Parts alignment

Citation

Rigelsford, J. (2002), "Parts alignment", Assembly Automation, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2002.03322dad.010

Parts alignment

Parts alignment

Keywords: Patents, Parts feeding, Welding

Applicant: Seki Kogyo Co. Ltd, JapanPatent number: US5913402Publication date: 22 June 1999Title: Parts alignment device

This invention presents a parts alignment device capable of sorting the parts into a unified posture. The invention concentrates on the sorting and alignment of welding nuts in an automatic welding system.

The system comprises a charging chute on the end of an obliquely downward slope with a nut-sorting part, and a face plate facing upward so as to define the nut-storing part. The face plate is formed with stainless steel of non-magnetic material, on the back of which a permanent magnet is rotated by a motor. A posture shift guide is disposed on the front face of the face plate and is used to shift welding nuts attracted by the permanent magnet into their lying postures. Of the welding nuts in their lying postures, the ones with their base in opposition to the face plate are flipped by a regulating block to be dropped back into the nut-storing part. The ones with their top face in opposition to the face plate are allowed to pass into an alignment and feed guide. They are then sequentially stored in their aligned positions and can be fed into the nut feeding equipment.