CHIP SWEEPING ROBOT

• US 20160311076A1
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Published: 10/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd. (Nidec Corporation)
• Inventors: MATSUMOTO, Shigeru, OKATANI, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 10,213,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 13/00 Brushes with driven brush bodies or carrierspower-driven toothbrushes A61C17/16
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 13/001 Cylindrical or annular brush bodies
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 2200/3066 Brush specifically designed for use with street cleaning machinery
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/00 Cleaning by methods involving the use of tools cleaning hollow articles by methods or apparatus specially adapted thereto B08B9/00
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 1/32 using rotary cleaning members
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 13/00 Accessories or details of general applicability for machines or apparatus for cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B23Q 11/0075 for removing chips or coolant from the workpiece after machining
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/10 Greenhouse gas [GHG] capture, material saving, heat recovery or other energy efficient measures, e.g. motor control, characterised by manufacturing processes, e.g. for rolling metal or metal working

Abstract

There is provided a chip sweeping robot which is capable of possessing adaptability to various machine tools and automatically sweeping a wide range efficiently. To this end, a chip sweeping robot configured to sweep chips, which are scattered on an upper surface of a table of a machine tool at the time of machining a workpiece attached to the table, by traveling in accordance with a travel route set on the upper surface, includes: a robot body which autonomously travels on the upper surface; a rotating brush which sweeps the chips out forward in a traveling direction by being rotated from a lower side to an upper side forward in the traveling direction; and a blade which scoops out the chips, which pass through the rotating brush, forward in the traveling direction and sends the chips to a rotating region of the rotating brush.

Claims

1. A chip sweeping robot configured to sweep chips, which are scattered on an upper surface of a table of a machine tool at the time of machining an object to be machined being attached onto the upper surface of the table, by traveling in accordance with a travel route set on the upper surface of the table, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises:

a robot body configured to autonomously travel on the upper surface of the table;

a rotating brush provided in front of the robot body and configured to sweep the chips out forward in a traveling direction by being rotated from a lower side to an upper side forward in the traveling direction; and

a blade provided behind the rotating brush and configured to scoop out the chips, which pass through the rotating brush, forward in the traveling direction and to send the chips to a rotating region of the rotating brush.

2. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that

the chip sweeping robot comprises a brush rotating motor provided behind the blade and configured to rotate the rotating brush, and

the rotating brush is connected to the brush rotating motor on outside in a width direction of the blade in such a way as to bypass the blade.

3. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises a magnet provided on a lower surface of the robot body and configured to exert an attracting force onto the upper surface of the table and to inhibit the robot body from being lifted off.

4. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 3, characterized in that the magnet is provided at a rear part of the robot body.

5. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that

the chip sweeping robot comprises a battery serving as a drive source for travel of the robot body, and

the battery is provided at a rear part of the robot body.

6. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises a protection cover covering the robot body, the rotating brush and the blade from above and both right and left sides.

7. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 6, characterized in that

the protection cover comprises an upper cover unit forming an upper part of the protection cover, and

an upper surface of the upper cover unit is an inclined surface.

8. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 7, characterized in that the upper cover unit is formed into a convex shape in such a way as to be inclined downward from a central part in a width direction toward two end portions in the width direction.

9. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 6, characterized in that

the chip sweeping robot comprises crawlers rotatably supported on both right and left side portions of the robot body, and

the protection cover covering the robot body is supported on side surfaces of the crawlers.

10. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises:

an anti-drop sensor configured to detect the upper surface of the table; and

an anti-drop control unit configured to control travel of the robot body depending on a detection result of the anti-drop sensor and to prevent the robot body from dropping off the upper surface of the table of the robot body.

11. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 10, characterized in that the anti-drop sensor is provided in front of the robot body.

12. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 10, characterized in that the anti-drop sensor is provided behind the blade.

13. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises:

an obstacle detection sensor configured to detect an obstacle located in front of the robot body; and

a collision avoidance control unit configured to control travel of the robot body depending on a detection result of the obstacle detection sensor and to avoid a collision of the robot body into the obstacle.

14. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 13, characterized in that the chip sweeping robot comprises a partition plate isolating the obstacle detection sensor from the rotating brush and the blade.

15. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 13, characterized in that the obstacle detection sensor is provided behind a front end portion of a protection cover covering the rotating brush.

16. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 13, characterized in that the obstacle detection sensor is provided in front of the rotating brush.

17. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the travel route of the robot body is set in accordance with a size of the upper surface of the table and with an attachment position and a size of the object to be machined.

18. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that

the robot body travels on the travel route when the machine tool is operated, and

the robot body stops on the travel route when the operation of the machine tool is stopped.

19. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that lengths of bristles of the rotating brush, hardness of the bristles, and a density of the bristles are set in accordance with a shape of a T groove formed in the upper surface of the table.

20. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the blade is curved forward in the traveling direction from an upper end portion to a lower end portion of the blade.

21. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a material of the rotating brush is a heat-resistant resin.

22. The chip sweeping robot according to claim 1, characterized in that a material of the blade is a heat-resistant resin.