Metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9713858-B2
Application number	US-201414758711-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2014
Priority date	Apr 28, 2013
Publication date	Jul 25, 2017
Grant date	Jul 25, 2017

Abstract

A metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method and system comprises: a block cart and a sheet cart both of which are arranged on a guide rail; a cutting operation unit arranged at one side of the guide rail; a carrying and stacking robot arranged between the cutting operation unit and the guide rail of the block cart and the sheet cart, a robot external shaft being parallel to the cart guide rail and extending over two fast moving table waiting stations of the cutting operation unit; and a waste material conveying device arranged below the two cutting stations of the cutting operation unit. The present invention can effectively increase material utilization efficiency and further enlarge the range in production and machining, and is especially suitable for providing production of small-batch vehicle models and trial production of new vehicle models.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system, comprising:
a block cart and a sheet cart, both of which are arranged on a guide rail;
a cutting operation unit arranged at one side of the guide rail, the cutting operation unit comprising a first and a second fast moving table arranged in parallel and a laser cutting head, the first and the second fast moving tables being arranged perpendicular to the guide rail and each provided with a cutting station and a waiting station, the laser cutting head moving over the two cutting stations along its guide rail, and the waiting stations corresponding to the side of the guide rail of the block cart and the sheet cart;
a carrying and stacking robot arranged between the cutting operation unit and the guide rail of the block cart and the sheet cart, a robot external shaft being parallel to the cart guide rail and extending over the waiting stations of the first and second fast moving tables of the cutting operation unit; and
a waste material conveying device disposed below the two cutting stations of the cutting operation unit.

2. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a replaceable liner die is provided on the cutting station, a support device is arranged on the liner die below the position corresponding to the sheets and the recyclable waste material, and the rest of the liner die is a hollow left for blanking.

3. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a recyclable waste material cart adjacent to the sheet cart.

4. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the recyclable waste material cart is coupled to the sheet cart.

5. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the recyclable waste material cart and the sheet cart share a rail.

6. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising at least one segmented flue arranged corresponding to the two cutting stations of the cutting operation unit.

7. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the waste material conveying device comprises a waste material chute arranged below the cutting stations and a corresponding waste material conveying belt for conveying the waste material to the outside.

8. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second fast moving tables are for single-side feeding and discharging.

9. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a moving mechanism of the laser cutting head is in the form of a rectangular-coordinate robot, and is movable in X-, Y- and Z-direction.

10. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a 2D sensor arranged on the moving mechanism of the laser cutting head, the 2D sensor being coupled to a laser cutting controller.

11. A metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method, comprising the following steps:
firstly laying out blocks according to the shape of sheets, and conveying and stacking the blocks by the block cart;
carrying the block by a carrying and stacking robot from a stacking station to a waiting station of a first fast moving table, then moving the block by the first fast moving table to a cutting station, wherein the block at the cutting station is cut into sheets by a laser cutting head along a predetermined cutting path, and at the same time a block is carried by the carrying and stacking robot to a waiting station of a second fast moving table;
moving the laser cutting head to a cutting station of the second fast moving table to perform cutting after the completion of cutting on the first fast moving table, and at the same time moving the cut sheets on the first fast moving table to the waiting station and then carrying the cut sheets by the carrying and stacking robot to a sheet cart for conveying to the outside, stacking and packaging;
repeating the above steps so that blocks and sheets are alternately moved by the first and second fast moving tables into and out of the cutting stations, and the laser cutting head moves between the cutting stations of the first and second fast moving tables to accomplish cutting of the blocks; and
moving the cut-away waste material out of the cutting operation unit by a waste material conveying device below the cutting stations.

12. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising:
adopting a liner die design, wherein the liner die corresponds to the blocks laid out according to the shape of the sheets and the recyclable waste material, and a support device is arranged on the liner die below the positions corresponding to the sheets and the recyclable waste material, and the rest of the liner die is a hollow left for blanking; and
disposing the liner die at the cutting station of a fast moving table, blocks are supplied as a stack to a block stacking station,
picking up, by the carrying and stacking robot, a block from the stacking station to the liner die of the cutting operation unit; and
performing, by the laser cutting head, a cutting operation on the block to form required sheets.

13. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the carrying and stacking robot uses an end effector for picking up and placing operations.

14. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the end effector performs picking up and placing operations by way of a vacuum sucker.

15. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein a recyclable waste material cart is further provided which is arranged adjacent to the sheet cart, and the recyclable waste material cart and the sheet cart move in and out simultaneously or successively.

16. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the liner die is processed from an aluminium profile.

17. The metal plate loading/unloading and cutting method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein one liner die is suitable for more than one kind of sheets.

Assignees

• Baoshan Iron & Steel

Inventors

• Yang Saidan
• Wu Ruimin
• Jin Wenhai
• Wang Yuming
• Pan Shengbo
• Xiang Qian
• Yan Qi
• Jin Chengguo
• Qiao Junliang

Classifications

• B23K26/38 Primary

  by boring or cutting · CPC title

• B23K37/0217

  the guide member being fixed to the workpiece · CPC title

• B23K37/0211

  travelling on a guide member, e.g. rail, track · CPC title

• B23K37/0408

  for planar work · CPC title

• B23K26/702

  Auxiliary equipment · CPC title