JP7521501B2 - Cutting and welding equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cutting and welding device.

Conventionally, for example, when manufacturing a spark plug, a method is known in which the ground electrode is welded to the housing.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes a method in which a ground electrode material cut to a predetermined length is fixed to a welding jig and the base end of the ground electrode material is welded to the tip end of the metal shell (housing).

JP 2008-270189 A

Previously, in the process of cutting the copper-containing ground electrode and welding it to the housing, the worker had to insert the housing using a shuttle jig and insert the copper-containing ground electrode from a parts feeder, and the copper-containing ground electrode was supplied to the process of cutting and welding the ground electrode using a transport loader. However, due to poor work efficiency, a certain amount of man-hours was always required, and no progress had been made in solving the problem.

The present invention was created in light of this point, and its purpose is to provide a cutting and welding device and cutting and welding method that uses a rotary ground electrode transport system to create a simple and compact device, eliminating the need for pick-and-place (hereinafter "P&P") for each of the supply, cutting, and welding processes, thereby improving work efficiency and at the same time enabling the device to be made more compact.

(First Aspect)
A first aspect of the present invention is a cutting and welding device (X) that cuts a rod-shaped workpiece (W) and welds it to a housing (H), and includes a housing supply device (1), a workpiece rotation device (5), a workpiece cutting device (7), and a welding device (9).

The work rotating device has a plurality of recesses (51) formed in the circumferential direction, recessed radially inward from the outer peripheral surface of a disk having a horizontal central axis, and rotates in the circumferential direction while holding a workpiece having one end inserted into the recesses from an external work supply device. The work cutting device cuts the portion of the workpiece exposed from the recesses to a predetermined length. The housing supply device holds a housing and is capable of moving up and down. The welding device welds the cut portion of the workpiece held by the work rotating device to a housing held by the housing supply device. The workpiece is a copper-containing ground electrode to be attached to an ignition plug, and the housing is the housing of the ignition plug.

(Effect of the first aspect)
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the supply, cutting and welding processes are smoothly connected, P&P work for each process is not required, the work is made more efficient, and the device can be made more compact.

(Second aspect)

The second aspect of the present invention is a cutting and welding method (100) for cutting a rod-shaped workpiece (W) and welding it to a housing (H), which includes a housing supply step (101), a workpiece supply step (103), a workpiece rotation step (105), a workpiece cutting step (107), and a welding step (109).

In the housing supply step, a housing supply device (1) capable of holding a housing and moving up and down supplies a housing. In the work supply step, a work supply device capable of holding a work and moving up and down or horizontally inserts one end of the work from an external work supply device into a recess (51) of a work rotation device (5) having a plurality of recesses (51) formed in the circumferential direction, the recesses being recessed radially inward from the outer peripheral surface of a disk having a central axis in the horizontal direction. In the work rotation step, the work rotation device holds the work inserted in the recess and rotates. In the work cutting step, a work cutting device (7) cuts the work to a predetermined length. In the welding step, a welding device (9) welds the cut portion of the work inserted in the recess of the work rotation device to the housing held by the housing supply device. The work is a copper-containing ground electrode to be attached to an ignition plug, and the housing is the housing of the ignition plug.

(Effect of the second aspect)
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first aspect can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of one embodiment. 1 is an overall workflow of one embodiment. FIG. FIG. 1 illustrates a welding workflow of one embodiment.

The following describes an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention and a method for using the same with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the "work" to be cut is a copper-containing ground electrode to be attached to an ignition plug, and the "housing" is the housing of the ignition plug, both of which are approximately cylindrical. In addition, each component (apparatus, part, step, etc.) is indicated in quotation marks " " when first mentioned.

(One embodiment)
An overall image of one embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. This is a "cutting and welding device X" that cuts a "workpiece W" and welds it to a "housing H", and includes a "housing supply device 1", an "index table Z", a "workpiece supply device 3", a "workpiece rotating device 5" having a "recess 51", a "workpiece cutting device 7", and a "welding device 9".

Figure 2 also shows the overall workflow of one embodiment. This is a cutting and welding method 100 using a cutting and welding device X, and includes a "housing supply step 101", a "work supply step 103", a "work rotation step 105", a "work cutting step 107", and a "welding step 109".

[Housing supply device and housing supply step]
Figures 3 and 4 show enlarged views of the main parts of one embodiment. The housing supplying device 1 is a device that can move up and down while holding a housing H, and has a push-up device 11. The housing supplying device 1 has an internal cylindrical space capable of accommodating the lower part of the housing H, and is used by being inserted into a "through hole hZ" provided on an index table Z. Note that F1 to F8 in Figure 3 will be described later with reference to Figure 5.

In this embodiment, eight through holes hZ are provided on the lines dividing a circle centered on the "center point cZ" of the index table Z at 45° intervals, and a housing supply device 1 can be installed on each of them.

The housing supply device 1 is equipped with a pick-and-place (hereinafter "P&P") device (not shown). This P&P device picks up the housing H and inserts it into the housing supply device 1 ("Step 1.1"). The index table Z rotates 45° with each step, and moves the housing H to directly below the welding device 9 ("Step 1.2").

A "push-up device 11" is installed below the housing supply device 1 (Figure 4). Directly below the welding device 9, the push-up device 11 lifts the housing H inserted into the housing supply device 1 together with the housing supply device 1 to a standby position, where it waits until the workpiece W is supplied by the workpiece rotation device 5 ("Step 1.3").

The above steps 1.1 to 1.3 constitute the "housing supply step 101." Note that the push-up device 11 has the function of further pushing up the housing H during the "welding step 109," and continues to apply an upward load during welding.

[Work supply device and work supply step]
The work supplying device 3 is a P&P device for supplying the workpieces W to the work rotating device 5, and is capable of gripping each workpiece W and moving vertically or horizontally, picking up the first workpiece W of a group of workpieces pushed out by a rail transfer method from a work supplying platform (not shown) installed behind the work supplying device 3, and inserting one end of the workpiece W into a recess 51 located at the apex of the work rotating device 5 ("work supplying step 103"). In this embodiment, the work supplying device 3 is a robot gripper.

[Workpiece rotation device and workpiece rotation step (1)]
The workpiece rotating device 5 is shaped like a vertical turntable, and has a plurality of recesses 51 bored toward the rotation axis r5 at regular intervals in the circumferential direction on its side, and has the function of rotating around the rotation axis r5. In this embodiment, twelve recesses 51 are formed radially on the outer circumferential surface of the workpiece rotating device 5 at equal intervals of 30°.

Here, the position of the upper one of the two intersection points between a line that passes through the center point c5 of the workpiece rotating device 5 and extends vertically and a circle that forms the outer edge of the rotating table is defined as "0°" in terms of angle when viewed from the center point c5. If this position is "L1" and the positions rotated 60°, 120°, and 180° counterclockwise from L1 in Figure 4 are "L2," "L3," and "L4," respectively, the workpiece rotating device 5 rotates along the rotation direction d5 in Figure 4 in the order of L1, L2, L3, and L4. Therefore, one end of the workpiece W is inserted at position L1.

When the workpiece W is inserted into the recess 51 at position L1, the workpiece rotation device 5 rotates along the rotation direction d5 and stops at position L2 to cut the workpiece W to a predetermined length (first "workpiece rotation step 105"). Although only one side of the workpiece rotation device 5 (the back side of the figure) is shown in Figure 3, in reality there are also members in front, so the workpiece W does not fall to the side.

[Work cutting device and work cutting step]
At this L2 position, a work cutting device 7 and a work holder 71 are installed, and the work holder 71 holds and fixes the carried work W, and the work cutting device 7 cuts it to a predetermined length with a cutter blade ("work cutting step 107"). The cut-off portion is collected by another device (not shown).

[Workpiece rotation device and workpiece rotation step (2)]
The workpiece rotating device 5 then rotates the cut and shortened workpiece W (hereinafter, the "cut workpiece") by an additional 120°, and stops at position L4, i.e., the lower of the two intersections described in paragraph [0025] (the second "workpiece rotating step 105"). At this time, the housing H is already waiting while being supported by the push-up device 11 of the housing welding device 1, and the cut workpiece carried by the workpiece rotating device 5 is inserted so that the cross section of the side to be welded faces down and comes into contact with the upper surface of the waiting housing H.

As described above, the workpiece rotation step 105 is performed twice, once before and once after the workpiece cutting step 107, in order to cut the workpiece W while it is being rotated and moved.

In addition, this embodiment does not have a mechanism for preventing the workpiece W from falling from the recess 51 to the radial outside of the workpiece rotating device 5, but the guides 53 are installed from position L1 to position L2 to the height of the workpiece W before cutting, and from position L2 to position L4 to the height of the workpiece W after cutting, so the workpiece W will not fall.

[Welding equipment and welding steps]
The welding device 9 has a welding clamp 91, which holds and fixes the cut workpiece. Next, the welding device 9 contacts the interface between the lower end of the cut workpiece and the upper end of the housing H, and applies a voltage to perform welding ("welding step 109").

As the welding progresses, the end surface of the workpiece on the weld side melts after cutting, creating a gap at the weld interface with the housing H. To prevent this, the push-up device 11 applies a continuous upward load to the housing H during welding, continuing to push it up. Although not shown in the figure, the part inside the bottom surface of the recess 51 of the workpiece rotation device 5 (the "load receiver") is made of a hard material, and can receive the continuous load from the push-up device 11. The hard material of the load receiver includes materials whose hardness has been increased by surface treatment or heat treatment.

Up to the welding step 109, the work supply step 103 to the work cutting step 107 and the housing supply step 101 are carried out in parallel, but since the housing H must have already arrived at the standby position by the time the cut work arrives, the housing supply step 101 is completed before the second work rotation step 105 is carried out.

After welding, the housing H (hereinafter referred to as the "welded housing"), which is the integrated housing made by welding the cut workpieces together, is lowered by the push-up device 11 to the original height from which it was brought by the index table Z. The index table Z then rotates to remove the welded housing and move the housing H to be used for the next welding operation to a waiting point.

[Welding workflow]
5 shows the flow from the housing supply step 101 to the welding step 109 extracted from the cutting and welding method 100 of the present invention as a "welding workflow 159." Note that since each step from F1 to F8 corresponds to the arrow shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 3 will also be referred to. The following description begins with step F6 corresponding to the housing supply step 101.

In step F6, the index table Z rotates to supply the housing. In step F7, the pre-welded housing H is lifted to the standby position by the push-up device 11. In step F8, the cut work is supplied by the work rotation device 5, and the housing H in the standby position comes into contact with the cut work.

In step F1, the unwelded housing H is pushed up to the welding position with the cut workpiece placed on its upper surface. In step F2, the cut workpiece is fixed by the welding clamp 91. In step F3, the cut workpiece fixed by the welding clamp 91 and the housing H are welded by the welding device 9, during which the push-up device 11 continues to push up the housing H.

After welding is completed, the welding clamp 91 is released in step F4, and the welded housing that has been welded to the cut workpiece and integrated into one body is lowered in step F5. After this, the next housing supply step 101 and workpiece supply step 103 are started, or the cutting and welding routine is ended.

[Effects of one embodiment]
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be expected.
(1) The supply, cutting, and welding processes are smoothly connected, eliminating the need for P&P work for each process, making work more efficient.
(2) Each piece of equipment is centrally and rationally arranged around the workpiece rotation device, making the entire device compact.

Other Embodiments
The above embodiment is based on the assumption that the "workpiece" is the copper-cored ground electrode of a spark plug and the "housing" is the housing of the spark plug, but the subject matter of the present invention is not limited to this. By applying the present invention to a process of cutting, welding and assembling multiple rod-shaped members, it is possible to similarly streamline the process and improve work efficiency.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 housing supply device 5 workpiece rotating device 51 recess 7 workpiece cutting device 9 welding device H housing W workpiece X cutting and welding device

Claims (2)

A cutting and welding device (X) for cutting a rod-shaped workpiece (W) and welding it to a housing (H),
A housing supply device (1) capable of holding a housing and moving up and down;
A work rotation device (5) in which a plurality of recesses (51) recessed radially inward from an outer peripheral surface of a circular plate having a central axis in a horizontal direction are formed in a circumferential direction, and which holds a work having one end inserted into the recesses from an external work supply device and rotates in the circumferential direction;
A workpiece cutting device (7) that cuts the portion of the workpiece exposed from the recess to a predetermined length;
a welding device (9) for welding a cut portion of a workpiece held by the work rotation device to a housing held by the housing supply device;
Equipped with
The cutting and welding apparatus , wherein the workpiece is a copper-containing ground electrode to be attached to an ignition plug, and the housing is the housing of the ignition plug . A cutting and welding method (100) for cutting a rod-shaped workpiece (W) and welding it to a housing (H), comprising:
A housing supply step (101) in which a housing supply device (1) capable of holding a housing and moving up and down supplies a housing;
A work supply step (103) in which one end of a work is inserted into the recess (51) from an external work supply device, the recess (51) being formed in a circumferential direction of a work rotating device (5) that is recessed radially inward from the outer peripheral surface of a circular plate having a central axis in a horizontal direction;
A workpiece rotating step (105) in which the workpiece rotating device holds the workpiece inserted into the recess and rotates in a circumferential direction;
a work cutting step (107) in which a work cutting device (5) cuts the portion of the work exposed from the recess to a predetermined length;
a welding step (109) in which a welding device (9) welds the cut portion of the work inserted into the recess of the work rotation device to the housing held by the housing supply device;
Including,
A cutting and welding method in which the workpiece is a copper-containing ground electrode to be attached to an ignition plug, and the housing is a housing of the ignition plug .

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