OMNIDIRECTIONAL MANIPULATOR FOR USE WITH SPRING FORMING MACHINE

Abstract

An omnidirectional manipulator is provided for use with a spring forming machine and includes a tool module, a first linear guideway, a second linear guideway, and a third linear guideway. The first linear guideway supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the tool module to move along a first linear axis. The second linear guideway supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the first linear guideway to move along a second linear axis. The third linear guideway supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the second linear guideway to move along a third linear axis. The first linear axis, the second linear axis, and the third linear axis are perpendicular to one another.

Claims

1. An omnidirectional manipulator, adapted to be used with a spring forming machine, and comprising: a tool module; a first linear guideway, which supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the tool module to move along a first linear axis; a second linear guideway, which supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the first linear guideway to move along a second linear axis; and a third linear guideway, which supports, in a manner of being mounted thereon, and drives the second linear guideway to move along a third linear axis; wherein the first linear axis, the second linear axis, and the third linear axis are perpendicular to one another.

2. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the first linear guideway comprises: a linear base, which comprises two rails that are substantially parallel to each other; a screw rod, which is rotatably mounted on the linear base and comprises a plurality of male threads; a slide seat, which is fit over the screw rod and comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to and engaging with the male threads of the screw rod and a plurality of guide seats respectively corresponding to the two rails of the linear base such that the guide seats are respectively mounted on the two rails; and a servomotor, which is fixed on the linear base and is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate so as to drive the slide seat to do linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

3. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 2, wherein the servomotor is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate by means of a motor gear and a screw gear that mate each other so as to drive the slide seat to do the linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

4. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 2, wherein the servomotor is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate by means of a motor pulley, a belt, and a screw pulley that are operatively coupled to each other so as to drive the slide seat to do the linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

5. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 2, wherein the servomotor is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate by means of a coupling coupled thereto so as to drive the slide seat to do the linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

6. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the second linear guideway composes: two rails, which are arrangement substantially parallel to each other; a slide seat, which comprises a plurality of guide seats respectively corresponding to the two rails such that the guide seats are respectively mounted on the two rails; a screw rod, which is rotatably mounted on the slide seat and comprises a plurality of male threads; a screw seat, which is fit over the screw rod and comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to and engaging with the male threads of the screw rod; and a servomotor, which is mounted on the slide seat and is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate so as to drive the slide seat to do linear movement along the two rails.

7. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 6, wherein the servomotor is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate by means of a coupling coupled thereto so as to drive the slide seat to do the linear movement along the two rails.

8. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the third linear guideway comprises: a linear base, which comprises two rails that are substantially parallel to each other; a screw rod, which is rotatably mounted on the linear base and comprises a plurality of male threads; a slide seat, which is fit over the screw rod and comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to and engaging with the male threads of the screw rod and a plurality of guide seats respectively corresponding to the two rails of the linear base such that the guide seats are respectively mounted on the two rails; and a servomotor, which is fixed on the linear base and is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate so as to drive the slide seat to do linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

9. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 8, wherein the servomotor is coupled to and drives the screw rod to rotate by means of a coupling coupled thereto so as to drive the slide seat to do the linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

10. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 1, wherein the tool module comprises: a tool disc, which comprises at least one tool; an angled gear box, which comprises a tool transmission axle coupled to the tool disc; a first servomotor, which is coupled to the angled gear box to drive the tool transmission axle so as to drive the tool disc to rotate about a first rotation axis (R1); and a second servomotor, which drives the angled gear box and the tool disc to collectively rotate about a second rotation axis; wherein the first rotation axis and the second rotation axis are perpendicular to each other.

11. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 10, wherein the first servomotor drives a rotation transmission axle by means of a tool disc transmission gear set so as to drive the tool transmission axle to have the tool disc rotate about the first rotation axis.

12. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 11, wherein the angled gear box is an angled dual-output-axle gear box, which drives two tool discs to rotate about the first rotation axis.

13. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 11, wherein the second servomotor drives a second rotation transmission axle, which is arranged around an outer circumference of the rotation transmission axle and is concentric with the rotation transmission axle, by means of an arm joint transmission gear set so as to drive the angled gear box and the tool disc to collectively rotate about the second rotation axis.

14. The omnidirectional manipulator according to claim 1 further comprising a mounting frame comprising a left brace and a right brace for mounting the omnidirectional manipulator to the spring forming machine.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a manipulator according to a first embodiment of the present invention mounted to a spring forming machine.

[0023] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the manipulator of FIG. 1 in an assembled form.

[0024] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the manipulator of FIG. 2.

[0025] FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a third linear slide rail of the manipulator of FIG. 2.

[0026] FIG. 5 is an exploded view of a second linear slide rail of the manipulator of FIG. 2.

[0027] FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a first linear slide rail of the manipulator of FIG. 2.

[0028] FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a tool module of the manipulator of FIG. 2.

[0029] FIG. 8 is a perspective view, partly exploded, showing a manipulator according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0030] FIG. 9 is another perspective view, partly exploded, showing the manipulator of FIG. 8.

[0031] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a manipulator according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

[0033] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, which are respectively a schematic view illustrating a manipulator according to a first embodiment of the present invention mounted on a spring forming machine and a perspective view and an exploded view of the present invention in a condition of being detached from the spring forming machine, as shown in the drawings, the manipulator 10 is mountable on a spring forming machine 90 by a mounting frame that is composed of a left brace 151 and a right brace 152 in order to allow tools 149 carried on a tool module 14 that is movable in a three-dimensional space to approach and engage a spring-making wire extending through a hole formed in a front wall board 91 of the spring forming machine 90 to carry out various operations at different angles, such as bending and twisting/looping.

[0034] In the drawings, in addition to the tool module 14 mentioned above, the manipulator 10 that is for use with a spring forming machine 90 also comprises linear guideways 11, 12, 13. The linear guideways 11 functions to carry and move the tool module 14 in a linear axis, such as Z axis (movement in an up-down direction in the drawings). The linear guideway 12 functions to carry and move the linear guideway 11 in a linear axis, such as Y axis (movement in a front-rear direction in the drawings). The linear guideway 13 functions to carry and move the linear guideway 12 in a linear axis, such as X axis (movement in a left-right direction in the drawings). The X axis, Y axis, and Z axis can be three coordinate axes that are perpendicular to each other.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 4, an exploded view is given to show the third linear guideway of the manipulator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the third linear guideway 13 of the manipulator 10 comprises a linear base 131, a screw rod 132, a slide seat 133, a servomotor 134, and a coupling 135.

[0036] The linear base 131 comprises two rails 1311, 1312 that are parallel to each other. The screw rod 132 is rotatably mounted on support seats 1313 at two ends of the linear base 131 comprises a plurality of male threads 1321. The slide seat 133 comprises a slide block 1336, a rail seat 1337, and guide seats 1331, 1332, 1333, 1334 that are securely fixed to each other. The slide block 1336 comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to the male threads 1321 of the screw rod 132 and receives the screw rod 132 to extend through, in a threading engagement manner, the slide block 1336 for driving linear movement of the slide seat 133 that comprises the slide block 1336, the rail seat 1337, and the guide seats 1331, 1332, 1333, 1334.

[0037] Further, the guide seats 1331, 1333 are mounted on the rail 1311 and the guide seats 1332, 1334 are mounted on the rail 1312 and they comprise channels formed therein to respectively correspond to and mate with the rails 1311, 1312 so as to be movable along the two rails 1311, 1312 of the linear base 131. The servomotor 134 is fixed on the linear base 131 and has a rotation shaft that is coupled by the coupling 135 to the screw rod 132 for driving the screw rod 132 to rotate so as to drive the slide seat 133 to do linear movement along the two rails 1311, 1312 of the linear base 131.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 5, an exploded view is given to show the second linear guideway of the manipulator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the second linear guideway 12 of the manipulator 10 comprises rails 1211, 1212, a screw rod 122, a slide seat 123, a screw seat 126, a servomotor 124, and a coupling 125.

[0039] The rails 1211, 1212 are fixedly mounted, in a manner of being parallel to each other, to two side surfaces 13371, 13372 of the rail seat 1337 of the third linear guideway 13 at locations that are substantially perpendicular to the rails 1311, 1312 of the third linear guideway 13. The screw seat 126 is fit over and mounted to the screw rod 122 and comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to and engaging with male threads 1221 of the screw rod 122 and has a bottom that extends through an opening 1237 of the slide seat 123 to be securely fixed to threaded holes 13373 formed in the rail seat 1337 of the third linear guideway 13 (see FIG. 4).

[0040] The slide seat 123 comprises a plurality of guide seats 1231, 1232, 1233, 1234 corresponding to the rails 1211, 1212. The guide seats 1231, 1233 are mounted on the rail 1211 and the guide seats 1232, 1234 are mounted on the rail 1212 and they comprise channels formed therein to respectively correspond to and mate with the rails 1211, 1212 so as to be individually movable along the two rails 1211, 1212.

[0041] The screw rod 122 is rotatably supported on support seats 1235 at two ends of the slide seat 123 and comprises a plurality of male threads 1221. The servomotor 124 is fixed on the slide seat 123 and has a rotation shaft that is coupled by the coupling 125 to the screw rod 122 for driving the screw rod 122 to rotate so as to drive the slide seat 123, along with the servomotor 124 mounted thereto, to do linear movement along the two rails 1211, 1212.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 6, an exploded view is given to show the first linear guideway of the manipulator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the first linear guideway 11 of the manipulator 10 comprises a linear base 111, a screw rod 112, a slide seat 113, a servomotor 114, a motor gear 115, and a screw gear 116. A protection cover 117 is provided above and houses the motor gear 115 and the screw gear 116 for protection.

[0043] The linear base 111 is fixedly mounted to threaded holes 1236 formed in the slide seat 123 of the second linear guideway 12 (see FIG. 5) and comprises two rails 1111, 1112 that are parallel to each other. The screw rod 112 is rotatably supported on support seats 1113 at two ends of the linear base 111 and comprises a plurality of male threads 1121. The slide seat 113 comprises a slide block 1136, a module seat 1137, and guide seats 1131, 1132, 1133, 1134. The slide block 1136 comprises a plurality of female threads corresponding to and engaging with the male threads 1121 of the screw rod 112 to allow the screw rod 112 to extend through, in a manner of being in engagement therewith, the slide block 1136 to drive the slide seat 113, which comprises the slide block 1136, the module seat 1137, and the guide seats 1131, 1132, 1133, 1134, to do linear movement.

[0044] Further, the guide seats 1131, 1133 are mounted on the rail 1111 and the guide seats 1132, 1134 are arranged on the rail 1112 and they comprise channels formed therein to respectively correspond to and mate with the rails 1111, 1112 so as to be movable along the two rails 1111, 1112 of the linear base 111. The servomotor 114 is fixed on the linear base 111 and is coupled to the screw rod 112 by means of inter-engagement between the motor gear 115 and the screw gear 116 to drive it to rotate so as to drive the slide seat 113 to do linear movement along the two rails 1111, 1112 of the linear base 111.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 7, an exploded view is given to illustrate the tool module of the manipulator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the tool module 14 of the manipulator 10 for use with a spring forming machine 90 comprises: tool discs 141, 142, an angled dual-output-axle gear box 143, rotation transmission axles 144, 145, an arm joint transmission gear set 146, a tool disc transmission gear set 147, a servomotor 150, and a servomotor 148, which can be provided with for example a reducer, these being all mounted inside or outside a module housing 155. In this example, the servomotor 150 is not provided with a reducer, and thus, preferably, an angled dual-output-axle gear box 143 with a built-in reduction mechanism may be adopted to drive the tool discs 141, 142.

[0046] The tool disc 141 or 142 comprises at least one tool 149. In the example illustrated in the drawings, the tool disc 141 is provided with two tools 149 in each of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction; yet those skilled in the art may contemplate, based on the inventive idea of the present invention, the arrangement of tools may be varied according to the needs for an actual process of forming springs. The angled dual-output-axle gear box 143 comprises tool transmission axles 1431, 1432 respectively coupled to the tool discs 141, 142. The servomotors 148, 150 are fixed on the module housing 155. The servomotor 148 has a rotation shaft, which drives, via the arm joint transmission gear set 146, the rotation transmission axle 145 that has an end rotatably mounted to the rotation transmission axle 144 and an opposite end rotatably mounted to the module housing 155 such that a tool disc bearing seat 154 having two sides respectively coupled to the rotation transmission axle 145 and the gear box mounting seat 153 may drive the angled dual-output-axle gear box 143 and the tool discs 141, 142 to collectively rotate about a rotation axis R2.

[0047] The servomotor 150 has a rotation shaft that drives, via the tool disc transmission gear set 147, the rotation transmission axle 144 that has an end rotatably mounted to the module housing 155 and an opposite end rotatably mounted inside the rotation transmission axle 145 that is hollow and coaxial with the rotation transmission axle 145 in order to drive the angled dual-output-axle gear box 143 that is coupled to the rotation transmission axle 144 to have the tool transmission axles 1431, 1432 respectively drive the tool discs 141, 142 to rotate about a rotation axis R1. The rotation axes R1 and R2 are perpendicular to each other, as shown in the drawings.

[0048] As such, the manipulator 10 is mountable to an existing spring forming machine 90 to allow all sorts of tools 149 carried on the tool module 14 to move, in a three-dimensional space, to approach and engage a spring-making wire extending through a hole formed in a front wall board 91 of the spring forming machine 90 to carry out various operations at different angles, such as bending and twisting/looping. Thus, even just one tool 149 is involved, helical springs of different angles can be manufactured and damages caused by improper twisting in making small-gauge springs with the conventional spring forming machine 90 may be eliminated; and flexibility is realized for use with tools 149 arranged at 90 degrees with respect to each other to achieve different functions. Further, due to the rotatability of the tool module 14, one single tool 149, which is provided therein with various wire openings/slots, may be used for the manufacture of springs of various wire gauges.

[0049] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, partly exploded views of a manipulator according to a second embodiment of the present invention are shown. The structure of the manipulator 20 according to the instant embodiment is generally identical to that of the first embodiment illustrated above, repeated description will be omitted here, and only the difference between the two embodiments will be described. Firstly, the arrangement of transmission shown in FIG. 6, where the servomotor 114 of the first linear guideway 11 drives the screw rod 112, is modified in the example of FIG. 8 by being substituted by an arrangement involving a motor pulley 215, a belt 218, and a screw pulley 216, which are mutually coupled to each other to drive the screw rod to rotate so as to drive the slide seat to do linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

[0050] Secondly, as shown in FIG. 9, the servomotor 150 that is illustrated in FIG. 7 is replaced by a servomotor 250 that comprises a reducer built therein and the angled dual-output-axle gear box 143 shown in FIG. 7 that involves a reduction mechanism is correspondingly replaced by an angled dual-output-axle gear box that does not comprise a reduction mechanism, or be alternatively replaced by angled single-output-axle gear box 243 that does not comprise a reduction mechanism as shown in the drawing. Further, to facilitate mounting and adjustment of the servomotors 248, 250, in the instant embodiment, the servomotors 248, 250 are respectively mounted in two elliptic holes 256 formed in the module housing 255 and are respectively arranged in combination with adjustment bolts 257 arranged at sides of the servomotors 248, 250 for adjusting and fixing the mounting positions of the servomotors 248, 250.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 10, a perspective view is given to illustrate a manipulator according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The structure of the manipulator 30 according to the instant embodiment is generally identical to that of the second embodiment illustrated above, repeated description will be omitted here, and a difference therebetween is that transmission of a servomotor 314 in the instant embodiment is achieved with a coupling 315 connected thereto for driving a screw rod 312 to rotate thereby driving the slide seat to do linear movement along the two rails of the linear base.

[0052] It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.

[0053] While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claims of the present invention.