JPH0476878B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fluid supply gun that automatically injects gasoline or diesel oil as a fluid into a fuel tank using an industrial robot, for example, on an automobile assembly line.

In the past, for example, when injecting fuel such as gasoline or diesel oil into a fuel tank on an automobile assembly line, a worker used a fuel supply gun to inject fuel into the tank, but this caused the fuel to scatter. Injection work has become extremely complicated, as care must be taken not to overflow or overflow, and there is a growing demand for automating the injection work.

Therefore, an automated fuel injection system using industrial robots has been proposed. In this system, as a fuel supply gun, for example,
A gun body is used which is composed of a gun body having a supply passage therein, and a nozzle attached to the gun body so as to communicate with the supply passage and inserted into the injection port of the fuel tank. The fuel supply gun is held by a robot, and the nozzle portion of the fuel supply gun is inserted into the injection port by the operation of the robot based on teaching information from the control device, and fuel is sent from the fuel supply device. Then, gasoline is injected into the tank.

By the way, generally, the above-mentioned injection port is attached to a fuel opening provided in the vehicle body via a fuel filler base, and a fuel filler lid that opens and closes with a hinge is attached to the fuel opening. The injection port is covered by the fuel filler lid. Therefore, when inserting the nozzle part of the fuel supply gun, in order to prevent interference between the nozzle part and the fuel fluoride, a worker must fully open the fuel fluoride prior to the fuel injection operation. The fuel supply gun is kept in the state position, that is, in a position where the fuel fluoride and the fuel supply gun do not interfere with each other.

However, even if the fuel filler is set to the fully open state in advance, the fuel filler may open due to shaking of the vehicle body or the like until the vehicle is transported to the fuel supply position. There is a risk that the fuel supply gun and the fuel supply gun may close and the fuel supply gun may not be fully open when supplying the fuel. collision, resulting in damage to the fuel supply gun and fuel floodlight, and even if the damage could be prevented, the worker would not be able to fully open the fuel floodlight again. In any case, the line must be stopped and the means of the workers must be disturbed, which reduces work efficiency and makes the automation of fuel supply insufficient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a fluid supply gun with an engaging portion, so that the fluid supply gun can prevent the fluid from being injected by the operation of the robot. By engaging the above-mentioned engaging portion with the lid and setting the lid from the partially open position to the fully open position, interference between the fluid supply gun and the lid is reliably prevented, and unnecessary work by the operator is avoided. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid supply gun that eliminates this problem and achieves more effective automation of fluid supply.

The gist of the fluid supply gun according to the present invention is that in a fluid supply gun that automatically injects fluid into a tank from an injection port covered by a lid by the operation of a robot, the opening degree of the lid is at least a predetermined angle. means for checking whether the lid is open;
an engaging portion that engages with the inner surface of the lid and positions the lid in a fully open position by operation of a robot when it is confirmed that the opening degree of the lid is a predetermined angle or more; and an engaging part support part that supports the robot hand so as to be movable relative to the robot hand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The fluid supply gun according to the present invention will be described in detail below based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a system for automating fuel injection. In FIG. 1, a vehicle body 1 is conveyed to a fuel supply position by a conveyor (not shown) or the like, and at the fuel supply position there is a robot R holding a fuel supply gun G, and a robot R that controls the robot R. A control device C for supplying fuel and a fuel supply device F for supplying fuel are installed. In addition, a fuel tank inlet 4 is attached to a fuel opening 2 opened in the vehicle body 1 via a fuel filler base 3, and a side edge of the fuel opening 2 is provided with a plug to close the fuel opening 2. In addition, a fuel fluoride 5 that covers the injection port 4 is attached via a hinge, and near the fuel supply gun G is a location where the fuel fluoride 5 of the vehicle body 1 is to be positioned. The optical sensor 6a,
6b is placed. After the optical sensor 6a6b qualitatively detects the opening/closing state of the fuel filler 5 with the vehicle body 1 being transported and positioned, the fuel supply gun G is moved to the fuel filler by the operation of the robot R. The pipe 5 is opened, and then gasoline is injected from the injection port 4.

In this example, the fuel supply gun G
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the gun body 1
0, a nozzle 11, a grip part 12, and an engaging part K. The gun main body 10 is formed in a block shape, and has a supply path inside, and an on-off valve is interposed in this supply path. 8. The nozzle 11 is attached to the gun body 10 so as to communicate with the supply path, and is inserted into the injection port of the fuel tank. Further, the gripping section 12 is composed of a pair of brackets 13 and an arm 14, and the bracket 1
3 is attached to the side of the gun body 10 opposite to the side where the nozzle 11 is attached, and the arm 14 is supported by the bracket 13 from both sides and is adapted to be grasped by the grasping hand 15 of the robot R. .

The basic structure of the above-mentioned engaging part K is the mounting base 16.
It consists of a push head 17, a rod 18, and a spring 19 as an elastic member. The mounting base 16 is a substantially cylindrical member having a mounting flange 20 at one end and a through hole 22. By fixing the mounting flange 20 to one side wall of the gun body 10 with bolts 21, the mounting base 16 can be attached to the gun body 10. It is attached to the main body 10 and has the nozzle 11 and the through hole 22.
The axes of each are orthogonal to each other. Furthermore, the through hole 22 of the mounting base 16 consists of a large diameter 22a on the side of the gun body 10 and a small diameter part 22b continuous with this, and a stepped part 23 is formed between the large diameter part 22a and the small diameter part 22b. There is. Furthermore, the push head 17 is made of an elastic body made of oil-resistant rubber, for example, and is formed into a substantially conical shape, into which a rod 18 is screwed into the push head 17 from the bottom surface thereof. This rod 18
is inserted into the through hole 22 of the mounting bracket 16, and a head 18a is formed on the gun body 10 side of the rod 18 to prevent it from coming off.
8a is adapted to engage with the stepped portion 23 of the through hole 22. Further, a spring 19 is interposed between the bottom surface of the push head 17 and the end of the mounting base 16 via washers 24, 24.
The rod 18 is movable against the biasing force of the rod 9, and accordingly, the rod 18 is moved through the through hole 22.
It is adapted to slide on the small diameter portion 22b of.

Furthermore, in the automatic fuel supply system to which this embodiment is applied, the vehicle body 1 is a vehicle model equipped with a fuel fluoride 5 that uses a spring-type hinge 30, and the fuel fluoride 5 has the following features: When the lock 31 is unlocked, the spring action of the hinge 30 opens it enough for a human hand to enter.

Therefore, according to the fuel automatic supply system using the fuel supply gun according to this embodiment,
Fuel is automatically supplied to the fuel tank by the following actions.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the fuel fluoride 5, which has been unlocked in advance,
The above optical sensor 6 indicates whether it is opened or not.
Detected by a and 6b. In this case, the fuel fluoride 5 is opened by a predetermined angle θ or more by the spring action of the hinge 30, so when the opening is less than the predetermined angle θ (position A in FIG. 4). For example, since the lock has not yet been unlocked, an error signal is issued to the control device C, and the operation of the robot R is stopped. Further, when the degree of opening of the fuel fluoride 5 is equal to or greater than a predetermined angle θ (position B in FIG. 4), a collect signal is issued to the control device C, indicating that the lock is unlocked. Note that the reference numeral 8 in FIG. 4 is a line indicating the optical path of the optical sensors 6a and 6b.

When a collect signal is issued to the control device C by the optical sensors 6a and 6b, the robot R operates based on the teaching information of the control device C, and the third
As shown in the figure, the fuel supply gun G is positioned near the fuel opening 2 so that the nozzle 11 faces downward and the engaging portion K and the inner surface of the fuel fluoride 5 face each other. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the fuel supply gun G moves in the direction in which the fuel fluoride 5 opens. In this case, although the fuel filler head 5 is opened at a predetermined angle θ or more, it is in a partially open position where it interferes with the fuel supply gun G during fuel injection, so that the push head 17 of the engaging portion K is opened to the fuel filler. It comes into contact with the inner surface of the illumination 5. At this time, since it has been confirmed in advance that the fuel fluoride 5 is opened at a predetermined angle θ or more, the push head 17 can be reliably connected to the fuel fluoride 5.
Since the push head 17 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, the fuel fluoride 5 is prevented from being damaged.

Further, the fuel supply gun G moves in the opening direction of the fuel fluoride 5 along the rotation locus of the fuel fluoride 5, and the fuel fluoride 5 supplies the fuel when the fuel is injected. It stops when it reaches a position where it does not interfere with the gun G, that is, a fully open position (position C in Fig. 4). In this case, the push rod 17 of the engaging portion K follows the movement of the fuel supply gun G and moves along the rotation locus of the fuel fluoride 5, so that the push rod 17 of the engaging portion K moves along the rotation locus of the fuel fluoride 5, so that the push rod 17 of the engaging portion K moves while abutting a point on the inner surface. The user presses the fuel fluoride 5 and therefore does not scratch the fuel fluoride 5 by rubbing the inner surface of the fuel fluoride 5. Furthermore, when the fully open position of the fuel fluoride 5 is at the open end, if the fuel supply gun G is moved in the opening direction of the fuel fluoride 5 due to an installation error of the vehicle body 1, etc. Even if it goes too far, the push rod 17 of the engaging portion K will retreat toward the gun body 10 against the biasing force of the spring 19, as shown in FIG. This prevents a situation in which the user fluoride 5 is damaged.

Next, by the operation of the robot R based on the teaching information of the control device C, the engaging part K of the fuel supply gun G is separated from the fuel fluoride 5, and the nozzle 11 of the fuel supply gun G is inserted into the injection port 4. be done. At this time, since the fuel fluoride 5 is in the fully open position, interference with the fuel supply gun G is reliably prevented. In this state, the on-off valve of the gun body 10 is opened, fuel is fed under pressure from the fuel supply device F, and the fuel is injected into the fuel tank.

After the fuel is injected, the robot R returns to its original position based on the teaching information from the control device C, and the series of fuel injection operations ends.

In the above embodiment, the engaging part K of the fuel supply gun G is of a type that includes a spring 19 for buffering and a push head 17, but it is not necessarily limited to this. The nozzle itself may be used as an engaging part, or it may be a pin or the like, which in short engages with the fuel fluoride 5 when the fuel fluoride 5 is in the partially open position and positions it in the fully open position. Anything is fine as long as it is. Furthermore, in the system to which this embodiment is applied, a type has been described in which the fuel fluoride of the vehicle body 1 is equipped with a spring-type hinge 30 and can be opened to a certain extent just by unlocking, but this is not necessarily limited to this type. Instead, it may be of a type using a general hinge, and in this case, in order to facilitate the engagement of the engaging portion by the worker, it is sufficient to open the lock by a certain angle or more after unlocking. Furthermore, in the above system, the optical sensors 6a, 6
b is used to detect whether or not the fuel fluoride 5 is opened by a predetermined angle or more, but it is not necessary to perform the detection using the optical sensors 6a and 6b. Further, in the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to a fuel supply gun for automobiles, but the present invention may also be applied to fluid supply guns other than those for automobiles. Fuel is not limited to this, and other fluids are also applicable.

As explained above, according to the fluid supply gun according to the present invention, the gun body is provided with an engaging portion, and before fluid is supplied, the engaging portion is engaged with the lid in the incomplete position by the operation of the robot. Since the lid is set in the fully open position, interference between the fluid supply gun and the lid during fluid supply is reliably prevented, and unnecessary work by workers such as repairs due to the interference is eliminated. Therefore, more effective automation of fluid supply can be achieved.

Further, if the engaging portion includes an elastic member that contracts at the open end of the lid, when the fully open position of the lid is set at the open end of the lid, the engaging portion at the open end Even if the lid has shifted toward the opening direction,
Since the elastic member contracts, no unreasonable force is applied to the lid or fluid supply gun, thereby preventing damage to the lid or fluid supply gun.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an automatic powder supply system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a fluid supply gun according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a powder fluid supply gun according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the relationship between the fluid supply gun and the lid, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the operation when the lid is positioned at the fully open position by the engaging portion. R...Robot, F...Fuel supply device, C...
Control device, G... Fuel supply gun (powder supply gun), 1... Vehicle body, 4... Inlet, 5... Lid, 6
a, 6b... optical sensor (lid open state confirmation means),
10...Gun body, 11...Nozzle, K...Engagement part, 1
6...Engaging part mounting base (engaging part support part), 17...
Push head, 19... Spring (elastic member).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a fluid supply gun that automatically injects fluid into a tank from an injection port covered by a lid by the operation of a robot, a lid that checks whether the opening degree of the lid is a predetermined angle or more. an open state confirmation means; and an engaging portion that engages with the inner surface of the lid and positions the lid in a fully open position by operation of a robot when it is confirmed that the opening degree of the lid is equal to or greater than a predetermined angle. A fluid supply gun comprising: and an engaging part support part that supports the engaging part so as to be movable relative to a robot hand.