Centering device for plate-shaped workpiece

A centering device for a plate-shaped workpiece, comprising:

• a table having a conveyor mechanism for conveying a plate-shaped workpiece in a horizontal conveying direction;
• a camera for capturing an image of the plate-shaped workpiece placed on the table;
• a table movement mechanism for moving the table horizontally in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and rotating the table about a vertical axis;
• a computation unit for comparing, based on shape information of a workpiece and target centering position information, target centering position information and position information in the image captured by the camera, and computing an amount of movement of the conveyor mechanism and an amount of movement of the table movement mechanism in order to correct a shift between the target centering position information and the position information in the image captured by the camera;
• and
• a control unit for controlling the conveyor mechanism and the table movement mechanism based on the movement amounts calculated by the computation unit;
• the centering device for a plate-shaped workpiece also being provided with a first robot for transferring a plate-shaped workpiece conveyed from a previous step into a subsequent step, and a second robot for transferring the movement-controlled plate-shaped workpiece to a subsequent step;
• wherein the table movement mechanism comprising:
• a base that is horizontally disposed;
• a first slider that is supported moveably in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction by the base;
• a first threaded shaft that moves the first slider in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction;
• a first servo motor that rotates the first threaded shaft;
• a first support shaft that extends upward from the first slider and supports one end of the table from below;
• a second slider that is supported moveably in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction by the base;
• a second threaded shaft that moves the second slider in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction;
• a second servo motor that rotates the second threaded shaft;
• a sub slider that is supported moveably in the conveying direction by the second slider;
• and
• a second support shaft that extends upward from the sub slider and supports the other end of the table from below;
• and
• the computation unit perceiving the characteristics of the plate-shaped workpiece from the position information in the image captured by the camera, and computing the amount of movement of the conveyor mechanism and the amount of movement of the table movement mechanism.

A method for centering a plate-shaped workpiece, comprising the steps of:

• providing a table having a conveyor mechanism for conveying a plate-shaped workpiece in a horizontal direction;
• capturing an image of the plate-shaped workpiece placed on the table using a camera;
• providing a table movement mechanism for moving the table horizontally in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and rotating the table about a vertical axis;
• comparing target centering position information and position information of the plate-shaped workpiece in the image captured by the camera;
• computing an amount of movement of the conveyor mechanism and an amount of movement of the table movement mechanism needed in order to correct any shift between the target centering position information and the position information in the image captured by the camera, based on shape information of a workpiece and target centering position information;
• and
• controlling the conveyor mechanism and the table movement mechanism based on the movement amounts calculated by a control unit.