JP2004017220A - Wiring processing device of upper arm of industrial robot - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inexpensively provide a compact wiring processing device of an industrial robot with less interference between a robot itself and peripheral equipment, and without need for considering behaviors for stretching and bending a cable and a hose. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises: a pair of first wiring processing devices constituted by U-sectioned annular or semi-annular guides 6, 7, 8 fixed at an upper arm 1 and having an opening 31 at an outer peripheral part of the upper arm 1 for accommodating cable hoses 26, 27 respectively, and U-sectioned annular or semi-annular guides 9, 10, 11 fixed at a wrist base 2 opposite to the annular or semi-annular guides, and having an opening 32; and a pair of second wiring processing devices constituted by U-sectioned annular or semi-annular guides 19, 20 fixed to a wrist movable part 3 and having an opening 34 at an outer peripheral part of the wrist movable part 3, and U-sectioned annular or semi-annular guides 21, 22, 23 fixed to a wrist flange opposite to the annular or semi-annular guides and having an opening 33. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot which can provide a compact and low-cost routing of a cable / hose connected to a work tool attached to the tip of a wrist of an upper arm of an industrial robot. About.
[0002]
2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 9, a conventional industrial robot includes a base 50 as an installation portion, and a turning frame 51 rotatably supported on a vertical first axis a on the base 50. A lower arm 52 rotatably supported in the front-rear direction around a second horizontal axis b on the revolving frame 51 and a third horizontal axis c parallel to the second horizontal axis b above the lower arm 52. An upper arm 1 rotatably supported in the up and down direction, a wrist base 2 rotatably supported on a distal end of the upper arm 1 around a fourth longitudinal axis d, and a fourth axis d on the wrist base 2 A wrist movable portion 3 rotatably supported around a fifth axis e orthogonal to the axis w, and a wrist rotatably supported by the wrist movable portion 3 rotatably around a sixth axis f orthogonal to the fifth axis e. And a flange 4.
[0003]
The cable hoses 26 and 27 for connecting to the work tool 30 attached to the wrist flange 4 are generally routed using support parts 53 as shown in FIGS.
[0004]
A known solution disclosed in FIGS. 10 and 11 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-150382 is to prevent the cable hoses 26 and 27 from interfering with the robot itself. It is located away from the wrist. Therefore, the interference radius around the upper arm and the wrist becomes large, so that there is a problem that the upper arm and the wrist cannot enter the narrow space. In particular, since the operation of the sixth axis f tends to interfere with the robot itself, the operation range of the sixth axis f that can be actually used is limited. A known solution disclosed in FIG. 11 and JP-A-2001-150382 is to relax the cable hoses 26 and 27 between the fifth axis e and the sixth axis f in order to secure the operating range of the sixth axis f. However, there is a problem that it is easy to interfere with peripheral devices. Further, since the elongating and bending behavior of the cables / hoses 26 and 27 differs for each robot, there is a problem that it is difficult to ensure the reliability of the cables / hoses (estimate the life).
[0005]
In recent years, offline teaching on a personal computer that does not use an actual robot has become the mainstream for teaching work to a robot, but it is difficult to simulate the extension and bending behavior of cables and hoses on a personal computer. Therefore, in practice, it is necessary to correct the teaching contents in the actual robot and to correct the routing of the cables and hoses so that the cables and hoses do not interfere with the robot itself and peripheral devices.
[0006]
An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the related art, and has a small interference with the robot itself and peripheral devices, and does not need to consider extension and bending behavior of cables and hoses. There is a case where a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot is provided at low cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an industrial robot wiring processing apparatus capable of performing an operation of ± 180 ° or more on the fourth axis d and the sixth axis f of the robot. It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot.
[0007]
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a revolving frame pivotally supported around a first vertical axis a, and a second horizontal axis b on the revolving frame. And an upper arm rotatably supported in a vertical direction about a horizontal third axis c parallel to the horizontal second axis b above the lower arm. A wrist base rotatably supported around the fourth axis d in the longitudinal direction at the tip of the upper arm, and a wrist base rotatably supported about a fifth axis e orthogonal to the fourth axis d. In an industrial robot having a wrist movable portion and a wrist flange rotatably supported by a wrist movable portion around a sixth axis f orthogonal to the fifth axis e, an outer peripheral portion of the upper arm, an upper arm An annular or semi-annular guide having a fixed U-shaped cross section and an opening, and the annular or semi-annular guide; A pair of first wiring processing devices each having a U-shaped cross-section annular or semi-annular guide fixed to the wrist base and having an opening facing the wrist movable portion; An annular or semi-annular guide having a U-shaped cross-section fixed to the portion and having an opening, and an annular or semi-annular U-shaped cross-section having an opening fixed to a wrist flange opposite the annular or semi-annular guide and having an opening. A pair of second wiring processing devices constituted by guides,
A continuous cable hose for connecting from the rear end of the upper arm to a work tool attachable to the wrist flange is housed in the first and second wiring processing devices by bending it in a U-shape, respectively, and The cable hose between the first and second wiring processing devices is fixed by attaching a support to the upper arm, the wrist base, the wrist movable portion and the wrist flange, and a cable hose and a work tool are connected to the wrist flange tip. For the rotation of each of the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e, and the sixth axis f of the upper arm, the connector accommodated in the first and second wiring processing devices. The above-mentioned prior art is provided by providing a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot, wherein a cable / hose is capable of independently following the movement of each axis and performing a bending operation. The problem was solved.
[0008]
According to this structure, the extension and bending behavior of the cable / hose connected to the work tool attached to the wrist flange due to the movement of the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e, and the sixth axis f of the robot is determined in the guide. It is not necessary to consider the interference between the robot itself and peripheral devices.This improves the accuracy of offline teaching on a personal computer that does not use the actual robot, corrects teaching contents, and routes cables and hoses. No longer need to be fixed. Further, not only does the cable / hose perform a constant elongation / bending behavior in conjunction with the operation of the robot, but also the cable / hose moves with respect to each of the fourth axis d, fifth axis e, and sixth axis f of the robot. Since the extension and bending behaviors of the hoses are independent of each other, the present invention provides a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot which is highly reliable and whose life can be easily estimated. Further, a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot, which can easily attach and detach the wiring processing device itself and a cable / hose and can perform an operation of ± 180 ° or more on the fourth axis d and the sixth axis f of the robot. It became possible to provide at low cost.
[0009]
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B are external views showing an embodiment of a wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a partially schematic elevation side view with a part cut away, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a partial schematic plan view in the direction of the arrow A, and FIG. 2C is a front view in the direction of the arrow B in FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along a line XX of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view along a YY line of FIG. 1A, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line Z-Z of FIG. 5A, FIG. 5 is a bird's-eye view of a cable / hose including an opposing member in the main part of FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 (a) is a side view of an embodiment of the industrial robot upper arm wiring processing apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 (b) is an elevational side view of a state in which cables and hoses housed inside are removed. FIG. 8 is an operation development view showing the elongating and bending behavior of the cable and hose housed therein according to the operation of FIG. 6, (a) is a basic state, (b) is a fourth axis d, a fifth axis e. , A sixth axis f show forward rotation operation, respectively, and (c) shows a state in which the fourth axis d, fifth axis e, and sixth axis f respectively perform reverse rotation operation. It is.
[0010]
In the wiring processing device structure of the upper arm of the industrial robot according to the embodiment of the present invention, the plate 6 is attached to the outer arm 1 of the industrial robot via the bracket 12 on the upper arm 1 via the bracket 12. Guides 7 and 8 are attached. Similarly, a plate 9 is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the upper arm 1 on the wrist base 2 of the industrial robot via a bracket 13 so as to face the plate 6 and the guides 7 and 8, and an annular or semi-annular guide 10 is attached to the plate 9. 11 is attached. The space surrounded by the plate 6, the guides 7, 8, the plate 9, and the guides 10, 11 has openings 31, 32 (FIG. 2) by bending and housing the cable 26 and the hose 27 in a U-shape. Are formed, and a pair of first wiring processing devices which can be relatively operated are formed. As shown in FIG. 4, in the first wiring processing device (the same applies in the second wiring processing device), the flexible hoses 24 accommodating the cable hoses 26 and 27 from the inlet side are inserted in the circumferential direction, and then, in the axial direction. The guides 7 and 10 have opening holes 7 'and 10', respectively, as shown in FIG. The cables / hoses 26 and 27 can be inserted, stored, and removed.
[0011]
A support 14 is attached to an intermediate portion of the bracket 13 on one side, and cable hoses 26 and 27 can be inserted therein. Guides 16 and 17 are attached to the base of the wrist on the same side as the support 14 so that cable hoses 26 and 27 can be inserted therein. A wrist extension flange 5 is attached to the wrist flange 4, and a work tool 30 is attached to a tip of the wrist extension flange 5.
A plate 19 is attached to an outer peripheral portion of the wrist movable portion 3 via the support members 15 and 18 to the wrist movable portion 3, and an annular guide 20 (semi-annular) is attached to the plate 19, similarly to the first wiring processing device. Good) is attached. Similarly, a plate 21 and annular (semi-annular) guides 22 and 23 are attached to the wrist extension flange 5 so as to face the plate 19 and the guide 20 on the outer peripheral portion of the wrist extension flange 5. The space surrounded by the plate 19, the guide 20, the wrist extension flange 5, the plate 21, and the guides 22, 23 has the openings 33, 34 ( An annular (or semi-annular) guide having a U-shaped cross section having FIG. 2) is formed. As shown in FIG. 7 (b), the guides 20 and 22 have opening holes 20 'and 22', respectively, so that the cables and hoses 26 and 27 can be inserted, stored and removed without disassembly. .
[0012]
A cable and hose connector 29 for connecting to a work tool 30 is attached to a support plate 28 (FIG. 1C) attached to the plate 21 (FIG. 2). Cables / hoses 26 and 27 that are continuous from the upper arm rear end of the industrial robot to the connector 29 are stored in the first wiring processing device by being bent in a U-shape and inserted through the support 14 fixed to the bracket 13, The space surrounded by the support guides 16 and 17 is inserted, bent into a U-shape in the second wiring processing device, housed, and connected to the connector 29, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, U-shaped bent portions of the cables / hoses 26 and 27 are covered with flexible guides 24 and 25, and one end of the flexible guide 24 is fixed to the plate 6, The other end is fixed to the plate 9. One end of the flexible guide 25 is fixed to the plate 19, and the other end is fixed to the plate 21.
[0013]
As shown in FIG. 6, the operation of the fourth axis d of the upper arm of the industrial robot relatively operates the first wiring processing device so that the continuous cable and hoses 26 and 27 can be bent. The movement of the fifth axis e of the robot upper arm causes the cable hoses 26 and 27 to bend between the support 14 and the guide 17, and the movement of the sixth axis f of the industrial robot causes the relative movement of the second wiring processing apparatus. Works. FIG. 8 is an operation development diagram showing the extension and bending behavior of the cable 26 due to the operation of each axis of the robot. 8A is a basic state, FIG. 8B is a state in which the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e, and the sixth axis f of FIG. 6 respectively perform normal rotation, FIG. 8C is a fourth axis d in FIG. It shows a state in which the fifth axis e and the sixth axis f have each performed a reverse rotation operation.
[0014]
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. According to the embodiment described above, the first wiring processing device and the second wiring processing device are provided separately from the components constituting the robot in order to be able to be attached and detached, respectively. A structure in which the inner guide or the entirety of the two-wire processing apparatus is integrated with the components constituting the robot may be adopted. For example, the bracket 12, the plate 6, and the guides 7, 8 may be formed integrally with the upper arm 1, and the bracket 13, the plate 9, and the guides 10, 11 may be formed from the wrist base 2. Alternatively, the brackets 15, 18, the plate 19, and the guide 20 may be integrally formed with the wrist movable portion 3, and the wrist extension flange 5, the plate 21, and the guides 22, 23 may be integrally formed with the wrist flange 4.
[0015]
According to the present invention, the extension / bending behavior of the cable / hose connected to the work tool attached to the wrist flange due to the movement of the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e and the sixth axis f of the robot is described. Since it is performed in the guide, there is no need to consider interference with the robot itself and peripheral devices, improving the accuracy of offline teaching on a personal computer that does not use the actual robot, correcting teaching contents, correcting cables and hoses It has become possible to provide a low-cost wiring processing apparatus for a compact industrial robot that does not need to correct the wiring of the robot. Further, not only does the cable / hose perform a constant elongation / bending behavior in conjunction with the operation of the robot, but also the cable / hose moves with respect to each of the fourth axis d, fifth axis e, and sixth axis f of the robot. Since the extension and bending behaviors of the hoses are independent of each other, it has become possible to provide a wiring processing device for an industrial robot that has high reliability and easy life estimation.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, not only is a wiring processing device capable of easily attaching and detaching cables and hoses provided, but also the wiring processing device itself is easily attached and detached, and as shown in FIG. It has become possible to provide a wiring processing apparatus that can perform an operation of ± 180 ° or more on the fourth axis d and the sixth axis f.
[Brief description of the drawings]
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an external view showing an embodiment of a wiring processing apparatus for an upper arm of an industrial robot according to the present invention, in which (a) is a partially schematic elevation side view with a part cut away, and (b) is an A of (a). FIG. 2 is a partial schematic plan view in the direction of the arrow, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along a line XX of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line ZZ in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a bird's-eye view of a cable / hose including a facing member portion in a cross section of a main part in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is an operation diagram of an upper arm of an industrial robot equipped with the embodiment of FIG. 1;
7 (a) is a side external view of the embodiment of the wiring processing device for the upper arm of the industrial robot shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 (b) is a side elevational view with the cable and hose housed therein removed.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are operation development views showing the elongating and bending behavior of the cable and hose housed therein according to the operation of FIG. 6, wherein FIG. 8A is a basic state, and FIG. 8B is a fourth axis d, a fifth axis e, 6C shows a state in which each of the six axes f has performed a forward rotation operation, and FIG. 7C shows a state in which the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e, and the sixth axis f have each performed a reverse rotation operation.
FIG. 9A is an external view showing a shaft configuration of a general industrial robot, and FIG. 9B is a partial top view of a wrist part of FIG. 9A.
FIG. 10 is an external view of an industrial robot equipped with a conventional wiring processing device (first example).
FIG. 11 is an external view of an industrial robot equipped with a conventional wiring processing device (second example).
[Description of Signs] 1 Upper arm 2 Wrist base 3 Wrist movable part 4 Wrist flange 5 Wrist extension flange 6 (Plate) 7, 8 (Guide) U-shaped annular or semi-annular guide 9 (Plate) 10, 11 (Guide) ) U-shaped annular or semi-annular guide 19 (plate) 20 (guide) 5 U-shaped annular or semi-annular guide 21 (plate) 22, 23 (guide) U-shaped annular or semi-annular guide 24, 25 Flexible guide 26 Cable 27 Hose 28 Support plate 29 Connector 30 Work tool a Vertical first axis b Horizontal second axis c Horizontal third axis d Longitudinal fourth axis e Fifth axis f Sixth axis

Claims (5)

A revolving frame pivotally supported about a first vertical axis a, a lower arm rotatably supported in a longitudinal direction about a second horizontal axis b on the revolving frame, and an upper part of the lower arm An upper arm rotatably supported in a vertical direction about a horizontal third axis c parallel to the horizontal second axis b; and an upper arm rotatably supported about a longitudinal fourth axis d at a distal end portion of the upper arm. A wrist base, a wrist movable section rotatably supported on a fifth axis e perpendicular to the fourth axis d at the wrist base, and a sixth axis f orthogonal to the fifth axis e at the wrist movable section An industrial robot having a wrist flange rotatably supported on the upper arm, an annular or semi-annular guide having a U-shaped cross section fixed to the upper arm and having an opening on the outer peripheral portion of the upper arm, and the annular or semi-circular guide. An annular or U-shaped cross section fixed to the wrist base opposite to the annular guide and having an opening; A pair of first wiring processing devices constituted by an annular guide, an annular or semi-annular guide having a U-shaped cross section fixed to the wrist movable portion and having an opening on an outer peripheral portion of the wrist movable portion; A pair of second wiring processing devices configured with an annular or semi-annular guide having a U-shaped cross section fixed to the wrist flange opposite to the annular or semi-annular guide and having an opening,
A continuous cable hose for connecting from the rear end of the upper arm to a work tool attachable to the wrist flange is housed in the first and second wiring processing devices by bending it in a U-shape, respectively, and The cable hose between the first and second wiring processing devices is fixed by attaching a support to the upper arm, the wrist base, the wrist movable portion and the wrist flange, and a cable hose and a work tool are connected to the wrist flange tip. For the rotation of each of the fourth axis d, the fifth axis e, and the sixth axis f of the upper arm, the connector accommodated in the first and second wiring processing devices. A cable processing apparatus for an upper arm of an industrial robot, wherein a cable and a hose can bend and follow the movement of each axis independently. 2. The industrial system according to claim 1, wherein each of the first and second wiring processing apparatuses has an opening, and a cable and a hose housed therein can be replaced without disassembling each wiring processing apparatus. Wiring device for robot upper arm. The first and second wiring processing devices may be formed such that the inner guides or all of them are integrally formed with the upper arm, the wrist base, the outer peripheral portion of the wrist flange and the wrist movable portion, respectively, or attached to and detached from them. 2. The wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein the wiring processing device is flexible. The wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot according to claim 1, wherein a flexible hose for accommodating the cable / hose is provided in the first and second wiring processing devices. Each end of the cable hose or the flexible hose housed in the first and second wiring processing devices is fixed to the upper arm, the wrist base, the outer peripheral portion of the wrist flange and the wrist movable portion, respectively, and In the first and second wiring processing apparatuses, the cable hose or the flexible hose is inserted in the circumferential direction from the inlet side, then bent in a U-turn in the axial direction, and taken out from the outlet side. The wiring processing device for an upper arm of an industrial robot according to claim 1.

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