Stacking apparatus and stacking method
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsMasato ONO, Yuichi ITOH, Yusuke IKEDA, Kazuhito KATO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stacking apparatus provided with a flexible conveyor plate (20), a clamp mechanism (25) for holding a sheet-shaped member carried on the conveyor plate (20) against the conveyor plate (20), and an adjustment mechanism able to adjust the degree of curvature of the conveyor plate (20). When stacking a new sheet-shaped member (1) carried on the conveyor plate (20) onto already stacked sheet-shaped members (1), the adjustment mechanism makes the conveyor plate (20) deform from a flat state to a curved state to make the new sheet-shaped member (1) carried on the conveyor plate (20) deform from a flat state to a curved state.
Claims12
A stacking apparatus comprising:
- a flexible conveyor plate,
- a clamp mechanism for holding a new sheet-shaped member carried on the conveyor plate against the conveyor plate, and
- an adjustment mechanism able to adjust a degree of curvature of the conveyor plate, wherein the adjustment mechanism makes the conveyor plate deform from a flat state to a curved state to make the new sheet-shaped member carried on the conveyor plate deform from a flat state to a curved state when stacking the new sheet-shaped member carried on the conveyor plate onto already stacked sheet-shaped members.
A stacking method for stacking a new sheet-shaped member on an already stacked sheet-shaped member, comprising:
- arranging the new sheet-shaped member so as to be spaced from and aligned with the already stacked sheet-shaped member,
- making the new sheet-shaped member deform from a flat state to a curved state to make a center part of the new sheet-shaped member press against the already stacked sheet-shaped members and,
- stacking the new sheet-shaped member on the already stacked sheet-shaped members in a state where the center part of the new sheet-shaped member is made to press against the already stacked sheet-shaped members.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.