1. A loading apparatus for delivering material (10) to a target location, the loading apparatus comprising:

a conveying assembly (100) for carrying and conveying the material (10);

a displacement assembly (200) for receiving the material (10) on the conveyor assembly (100);

the auxiliary support assembly (300) is used for receiving the materials (10) on the displacement assembly (200); and

the position adjusting assembly (400) is used for adjusting the position of the material (10) on the auxiliary supporting assembly (300) so as to enable the material (10) on the auxiliary supporting assembly (300) to move to a target position.

2. A loading device according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor assembly (100) comprises a chain for carrying the material (10) and a motor for driving the chain forward or backward.

3. A loading device according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of V-shaped forks for positioning the material (10) are provided at intervals on the chain.

4. A loading device according to claim 1, wherein said displacement assembly (200) comprises a fork and a drive unit for driving said material to move cyclically along a closed loop path.

5. The loading device according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary supporting assembly (300) comprises a supporting jaw and a linear driving unit for driving the supporting jaw to ascend and descend; the position adjustment assembly (400) comprises a centering and clamping unit which clamps the material (10) towards the middle centering so that the material (10) is moved to a target position.

6. A feeding method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

placing a material (10) on a conveyor assembly (100), the conveyor assembly (100) being capable of driving the material (10) forward or backward;

when the host computer sends a batch cutting signal, the conveying assembly (100) drives the material (10) to advance; when the host computer sends a batch cutting completion signal, the conveying assembly (100) drives the material (10) to retreat so as to return the material (10) on the conveying assembly (100).

7. The feeding method according to claim 6, characterized in that the displacement assembly (200) receives a feeding request signal from the host and performs the following steps:

the fork is lifted from the initial position to jack the material (10) from the conveying assembly (100);

the material fork moves horizontally, and the material (10) is moved above the auxiliary supporting component (300) and stands by for a period of time;

and after the standby time, returning the material fork to the initial position.

8. A loading method according to claim 7, characterized in that the fork is in the process of standby of the auxiliary supporting assembly (300), the auxiliary supporting assembly (300) is lifted to transfer the material (10) onto the auxiliary supporting assembly (300).

9. A loading method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of performing position adjustment of the material (10) on the support assembly by means of a position adjustment assembly (400) to move the material (10) to a target position where it can be gripped by a chuck.

10. Feeding method according to claim 7, characterized in that after the displacement assembly (200) receives a feeding request signal from the host, the fork moves in a closed circular trajectory.

Background

At present, a lot of automatic feeding systems of laser pipe cutting machines at home and abroad are used for feeding a large bundle of pipes on a feeding frame. The feeding system has the advantages of complex structure, complex feeding action and high manufacturing cost, and is inconvenient to use because the pipe on the feeding frame needs to be frequently changed for enterprises cutting pipes of the same specification in small batches.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is necessary to provide a feeding device and a feeding method for solving the above technical problems.

A loading device for delivering material to a target location, the loading device comprising:

the conveying assembly is used for bearing and conveying materials;

the displacement assembly is used for receiving the materials on the conveying assembly;

the auxiliary supporting assembly is used for receiving the materials on the displacement assembly; and

and the position adjusting assembly is used for adjusting the position of the material on the auxiliary supporting assembly so as to move the material on the auxiliary supporting assembly to a target position.

In one embodiment, the conveying assembly comprises a chain and a motor for driving the chain to advance or retreat, wherein the chain is used for carrying materials.

In one embodiment, a plurality of V-shaped forks for positioning materials are arranged on the chain at intervals.

In one embodiment, the displacement assembly comprises a material fork and a drive unit for driving the material to move cyclically along a closed loop path.

In one embodiment, the auxiliary supporting assembly comprises a supporting claw and a linear driving unit for driving the supporting claw to ascend and descend; the position adjustment assembly includes a centering and clamping unit that clamps the material toward the center so that the material is moved to a target position.

A feeding method comprises the following steps:

placing a material on a conveying assembly, wherein the conveying assembly can drive the material to move forwards or backwards;

when the host computer sends a batch cutting signal, the conveying assembly drives the material to advance; when the host computer sends a batch cutting completion signal, the conveying assembly drives the material to retreat so as to return the material on the conveying assembly.

In one embodiment, the displacement assembly receives a loading request signal from the host, and performs the following steps:

the material fork is lifted from the initial position to jack the material from the conveying assembly;

the material fork moves horizontally, and the material is moved above the auxiliary supporting component and stands by for a period of time;

and after the standby time, returning the material fork to the initial position.

In one embodiment, the material fork lifts the auxiliary support assembly to transfer the material to the auxiliary support assembly during the standby process of the auxiliary support assembly.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises the step of carrying out position adjustment on the material on the support assembly through a position adjustment assembly so that the material can move to a target position which can be clamped by the chuck.

In one embodiment, after the displacement assembly receives a feeding request signal of the host computer, the material fork moves in a closed circular track.

Has the advantages that: the feeding device in this application, simple structure, material loading efficiency is high, and the material loading precision is high, can be with accurate material loading to target location of material. The feeding method in the application can feed or return materials which do not need to be processed, and is high in working efficiency.

Drawings

Fig. 1 and 2 are respectively a partial structural schematic view of a feeding device in one embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 shows a flow chart of material loading in one embodiment of the present application.

Reference numerals: 10. material preparation; 100. a delivery assembly; 200. a displacement assembly; 300. an auxiliary support assembly; 400. a position adjustment assembly.

Detailed Description

To facilitate an understanding of the invention, the invention is described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "secured to" another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" another element, there are no intervening elements present. The terms "vertical," "horizontal," "left," "right," and the like as used herein are for illustrative purposes only.

Fig. 1 and fig. 2 are respectively a partial structural schematic diagram of a feeding device in an embodiment of the present application. For transporting material 10 to a target location. For example, when cutting a pipe, the pipe is cut through the pipe cutting machine, the pipe cutting machine comprises a chuck, the material 10 such as the pipe can be accurately placed at the target position of the chuck of the pipe cutting machine through the feeding device, and then the material 10 such as the pipe is clamped and cut through the chuck.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the feeding apparatus includes a conveying assembly 100, a displacement assembly 200, an auxiliary support assembly 300, and a position adjusting assembly 400. The conveying assembly 100 is used for carrying and conveying the material 10, the displacement assembly 200 is used for carrying the material 10 on the conveying assembly 100 onto the auxiliary support assembly 300, and the position adjusting assembly 400 is used for adjusting the position of the material 10 on the auxiliary support assembly 300 so as to enable the material 10 to reach a target position, wherein the target position is a position at which the material 10 can be just clamped by the chuck.

In one embodiment, the conveyor assembly 100 may comprise two parallel chains, and when the material 10 is a long tube, the two chains are supported at two ends of the long tube. The conveyor assembly 100 further includes a motor for driving the chain in motion, which may be a stepper motor or a servo motor, to enable the chain to be conveyed at a controlled unit conveying distance, such as by the servo motor rotating a particular angle at a time to advance the chain one unit of distance. In some embodiments, the chains in the conveyor assembly 100 may also be replaced with belts or the like.

The displacement assembly 200 comprises a fork and a driving unit capable of driving the fork to move circularly around a closed circular path, wherein the circular path may be a square ring, a circular ring, or other closed circular path. For example, the driving unit drives the material fork to ascend to jack up the material 10 on the conveying assembly 100 to separate the material 10 from the conveying assembly 100, after the driving unit drives the material fork to move horizontally for a certain distance, the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 ascends to transfer the material 10 to the auxiliary supporting assembly 300, and then the driving unit drives the material fork to descend and return horizontally. The displacement assembly 200 performs a circular movement in a fixed path, and has high operation efficiency and stable operation. As shown in fig. 1, the driving unit drives the material fork to move clockwise along the rectangular path, the material fork ascends at the starting position of Y0, the material 10 on the conveying assembly 100 is jacked up to the position of Y1, then the material fork horizontally moves from the position of Y1 to the position of Y2, the material 10 is transferred to the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 at the position of Y2, then the material fork returns from Y2 to Y0 through Y3, or the material fork support returns from Y2 to Y0.

Carry out the material loading through loading attachment to the material, can be with the accurate target position that moves from initial position of material, the material is by the chuck centre gripping at the target position, has the advantage that the material loading precision is high. And the conveying assembly in the feeding device in the embodiment can not only feed the materials to the target position, but also return the materials which do not need to be processed, thereby improving the working efficiency.

In one embodiment, a feeding method is further provided, which includes the following steps:

s100, placing the material 10 on the conveying assembly 100, wherein the conveying assembly 100 can drive the material 10 to advance or retreat.

For example, the conveyor assembly 100 may include two parallel chains, and when the material 10 is a long tube, the two chains are supported at two ends of the long tube. The conveyor assembly 100 also includes a motor for driving the chain in motion, which may be a stepper motor or a servo motor, to enable the chain to be conveyed at a controlled unit conveying distance, such as by the servo motor rotating a particular angle at a time to advance or retract the chain a unit distance. For example, the unit distance is a fixed length of the chain driven by the servo motor, and is called as the chain advances or retreats one time.

S200, when the host sends a batch cutting signal, the conveying assembly 100 drives the material 10 to advance; when the host computer sends a batch cut complete signal, the conveyor assembly 100 drives the material 10 back to return the material 10 on the conveyor assembly 100.

When receiving a batch cutting signal sent by a host, the conveying assembly 100 drives the material 10 to advance to a station for preparing feeding, and then pauses to be standby.

S300, the host sends a feeding request signal, and after receiving the feeding request signal, the displacement assembly 200 sequentially executes the following steps:

s301, the material fork rises from the initial position to jack the material 10 from the conveying assembly 100;

s302, horizontally moving the material fork, moving the material 10 above the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 and waiting for a period of time;

and S303, returning the material fork to the initial position after the standby time.

When the fork moves horizontally above the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 and stands by for a period of time, during the stand-by time, the method further comprises the following steps:

s400, the auxiliary supporting component 300 ascends to transfer the materials 10 in the material fork to the auxiliary supporting component 300.

In one embodiment, the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 includes supporting claws and a linear driving unit for driving the supporting claws to move up and down, as shown in fig. 2, there may be several auxiliary supporting assemblies 300, and these auxiliary supporting assemblies 300 may move synchronously to support different parts of the material 10 at the same time, so as to jack up the material 10 from the material fork as a whole.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises the following steps:

s500, the position adjusting assembly 400 adjusts the position of the material 10 on the auxiliary supporting assembly 300, so that the material 10 on the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 moves to the target position.

For example, the position adjustment assembly 400 may include a centering and clamping unit that may center the material 10 toward the center to correct the position of the material 10 on the support assembly, when the centering and clamping unit clamps the material 10, the material 10 is moved to a target position, and when the material 10 is in that position, it may be directly clamped by the chuck of the pipe cutter. In one embodiment, the middle clamping unit may comprise two clamping fingers which are close to or far from each other.

As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 illustrates a flow chart of the loading of the material 10 in one embodiment.

Firstly, a client selects a corresponding processing program according to a processing requirement, the processing program comprises the number of processed pipes, the total number of the processed pipes and the currently processed number of the processed pipes are displayed in an interface, and a feeding start button is clicked.

Secondly, a feeding confirmation switch judges whether the pipe is fed in place. The feeding confirmation switch judges whether the V-shaped fork at the end part of the chain has a pipe or not, and if the V-shaped fork at the end part of the chain does not have the pipe, the third step of advancing the chain is executed; if the pipe exists, jumping to the fourth step;

and thirdly, advancing the chain one grid. Jumping to the second step after the chain advances one lattice;

controlling the material fork to rise by the cylinder, lifting the pipe to separate from the chain, and moving the material fork from Y0 to Y1;

and fifthly, sending a feeding request signal after the host computer requests a feeding signal and the host computer is ready for feeding, and executing the sixth step.

Sixthly, the material fork feeds materials to the main machine bed, and moves from Y1 to Y2;

the auxiliary supporting assembly 300 of the main machine ascends and the position adjusting assembly 400 ascends.

The material fork is controlled to descend by the eighty percent cylinder, the material fork moves from Y2 to Y3, and the pipe is placed on the auxiliary support assembly 300;

ninthly, the material fork retreats back to the feeding part, moves to Y4 from Y3, and the position adjusting assembly 400 clamps the pipe to ensure that the pipe is in the middle of the auxiliary supporting assembly 300;

after the retraction of the material fork at the red (R) is finished, a material loading completion signal is sent to the host, and the host can execute subsequent processing actions such as chuck tube clamping, cutting and the like;

the host computer sends out a signal whether the batch cutting is finished or not according to the number of the pipes required by the program and the number of the finished cutting, and if the batch cutting is not finished, the feeding part jumps to execute the second step; if the batch cutting is finished, jumping to the step 12;

judging whether a chain retraction pipe function is activated or not according to the setting of a machine tool, if so, executing the step 13, and if not, jumping to the step 14;

the chain retreats for n grids, all the pipes on the chain are retreated to the pipe trolley, and n refers to the number of the V-shaped forks capable of placing the pipes on the chain;

and cutting the pipes in batches.

The feeding device provided in the above embodiment is simple to operate and high in use efficiency. The feeding method can return the excessive materials 10 on the conveying assembly 100 after the cutting action is finished, and has high automation degree and convenient operation. The technical features of the embodiments described above may be arbitrarily combined, and for the sake of brevity, all possible combinations of the technical features in the embodiments described above are not described, but should be considered as being within the scope of the present specification as long as there is no contradiction between the combinations of the technical features.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.