ROTARY VALVE FOR AUTOMATED HANDLING SYSTEM

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure generally relates to automated handling systems and, more particularly, to a rotary valve for controlling flow of a working fluid used in the automated handling system.

Automated handling equipment is typically employed for transferring work pieces between work stations. For example, the equipment may include grippers, suction cups, or other types of devices for handling and moving the work pieces. The devices may utilize a working fluid for actuation, such as vacuum air or pneumatic/hydraulic fluid. The working fluid is typically provided and controlled from a remotely located central source. Therefore, an operator working near the handling equipment and remotely from the central source has incomplete control over the handling devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An automated handling system includes a support arm and a fluid powered handling device that is movable relative to the support arm. A rotary valve includes a first valve member secured to the support arm and a second valve member secured to the fluid powered handling device. The second valve member is rotatable relative to the first valve member between an open position allowing flow through the rotary valve and a closed position blocking flow through the rotary valve.

In another aspect, an example automated handling system includes a rotary valve having a first valve member with a first attachment feature for coupling the first valve member to a support arm and a second valve member having a second attachment feature for coupling the second valve member to a fluid-powered handling device. The second valve member is rotatably secured to the first valve member such that the second valve member is rotatable relative to the first valve member between an open position that allows flow through the rotary valve and a closed position that blocks flow through the rotary valve.

An example method for using an automated handling system includes moving a fluid-powered handling device relative to a support arm between a first

position and a second position to thereby control flow relative to the fluid-powered handling device through a rotary valve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates an example automated handling system.

Figure 2 illustrates a side view of a rotary valve used within the automated handling system.

Figure 3 illustrates an exploded view of the rotary valve. Figure 4 illustrates a side exploded view of the rotary valve. Figure 5 illustrates a partially transparent view of the rotary valve showing internal passages.

Figure 6 illustrates an isolated view of a valve member of the rotary valve. Figure 7 illustrates an open position of the rotary valve. Figure 8 illustrates a closed position of the rotary valve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Figure 1 illustrates selected portions of an example automated handling system 10. For instance, the automated handling system 10 may be used to move work pieces, such as between work stations. The work pieces may be finished components, in-process components, raw materials, metal sheets, or any other items that would benefit from the examples disclosed herein. As can be appreciated, the particular design of the disclosed automated handling system 10 may vary from that shown and the disclosed examples are not intended to be limiting.

The example automated handling system 10 includes a rotary valve 12 for controlling flow of a working fluid. For example, the working fluid may be a pneumatic fluid, hydraulic fluid, or evacuated fluid for pulling a vacuum. The rotary valve 12 is secured to a support arm 14 and a work piece handling device 16.

In this example, the support arm 14 is a cylindrical tube that is operatively connected to an automated device, such as a robotic machine, to move the work piece handling device 16 relative to the work pieces and work stations. Of course, rectangular or other types of supports arms 14 or supports may be used instead. The automated handling system 10 may include a plurality of the support arms 14, with a

plurality of the rotary valves 12 supporting a plurality of the work piece handling devices 16 from the support arms 14. Thus, multiple work piece handling devices 16 may be used to handle an individual work piece.

The automated handling system 10 may be adapted to move different work pieces. For instance, all of the work piece handling devices 16 of the automated handling system 10 may be used for moving relatively large work pieces. However, for smaller work pieces, fewer than all of the work piece handling devices 16 may be needed. In this regard, the rotary valve 12 provides a dual function of enabling unused work piece handling devices 16 to be moved out of the way and enabling control of the flow of the working fluid relative to the work piece handling device

16. Additionally, the rotary valve 12 also supports the work piece handling device

16.

The rotary valve 12 is rotatable between an open position that allows through-flow of the working fluid to the work piece handling device 16 and a closed position that blocks through-flow of the working fluid. The work piece handling device 16 rotates with the rotary valve 12 such that the work piece handling device

16 is in an operative 0° position for moving a work piece when the rotary valve 12 is in the open position. The work piece handling device 16 is in an inoperative X° position when the rotary valve 12 is in the closed position, where the variable X is nonzero angle.

In the disclosed example, the rotary valve 12 is attached to the support arm 14 using a circular clamp 26. However, a square clamp, adapter plate, or other type of attachment mechanism may be used instead and depending also on the particular design of the support arm 14. The rotary valve 12 is also attached to the work piece handling device 16. A clamp, adapter, plate, or other type of attachment mechanism may be used to secure the rotary valve 12 to the work piece handling device 16.

The rotary valve 12 includes at least one port 28 and at least one port 30 for transferring working fluid through the rotary valve between a working fluid source 29 and the work piece handling device 16. As shown, the rotary valve 12 includes two of the ports 28 and two of the ports 30. However, in other examples, the rotary valve 12 may be designed with fewer or more of the ports 28 and ports 30, depending upon the needs of a particular type of work piece handling device 16.

The ports 28 are fluidly connected with the working fluid source 29, and the ports 30 are fluidly connected with a fitting 32 of the work piece handling device 16.

As will be described in more detail below, the ports 28 and the ports 30 are fluidly connectable through the rotary valve 12, depending upon a relative rotated position of the rotary valve 12.

In the disclosed example, the work piece handling device 16 includes a suction cup 34 that is fluidly connected with the fitting 32. For example, the working fluid source 29 may be a pump, compressor, or other type of machine that is used to selectively evacuate air from the suction cup 34 through the rotary valve 12 when the rotary valve 12 is in an open position. In other examples where the work piece handling device 16 includes another type of handling device such as a gripper, the working fluid source 29 may provide hydraulic fluid or pneumatic fluid through the rotary valve 12 to actuate the gripper. In this regard, one or more of the ports 28 and ports 30 may be used as a supply line and one or more of the ports 28 and ports 30 may be used as a return/release line.

Referring to Figures 2-5, the rotary valve 12 may include a first valve member 44, a second valve member 46, and a clamp 48 that rotatably connects the second valve member 46 and the first valve member 44 together.

In this example, the first valve member 44 includes a body 50 having a bore 51 for receiving at least a portion of the second valve member 46. The body 50 also includes internal passages 52 connecting each of the ports 28 to respective ports 54 that open to the bore 51. For example, if two ports 28 are used, there may be two passages 52 and two ports 54. In some variations, the passages 52 may split or merge within the body 50 such that there are unequal numbers of ports 28 and ports 54.

The bore 51 includes a groove 56 around each of the ports 54 for receiving an o-ring 58. The o-rings 58 seal against a mating portion of the second valve member 46, as will be described below.

The first valve member 44 may also include a latch device 68. As can be appreciated, the latch device 68 may alternatively be incorporated into the second valve member 46 or in some variations be eliminated from the design. The latch device 68 includes an internal bore 70 within the body 50. A latch handle 72 is at

least partially received within the internal bore 70. A portion of the latch handle 72 extends outwards through a slot 74 and the other end of the latch handle 72 is at least partially within the internal bore 70. A bias member 76, such as a coil spring or other type of resilient member, is located within the bore 70 for biasing the latch handle 72 towards a desired position.

The second valve member 46 includes an attachment plate 86 for securing the rotary valve 12 to the work piece handling device 16. Alternatively, the attachment plate 86 may be another type of attachment feature for securing the rotary valve 12. In this example, the attachment plate 86 is secured to or formed as a single piece with a rotary member 88. The rotary member 88 is generally cylindrical and includes a large cylindrical section 90 and a small cylindrical section 92 relative to the large cylindrical section 90. The cylindrical sections 90 and 92 form an annular groove 94 between the inside face of the large cylindrical section 90 and the attachment plate 86. A passage 96 extends between each of the ports 30 of the second valve member 46 and a port 98 at the open face of the large cylindrical section 90. The number of ports 98 corresponds to the number of ports 54 of the first valve member 44. Likewise, if two ports 30 are used, there may be two passages 96 and two ports 98. In some variations, the passages 96 may split or merge within the second valve member 46 such that there are unequal numbers of ports 30 and ports 98.

In the disclosed example, the clamp 48 includes a pair of clamp pieces 106a and 106b that are received around the small cylindrical section 92 within the annular groove 94 of the first valve member 46. Each of the clamp pieces 106a and 106b is generally u-shaped and includes a semi-circular opening 108 such that the clamp pieces 106a and 106b together form a circular opening that fits around the small cylindrical section 92.

The first valve member 44, the second valve member 46, and the clamp 48 are secured together using one or more fasteners (not shown). For example, the fasteners may be bolts or other types of fasteners. In the illustrated example, the first valve member 44 includes threaded openings HOa, the clamp includes non- threaded openings HOb, and the second valve member 46 includes slightly larger non-threaded openings 110c for receiving the fasteners.

To assemble the rotary valve 12, the clamp pieces 106a and 106b are positioned around the small cylindrical section 92. The fasteners are then inserted through the openings HOc and HOb, and into the threaded openings 110a. When the fasteners are tightened down, the clamp pieces 106a and 106b urge the large cylindrical section 90 against the face of the bore 51, thereby securing the second valve member 46 and the first valve member 44 together and sealing the open face of large cylindrical section 90 against the o-rings 56 within the bore 51. If the fasteners include heads, the heads may be received within recessed portions of the openings 110b. Thus, when fully tightened, the fasteners only pass through the openings 110c and once installed do not directly contact the attachment plate 86 or hinder rotational movement of the attachment plate 86.

Once secured, the clamp 48 prevents the second valve member 46 from being freely separated from the first valve member 44, but allows rotational movement between the first valve member 44 and the second valve member 46. Thus, the clamp 48 may also be regarded as a bearing member in combination with the cylindrical sections 90 and 92. Additionally, the attachment between the first valve member 44, the second valve member 46, and the clamp 48 provides sufficient rigidity to structurally support the work piece handling device 16 from the support arm 14. Optionally, the rotary valve 12 also includes a gap 99 between the clamp 48 and the attachment plate 86 when completely assembled. For example, the width of the clamp 48 may be designed to be slightly smaller than the width of the annular groove 94 such that the gap 99 is provided when the fasteners are tightened to urge the clamp 48 against the large cylindrical section 90. The gap 99 provides the benefit of reducing friction between the attachment plate 86 and the clamp 48 when the second valve member 46 is rotated between positions.

In operation, the second valve member 46 may be rotated between different rotational positions to selectively align the ports 98 of the second valve member 46 with the ports 54 of the first valve member 44. An aligned position between the ports 98 and the ports 54 corresponds to the open position of the rotary valve 12 where the working fluid can flow through the passages 52 and 96 between the ports 28 and ports 30 (allowing flow between the working fluid source 29 and the work

piece handling device 16). A non-aligned position between the ports 98 and the ports

54 corresponds to the closed position of the rotary valve 12 where the rotary valve

12 blocks working fluid from flowing through the passages 52 and 96 between the ports 28 and ports 30 (blocking flow between the working fluid source 29 and the work piece handling device 16). Therefore, a user can selectively control the flow of working fluid through the rotary valve 12 simply by rotating the second valve member 46 and work piece handling device 16 relative to the first valve member 44.

Figure 6 illustrates an isolated view of the second valve member 46. The large cylindrical section 90 of the rotary member 88 includes axial slots 120 at various circumferential positions around the large cylindrical section 90. In this example, the slots 120 are located in four locations that are approximately 90° apart. However, in other examples, the slots 120 may have a different angular spacing, and fewer or more of the slots 120 may be used. In variations where the rotary valve 12 does not include the latch device 68, the second valve member 46 may not include the slots 120.

The slots 120 interact with the latch handle 72 to selectively lock or unlock the second valve member 46 relative to the first valve member 44. For instance, the bias member 76 biases the latch handle 72 into locked engagement with one of the slots 120. To rotate the second valve member 46 and work piece handling device 16 relative to the first valve member 44, the operator actuates the latch handle 72 against the bias force of the bias member 76 to release the latch handle 72 from the given slot 120. The operator may then freely rotate the second valve member 46 and work piece handling device 16 relative to the first valve member 44 until the latch handle 72 aligns with another of the slots 120. Upon reaching a desired position, the operator may release the latch handle 72 such that the bias member 76 urges the latch handle 72 into locked engagement with another one of the slots 120 to rotationally lock the rotary valve 12. Thus, the operator may rotate the second valve member 46 and the work piece handling device 16 between locked positions, depending upon whether that particular work piece handling device 16 is being used. Figure 7 illustrates one example wherein the second valve member 46 is in an open flow position with the ports 98 aligned with the ports 54. Figure 8 illustrates another position wherein the second valve member 46 is rotated such that

the ports 98 are out of alignment with the ports 54. In this position, since the ports 98 and 54 are not aligned, the passages 96 are not in fluid communication with the passages 52. Therefore, the working fluid is unable to flow between the working fluid source 29 and the work piece handling device 16. Although a combination of features is shown in the illustrated examples, not all of them need to be combined to realize the benefits of various embodiments of this disclosure. In other words, a system designed according to an embodiment of this disclosure will not necessarily include all of the features shown in any one of the Figures or all of the portions schematically shown in the Figures. Moreover, selected features of one example embodiment may be combined with selected features of other example embodiments.

The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this disclosure.