MANIPULATOR FOR PIVOTING AN OBJECT OF MANIPULATION

Abstract

The invention relates to a manipulator (10) for pivoting an object of manipulation, the manipulator (10) having a frame comprising a pivot base which can be pivoted in a horizontal plane about a vertical pivot axis (11) relative to the frame by means of a drive (26), the pivot base having a boom (20) comprising a load carrier (15) which is disposed at a free end of the boom (20) and serves to be connected to the object of manipulation, the load carrier (15) having a pivot device for pivoting the object of manipulation in the horizontal plane, wherein, in order to produce a pivoting four-bar linkage formed in the horizontal plane and comprising the boom (20), a control bar (24) extending from the frame to the pivot device is provided, one end of the control bar (24) being articulated to the pivot device of the load carrier (15) and the other end being articulated to the frame via a control gear mechanism in such a manner that in the event of a base pivoting movement of the pivot base, a load carrier pivoting movement superimposed on the base pivoting movement is effected via the control gear mechanism and the control bar (24).

Claims

1. A manipulator (10) for pivoting an object of manipulation, the manipulator (10) having a frame (12) comprising a pivot base (13) which can be pivoted in a horizontal plane about a vertical pivot axis (11) relative to the frame (12) by means of a drive (26), the pivot base having a boom (20) comprising a load carrier (15) which is disposed at a free end of the boom (20) and serves to be connected to the object of manipulation, the load carrier (15) having a pivot device (32) for pivoting the object of manipulation in the horizontal plane, wherein, in order to produce a pivoting four-bar linkage formed in the horizontal plane and comprising the boom (20), a control bar (24) extending from the frame (12) to the pivot device (32) is provided, one end of the control bar (24) being articulated to the pivot device (32) of the load carrier (15) and the other end being articulated to the frame (12) via a control gear mechanism (42) in such a manner that in the event of a base pivoting movement of the pivot base (13), a load carrier pivoting movement superimposed on the base pivoting movement is effected via the control gear mechanism (42) and the control bar (24).

2. The manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the control gear mechanism (42) has a guide formed on the frame (12), said guide interacting with a control lever (30) which is disposed on the pivot base (13) and articulates the control bar (30) to the guide.

3. The manipulator according to claim 2, characterized in that the guide defines a control curve along which a control head of the control lever (30) is guided.

4. The manipulator according to claim 3, characterized in that the control curve is a guiding groove (27) into which the control head, which is a driver (36), engages.

5. The manipulator according to claim 2, characterized in that the guide is a control disk (25) which is connected to the frame (12).

6. The manipulator according to claim 2, characterized in that the control lever (30) forms a lever rocker having a lever axis (34) fixed to the pivot base (13) for pivot-mounting the control lever (30) in a pivot plane parallel to the guide plane of the guide, a first lever arm of the control lever forming a control lever arm (35), whose end is engaged with the guide via the control head, and a second lever arm as a driving lever arm (29) forms a driving member of the pivoting four-bar linkage.

7. The manipulator according to claim 6, characterized in that the lever axis (34) is disposed above the boom (20) on the pivot base (13) and intersects a longitudinal axis (37) of the boom (20).

8. The manipulator according to claim 2, characterized in that the control gear mechanism (42) comprises a pivot carrier (33) connected to the pivot base (13), the guide connected to the frame (12), and the control lever (30) connected to the pivot carrier (33) via the lever axis (34).

9. The manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that in order to form a lifting linkage (14) which has an articulated lifting parallelogram (17) formed in a vertical plane, the boom (20) is articulated to the pivot base (13) via a pivot axis (21) and disposed parallel to a load arm (19) articulated to the pivot base (13) via a pivot axis (18), the boom (20) and the load arm (19) being articulated to each other via the load carrier (15) at their ends opposite the pivot base (13).

10. The manipulator according to claim 9, characterized in that in order to realize the pivoting four-bar linkage as an articulated pivoting parallelogram (28), the boom (20) is disposed parallel to the control bar (24).

11. The manipulator according to claim 9, characterized in that the pivot axis (21) of the boom (20) is formed on the pivot carrier (33) together with the lever axis (34) of the control lever (30).

12. The manipulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the drive (26) serves both to pivot the lifting linkage (14) and to pivot the pivot device (32) of the load carrier (15).

13. The manipulator according to claim 12, characterized in that the drive (26) is disposed on the guide.

14. The manipulator according to claim 3, characterized in that the control curve defines a sequence of control points whose distance a from the vertical pivot axis (11) of the pivot base (13) defines a parallelogram angle ? formed between the driving member and the fixed member of the articulated pivoting parallelogram (28).

Description

[0022] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be explained with more detail based on the drawing.

[0023] FIG. 1: shows a manipulator in an isometric illustration;

[0024] FIG. 2: shows an enlarged illustration of a load carrier of the manipulator;

[0025] FIG. 3: shows a side view of the manipulator;

[0026] FIG. 4: shows a top view of the manipulator as illustrated in FIG. 3 in a first pivoted position;

[0027] FIG. 5: shows a top view of the manipulator as illustrated in FIG. 3 in a second pivoted position;

[0028] FIG. 6: shows an enlarged illustration of a control gear mechanism of the manipulator disposed in the pivoted position illustrated in FIG. 4;

[0029] FIG. 7: shows an enlarged illustration of the control gear mechanism of the manipulator illustrated in the second pivoted position in FIG. 5;

[0030] FIG. 8: shows an enlarged illustration of the control gear mechanism of the manipulator illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0031] FIG. 3 shows a side view of a manipulator 10 illustrated isometrically in FIG. 1, said manipulator 10 having a pivot base 13 which is mounted so as to pivot about a vertical pivot axis 11 in a frame 12, said pivot base 13 being provided with a lifting linkage 14 which, at its free end, has a load carrier 15 for being connected to a tapping channel lid 16, which is illustrated as an object of manipulation by way of example in this case.

[0032] Lifting linkage 14 has an articulated lifting parallelogram 17 which can be pivoted in a vertical plane and which has a load arm 19 articulated to pivot base 13 via a pivot axis 18 and, parallel to said load arm 19, a boom 20 which is also articulated to pivot base 13 via a pivot axis 21. At their ends opposite pivot base 13, load arm 19 and boom 20 are articulated to load carrier 15 via pivot axes 22 and 23, respectively, thus forming articulated lifting parallelogram 17, which is best seen from the auxiliary lines interconnecting pivot axes 18 and 21, 21 and 23, 23 and 22, and 22 and 18 as illustrated in FIG. 3, said articulated lifting parallelogram 17 allowing a pivoting movement in a vertical plane for lifting or lowering tapping channel lid 16, which is connected to load carrier 18, load carrier 15 moving in parallel alignment to a fixed member of articulated lifting parallelograms 17, said fixed member being defined by pivot base 13 between pivot axes 18 and 21, tapping channel lid 16 thus maintaining its horizontal alignment during the lifting movement.

[0033] For performing the lifting movement, a lifting cylinder 39, which is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, is provided between pivot base 13 and load arm 19.

[0034] In FIGS. 4 and 5, manipulator 10 is illustrated in two different pivoted positions, FIG. 4 showing a first pivoted position, in which lifting linkage 14, which is connected to pivot base 13, is aligned substantially parallel to a mounting plate 41, which is formed on a rear side of frame 12, in a horizontal pivot plane, which coincides with the drawing plane in this case.

[0035] For better illustration of a control gear mechanism 42 that acts on a control bar 24 disposed parallel to boom 20 of articulated lifting parallelogram 17 in this case, a control disk 25 is transparently illustrated in manipulator 10 shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. On control disk 25, which is part of frame 12 or permanently connected thereto, a drive 26 for the pivot drive of pivot base 13 is disposed.

[0036] As can be seen in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, in the case of the illustrated preferred embodiment of a manipulator for handling a tapping channel lid 16, boom 20 and control bar 24 form parallel articulated members of a pivoting four-bar linkage that is disposed in the horizontal plane and configured as an articulated pivoting parallelogram 28 whose other parallel articulated members are formed by a driving lever arm 29 of a control lever 30 and by a pivot arm 31 of a pivot device 32 of load carrier 15.

[0037] As becomes clear from a combined view of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, in particular, control lever 30 is mounted to pivot on a lever axis 34 on a pivot carrier 33 disposed on and permanently connected to pivot base 13 and forms a lever rocker in such a manner that a first lever arm of control lever 30 forms the driving lever arm and a second lever arm of control lever 30 forms a control lever arm 35 which has, at its free end, a driver 36 that engages into a guiding groove 27 formed on the underside of control disk 25. As shown in FIG. 8, in particular, lever axis 34 of the control lever formed on pivot carrier 33 is located above boom 20 in such a manner that a centerline 40 of lever axis 34 intersects a longitudinal axis 37 of boom 20. Thus, a fixed member of articulated pivoting parallelogram 28 disposed in the horizontal plane is kinematically formed between lever axis 34 and a vertical pivot axis 38 of pivot device 32 of load carrier 15.

[0038] As is apparent from a combined view of FIGS. 7 and 8, in particular, control gear mechanism 42 has, as substantial components, pivot carrier 33 rigidly connected to pivot base 13 and thus pivotable together with pivot base 13, the guide formed as a guiding groove 27 on frame 12 or on control disk 25 disposed for co-rotation on frame 12, and control lever 30 articulated to pivot carrier 33 via lever axis 34. As shown in FIG. 7, control bar 24 is connected to driving lever arm 29 via a swivel joint 38, formed as a spherical head in this case, which means that a lifting movement of lifting linkage 14, i.e. a pivoting of articulated lifting parallelogram 17 in a vertical plane, does not lead to constraints in swivel joint 38. In fact, pivoting of pivot device 32 of pivot carrier 33, which causes corresponding pivoting of tapping channel lid 16, is envisaged only if articulated pivoting parallelogram 28 is disposed in the horizontal plane.

[0039] As can best be comprehended from FIGS. 4 and 5, to pivot pivot arm 31 of pivot device 32 of load carrier 15, driving lever arm 29 formed by the first lever arm of control lever 30 acts on pivot arm 31 of pivot device 32 via control bar 24 moved parallel to boom 20. The pivoting movement of driving member 29 is effected by pivoting of control lever arms 35 of control lever 30 about lever axis 34. The pivoting movement of control lever arm 35 is effected by the relative movement of driver 36 in guiding groove 27 when pivot base 13 is being pivoted about vertical pivot axis 11 in guiding groove 27. Thus, control gear mechanism 23 driven by means of the pivoting movement of pivot base 13 effects a relative rotation of tapping channel lid 16, which is connected to pivot device 32 of load carrier 15, relative to lifting linkage 14, which means that the rotation of pivot device 32 of load carrier 15 in the horizontal plane is superimposed on the pivoting movement of lifting linkage 14, which is connected to pivot base 13, in the horizontal plane, a parallelogram angle ? formed between driving lever arm 29, which forms the driving member of articulated pivoting parallelogram 28, and load arm 19 being dependent on distance a between driver 36 and vertical pivot axis 11.

[0040] Although guide 27 is in the shape of a partial circle whose circle center is offset from vertical pivot axis 11 in the illustrated embodiment, guiding groove 27 or a control curve of control gear mechanism 42 configured as the guiding groove in the case at hand can have an irregular progression provided with alternating curvature radii, said progression being definable according to the desired relative movement of load carrier 15 relative to lifting linkage 14; load carrier 15 can also perform opposite rotation movements that follow each other.