JP2001219322A - Assembling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an assembling device capable of assembling with high reliability even with a small number of products, applicable to an increase in production amount, and suitable for use at the start of manufacture of new products. SOLUTION: A work assembling process is divided into a part feed process suitable for manual operation and a part assembling process suitable for a robot operation. A part feed station 2 including manual operation is connected to a part assembling station 3 by robot operation through a transfer means 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assembling apparatus for continuously assembling a product such as a magnetic cartridge or the like in which various parts are sequentially assembled to a case thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when a new product is developed, and it is actually produced and sold, it is required to change the production amount in accordance with the sales amount of the product. First, when the production quantity is small during the start-up process of a new product or the like, it is common practice to manually assemble all parts manually. However, in this assembly by the operator, by supplying and assembling the parts at the same time, you may forget to assemble the necessary parts, assemble extra parts, or leave the parts dropped in the product In addition, quality errors due to human errors such as deformation of parts due to errors in the assembling work may occur, and reliability may be impaired. Also, due to the occurrence of a tact difference due to individual differences in work speed, an increase in work time due to redo, etc., the assembly time of one product varies, and there is a possibility that a planned quantity of products will not be assembled within the planned time. Further, there is a problem that manufacturing costs increase due to an increase in labor costs.

On the other hand, when an assembly robot is employed and the parts are supplied to the robot by a fully-automated assembling apparatus, the parts supply apparatus has a mechanism suitable for transporting parts of a specific shape. Is adopted, the equipment cost is large, and it is complicated to cope with a change in the product shape. By the way, in the fully-automated assembling apparatus, most of the troubles that cause the operation rate to decrease are caused by defective component supply due to a component clogging in the component supply device by an automated parts feeder or the like. In addition, when the product itself becomes obsolete and the sales volume is reduced and the production volume is reduced, the operation of some facilities is stopped, and the supply device for supplying parts of a specific shape as described above is a dedicated device. Diversion to other assembly equipment is also difficult and will result in disposal.

[0004]

As described above, in both the assembly by a manual operation and the assembly by a fully automatic apparatus, the production start-up of a new product which lacks adaptability to the fluctuation of the production amount and the fluctuation of the production amount is difficult to predict. There is a problem in terms of efficiency when applied to processes and the like.

That is, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective products due to mistakes in the assembling work by human work, thereby improving the reliability of the products, eliminating the decrease in the operation rate caused by troubles caused by the automatic parts supply, and further improving the marketability. There is a demand for a production facility which can easily follow up with the demand and increase the facilities in a stepwise manner in response to an increase in demand, and which can be diverted when the production volume decreases.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and enables highly reliable assembling even with a small production quantity, is adaptable to an increase in production quantity, and is used in a process of starting up a new product. It is intended to provide an assembling apparatus suitable for performing the above.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided an assembling apparatus which supplies parts and sequentially assembles a work at each station of an assembling line connected by conveying means. Is divided into a parts supply process suitable for human work and a parts assembly process suitable for robot work, and the parts supply station including human work and the parts assembling station by robot work are connected. It is.

It is preferable that the parts are set at a predetermined position on a pallet at the parts supply station, the pallets are transferred to a parts assembling station by a transfer means, and the parts are mounted on the pallets.

In response to the increase or decrease in the production amount, it is preferable to increase or decrease the amount of human work at the parts supply station, and to increase or decrease the number of robots at the parts assembly station in units of cells. At this time, it is preferable that when the production amount increases at the parts supply station, a part of the parts is set on a pallet by a robot while reducing the work load of a person. When the production volume increases at the parts assembling station, it is preferable to divide the parts assembling step, install a robot in each step, and transport the pallets in order.

It is preferable that the whole or a part of the pallet and the part holding portion of the robot are installed so as to be exchangeable according to a change in the part shape. Further, it is preferable that the arrangement formation of the robot can be changed so that the procedure of component assembly can be changed.
It is preferable that the assembly line is formed in a loop shape or a straight shape, and is capable of coping with the addition of equipment. The robot is provided with a general-purpose robot having multiple functions.

The pallet and the part holding part of the robot are installed so as to be exchangeable according to the change of the part shape, and the part depending on the part shape is reduced as much as possible, thereby increasing the conversion rate.

[0012]

According to the present invention as described above, the assembling process is divided into a component supply process suitable for human work and a component assembling process suitable for robot work. By connecting to the parts assembly station by work, it is possible to increase the reliability of the product by performing reliable assembling by the robot, which is easy to make mistakes in assembly by manual work, and to block parts in the automatic parts supply to the robot. It is easy to stop the assembly line due to troubles such as troublesome parts supply by human work can improve the reduction of the operation rate, furthermore, it is easy to gradually increase the equipment in response to fluctuations in production volume, The reduction of dedicated parts allows the equipment to be diverted.

When parts are supplied to the pallet and the parts are assembled on the pallet, the work efficiency and reliability of the parts supply are high, and the operating range of the robot is narrowed, so that the installation space can be narrowed. This is advantageous in terms of expansion of equipment. Further, it is possible to reduce a portion depending on the part shape as much as possible, thereby improving the conversion rate of the equipment and reducing the equipment cost.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an assembling apparatus according to one embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a component assembling station, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a pallet.

The assembling apparatus 1 has an assembling line formed in a loop, and a parts supply station 2 and a parts assembling station 3 are connected by a conveying means 4 by a roller conveyor 41. The process of assembling a work (for example, a magnetic tape cartridge) by the assembling apparatus 1 is divided into a component supply process suitable for a manual operation and a component assembling process suitable for a robot operation. Then, the part assembling station 3 is performed by a robot operation.

At the part supply station 2, all parts of the work are set at predetermined positions on a pallet 5, and the pallet 5 is transferred to a parts assembling station 3 by a transfer means 4, and the parts are assembled on the pallet 5. Do. For example, when the work is a magnetic tape cartridge, after assembling seven small parts to a lower case on which a reel is set, the upper case is assembled.

Pallet 5 for holding parts of the work
As shown in FIG. 3, a first holding portion 51 for holding the lower case 6 which is a main component upward, and a second holding portion 52 for holding the upper case 7 downward with respect to the base plate 50.
And third to eighth holding parts 53 to 58 for holding fine internal parts (not shown) to be assembled inside, and one holding part holds two parts, so that seven internal parts are provided. It is provided to hold. The first holding unit 51
Is provided with three positioning blocks 51a for positioning the two side surfaces of the lower case 6, and pressing members 51b for pressing the corners toward the positioning blocks 51a by the biasing force of a built-in spring. A recess 51c into which a robot hand can be inserted when gripping a case for carrying out
Are formed. The second holding part 52 includes seven positioning blocks 52 for positioning the four side surfaces of the upper case 7.
a, and concave portions 52c into which the robot hand can be inserted when gripping the case are formed on the bottom surfaces of both sides. further,
Each of the third to eighth holding portions 53 to 58 is configured such that a jig having a concave portion or a convex portion for holding each internal component is detachably attached to the base plate 50.

At the part supply station 2, the conveyor 41 for placing the pallet 5 in front of the worker 8 and transporting the pallet 5 in the horizontal direction is installed, and the work table 21 is installed before and after. The work table 21 is provided with five component boxes 22 for accommodating each internal component in the front and two on the left and right in the front, and operation switches on the front. Further, a container 24 containing the upper case 7 indicated by a chain line is carried in above the conveyor 41 in the carry-out direction, and the lower case 6 is carried in by the carrying conveyor 25 on the opposite side. Further, a forgetting prevention sensor (not shown) is provided to detect an operation of taking out a component, and to display a warning or the like at the time of forgetting.

The operator 8 sequentially sets the lower case 6, the upper case 7 and the internal parts on the pallet 5 stopped at a predetermined position, and confirms that all the parts have been set.
By operating the operation switch 23, the pallet 5 is transported to the next step.

In the part assembling station 3, two robots R1 and R2 are arranged side by side on the conveyor 41, and the first robot R1 assembles five internal parts to the pallet 5 conveyed. The second robot R2, to which the pallet 5 is transported next, assembles the remaining two internal parts, and assembles the work assembled with the lower case 6 with the upper case 7 over the lower case 6. , And lift it, and transfer it to the conveyor 31 for the next process such as a screw tightening machine.

Each of the robots R1 and R2 is a general-purpose robot having multiple axes and multiple joints. The tip chuck portion of the robot hand is provided with a structure (not shown) for positioning and holding each component, and holds a plurality of components. Or by having a plurality of chucks, etc.
Five parts are moved by the robot R1 while two parts are centered and held by the second robot R2, and the parts are sequentially assembled at predetermined positions of the lower case 6 based on detection of various sensors according to a preset operation. Also, the second robot R
2 is provided with a case holding chuck portion and a case holding portion, and holds and covers the upper case 7 on the lower case 6 after assembling the internal components. It is provided so as to open and hold the whole work again together with the lower case 6 to carry out the unloading operation. The pallet 5 from which the work has been carried out is transferred to the component supply station 2 by the transfer means 4 and each component is set again.

In the assembling apparatus 1 as described above, in response to the increase or decrease in the production amount, the work load of the person is increased or decreased at the part supply station 2, and the number of robots is increased or decreased at the part assembling station 3 in cell units. Corresponding (specifically,
In order to cope with this, in order to cope with this, a robot or the like is installed in the transfer means 4 in the middle of the assembly line, for example, on the upstream side of the first robot R1 or the downstream side of the second robot R2. It is provided with a margin in advance as much as possible. When the form of the part is changed, the jigs of the holding parts 53 to 58 of the pallet 5 are replaced to provide the changed part so that the part can be positioned and held.
The configuration of the chuck portions of the robots R1 and R2 is changed and exchanged so that the changed parts can be positioned and held.

FIGS. 4 to 6 show an assembling apparatus 10 according to another embodiment, in which an assembling line is formed in a straight line. Also, the setting is made so that the assembling ability is high and the line tact becomes short as the state changes from FIG. 4 to FIG. 5 and FIG.

In the assembling apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the production amount is small in FIG. 4, the component supply step is performed at the component supply station 2 by one worker 8, and the component assembling step is one. Is carried out at a component assembling station 3 by a robot R1. The two stations 2, 3 are connected by a transport means 4 by a linear roller conveyor 42.

The component supply station 2 includes a component box 22 for storing each internal component and a container 2 for storing the upper case 7.
4. A pallet 5 provided with a conveyor 25 into which the lower case 6 is carried in and configured in the same manner as in the previous example (see FIG. 3).
Then, all parts of the work are set at predetermined positions by manual operation. One robot R1 in the component assembly station 3 to which the pallet 5 is transported,
The above is for performing all the assembly of the parts, and is provided so as to cover the upper case 7 and carry it out.

In the assembly line of FIG. 4, the line tact is set to, for example, 40 seconds for one work. The assembly process of the robot R1 takes 40 seconds for each work, and the component supply process by manual operation is performed. It takes 16 seconds for one work, and there is room for this part supply process.

FIG. 5 shows a case where the production amount is increased. The component supply process is performed at the component supply station 2 by one worker 8, and the assembly process is performed by two robots R arranged side by side.
1 and R2, and the two stations 2 and 3 are connected by a conveying means 4 by a linear roller conveyor 42.

Similarly, the component supply station 2 is provided with a component box 22 for accommodating each internal component, a container 24 for accommodating the upper case 7, and a conveyor 25 for carrying the lower case 6 therein.
Is provided, and all parts of the work are set at predetermined positions on the pallet 5 by manual operation. The first robot R1 in the component assembling station 3 is for assembling five internal components, and the second robot R2 is provided so as to assemble two internal components and cover the upper case 7 to carry out.

In the assembly line of FIG. 5, the line tact is set to, for example, 20 seconds for one work, and the assembling process of the first robot R1 and the second robot R2 takes 16 seconds for each work. In this case, a part supply process by a manual operation takes 16 seconds for one work, and both processes have the same processing capacity. The embodiment of FIG. 1 is set to the same line tact as this embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a case where the production amount is further increased. In the parts supply process, one worker 8 and one robot R
0, and the assembling process is performed at a component assembling station 3 by three robots R1 to R3 arranged side by side, and both stations 2 and 3 are transported by a linear roller conveyor 42. Are connected by

The component supply station 2 sets seven internal components on the pallet 5 by manual operation, and sets the lower case 6 and the upper case 7 by one robot R0. A parts box 22 containing each internal part is installed in the human work part, and a container 24 containing the upper case 7 is placed in the tray changer 2 for the parts supply robot R0.
6 and the lower case 6 is carried in by the conveyor 25. In the part assembling station 3, the first robot R1 assembles four internal parts, the second robot R2 assembles two internal parts, and the third robot R3 assembles one internal part and covers the upper case 7. It is provided to carry out.

In the assembly line shown in FIG. 6, the line tact is set to, for example, 12 seconds for one work, and the parts supply process by manual operation is 10 times for one work.
It takes seconds, the component supply process by the component supply robot R0 takes 6 seconds per work, the assembly process of the first robot R takes 11 seconds per work, and the assembly process of the second robot R takes 1 work per work. It takes 6 seconds, and the assembling process of the third robot R is set to take 12 seconds for each work, thereby reducing the amount of work of a person.

As described above, in response to an increase or decrease in the amount of production,
The part supply station 2 is adapted by increasing or decreasing the amount of work performed by a person, and the part assembling station 3 is adapted by increasing or decreasing the number of robots in cell units.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the assembling process is divided and the robots corresponding to the respective processes are installed. Alternatively, all the parts can be assembled in the same manner as in FIG. Although a plurality of robots may be installed, it is more advantageous to divide the equipment cost due to simplification of the robot configuration and the like.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the component supply station 2 mainly performs a component supply process suitable for human work by the worker 8, and the component assembling station 3
Performs parts assembling process suitable for robot work, and performs efficient and stable work in each process to achieve highly reliable assembly and improvement of operation rate. Equipment can be easily added step by step by adding robots. In addition, by minimizing the part that depends on the part shape, the number of dedicated parts such as an automatic part supply device can be reduced, and the conversion rate of the equipment can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an assembling apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the component assembling station 3 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of a pallet.

FIG. 4 is a plan layout view of an assembling apparatus according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same plane in a state where the production amount is increased in FIG. 5;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the same plane in a state where the production amount of FIG. 5 is further increased.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,10 Assembly equipment 2 Parts supply station 3 Parts assembling station 4 Transport means 5 Pallet 6 Lower case 7 Upper case 8 Worker 22 Parts box 51-58 Holder R1-R3 Robot

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An assembling apparatus which supplies parts and sequentially assembles a work at each station of an assembly line connected by a conveying means, wherein the assembling process is a part supplying process suitable for a human operation and a part suitable for a robot operation. An assembling apparatus, wherein the assembling apparatus is divided into an assembling step, and a parts supply station including a human operation and a parts assembling station by a robot operation are connected. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the parts are set at predetermined positions on a pallet at the parts supply station, the pallets are transferred to the parts assembling station by a transfer means, and the parts are assembled on the pallets. Item 2. The assembly device according to Item 1.