CN216506865U - Gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead apex and a spacer supporting the bead apex - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to a gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead-apex and a spacer supporting said bead-apex, comprising a plurality of bead-holders circumferentially distributed around a gripper axis for picking up and holding the bead-apex, and a plurality of spacer-holders for picking up and holding the spacer, and further comprising a separator having at least one separator for separating the bead-apex from the spacer in an axial direction, wherein the axial direction is parallel to the gripper axis, wherein the at least one separator is movable relative to the plurality of bead-holders so as to apply a pushing force to the spacer in a pressing-down direction, wherein the pressing-down direction is parallel to said axial direction.

Description

Gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead apex and a spacer supporting the bead apex

Technical Field

The application relates to a gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead apex and a spacer supporting the bead apex.

Background

The tire building process typically includes the preparation of a bead apex made by compounding the bead with an apex or bead filler. The bead-apexes are successively stored on the suspension assembly of the bead apex storage unit in the downstream tire building station. Each bead apex is placed on a spacer that can be stacked vertically upward while maintaining the bead apexes spaced from each other. The divider has a conical surface that extends at a divider angle to match or substantially match the angle of the apex or bead filler.

WO2010/021546a1 discloses a gripper with bead-holding means for picking up and holding a bead and spacer-holding means for simultaneously picking up and holding a spacer supporting said bead. Said compartment holding device being operable to release and drop the spacer to the collection unit of the empty spacer, while the beads remain on the bead holding device, and can be transferred to the tyre building station

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

A disadvantage of the known grip is that the bead-apex may still be slightly tacky and may therefore be less easily detached from the spacer. Occasionally, manual intervention is required to separate the bead-apex from the spacer.

The utility model aims to provide a gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead-apex and a spacer supporting the bead-apex, wherein the bead-apex can be more reliably separated from the spacer.

The application provides a gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead-apex and a spacer supporting the bead-apex, comprising a plurality of bead-retaining mechanisms distributed circumferentially around a gripper axis for picking up and retaining the bead-apex, and a plurality of spacer-retaining mechanisms for picking up and retaining the spacer, and a separating mechanism having at least one separating element for separating the bead-apex from the spacer in an axial direction, wherein the axial direction is parallel to the gripper axis, wherein the at least one separating element is movable relative to the plurality of bead-retaining mechanisms for applying a pushing force to the spacer in a pressing-down direction, wherein the pressing-down direction is parallel to the axial direction.

Said pushing force is capable of holding the separator downwards in a pressing direction, so that a relative movement in a separating direction is generated between said bead-holding means carrying the bead and the separator, wherein the separating direction is opposite to the pressing direction. Thus, even when the bead-apex is still slightly viscous, a sufficient and/or reliable separation between the bead-apex and the spacer can still be obtained. In other words, when the bead-apex is lifted from the spacer, the separating mechanism can effectively prevent the spacer from sticking and adhering to the bead-apex.

In a preferred embodiment, the movement of at least one of the separating members with respect to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms comprises at least one vector component in the pressing-down direction. Thus, the at least one separating member need not be linearly movable; which is capable of arcuate movement, i.e. by pivoting or rotation about a pivot axis. In particular, the movement of at least one of the separating members with respect to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms comprises a rotation about a pivot axis having at least one vector component in the pressing-down direction. The at least one separator member is thereby movable between an upper position rotated or pivoted away from the partition member and a lower position in abutting contact with the partition member. At said upper position, the at least one separating member can be relatively close to the grip axis, thereby avoiding interference between said at least one separating member and other parts of the grip.

In another embodiment, the at least one separating member comprises at least one finger which is pivotable about a respective pivot axis, in a pressing-down direction into abutting contact with the separating member. Said fingers can be effectively pressed down to the spacer to keep it under when the bead-apex is separated from said spacer.

Preferably, at least one finger has a distal end for contacting the partition, wherein the respective pivot axis is located radially inside said distal end with respect to the gripper axis. The at least one finger may thus project radially outwards from a central position, i.e. on the gripper axis or an attachment thereof, and be pivotally connected to other parts of the gripper. Thus, the outer region of the spacer, in particular the conical surface supporting the bead-apex, can be separated from said separating means and thus hold a plurality of bead-holding means easily accessible.

In another embodiment, the gripper comprises a central structure for carrying a plurality of spacer retaining mechanisms, wherein at least one separator is carried by the same central structure as the plurality of spacer retaining mechanisms. Thus, no additional or separate structure or frame is required to carry the at least one finger. Thus, the grip can remain relatively compact.

In another embodiment, the at least one separator is located radially inward of the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms relative to the gripper axis. The outer side and/or the outer shape of the hand grip is therefore defined only by the operating elements added to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms. The at least one separating member can be compactly retained within a central region or area of the hand grip. Furthermore, the outer region of the spacer, in particular the conical surface supporting the bead apex, can be separated from the separating means so as to facilitate access to a plurality of bead retaining means.

In another embodiment, the spacer comprises a conical support surface for supporting the bead-apex, a central hole coaxially inside the conical support surface, and a rim extending coaxially between the conical support surface and the central hole, wherein the at least one spacer element is arranged to be moved into abutting contact with the rim in a pressing-down direction. The conical surface of the spacer remains freely accessible to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms by pressing down on the rim of the rim, either on the central hole of the spacer or attached thereto.

In another embodiment, the separating means comprises at least two separating members circumferentially distributed about the grip axis. The partition can thus be held in two positions below, i.e. diametrically opposite positions, providing a more stable and safe depression of the partition.

In another embodiment, the separating means comprises at least four separating elements distributed circumferentially about the gripper axis. At least four separating elements are provided, preferably evenly or uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction, which can be held in a more stable or safe manner thereunder.

In another embodiment, the separating mechanism comprises at least one separating actuator for actuating the movement of the at least one separating member. Thus, the operation can be driven remotely and/or automatically. The separating operation may be carried out already during the transport of the gripper from the bead-apex preparation device to the collection unit of the empty spacer, for example, so that the bead-apex is separated from the spacer already before said spacer reaches the collection unit. Therefore, the empty separator can be more quickly processed.

The various aspects and features described and illustrated in this specification may be applied separately or randomly. These various aspects relate in particular to the aspects and features described in the dependent claims, which may be the subject of divisional patent applications.

Drawings

The utility model will be elucidated on the basis of an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a gripper, bead-apex and spacer according to the present application, in a situation where the gripper holds both the bead-apex and the spacer;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the grip of FIG. 1 in a condition where the grip releases the divider;

fig. 3 is a front view of the gripper according to fig. 1, in a situation in which the gripper has separated the bead-apex from the spacer.

1. Gripper 10, central structure 11, arm 2, bead retaining mechanism 21, bead retaining member 22, bead retaining member 23, bead engaging jaw 24, guide 3, spacer retaining mechanism 31, spacer retaining member 32, spacer retaining member 33, spacer engaging jaw 34, linkage 35, spacer retaining driver 4, release mechanism 41, release member 42, release member 43, release driver 44, release driver 5, spacer 50, conical support surface 51, central aperture 52, rim 53, spacer engaging port 9, bead-apex 91, bead 92, apex or bead filler A axial B bead engagement to C Down drive direction D pivot axis P1 pivot axis P2 pivot axis R rotation S separation to X gripper axis

Detailed Description

Fig. 1-3 show a gripper or gripper head 1 for use in a tire building process, in particular in a station for preparing a bead-apex.

The bead-apex 9 is composed of beads 91 and an apex or bead filler 92 in a known manner. Said bead-apexes 9 are successively stored in suspension assemblies in a bead-apex storage unit (not shown) in a downstream tyre building station. Each bead-apex 9 is placed on a spacer which is able to stack and keep the bead-apexes 9 spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction.

As shown in fig. 1, the divider 5 has a conical surface 50 extending at an oblique dividing angle to match or substantially match the angle of the apex or bead filler 92. The partition 5 further comprises a central hole 51 located inside and concentric with the conical support surface 50, and a rim 52 extending concentrically between the conical support surface 50 and the central hole 51. The partition 5 has one or more partition engagement openings 53 to allow the partition 5 to be picked up by the hand grip 1, in a manner to be described in detail below.

The hand grip 1 comprises a bead-holding mechanism 2 having a plurality of bead holders 21,22 circumferentially distributed about the hand grip axis X so as to pick up and hold the bead-apex 9. The gripper 1 further comprises a divider holder mechanism 3 having a plurality of divider holders 3 for picking up and holding the dividers 5 simultaneously.

The hand grip 1 comprises a central structure 10 carrying a plurality of bead holders 21,22 and a plurality of spacer holders 31,32 with respect to a central axis X of the hand grip 1. Preferably, the central structure 10 extends at or along a central axis X. In other words, the central structure 10 is common to the plurality of bead holders 21,22 and the plurality of spacer holders 31, 32. The central structure 10 has a mechanism for coupling the hand grip 1 to a manipulator, such as a robot arm or the like. The hand grip 1 further comprises a number of arms 11 equal to the number of bead holders 21,22, which extend in a radially outward direction of the central structure 10. In the present embodiment the hand grip 1 has 4 arms 11, only two of which are shown in fig. 1-3. The arms 11 are uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction of the gripper axis X, i.e. at the same angle interval.

The plurality of bead holders 21,22 has a guide or shoe 24 of suitable shape so as to be movable along the plurality of arms 11, in substantially the same way as described in patent WO2010/021546a1 of the same applicant, hereby incorporated by reference. Therefore, the operation of the bead holders 21,22 will be described only briefly. In particular, it is noted that each bead holder 21,22 comprises a bead engagement jaw 23, which is suitably shaped so as to engage a bead 91 of the bead-apex 9 when it is moved radially outwards along the respective one of the arms 11. The spacer 5 has corresponding slits to receive the bead-engaging jaws 23 in a recessed manner, i.e. flush with the conical surface 50 of said spacer 5.

In the present embodiment, the partitioning member holding mechanism 3 includes two partitioning member holding members 31,32 located at diametrically opposite positions about the grip axis X so as to engage with the partitioning member engagement opening 53 on the center hole 51. Specifically, each spacer holder 31 includes a spacer engagement jaw 33 that can be inserted into a corresponding spacer engagement opening 53 from the center hole 51, as shown in fig. 1. The partitioning member holders 31,32 can be withdrawn from the partitioning member engagement openings 53 to release the partitioning member 5, as shown in fig. 2 and 3. In this embodiment, the partition retaining members 31,32 can be pivoted apart and disengaged from the partition engagement opening 53 by actuating the linkage 34 by a partition retaining driver 35, such as a piston or the like.

The hand grip 1 further comprises a detachment mechanism 4 having at least one detachment member 41,42 for detaching the bead-apex 9 from the spacer 5 along an axial direction a parallel or substantially parallel to the grip axis X. Preferably, the number of separating elements 41,42 of the separating mechanism 4 is equal to the number of bead holders 21,22, in this embodiment four. A different number of separators 41,42, for example two, three or more than four, is also conceivable within the scope of the present application. Fig. 1-3 show only two separate pieces 41, 42. The four separating elements 41,42 are preferably evenly distributed in the circumferential direction of the gripper axis X, i.e. at equal angular intervals. The separating elements 41,42 may be angularly aligned with the bead holders 21,22, i.e. aligned with the respective arms 11, or circumferentially juxtaposed, i.e. somewhere between the arms 11. For the sake of clarity in explaining the working principle of the present application, the bead holders 21,22 and the separating members 41,42 are shown in the same drawing plane.

As best illustrated in fig. 1, each separating member 41,42 comprises a finger which can pivot along a rotation R about a respective pivot axis P1, P2, so as to come into abutting contact with the partition 5 along a pressing-down direction C parallel to said axial direction a. Each finger has a distal end for contacting the partition 5, wherein the respective pivot axis P1, P2 is located radially inside said distal end with respect to the finger axis X. In particular, the fingers are hinged to a central structure 10 of the gripper 1, i.e. on or near the gripper axis X. Preferably, the fingers and the spacer holding mechanism 3 are both supported by the same central structure 10.

Moreover, the separating members 41,42 are located radially inside or within the range of the plurality of bead protection mechanisms 2 with respect to the gripper axis X. Thus, a structurally compact grip 1 is obtained without any separating means on the outside of the grip 1, i.e. radially outside the bead holders 21, 22.

As can be seen by comparing fig. 1,2 and 3, the separating elements 41,42 are rotatable, pivotable, rotatable and/or movable with respect to the plurality of bead holders 2, so as to apply a pushing force in the pressing-down direction C to the separating element 5. As shown in fig. 2, the separating members 41,42 are moved downwardly in the pressing-down direction C into abutting contact with the rim 52 of the partitioning member 5. Meanwhile, the partitioning member holders 31,32 may release the partitioning member 5 from the partitioning member holding mechanism 3 slightly ahead or behind. Fig. 3 shows the situation in which the separators 41,42 continue to move in the pressing-down direction C, so that the separator 5 is pressed or held down, so that a relative movement in the separating direction S, which is opposite to the pressing-down direction C, is produced between the separator 5 and the bead apex 9. Thus, the bead apex 9 can be effectively lifted from the conical surface 50 of the spacer 5.

The movement of at least one separating member 41,42 with respect to the plurality of bead holders 2 comprises at least one vector component in the pressing-down direction C. In particular, said movement comprises a rotation R of each separator element 41,42 about the respective pivot axis P1, P2, with at least a vector component in the direction of depression C. Alternatively, the movement may be at least partially linear, or comprise a combination of linear and arcuate movements, depending on which movement is most suitable for contacting the partition 5 in the direction of depression C. Different separator designs and/or geometries may require different methods of separating the pieces 41, 42.

In the present embodiment, the movement of the separating members 41,42 is actuated by a separate separating drive 43,44 for each separating member 41, 42. The separating drives 43,44 may be pneumatically or hydraulically driven pistons. In the embodiment shown in fig. 2 and 3, the separating actuators 43,44 exert a driving force in the driving direction D on the respective fingers at a distance from the respective pivot axis P1, P2, so that a displacement about said respective pivot axis P1, P2 is generated, whereby a pressure force is generated on the separating element 5 at the distal end of the respective fingers, so that said separating element 5 is held downwards. Said release actuators 43,44 can be hinged to the arm 11 or to the central structure 10 of the hand grip 1. Alternatively, a separate drive common to two or more separate members 41,42 may be provided, for example by mechanically connecting the separate members 41,42 together. Thus, the separation can be driven remotely and/or automatically. The separation operation may be carried out already during the transport of the gripper 1 from the bead-apex preparation device (not shown) to a collection unit (not shown) empty of the spacers 5, for example, so that the bead-apex 9 is already separated from the spacers 5 before said spacers 5 reach the collection unit. Therefore, the empty separator 5 can be more quickly processed.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to illustrate the operation of the preferred embodiments and is not intended to limit the scope of the utility model. Variations, changes, or modifications that are obvious to one skilled in the art based on the above discussion are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. A gripper for simultaneously picking up a bead-apex and a spacer supporting said bead-apex, characterized by comprising a plurality of bead-holders circumferentially distributed around a gripper axis for picking up and holding the bead-apex, and a plurality of spacer-holders for picking up and holding the spacer, and a separator having at least one separator for separating the bead-apex from the spacer in an axial direction, wherein the axial direction is parallel to the gripper axis, wherein the at least one separator is movable relative to the plurality of bead-holders to apply a pushing force to the spacer in a pressing-down direction, wherein the pressing-down direction is parallel to said axial direction.

2. The gripper of claim 1, wherein the movement of the at least one separator relative to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms includes at least one vector component in the pressing-down direction.

3. The gripper of claim 1, wherein the movement of the at least one separating member relative to the plurality of bead-holding mechanisms includes rotation about a pivot axis having at least one vector component in the direction of depression.

4. The gripper of claim 1, wherein the at least one separating member includes at least one finger pivotable about a respective pivot axis into abutting contact with the dividing member in the pressing direction.

5. The gripper of claim 4, wherein at least one of the fingers has a distal end for contacting the divider, wherein the respective pivot axis is located radially inward of said distal end with respect to the gripper axis.

6. The gripper of claim 1, wherein the at least one separator is located radially inward of the plurality of bead retention mechanisms relative to the gripper axis.

7. The gripper of claim 1, including a central structure for carrying a plurality of spacer retention mechanisms, wherein at least one of the separate pieces is carried by the same central structure as the plurality of spacer retention mechanisms.

8. The gripper of claim 1, wherein said spacer includes a tapered support surface for supporting the bead-apex, a central bore located coaxially inside said tapered support surface, and a rim extending coaxially between the tapered support surface and the central bore, wherein the at least one separator is arranged to move in the pressing-down direction into abutting contact with the rim.

9. The gripper of claim 1, wherein said separating means includes at least two separating members circumferentially distributed about the gripper axis.

10. The gripper of claim 1, wherein said separating means includes at least four separating members circumferentially spaced about the gripper axis.

11. The gripper of claim 1, wherein said disengagement mechanism includes at least one disengagement actuator for actuating movement of said at least one disengagement member.

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