JP2000280942A - Assembling method for instrument panel module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently carry out assembling work in the assembling method of an instrument panel module. SOLUTION: In a method for assembling an instrument panel module to a car body, the instrument panel module being composed of a deck cross member 10, an instrument panel assembled to the deck cross member 10 and components assembled to these portions, each positioning pin 15 projectingly provided in a fastening portion 12 to a car body to both ends of the deck cross member 10 is inserted into each of positioning holes 5a and 5b bored in deck cross member attaching portions 4 in the left and right sides of the car body, the falling out of the instrument panel module from the positioning holes 5a and 5b is prevented by a locking structure including the recessed part 17 of the positioning pin 15 and the positioning holes 5a and 5b to temporarily hold it in the car body, and the fastening portion 12 of the deck cross member 10 is fastened to the deck cross member attaching portion 4 to secure the instrument panel module.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assembling method for assembling an instrument panel module comprising a deck cross member, an instrument panel to be assembled to the deck cross member, and components to be assembled to the deck cross member. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of automobiles, instrument panels (also referred to as instrument panels for short) are:
Parts that are difficult to install after the instrument panel has been assembled to the vehicle body, such as harnesses (instrument harness) to be installed inside the instrument panel, air conditioning ducts, and passenger seat airbags, are installed in the instrument panel in advance using outfitting equipment. In general, a panel assembly (abbreviated as instrument panel assembly) is assembled into a vehicle body. Then, an operator manually brings the instrument panel assembly into the cabin of the vehicle body conveyed on the automobile production line and assembles the instrument panel assembly to the vehicle body.

[0003] As shown in FIG.
Of the components arranged inside the deck cross member 210, which is a frame member of the instrument panel assembly 201, for example.
For components that cannot be retrofitted, such as components that can be attached to the vehicle body 203 before assembly of the instrument panel assembly 201 in advance, and components that can be attached after assembly of the instrument panel assembly 201 such as the blower motor 204, the heater unit 205, and the steering shaft 220, Thereafter, the worker manually brought these components into the vehicle and attached them to the instrument panel assembly 201 in the vehicle compartment.

[0004]

However, when the instrument panel assembly and the components around the instrument panel assembly are assembled as described above, every time a worker attaches a component, the operator takes the vehicle compartment to get the next component to be attached. And the number of workers getting into and out of the vehicle compartment increases, and the assembling work becomes complicated. In addition, since the operation of assembling the parts after getting into the vehicle interior is very poor, a heavy load is imposed on the worker.

In view of the above, in the above-mentioned outfitting equipment, the instrument panel assembly is modularized by attaching all or most of the necessary components to the instrument panel [this is referred to as an instrument panel module (abbreviated instrument panel module). Assemble it,
A method of assembling the instrument panel module in a vehicle cabin of a vehicle body flowing through a production line is conceivable.

[0006] However, in order to attach a large number of components to the instrument panel assembly to form a module, it is necessary to previously mount a deck cross member, which is a skeletal component having sufficient support rigidity, in the instrument panel module.
The instrument panel module is significantly heavier than the conventional instrument panel assembly. By modularizing the instrument panel assembly, it is not necessary for the operator to get in and out of the passenger compartment to get the component parts, which prevents the assembly work from becoming complicated, but such an increase in weight The installation of the instrument panel module puts a heavy burden on the operator.

Therefore, it is conceivable that the load on the instrument panel module is supported by some kind of support mechanism so that the weight does not burden the operator. However, the instrument panel module is arranged at a predetermined position on the vehicle body and fastened. Since the mounting operation is performed in a narrow cabin, such an operation of mounting the instrument panel module on the vehicle body depends on humans. In this case, the operator is burdened with accurate positioning of the instrument panel module and work of accurately fastening the instrument panel module to the vehicle body after the positioning.

Therefore, as a structure for positioning a part (vehicle part) when attaching it to a main body (vehicle body),
For example, a structure in which a positioning pin is provided on a component side, a positioning hole is provided on a main body side, and a positioning pin is inserted into the positioning hole to easily perform positioning is widely used. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-52845 discloses a technique for positioning by inserting a positioning pin provided on an instrument panel into a positioning hole provided on a vehicle body side.

However, this technique can be applied to a light instrument such as an instrument panel or an instrument panel assembly. However, a heavy instrument such as an instrument panel module can be positioned during assembly of the instrument panel assembly to a vehicle body. The pins may be displaced from the center of the positioning hole or may fall out of the positioning hole, resulting in inefficient assembly work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide an instrument panel module assembling method which enables an assembling operation to be performed efficiently.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of assembling an instrument panel module, comprising the steps of:
In an instrument panel module including a deck cross member, an instrument panel to be assembled to the deck cross member, and parts to be assembled to the deck cross member, the instrument panel module is formed at both ends of the deck cross member and fastened to a vehicle body. Each protruding positioning pin is
It is inserted into each positioning hole drilled in each of the deck cross member mounting parts on the left and right sides of the vehicle body, and the locking structure consisting of the concave part formed in the positioning pin and the positioning hole causes the positioning from the positioning hole of the instrument panel module. After temporarily holding the instrument panel module to prevent it from falling off, and then stabilizing the instrument panel module, tighten the fastening parts of the deck cross members to the deck cross member mounting parts on the vehicle body side, respectively. Secure the panel module.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 5 show a method of assembling an instrument panel module (hereinafter, also referred to as an instrument panel module) as one embodiment of the present invention, which will be described with reference to these drawings.

The method for assembling the instrument panel module according to the present embodiment is as follows. At the time of manufacturing an automobile, the instrument panel module mounted on the outfitting line is loaded into the vehicle body conveyed on the line, and then the instrument panel module is mounted in the vehicle interior. This is a method for assembling to a vehicle body. The instrument panel module includes a deck cross member that is a frame part, an instrument panel that is assembled to the deck cross member, and components that are assembled to the deck cross member and the instrument panel. As the components, for example, an instrument panel harness, an air conditioning duct, a passenger airbag, a heater unit, a steering shaft, a glove box, a radio, and a combination meter are assembled.

As shown in FIG. 4, an assembling apparatus 100 according to this embodiment includes an instrument panel module 1 and an assembling apparatus 1.
The manufacturing line is mounted on the moving vehicle body 3 while being mounted on the instrument panel module support member (hereinafter simply referred to as a support member) 110 which is a component of No. 00 via the mounting jig 1a. The assembling apparatus 100 is configured to be movable along a production line, and further includes a synchronization unit (not shown), and a center pillar of the vehicle body 3 moving on the production line is gripped by a clamp of the synchronization unit. Thereby, the assembling device 100 is moved synchronously with the vehicle body 3. And the support member 11
Numeral 0 denotes a line transport direction (a direction in which the instrument panel module 1 is moved in synchronization with the vehicle body 3) and a line width direction (a direction in which the vehicle enters the vehicle body through a door opening on the side of the vehicle body 3 and a reverse direction thereof). It is possible to move to. Thereby, the support member 110 on which the instrument panel module 1 is mounted
Can be easily moved from the door opening of the vehicle body 3 into the vehicle body while being synchronized with the vehicle body 3.

Further, a pair of rollers 111a, 111a is installed downward at both ends of the lower surface of the support member 110, and after the support member 110 is carried into the vehicle body 3, the support member 110 is slightly lowered. Let these rollers 1
11a, 111a can be brought into contact with the upper edge of each side sill flange 3b, 3b of the door opening of the vehicle body 3. When the instrument panel assembly 1 mounted on the support member 110 enters the front of the vehicle body toward the installation location inside the vehicle body 3, the rollers 111a, 111a are run on the side sill flanges 3b, 3b,
Rollers 111a, 111a support the support member 110 and guide its entry.

Further, when the support member 110 is moved into the vehicle body 3, the position of the support member 110 in the vehicle width direction is restricted to a predetermined position by a stopper (not shown). Roller 111a,
The upper and lower positions of the instrument panel assembly 1 are set to be appropriate positions with respect to the vehicle body 3 by placing the 111a on the upper ends of the side sill flanges 3b, 3b. Therefore, the instrument panel assembly 1 installed on the support member 110
Is roughly positioned in the vehicle width direction and the height direction by such a moving operation of the support member 110, that is, at least the deck cross member 1 of the instrument panel assembly 1 described later.
Positioning is performed so that the leading ends of the positioning pins 15 provided at both ends of the bracket 0 do not deviate from the positioning holes 5 of the deck cross member mounting portions 4 provided on the left and right inside the vehicle body 3, respectively. Thereby, when the support member 110 is advanced to the installation position inside the vehicle body 3, each positioning pin 15 is automatically inserted into each positioning hole 5, and the instrument panel assembly 1 is temporarily held in the vehicle body 3. ing.

The mounting jig 1a is provided with a gripping device (not shown). With this gripping device, the instrument panel module 1 can be mounted on brackets formed at both ends of a deck cross member 10 as a frame member thereof. Tightening part) 1
2 and 12 are gripped and supported by the support member 110. In addition, naturally, the grip of the deck cross member 10 by the gripping device can be released.
The grip release can be performed by an operation of an operator.

Here, the deck cross member 10 which is a feature of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the deck cross member 10 includes a pipe-shaped main frame 11, brackets (tightening portions) 12, 12 attached to both ends of the main frame 11, and a center of the main frame 11. And a centering force 11a connected to the floor of the vehicle body 3 and reinforcing the instrument panel module 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the positioning pin 15 of the bracket 12 is
It is provided in a substantially horizontal direction so as to face the front of the vehicle body when mounted. Further, bolt holes 14a and 14b are provided above and below the positioning pins 15 for fastening the bracket 12 to the deck cross member mounting portion 4 of the vehicle body 3. In the case of the present embodiment, the hole portions 1 vertically adjacent to each other between the bolt holes 14a and 14b of the bracket 12 are vertically arranged.
3a and 13b are provided, and a base 15a of the positioning pin 15 is welded to one of the holes 13a and 13b (in this case, the hole 13b) from the back surface side.

Here, the bracket 12 is formed symmetrically up and down so that it can be commonly used at both left and right ends of the deck cross member 10, and it is determined which of the holes 13a and 13b the positioning pin 15 is attached to. What is necessary is just to select according to the conditions etc. of the attachment part 4 side. of course,
The positioning pins 15 are fixed by the brackets 12 at both ends.
It is not necessary to arrange them at the same position in the vertical direction.
In 2, the positioning pin 15 may be provided in the upper hole 13a or 13b, and in the other bracket 12, the positioning pin 15 may be provided in the lower hole 13b or 13a. The holes 13a and 13b are hereinafter simply referred to as the holes 13 unless it is necessary to particularly distinguish them.

It is not necessary to provide two holes 13 in the bracket 12, but a structure in which one hole 13 is provided if it corresponds to the positioning hole 5 of the deck cross member mounting portion 4 described later. It may be. Here, the positioning pin 15 includes a disc-shaped base 15a and a pin body 15b protruding from the base 15a, and the base 15a is welded to the bracket 12. The pin body 15b has a conical portion 16 at its distal end, and a cylindrical portion 1 at its proximal end.
8 between the conical portion 16 and the cylindrical portion 18, there is provided an annular concave portion (recess) 17 formed over the peripheral surface. Is provided with a tapered portion 19 whose diameter is smoothly increased toward the cylindrical portion 18. The conical portion 16 and the cylindrical portion 18
Are formed to have a slightly smaller diameter than the hole 13 to which the positioning pin 15 is attached.
5 a is formed to have a diameter sufficiently larger than the hole 13.

Thus, when joining the positioning pin 15 and the bracket 12, welding is performed by inserting the positioning pin 15 into the hole 13 of the bracket 12.
The positioning pin 15 and the bracket 12 are surface-grounded at the base 15a and are firmly joined. Also, the car body 3
Each of the deck cross member mounting portions 4 is provided with two positioning holes 5a and 5b, and the positioning pins 15 of the deck cross member 10 are used for the positioning holes 5a and 5b.
a, 5b (positioning hole 5 in FIG. 3).
b). Further, above and below the positioning holes 5a, 5b, the brackets 12, 12
Bolt holes 6a and 6b are provided at positions facing the bolt holes 14a and 14b. In addition, positioning hole 5
When it is not necessary to distinguish a and 5b from each other, they will be simply referred to as positioning holes 5 hereinafter.

Here, it is needless to say that only one such positioning hole 5 is required at a position corresponding to the positioning pin 15 of each deck cross member mounting portion 4, and therefore, two positioning holes 5a and 5b are provided. Alternatively, only one of them may be provided. The positioning hole 5 formed in one of the two deck cross member mounting portions 4 is slightly larger in diameter than the positioning pin 15 and is formed in a circular shape. The positioning hole 5 formed in the deck cross member mounting portion 4 is slightly larger in diameter than the positioning pin 15 and has an oval shape slightly longer in the lateral direction (vehicle width direction). A small error such as a manufacturing error of the instrument panel module 1 can be escaped. Of course, if the manufacturing accuracy is high, both positioning holes 5 may be circular. The annular recess 17 of the positioning pin 15 and the positioning hole 5 constitute a locking structure.

The instrument panel module 1 is temporarily held on the vehicle body 3 by inserting the positioning pins 15, 15 into the positioning holes 5 of the deck cross member mounting portions 4, 4. At least this insertion is performed. Of the deck cross member mounting portion 4
By moving to the position above or beyond the positioning hole 5, the locking structure composed of the positioning hole 5 and the annular concave portion 17 acts.

That is, during the assembly operation performed after the temporary holding, the instrument panel module 1 (deck cross member 1)
0) moves in the direction away from the deck cross member mounting portion 4 (the direction opposite to the arrow A shown in the figure), but at this time, the annular concave portion 17 of the positioning pin 15 and the deck cross member mounting portion 4 The positioning holes 5 are locked to prevent the instrument panel module 1 from falling off.

The instrument panel module 1
, The bolt holes 14a and 14b of the brackets 12 and 12 and the bolt holes 6a and 6b of the deck cross member mounting portion 4 are fastened with bolts, and the centering force 11a is attached to the vehicle body. The instrument panel module 1 is fixed to the vehicle body 3 by fastening to the floor of the vehicle 3 with bolts.

When the instrument panel module 1 is fixed to the vehicle body 3, not the positioning pins 15 but the bolts support the instrument panel module 1.
As described above, the steering shaft is attached to the deck cross member 10 of the instrument panel module 1 in advance. After assembling the instrument panel module 1 to the vehicle body 3, the lower end of the steering shaft is connected to a pinion portion of a steering gear box installed in the vehicle body 3.

However, the lower end of the steering shaft is
It is a structure that is inserted from above the steering gear box toward the axis of the pinion part, and if the steering shaft is attached to the deck cross member in advance, usually,
The lower end of the steering shaft cannot be arranged above the axis of the pinion part, and the lower end 22 of the steering shaft cannot be connected to the steering gear box.

Therefore, here, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the steering shaft 20 can be expanded and contracted in the axial direction, and
The structure is such that the position of the lower end 22 of 0 can be adjusted in the axial direction. That is, conventionally, the steering shaft has a structure that can be extended and contracted in the axial direction so as to buffer an impact on the steering handle when the vehicle body collides. It contracts only after receiving a large compressive load,
It could not be easily contracted by human power. Therefore,
Here, the steering shaft 20 is configured so that it can be easily expanded and contracted manually.

Therefore, when connecting the steering shaft 20 to the steering gear box, first, as shown in FIG. 5A, the operator contracts the steering shaft 20 and moves the lower end 22 of the steering shaft 20 to the steering position. It is arranged above the pinion portion 23 of the gear box, and thereafter,
While the operator extends the steering shaft 20,
As shown in FIG. 5B, the lower end 22 is connected to the pinion portion 2.
3 can be inserted. The steering shaft 20 is provided with a structure capable of absorbing a shock to the steering handle, in addition to the above-described telescopic structure.

Since the apparatus for assembling the instrument panel assembly according to one embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above, the instrument panel assembly as one embodiment of the present invention is executed in the following procedure. The instrument panel assembly is assembled by an assembling method (see FIGS. 1 to 5).

First, the instrument panel module 1 is attached to the assembling apparatus 100 from a not-shown instrument panel module outfitting line.
Is loaded, the instrument panel module 1 is mounted on the support member 110 of the assembling apparatus 100 via the mounting jig 1a. Then, the supporting unit 110 on which the instrument panel module 1 is mounted is moved by the synchronization unit (not shown) provided in the assembling apparatus 100 while the assembling apparatus 100 is synchronously moved with respect to the vehicle body 3 moving on the manufacturing line. It is moved in the line width direction from the door opening of the vehicle body 3 and enters the vehicle body 3 until it comes into contact with a stopper (not shown). Thereafter, the support member 110 is slightly lowered, and the rollers 111a, 111a attached to the lower surface of the support member 110 are brought into contact with the side sill flanges 3b, 3b of the vehicle body 3, and then the support member 110 is moved down. To move forward.

At this time, the position of the support member 110 in the vehicle width direction (line width direction) is regulated to a predetermined state by a stopper, and the vertical position thereof is regulated to a predetermined state by rollers 111a, 111a. Approximate positioning in the height direction is automatically performed. Therefore, when the instrument panel module 1 mounted on the support member 110 moves forward to a predetermined mounting position, the brackets 1 at both ends of the deck cross member 10 (instrument panel module 1).
The positioning pins 15 are automatically inserted into the positioning holes 5 of the deck cross member mounting portions 4 on the vehicle body 3 side. At this time, the positioning pin 15 is
Is inserted until it reaches the position of the positioning hole 5 of the deck cross member mounting portion 4 or gets over the positioning hole 5.

Then, the instrument panel module 1 is detached from the mounting jig 1a, and the instrument panel module 1 and the assembling device 1 are removed.
00 is set free, and the assembling device 100 is retracted from the vehicle body 3. At this time, the instrument panel module 1 is positioned via the positioning pins 15 at both ends of the deck cross member 10.
The temporary holding state supported by the vehicle body 3 results. As described above, once temporarily held, the annular concave portion 17 of the positioning pin 15 is locked in the positioning hole 5 of the deck cross member mounting portion 4, so that the instrument panel module 1 is in this temporarily held state.
However, it does not move largely or drop off from the vehicle body 3.

In this temporarily held state, the bolt holes 14a of the brackets 12 at both ends of the deck cross member 10 and the bolt holes 6a of the deck cross member mounting portions 4 provided on both sides in the vehicle body 3 are bolted. Similarly, the bolt holes 14b of the bracket 12 and the bolt holes 6b of the deck cross member mounting portion 4 are fastened with bolts. Furthermore, the instrument panel module 1 is fixed to the vehicle body 3 by bolting the centering force 11a to the vehicle body 3.

Therefore, the temporary holding of the instrument panel module 1 has an advantage that the operation of assembling the instrument panel module 1 can be performed efficiently in a stable state.
When the deck cross member 10 is fastened to the vehicle body 3 from the temporary holding state, the positioning pin 15 is moved from the state in which the annular concave portion 17 is locked in the positioning hole 5 to the state in which the cylindrical portion 18 is positioned in the positioning hole 5. Moves forward to fit into
Since the positioning pin 15 is provided with a tapered portion 19 whose diameter is smoothly increased toward the cylindrical portion 18 between the annular concave portion 17 and the cylindrical portion 18, the positioning pin 15 is smoothly advanced. In addition, there is an advantage that the fastening operation from the temporary holding can be performed smoothly.

Then, after that, the operator contracts the steering shaft 20 fixed to the instrument panel module 1 by human power to position the lower end 22 thereof above the pinion portion 23 of the steering gear box. 20, the lower end 22 is inserted into the pinion portion 23, and the assembly of the instrument panel module 1 to the vehicle body 3 is completed (see FIG. 5).

As described above, the steering shaft 20
By making it easier to expand and contract by human power,
While the steering shaft 20 is attached to the instrument panel module 1 in advance, the pinion portion 23 on the vehicle body 3 side is used.
There is also an advantage that connection can be made without any trouble. The method of assembling the instrument panel module according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications.

For example, in this embodiment, the positioning pin 1
5 is inserted into the hole 13 of the bracket 12 and welded to the bracket 12 from the back side.
2 is not provided with a hole, and the positioning pin 15 is
The structure may be such that the surface is directly welded. Further, in the present embodiment, the locking structure is constituted by the positioning hole 5 and the annular concave portion 17, but the structure for locking the positioning pin 15 in the positioning hole 5 is not limited to this. Even if a notch (recess) located at least below the outer periphery of the positioning pin 15 is provided instead of the recess 17, the notch is locked to the lower edge of the positioning hole 5 by the load of the instrument panel module 1. Is effective. Also, the positioning pin 15 is attached to the bracket 12 so as to face the front of the vehicle body when the deck cross member 10 is mounted.
Are projected in a substantially horizontal direction, but if the positioning pin 15 is locked in the positioning hole 5, for example,
By tilting the positioning pin 15 upward or downward, the bracket 1
2 may be provided.

[0040]

As described above in detail, according to the method of assembling the instrument panel module according to the first aspect of the present invention, the positioning pins at both ends of the deck cross member of the instrument panel module are attached to the vehicle body. The instrument panel module is temporarily held in the vehicle body by being inserted into the respective positioning holes drilled in the deck cross member mounting portions on the left and right sides, and furthermore, from the recess formed in the positioning pin and the positioning hole. Since the positioning pins are locked in the positioning holes by the locking structure, the instrument panel module in the temporary holding state will not be largely displaced or fall off from the vehicle body, so it will be stable. Has the advantage that the instrument panel module can be assembled efficiently. That.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view showing the configuration of an instrument panel module according to an embodiment of the present invention, as viewed from the direction of arrow X1 in FIG. 4 (where a deck cross member and a deck are shown). Only a part of the cross member mounting part is shown).

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view from a top view showing a structure of a positioning pin and a positioning hole of the instrument panel module according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration of a tightening portion of the instrument panel module according to one embodiment of the present invention, and shows a portion X2 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an instrument panel module assembling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front.

5A and 5B are diagrams for explaining a structure of a steering shaft previously mounted on an instrument panel module and a method of assembling the steering shaft to a vehicle body according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a state where the steering shaft is connected to a pinion portion of the steering gear box.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a method of assembling a conventional instrument panel assembly.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument panel module, instrument panel module 3 Body 4 Deck cross member mounting part 5, 5a, 5b Positioning hole 10 Deck cross member 12 Bracket (tightening part) 15 Positioning pin 17 Ring recess (recess)

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tomoyuki Terada 5-33-8 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Mitsubishi Motors Corporation F-term (reference) 3D114 AA04 BA20 CA07 EA11 EA17 FA16 GA06

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An assembling method for assembling an instrument panel module including a deck cross member, an instrument panel to be assembled to the deck cross member, and components to be assembled to the deck cross member, inside a vehicle body, Insert the respective positioning pins projecting from the fastening portions to the vehicle body formed at both ends of the deck cross member into the respective positioning holes formed in the respective deck cross member mounting portions on the left and right sides of the vehicle body. At the same time, the locking structure consisting of the recess formed in the positioning pin and the positioning hole prevents the instrument panel module from dropping out of the positioning hole and temporarily holds the instrument panel module on the vehicle body. The fastening portion of the deck cross member is fastened to the deck cross member mounting portion, and the instrument Characterized in that to fix the panel module,
How to assemble the instrument panel module.