IMPROVED DELTA ROBOT

Abstract

The invention relates to a delta robot (1) with at least two robot arms (2a, 2b, 2c), preferably three robot arms (2a, 2b, 2c), which can be moved relative to a robot base (3) via a respective motor (5a, 5b, 5c) arranged on the robot base (3) and associated with the respective robot arm (2a, 2b, 2c), wherein the motors (5a, 5b, 5c) each comprise part of a motor-controller-encoder unit (4a, 4b, 4c) with integrated servo-controller (6a, 6b, 6c) and encoder in order to increase the mechanical accuracy and efficiency of the delta robot (1).

Claims

1. A Delta robot with at least two robot arms, which can be moved relative to a robot base by means of a respective motor arranged on the robot base and associated with the respective robot arm, characterized in that the motors each comprise part of a motor-controller-encoder unit with an integrated controller and integrated encoder.

2. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the motor-controller-encoder units have no gears and/or the motors of the motor-controller-encoder units are torque motors.

3. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the robot arms are each mounted on the robot base only via the bearing element or elements of the associated motor.

4. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the controller and the encoder of the respective motor-controller-encoder units are arranged in a common housing, in particular the motor and the controller and the encoder of the respective motor-controller-encoder units are arranged in a common housing.

5. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the motors are designed for slewing functions which can only perform rotations of less than 360°, in particular less than 180°.

6. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the motor-controller-encoder units are designed for a low-voltage operating voltage, in particular for an operating voltage of up to 60V or up to 50V, for example 48V.

7. A-Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the delta robot has only two electrical connections, namely one connection for the supply voltage and one connection for a communication signal directed to the controllers.

8. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the delta robot has a common bus for supplying all motor-controller-encoder units with the supply voltage and/or with the communication signal, and the different motor-controller-encoder units are supplied with the supply voltage and/or with the communication signal via the common bus.

9. A Delta robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the motor-controller-encoder units have an automatic safety function, in particular a safe brake control function and/or a safe torque off function.

10. A Delta robot according to claim 9, characterized in that the motors, for moving the respectively associated robot arm, are coupled to the drive side of a respective gear unit, and the gear units are each coupled on the output side to a further rotary encoder of the associated motor-controller-encoder unit.

11. A Delta robot according to claim 10, characterized in that the motors each have a hollow shaft as a drive shaft and the further rotary encoder associated with the respective motor-controller-encoder unit is mechanically and/or electrically coupled, through the hollow shaft, to the output of the transmission unit.

12. A Motor-controller-encoder unit for the delta robot.

Description

[0028] An exemplary embodiment of a delta robot is explained below with reference to a schematic drawing.

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a symbolic representation of an exemplary embodiment of a delta robot. In the present example, the delta robot 1 has three robot arms 2a, 2b, 2c, which can be moved relative to a robot base 3 by means of a motor-controller-rotator unit 4a, 4b, 4c arranged on the robot base 3 and assigned to the respective robot arm 2a, 2b, 2c. An end effector 8 is arranged at the ends of the robot arms 2a-2c that are further away from the robot base 3.

[0030] The motor-controller-encoder units 4a, 4b, 4c each have a motor 5a, 5b, 5c, which is designed as a torque motor here, and servo controllers 6a, 6b, 6c integrated into the motor-controller-encoder units 4a, 4b, 4c and encoders or rotary encoders that are not shown. Therein, the motor-controller-encoder units 4a-4c (as well as the robot arms, in particular in their proximal ends or sub-robot arms) do not have any gears. Rather, in the example shown, the robot arms 2a-2c are directly supported at their proximal end closest to the robot base 3 only via the bearing elements 7a, 7a′ of the associated torque motor 4a-4c on the robot base 3. In the example shown, the torque motor 4a is shown as an outrunner or outer rotor motor, in which the internal stator is connected to the robot base 3 and the outer rotor merges into the robot arm 2a, and consequently can also be understood as part of the robot arm 2a.

[0031] At present, the delta robot 1 has exactly two electrical connections 9a, 9b, namely a first connection 9a for the power supply with the operating voltage and a second connection 9b for a communication signal directed to the servo controllers 6a-6c. In the present case, the connections 9a, 9b are designed with a common bus 10 for supplying all motor-controller-encoder units 4a to 4c with the operating voltage and with the communication signal. For example, the delta robot 1 can be connected to an external power supply, such as a power supply network, via connection 9a and to an external control device, such as a computer, via connection 9b. The computer and power supply network are then connected to the first motor-controller-encoder unit 4a via the bus 10 in the example shown. This first motor-controller-encoder unit 4a is in turn correspondingly connected via the common bus 10 to the next motor-controller-encoder unit 4b, which is in turn coupled via the bus 10 to the motor-controller-encoder unit 4c. Also by using the bus 10 and “looping” the signals through or via the various motor-controller-encoder units 4a, 4b, 4c, signal path lengths are thus minimised and it is contributed to improved accuracy.