JPH0694095B2 - Positioning device and positioning method in automatic assembly apparatus - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a positioning device and a positioning method applied to an automatic assembling apparatus, and there are a plurality of works to be positioned, and each work is attached to an assembly target. Targets those that are collectively positioned.

(Prior Art) For example, in a process of assembling the head arm 1 for a hard disk shown in FIG. 3, a flexible printed wiring board (hereinafter simply referred to as a work) W fixed to each arm board 1a W
Is positioned on the circuit board (assembly target) 2 fixed to the base end of the head arm 1, and the work board W is fixed to the circuit board 2 by fixing the pressing plate 3 with the screw 4 while simultaneously pressing them. There is a work process of pressing and fixing to. After this step, the work W and the circuit board 2 are soldered and electrically connected.

In the state of being sent from the previous process, the work W maintains the posture parallel to the plate surface of the arm plate 1a, and as shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, each work W is bent sideways to form a circuit board. Close up on 2. At this time, the plurality of joint holes 5 provided in the workpiece W for solder joint and the holes 6 on the circuit board 2 side are positioned.

Conventionally, a series of operations of laterally tilting and positioning each work W and fixing the pressing plate 3 with screws 4 have been manually performed.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the case of automatically assembling the above-mentioned assembling work using an industrial robot or the like, several methods are conceivable particularly regarding positioning. For example, a method in which each of the works W that have been laid down is captured by an industrial robot whose number is the same as that of the works W and the workpieces W are individually positioned with respect to the circuit board 2, or one work robot is used to individually position the works W one by one. For example, there is a method of holding and holding the positioning state of each work W by a holding means which is separately provided every time the device is captured and positioned with respect to the circuit board 2.

However, in the former method, the same number of industrial robots as the works W are required for automatic assembly, which is disadvantageous in that the equipment cost is significantly high. Further, since the works W are small and are arranged in close proximity, Practicality is lacking because no working space is available. In the latter method, the work W is captured and positioned, and the positioned work W
The holding of the work piece is repeatedly performed for the number of works W.
Therefore, the time required for a series of work becomes long, and in order to cope with the line speed, the same work equipment must be provided in a plurality of places, which is also disadvantageous in reducing the equipment cost.

As mentioned above, the factors that make automation of positioning work difficult are
As shown in FIG. 4, there are variations in the postures of the respective works W when they are laid down sideways, and the postures can change even when they are laid down sideways, and the work W has a force that always returns to the standing posture due to its elasticity. That is, it is necessary to maintain the positioning posture by some means until it is fixed by the holding plate 3 after positioning. In addition, since the work W is a thin plastic film having a width of several millimeters, it is easily scratched, and it is difficult to hold and fix the work W.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and enables efficient and reliable positioning of a plurality of works W that need to maintain a positioning posture until they are completely fixed after positioning. The purpose is to

Another object of the present invention is to obtain a positioning device suitable for the positioning at low cost.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In the present invention, a plurality of workpieces are sequentially captured one by one by the workpiece capturing means, and after all the workpieces are captured, the workpiece capturing means and the assembly target are aligned. , It has been decided that all workpieces can be positioned collectively.

Specifically, the positioning device includes position detecting means for optically detecting the position of each work, work catching means for catching each work, and operating means for operating this work catching means. Is provided with a catching member for individually catching each work and a drive means for switching the catching member between an operating posture and a standby posture according to the number of works. Based on the detection result,
After the workpieces are sequentially captured by the capturing members, the workpiece capturing means and the assembly target are aligned by the operating means, and the workpieces are collectively positioned.

When the workpiece is displaced from the temporary assembly posture to the positioning posture prior to the positioning, the posture changing means is added to configure the positioning device. Further, when the work is a flexible printed wiring board and the joining hole for soldering provided on the sheet surface is used for positioning, a needle-like pin that is operated to move up and down is provided on the capturing member, The work can be captured by inserting this pin into the joining hole. In the invention of the positioning method, a step of operating the workpiece in a free state to a positioning posture by the posture changing means, a step of optically detecting the position of the workpiece by the position detecting means, and a capturing member for individually capturing each workpiece are provided. A step of moving the provided work catching means based on the detection result obtained in the above step to sequentially catch each work by each catching member, and after all the works are caught, the work catching means is combined with the work catching means. Positioning is performed through a step of performing alignment with the attachment target and collectively positioning each work with respect to the attachment target.

(Operation) As described above, in the present invention, the plurality of workpieces are sequentially captured by the workpiece capturing means, and then the workpiece capturing means and the assembly target are aligned to collectively position the workpieces. . In other words, only the work of capturing the work before positioning is continuously performed as a series of work so that movement and waste of time can be avoided. It is possible to reduce the waste of operating time for positioning. Therefore, the positioning work can be efficiently performed as a whole.

Further, since the work capturing work is performed by the work capturing means having the same number of the capture members as the work, it is not necessary to use a plurality of operating means such as an industrial robot for positioning the plurality of workpieces, and the positioning device can be used. The cost can be reduced.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 1 to 10 show an embodiment of the present invention, and in the assembly process of the head arm 1 for a hard disk, the work W made of the flexible printed wiring board described above.
Will be described as a working example of a work process of positioning with respect to the circuit board 2 and pressing and fixing it with the holding plate 3. The description of FIG. 3 is omitted.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the positioning device optically adjusts the positions of the workpieces W held in the positioning posture by the posture changing means 8 which laterally tilts the workpieces W from the temporary assembling posture in which the workpieces W are upright and operates the positioning posture. Position detection means 9
And a work catching means 10 for catching each work W and an operating means 11 comprising an industrial robot for moving the work catching means 10. After the work W is positioned by this positioning device, the work W is maintained in that state by the temporary fixing means 12, the pressing plate 3 and the screw 4 are placed at predetermined positions by the automatic screwing machine 13, and the screw 4 is screwed in for positioning. Fix the condition and send it to the next process.

The posture changing means 8 is a push rod 14 for operating the work W by laying it down.
And an air cylinder 15 for advancing and retracting the same, a work receiving plate 16 for specifying a bending position of the work W, and an air cylinder 17 for advancing and retracting the work receiving plate 16. Work support plate 16
Comb-teeth-shaped receiving arms 18 are formed at the tip of each of the workpieces W, and the receiving arms 18 are advanced along the workpiece W standing upright with respect to the attachment target 2 (see FIG. 1 and FIG. The state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 2), and by advancing the projecting rod 14 in this state, the work W is tilted sideways into the positioning posture as shown in FIG. 4, and the state is maintained.

In this state, the position detecting means 9 detects the planar position of each work W. Specifically, of the joining holes 5 provided in each work W, the position of the most distal joining hole 5 is detected, and the difference in brightness between the work surface and the joining hole 5 is detected from the image captured by the TV camera 9a. Is converted into a binary signal, and the coordinates of this signal are read to detect the planar position of the joint hole 5 of each work W.

The work catching means 10 includes a catching member 20 for individually catching each work W, a driving means 21 for vertically switching the catching member 20 between an operating posture and a standby posture, and a case 22 for supporting these. And the whole is moved and operated by the operation means 11. A needle-shaped pin 20a is provided at the lower end of the catching member 20, and each work W is caught by inserting the pin 20a into the joining hole 5. The drive means 21 is composed of an air cylinder, a solenoid, etc., and individually causes each capture member 20 to project or retract based on an operation command signal from a control circuit (not shown).

Hereinafter, a series of work procedures from positioning to mounting the pressing plate 3 will be described.

The positioning is performed by a first step in which the workpiece W in the free state mounted on the arm plate 1a is laid down sideways in the positioning posture by the posture changing means 8, and a second step in which the position of the workpiece W is detected by the position detecting means 9. Based on the detection results obtained in the second step,
A third step in which the work catching means 10 is moved by the operating means 11 to sequentially catch each work W by the catching member 20, and after all the works W have been caught, the work catching means 10 and the assembly target 2 are set. Is performed and the workpieces W are collectively positioned.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the work W that has been operated by laying it sideways in the positioning posture in the first step, the joining hole 5 at the tip and the corresponding hole 6 for position reference are displaced from each other. In this state, the position detecting means 9 causes the joining hole 5
The plane position of is detected and each coordinate position is specified.

In the third step, matching the specified coordinate position,
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the work catching means 10 is moved and operated by the operating means 11 so that the center of the catching member 20 at the side end is located directly above the joining hole 5 of the work W at one end. And
The capturing member 20 is operated to the operating posture by the driving means 21, and the pin 20a is inserted into the joining hole 5 to capture the first work W, as shown by an imaginary line in FIG. From this state, the entire work catching means 10 is translated by the operating means 11 as shown by the arrow a, and the second catching member 20 is positioned directly above the second work W. That is, the work W that was captured first
Moves along with the work catching means 10 while being caught.

After that, the second capturing member 20 is lowered to the operating posture,
Insert the pin 20a into the joint hole 5 as shown in FIG.
The second work W is captured. Further, the work catching means 10 is moved in parallel as shown by the arrow b to move the third work W.
The third catching member 20 is located directly above the work, and the third work W is caught as shown in FIG. 7, and the work catching means 10 is moved in parallel again as shown by the arrow c, and similarly, 4 The workpiece W is captured.

In a state where all the works W are captured, the planar deviations of the joining holes 5 of the respective works W and the position reference holes 6 are all the same. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, when the work catching means 10 is moved by the operation means 11 by the amount of the arrow d and the work catching means 10 and the assembly target 2 are aligned, each work W is assembled. This means that all the objects 2 are aligned, and in this state, the work catching means 10 is lowered by the operating means 11 as shown in FIG. The workpieces W can be collectively positioned. In this state, the posture changing means 8 returns to the standby state.

After that, the rod-shaped temporary fixing means 12 is operated to hold the work W against the assembly target 2 to maintain and fix the positioning state, and each catching member 20 is returned to the standby posture, and the work catching means is also provided.
The 10 is retracted out of the space above the head arm 1. In this state, the automatic screwing machine 13 is operated to screw the screw 4 into the screw hole 24 on the side of the head arm 1 to fix the pressing plate 3 and fix each work W in a properly positioned state.

The head arm 1 on which the pressing plate 3 has been assembled as described above is sent to the next step to solder the joint holes 5 to the assembly target 2.

The posture changing means 8, the position detecting means 9 and the temporary fixing means 12 are arranged on the fixed wall of the work station. The automatic screwing machine 13 may be mounted on the operation means 11 together with the work capturing means 10, mounted on a fixed wall of the work station, or mounted on a dedicated industrial robot. It may be.

(Modification) Since the trapping member 20 should be changed according to the shape and size of the work W or the forming material, it is not limited to the above embodiment.

As described in the above-mentioned embodiment, the procedure for capturing each work W is, in addition to sequentially capturing from one end to the other end,
Other trapping procedures can be adopted, such as trapping in the order of smaller moving distance, or trapping work W having a larger displacement amount to work W having a smaller displacement amount in order.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, in the present invention, a plurality of works are individually and repeatedly captured by the work capturing means, and only the work capturing work is collectively performed prior to positioning. Then, after all the workpieces are captured, the workpiece capturing means and the assembly target are aligned so that the workpieces can be collectively positioned. Therefore, according to the present invention, as compared with the case where each work is individually captured and positioned, it is possible to efficiently perform the positioning work by eliminating the waste of operating time, and particularly when the line speed is high, one work can be performed. It became possible to position the work without delay only at the work station.

Further, the work of capturing each work and the alignment work are separately performed, and the work capturing means is provided with a capture member for capturing each work and a drive means for this, so that each work can be captured individually. Therefore, for example, when using an industrial robot as the operating means, the positioning can be performed efficiently and reliably by using only one robot, and the equipment cost required for the automatic positioning can be reduced as a whole. .

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 10 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a positioning device, FIG. 2 is a front view of the device, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a head arm to be worked. FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are plan views of the work W in the middle of work, and FIGS. 5 to 10 are operation explanatory views showing the positioning procedure in order. 2 ... Target of assembly, 3 ... Holding plate, 5 ... Joining hole, 8 ...
Posture changing means, 9 ... Position detecting means, 10 ... Work capturing means, 11 ... Operating means, 20 ... Capture member, 21 ... Driving means, W ... Work.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A positioning device of an automatic assembly device for capturing a plurality of works and positioning them with respect to an assembly target, wherein the positioning device optically detects a position of each work. Work capturing means for capturing each work,
The work capturing means comprises an operating means for operating the work capturing means, and the work capturing means includes a capturing member for individually capturing each work and a driving means for switching the capturing member between an operating posture and a standby posture. , Is provided according to the number of works, based on the detection result of the position detection means, after each work is sequentially caught by each catching member, the work catching means and the assembly target are aligned by the operating means. , A positioning device in an automatic assembly device configured to collectively position each work. 2. A posture change in which a workpiece is held in a temporary assembly posture that is substantially upright with respect to an assembly target in a free state, and the workpiece posture is operated to a positioning posture parallel to the assembly target prior to positioning. The positioning device in an automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means. 3. The capturing member is configured to have a needle-shaped pin that is operated to move up and down, and the pin is inserted into a joint hole formed in the workpiece to capture the workpiece.
Alternatively, the positioning device in the automatic assembly device according to (2). 4. A positioning method in an automatic assembling apparatus in which one end of a plurality of workpieces is assembled to a stationary assembly target, and the other end of each workpiece is positioned in a normal posture and is fixed by a pressing plate. There is a step of manipulating the workpiece in a free state to the positioning posture by the posture changing means, a step of detecting the position of the workpiece by the optical position detecting means, and a workpiece provided with a capturing member for individually capturing each workpiece. A step of moving the capturing means based on the detection result obtained in the above step to sequentially capture each work by each capturing member, and after all the workpieces are captured, the work capturing means and the assembly target A positioning method in an automatic assembling apparatus, which comprises a step of performing positioning and collectively positioning each work with respect to an assembly target.