned in the Y-axis direction by contacting the Y-axis direction positioning member 13B. For the empty space, however, there is not any positioning member equivalent to the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM>. For this reason, the workpieces W placed in the empty space are difficult to position in the X-axis direction.

Here, it is possible to provide a positioning member equivalent to the X-axis direction positioning member <NUM> at a position for the empty space. In this case, however, this positioning member will need to be detached if workpieces W are to be placed on the entire upper surface of the placement platform <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>. In other words, in the case where an X-axis direction positioning member is provided for the empty space, it is necessary to attach or detach the X-axis direction positioning member depending on the size of the workpieces W. The X-axis direction positioning member is made of metal and is heavy, the work of attaching or detaching the X-axis direction positioning member is troublesome.

For this reason, in this embodiment, the X-axis direction positioning member for the empty space is configured to be easily movable in and out relative to the workpiece placement surface of the placement platform <NUM>.

Specifically, one Y-axis direction positioning member 13B is provided such that its position is adjustable in the X-axis direction. Further, a support pillar <NUM> (see <FIG>) is provided on an end side of the mount <NUM> in the Y-axis direction at a position away from the Y-axis direction positioning member 13A, and an upper guide member <NUM> extending horizontally in the X-axis direction is integrally provided on an upper portion of the support pillar <NUM>.

Moreover, on the mount <NUM>, a lower guide member <NUM> is provided in parallel to the upper guide member <NUM>, the lower guide member <NUM> being located at a position below the upper guide member <NUM>. Further, the Y-axis direction positioning member 13B is supported on the upper and lower guide members <NUM> and <NUM> such that its position is adjustable in the X-axis direction.

A support block <NUM> is provided between the Y-axis direction positioning members 13A and 13B around the end of the mount <NUM> in the Y-axis direction. The proximal end side of a pivot arm <NUM> is turnably provided on this support block <NUM>, the pivot arm <NUM> being pivotable about a vertical axis. The pivot arm <NUM> forms an in-out member movable in and out relative to the upper surface (workpiece placement surface) 5U of the placement platform <NUM> by pivoting horizontally.

Meanwhile, the configuration that moves the in-out member (pivot arm <NUM>) in and out relative to the upper surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM> can be a configuration that moves the in-out member in the Y-axis direction, instead of the configuration that pivots the in-out member horizontally as described above. The support block <NUM> is provided with a stopper <NUM> so that the longitudinal direction of the pivot arm <NUM> can be parallel to the Y-axis direction when the pivot arm <NUM> is positioned above the upper surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM>. Thus, when the pivot arm <NUM> is pivoted and positioned above the upper surface of the placement platform <NUM>, the pivot arm <NUM> contacts the stopper <NUM> and is hence positioned in parallel to the Y-axis direction.

On the upper surface of the pivot arm <NUM>, there is provided a guide member <NUM> parallel to the longitudinal direction of the pivot arm <NUM>. On this guide member <NUM>, a slide block <NUM> is provided to be movable for adjustment. In order to fix the slide block <NUM> at an adjusted position, the slide block <NUM> is provided with a lock lever <NUM> having a fixing screw (not illustrated) capable of pressing (fastening) the guide member <NUM> with its distal end.

Thus, the slide block <NUM> can be moved along the guide member <NUM> for adjustment and fixed as the adjusted position.

The slide block <NUM> is provided with a workpiece positioning member <NUM> capable of positioning X-axis direction side edges of workpieces (cut materials) W placed on the placement platform <NUM> by contacting the side edges, the slide block <NUM> being provided to be capable of being laid down. Specifically, the slide block <NUM> is provided with a pivot shaft <NUM> in the X-axis direction, and the workpiece positioning member <NUM> pivotally supported on this pivot shaft <NUM>. Hence, the workpiece positioning member <NUM> is pivotable into an upright state, as illustrated in <FIG>, and a state of being laid down over the guide member <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>.

By horizontally pivoting the pivot arm <NUM> with the workpiece positioning member <NUM> in the above laid state, the workpiece positioning member <NUM> can be retracted to the outside of the upper surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>. In other words, the workpiece positioning member <NUM> can be moved in and out relative to the workpiece placement surface (upper surface) 5U of the placement platform <NUM> by pivoting the pivot arm <NUM>.

Meanwhile, the support block <NUM> is desirably provided such that its position is adjustable in the X-axis direction according to dimensions of cut materials to be placed on the workpiece placement surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM>. With such a configuration, it is possible to easily handle a case where the plurality of cut materials to be placed on the placement platform <NUM> have different dimensions.

As can be understood from the above description, according to this embodiment, large workpieces W of a fixed size can be placed on the upper surface 5U of the placement platform <NUM>. Also, precut small cut materials can be placed on the placement platform <NUM>. In this case, the workpiece positioning member <NUM> is positioned above the upper surface of the placement platform <NUM> and positions the cut materials. Thus, even when cut materials are placed at a plurality of positions, the cut materials are placed in an accurately positioned state in the X- and Y-axis directions.

Claim 1:
A workpiece placement platform device (<NUM>) comprising:
an X-axis direction positioning member (<NUM>) provided on one side of a placement platform (<NUM>) on which to place a plate-shaped workpiece (W) and configured to position one side edge of the workpiece (W) in an X-axis direction by contacting the one side edge;
a Y-axis direction positioning member (13A, 13B) provided on another side of the placement platform (<NUM>) and configured to position another side edge of the workpiece (W) in a Y-axis direction by contacting the another side edge;
an in-out member (<NUM>) that is movable in and out by pivoting horizontally or moving in the Y-axis direction relative to a workpiece placement surface (5U) of the placement platform (<NUM>); and
a workpiece positioning member (<NUM>) configured to partition the workpiece placement surface (5U) into sections in the X-axis direction, and
wherein a position of the X-axis direction positioning member (<NUM>) is adjustable in the Y-axis direction,
the workpiece placement platform device being characterized in that it further comprises:
a guide member (<NUM>) on an upper surface of the in-out member (<NUM>) which is provided with a slide block (<NUM>) that is movable along the guide member (<NUM>),
the slide block (<NUM>) being provided with the workpiece positioning member (<NUM>).