EP1569840A2

EP1569840A2 - Device for assembling, tuning, and testing motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: EP1569840A2
Application number: EP03812555A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gerhard Mogck; Frédéric DE MOLIERE; Klaus Werner Thomer; Thomas Tentrup
Original assignee: Duerr AG
Current assignee: Duerr AG
Priority date: 2002-12-08
Filing date: 2003-12-02
Publication date: 2005-09-07
Also published as: CA2507022A1; WO2004052715A2; JP2006508863A; MXPA05005737A; US7478470B2; KR20050085406A; PL377502A1; RU2340508C2; AU2003296517A1; BR0317077A; WO2004052715A3; RU2005121921A; US20060150394A1; PL207504B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for assembling, tuning, and testing motor vehicles. Automobile factories are provided with assembly lines, along which components are delivered to an automobile that is to be produced, are assembled, and further processed by humans or robots as required. The automobiles that are to be produced are continuously moved on wheels at the end of the assembly lines by means of chain-driven, rope-driven, or belt-driven apron conveyors. The aim of the invention is to create a device for assembling motor vehicles, which can be mounted anywhere in a flat hall without modifying the ceiling or floor and can be transported. Said aim is achieved by the fact that the inventive device can be assembled from individual transportable, modular, interconnectable components which can be mounted on a flat surface without using pits or creating floor load. Said device encompasses the conveying mechanisms and assembly units for the motor vehicles that are to be assembled. Disclosed are an embodiment with suspended conveyors for the motor vehicles and different vehicle test stands that touch the wheels.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Device for the assembly, adjustment and testing of motor vehicles

The invention relates to a device for the assembly, adjustment and testing of motor vehicles.

So-called assembly lines are used in automobile plants. Along these assembly lines, components are fed to an automobile to be manufactured, assembled and further processed if necessary. Further processing is done by humans or robots. The automobiles to be manufactured are continuously moved on wheels at the end of the assembly lines using an apron conveyor with chain, rope or belt drive or on push platforms (skillet) or suspended in a transport hanger. These plate belts or push platform systems can be sunk into the ground, taking either the left, the right or all wheels of the automobile with them. If only one plate conveyor is used, the automobile then rolls on the other two wheels.

From DE 199 11 861 C2, a conveyor belt for vehicle final assembly lines with an outlet-side transfer area, which connects the conveyor belt to a downstream transport path, is known, which includes not only a simple and therefore reliable stripper for small parts, but also a safety device forms, which is triggered when, for example, a foot of a worker traveling on the conveyor belt gets between the conveyor belt and the transfer area.

DE 198 58 989 AI describes an assembly and / or conveyor belt for the assembly or transportation of motor vehicles, individual support elements being provided, each support element being movably mounted and designed to accommodate a motor vehicle. The safety is increased and the assembly effort is reduced in that the support elements are designed and arranged one behind the other in such a way that the belt is designed as an endless belt. DE 201 11 684 Ul shows a device for transporting motor vehicles during final assembly, the motor vehicles with mounted front and rear wheels pressurized with compressed air each having support areas on the conveyor belt arrangements for the tires of the front and rear wheels that can be moved synchronously with one another, at least are partially adapted to the contour of the treads of the pressurized tires.

DE 44 42 155 AI describes a method for the sequence of final assembly or dismantling of motor vehicles, the motor vehicles to be assembled being transported to the next assembly station in each case after passing through one or two assembly stations into a floor above or below.

In a system for the final assembly of automobiles, as is apparent from DE 43 09 501 AI, a guide rail of an electric monorail conveyor runs along a reworking street, on which trolleys are arranged, each trolley being connected to a ground vehicle for transporting an automobile via a pull rod.

All these known conveying devices are disadvantageous in that they have to be attached to the ceiling of the assembly hall and / or require pits in the hall floor. In the case of ceiling fastening, the statics of the hall ceiling in the suspension area often have to be reinforced, which is just as time-consuming and costly as the provision of pits in the area of the assembly line. A flexible, short-term changeover of assembly lines within the hall or to another production location is not possible. In addition, existing assembly lines often result in a system change in terms of conveyor technology (e.g. from floor conveyor to overhead conveyor), which makes a transfer station necessary.

In addition, there is the problem that the hanging conveyance of the vehicle ends at the latest before the end of the conveyor belt on such assembly lines, where the final inspection of the vehicles is carried out. Because the automatic conveying of the vehicle ends before the end of the belt, the vehicles have to be driven from one test bench to another by a worker, which requires a lot of personnel and also leads to pollutant emissions that have to be extracted with great effort. Furthermore, for example, in Roll test bench disadvantage that the tires are mounted on the vehicle, as they can be damaged during the vehicle test on the roll test bench and thus there are restrictions on the maximum speed of the wheels and the type of tires (e.g. no winter tires) on a roll test bench.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a device for the assembly of motor vehicles which can be set up anywhere in a flat hall without changes to the ceiling or floor and which is portable.

This object is achieved in that the device can be assembled from transportable, modular, interconnectable individual components which can be set up on a flat surface without pits or ceiling loads, the device comprising the conveying and assembly devices for the motor vehicles to be assembled.

The individual components are closed, integrated functional units that are standardized and optimized. They are delivered as completely pre-installed and pre-tested as possible and then connected to the overall system via their standard interfaces ("docking points"). With such a device, it is possible to assemble or assemble an assembly line from modular, standardized individual components at short notice without structural changes to the assembly hall (no suspension, therefore no reinforcement of the ceiling statics or suspended system steel construction - floor-level, therefore no provision of pits required) Transport the assembly line from one assembly hall to another (or over longer distances, e.g. from one plant to another). It is therefore possible (in terms of energy supply, data transmission, lighting, handling, conveyor technology, workplace equipment, logistics, Andon and Poka Yoke) to assemble and test completely pre-installed and tested modules in the shortest possible time, or to expand or divide the assembly line without having to take structural measures would be required.

For this purpose, it is expedient for the individual components to have a size which still enables transport even over long distances (road transport). Such a modular design significantly increases the flexibility of production and it can be made up of individual components that have already been pre-equipped and can only be coupled an assembly line in any factory dial without any special requirements for the ceiling statics or the presence of pits must be built or (in the case of a model change) changed.

A complete modular factory is thus created, which includes the conveyor technology, the work stations, the end of the conveyor belt, the assembly of assemblies, vehicle module transport and installation (doors, cockpit, engines, seats, front end, wheels, etc.) as well as social facilities and logistics. This results in great flexibility, since the assembly processes can be flexibly designed according to the product requirements and conveyor technology restrictions (e.g. a system change), pit restrictions (e.g. at the "wedding") and building restrictions (e.g. with regard to statics, space requirements) are no longer required. The time required to implement such an assembly line is also significantly less, since the modules are delivered pre-assembled or preinstalled, no steel construction lead-in and no pit planning and implementation are required, transfer units in conveyor technology are omitted (only one conveyor system), a low level of complexity there are few interfaces and consequently a short planning time is sufficient. The lower complexity leads to higher transparency, better clarity and better communication without fear of negative effects on quality.

An embodiment of the invention consists in that means are provided for coupling supply lines running in the individual components.

This further speeds up the construction of the assembly line: If the supply lines (for electricity, compressed air, etc.) running in the axial direction are also coupled by coupling the individual components, the lengthy connection of the individual assemblies arranged in the assembly line to such supply lines and thus with them is eliminated associated risks of a missing or incorrect connection and the risk of accidents through the cables.

A preferred development of the invention consists in that the conveying device is a device for the suspended conveying of the motor vehicles. The means for hanging conveying of the motor vehicles are already provided in the individual components, so that there is no need to fasten these conveying devices to the hall ceiling.

It is provided according to the invention that the device comprises a final assembly area.

In the final assembly area, the wheels are usually mounted on the motor vehicle and, among other things, Functional tests (acceleration, shift, brake tests and light tests, etc.) carried out. This can also take place within the device according to the invention.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the device has a vehicle test stand, the motor vehicle being arranged in a hanging manner in the vehicle test stand and the wheels of the motor vehicle in by motor-driven elements of a roll, brake and ABS test stand acting laterally on the wheels Rotation can be offset or braked.

In this way, even when the motor vehicles are suspended, the final assembly area can be run through with the functional tests provided there, the disadvantages of roller test benches described above also being eliminated.

An embodiment of the invention provides that the motor-driven elements attack the tire.

Another embodiment of the invention provides that the motor-driven elements attack the rims.

It is also possible for the motor-driven elements to engage the wheel hubs.

Furthermore, it is expedient that means are provided for automatically carrying out acceleration and braking operations.

It is also advantageous that means are provided for the automatic execution of further functional tests. This can be a vibration test of the motor vehicle or a light test, for example.

A further development of the invention is that means are provided for hanging the finished motor vehicles from the assembly hall.

It is expedient here that a branch to a rework station is provided.

The means for the hanging conveying of the motor vehicles from the assembly hall have the advantage that the motor vehicles can still be transported hanging from the assembly hall to a parking space after the final assembly. As a result, emissions from starting and driving the motor vehicles out of the assembly hall are avoided and, at the end of the suspended conveyance, the finished motor vehicles can be parked in an orderly, automated and detectable manner. If necessary, a branch to a rework station can also be made within the hanging funding, where the vehicles that are still defective are reworked.

The invention is explained below on the basis of exemplary embodiments.

Show it

Fig. La is an illustration of an individual component according to the invention in

Cross-section,

Fig. Lb the side view of Fig. La,

2a shows a representation of an individual component according to the invention in

Section seat handling with cross-section height adaptation,

2b shows the side view of Fig. 2a,

3 a shows a representation of an individual component according to the invention

Cross section height and side adaptation for cockpit handling, 3b shows the side view of FIG. 3a,

3c is a top view of FIGS. 3a and 3b,

4 a device according to the invention for assembly assembly,

5a a roll, brake, ABS test stand in the hanger in plan view,

5b shows the side view of FIG. 5a,

6 shows a representation of “X-Road with a minimal overall height”

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 a and 1 b, the individual components (“modular work stations”) have a load-bearing structure made from side members 1 and cross members 2, on which the conveying devices 3 for the motor vehicle to be assembled and the supply lines, such as, for example, power and data cables, Pneumatic supply and other devices such as ropes for information signs and rails for trolleys and pneumatic devices are arranged.For the supply lines, in particular the energy supply, quick connections are provided at the connection points between two individual components, which ensure an energy supply from individual component to individual component of the individual components are connected to the supply lines in the hall and the other individual components are also supplied via the quick connections, without having to carry out a complex individual connection of all individual components s also possible that the individual components are individually connected to the supply lines.

Furthermore, the individual components also have a worker conveyor belt 4 or alternatively a platform. Material can be fed laterally by material trolley 5 or removed from shelves 6. 2a and 2b, a single component is shown with a height adapter 7, which makes it possible to achieve a height that exceeds the normal height. This can also be achieved by using long supports.

Correspondingly, an individual component with a height adapter 7 and a side adapter 8 is shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b, with which a width that goes beyond the normal overall width can also be achieved. The cockpits 9 to be installed in this station are fed laterally.

4 shows a device according to the invention as a series of individual components for assembly assembly, the individual stations being designated as stations 1 to 19.

5a and 5b show a rolling, braking, ABS test stand in the hanger (with the vehicle conveyed hanging), load units 10 being moved laterally from the outside to the wheels of the motor vehicle and either to the tires, the rims or the wheel hub attack and means 11 are provided for adjusting the wheelbase. Furthermore, 10 pulsing units 12 are provided under each loading unit, with which a shaking movement can be initiated.

6 finally shows a representation "X-Road with a minimal overall height.

Claims

1. Device for the assembly, adjustment and testing of motor vehicles, characterized in that the device can be put together from transportable, modular, interconnectable individual components which can be set up on a flat surface without pits or ceiling loads, the device being the conveying and mounting devices for includes the motor vehicles to be assembled.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that means are provided for coupling supply lines running in the individual components.

3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveying device is a device for hanging conveying of the motor vehicles.

4. The device according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the device comprises a final assembly area.

5. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that the device has a vehicle test bench, the motor vehicle is arranged hanging in the vehicle test bench and the wheels of the motor vehicle by laterally acting on the wheels, motor-driven elements of a rolling, braking and ABS test bench can be set in rotation or braked.

6. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that the motor-driven elements attack the tire.

7. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that the motor-driven elements attack the rims.

8. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that the motor-driven elements engage the wheel hubs.

9. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that means are provided for automatically performing acceleration and braking operations.

10. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that means are provided for automatically carrying out further functional tests.

11. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that means are provided for the hanging conveying of the finished motor vehicles from the assembly hall.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that a branch to a rework station is provided.

13. Transportable, modular individual component for building a device according to claims 1 to 11.