Method and apparatus for separating rod-shaped bodies
AssigneeWAFIOS Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsGustav Veit, Peter Hammerer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In order to separate rod-shaped bodies from a bundle of bodies, the surface of an uppermost body in the bundle is determined in a separation apparatus by a sensor, which body is then seized laterally of the sensor by a first gripper and is vertically lifted, whereupon a further gripper engages under said body, laterally of the first gripper unit. The further gripper is then moved to the other end region of the body, with the body being lifted out of the bundle. Next, said body is moved to a deposition location by both grippers.
Claims24
A method of separating rod-shaped bodies from a bundle of such bodies supplied in a conveying direction and located transversely to said direction, comprising:
- providing a sensor containing a proximity sensor which measures a distance from a surface of a rod-shaped body present below said sensor, in the region of the sensor's vertical center line,
- determining with said sensor a vertical position of a detection region on the surface of a portion of the body located at a top of the bundle, wherein the sensor is located at a lateral first end region of the body, lowering the sensor vertically from above towards the bundle of elongated bodies until it abuts the bundle, comparing a measured value of the distance with a predetermined minimum distance value, and if the measured value is greater than the minimum distance value, moving the sensor over a surface of the bundle in the conveying direction up to a location at which the measured distance equals the predetermined minimum distance value,
- seizing the body with a first gripper at a pick-up location which is laterally adjacent, as seen perpendicular to the conveying direction, to the detection region;
- vertically lifting the body by a predetermined distance;
- engaging a further gripper under the body at a location which is offset from the pick-up location, as seen perpendicular to the conveying direction, in a direction of a second end region of the body by a predetermined length;
- moving the further gripper along the body in an initial direction, up to the second end region of the body, thereby lifting the body out of the bundle;
- moving the body to a vertical position with the further gripper, during or after displacement thereof, wherein the vertical position is higher than a predetermined minimum height, and vertical center lines of the sensor and of both grippers are located in a common vertical plane extending transversely, perpendicular to the conveying direction;
- and
- moving the picked-up body to a depositing location using both grippers or holding the picked-up body in a holding position for transfer.
An apparatus for separating rod-shaped bodies from a bundle of such bodies, said apparatus comprising:
- a feeder for supplying the bundles of rod-shaped bodies along a conveying direction;
- a separator associated with the feeder, wherein the separator comprises a portal including a portal guide that extends horizontally perpendicular to the conveying direction, and at which there are arranged, displaceable in the longitudinal direction of as well as vertically to said portal guide, a first gripper for seizing a rod-shaped body;
- a sensor adjacent to the first gripper, said sensor being adapted to emit a sensor signal depending on the vertical distance between the sensor and a surface portion of an elongated body that is located below it and is provided with an upwardly extending guiding ramp, which has a convex curvature in the conveying direction, said guiding ramp allowing the sensor to be displaced without impact on the bundle of elongated bodies located below it, when being moved in the conveying direction;
- a further gripper, which is displaceable along and perpendicular to the portal guide and is adapted to engage under an elongated body located below the portal guide, the sensor and first and further grippers also being further movable in the conveying direction;
- and
- a control, to which the sensor provided by the sensor is applied and by which all movement and actuation operations are program-controllable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.