CA1297541C - Control of welding robot - Google Patents
Control of welding robotInfo
- Publication number
- CA1297541C CA1297541C CA000558721A CA558721A CA1297541C CA 1297541 C CA1297541 C CA 1297541C CA 000558721 A CA000558721 A CA 000558721A CA 558721 A CA558721 A CA 558721A CA 1297541 C CA1297541 C CA 1297541C
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- welding
- work
- welded
- control
- informations
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B25—HAND TOOLS; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; MANIPULATORS
- B25J—MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES
- B25J9/00—Programme-controlled manipulators
- B25J9/16—Programme controls
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23K37/00—Auxiliary devices or processes, not specially adapted to a procedure covered by only one of the preceding main groups
- B23K37/02—Carriages for supporting the welding or cutting element
- B23K37/0258—Electric supply or control circuits therefor
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23K11/00—Resistance welding; Severing by resistance heating
- B23K11/24—Electric supply or control circuits therefor
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23K11/00—Resistance welding; Severing by resistance heating
- B23K11/24—Electric supply or control circuits therefor
- B23K11/25—Monitoring devices
- B23K11/252—Monitoring devices using digital means
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
- B23K37/00—Auxiliary devices or processes, not specially adapted to a procedure covered by only one of the preceding main groups
- B23K37/02—Carriages for supporting the welding or cutting element
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
- Y02P90/00—Enabling technologies with a potential contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation
- Y02P90/02—Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A welding robot including a working section having a welding gun and an actuating cylinder for forcing the welding gun toward a work to be welded. A control unit is provided for calculating welding controlling parameters based on the informations concerning the work to be welded. The welding controlling parameters are applied to a timer controlled operating unit which controls the welding gun and the actuating cylinder in accordance with the welding controlling parameters as received from the control unit. A sequencer is provided for receiving a welding initiating signal from the control unit and transmitting the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit to initiate the welding operation.
A welding robot including a working section having a welding gun and an actuating cylinder for forcing the welding gun toward a work to be welded. A control unit is provided for calculating welding controlling parameters based on the informations concerning the work to be welded. The welding controlling parameters are applied to a timer controlled operating unit which controls the welding gun and the actuating cylinder in accordance with the welding controlling parameters as received from the control unit. A sequencer is provided for receiving a welding initiating signal from the control unit and transmitting the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit to initiate the welding operation.
Description
129754~
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Control of Welding Robot BACKGROUND OF T~E INVENTION
Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control of an industrial robot, and more particularly, to a control of a welding robot.
Description of the Prior Art A conventional welding robot for performing a welding such as spot welding automatically in accordance with a programmed sequence includes a working section including a welding gun which is adapted to be placed against a work to be welded. In one type of the welding robot, the working section includes an arm having a hand at one end and a welding gun is carried by the hand. The arm and the hand are designed so that the gun can be moved with respect to the work and located against a spot on the work where the welding is to be carried out. In another type, the working section may be stationary and the work to be welded is carried to a location where the welding operation is made by the welding gun in the working section of the robot. The working section is controlled by means of a timer controlled operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with welding controlling parameters, such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing force and pressing force holding time, the welding time and the welding current.
According to the conventional robots, a memory is ~J~
lZ~754~l provided to store informations concerning the welding controlling parameters which are specific to respective ones of the works to be welded. A control unit is also provided for selecting welding controlling parameters which are specific to the particular work to be welded.
In the conventional welding robot, inconveniencies have been experienced in that the operator is required to determine and memorize in the memory the welding controlling parameters in advance of the operation of the robot.
Usually, the welding controlling parameters are determined in accordance with the properties of the work to be welded, such as the thickness and the type of the sheets constituting the work, the number of the sheets in the work. Further, such welding controlling parameters must be determined for each position where the welding is to be carried out. Therefore, time and labor are consumed in determining the parameters in starting the welding. It should further be noted that it is very difficult to determine the welding controlling parameters in a precise manner for various different works.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a control system for a welding robot in which welding controlling parameters can be determined relatively easily in a precise manner for each welding position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control system for a welding robot in which the welding controlling parameters can be determined with less time and less labor.
lZ9754~
A further object of the present invention is to provide a control system for a welding robot with which the quality of the welding can be improved.
According to the present invention, the above and other 5objects can be accomplished by a control system for a welding robot including a working section having welding gun means and actuating means for moving the gun means toward a work to be welded, a timer controlled operating unit for controlling operations of the welding gun means and the actuating means.
10A sequencer may be provided for determining the sequence of welding operation. There is provided control means for producing a welding initiating command signal and welding control signals representing welding controlling parameters for a specific position where a welding is being carried 15out. The welding initiating signal is applied to the sequencer to initiate the welding operation and the welding controlling parameters are applied to the operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with the conditions as determined by the parameters.
20The control unit may be embodied by a microprocessor and a processing unit may be provided to apply informations concerning the work to be welded, such as the type of sheets in the work, the thickness and the number of the sheets. The processing unit may have memories of informations concerning the positions to be welded, and the welding conditions such as the type of the sheets to be welded and the thickness and the number of the sheets. The control unit receives from the lZ9'~S4~
processing unit signals representing the informations concerning the welding conditions and carries out calculations to determine the welding controlling parameters.
In another form of the present invention, the processing unit may be omitted and the informations concerning the welding conditions may be applied to the control unit as manual inputs.
As described above, the control unit functions to calculate in accordance with the input applied thereto welding control parameters which are appropriate to the specific position where the welding is to be carried out and send welding initiating signal to the sequencer and the welding controlling parameters to the timer controlled operating unit. The sequencer functions, when the welding initiating signal is received from the control means, to transmit the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit. The operating unit then functions to control the working section of the robot so that the welding is performed with the required welding parameters such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing force, the welding current and voltage, etc. After the welding operation is finished, the sequencer produces a welding finish signal which is applied to the control unit to finish the welding operation in the particular position. Then, the control unit produces a signal, when appropriate, for moving the working section to another position where the welding is to be carried out next. The control unit further produces a further welding initiating signal so that a further step of ~Z~7S41 welding is carried out at the aforementioned another position.
The timer controlled operating unit functions to operate the welding gun means and the actuating means in accordance with the welding controlling parameters which are applied by the control unit. Thus, the pressure and the time for the pre-pressing, the pressure and the time for pressing in the welding step, the durati~n for the current supply and the intensity of the welding current are determined by the timer controlled operating unit in accordance with the signals as received from the control unit.
Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in a welding robot including a working section having welding gun means and actuating means for moving ~he gun means toward a work to be welded to carry out a welding, a timer controlled operating unit for controlling operations of the welding gun means and the actuating means and a sequencer connected with the operating unit for initiating the welding operation, by a control system including control means for producing a welding initiating command signal and welding control signals, said control means being adapted to receive informations concerning the work to be welded and calculating based on the informations welding controlling parameters for a specific position where the welding is to be carried out, the control means being connected with said sequencing means and said timer controlled operating unit to apply the welding initiating 1~97S41 signal to the sequencing means to initiate the welding operation and the welding controlling parameters to the operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with conditions as determined by the parameters.
S According to a specific aspect of the present invention, driving means is provided for driving the working section of the robot so that the working section is sequentially aligned to positior.s where welding operations are to be carried out in accordance with the sequence as determined by the control unit. There may be provided processing means which has memory means memorizing the sequence of the positions where the welding is to be carried out. The control unit may then receive signals representing the sequence of welding positions from the processing means and control the driving means in accordance with the signals. The processing means may further have memories of the informations of the work to be welded which are applied to the control means so that the control means can perform the calculations for obtaining the welding controlling parameters.
In another aspect of the present invention, the robot is of a type wherein the working section is stationary and the work is moved to the position where the welding position is aligned to the welding gun means. In this type, manual input means may be provided to apply the informations of the work to be welded to the control means. Further, there may be provided manual means to produce the welding initiating signal so that the welding is started after the welding ~Zg7S41 position is aligned with the welding gun means of the working section.
According to the features of the present invention, the preparation for the welding operation is very simple as compared with the conventional control system for the welding robot. It is only required to select the type of welding which is in advance memorized in the processing means or to apply informations on the work to be welded directly to the control means.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions of a preferred embodiment taking reference to the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The drawing is a schematic illustration of the control system for a welding robot in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawing, there is schematically shown a spot welding robot 1 which includes a working section 2 having a welding gun 4 which is adapted to be located against a work 5 to be welded and an actuating cylinder 3 for actuating the gun 4 toward the work 5. As shown in the drawing, the work 5 is comprised of two or more metal sheets which are laid one over the other. The welding gun 4 includes an electrode 4a which is forced onto the work 5 by means of the cylinder 3. Although not shown in the drawing, ~Z97S41 an opposing electrode is provided at the side of the work 5 opposite to the electrode 4 so that the work is held between the electrode 4a and the opposing electrode. The cylinder 3 forces the electrode 4 so that the work 5 is gripped between the opposing electrodes under a pressure which is appropritate to the specific welding condition.
The welding robot 1 is further provided with a driving unit 6 whic~ may include electric motors or other driving devices. The driving unit functions to move the working section 2 with respect to the work 5 so that the welding gun 4 is aligned to the position on the work 5 where the welding is to be carried out. There is further provided a timer controlled operating unit 9 which is connected with the cylinder 3 and the electrode 4a of the welding gun 4. A
control unit 7 is provided and connected on one hand through a line 10 with a sequencer 8 which is in turn connected with the operating unit 9 and on the other hand through a line 11 with the operating unit 9. The control unit 7 is also connected with the driving unit 6 to control the operation of the driving unit ~. A display/input unit 13 is provided and connected with the control unit 7. In the illustrated embodiment, the control unit 7 is further connected with a processing unit 14.
The processing unit 14 may be embodied by a computer and has memories of informations concerning welding positions on the work 5, sequence of welding carried out at the welding positions and welding conditions such as the number of metal sheets in the work 5, the thickness and the type of the metal lZ975~1 sheets in the work 5. The display/input unit 13 has an input section provided with input key switches so that the operator can initiate the welding operation by actuating the key switches which are appropriate to the welding conditions.
Further, the unit 13 can display informations concerning the welding welding operations which has been and is being carried out.
The control unit 7 is connected with the processir.a unit 14 for receiving the aforementioned informacions concerning the work 5 to be welded. The control unit may be constituted by a microprocessor which includes a CPU, a memory and an input/output I/O. The aforementioned informations may be temporarily memorized in the memory.
Further, the control unit 7 has memories on various data concerning the welding gun which is being used in the robot and informations such as formulae required for carrying out calculations which will bedescribed later. Further, the memory can store the data concerning the step up condition, the result of the inspections on the cable break down and internal leakage, and the output of counters for indicating the time for the replacement of cables.
The data in the memory can be displayed on the display/input unit 13. Through actuations of the input section of the display/input section 13, it is possible to modify the stored data in the memory of the control unit 7 or it is possible to apply new or additional data to the memory.
The control unit 7 functions to read informations lZ9754~
concerning the welding gun 4 used in the robot 1 on the basis of the data stored in the memory and performs calculations based on the informations concerning the work to be welded to obtain welding controlling parameters which are most appropriate to the welding position where the welding operation is being made. The welding controlling parameters thus obtained are then transmitted through the line 11 to the timer controlled operating unit 9.
The timer controlled operating unit 9 functions to control the cylinder 3 and the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 so that the welding operations are carried out under welding conditions such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing pressure and the welding current and voltage as determined by the welding control parameters. An electric power source 12 is provided for supplying the welding current through the operating unit 9 to the welding gun 4. When a malfunction is detected, the control unit 9 analyzes the malfunction and transmit the informations concerning the malfunction.
The operating unit 9 transmits informations concerning the results of the welding operation to the control unit 7 and the informations are stored in the memory of the control unit 7 as already described. When required, the informations of the results of welding may be displayed on the display/input unit 13. The results of the welding may be represented for example in terms of the power factor of the load, the secondary current, the trigger timing, the margin factor and the current supply time period.
~Z975~1 The control unit 7 further produces a welding initiating signal when the working section 2 i5 aligned with the position on the work 5 where the welding is to be made.
The welding initiating signal is applied through the linelO
to the sequencer 8 which then transmit the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit 9 so that the welding step is started. When the welding is finished in one position on the work 5, the sequencer produces a welding end signal which is applied to the control unit 7.
The control unit 7 further produces a driving signal which is applied to the driving unit 6. The driving unit 6 functions to drive the working section 2 to a location where the welding gun 4 is aligned with the position where the welding is to be carried out.
Thus, in operation of the robot 1, the control unit 7 sends the driving signal to the driving unit 6 to have the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 aligned with the position on the work where the welding is to be made. The control`unit 7 further performs calculations based on the informations concerning the work to be welded as received from the processing unit 14 to obtain the welding control parameters. The control unit 7 produces a welding initiating signal which is applied to the sequencer 8. The sequencer 8 then transmits the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit 9 so that the welding step is started. During the welding step, the control unit 7 applies the welding controlling parameters which are appropriate to lZ9 ~541 the position on the work where the welding is being carried out.
When the welding in the particular position on the work S is completed, the sequencer produces a welding end signal which is applied to the controller 7. The controller 7 then produces a further driving signal based on the informations concerning the sequence of welding positions as received from the processing unit 14. The driving unit 6 is thus actuated to have the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 aligned with the position on the work where the welding is to be carried out next. As soon as the alignment is made, a further welding step is carried out. The display/input unit 13 displays informations on the welding controlling parameters of the position where the welding is being carried out as well as informations concerning the results of welding made in the positions where the welding has already been made. The input keys on the unit 13 may be actuated as necessary to modify the informations on the work as stored in the memory of the control unit 7.
The processing unit 14 may be omitted when appropriate.
Then, the informations concerning the work 5 may be applied to the control unit 7 by actuating the input keys on the display/input unit 13. The control unit then performs calculations to determine the welding controlling parameters.
In other respects, the operations may be made in a manner similar to that previously described.
The present invention can be embodied in a welding robot in which the working section having a welding gun and lZ975~
an actuating cylinder is not movable. In such a case, the work S is moved with respect to the welding gun 4 to a position where the location to be welded is aligned with the welding gun. The welding operations may be carried out in a manner similar to that previously described.
In case of a spot welding robot as described, the informations on the work to be welded are given in the form of the type and the thickness of the sheets and the number of the sheets in the work. In a robot for another type of welding, the informations may be given in different forms.
The invention has thus been shown and described with reference to a specific embodiment. however, it should be noted that the invention is in no way limited to the details of the illustrated arrangements but changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
Control of Welding Robot BACKGROUND OF T~E INVENTION
Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control of an industrial robot, and more particularly, to a control of a welding robot.
Description of the Prior Art A conventional welding robot for performing a welding such as spot welding automatically in accordance with a programmed sequence includes a working section including a welding gun which is adapted to be placed against a work to be welded. In one type of the welding robot, the working section includes an arm having a hand at one end and a welding gun is carried by the hand. The arm and the hand are designed so that the gun can be moved with respect to the work and located against a spot on the work where the welding is to be carried out. In another type, the working section may be stationary and the work to be welded is carried to a location where the welding operation is made by the welding gun in the working section of the robot. The working section is controlled by means of a timer controlled operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with welding controlling parameters, such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing force and pressing force holding time, the welding time and the welding current.
According to the conventional robots, a memory is ~J~
lZ~754~l provided to store informations concerning the welding controlling parameters which are specific to respective ones of the works to be welded. A control unit is also provided for selecting welding controlling parameters which are specific to the particular work to be welded.
In the conventional welding robot, inconveniencies have been experienced in that the operator is required to determine and memorize in the memory the welding controlling parameters in advance of the operation of the robot.
Usually, the welding controlling parameters are determined in accordance with the properties of the work to be welded, such as the thickness and the type of the sheets constituting the work, the number of the sheets in the work. Further, such welding controlling parameters must be determined for each position where the welding is to be carried out. Therefore, time and labor are consumed in determining the parameters in starting the welding. It should further be noted that it is very difficult to determine the welding controlling parameters in a precise manner for various different works.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a control system for a welding robot in which welding controlling parameters can be determined relatively easily in a precise manner for each welding position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control system for a welding robot in which the welding controlling parameters can be determined with less time and less labor.
lZ9754~
A further object of the present invention is to provide a control system for a welding robot with which the quality of the welding can be improved.
According to the present invention, the above and other 5objects can be accomplished by a control system for a welding robot including a working section having welding gun means and actuating means for moving the gun means toward a work to be welded, a timer controlled operating unit for controlling operations of the welding gun means and the actuating means.
10A sequencer may be provided for determining the sequence of welding operation. There is provided control means for producing a welding initiating command signal and welding control signals representing welding controlling parameters for a specific position where a welding is being carried 15out. The welding initiating signal is applied to the sequencer to initiate the welding operation and the welding controlling parameters are applied to the operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with the conditions as determined by the parameters.
20The control unit may be embodied by a microprocessor and a processing unit may be provided to apply informations concerning the work to be welded, such as the type of sheets in the work, the thickness and the number of the sheets. The processing unit may have memories of informations concerning the positions to be welded, and the welding conditions such as the type of the sheets to be welded and the thickness and the number of the sheets. The control unit receives from the lZ9'~S4~
processing unit signals representing the informations concerning the welding conditions and carries out calculations to determine the welding controlling parameters.
In another form of the present invention, the processing unit may be omitted and the informations concerning the welding conditions may be applied to the control unit as manual inputs.
As described above, the control unit functions to calculate in accordance with the input applied thereto welding control parameters which are appropriate to the specific position where the welding is to be carried out and send welding initiating signal to the sequencer and the welding controlling parameters to the timer controlled operating unit. The sequencer functions, when the welding initiating signal is received from the control means, to transmit the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit. The operating unit then functions to control the working section of the robot so that the welding is performed with the required welding parameters such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing force, the welding current and voltage, etc. After the welding operation is finished, the sequencer produces a welding finish signal which is applied to the control unit to finish the welding operation in the particular position. Then, the control unit produces a signal, when appropriate, for moving the working section to another position where the welding is to be carried out next. The control unit further produces a further welding initiating signal so that a further step of ~Z~7S41 welding is carried out at the aforementioned another position.
The timer controlled operating unit functions to operate the welding gun means and the actuating means in accordance with the welding controlling parameters which are applied by the control unit. Thus, the pressure and the time for the pre-pressing, the pressure and the time for pressing in the welding step, the durati~n for the current supply and the intensity of the welding current are determined by the timer controlled operating unit in accordance with the signals as received from the control unit.
Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided in a welding robot including a working section having welding gun means and actuating means for moving ~he gun means toward a work to be welded to carry out a welding, a timer controlled operating unit for controlling operations of the welding gun means and the actuating means and a sequencer connected with the operating unit for initiating the welding operation, by a control system including control means for producing a welding initiating command signal and welding control signals, said control means being adapted to receive informations concerning the work to be welded and calculating based on the informations welding controlling parameters for a specific position where the welding is to be carried out, the control means being connected with said sequencing means and said timer controlled operating unit to apply the welding initiating 1~97S41 signal to the sequencing means to initiate the welding operation and the welding controlling parameters to the operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with conditions as determined by the parameters.
S According to a specific aspect of the present invention, driving means is provided for driving the working section of the robot so that the working section is sequentially aligned to positior.s where welding operations are to be carried out in accordance with the sequence as determined by the control unit. There may be provided processing means which has memory means memorizing the sequence of the positions where the welding is to be carried out. The control unit may then receive signals representing the sequence of welding positions from the processing means and control the driving means in accordance with the signals. The processing means may further have memories of the informations of the work to be welded which are applied to the control means so that the control means can perform the calculations for obtaining the welding controlling parameters.
In another aspect of the present invention, the robot is of a type wherein the working section is stationary and the work is moved to the position where the welding position is aligned to the welding gun means. In this type, manual input means may be provided to apply the informations of the work to be welded to the control means. Further, there may be provided manual means to produce the welding initiating signal so that the welding is started after the welding ~Zg7S41 position is aligned with the welding gun means of the working section.
According to the features of the present invention, the preparation for the welding operation is very simple as compared with the conventional control system for the welding robot. It is only required to select the type of welding which is in advance memorized in the processing means or to apply informations on the work to be welded directly to the control means.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions of a preferred embodiment taking reference to the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The drawing is a schematic illustration of the control system for a welding robot in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawing, there is schematically shown a spot welding robot 1 which includes a working section 2 having a welding gun 4 which is adapted to be located against a work 5 to be welded and an actuating cylinder 3 for actuating the gun 4 toward the work 5. As shown in the drawing, the work 5 is comprised of two or more metal sheets which are laid one over the other. The welding gun 4 includes an electrode 4a which is forced onto the work 5 by means of the cylinder 3. Although not shown in the drawing, ~Z97S41 an opposing electrode is provided at the side of the work 5 opposite to the electrode 4 so that the work is held between the electrode 4a and the opposing electrode. The cylinder 3 forces the electrode 4 so that the work 5 is gripped between the opposing electrodes under a pressure which is appropritate to the specific welding condition.
The welding robot 1 is further provided with a driving unit 6 whic~ may include electric motors or other driving devices. The driving unit functions to move the working section 2 with respect to the work 5 so that the welding gun 4 is aligned to the position on the work 5 where the welding is to be carried out. There is further provided a timer controlled operating unit 9 which is connected with the cylinder 3 and the electrode 4a of the welding gun 4. A
control unit 7 is provided and connected on one hand through a line 10 with a sequencer 8 which is in turn connected with the operating unit 9 and on the other hand through a line 11 with the operating unit 9. The control unit 7 is also connected with the driving unit 6 to control the operation of the driving unit ~. A display/input unit 13 is provided and connected with the control unit 7. In the illustrated embodiment, the control unit 7 is further connected with a processing unit 14.
The processing unit 14 may be embodied by a computer and has memories of informations concerning welding positions on the work 5, sequence of welding carried out at the welding positions and welding conditions such as the number of metal sheets in the work 5, the thickness and the type of the metal lZ975~1 sheets in the work 5. The display/input unit 13 has an input section provided with input key switches so that the operator can initiate the welding operation by actuating the key switches which are appropriate to the welding conditions.
Further, the unit 13 can display informations concerning the welding welding operations which has been and is being carried out.
The control unit 7 is connected with the processir.a unit 14 for receiving the aforementioned informacions concerning the work 5 to be welded. The control unit may be constituted by a microprocessor which includes a CPU, a memory and an input/output I/O. The aforementioned informations may be temporarily memorized in the memory.
Further, the control unit 7 has memories on various data concerning the welding gun which is being used in the robot and informations such as formulae required for carrying out calculations which will bedescribed later. Further, the memory can store the data concerning the step up condition, the result of the inspections on the cable break down and internal leakage, and the output of counters for indicating the time for the replacement of cables.
The data in the memory can be displayed on the display/input unit 13. Through actuations of the input section of the display/input section 13, it is possible to modify the stored data in the memory of the control unit 7 or it is possible to apply new or additional data to the memory.
The control unit 7 functions to read informations lZ9754~
concerning the welding gun 4 used in the robot 1 on the basis of the data stored in the memory and performs calculations based on the informations concerning the work to be welded to obtain welding controlling parameters which are most appropriate to the welding position where the welding operation is being made. The welding controlling parameters thus obtained are then transmitted through the line 11 to the timer controlled operating unit 9.
The timer controlled operating unit 9 functions to control the cylinder 3 and the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 so that the welding operations are carried out under welding conditions such as the pre-pressing time, the pressing pressure and the welding current and voltage as determined by the welding control parameters. An electric power source 12 is provided for supplying the welding current through the operating unit 9 to the welding gun 4. When a malfunction is detected, the control unit 9 analyzes the malfunction and transmit the informations concerning the malfunction.
The operating unit 9 transmits informations concerning the results of the welding operation to the control unit 7 and the informations are stored in the memory of the control unit 7 as already described. When required, the informations of the results of welding may be displayed on the display/input unit 13. The results of the welding may be represented for example in terms of the power factor of the load, the secondary current, the trigger timing, the margin factor and the current supply time period.
~Z975~1 The control unit 7 further produces a welding initiating signal when the working section 2 i5 aligned with the position on the work 5 where the welding is to be made.
The welding initiating signal is applied through the linelO
to the sequencer 8 which then transmit the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit 9 so that the welding step is started. When the welding is finished in one position on the work 5, the sequencer produces a welding end signal which is applied to the control unit 7.
The control unit 7 further produces a driving signal which is applied to the driving unit 6. The driving unit 6 functions to drive the working section 2 to a location where the welding gun 4 is aligned with the position where the welding is to be carried out.
Thus, in operation of the robot 1, the control unit 7 sends the driving signal to the driving unit 6 to have the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 aligned with the position on the work where the welding is to be made. The control`unit 7 further performs calculations based on the informations concerning the work to be welded as received from the processing unit 14 to obtain the welding control parameters. The control unit 7 produces a welding initiating signal which is applied to the sequencer 8. The sequencer 8 then transmits the welding initiating signal to the timer controlled operating unit 9 so that the welding step is started. During the welding step, the control unit 7 applies the welding controlling parameters which are appropriate to lZ9 ~541 the position on the work where the welding is being carried out.
When the welding in the particular position on the work S is completed, the sequencer produces a welding end signal which is applied to the controller 7. The controller 7 then produces a further driving signal based on the informations concerning the sequence of welding positions as received from the processing unit 14. The driving unit 6 is thus actuated to have the welding gun 4 in the working section 2 aligned with the position on the work where the welding is to be carried out next. As soon as the alignment is made, a further welding step is carried out. The display/input unit 13 displays informations on the welding controlling parameters of the position where the welding is being carried out as well as informations concerning the results of welding made in the positions where the welding has already been made. The input keys on the unit 13 may be actuated as necessary to modify the informations on the work as stored in the memory of the control unit 7.
The processing unit 14 may be omitted when appropriate.
Then, the informations concerning the work 5 may be applied to the control unit 7 by actuating the input keys on the display/input unit 13. The control unit then performs calculations to determine the welding controlling parameters.
In other respects, the operations may be made in a manner similar to that previously described.
The present invention can be embodied in a welding robot in which the working section having a welding gun and lZ975~
an actuating cylinder is not movable. In such a case, the work S is moved with respect to the welding gun 4 to a position where the location to be welded is aligned with the welding gun. The welding operations may be carried out in a manner similar to that previously described.
In case of a spot welding robot as described, the informations on the work to be welded are given in the form of the type and the thickness of the sheets and the number of the sheets in the work. In a robot for another type of welding, the informations may be given in different forms.
The invention has thus been shown and described with reference to a specific embodiment. however, it should be noted that the invention is in no way limited to the details of the illustrated arrangements but changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (6)
1. A welding robot including a working section having welding gun means and actuating means for moving the gun means toward a work to be welded to carry out a welding, a timer controlled operating unit for controlling operations of the welding gun means and the actuating means and a sequencer connected with the operating unit for initiating the welding operation, a control system including control means for producing a welding initiating command signal and welding control signals, said control means being adapted to receive informations concerning the work to be welded and calculating based on the informations welding controlling parameters for a specific position where the welding is to be carried out, the control means being connected with said sequencing means and said timer controlled operating unit to apply the welding initiating signal to the sequencing means to initiate the welding operation and the welding controlling parameters to the operating unit so that the welding is carried out in accordance with conditions as determined by the parameters.
2. A welding robot in accordance with claim 1 in which means is provided to apply the informations concerning the work to be welded.
3. A welding robot in accordance with claim 2 in which said informations concerning the work to be welded includes informations on number of sheets in the work at position where the welding is to be carried out, type and thickness of the sheets in the work.
4. A welding robot in accordance with claim 1 in which said working section is movable and driving means is provided for driving the working section with respect to the work to be welded, means being provided for applying said control means with sequence of positions on the work in which the welding is to be carried out, said control means being means for producing a driving signal for actuating the driving means so that the positions on the work are aligned with the welding gun means in the working section in the sequence applied to the control means.
5. A welding robot in accordance with claim 1 in which means is provided for applying manually to said control unit said informations concerning the work to be welded.
6. A welding robot in accordance with claim 1 in which display means is provided for visibly displaying data of the welding.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP62034719A JPS63203283A (en) | 1987-02-18 | 1987-02-18 | Controller for welding robot |
| JP34719/1987 | 1987-02-18 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1297541C true CA1297541C (en) | 1992-03-17 |
Family
ID=12422136
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000558721A Expired - Lifetime CA1297541C (en) | 1987-02-18 | 1988-02-11 | Control of welding robot |
Country Status (4)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS63203283A (en) |
| KR (1) | KR910002722B1 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1297541C (en) |
| DE (1) | DE3804919A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KR100427287B1 (en) * | 2001-06-25 | 2004-04-17 | 현대자동차주식회사 | Frame welding system of vehicle |
| DE102011087958A1 (en) | 2011-12-08 | 2013-06-13 | Kuka Roboter Gmbh | welding robots |
| CN106624509B (en) * | 2016-11-28 | 2019-05-21 | 苏州五圣通机器人自动化有限公司 | A kind of high precision machines people automatic soldering device and its working method |
| US10987749B2 (en) * | 2017-01-04 | 2021-04-27 | Illinois Tool Works Inc. | Methods and systems for indicating a schedule in a welding-type torch |
| CN112317981B (en) * | 2020-10-23 | 2022-02-22 | 成都卡诺普机器人技术股份有限公司 | Multilayer and multi-channel welding method based on industrial welding robot |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPS5785674A (en) * | 1980-11-17 | 1982-05-28 | Komatsu Ltd | Copying corrector for welding robot |
-
1987
- 1987-02-18 JP JP62034719A patent/JPS63203283A/en active Granted
-
1988
- 1988-02-11 CA CA000558721A patent/CA1297541C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1988-02-17 KR KR1019880001721A patent/KR910002722B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1988-02-17 DE DE3804919A patent/DE3804919A1/en active Granted
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| DE3804919C2 (en) | 1989-11-30 |
| KR880009741A (en) | 1988-10-04 |
| DE3804919A1 (en) | 1988-09-01 |
| JPH0451269B2 (en) | 1992-08-18 |
| JPS63203283A (en) | 1988-08-23 |
| KR910002722B1 (en) | 1991-05-03 |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKLA | Lapsed | ||
| MKEC | Expiry (correction) |
Effective date: 20121205 |