CN210909153U

CN210909153U - Locking tool of automatic tool replacing device

Info

Publication number: CN210909153U
Application number: CN201921556258.4U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张国新; 张怡帆
Original assignee: Wuxi Professional College of Science and Technology
Current assignee: Wuxi Professional College of Science and Technology
Priority date: 2019-09-19
Filing date: 2019-09-19
Publication date: 2020-07-03
Anticipated expiration: 2029-09-19

Abstract

The utility model discloses a locking tool of an automatic tool replacing device, which comprises a positioning ring, a body, a bottom cover, a top cover, a ball body, a piston, a first spring clamped by the top cover and the piston, a sensor embedded at the bottom of the piston and a baffle arranged above the sensor; the top cover, the body and the bottom cover jointly form a cylindrical first shielding cavity for accommodating the piston; the outer side wall of the piston is provided with a first groove, the inner side wall of the positioning ring is provided with a second groove with a first annular inclined surface, and when the piston moves downwards to the bottom of the shielding cavity, the ball body is extruded into the annular gap through the outer side wall of the piston, so that the ball body at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface to limit the displacement of the positioning ring in the vertical direction. Through the utility model discloses, realized the locking tool who changes the device at the automatic tool reliability when changing different replacement tools to whether realized carrying out on-line measuring with the replacement tool reliably locking tool, and had the automatic correction function.

Description

Locking tool of automatic tool replacing device

Technical Field

The utility model relates to an automation equipment technical field especially relates to a locking tool of automatic device of changing of instrument.

Background

Automatic Tool Changer (ATC) is a key component of modern numerically-controlled machine tools and robots configured on flexible production lines. The ATC basically takes out a desired tool from the tool magazine of the machine tool and replaces a used tool, and mounts the desired tool on the spindle of the machine tool for machining. There are various types of cantilevers for tool changing, such as a swing-in cantilever, a double-supported cantilever, a rotary cantilever, etc. For example, the horizontal machining center mostly adopts a swing embedded type cantilever, and the vertical machining center usually adopts a double-support type cantilever or a rotary type cantilever.

Meanwhile, in industrial production, robots at different stations on a production line need to change different tools frequently. Therefore, the automatic tool changing device has a decisive significance for changing different tools of numerical control machine tools or robots. The ATC is movably arranged on a main shaft of a numerical control machine tool or a robot and consists of a locking tool and a replacing tool. However, the applicant has found that the locking tool of the ATC of the prior art does not implement the automatic correction function, resulting in a great adverse effect on the accuracy and reliability of the tool to be assembled with the replacement tool. Meanwhile, the applicant finds that the locking tool of the ATC in the prior art cannot perform online detection on whether reliable locking is realized or not and the tool is replaced.

In view of the above, there is a need for an improved locking tool of an automatic tool changer in the prior art to solve the above problems.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the utility model is to disclose a locking tool of automatic device of changing of instrument for realize the function of automatic correction, and whether carry out reliable assembly with the change instrument to locking tool and carry out on-line measuring, improve the reliability that the automatic device of changing of instrument.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a locking tool for an automatic tool changer, including:

the device comprises a positioning ring with an opening, a body clamped with the positioning ring, a bottom cover arranged at the bottom of the body, a top cover used for shielding the opening of the positioning ring, a ball body, a piston, a first spring clamped by the top cover and the piston, a sensor embedded at the bottom of the piston, and a baffle arranged above the sensor;

the top cover is provided with a lower ring extending downwards, the body is provided with an upper ring extending upwards, the ball body is accommodated in a circular gap formed by the lower ring and the upper ring, and the top cover, the body and the bottom cover jointly form a cylindrical first shielding cavity for accommodating the piston;

the outer side wall of the piston is provided with a first groove, the inner side wall of the positioning ring is provided with a second groove, the second groove is provided with a first annular inclined surface, and when the piston moves downwards to shield the bottom of the cavity, the ball body is extruded into the annular gap through the outer side wall of the piston, so that the ball body at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface to limit the displacement of the positioning ring in the vertical direction.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the top of the first groove has a second annular inclined plane and a third annular inclined plane which are continuously arranged, and the bottom of the first groove has a fourth annular inclined plane.

As a further improvement, the bottom of lower ring forms first semicircular notch, the top of going up the ring forms the semicircular notch of second, circular notch is enclosed jointly by first semicircular notch and the semicircular notch of second and is closed and form.

As a further improvement, the radial outside of first semicircular notch forms first limit flange, the radial outside of second semicircular notch forms second limit flange, first limit flange encloses with second limit flange and closes and form a continuous tourus, the internal diameter of tourus is less than spheroidal diameter.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the locking tool further comprises:

and the connecting rod and the top cover are of an integrated structure and extend downwards, and the tail end of the connecting rod is provided with the baffle.

As a further improvement of the utility model, four first air passages which are axially symmetrically arranged and vertically penetrate through the positioning ring and partially penetrate through the step are arranged at the top of the positioning ring;

a first sealing ring is embedded in the opening of the first air passage of the positioning ring,

a circle of steps are formed on the radial outer side of the body, the positioning ring is clamped on the steps, a second sealing ring is embedded on the inner side of the first air passage penetrating through the steps,

a first air pipe quick joint communicated with the first air passage is transversely arranged at the side part of the body,

the inside of bottom transversely sets up the second air flue, the through-hole with piston intercommunication is formed to the second air flue, the lateral part of bottom transversely sets up the second trachea quick-operation joint who is connected with the second air flue.

As a further improvement, the top of holding ring is still offered and is two location passageways and six interface channel that the axial symmetry set up, interface channel's inner wall mask internal thread, the internal face of location passageway is smooth.

As a further improvement of the present invention, the bottom surface of the positioning ring is provided with a first blind hole, the body is provided with a receiving channel with steps in the vertical direction, the top surface of the bottom cover is provided with a second blind hole matched with the receiving channel, the first blind hole is continuously communicated with the receiving channel and the second blind hole to form a second shielding cavity, and the second shielding cavity is internally provided with a correction pin and a second spring from top to bottom;

the correcting pin is composed of a pin head and a pin column, the pin head and the second blind hole clamp the second spring together, and the pin column penetrates through the accommodating channel and the first blind hole continuously.

the first spring and the third spring are vertically and coaxially arranged and are arranged in an inner-outer nested manner, the first spring is annularly distributed on the outer side of the third spring, and the baffle and the third spring are fixed in a welding manner;

wherein,

the section of the first spring is rectangular, the section of the third spring is circular, and the elastic modulus of the first spring is greater than that of the third spring.

at least one group of power distribution block female seats and power distribution block male seats which are stacked up and down,

the power distribution block female seat and the power distribution block male seat are arranged on the side part of the locking tool;

and an installation channel is transversely arranged in the bottom cover, and the lead connected with the sensor is led out from the installation channel.

Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the utility model are that:

through the utility model discloses an automatic locking tool who changes device of instrument, the reliability of locking tool when changing different change tools at automatic tool change device has been realized, thereby whole automatic tool change device's overall reliability has been improved, and whether realized carrying out on-line measuring with the change tool to locking tool reliably, the not good defect of the connection effect of holding ring and work piece or change tool because of leaking gas and leading to has been prevented effectively, the automatic correction function has also been realized simultaneously, be applicable to very much the intelligent manufacturing industry and industry 4.0's demand.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a locking tool of an automatic tool changer according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the locking tool of FIG. 1 taken along line H-H of the tool for automatic tool change;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 at arrow A;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a locking tool of the automatic tool changer taken along line K-K in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a locking tool of the automatic tool changer taken along the direction J-J in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a locking tool of the automatic tool changer shown in FIG. 1 from a first perspective;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a locking tool of the automatic tool changer shown in FIG. 1 from a second perspective view;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a locking tool of the automatic tool changer shown in FIG. 1 from a first perspective;

fig. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of the piston shown in the first embodiment or the second embodiment;

fig. 10 is a sectional view of a locking tool of an automatic tool changer according to a modification of the present invention, taken along the direction H-H in fig. 1.

Detailed Description

The present invention is described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, but it should be understood that these embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art should understand that the functions, methods, or structural equivalents or substitutions made by these embodiments are within the scope of the present invention.

It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", "positive", "negative", etc. indicate orientations and positional relationships based on the drawings, and are used merely for convenience of describing and simplifying the technical solution, but do not indicate or imply that the device or element being referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the technical solution. In particular, by "axisymmetric" is meant a symmetrical structure in three dimensions with respect to axis 100 of fig. 2; meanwhile, in various embodiments of the present application, the term "radially outer" refers to an outward direction with respect to the shaft 100, and the term "radially inner" refers to an opposite direction to the "radially outer".

Meanwhile, before describing the embodiments in detail, an application scenario of the locking tool of the automatic tool changer referred to in the present application will be explained as necessary. The automatic tool changer has an equivalent meaning to the term "ATC" and hereinafter the locking tool of the automatic tool changer may be simply referred to as "locking tool". The locking tool may be coupled to an end of an actuator of a robot or a spindle of a numerical control machine tool while being coupled to a workpiece (i.e., a metal or non-metal raw material to be machined) or a tool is assembled to a replacement tool by being coupled to the replacement tool, and the workpiece is subjected to various machining processes, such as a slow-cut wire process, an electric discharge process, a turning process, a planing process, a milling process, etc., using the tool. Therefore, in the embodiments of the present application, the locking tool can be used for locking a replacement tool, directly locking a tool, or even directly locking a workpiece, and performing various machining processes on the workpiece by using the tool on the spindle of the machine tool. Next, specific implementations of the locking tool disclosed in the present application will be described in detail by the following embodiments.

The first embodiment is as follows:

please refer to fig. 1 to 8, which illustrate a first embodiment of an automatic tool changer according to the present invention.

Briefly, as the piston 60 moves vertically upward in the direction shown by axis 100, the ball 40 slides into the circular indentation 503 and the first groove 603 to release the pair of retaining rings 10; when the piston 60 moves vertically downward in the direction shown by the shaft 100, under the driving of the first spring 61 (or by its own weight or by driving based on vacuum negative pressure), the piston 60 pushes the ball 40 into the circular notch 503, and the ball 40 partially presses the first annular inclined surface 102 formed on the inner wall surface of the positioning ring 10, so that the positioning ring 10 is locked by the ball 40.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, in the present embodiment, the locking tool of the automatic tool changer includes: the positioning device comprises a positioning ring 10 with an opening, a body 20 clamped with the positioning ring 10, a bottom cover 30 arranged at the bottom of the body 20, a top cover 50 used for shielding the opening of the positioning ring 10, a ball 40, a piston 60, a first spring 61 clamped by the top cover 50 and the piston 60, a sensor 34 embedded at the bottom of the piston 60, and a baffle 65 arranged above the sensor 34. The locking tool is cylindrical in whole.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, although the top cover 50 and the body 20 are distinguished and defined by using different reference numerals and terms, it is only necessary to facilitate description of technical features and technical solutions. As can be seen from fig. 2 and 4, the top cover 50 is a unitary structure with the body 20.

The top cover 50 is inserted into a circular through hole formed in the positioning ring 10, and the positioning ring 10 is fitted over a ring of steps formed on the radial outer side of the body 20. The positioning ring 10 can move up and down in the vertical direction of the piston 60 to achieve a reliable assembly with the body 20. The piston 60 moves vertically in the first shielding chamber 502 with high pressure gas input from the bottom cover 30 into the first shielding chamber 502. Thus, in this embodiment, the piston 60 may be considered to be part of a similar pneumatic cylinder.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, four first air passages 13 are formed from the top of the positioning ring 10, and are disposed in axial symmetry and vertically penetrate the positioning ring 10 and partially penetrate the step 24.

The positioning ring 10 forms a dovetail-shaped cross section structure at the opening of the first air duct 13, so that two first sealing rings 505 arranged in concentric circles are embedded at the opening of the first air duct 13. The radially outer side of the body 20 forms a ring of steps 24, the retaining ring 10 being retained on the steps 24. The circular ring surface of the step 24 forms a dovetail groove structure with a radial section, so that two second sealing rings 507 which are arranged in a concentric circle mode inside and outside are embedded in the first air passage 13 penetrating through the inner side of the step 24, and the first sealing rings are embedded at the top of the step 24 in a concentric circle mode. The side of the body 20 is transversely provided with a first air pipe quick coupling 35 communicating with the first air passage 13. The inner part of the bottom cover 30 is transversely provided with a second air passage 32, the second air passage 32 forms a through hole 321 communicated with the piston 60, and the side part of the bottom cover 30 is transversely provided with a second air pipe quick connector 36 connected with the second air passage 32. Referring to fig. 4, four hammers are provided on the side of the retaining ring 10 extending through the retaining ring 10 and having a horizontal circular cross-section, an upper hollow channel 130. The step 24 is vertically recessed downward and forms a lower hollow passage 131 adapted to the cross section of the hollow passage 130, and constitutes the first air passage 13 together with the upper hollow passage 131. In this embodiment, the positioning ring 10 is provided with four vertically arranged first air ducts 13, and a first air pipe quick coupling 35 is screwed on the side of the body 20. The workpiece or the replacement tool is closely attached to the torus formed by the positioning ring 10 (the torus is located above the positioning ring 10), and the first sealing ring 505 and the second sealing ring 507 are used to maintain good air tightness between the workpiece or the replacement tool and the locking tool, and between the positioning ring 10 and the step 24 of the body 20.

As shown in fig. 9, the second air pipe quick connector 36 is used for introducing high-pressure air into the second air passage 32. High pressure air enters the first shield cavity 502 from the through hole 321, thereby driving the annular bottom surface 67 of the piston 60. The outer wall surface 600 of the piston 60 forms a certain gap with the inner wall surface of the body 20 and the inner wall surface formed by the lower ring 53 which is formed by the top cover 50 and extends downwards, and the gap is usually less than 0.5 mm.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, two rings of the receiving groove 606 may be formed on the outer wall surface of the piston 60, and the O-ring 63 may be fitted into the receiving groove 606. The O-ring 63 protrudes radially outward from the outer wall 600 of the piston 60, and two O-rings 63 are tightly attached to the inner wall of the body 20 and the inner wall formed by the lower ring 53 extending downward from the top cover 50, so as to prevent the piston 60 from leaking gas during vertical movement. Meanwhile, a boss 605 is formed at the bottom of the piston 60, and an internal thread 615 is formed on an inner wall surface of the boss 605. Meanwhile, the outer wall surface of the sensor 34 is provided with an external thread screwed with the internal thread 615, so that the sensor 34 is longitudinally fitted inside the boss 605. Meanwhile, a cavity 331 is formed inside the bottom cover 30 below the sensor 34, and the cavity 331 is communicated with the mounting channel 33 transversely arranged inside the bottom cover 30.

Specifically, the Sensor 34 may be an inductive proximity Sensor or a Photo Sensor (Photo Sensor), and determines whether the piston 60 moves to a designated position based on a change in a distance between the stopper 65 and the Sensor 34 in the direction of the shaft 100 during the up-and-down movement of the piston 60 against the resistance of the first spring 61. Referring to fig. 2, 5 and 7, a mounting channel 33 is transversely disposed in the bottom cover 30, a lead (not shown) connected to the sensor 34 is led out from the mounting channel 33, and communicates with an industrial personal computer or a PLC or a single chip microcomputer or an upper computer, so as to remotely monitor the vertical movement of the piston 60 in the locking tool along the axis 100 in an online manner, and determine whether the piston 60 moves to a designated position, thereby realizing online monitoring of the locking tool. The end of the mounting passage 33 forms a mounting hole 31 having a quick-fit or female-fit joint.

Preferably, referring to fig. 9, in this embodiment, the bottom of the piston 60 may be further provided with an elastic washer 625, so that the piston 60 can play a role of buffering when being driven by external high-pressure gas and falling downwards, and the force range when the pressure is applied to the bottom of the piston 60 through the through hole 321 can be concentrated more towards the shaft 100, thereby improving the smoothness of driving the piston 60 upwards to release the positioning ring 10.

Referring to fig. 3 to 5, the top cap 50 is configured with a lower ring 53 extending downward, the body 20 is configured with an upper ring 23 extending upward, the ball 40 is accommodated in a circular gap 503 formed by the lower ring 53 and the upper ring 23, and the top cap 50, the body 20 and the bottom cap 30 together form a cylindrical first shielding cavity 502 for accommodating the piston 60. The piston 60 moves vertically up and down in the first blind chamber 502 in the direction shown by the axis 100.

The outer side wall of the piston 60 is formed with a first groove 603, the inner side wall of the positioning ring 10 is formed with a second groove 101, the second groove 101 has a first annular inclined surface 102, and the ball 40 is pressed into the annular gap 55 by the outer side wall of the piston 60 when the piston 60 moves downward to cover the bottom of the chamber 100, so that the ball 40 at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface 102 to limit the displacement of the positioning ring 10 in the vertical direction. Meanwhile, the top of the first groove 603 has a second annular inclined surface 601 and a third annular inclined surface 602 arranged in series, and the bottom of the first groove 603 has a fourth annular inclined surface 604. The fourth annular ramp 604 is in a perpendicular relationship to the first annular ramp 102. Since the fourth annular inclined surface 604 and the first annular inclined surface 102 are arranged in a perpendicular relationship, the process of the transverse movement performed by the ball 40 in the circular notch 503 can be smoother, and the service life of the ball 40 can be prolonged. When the retainer ring 10 is released, the ball 40 can contact the fourth annular ramp 604.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, two, three or more spheres 40 of the axisymmetrical device and a plurality of sets of the first groove 101, the circular notch 503 and the second groove 603 for accommodating the spheres 40 may be provided, so that the locking and releasing processes of the positioning ring 10 by the spheres 40 during the up-and-down movement of the piston 60 are more stable.

As a most preferred embodiment, in this embodiment, the locking means further comprises: the first spring 61 and the third spring 62 are vertically and coaxially arranged and are arranged in an inner-outer nesting mode. The first spring 61 is annularly arranged outside the third spring 62, the baffle 65 and the third spring 62 are fixed by welding, and the baffle 65 is horizontally arranged in the first shielding cavity 502.

Specifically, the cross section of the first spring 61 is rectangular, the cross section of the third spring 62 is circular, and the elastic modulus of the first spring 61 is greater than that of the third spring 62. The baffle 65 is provided to detect whether the piston 60 vertically moves along the axis 100, and determine whether the piston 60 moves to a specified position and realizes locking of the positioning ring 10 or whether the ball 40 returns to the receiving space defined by the circular notch 503 and the first groove 603 again according to the distance between the baffle 65 and the bottom surface of the piston 60, so as to release the pressing of the ball 40 on the first annular inclined surface 102, thereby determining whether the positioning ring 10 is locked. Specifically, the sensor 34 may transmit the distance data between the baffle 65 and the bottom surface of the piston 60 in a wired manner as shown in the present embodiment, or may communicate with an industrial personal computer, a PLC, a single chip microcomputer, or an upper computer in a wireless manner. For example, a ZigBee chip or a bluetooth transmitting chip or a WIFI chip may be built in the sensor 34.

Referring to fig. 2, a convex column 51 is formed at the bottom of the top cover 50 and located at one side of the first shielding cavity 502, and a ring-shaped annular groove 52 is formed opposite to the convex column. One end of each of the first spring 61 and the third spring 62 is embedded into the annular groove 52, and the boss 51 extends into the axial inner space of each of the first spring 61 and the third spring 62. Meanwhile, referring to fig. 9, a boss 605 is formed at the bottom of the piston 60, so that an inner wall surface 607 of the piston 60 forms a ring-shaped groove 66. The annular groove 66 is equal in width to the annular groove 52 in the radial direction, so that the other ends of the first spring 61 and the third spring 62 are each fitted into the annular groove 66.

Referring to fig. 3 again, in the present embodiment, a first semicircular notch 531 is formed at the bottom of the lower ring 53, a second semicircular notch 233 is formed at the top of the upper ring 23, and the circular notch 503 is enclosed by the first semicircular notch 531 and the second semicircular notch 233. The radial outer side of the first semicircular notch 531 forms a first limit flange 532, the radial outer side of the second semicircular notch 233 forms a second limit flange 234, the first limit flange 532 and the second limit flange 234 enclose to form a continuous annular body, and the inner diameter of the annular body is smaller than the diameter of the sphere 40.

By means of the torus, the ball 40 is prevented from being squeezed excessively, thereby improving the locking and releasing operation of the retaining ring 10 by means of the ball 40. In particular, in the present embodiment, the term "radially outward" refers to a direction toward the positioning ring 10 horizontally along the center O of the sphere 40 in fig. 3.

Referring to fig. 1, 6, 7 and 8, in this embodiment, two positioning channels 12 and six connecting channels 14 are formed at the top of the positioning ring 10, and are axially symmetric, an inner wall surface of each connecting channel 14 is provided with an internal thread, and an inner wall surface of each positioning channel 12 is smooth. The bottom surface of the retaining ring 10 is provided with a first blind hole 105.

Referring to fig. 5, the housing channel 29 with steps is vertically disposed on the main body 20, the top surface of the bottom cover 30 is disposed with a second blind hole 301 matching with the housing channel 29, the first blind hole 105 is continuously communicated with the housing channel 29 and the second blind hole 301 to form a second shielding cavity 200, and the second shielding cavity 200 is disposed with the calibration pin 70 and the second spring 80 from top to bottom. The receiving channel 29 forms a step 703, by means of which step 703 the pin head 701 is blocked. The calibration pin 70 is composed of a pin head 701 and a pin column 702, the pin head 701 and the second blind hole 301 clamp the second spring 80 together, and the pin column 702 penetrates the receiving channel 29 and the first blind hole 105 continuously. Specifically, the cross section of the second spring 80 is rectangular.

The alignment pin 70 is provided in this embodiment to correct longitudinal misalignment of the body 20 and retaining ring 10 when not fully locked. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the length of the second spring 80 in the vertical direction at the compression limit is necessarily greater than the height of the second blind hole 301 and smaller than the sum of the longitudinal height of the receiving channel 29 excluding the portion receiving the pin 702 and the height of the second blind hole 301, so as to ensure that the pin 702 will not be disengaged from the receiving channel 29 with a smaller diameter even when the second spring 80 is compressed to the limit. Meanwhile, the pin 702 and the pin head 701 may be circular, oval or any other shape in a top view, as long as the pin 702 can be vertically adjusted in the receiving channel 29 along a vertical direction by a certain extent, and the adjustment of the pin 702 may be adjusted and corrected by forming a hexagon socket head cap bolt and a gasket (not shown) on the bottom cover 30 to screw into the bottom cover 30 at different depths by the hexagon socket head cap bolt.

Referring to fig. 3, in the present embodiment, the ball 40 at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface 102 means that the ball 40 at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface 102 formed by the lower edge of the second groove 101. Specifically, in fig. 3, the ball 40 may be made of steel, stainless steel, copper, or a polymer material (e.g., PA66, teflon) with good wear resistance. After the second air pipe quick coupling 36 is disconnected from the external air compression device (e.g., an air compressor) to supply high pressure air, or after the second air pipe quick coupling 36 is switched to connect the vacuum negative pressure device, the second air passage 32 discharges air in the shielding cavity between the bottom surface of the piston 60 and the bottom cover 30 through the second air passage 32, and then the piston 60 moves downward. The radius of the sphere 40 is R, and when the tangent 48 along the vertical direction on the radial outer side of the sphere 40 falls to the lowest point (i.e. the state shown in fig. 3) when the piston 60 is located in the first shielding cavity 502, the tangent 48 intersects with the first annular inclined surface 102, and at the same time, the uppermost outer wall surface 600 of the piston 60 is tightly attached to the inner wall surface 504 of the lower ring 53 formed by the top cover 50. At this time, the first annular inclined surface 102 is pressed by the ball 40, so that the positioning ring 10 cannot move upwards, thereby serving the purpose of locking the positioning ring 10. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, when the positioning ring 10 is locked, the second air pipe quick connector 36 may also only cut off the high pressure air introduced from the outside, and only depends on the resilience of the first spring 61 to drive the piston 60 vertically downward and drive the piston 60 to fall to the bottom of the first shielding cavity 502.

The reverse operation to the above-described operation of locking the retaining ring 10 is to release the retaining ring 10. Specifically, when the second air pipe quick coupling 36 establishes a supply passage of high pressure air with the external air compression device, the high pressure air applies a vertically upward pressure to the bottom of the piston 60 through the through hole 321. At this time, the piston 60 simultaneously overcomes the resistance of the first spring 61 and the third spring 62 and moves vertically upward. During the upward vertical movement of the piston 60, the ball 40 is pushed by the first annular inclined surface 102 in a direction inclined to the axis 100 and perpendicular to the first annular inclined surface 102, so as to push the ball 40 to slide radially inward (i.e., to move in the direction of the axis 100). Meanwhile, during the process of sliding the ball 40 radially inward, the ball 40 is guided by the second annular inclined surface 601 and the third annular inclined surface 602 in sequence, and finally slides into the first groove 603. When the ball 40 contacts the annular bottom side surface of the first groove 603, the vertical tangent 48 of the radially outer side of the ball 40 in fig. 3 does not vertically intersect the first annular inclined surface 102, thereby achieving the releasing operation of the ball 40 to the positioning ring 10.

By means of the locking and releasing operation of the positioning ring 10, a flexible assembly with different workpieces or replacement tools can be achieved for the positioning channel 12 and the six connecting channels 14 arranged on the top of the positioning ring 10. The term "replacement tool" is a device known to those skilled in the art as ATC, and will not be described herein.

Finally, in this embodiment, the locking means further comprises:

at least one group of power distribution block female seats 3 and power distribution block male seats 4 which are arranged in an up-and-down stacked mode. Specifically, in the present embodiment, two sets of the female block seats 3 and the male block seats 4 are disposed on the side of the locking tool, and are disposed in axial symmetry. The power distribution block female seat 3 and the power distribution block male seat 4 are provided at the side of the locking tool. The female distribution block base 3 and the male distribution block base 4 are arranged, so that the floating contact is electrified through three metal probes (not shown) longitudinally arranged inside the female distribution block base 3 and the male distribution block base 4, and whether the positioning ring 10 is loosened and locked with the body 20 is determined through the contact of the three metal probes longitudinally arranged inside the female distribution block base 3 and the male distribution block base 4. The power distribution block female seat 3 is connected with the sensor 34 through a wire, and the power distribution block male seat 4 is connected with the PLC through a wire, sends a signal to the PLC or receives an instruction sent by the PLC.

Of course, it should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the one or two sets of the power distribution block female seats 3 and the power distribution block male seats 4 are necessary components.

Example two:

referring to fig. 10 in combination, this embodiment shows a modified embodiment of the locking tool of the automatic tool changer of the present invention.

The main difference between the automatic tool changer disclosed in this embodiment and the automatic tool changer disclosed in the first embodiment is that, in this embodiment, the locking tool further includes: a connecting rod 64 integrally formed with the top cover 50 and extending downward. The end of the connecting rod 64 is provided with the baffle 65. The connecting rod 64 functions similarly to the third spring 62 in the first embodiment. Meanwhile, the locking means disclosed in the present embodiment omits a third spring 62 such as in the first embodiment.

Further, the connecting rod 64 may be extended vertically upward from the top cover 50, and the connecting rod 64 may be screwed to the top cover 50, so as to adjust a distance between the baffle 65 provided at the end of the connecting rod 64 and the sensor 34 in the vertical direction. In view of the common connection used in this implementation, specific drawings are not shown in this application. By adjusting the distance between the baffle 65 and the sensor 34 in the vertical direction, the defects of poor detection precision and poor detection effect caused by partial failure of the spring or metal fatigue after the first spring 61 is used for a certain time are effectively avoided.

In this embodiment, the connecting rod 64 may be integrated with the protruding pillar 51 in the first embodiment in the actual manufacturing process, and a baffle 65 is fixedly connected (welded, hinged or bonded) to the end of the connecting rod 64. The baffle 65 is circular and has a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the first spring 61. When the piston 60 moves upward by the gas, the vertical distance between the sensor 34 and the baffle 65 is shortened, and when the piston 60 moves downward by the first spring 61, the vertical distance between the sensor 34 and the baffle 65 is increased. This increase and decrease in distance can be detected by the sensor 34 and converted from analog to digital by an analog to digital converter circuit to determine whether the piston 60 has moved to a given position to enable on-line real-time monitoring of the locking tool in the state of locking or unlocking the retaining ring 10, and the transition between the two states, and is therefore well suited for industrial 4.0 to flexible production lines.

Please refer to the first embodiment for a technical solution of the same parts in the locking tool disclosed in the present embodiment and the locking tool disclosed in the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.

The above list of details is only for the practical implementation of the present invention, and they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and all equivalent implementations or modifications that do not depart from the technical spirit of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted to details of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but that it can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. Any reference sign in a claim should not be construed as limiting the claim concerned.

Furthermore, it should be understood that although the present description refers to embodiments, not every embodiment may contain only a single embodiment, and such description is for clarity only, and those skilled in the art should integrate the description, and the embodiments may be combined as appropriate to form other embodiments understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A locking tool of an automatic tool changer, comprising:

the device comprises a positioning ring (10) with an opening, a body (20) clamped with the positioning ring (10), a bottom cover (30) arranged at the bottom of the body (20), a top cover (50) used for shielding the opening of the positioning ring (10), a ball body (40), a piston (60), a first spring (61) clamped by the top cover (50) and the piston (60), a sensor (34) embedded at the bottom of the piston (60), and a baffle plate (65) arranged above the sensor (34);

the top cover (50) is provided with a lower ring (53) extending downwards, the body (20) is provided with an upper ring (23) extending upwards, the ball body (40) is accommodated in a circular gap (503) formed by the lower ring (53) and the upper ring (23), and the top cover (50), the body (20) and the bottom cover (30) together form a cylindrical first shielding cavity (502) for accommodating the piston (60);

the outer side wall of the piston (60) is provided with a first groove (603), the inner side wall of the positioning ring (10) is provided with a second groove (101), the second groove (101) is provided with a first annular inclined surface (102), and when the piston (60) moves downwards to the bottom of the shielding cavity (100), the ball body (40) is pressed into the annular gap (55) through the outer side wall of the piston (60), so that the ball body (40) at least partially presses the first annular inclined surface (102) to limit the displacement of the positioning ring (10) in the vertical direction.

2. The locking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that the top of the first groove (603) has a second annular ramp (601) and a third annular ramp (602) arranged in series, and the bottom of the first groove (603) has a fourth annular ramp (604).

3. The locking tool according to claim 2, wherein the bottom of the lower ring (53) forms a first semicircular notch (531), the top of the upper ring (23) forms a second semicircular notch (233), and the circular notch (503) is formed by the first semicircular notch (531) and the second semicircular notch (233) together.

4. A locking tool according to claim 3, wherein the radially outer side of the first semicircular indentation (531) forms a first position-defining flange (532), the radially outer side of the second semicircular indentation (233) forms a second position-defining flange (234), and the first position-defining flange (532) and the second position-defining flange (234) enclose a continuous torus having an inner diameter smaller than the diameter of the ball (40).

5. The locking tool of claim 3, further comprising:

and the connecting rod (64) is of an integrated structure with the top cover (50) and extends downwards, and the baffle (65) is arranged at the tail end of the connecting rod (64).

6. The locking tool according to claim 1, characterized in that the radial outside of the body (20) is formed with a ring of steps (24), and four first air passages (13) are provided from the top of the positioning ring (10) in an axisymmetric arrangement and vertically penetrate the positioning ring (10) and partially penetrate the steps (24);

a first sealing ring (505) is embedded in the opening of the first air channel (13) of the positioning ring (10),

the positioning ring (10) is clamped on the step (24), a second sealing ring (507) is embedded at the inner side of the first air passage (13) penetrating through the step (24),

a first air pipe quick joint (35) communicated with the first air passage (13) is transversely arranged at the side part of the body (20),

the inner part of the bottom cover (30) is transversely provided with a second air passage (32), the second air passage (32) forms a through hole (321) communicated with the piston (60), and the side part of the bottom cover (30) is transversely provided with a second air pipe quick connector (36) connected with the second air passage (32).

7. The locking tool according to claim 6, characterized in that the top of the positioning ring (10) is further provided with two positioning channels (12) and six connecting channels (14) which are axially symmetrical, the inner wall surface of each connecting channel (14) is provided with internal threads, and the inner wall surface of each positioning channel (12) is smooth.

8. The locking tool according to claim 7, wherein the bottom surface of the positioning ring (10) is provided with a first blind hole (105), the body (20) is provided with a receiving channel (29) with steps in the vertical direction, the top surface of the bottom cover (30) is provided with a second blind hole (301) matched with the receiving channel (29), the first blind hole (105) is continuously communicated with the receiving channel (29) and the second blind hole (301) to form a second shielding cavity (200), and the second shielding cavity (200) is respectively provided with the correcting pin (70) and the second spring (80) from top to bottom;

the correcting pin (70) is composed of a pin head (701) and a pin column (702), the pin head (701) and the second blind hole (301) clamp the second spring (80) together, and the pin column (702) continuously penetrates through the accommodating channel (29) and the first blind hole (105).

9. The locking tool of claim 1, further comprising:

the first spring (61) and the third spring (62) are vertically and coaxially arranged and are arranged in an inner-outer nested manner, the first spring (61) is annularly distributed on the outer side of the third spring (62), and the baffle plate (65) and the third spring (62) are fixed in a welding manner;

wherein,

the section of the first spring (61) is rectangular, the section of the third spring (62) is circular, and the elastic modulus of the first spring (61) is greater than that of the third spring (62).

10. The locking tool of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

at least one group of power distribution block female seats (3) and power distribution block male seats (4) which are stacked up and down,

the power distribution block female seat (3) and the power distribution block male seat (4) are arranged on the side part of the locking tool;

and a mounting channel (33) is transversely arranged in the bottom cover (30), and a lead connected with the sensor (34) is led out from the mounting channel (33).