JP2008036785A - Assembling device, assembling and manufacturing method, and assembly line - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an assembling device, an assembling and manufacturing method, and an assembling line, which attain a higher speed and accuracy without increasing the size and the manufacturing cost. <P>SOLUTION: The assembling device 3 receives parts from a part supply device 2 and assembles it to an assembling object W. The assembling device 3 consists of: a first part holding section 11 that receives the parts P from the part supply device 2; a first transfer device 12 that transfers the first part holding section 11 linearly or circumferentially from the delivery point of the part supply device 2 to the opposite position of a part assembling position of the assembling object W; a second part holding section 13 that receives the parts P from the first part holding section 11; and a second transfer device 14 that transfers the second part holding section 13 along the direction of the part assembling position of the parts P. The first transfer device 12 and the second transfer device 14 are independent from each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an assembling apparatus, an assembling manufacturing method, and an assembling line that receive parts from a parts supplying apparatus and assemble them into an assembly target.

As the above assembling apparatus, for example, a pick-and-place apparatus described in Patent Document 1 described below is known.
In this pick and place device, an X-axis slide member is attached to the base plate so as to be movable in the X-axis direction (front-rear direction), and the Z-axis slide member is movable to the Z-axis slide member in the Z-axis direction (vertical direction). A head for mounting a chuck for pick and place on the Z-axis slide member is provided.
In this pick and place device, the Z-axis slide member and the head are moved in the front-rear direction by moving the X-axis slide member in the X-axis direction, and the head is moved by moving the Z-axis slide member in the Z-axis direction. Ascending and descending is performed. That is, in this pick and place apparatus, parts are conveyed along two orthogonal axes (X axis and Z axis).

JP 2001-347427 A (see paragraph [0010], paragraph [0011], FIG. 1 and FIG. 2)

However, in this pick-and-place device, since the Z-axis slide member and the head are provided for the X-axis slide member, the mass of the member that can be moved in the X-axis direction together with the X-axis slide member is large and can be operated at high speed. It is difficult.
In order to operate the pick-and-place device at a high speed, it is necessary to use a large device with a larger output as a mechanism for driving the X-axis slide member, and the pick-and-place device becomes large.

On the other hand, when the mass of the member moved in the X-axis direction is large, the inertial force generated when the X-axis slide member is moved also increases. If deflection and vibration occur in the pick and place device due to this inertial force, the assembling accuracy is lowered. For this reason, the pick-and-place device needs to have sufficient rigidity, and as a result, the pick-and-place device becomes large.
As the pick-and-place device becomes larger in this way, the manufacturing cost of the pick-and-place device also increases.

  In this pick-and-place apparatus, since the Z-axis slide member is provided on the X-axis slide member, deflection due to the rigidity of the X-axis slide member accompanying the movement of the Z-axis slide member occurs. The deflection of the X-axis slide member itself affects the head positioning accuracy, and the deflection of the X-axis slide member and the Z-axis slide member synergistically affects the head positioning accuracy. For this reason, it has been very difficult to improve the head positioning accuracy (part assembly accuracy).

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an assembly apparatus and an assembly manufacturing method capable of further increasing the speed and accuracy while suppressing the manufacturing cost without increasing the size of the apparatus, An object is to provide an assembly line.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means.
That is, the present invention is an assembly device that receives a component from a component supply device and assembles the component to an assembly object, and includes a first component holding unit that receives the component from the component supply device, and the first component holding unit. A first moving device that moves on a straight line or a circle connecting a position of a part to be assembled to a position facing the part assembly position of the assembly target from the part delivery position by the part supply device, and receives the part from the first part holding unit It has a second component holding unit and a second moving device that moves the second component holding unit along the assembly direction of the component, and the first moving device and the second moving device are: Provided is an assembling apparatus which is an independent apparatus.

In the assembly apparatus configured as described above, the first moving device is configured to move only the first component holding unit, and the second moving device is configured to move only the second component holding unit. Yes.
That is, since the mass of the members moved by the first moving device and the second moving device is small, the inertial force generated when these members are moved is small, and the load applied to the first moving device and the second moving device can be reduced. .
As a result, it is possible to operate the first moving device and the second moving device at high speed to improve the throughput of the assembly device.
In addition, the rigidity required for the assembling apparatus can be small, and a small mechanism can be used as a drive mechanism for driving the first moving apparatus and the second moving apparatus, so that the assembling apparatus can be downsized. .

Further, since the first moving device and the second moving device are configured to move the corresponding component holding portions only in one direction (for example, the linear direction or the circumferential direction), the structure of these moving devices is simplified. Can be
Further, since the first moving device and the second moving device are independent devices, the operation accuracy of one of the moving devices does not affect the operation accuracy of the other device.
As a result, the assembling accuracy of the assembling apparatus can be further improved, and maintenance is facilitated.

  Here, when the orientation of the parts is different between the delivery from the parts supply device to the first part holding unit and the assembly to the assembly object, the second parts are You may provide the direction adjustment apparatus which adjusts the direction around the assembly | attachment direction of components of a holding | maintenance part. In this case, the orientation of the component can be adjusted without adversely affecting the operation of the second moving device.

Moreover, you may have the positioning apparatus which positions the assembly jig | tool which hold | maintains the said assembly target object or an assembly target object.
In the assembly apparatus configured as described above, since the positioning operation and the component assembly operation of the assembly target can be performed independently, it is easy to incorporate and remove from the assembly line for assembling a plurality of components. It can be used as a component assembly module.
In an assembly line using this assembly apparatus, since various adjustments and maintenance can be performed with the component assembly module removed from the assembly line, the assembly line can be easily set up and maintained.

Further, the present invention is an assembly line provided with a plurality of sets of a component supply device and an assembly device for assembling a component supplied from the component supply device to an assembly object. An assembly line using the assembling apparatus is provided.
In the assembly line configured as described above, since the assembly apparatus of the present invention is used as the assembly apparatus, the throughput and the assembly accuracy of the parts can be increased, and maintenance is easy.
In addition, since this assembly line uses the assembly apparatus of the present invention that can be reduced in size, the entire assembly line can be reduced in size and the installation space can be reduced.

  The present invention also provides an assembly manufacturing method for manufacturing a product or an intermediate of the product by receiving a component from the component supply device and assembling the component to an assembly target, from the component supply device by a first component holding unit. A first receiving step for receiving a part and the first part holding part are moved on a straight line or a circumference connecting a part delivery position by the part supply device and a position facing the part assembly position of the assembly target object. A first moving step, a second receiving step for receiving the component from the first component holding portion by the second component holding portion, and a second movement for moving the second component holding portion along the assembly direction of the component. And the first moving step and the second moving step provide an assembly manufacturing method that is individually performed by independent moving devices.

In this assembly and manufacturing method, the first component holding unit and the second component holding unit are individually moved by independent moving devices.
That is, the moving device that moves the first component holding portion and the moving device that moves the second component holding portion each have a small mass of the member to be moved, so that the inertial force generated when these members are moved is also small. Less load on the mobile device.
Thereby, it is possible to operate these moving devices at high speed and to improve the assembly throughput of the product or the intermediate product.
In addition, the rigidity required for the assembly device used for manufacturing the product or the product intermediate can be reduced, and a small mechanism can be used as a drive mechanism for driving each moving device. can do.

Furthermore, since each moving device is configured to move the corresponding component holding part only in one direction (for example, the linear direction or the circumferential direction), the structure of these moving devices can be simplified.
Further, since each mobile device is an independent device, the operation accuracy of one mobile device does not affect the operation accuracy of the other device.
As a result, the assembling accuracy of the assembling apparatus can be further improved, and maintenance is facilitated.

  According to the assembling apparatus, the assembling and manufacturing method, and the assembling line according to the present invention, it is possible to further increase the speed and accuracy while suppressing the manufacturing cost without increasing the size of the apparatus.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an assembly line according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an assembly line and an assembly apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the configuration of the assembly line according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are plan views showing other configuration examples of the assembly line according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing the configuration of the positioning device of the assembly device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of operation of the assembling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the component conveying operation of the assembling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the component assembling operation of the assembling apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the assembly line 1 according to the present embodiment includes a component supply device 2 and a set of an assembly device 3 that assembles a component P supplied from the component supply device 2 to an assembly object W. is doing. The component supply device 2 and the assembly device 3 are disposed to face each other across the conveyance path of the assembly target object W in the assembly line 1.
Here, the assembly target W in the present embodiment is a base of a small HDD spindle motor provided with a fluid bearing, for example, and the component P is a rotor.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the assembly line 1 is provided with a workpiece transfer device 4 that transfers the assembly target object W. In the present embodiment, a conveyor belt 4 a with a claw and a belt driving device 4 b that drives the conveyor belt 4 with a claw are provided as the workpiece transfer device 4.
A plurality of sets of the component supply device 2 and the assembly device 3 are arranged in series along the conveyance direction of the assembly object W by the work conveyance device 4. The parts are assembled sequentially.
Here, FIGS. 3A and 3B show another arrangement example of the assembly line in which a plurality of sets of the component supply device 2 and the assembly device 3 according to the present embodiment are arranged. FIG. 3A is a plan view schematically showing an example in which a set of the component supply device 2 and the component assembly device 3 is arranged in series along the transfer direction of the assembly target object W by the work transfer device 4. . FIG. 3B schematically illustrates an example in which a set of the component supply device 2 and the component assembly device 3 is arranged in series and partially in parallel along the conveyance direction of the assembly target object W by the workpiece conveyance device 4. FIG. As described above, the set of the component supply device 2 and the component assembly device 3 can be arbitrarily arranged, such as the arrangement shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the assembly target object W is held in a predetermined posture by the assembly jig J, and the work transport device transports the assembly target object W together with the assembly jig J. It is supposed to be configured.
Here, a positioning hole H is provided on the upper surface of the assembly jig J.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the component supply device 2 places components P in an aligned state and sequentially supplies them sequentially to the assembly device 3. In the present embodiment, the component supply device 2 includes a component supply path 2a in which the component P is transported in an aligned state in a predetermined posture suitable for delivery to the assembly apparatus 3, and the component P with respect to the component supply path 2a. And a supply unit (not shown) for intermittently supplying.

The assembly device 3 receives the component P from the component supply device 2 and assembles it to the assembly object W. The assembly device 3 receives a component P from the component supply device 2 and a first component holding portion. From a first moving device 12 that moves 11 on a straight line or a circumference connecting a position at which the component supplying device 2 delivers a part to a position that faces the part assembling position of the assembly object W; It has the 2nd component holding | maintenance part 13 which receives the components P, and the 2nd moving apparatus 14 which moves the 2nd component holding | maintenance part 13 along the assembly direction of the components P.
Here, the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 are independent devices.

In the present embodiment, the first component holding unit 11 is a block-like member provided with a pocket at a position facing the component supply path 2a of the component supply device 2, for example, a chute or a belt conveyor of a parts feeder, It is formed as small as possible as long as sufficient strength is secured.
The first moving device 12 is configured to move the first component holding unit 11 linearly in a substantially horizontal direction. As the first moving device 12, an arbitrary moving device such as a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, a pulse motor, a servo motor, a linear motor device, or the like can be used. In this embodiment, the 1st moving apparatus 12 has the arm 12a holding the 1st component holding part 11, and the arm drive device (not shown) which moves the arm 12a linearly.

The second component holding unit 13 is configured by a chuck that holds the component P.
The second moving device 14 is configured to move the second component holding portion 13 linearly in a substantially vertical direction. As the second moving device 14, an arbitrary moving device such as a hydraulic cylinder, a pneumatic cylinder, a servo motor, a linear motor device, or the like can be used. In the present embodiment, the second moving device 14 is provided so as to be vertically movable with respect to the guide post 14a erected substantially vertically, and to which the second component holding portion 13 is attached. 14b, and a sliding member 14c that moves the elevating part 14b along the guide post 14a. The sliding member 14c is, for example, a linear motion guide bearing. Here, a linear motor device is used as the first raising / lowering driving device for raising and lowering the raising / lowering part 14b. Specifically, the guide post 14a is provided with a magnet (not shown) of a linear motor, and the elevating part 14b is provided with a coil (not shown) of a linear motor.

  In the present embodiment, the elevating unit 14b is provided with an orientation adjusting device 16 that adjusts the direction of the second component holding unit 13 around the assembly direction of the component P (around one axis parallel to the moving direction of the elevating unit 14b). It has been. The orientation adjusting device 16 includes a shaft portion 16a that is provided in parallel with the assembly direction of the component P and to which the second component holding portion 13 is attached, and a shaft portion driving device 16b that rotates the shaft portion 16a about the axis. is doing. As the shaft drive device 16b, an arbitrary rotary drive device such as a DC motor, a pulse motor, a servo motor, an ultrasonic motor, a pneumatic swing cylinder, or the like can be used.

The assembly device 3 is provided with a positioning device 17 for positioning the assembly jig J at a position suitable for component assembly.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic structure of the positioning device according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 4, the positioning device 17 is engaged with a pedestal portion 17a on which the assembly jig J is slidably mounted on the upper surface, and a positioning hole H of the assembly jig J on the pedestal portion 17a. It has a positioning pin 17b and a pin guide portion 17c that is inserted into and removed from the positioning hole H by moving the positioning pin 17b up and down. The positioning pin 17b and the pin guide portion 17c are moved up and down substantially vertically by a second lifting / lowering driving device (not shown). An arbitrary moving device such as a pneumatic cylinder, a linear motor, or a DC motor can be used for the second lifting / lowering driving device.

The pedestal portion 17a has a concave portion 17d that accommodates the belt portion of the claw conveyor belt 4a of the workpiece transfer device 4 on the upper surface on which the assembly jig J is placed. As a result, the assembly jig J is pressed in the transport direction by the claw of the claw conveyor belt 4a while being placed on the top surface of the pedestal portion 17a, and slides on the top surface of the pedestal portion 17a in the transport direction. It can be moved while.
In the present embodiment, two claw conveyor belts 4a are provided, and these claw conveyor belts 4a each support an end portion in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the assembly jig J. In addition, the pedestal portion 17a is provided with a flange portion 17e that protrudes above an end portion in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the assembly jig J. As a result, when the assembly jig J is lifted from the upper surface of the pedestal portion 17a, the assembly jig J is received by the flange portion 17e, and the lift of the assembly jig J is suppressed. In the present embodiment, the number of the conveyor belts 4a with claws is two, but the present invention is not limited to this. Furthermore, for example, when the conveyance speed of the assembly jig J may be relatively slow, the belt 4a may be one on one side, and the flange portion 17e may not be provided.

In the assembly line 1 configured as described above, each component supply device 2 and each assembly device 3 are operated in accordance with the conveyance of the workpiece W by the workpiece conveyance device 4.
Hereinafter, the operation of each component supply device 2 and assembly device 3 will be described in detail. In addition, the flow of operation | movement of each component supply apparatus 2 and the assembly apparatus 3 was shown to the flowchart of FIG.
[Parts receiving operation] (first receiving process)
In assembling the parts P by the assembling device 3, first, the first moving device 12 moves the first component holding unit 11 to the component delivery position by the component supplying device 2 as shown in FIG. 1. Specifically, the first moving device 12 brings the first component holding unit 11 into contact with the end of the component supply path 2 a of the component supply device 2.
Accordingly, the component supply device 2 pushes out the component P located at the end of the component supply path 2a from the component supply path 2a and feeds it into the pocket of the first component holding unit 11 (step S1).

[Parts transfer operation] (First transfer process)
Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the second moving device 14 retracts the second component holding unit 13 above the moving path of the first component holding unit 11, and in this state, the first moving device 12 The first component holding unit 11 is moved to a position (in the present embodiment, directly above the component assembly position) that faces the component assembly position of the assembly target W (step S2).

[Parts delivery operation] (second delivery process)
Next, the second moving device 14 lowers the second component holding unit 13 and causes the second component holding unit 13 to hold the component P held by the first component holding unit 11. At that time, the first component holding unit 11 releases the holding of the component P substantially simultaneously (step S3).
Thereafter, the second moving device 14 temporarily retracts the second component holding unit 13, and during this time, the first moving device 12 moves the first component holding unit 11 from the moving path of the second component holding unit 13. Evacuate.

[Orientation adjustment]
Next, the orientation adjustment device 16 adjusts the orientation of the component P to a required angle for assembling to the assembly object W on the jig J (step S4).
[Parts assembly operation] (Second movement process)
Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the second moving device 14 lowers the second component holding unit 13 to attach the component P held by the second component holding unit 13 to the assembly object W. Assembling is performed in contact with the position (step S5).
When the component assembly is completed, the holding of the component P by the second component holding unit 13 is released, and the second moving device 14 raises the second member holding unit 13 and separates it from the assembly target object W.
The assembly jig J is positioned and fixed by the positioning device 17 at least during the parts assembling operation.
Thereafter, after the positioning of the assembly jig J by the positioning device 17 is released, the above operations are sequentially repeated the same number of times as the remaining number of the assembly objects W to be assembled.

As described above, in the assembly device 3, the first moving device 12 is configured to move only the first component holding portion 11, and the second moving device 14 moves only the second component holding portion 13. It is supposed to be configured.
That is, since the mass of the members moved by the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 is small, the inertial force generated when these members are moved is also small, and the load applied to the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 Is less.
Thereby, it is possible to operate the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 at high speed, and to improve the throughput of the assembling device 3.
In addition, the rigidity required for the assembling apparatus 3 can be reduced, and a small driving mechanism for driving the first moving apparatus 12 and the second moving apparatus 14 can be used. can do.

Furthermore, since the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 are configured to move the corresponding component holding portions only in one direction, the structure of these moving devices can be simplified.
Further, since the first moving device 12 and the second moving device 14 are independent devices, the operation accuracy of one of the moving devices does not affect the operation accuracy of the other device.
As a result, the assembly accuracy of the assembly apparatus 3 can be further improved, and maintenance is facilitated.

  Here, in the present embodiment, an orientation adjusting device 16 that adjusts the orientation of the component P around the assembling direction is provided with respect to the second moving device 14. Since the orientation adjusting device 16 is configured to rotate the component P around an axis parallel to the moving direction of the second moving device 14, the orientation of the component P can be adjusted without adversely affecting the operation of the second moving device 14. Can be adjusted.

In the present embodiment, the assembling apparatus 3 is provided with a positioning device 17 for positioning the assembling jig J.
As a result, the assembly apparatus 3 alone can perform the positioning operation and the part assembly operation of the assembly target object W, so that the assembly apparatus 3 can be easily assembled and removed from the assembly line 1. Can be used as a module.
As a result, various adjustments and maintenance can be performed with the assembly device 3 removed from the assembly line 1, so that the assembly line 1 can be easily set up and maintained.

As described above, according to the assembly line 1 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to further increase the speed and accuracy while suppressing the manufacturing cost without increasing the size of the apparatus.
Here, the present invention is not limited to the examples described in the above embodiments, and can be applied to the assembly of various parts, products, and intermediate products. For example, the present invention can also be applied to the case where the assembly target W is a camera body and the part P is a lens. Further, the present invention can also be applied to the case where the assembly target W is a mobile phone body and the component P is a camera module. In assembling these optical systems, it is preferable to use an engagement structure using a non-contact type magnet coupling or the like for the movable part such as a moving device so that dust is not generated by the operation of the assembling device 3. .

It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the assembly line and assembly apparatus which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows roughly the structure of the assembly line which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. (A) And (b) is a top view which shows the other structural example of the assembly line which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, respectively. It is a longitudinal section showing roughly the composition of the positioning device of the assembly device concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of operation | movement of the assembly apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the components conveyance operation | movement of the assembly apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the components assembly | attachment operation | movement of the assembly apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Assembly line 2 Component supply apparatus 3 Assembly apparatus 11 1st component holding part 12 1st moving apparatus 13 2nd component holding part 14 2nd moving apparatus 17 Positioning apparatus J Assembly jig | tool P Component W Assembling target object

Claims (4)

An assembly device that receives a component from a component supply device and assembles the component to an assembly object,
A first component holding unit for receiving a component from the component supply device;
A first moving device for moving the first component holding portion on a straight line or a circumference connecting a position facing a component assembly position of the assembly target object from a component delivery position by the component supply device;
A second component holding unit that receives the component from the first component holding unit;
A second moving device for moving the second component holding portion along the assembly direction of the component;
The assembly device in which the first moving device and the second moving device are independent devices.   The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a positioning device that positions the assembly object or an assembly jig that holds the assembly object. An assembly line provided with a plurality of sets of a component supply device and an assembly device for assembling a component supplied from the component supply device to an assembly object,
An assembly line in which the assembly device according to claim 1 or 2 is used as the assembly device. An assembly manufacturing method for manufacturing a product or an intermediate of the product by receiving a component from a component supply device and assembling the component to an assembly object,
A first receiving step of receiving a component from the component supply device by a first component holding unit;
A first movement step of moving the first component holding portion on a straight line or a circumference connecting a position facing a component assembly position of the assembly target object from a component delivery position by the component supply device;
A second receiving step of receiving the part from the first part holding part by a second part holding part;
A second moving step of moving the second component holding portion along the assembly direction of the component,
The first manufacturing step and the second moving step are assembly and manufacturing methods that are individually performed by independent moving devices.

Images