Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd.

Jae Bong Ahn

An automatic pallet changer is used to change an inner pallet lying inside a cutting compartment of a machine tool with an outer pallet located outside the cutting compartment. The pallet changer includes a housing and an arm base elevatably and rotatably fitted to the housing, the arm base having a rotary shaft and a support head mounted on the top of the rotary shaft. A first pair of split gripper arms are pivoted at their proximal ends to the support head of the arm base for swinging movement between an idle position wherein the first pair of arms lie side to side and an acting position wherein the first pair of arms are placed end to end. Likewise, a second pair of split gripper arms are pivoted at their proximal ends to the support head of the arm base in a diametrically opposed relationship with respect to the first pair of arms for swinging movement between an idle position wherein the second pair of arms lie side to side and an acting position wherein the second pair of arms are placed end to end. An arm actuator is operatively connected to the first and second pairs of arms for causing each pair of arms to swing from the idle position to the acting position.

Automatic pallet changer for machine tools with split gripper arms

A machining center adapted for use in cutting a workpiece into a desired shape, comprising: a bed having a table for changeably holding a first pallet; a support die disposed in front of the bed to support a second pallet to be changed with the first pallet; a machine housing extending upwardly from the bed to define a cutting compartment enclosing the first pallet, the machine housing having a frontal access opening; a rotary door mounted on the machine housing to openably close the access opening; pivot pins for pivotally supporting the rotary door at central top and bottom edges of the door; a pallet changer disposed beneath the rotary door for exchanging the first and second pallets with each other, the pallet changer including a rotary arm, a vertical cylinder for causing the arm to vertically move from a lower position to an upper position and first and second horizontal cylinders for causing the arm to rotate between a first angular position where the arm remains parallel to the door and a second angular position where the arm becomes perpendicular to the door; and locator pins and locator holes for allowing the rotary arm to engage with the rotary door as the rotary arm moves into the upper position at the second angular position.

Growing community of inventors

Changwon, South Korea

Jae Bong Ahn