JPS646076B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a panel wiping device.

Car window glasses are generally attached to the car body with adhesive. To explain this installation in more detail, in order to improve the appearance of the adhesive part of the window glass, a black printing print is applied to the outer periphery of the window glass in advance, and a primer (adhesive agent) and adhesive are applied to the outer periphery of the window glass. and attached it to the car body.

However, this installation requires printing on the outer periphery of the window glass, making it expensive. To solve this problem,
The applicant has added a function to the primer that improves its appearance, that is, it is easy to apply to the outer periphery of the window glass with a uniform thickness, and the parting line appears clearly, and after applying the primer to the window glass, the adhesive is We researched a method that allows it to be attached to the car body simply by applying it. When applying the primer in the process of establishing this method, if the glass surface is dirty or has fat from fingers or other objects on it, the adhesive may peel off after the window glass is attached to the car body, making it difficult to install the window glass. We have found a problem in that the coloring becomes insufficient, and the finger squeegee etc. appears white, which spoils the appearance. Although the outfitting assembly process in which window glass is installed is one of the cleanest parts of the automobile assembly process, there is a risk of fat buildup due to people touching the window glass during transport to the factory or during storage. , or collect dust.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to wipe off this fat or dust with a robot, but since each window glass gets dirty in different ways, if you try to use the chip for wiping the window glass repeatedly, the chip will become dirty. ,
When the dirt exceeds the monitored level, the chips must be thrown away. Monitoring this contamination requires a considerable investment in equipment and is expensive. Therefore, the present invention uses a robot to wipe the window glass with a chip and discards the chip after each wipe, thereby eliminating the need for supervision and doing so at low cost.

Note that panels include glass plates, steel plates, plastic plates, etc.

And, the panel wiping device according to the present invention includes:
A chip gripping hand that is attached to the tip of a robot arm that moves along the wiping area of the panel and performs a clamping operation based on command signals from the robot, and a chip that supplies wiping chips to the chip gripping hand every predetermined wiping period. a supply device;
The gist of the present invention is to include a means for supplying a wiping agent to the tips as the tip gripping hand moves during panel wiping, and a means for forcibly separating the used tips from the tip gripping hand at the end of panel wiping.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a degreasing process system for an automobile window glass 1. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, a window glass 1 is placed on two plane shuttle bars 2 extending in parallel and moves, and when it reaches a predetermined position, a lifter 3 is activated.
It is positioned at a set height with its four corners suctioned and fixed by suction discs 4. In addition, a robot R having a multi-joint robot arm Ra is installed in a work area close to the lifter 3.
A chip gripping hand H is attached to the tip of Ra. A chip supply device C is installed near the chip gripping hand H to supply a certain amount of degreasing chips to the chip gripping hand H based on teaching information from the robot R. A storage tank 5 for supplying degreasing agent to the robot R and a control device 6 for controlling the operation of the chip gripping hand H are installed at the rear of the robot R.

In this embodiment, the tip gripping hand H
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, it has a pneumatic cylinder 7 as a base member, and constantly urges the piston rod 7a of the pneumatic cylinder 7 in its protruding direction. A pneumatic cylinder 8 as an actuator is fixed to the tip with a screw 9, and a piston rod 10 of the pneumatic cylinder 8 has a piston rod 10 at its tip, as shown in FIG.
For example, a pair of clamp arms 12a and 12b as clamp members are connected via a link mechanism 11, and air is supplied to communicate with the lower chamber 13 of the pneumatic cylinder 8, as shown by a solid line and a two-dot chain line in FIG. The clamp arms 12a and 12b open and close in response to the forward and backward movements of the piston rod 10, which is actuated by the air supply from the tube 14 and the return force of the return spring 17 built into the upper chamber 16 having the atmosphere opening hole 15. It is something that happens as you let it happen. And clamp arm 1
Wide clamping pieces 18a and 18b for clamping the chip 37 are provided on the inner walls of the chips 2a and 12b, respectively, by fixing them with bolts 19. This clamping piece 18
The inner walls of a and 18b are formed in a concave and convex shape to increase the sliding contact resistance, and one of the clamping pieces 18
A substantially L-shaped back-up member 20 is attached to b to serve as a sliding guide for the chips during degreasing. The backup member 20 is formed into a predetermined shape using an elastic pad or a brush. In addition, a degreasing agent supply tube 21 is provided at the bottom of the pneumatic cylinder 8.
is installed, and this degreaser supply tube 2
The tip of the tip 1 is directed toward the tip 37. In this embodiment, the degreaser supply tube 21 is arranged so that the degreaser is supplied to the sliding contact surface in front of the chip 37 in the sliding direction.
The tip of the clamp arm 12a is provided close to the back up member 2.
Alternatively, the degreaser may be placed so as to reach the tip 37, and the degreaser may be directly impregnated into the tip.

The degreasing agent supply tube 21 is connected to a tank 5 that stores ethyl acetate used as a degreasing agent, for example, via a control device 6 that includes a metering pump that pumps a fixed amount of the degreasing agent. Further, an air discharge tube 23 is attached to the lower part of the pneumatic cylinder 8.
The discharge nozzle portion 24 formed at the tip of the clamping piece 1
It is arranged so as to reach a position near the top between 8a and 18b and to move downward. In this embodiment, the air discharged from the discharge nozzle section 24 is
The exhaust air from the pneumatic cylinder 8 is utilized to control the control device 6 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
It is controlled by switching valves 26 and 27 of a solenoid valve 25 that connects the air supply tube 14 and the air discharge tube 23 that are piped inside.

Further, the clamp arms 12a, 12b, the clamping pieces 18a, 18b, and the backup member 20 are provided with horizontally penetrating holes 28a, 28b in a straight line. The tip of an optical fiber 29 for chip detection extending from the control device 6 is inserted.
This optical fiber 29 is used as a transmissive/receiving type sensor using this optical fiber, and is turned on when light transmission through the pores 28a and 28b is blocked.

Incidentally, the tip gripping hand H having the above configuration
is assembled to the robot R by fixing the mounting flange 30 of the pneumatic cylinder 7 to the end mounting portion of the robot arm Ra with a screw 31.
1 performs a predetermined teaching operation, and the tip gripping hand H is made to grip the chip and move the peripheral edge of the window glass 1 in response to a command signal from the control device 6.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the chip supply device C winds up a cotton cloth 35 as a chip material wound into a roll between a pair of feed rollers 34a and 34b attached to a support stand 33, and rolls up a certain amount of cotton cloth 35. By the way, it is cut with a cutter 36 operated by an air cylinder 32 and supplied as chips 37. Winding up of the cotton cloth 35 is performed by a motor 38 that rotationally drives one feed roller 34a, and a pair of photoelectric switches 3 provided at predetermined positions above the feed rollers 34a and 34b.
The amount of winding of the cotton cloth 35 is detected by 9a and 39b. In addition, the above-mentioned rolled cotton cloth 35 and cutter 3
6. The motor 38 and photoelectric switch 39 are also attached to the support base 33, like the feed roller 34. Reference numeral 40 is a used chip discharge container. In this embodiment, cotton cloth 35 is used as the chip material because cotton cloth 35 has water absorbency and does not fluff. Materials other than cotton cloth 35 can also be used. In addition, as a means for supplying the chips 37, instead of using the cutter 36 as described above, perforations are made in the rolled or folded cotton cloth 35 for each size of the chips 37, and after being held by the chip gripping hands H, It is also possible to pull and cut the cloth, or to have the chip gripping hand H hold a cotton cloth that has been cut to the size of the chip from the beginning.

Next, a degreasing process for automobile window glass 1 using the apparatus according to the above embodiment will be explained.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the robot R adjusts the tip gripping hand H based on the teaching information.
The feed rollers 34a, 3 of the chip feeding device C
4b to a position near the top. In this state, an arrival signal is sent from the robot R to the control device 6, and the motor 38 is driven to rotate the feed rollers 34a, 34b and wind up the cotton cloth 35. Then, when the cotton cloth 35 has been rolled up by a certain amount, the photoelectric switches 39a and 39b detect the passage of the cotton cloth 35, and the rotation of the motor 38 is stopped based on the detection signal. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the solenoid valve 25 is operated and one valve 26 is connected, and the air supply source 41 and the air supply tube 14 are connected to a predetermined position in the lower chamber 13 of the pneumatic cylinder 8. Supply high pressure air. Then, the piston rod 10 is moved back, the clamp arms 12a and 12b are closed, and the clamping piece 18 is closed.
The upper end of the cotton cloth 35 is held between a and 18b. The switch is actuated by blocking the transmission of light from the optical fiber 29 with the cotton cloth 35, and the cutter 36 is actuated by a command signal from the control device 6 to cut the cotton cloth 35 into chips 37. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the tip gripping hand H, which has gripped the tip 37 at its tip, moves onto the periphery of the window glass 1 set at a predetermined position by the lifter 3, using the following teaching information. Then, in the next operation, the chip 37 is lowered to a position where it contacts the window glass 1. In this state, the metering pump starts operating in response to a designated signal from the control device 6, and the robot R moves the tip gripping hand H along the periphery of the window glass 1.
At this time, the degreaser pumped from the metering pump is
Through the degreasing agent supply tube 21, the degreasing agent is delivered from its tip to the front side of the tip 37 in a drip-like manner and in fixed amounts, and by sliding this degreasing agent with the tip 37, the fat and fat adhering to the window glass 1 are removed. Wipe away dirt. In this case, since the chip 37 is pressed against the surface of the window glass by the spring action of the pneumatic cylinder 7, the chip 37 moves to follow the variation in the vertical direction of the surface of the window glass. , degreasing, etc. can be carried out sufficiently. When the tip gripping hand H has gone around the periphery of the window glass 1, a degreasing end signal is issued, the supply of degreasing agent from the metering pump is stopped, and the tip gripping hand H is raised to a position away from the window glass 1. . After further returning to the predetermined position, an arrival signal is issued, and the solenoid valve 25 is switched to the valve 27 side as shown in FIG. Therefore, the air supply from the air supply source 41 is stopped, and the piston rod 10 is pushed down by the restoring force of the return spring 17, and the clamp arms 12a, 12b are moved through the link mechanism 11.
open. Further, by the above-described operation of the solenoid valve 25, the air supply tube 14 and the air discharge tube 23 are connected, and as the piston rod 10 is lowered, the exhaust pressure air from the lower chamber 13 of the pneumatic cylinder 8 is passed through the air discharge tube 23. Compressed air is discharged from the discharge nozzle portion 24 toward the chip 37 . Therefore, the chips 37 are forcibly blown away by the air pressure and discarded into a discharge container 40 provided below. In this state, one degreasing step is completed, and the device returns to the position above the chip supply device C to prepare for the next degreasing step.

In the above embodiment, exhaust air from the pneumatic cylinder 8 is used as the discharge air, but it goes without saying that it may be provided separately as an air supply source.

Further, in the above embodiment, the pneumatic cylinder 7 is used as the base member of the chip gripping hand H, but the invention is not necessarily limited to this.
For example, the design of a member with a built-in spring may be changed as appropriate. Furthermore, the clamping member of the chip gripping hand H and its actuator may be selected as appropriate as long as it can grip the chip, and the gripping of the chip by the clamping member can also be confirmed using a transmissive sensor using an optical fiber. Of course, it is not limited to the detection means.

In the above embodiment, the example of the member to be degreased is automobile window glass, but it is of course not limited to this, and it is not limited to degreasing. Of course, the present invention can be applied to means. Further, the wiping agent is not limited to ethyl acetate, and it goes without saying that commonly known degreasing agents can be used.

As explained above, according to the panel wiping device according to the present invention, the tip gripping hand is configured to replace the wiping tip every predetermined wiping period, so that the wiping tip can always be cleaned with a new and clean tip to remove dust attached to the panel surface. This allows you to wipe away fat from your fingers, etc., and prevent the adhesive applied in the next step from peeling off.

In addition, since the wiping agent is supplied to the tip as the tip gripping hand moves, even if the object is large, such as when wiping the periphery of a car window panel, a clean wiping surface can be obtained. can be ensured.

With the above configuration, automation of the panel wiping process by a robot can be achieved, and pretreatment work for the subsequent adhesive application process can be performed efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automobile window glass wiping process system showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a tip gripping hand and a chip feeding device, FIG. 3 is a front view of the tip gripping hand, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are operational views of the tip gripping hand. 1...Window glass (panel), 7...Pneumatic cylinder (base member), 12a, 12b...
Clamp arm (clamp member), 21... Wiping agent supply tube (degreasing agent supply tube), 2
3... Air discharge tube, 37... Chip, C
...Chip feeding device, H...Chip gripping hand,
R...Robot, Ra...Robot arm.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A chip gripping hand that is attached to the tip of a robot arm that moves along the wiping area of the panel and that performs a clamping operation in response to a command signal from the robot; a chip feeding device for supplying chips for use; a means for supplying a wiping agent to the chips as the chip gripping hand moves during panel wiping; and a means for forcibly separating the used chips from the chip gripping hand at the end of panel wiping. A panel wiping device equipped with