JP2001001159A - Supply device for bolt to welding electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely and with high precision combine long size parts to a base plate, and to surely supply a bolt to the receiving hole of an electrode even when the supply place of the bolt is faraway by making the base plate moving back and forth in the direction almost orthogonally crossing an axial line of the electrode a basic member, and providing a holding member of the bolt and its drive means on the base plate. SOLUTION: A holding member 18 is mounted on a base plate 9 moving back and forth in the direction orthogonally crossing an axial line 10 of an electrode so that the holding member 18 can move back and forth in the same direction as the axial line 10 of the electrode, and a drive means 24 of the holding member 18 is mounted on the base plate 9. A recessed part 29 housing one part of a bolt is formed on the holding member 18, the holding means of the bolt and a sending-out means sending the bolt to a receiving hole 6 of an electrode 4, are provided to the recessed part 29, and a restraining means 7 of the bolt entered the receiving hole 6 is provided on the electrode 4. When the bolt is held in the recessed part 29 and a piston rod 17 is pushed out, the base plate 9 advances to the right and it stops in a place where a shaft part 2 of the bolt coincides with the axial line 10 of the electrode, the holding member 18 is lowered, and the shaft part 2 of the bolt is inserted into the receiving hole 6 of the electrode 4 and is supplied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As in projection welding, a pair of electrodes are arranged on one axis, and a projection bolt is supplied to a receiving hole of the electrode. The present invention belongs to such a technical field.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a prior art of the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-2
No. 20,676 is cited. The technology disclosed herein is to supply a projection bolt to a receiving hole of an electrode, advance a supply rod obliquely to an electrode axis, and receive the bolt after the bolt coincides with the electrode axis. It is inserted into the hole.

[0003]

With the technique described above, it is not possible to supply a bolt from a direction perpendicular to the axis of the electrode. In particular, when the distance to the electrode is long, the above-described method is structurally insufficient. For example, in the case of large parts such as automobile floor panels. When welding the projection bolt to the center of this part, the projection bolt must reach from the width direction of the vehicle body to the center. Therefore, if the supply is performed from an oblique direction as in the above-described prior art, a space in the up-down direction is required, and it cannot be adopted where the welding robot is congested.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been provided to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is a device which moves back and forth in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of an electrode. An operating substrate is provided, a bolt holding member is attached to the substrate in such a manner that the holding member can advance and retreat in the same direction as the axis of the electrode, and a driving means for moving the holding member forward and backward is installed on the substrate. A recess for accommodating the bolt, a recess holding means and a sending means for forcibly sending the bolt into the receiving hole of the electrode are provided, and the electrode is provided with a locking means for the bolt entering the receiving hole. It is characterized by having. Therefore, when the substrate is advanced and the bolt held in the recess becomes coaxial with the axis of the electrode, the advance of the substrate is stopped. Then, the holding member moves by the operation of the driving means, and a part of the bolt is moved into the electrode receiving hole. Then, the bolt is forcibly fed into the receiving hole by the sending means. Then, the bolt in the receiving hole is held by the locking means. Thereafter, the substrate returns to the original position by an operation reverse to the above operation.

[0005] A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the substrate is installed in a posture substantially parallel to the axis of the electrode. Therefore, the operability in the same direction as the electrode axis can be obtained by installing the holding member and its driving means along the upright posture of the substrate.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The bolt here is shown in Fig. 4.
The projection bolt 1 is made of an iron and includes a shaft portion 2 and a circular flange 3. The projections for welding formed on the flange 3 are not shown.
The movable electrode 4 and the fixed electrode 5 are arranged coaxially, and the movable electrode 4 is not shown, but is advanced and retracted by an air cylinder. A receiving hole 6 is formed at the center of the movable electrode 4, and a magnet 7 serving as a locking means is attached at the back of the receiving hole 6. Further, the steel plate part 8 is brought into close contact with the fixed electrode 5 by a support jig (not shown).

The substrate 9 is a flat member made of a thick stainless steel plate, and is disposed in a posture parallel to the axis 10 of the electrode. Two guide rods 13, 13 pass through the block 12 in a state of being parallel to the block 12 firmly fixed to the stationary member 11. The guide rods 13, 13 are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the electrode axis 10,
The block 12 is slidable. One end of each of the guide rods 13 is connected to the substrate 9, and the other end is connected to the connection plate 14. The air cylinder 15 is fixed to the stationary member 11 via support members 16, 16, and its piston rod 17 passes through the block 12 and is connected to the substrate 9. When the piston rod 17 of the air cylinder advances and retreats, the substrate 9 also advances and retreats, and at this time, smooth advance and retreat is obtained by the guide rod 13.

The holding member 18 is provided on the substrate 9 with the electrode axis 10.
It is installed so that it can move forward and backward in a state parallel to. For this purpose, a slide mechanism 19 is provided. Referring to FIG. 3, a fixed slider 20 arranged parallel to the electrode axis 10 is coupled to the substrate 9 by bolts 21. A movable slider 22 is arranged in a state in which the fixed slider 20 matches the fixed slider 20. The holding member 18 is connected to the movable slider 22. The support members 18 are supported by the two sliders 20 and 22 having the concave and convex portions 23 for preventing coming off. By such a slide mechanism 19, the movable slider 22 and the holding member 18 can be integrally moved and reciprocated in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG.

Various means such as an electromagnetic solenoid and an electric motor can be used as the driving means 24 for moving the holding member 18 forward and backward. Here, the case of an air cylinder 25 is shown. The air cylinder 25 is connected to the substrate 9 via a support piece 26, and the piston rod 2 of the air cylinder is
7 is fixed to the holding member 18. Piston rod 2
7, the stroke direction is the same as the electrode axis 10, and the piston rod 27 is connected to the projection 2 of the holding member 18 as shown in FIG.
8 In FIG. 1, the holding member 18 and the electrode axis 10 are close to each other, but this is due to space limitations.
There is an interval of 500 mm.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a concave portion of the holding member 18. As shown in FIG. The concave portion 29 is a circular hole that is open downward, and accommodates a part of the bolt 1 and the shaft portion 2 protrudes as illustrated. In order to prevent the bolt 1 from dropping, a holding means is provided in the concave portion 29, in which the magnets 30, 30 are embedded. Alternatively, it may be sucked with vacuum. Further, insertion means for forcibly sending the bolt 1 into the receiving hole 6 of the electrode is provided in the recess 29. This may be the impact of an electromagnetic solenoid, but here, a method of extruding with compressed air is employed.
That is, an air port 31 is opened at the back of the concave portion 29, an air passage 32 communicates with the air port 31, and an air hose 33 is connected to the holding member 18 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 1.

The method of feeding the bolt 1 into the recess 29 may be a conventional one, which is shown in FIG. That is, it extends from a parts feeder (not shown).
The supply pipe 34 is fixed to the stationary member 11, and the bolt 1 that has been conveyed by air is fed into the recess 29. In addition, illustration of the air hose connected to each air cylinder is omitted.

The operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG.
The bolt 1 is held in the recess 29 with the air cylinder 15 most retracted. Here, when the piston rod 17 is pushed out, the substrate 9 advances to the right and stops when the shaft 2 of the bolt coincides with the electrode axis 10. Then, the air cylinder 25 is operated to lower the holding member 18, whereby the shaft 2 is inserted into the receiving hole 6 of the electrode. Thereafter, when air is blown out from the air port 31, the flange 3 is forcibly separated from the magnet 30, enters the receiving hole 6, is sucked by the magnet 7, and the supply of the bolt 1 to the electrode is performed. Complete. then. The piston rod 17 is retracted by the air cylinder 15, the movable electrode 4 raises the bolt 1, and the flange 3 is pushed by the steel plate part 8, and the electric current is applied.
The projection welding is completed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the electrode axis 10 is oriented in the up and down direction. However, if the electrode axis 10 is oriented horizontally and the bolt 1 is sent upward from the holding member 18, it falls within the scope of the concept of the present invention. I have.

[0014]

According to the present invention, a substrate is provided which moves back and forth in a direction substantially perpendicular to the electrode axis, and the holding member and its driving means are provided using this substrate as a basic member.
Necessary equipment can be equipped well. In particular, since the substrate is arranged in a posture substantially parallel to the electrode axis, it is easy to set the mounting posture of the holding member and the driving means with respect to the electrode axis. Furthermore, since the base member is the center of the board, even if the bolt supply point is far away, a long guide rod or air cylinder etc. should be firmly attached to the board with high precision. The connection can be performed, and the bolt can be reliably supplied to the receiving hole of the electrode, which is the target location.

Since the holding member depends on the substrate, a structure such as a slide mechanism can be reliably installed on the holding member. Similarly, the driving means of the holding member can also exert a reasonably stable forward and backward function.

As described above, the present invention has advantageous effects which are not found in the supply rod from an oblique direction. That is, when a bolt is supplied to a distant portion from an oblique direction, the space in the up-down direction becomes large, which is not practical.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of a substrate.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line (3)-(3) of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial vertical sectional side view showing a concave portion of the holding member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4, 5 electrode 10 electrode axis 9 substrate 1 bolt 18 holding member 24 driving means 29 concave part 30 holding means 6 receiving holes 31, 32 insertion means 7 locking means

Claims (2)

[Claims] A substrate is provided which moves back and forth in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of an electrode, and a holding member for a bolt is attached to the substrate so as to be able to move in the same direction as the axis of the electrode to move the holding member forward and backward. Is mounted on the substrate, the holding member is formed with a recess for accommodating a part of the bolt, and the recess is provided with a holding means for the bolt and a sending means for forcibly sending the bolt into the receiving hole of the electrode. And a bolt supplying device for the welding electrode, wherein the electrode is provided with means for locking a bolt that has entered the receiving hole. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is installed in a posture substantially parallel to the axis of the electrode.