JPH068177A - Clamp device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accomplish automation of operation from the first setting to work hanging so as to surely clamp both a light-weighted work and a work easy to be deformed. CONSTITUTION:An expansion unit 3 comprising a hard substrate 32 having a supply and exhaust passage 31 for a fluid, a cylindrical tube which has both ends thereof fitted to the hard substrate 33 and can be expanded by the supply and exhaust of a fluid, and a folded part 33A formed by folding inside the lower end opening end of the tube 33 to be fitted to the hard substrate 33 is provided on the forward end of the arm 1. Further, a link mechanism 2 is provided with a sensing member for operating the link mechanism 2 with the movement of a work W when the expansion surface of the tube 33 is pressed to the work W to push up the work W to force the forward end of the arm 1 to approach the work W side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clamp in which a base end of an arm for holding a work at its tip is rotatably connected to a link mechanism, and the tip of the arm abuts the work when the link mechanism is suspended. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional hanging type clamp device, there is known one in which an arm 100 and a pantograph portion 101 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are integrally formed. When grasping the work W, first, the tip of the arm 100 is brought into contact with the work W by hand first, and the whole work is lifted from this state, so that the work W is clamped by its own weight and the action of the pantograph unit 101.

[0003]

In the conventional clamping device, the manual setting is required for the initial setting, and the workpiece W is required to be relatively heavy for reliable clamping. In some cases, it may not be possible to clamp a workpiece W that has a light weight. Further, it is difficult to grasp the work W which is easily deformed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a clamping device which can automate from the initial setting to the suspension of a work and can reliably clamp a light work or a work that is easily deformed.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to a hard base body having a fluid supply / discharge passage at the tip of an arm, and both ends of which are attached to the hard base body to expand by supply / discharge of the fluid. An expandable body consisting of a possible tubular tube and a folded-back portion formed by attaching the lower end side opening end of the tube to the inside of the rigid base body is provided, and the expansion surface of the tube is pressed against the work in the link mechanism. When the work is pushed up, the link mechanism is operated in accordance with the movement of the work to provide a sensing member that brings the tip of the arm closer to the work.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the entire apparatus is lowered so that the inflatable body comes close to the side surface of the work, and the inflatable body is inflated to press the tube inflating surface against the work side surface. At this time, since the expander is attached to the tip of the arm, the expanded tube pushes up the work. The workpiece pushed up activates the sensing member, and the sensing member activates the link mechanism to bring the tip of the arm closer to the workpiece. That is, the expanded tube comes into further pressure contact with the work, and the clamping force is also improved.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a pair of arms 1 is attached to the link mechanism 2. The arm 1 has a bent portion 1A that is shaped like a dogleg facing outward, and has an expander 3 at its tip. In the link mechanism 2, the movable member 5 is attached to the base plate 4 with three pins 6, 7, and 8. Details of the link mechanism 2 are as shown in FIG.
Forming a mounting hole 9 and laterally long oblong holes 10 and 11,
A vertically long slot 12 corresponding to the mounting hole 9 and horizontally long slots 13 and 14 corresponding to the long holes 10 and 11 are formed in the movable member 5, and the pin 6 is attached to the mounting hole 9 from the long hole 12 and the pin 7 is formed. ，
8 is attached to the base end of the arm 1, and these pins 7 and 8
Are inserted into the long holes 10 and 13 and the long holes 11 and 14, respectively. The pin 6 moves up and down in the vertically long slot 12. In other words, the movable member 5 moves in the vertical direction when the pin 6 is located in the elongated hole 12. The long holes 10 and 11 are not horizontal but are formed obliquely horizontally according to the amount of vertical stroke of the movable member 5. Further, a hanging metal fitting 15 is attached to the upper end of the base plate 4. A wire 16 is connected to the hanging fitting 15.

A sensing member 20 is provided at the lower end of the movable member 5 which constitutes the link mechanism 2. The sensing member 20 pushes up the work W when the inflatable body 3 expands and comes into pressure contact with the work W, but contacts the upper surface of the pushed work W, senses the movement of the work W, and raises the movable member 5. It has the function of When the movable member 5 is raised, the pins 7 and 8 are moved from the inner side of the elongated holes 10, 13 and 11, 14 to the outer side, and the tip of the V-shaped arm 1 approaches the work W by this movement. The sensing member 20 is composed of a shaft 21 attached to the movable member 5, a spring 22 attached to the shaft 21, and an elastic member 23 attached to the tip of the spring 22. The elastic member 23 contacts the work W and damages the work W. Is being prevented. Further, the spring 22 also temporarily buffers the rising force of the work W, and then transmits the rising force of the work W to the shaft 21 and the movable member 5.

In order to clamp the work W with the device configured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the whole device is lowered from above the work W, the expander 3 is brought close to the side surface of the work W, and the sensing is performed. The elastic member 23 of the member 20 is kept in contact with the upper surface of the work W. In this state, the expander 3 is expanded by supplying a fluid such as air to the expander 3. The inflating direction of the inflatable body 3 is a direction (direction of an arrow in FIG. 3) that obliquely intersects the axis of the work W from below to above. Therefore, the work W is pushed upward by the expansion of the expandable body 3. When the work W is pushed upward, the spring 22 of the sensing member 20 contracts, the upward force of the work W is transmitted to the movable member 5, and the movable member 5 is pushed upward. When the movable member 5 is pushed upward, the pins 7 and 8 are moved from the inner side of the long holes 10, 13 and 11, 14 to the outer side, whereby the tips of the V-shaped arms 1 and 1 are moved to the work W. Approaching (see FIG. 3). Therefore, the pressure contact force of the expander 3 to the work W is increased. In the illustrated embodiment, the arm 1 is formed in a dogleg shape, so that the expander 3
The pushing force to the work W by the arm becomes strong, but the arm 1
Even if is straight, the folded portion 33A of the tube 33
Due to the presence of, the work W is pushed up by the expander 3.

The expander 3 is, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,
A rigid base body 32 having a fluid supply / discharge passage 31, a tubular tube 33 having both ends attached to the rigid base body 32 and capable of expanding by supplying / discharging fluid, a lower end side open end of the tube 33 is folded back inward. And a folded-back portion 33A formed by being attached to the hard substrate 32. The side of the tube 33 opposite to the folded portion 33A is hermetically attached to the hard base 32 by a caulking ring 34. In addition, the folded portion 33
The end of A is hermetically attached to the hard substrate 32 by a caulking ring 35. In addition, the supply / discharge passage 31 of the hard base 32
A female screw portion 32A is formed at the entrance of the. When a fluid such as air is supplied to the expander 3 from the supply / discharge passage 31, the fluid is injected into the tube 33 and the tube 33 expands outward (see FIG. 5). Such an expander 3 is provided with a passage 1B formed on the tip side of the arm 1 as shown in FIG.
Attached by a hollow cylindrical screw 17 attached to
The screw 17 is screwed into the female screw portion 32A. The outlet of the passage 1B is connected to a fluid supply source (not shown).

In the illustrated embodiment, two arms 1 are used as a pair, but it is also possible to use three or four arms 1 to clamp the work W.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, the expander provided at the tip of the arm is set down on the side surface of the work by lowering the entire apparatus, and from this state, the expander is simply used without using any human hands. By supplying air or the like to the tube and inflating it, the tube comes into pressure contact with the work. Further, by supplying air or the like to the expander, the tube further expands and pushes up the work. When the workpiece is pushed up by the tube, the sensing member senses the movement of the workpiece, transmits the movement of the workpiece to the link mechanism, and the link mechanism operates so that the tip of the arm can approach the workpiece side. Therefore, the clamping force for the work is improved. Even if the work piece has a light weight or is easily broken, the work piece is clamped by the flexible tube, so there is no risk of damage and the arm tip exerts a force in the direction that approaches the work piece, ensuring a reliable clamping force. Can be secured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a work clamp.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an expander.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which a fluid is supplied to the expander.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the arm tip side.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a conventional example before clamping.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a conventional example at the time of clamping.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Arm 2 Link mechanism 3 Expander 20 Sensing member 31 Supply / discharge passage 32 Hard base 33 Tube 33A Folding part W Work

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A clamp device having a structure in which a base end of an arm for holding a work at a tip is rotatably connected to a link mechanism, and the tip of the arm comes into contact with the work when the link mechanism is suspended. And (b) a hard base having a fluid supply / discharge passage, and (b) both ends attached to the hard base that can be expanded by supplying / discharging the fluid. (C) A tubular tube, and (c) a folded-back portion formed by the lower end opening end of the tube being folded back inward and attached to a rigid base, and when the expansion surface of the tube is pressed against the work by the link mechanism and the work is pushed up. A clamping device comprising a sensing member for activating a link mechanism according to movement of a work to bring an arm tip toward a work.