JPH0130673B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for attaching a workpiece A (for example, an automobile body) to a workpiece B (for example, an engine) being conveyed on a conveyance line such as an overhead trolley conveyor.
This equipment relates to equipment for assembling work without stopping the work A, and its main purpose is to assemble the work A without stopping the work A. Also, the position of the workpiece B to be assembled is automatically corrected in accordance with the positional deviation of the workpiece A,
The purpose is to make it easier to assemble work B.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the attached illustrative drawings. In FIGS. A conventionally known overhead trolley conveyor 4 comprising a plurality of trolleys supporting a hanger 3 from which an automobile body 2 is suspended.
It consists of 5 is an engine 6 as a work B and an automobile body 2 as the work A.
The trolley is a conveying means for conveying the trolley conveyor 4 in a state adjacent to the trolley conveyor 4, and reciprocates along a movement route arranged parallel to the main conveyor line 1 directly below the trolley conveyor 4. Reference numeral 7 denotes a roller conveyor for carrying in an engine, and a roller conveyor for carrying out empty pallets is provided at the lower stage, and is disposed at right angles to the main conveyance line 1. Reference numeral 8 denotes a transfer device that transfers the engine received from the engine carrying roller conveyor 7 onto the trolley 5 that is waiting at the origin position. Reference numeral 9 denotes a left-right displacement detection device for the automobile body 2, which is disposed on the side of the trolley conveyor 4 before the movement path of the trolley 5 and the transfer device 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, the positional deviation detection device 9 is a non-contact detection device that detects when the automobile body 2, which is being transported while being suspended by the hanger 3 of the trolley conveyor 4, has reached a predetermined position. It is composed of a switch (such as a photoelectric switch) 10 and a positional deviation detection means 11 that operates based on a detection signal from the switch 10. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this detection means 11 includes a movable base 14 supported by a guide rail 13 so as to be able to reciprocate in the same direction as the transport direction 12 of the trolley conveyor 4, and a movable base 14 supported by a guide rail 13. a cylinder/piston unit 15 that reciprocates; a synchronous lever 18 that is pivotally mounted on the movable base 14 by a support shaft 16 so as to be able to swing up and down, and is caused to swing up and down by a cylinder/piston unit 17; The movable table 14 can be raised and lowered by a guide rod 19.
supported by the cylinder/piston unit 2
A lifting table 21 that is driven up and down by the robot 0, and a brake cylinder 23 supported by a guide rod 22 so as to be movable in the left and right transverse directions on the lifting table 21 and equipped with a pulse encoder (hereinafter abbreviated as a cellcon cylinder). and a positional deviation detection lever 24 that is moved by the lever.

The transfer device 8, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6,
A turntable 28 is supported rotatably around a vertical support shaft 26 by a supporting caster 25 and is rotated within a range of 90 degrees by a cylinder/piston unit 27, and an upper and lower two parts are mounted on the turntable 28. It consists of a drive roller conveyor 29 for carrying in engines and a drive roller conveyor 30 for carrying out empty pallets, which are installed in stages. 3
Reference numerals 1 and 32 are motors for driving the roller conveyors 29 and 30 separately, and 33 and 34 are pallet positioning stoppers attached to each of the roller conveyors 29 and 30.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the engine transport truck 5 includes a truck body 37 equipped with wheels 36 that ride on guide rails 35, and is supported by the truck body 37 via a guide rod 38 so as to be movable up and down. A lifting table 40 is driven up and down by a cylinder/piston unit 39, and a cellcon cylinder 42 is supported on the lifting table 40 so as to be movable in the transport direction 12 of the trolley conveyor 4 via a guide rail 41a and a guide roller 41b. a transversely movable table 43 that is supported on the movable table 43 so as to be movable in the left and right transverse directions via guide rails 44a and guide rollers 44b, and that is moved by a cellcon cylinder 45; The table 46 and this transverse movable table 46
It is comprised of a tiltable drive roller conveyor 49 whose front end is supported by a horizontal support shaft 47 and whose rear end is supported by a pair of left and right eccentric cams 48 .

The truck main body 37 is connected via a bracket 53 to a driving chain 52 suspended between a toothed wheel 50 and an idling toothed wheel 51 driven by a motor, and the rotation of the driving chain 52 is It is caused to move back and forth by the motion. 54 is a pulse transmitter (rotary transducer) interlocked with the drive gear 50 via a transmission gear 55. 56 is the lifting platform 4
A pulse transmitter (rotary transducer) 58 is driven through a pinion gear 57, which is a vertical rack gear whose upper end is fixed at 0, and engages with the pinion gear 57. 59 is a motor that drives the eccentric cam 48, and 60 is a motor that drives the drive roller conveyor 49. Further, the driving roller conveyor 49 is provided with a fixed stopper 61 and a movable stopper 62 which is driven forward and backward by a cylinder/piston unit.

To explain the engine assembly work method performed using the above equipment, first, the engine 6 supported at a predetermined position on the pallet is attached to the roller conveyor 7 in the direction in which the upper drive roller conveyor 29 connects (Fig. The roller conveyor 7 carries the transfer device 8 onto the roller conveyor 29 in the direction indicated by the line. Thereafter, the turntable 28 is turned by 90 degrees by the cylinder/piston unit 27, and the driving roller conveyor 29 is turned in a direction in which it can be connected to the driving roller conveyor 49 of the truck 5, as shown by the solid line in FIG.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
is raised by the cylinder/piston unit 39 to a height where the drive roller conveyor 49 connects with the drive roller conveyor 29 of the transfer device 8. In this state, the drive roller conveyor 29 of the transfer device 8 is driven by the motor 31, and the drive roller conveyor 49 of the truck 5 is driven by the motor 60 to transfer the pallet-mounted engine 6 from the transfer device 8 onto the drive roller conveyor 49 of the truck 5. At this time, the engine 6 is carried to a position where the pallet 6a abuts the fixed stopper 61 as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. be done.

On the other hand, if the detection switch 10 detects that the automobile body 2 conveyed through the main conveyance line 1 by the trolley conveyor 4 has reached a predetermined position on the left-right positional deviation detection device 9, the solid line in FIG. As shown, the synchronization lever 1 of the positional deviation detection means 11
8 is vertically erected by the cylinder/piston unit 17, the frame 2a in the transverse direction is located at the bottom near the front end of the automobile body 2.
comes into contact with the synchronous lever 18 in the upright state. At this time, the movable table 14 is moved in the conveying direction 1 with appropriate resistance.
2 (by leaving the cylinder/piston unit 15 free), the movable base 14 moves integrally with the automobile body 2. In such a state, the lifting platform 21
is raised to the upper limit height by the cylinder/piston unit 20, and then the positional deviation detection lever 24 in the upper limit position is moved to the upper limit position of the cylinder/piston unit 20.
3, the positional deviation detection lever 24 is moved laterally to the frame 2b in the longitudinal direction located at the bottom near the front end of the automobile body 2, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. It comes into contact with the object and stops. The amount of movement of the positional deviation detection lever 24 at this time is detected by the cell controller cylinder 23,
From this amount of movement, the amount of displacement in the left-right direction of the automobile body 2 supported on the hanger 3 is calculated by computer processing and output to the next stage. When the positional deviation detection operation is completed, the synchronization lever 18 and the positional deviation detection lever 24 are returned to their original standby positions, and the automobile body 2 passes over this positional deviation detection device 9.

The vehicle body 2 is at the origin position as described above, and the engine 6 is driven by the roller conveyor 4.
9 (at this point, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a non-contact sensor detects the side surface near the front end of the automobile body 2 and the frame 2a). The carriage body 37 is driven forward in the transport direction 12 by the drive chain 52. At this time, the driving means of the trolley drive chain 52 is proportionally or synchronously controlled so that the moving speed of the trolley body 37 is equal to the moving speed of the automobile body 2 (transport speed of the trolley conveyor 4).

Also, in order to check the error between the conveyance speed of the trolley conveyor 4 and the conveyance speed of the trolley 5,
As shown in the figure, the number of pulses transmitted from the pulse transmitter 54 linked to the drive chain 52 at a rate of one pulse for every approximately 1 mm that the trolley body 37 advances, and the drive of the trolley conveyor 4 as shown in FIG. Similarly, the number of pulses transmitted from the pulse transmitter 64 linked to the chain 4a at a rate of 1 pulse every time the hanger 3 moves approximately 1 mm is counted (reset to zero when the truck body 37 stops moving forward) and displayed. You can provide a means to do so. Of course, the difference in the number of pulses between the two may be displayed, and when this difference becomes larger than an allowable range, an alarm or the like may be used to notify the operator.

When the truck body 37 begins to move in the same direction at the same speed as the automobile body 2 as described above, the eccentric cam 48 is rotated by a predetermined angle by the motor 59.
The drive roller conveyor 49 is tilted by a predetermined angle (for example, 4 degrees) around the support shaft 47 so that the rear end side is lowered, and the cylinder/piston unit 39 is operated to raise the elevator platform 40 to the first height. As a result, the engine 6 on the drive roller conveyor 49 enters the automobile body 2 up to the first height in a state of being tilted forward and upward.
Next, the traversing movable platform 4 is moved by the Cercon cylinder 45.
6 to the right (or left) by a predetermined amount, and move the engine 6 laterally together with the drive roller conveyor 49 to a position where it does not come into contact with the frame of the automobile body 2 even if the engine 6 is raised, and then After that, reinstall the cylinder/piston unit 39.
The elevator platform 40 is raised to the second height, and the engine 6 on the drive roller conveyor 49 is moved into the automobile body 2 to the second height.

Next, the traversing movable base 46 is returned to the left (or right) by the cell controller cylinder 45, but at this time, the position of the automobile body 2 in the left and right lateral directions detected by the positional deviation detection device 9 is By automatically adjusting the return amount of the traversing movable table 46 by the cellcon cylinder 45 in consideration of the amount of deviation, even if the position of the automobile body 2 is deviated in the left and right directions, the drive roller conveyor 49
The upper engine 6 can be automatically matched to the mounting position of the automobile body 2 in the left and right directions. Thereafter, by sliding the movable table 43 forward (in the conveyance direction 12) by a predetermined distance with respect to the lifting table 40 using the cell controller cylinder 42, the engine 6 on the drive roller conveyor 49 is moved to the engine mounting position in the automobile body 2. It can be placed in the mounting preparation position, which is slightly lowered. In such a state, the cylinder/piston unit 39 is operated in an inching manner by an operator's manual operation, and the elevating platform 40 is inched up together with the drive roller conveyor 49, thereby opening the front mounting hole of the engine 6 and corresponding thereto. and the mounting holes on the automobile body 2 side, and fit the bolts across both mounting holes. Then, the motor 59 rotates the eccentric cam 48 to return it to its original position, and the driving roller conveyor 49 is returned to its original position, thereby returning the engine 6 to its mounting position relative to the automobile body 2. In this state, the front mounting bolts of the engine 6 are tightened, the bolts are fitted into the rear mounting holes, and the bolts are tightened, and the engine 6 is mounted at a predetermined position on the automobile body 2.

Once the above engine installation work is completed,
By inching the cylinder/piston unit 39 to lower the drive roller conveyor 49 along with the empty pallet 6a by an appropriate amount, and then by operating the cylinder/piston unit 39 and the cercon cylinders 42, 45, the lifting platform 4 is lowered.
0 is automatically lowered to the lowering limit position, and the movable base 43 and the transverse movable base 46 are automatically returned to their original positions. At the same time, the forward drive of the truck body 37 by the drive chain 52 is stopped, and the drive chain 5
2 is reversely driven at high speed to automatically return the trolley body 37 to the original position adjacent to the transfer device 8 at high speed. Since the lifting platform 40 is at the lowering limit position, the drive roller conveyor 49 is connected to the drive roller conveyor 30 for carrying out empty pallets at the lower stage of the transfer device 8 when the trolley body 37 returns to the original position. With the movable stopper 62 retracted, both driving roller conveyors 49 and 30 are operated by the respective motors 60 and 32, and the empty pallet 6a is transferred from the carriage 5 to the driving roller conveyor for carrying out the empty pallet of the transfer device 8. 30 can be carried out.

Thereafter, the turntable 28 of the transfer device 8 is rotated back to the original position by the cylinder/piston unit 27, and the drive roller conveyor 3
0 is activated to transport the empty pallet 6a from the transfer device 8 onto the empty pallet unloading roller conveyor disposed below the engine loading roller conveyor 7, thereby completing the series of operations. .

The workpiece assembly equipment on the conveyance line of the present invention can be implemented as described above, and its characteristic feature is that the workpiece assembly equipment on the conveyance line of the present invention can be installed on the side of the main conveyance line that conveys the workpiece A (car body 2 of the embodiment). A conveyance means (carriage 5 in the example) for conveying the work B (engine 6 in the example) in a state adjacent to the work A is installed in parallel, and the workpiece is attached to the assembly route of the work B to the work A. Before A arrives, a positional deviation detection device (positional deviation detection device 9 of the embodiment) that detects the positional deviation of the workpiece A in the cross direction with respect to the transport direction is provided, and the position of the workpiece A detected by this device is Means for correcting the position of the workpiece B on the conveyance means in accordance with the amount of deviation is provided, and the positional deviation detection device is movable back and forth in parallel with the conveyance direction and is driven by the workpiece A to press in the conveyance direction. a movable base (in the embodiment, the movable base 14 is backed by the automobile body 2 via the synchronization lever 18);
a positional deviation detection lever that comes into contact with the workpiece A by being moved by an actuator such as a cellcon cylinder on the movable table in a direction perpendicular to the transporting direction, and the position correction means supports the workpiece B on the transporting means. A traversing movable table (traversing movable table 46 in the embodiment) that adjusts the position in a direction crossing the conveying direction, and an actuator such as a cellcon cylinder that moves this traversing movable table by a distance corresponding to the amount of movement of the positional deviation detection lever. The point is that it was constructed from.

According to such equipment of the present invention, the workpiece A
Even if the position on the conveyance line is shifted in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, the workpiece B to be assembled
This eliminates the need for the assembly worker to manually correct the position of workpiece B on the transport means while visually checking the position of workpiece B so that it matches workpiece A, and the position of workpiece B is automatically corrected so that it matches workpiece A. Therefore, the work of assembling work B can be performed easily and efficiently.

In addition, in the example, workpiece A has a structure that does not allow workpiece B to be moved along the shortest straight path when moving workpiece B to the mounting position within workpiece A. However, depending on the structure of work A, it is also possible to move work B along the shortest straight path to the mounting position.
It is sufficient to set a movement route for the workpiece B to the mounting position in accordance with the structure of the workpiece A.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of the whole, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, Fig. 3 is a front view of the left and right lateral positional deviation detection means of the automobile body (work A), Fig. 4 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 5 is a side view of the same. The figure is a plan view of the transfer device, FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of the transfer device and the engine (work B) transport truck, FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of the truck, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are the truck. FIG. 1...Main conveyance line, 2...Automobile body (work A), 2a, 2b...Automobile body frame,
4... Trolley conveyor, 5... Engine transport trolley, 6... Engine (work B), 6a... Pallet, 7... Roller conveyor for carrying in engine,
8... Transfer device, 9... Vehicle body left/right lateral positional deviation detection device, 10, 63a, 64b...
Non-contact detection switch, 11... Right and left lateral positional deviation detection means, 14, 43... Movable base in the front and rear direction (conveying direction 12), 15, 17, 20, 27, 39
...Cylinder/piston unit, 18...Synchronization lever, 21,40...Elevating platform, 23,42,
45... Cercon cylinder (brake cylinder with pulse encoder), 24... Position deviation detection lever, 28... Turntable, 29...
...Drive roller conveyor for carrying in engines, 30...
Drive roller conveyor for carrying out empty pallets, 31, 3
2, 59, 60...Motor, 37...Bogie body, 46...Transverse movable table, 48...Eccentric cam for tilting the drive roller conveyor 49, 52...Bogie drive chain, 54, 58, 64... Pulse transmitter (rotary transducer), 61...fixed stopper, 62...movable stopper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A conveying means for conveying work B in a state adjacent to work A is installed beside the main conveyance line for conveying work A, so that work A reaches the assembly path of work B to work A. in front,
A positional deviation detection device for detecting a positional deviation of the workpiece A in a direction crossing the transport direction is provided, and the position of the workpiece B on the transport means is corrected in accordance with the positional deviation amount of the workpiece A detected by this device. The positional deviation detection device includes a movable table that is reciprocally movable parallel to the conveyance direction and is driven to be pressed in the conveyance direction by the workpiece A, and a means for detecting displacement on the movable table in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. and a positional deviation detection lever that comes into contact with the workpiece A by being moved by an actuator such as a cell controller cylinder, and the position correction means is a traversing lever that adjusts the supporting position of the workpiece B on the transporting means in a direction perpendicular to the transporting direction. Workpiece assembly work equipment on a conveyance line comprising a movable table and an actuator such as a cellcon cylinder that moves the traversing movable table by a distance corresponding to the amount of movement of the positional deviation detection lever.