The present invention is applied in the technical field of conveyance in the automotive industry, and particularly relates to a high-speed and high-accuracy conveying and positioning system and method for realizing conveyance in an automobile welding workshop.
In the technical field of welding and conveyance of a white body of an automobile, a roller machine, as a common workpiece conveying device, plays an important role in conveying material. To fulfill the requirements for high flexibility and fast production cycle, the roller machine is required to convey the workpieces rapidly and smoothly with high accuracy. However, roller machines widely used at present realize the positioning of a conveying trolley by a conventional proximity switch or a grating encoded scale, resulting in low conveying speed, low accuracy and high cost.
To solve the problems, the present invention provides a conveying and positioning system and method, which can realize the fast conveyance, accurate positioning and stable operation for a conveying trolley and have a low cost.
The technical solution adopted by the invention to solve the technical problems can be summarized as:
A conveying and positioning system, comprising:
a conveying trolley provided with a reflector,
an intelligent variable-frequency controller, and
a roller machine provided with a driving mechanism capable of driving the conveying trolley to move on the roller machine and a distance sensor capable of cooperating with the reflector to provide position information of the conveying trolley in a conveying process to the intelligent variable-frequency controller, the driving mechanism comprising:
a driving motor controlled by the intelligent variable-frequency controller, and
a rotary encoder capable of feeding back rotation speed information of the driving motor to the intelligent variable-frequency controller.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the reflector is disposed on a first mounting plate which is mounted on the conveying trolley via a hinge; the distance sensor is mounted on the roller machine in a forward direction of the first mounting plate via a first mounting seat; and, the first mounting seat is provided with a first guide face capable of guiding the first mounting plate to rotate about the hinge so as to allow the reflector to skim over the distance sensor when moving to a position where the distance sensor is located.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the first mounting plate is mounted at a bottom of the conveying trolley via a top hinge; the first mounting plate is formed with a fitting surface at either side of the reflector; the first mounting seat is provided with two lugs between which the distance sensor is mounted; the first guide face, with an arc shape and capable of fitting with the fitting surface, is formed on a top of each of the two lugs; and, the conveying trolley is provided with a first resetting mechanism capable of maintaining the first mounting plate in a vertical state.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the reflector is fixed to the conveying trolley via a second mounting plate; the distance sensor is mounted to the roller machine via a second mounting seat, and the distance sensor is staggered with the reflector in a forward direction of the conveying trolley; and, the reflector is inclined to a conveying direction to form a reflective surface directly facing the distance sensor.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the reflector is mounted on the conveying trolley via a swing bar mechanism; the swing bar mechanism comprises a third mounting plate provided on the conveying trolley, a swing bar hinged onto the third mounting plate via a hinge pin, and a bracket capable of limiting swing angle of the swing bar; the reflector is disposed on the swing bar, and the distance sensor is mounted on the roller machine in a forward direction of the reflector via a third mounting seat; the roller machine is provided with a first guide seat opposite to the distance sensor; and, the first guide seat is provided with a second guide face capable of guiding the swing bar to rotate upward about the hinge pin so as to allow the reflector to skim over the distance sensor when moving to a position where the distance sensor is located.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the swing bar is provided with a spherical roller capable of being in rolling fit with the second guide face and a second resetting mechanism capable of driving the swing bar to reset.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the reflector is mounted on the conveying trolley via a climbing mechanism; the climbing mechanism comprises a fourth mounting plate disposed on the conveying trolley, a guide bar seat disposed on the fourth mounting plate, a guide bar mounted on the guide bar seat in such a way that the guide bar is able to float up and down, and a floating seat disposed at a lower end of the guide bar; the reflector is directly or indirectly connected to the floating seat; the distance sensor is mounted on the roller machine in a forward direction of the reflector via a fourth mounting seat; the roller machine is provided with a second guide seat opposite to the distance sensor; and, the second guide seat has a third guide face capable of guiding the floating seat to float upward so as to allow the reflector to skim over the distance sensor when moving to a position where the distance sensor is located.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the guide bar seat is provided with at least two guide bar via holes running through in an up-and-down direction; within each guide bar via hole is provided with a guide bar and an oil-free bushing fitted with the corresponding guide bar; the guide bar is provided with a boss, and within the guide bar seat is provided with a third resetting mechanism for resisting against the boss so as to push the guide bar downward; and, the floating seat has a bottom with a roller capable of being in rolling fit with the third guide face.
As a further improvement to the technical solution of the present invention, the driving mechanism comprises a plurality of roller sets which are provided on the roller machine and driven by the driving motor; the roller sets are successively arranged on the roller machine to form, on its top, a conveying plane for conveying the conveying trolley; each of the roller sets comprises a wheel shaft and a conveying wheel disposed at either end of the wheel shaft, a belt wheel is provided between the conveying wheels at two ends of the wheel shaft, and two adjacent wheel shafts are connected by a synchronous belt mounted between the belt wheels; the roller sets comprise a driving roller set located in the middle of the roller machine and at least one driven roller set distributed at either side of the driving roller set; the driving motor has an output in transmission connection to the driving roller set; and, the conveying trolley is provided with a guide block at a bottom of each of front and rear ends of the conveying trolley, the roller machine is provided with a plurality of guide wheels at each of front and rear ends of the roller machine, and the guide wheels at the front and rear ends of the roller machine form a passageway for guiding the guide blocks to pass therethrough.
The present invention further provides a conveying and positioning method, comprising:
controlling, by an intelligent variable-frequency controller, a driving motor on a roller machine to drive a conveying trolley to move along the roller machine, such that, along with the conveying trolley, a reflector disposed on the conveying trolley entering a detection range of a distance sensor disposed on the roller machine;
recognizing, by the distance sensor, position information of the conveying trolley in a conveying process by receiving a signal from the reflector, and feeding back the position information to the intelligent variable-frequency controller;
feeding back, by a rotary encoder, rotation speed information of the driving motor to the intelligent variable-frequency controller;
combining, by the intelligent variable-frequency controller, the position information of the conveying trolley fed back by the distance sensor and the rotation speed information of the driving motor fed back by the rotary encoder, and comparing the position information with a target position information of the conveying trolley preset in the intelligent variable-frequency controller;
outputting an accurate voltage frequency controller information to control the rotation speed of the driving motor to slow down the conveying trolley; and,
controlling, by the intelligent variable-frequency controller, the driving motor to stop rotating upon the conveying trolley reaching a preset position, so that realizing an accurate positioning for the conveying trolley.
The present invention has the following beneficial effects. In the present invention, with the intelligent variable-frequency controller, by reading position information fed back by the distance sensor and rotation speed information fed back by the rotary encoder, accurate voltage frequency control information is output by internal operation so as to control the rotation speed of the driving motor, so that a double closed loop control mode for the conveying and positioning system is realized. In the present invention, fast conveyance, accurate positioning and stable operation of the conveying trolley can be realized by the technical solutions in the double closed loop control mode, and the cost is low.
The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The present invention provides a conveying and positioning system, referring to
Referring to
As a preferred implementation of the present invention, referring to
Further, the first mounting plate 33 is mounted on the bottom of the conveying trolley 2 via a top hinge. The first mounting plate 33 is formed with a fitting surface 36 at either side of the reflector 31. The first mounting seat 34 is provided with two lugs between which the distance sensor 32 is mounted. The distance sensor 32 is hidden within the first mounting seat 34, and realizes a distance detection function by the clearance between the two lugs. The first guide face 35, with an arc shape and capable of fitting with the fitting surfaces 36 is provided on a top of each of the two lugs. The first guide faces 35 can guide the first mounting plate 33 to rotate about the hinge so as to allow the reflector 31 to skim over the distance sensor 32 when moving to a position where the distance sensor is located, so that the reflector 31 can be prevented from colliding with the distance sensor 32. The conveying trolley 2 is provided with a first resetting mechanism 37 capable of maintaining the first mounting plate 33 in a vertical state, thereby ensuring the first mounting plate can be automatically recovered to the vertical state after skimming over the first mounting seat 34.
As a preferred implementation of the present invention, referring to
As a preferred implementation of the present invention, referring to
As a preferred implementation of the present invention, referring to
In the present invention, with the intelligent variable-frequency controller, by reading position information fed back by the distance sensor 32 and rotation speed information fed back by the rotary encoder, accurate voltage frequency control information is output by internal operation (the operation belongs to the prior art and will not be improved in the present invention) so as to control the rotation speed of the driving motor 41, so that a double closed loop control mode (a conveying and positioning method) for the conveying and positioning system is realized. Referring to
Of course, the present invention is not limited to the implementations described above. Those skilled in the art can make equivalent modifications or substitutions without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and these modifications or substitutions shall fall into the scope defined by the claims of the present application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2017 1 0257444 | Apr 2017 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation application of an International Application No. PCT/CN2017/104679 filed Sep. 30, 2017, which claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Chinese Application No. 201710257444.7 CN, filed Apr. 19, 2017, now pending.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5280223 | Grabowski | Jan 1994 | A |
6109568 | Gilbert | Aug 2000 | A |
7387195 | Bonham | Jun 2008 | B2 |
8364309 | Bailey | Jan 2013 | B1 |
8965619 | Sullivan | Feb 2015 | B2 |
8989917 | Kumar | Mar 2015 | B2 |
9098084 | Kumazawa | Aug 2015 | B2 |
9459624 | Kuklish | Oct 2016 | B2 |
10108193 | Wernersbach | Oct 2018 | B2 |
10137912 | de Albuquerque Gleizer | Nov 2018 | B2 |
20010037746 | Lund | Nov 2001 | A1 |
20110144849 | Wang | Jun 2011 | A1 |
20180339720 | Singh | Nov 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
201125077 | Oct 2008 | CN |
202522869 | Nov 2012 | CN |
205076410 | Mar 2016 | CN |
205574942 | Sep 2016 | CN |
2016130145 | Jul 2016 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20180305134 A1 | Oct 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | PCT/CN2017/104679 | Sep 2017 | US |
Child | 15906825 | US |