EP2470698A1

EP2470698A1 - Sewing installation

Info

Publication number: EP2470698A1
Application number: EP10765738A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ernst Biermann; Thomas Markfort; Friedrich Rau; Robert Keilmann; Guido Jaeger
Original assignee: Car Trim GmbH; KSL Keilmann Sondermaschinenbau GmbH
Current assignee: KSL Keilmann Sondermaschinenbau GmbH
Priority date: 2009-08-26
Filing date: 2010-08-26
Publication date: 2012-07-04
Anticipated expiration: 2030-08-26
Also published as: DE102009038602A1; EP2470698B1; WO2011023170A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a sewing installation, comprising: a first robot (9), which takes an upper material part (7) from a first stacking device (1) and a lower material part (8) from a second stacking station (2) and transports the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8) to an insertion station (11) and lays the upper material part and the lower material part on top of each other congruently in the insertion station and arranges the upper material part and the lower material part in a sewing material retainer (27), which holds together the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8) congruently, wherein the sewing material retainer (27) holds the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8) in such a way that the upper material part and the lower material part protrude beyond an outer contour of the sewing material retainer by a predetermined distance (30) on the outside. The invention further relates to a second robot (13), which takes a sewing material retainer (27) from the insertion station (11) and feeds the sewing material retainer to a first sewing station (16), which comprises a first sewing machine (45), wherein the first sewing machine (45) follows the outer contour of the sewing material retainer (27) and in the process sews the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8) to each other by means of a seam (31) produced by the first sewing machine in the area of the protruding distance (30) of the upper material part (7) and of the lower material part (8).

Description

Nähanlaqe

The present invention relates to a sewing unit.

Usually, the sewing of an upper part made of leather or fabric and an underlying sub-material part made of non-woven or foam is currently done to 100% manually, using industrial standard sewing machines are used.

For example, DD 112716 A5 discloses an apparatus for producing stacks of hemmed pieces of fabric in which individual pieces of food having predetermined lengths are conveyed one after the other in a longitudinal direction along a path. In addition to the web, an adjustment device is provided, which successively picks up manually inserted pieces of cloth and aligns each piece of fabric and places it on a piece of food. After forming a seam, which is folded around the associated piece of food by a folder, the seam is sewn with the aid of a conventional sewing machine.

The object of the present invention is to provide an automatic

Sewing system for the production of molded parts to create, with the help of the

Sewing of upper parts and lower material parts is greatly simplified.

This object is achieved by a sewing unit with a first robot, which in each case consists of a first stacking device an upper part part and a second

Stacking station removes a lower material part and the upper part and the lower material part transported to an insertion station and in this congruent superimposed and arranges in a fabric holder, which holds the upper part and the lower material part congruent, the Nähguthalter holds the upper part and the lower material part, that this outside a projecting predetermined distance over an outer contour of the fabric holder, and with a second robot, which removes a Nähguthalter the feeder station and feeds a first sewing station having a first sewing machine, wherein the first sewing machine follows the outer contour of the fabric holder and thereby the Upper part and the lower material part with a seam produced by him in the region of the protruding distance of the upper material part and the lower material part sewn together.

The main advantage of the automatic sewing unit according to the invention is that the sewing of upper parts and lower material parts

can be much cheaper, because the number of currently customary for this purpose handles when sewing is substantially reduced. The above-mentioned handles are both in the provision of the upper and

Sub-material parts for sewing as well as the subsequent sewing of the congruent superimposed upper and lower material parts reduced.

Advantageously, with the help of the automatic sewing machine according to the invention in each case market-relevant products for the automotive and

Produce aviation area in high quality. This advantage of the present

Invention is particularly relevant because in the automotive and aerospace sectors, the shapes, sizes and material thicknesses of the moldings to be produced in each case for the interior fittings vary greatly, since the variety of variants and the individuality are constantly increasing.

Since in the automotive and aerospace industry the accuracy required by corresponding EU standards is specified by the respective customer, the requirement for a tailor-made work is given. Since a lot of manual handling is required in the usual sewing methods, the error rate in the production of moldings is relatively high. An advantage of the present

Therefore, automatic sewing equipment consists in that by the far reaching

Avoidance of manual handling by the mentioned EU standards in the

Automotive and aerospace required accuracy is readily achievable.

Another advantage of the present invention is that time can be saved by the substantial avoidance of manual handles when sewing upper and lower parts of material, resulting in significant

Cost savings leads. This also plays a role in particular when changing from one molding model to another molding model.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, at least a third robot is provided particularly advantageous and efficient, the one of the insertion station Nähguthalter, removes and feeds a second sewing station, which has a second automatic sewing machine, the second sewing machine follows the outer contour of the fabric holder and thereby sewn together the upper part and the lower material part with a seam produced by him in the region of the protruding distance of the upper part and the lower material part ,

The first robot is expediently carried out by the computing and

Control unit generated control signals from the first and second stacking station is moved to the insertion station and vice versa. Furthermore, the first robot is advantageously controlled by the control signals generated by a computing and control unit as a function of the signals of a first optoelectronic camera in order to congruently align the upper part and the lower material part in the insertion station.

The first sewing machine is particularly preferably controlled by the control and control unit in response to the signals of a second optoelectronic camera control signals to move it along the outer contour of the fabric holder. Accordingly, the second sewing machine is controlled by a computing and control unit in response to the signals of a third optoelectronic camera to him along the outer contour of the

To move the material holder.

The second robot is generated by the computing and control unit

Control signals is moved from the loading station to the first sewing station and vice versa. Accordingly, the third robot is moved by control signals generated by the arithmetic and control unit from the loading station to the second sewing station and vice versa.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the material holder comprises at least one upper part and a lower part, which are fixable to each other and between which the upper part and the lower material part can be arranged, wherein the upper part or the lower part has the outer contour. Alternatively, the workpiece holder comprises at least one upper part and one lower part which can be fixed to one another and between which the upper part and the lower material part can be arranged, wherein the upper part and the lower part have the outer contour and wherein the outer contours are aligned congruently to one another, when the upper part on the lower part is fixed. It is particularly cost effective if the upper part and / or the lower part have the shape of a plate-shaped sheet-metal part. Particularly simple and precise, the upper part and the lower part are magnetically or mechanically fixed to each other to the upper part of the material and the

Sub-material part slip-proof in the fabric holder to fix. It is particularly advantageous if the upper part and / or the lower part are magnetically gripped by an electromagnetic gripper device of the second robot and / or the third robot. The second robot is expediently a six-axis movable robot. Likewise, the third robot is expediently a six-axis movable robot.

It is expediently a first conveyor line for conveying a

Material holder provided with a sewn to a lower part of the upper part of the first sewing station to a collecting station. Accordingly, a second conveyor line for conveying a fabric holder with a on a

Lower material part sewn upper part provided by the second sewing station to the collecting station. A particularly efficient operation of the present sewing unit is achieved when a third conveyor line is provided for returning the fabric holder after removing the sewn on the lower part of the upper part of the collecting station to the loading station. In this case, the first conveying path and the second conveying path may be opposite each other in relation to the third conveying path and its conveying direction. Likewise, the first sewing station and the second sewing station may face each other with respect to the third conveyor line and its conveying direction, and the second robot and the third robot may be opposite each other with respect to the third conveyor line and its conveying direction.

In the following the invention and its advantages in connection with the figures will be explained in more detail. Show it:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the automatic sewing machines according to the invention; and FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of a material holder.

The following considerations led to the invention. Usually, for the production of moldings or reference parts, for. As of seat covers for motor vehicles, leather parts (as upper parts) by lamination with

Foam parts (as lower material parts) connected. Since the lamination but temperatures of 90 ⁰ C - HO ⁰ C or more to be achieved, it is easy to damage the leather, because it is not heated above about 7O ⁰ C may be. These damages are expressed for example in one

In order to avoid such damage, therefore, the leather parts are usually sewn to the foam parts

Foam parts each arranged leather parts are extremely expensive, which can be up to about 30% of the cost and are due to the large number of manual operations required. It is therefore an automatic sewing machine to be created in which this variety of manual handles are not required. In such an automatic sewing unit, it would be conceivable, the respective moldings with the help of stencil and

Sewing material holding plates. A problem of this solution, however, would be that even with minimal changes of the moldings in terms of their sizes and shapes, the production of new templates and fabric holders would be required. The cost of producing sewing material holders amounts to approximately EUR 500, - to EUR 7,000, - per piece. Since, as already mentioned, in particular in the automotive and aviation sector in the

Interior design, the shapes, sizes and thicknesses of the individual samples or moldings vary greatly and the variety of variants and the

Increasing individuality continuously, would be the cost associated with the production of appropriate, comprising said plates Nähguthaltern very high. However, a substantial cost reduction can be achieved by automating the manufacturing process of the molded parts in such a way that the manual handles during sewing of the molded parts are considerably reduced. This partial reduction can be achieved through the use of robots and

Sewing machines take place, which both the supply of the moldings in the

Automatic sewing on the one hand, as well as the exact processing position of the sewn together moldings on the other hand guarantee. It is conceivable to control the said robots by special cameras. Furthermore, the manual handles can be further reduced in that also the sewing process to be performed is performed by automatic sewing machines, which are opto-electronically monitored and controlled by special cameras. For example, when using a sewing unit according to the invention, it could be achieved that only one operator continuously feeds the material parts to be sewn together via two feed stations arranged next to one another and that in the

Essentially, all other process steps are performed automatically. Furthermore, costs can be saved by making the material parts sewn holding the sewing material holder itself easier. According to FIG. 1, the present automatic sewing unit 10 in FIG

Essentially, a first stacking station 1, to which upper parts 7 are fed from a first feeding station 5, a second stacking station 2, to which lower parts 8 are fed from a second feeding station 6, wherein the

Upper parts 7 of the first feed station 5 on the way 3 and the

Untermaterialteile 8 of the second feed station 6 on the way 4 are each supplied manually by an operator. The upper parts 7 are preferably parts made of leather or fabric. The lower material parts 8 are preferably parts made of foam or fleece. The

Upper parts 7 are supplied to the first stacking station 1 on the way 33 and the lower material parts 8 of the second stacking station 2 on the way 34.

A first special robot designated 9 takes over alternately, i. Thus, alternately successively from the first stacking station 1, an upper part 7 (way 35) and from the second stacking station 2 a Untermaterialteil 8 (path 36) and transports them to an insertion station 11, wherein the first feed station 5 supplied upper parts 7 in the first stacking station 1 and the second feed station 6 supplied Untermaterialteile 8 are stacked in the stacking station 2 respectively. The first robot 9 is controlled in accordance with the coordinates of the stacking units 1 and 2 and the insertion station 11 stored in the arithmetic and control unit 32. The corresponding control signals are applied via line 42 to the first robot 9.

The first robot 9 grips the upper material part 7 and the lower material part 8 with a gripper device, which particularly preferably uses a vacuum technique and sucks the material parts 7, 8 without wrinkles on a suction plate which has suction openings distributed over its surface and forms part of the gripper device.

The material parts 7, 8 gripped without wrinkles in this way are superposed by the first robot 9 in the loading station 11, with the first robot 9 with the aid of a first robot 7 for the alignment and congruent superimposition of the material parts 7 and 8 transported to the insertion station 11

optoelectronic camera 15 is arranged, which is arranged in the insertion station 11. The first camera 9 generates signals corresponding to the respective layers of the material parts 7 and 8, respectively, and sends these signals via a line 37 to the computing and control unit 32. From these signals, the computing and control unit 32 generates control signals via the Line 42 to the first robot 9 are sent. This moves the material parts 7 and 8 such that they are exactly congruent to each other.

The material parts 7, 8 are thereby arranged in a material holder 27 according to FIG. 2, that the material part 7 first deposited in the insertion station 11 is deposited on a plate-shaped lower part 28, which was previously stored manually in the insertion station 11, preferably by an operator. In this case, the lower part 28 is preferably placed in the correct position with the aid of at least two holes 47 arranged in it, into which appropriate adjusting pins of the insertion station 11 are inserted.

After the congruent arrangement of the material parts 7 and 8 on the lower part 28, a plate-shaped upper part 29 is preferably also arranged manually on the lower part 28 facing away from the material part 8 preferably. The lower part 28 and the upper part 29 are parts of the already mentioned Nähguthalters 27th

The upper part 29 and the lower part 28 are made of metal and are firmly held together for further processing, so that the lower part 28,

Lower part 8, upper part 7 and upper part 29 existing unit is firmly held together. Relative movements between said elements 7, 8, 28 and 29 are completely excluded. The outer contours of the

Lower part 28 and the upper part 29 are respectively to the outer contours of the

Sub-material part 7 and the upper part 8 exactly adapted, but dimensioned so that the upper part 7 and the lower part of material 8 each project a predetermined distance 30 via the lower part 28 and the upper part 29 to the outside.

Preferably, the upper part 29 and the lower part 28 each consist of easily manufactured sheet metal parts.

The insertion station 11 is a second special robot 13 and a third

Assigned special robot 14, which are each designed six-axis and have a preferably electromagnetic gripping system. Therefore, the upper part 29 and the lower part 28 and the interposed, congruent to each other arranged material parts 7, 8 are magnetically firmly held together to form a unit when seizing the Nähguthalters. The second robot 13 and the third robot 14 each accomplish the transport of the material holder 27 sequentially removed from the insertion station 11 to a first sewing station 16 or to a second sewing station 17. For this provides the arithmetic and

Control unit 32 due to the coordinates of the insertion station 11 and the

Sewing stations 16 and 17, the required control signals for the robot 13 and 14 via the lines 48 and 49th

In the first sewing stations 16 and in the second sewing station 17, a first sewing machine 45 and a second sewing machine 46 are arranged, to which a first special camera 18 and a second special camera 19 are assigned. These optoelectronic cameras 18 and 19 deliver via the lines 40 and 41, the layers of the fabric holder 27 corresponding signals to the computing and

Control unit 32, which via the lines 50 and 51 control signals to the

Sewing machines 45 and 46 sends. As a result, the sewing machines 45 and 46 are respectively moved or controlled with respect to the material holders 27 deposited by the robots 13 and 14 in the sewing stations 16 and 17, respectively, in that the seams 31 (FIG. 2) extend beyond the outer contours of the fabric Upper part 29 and the lower part 28 protruding areas of the upper part 7 and the lower material part 8 are produced without the need for a special sewing program is required. In this case, a distance 44 between the seam 31 and the outer contours of the lower part 28 and the congruent thereto arranged upper part 29 is maintained. In this way, consisting of an upper part 7 and a lower material part 8 molded parts are generated.

After the sewing process has been carried out in the first sewing station 16 or in the second sewing station 17, the material parts 7, 8 sewn together are conveyed together with the workpiece holder 27 via a first conveyor line 20 and a second conveyor line 21 to a collecting station 22 and there for

Further processing taken manually. The conveyor lines 20, 21 are preferably each conveyor belt means, wherein the

Movement directions thereof are represented by the arrows 23 and 24 respectively.

Furthermore, a third conveying path 25 is provided, which is preferably likewise a conveyor belt device whose direction of movement is represented by the arrow 26. The third conveyor line 25 serves, after the sewing process and the manual removal of the upper part 7 and the sewn sub-material part 8 in the collecting station 22 from the workpiece holder 27 to transport this (or its upper part 29 and the lower part 28) back to the insertion station 11 so that he is available there again. The respectively From the material parts 7 and 8 existing moldings are supplied after removal from the collection station 22 further processing.

Preferably, the second robot 13 and the third robot 14, and the corresponding sewing stations 16 and 17 and the associated cameras 18 and 19 are each arranged on opposite sides of the conveyor line 25. This also applies to the conveyor lines 20 and 21. In this way, a particularly favorable construction of said sewing unit 10 is achieved. After sewing the material parts 7, 8 in a sewing station, for example, the first sewing station 16, during the return transport of the currently vacant workpiece holder 27 on the conveyor line 25 by the sewing station 17 a sewing operation can be performed and vice versa, so that the sewing unit is always busy.

It should be noted that in the production of more complicated

Moldings arranged between the upper and lower material part

Intermediate parts may contain, further feeding and stacking stations can be provided, the first robot 9 then this

Removing intermediate material parts of the corresponding stacking stations and controlled by the camera 15 preferably stores congruent between the upper and lower material part in the insertion station 11.

Reference numerals:

1 stacking station

2 stacking station

3 way

4 way

5 feed station

6 feeding station

7 Upper part

8 sub-material part

9 robots

10 sewing unit

11 insertion station

13 robots

14 robots

15 camera

16 sewing station

17 sewing station

18 camera

19 camera

20 conveyor line

21 conveyor line

22 collection station

23 arrow

24 arrow

25 conveyor line

26 arrow

27 material holder

28 lower part

29 top part

30 route

31 seam

32 arithmetic and control unit

33 way

34 way

35 way

36 way

37 line path

path

management

distance

automat

hole

management

51 line

Claims

claims

1. A sewing unit comprising: a first robot (9) which extracts a top material part (7) from a first stacking device (1) and a bottom material part (8) from a second stacking station (2) and the upper material part (7) and the lower material part ( 8) to an insertion station (11)

transported and in this congruent overlays and in a fabric holder (27) arranges, which holds the upper part (7) and the lower material part (8) congruent, the Nähguthalter (27) the upper part (7) and the lower material part (8) so holds in that they project outside on a predetermined distance (30) over an outer contour of the material holder, and with a second robot (13) which removes a material holder (27) from the insertion station (11) and feeds it to a first sewing station (16) Automatic sewing machine (45), wherein the first sewing machine (45) follows the outer contour of the fabric holder (27) and thereby the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8) with a through him in the region of the protruding distance (30) of the upper part ( 7) and the lower material part (8) produced seam (31) sewn together.

Second sewing unit according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one third robot (14) is provided, which is the

Loading station (11) a Nähguthalter (27), removes and a second sewing station (17), which has a second automatic sewing machine (46), wherein the second sewing machine (46) follows the outer contour of the fabric holder (27) and thereby the upper material part (7 ) and the lower material part (8) are sewn together with a seam (31) produced by it in the region of the protruding distance (30) of the upper material part (7) and the lower material part (8).

3. sewing unit according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first robot (9) by the computing and Control unit (32) generated control signals from the first

Stacking station (1) to the loading station (11) is moved and

vice versa.

4. sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized

characterized in that the first robot (9) is controllable by the control signals generated by a computing and control unit (32) in response to the signals of a first camera (9) to form the upper part (7) and lower material part (8) in the

Inserting station (11) congruent to each other.

5. sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized

characterized in that the first robot (9) is moved by the control unit (32) generated control signals from the second stacking station (2) to the insertion station (11) and vice versa.

6. sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized

in that the first sewing automat (45) can be controlled by the control signals generated by the arithmetic and control unit (32) in dependence on the signals of a second camera (18) in order to move it along the outer contour of the fabric holder (27).

7. Sewing unit according to one of claims 2 to 6, characterized

characterized in that the second sewing automat (46) is controllable by the control signals generated by a computing and control unit (32) in response to the signals of a third camera (14) to move it along the outer contour of the fabric holder (27).

8. sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized

characterized in that the second robot (13) is moved by the control and control unit (32) control signals from the loading station (11) to the first sewing station (16) and vice versa.

9. sewing unit according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterized

characterized in that the third robot (14) is moved from the loading station (11) to the second sewing station (17) by control signals generated by the computing and control unit (32) and vice versa.

10. Sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized

characterized in that the material holder (27) comprises at least one upper part (29) and one lower part (28) which are fixable to one another and between which the upper part (7) and the lower part (8) can be arranged, the upper part (29) or the lower part (28) has the outer contour.

11. Sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized

characterized in that the material holder (27) comprises at least one upper part (29) and one lower part (28) which are fixable to one another and between which the upper part (7) and the lower part (8) can be arranged, the upper part (29) and the lower part (28) having the outer contour and wherein the outer contours are aligned with each other congruent when the upper part (29) is fixed to the lower part (28).

12. Sewing unit according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the upper part (29) and / or the lower part (28) have the shape of a plate-shaped sheet metal part.

13. Sewing unit according to one of claims 10 to 12, characterized

in that the upper part (29) and the lower part (28) are magnetically or mechanically fixable to one another in order to fix the upper part (7) and the lower part (8) in a non-slip manner in the material holder.

14. Sewing unit according to one of claims 10 to 13, characterized

characterized in that the upper part (29) and / or the lower part (28) are magnetically gripped by an electromagnetic gripper device of the second robot (13) and / or the third robot (14).

15. Sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized

characterized in that the second robot (13) is a six-axis movable robot.

16. Sewing unit according to one of claims 2 to 15, characterized

characterized in that the third robot (14) is a six-axis movable robot.

17. Sewing unit according to one of claims 1 to 16, characterized

in that a first conveying path (20) for conveying a material holder (27) with an upper part (7) sewn to a lower material part (8) from the first sewing station (16) to a collecting station (22) is provided.

18. Sewing unit according to one of claims 2 to 17, characterized

characterized in that a second conveying path (21) is provided for conveying a material holder (27) with an upper part (7) sewn to a lower material part (8) from the second sewing station (17) to a collecting station (22).

19. Sewing unit according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that a third conveying path (25) for returning the material holder (27) after removing the at the lower material part (8) sewn upper part (7) from the collecting station (22) to the loading station ( 11) is provided

20. Sewing unit according to claim 19, characterized in that the first conveying path (20) and the second conveying path (21) with respect to the third conveying path (25) and the conveying direction

are opposite.

21. Sewing unit according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that the first sewing station (16) and the second sewing station (17) with respect to the third conveying path (25) and the conveying direction are opposite.

22. Sewing unit according to one of claims 19 to 21, characterized

characterized in that the second robot (13) and the third robot (14) with respect to the third conveying path (25) and their conveying direction are opposite.