JP2002120093A - Automatic welding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce an installation area of automatic welding equipment using a welding robot. SOLUTION: The equipment is constituted of a pair of front/rear positioners 4 to support a column member 2a to be freely rotated, a running carriage 6 to be freely run in a longitudinal direction of the column member 2a supported between the positioners 4 and a welding robot 7 arranged on the running carriage 6, a running route 22 of the running carriage 6 is arranged at one side of the column member 2a supported between and above the positioners 4. The welding robot 7 is constituted so as to weld for the column 2a supported by the positioners 4 from above. By this arrangement, a moving space S of the welding robot 7 is secured above between the positioners 4, a width Y of the automatic welding equipment 1 is reduced as compared to a conventional way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic welding equipment provided with a welding robot.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of automatic welding equipment,
For example, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, a prismatic columnar member 71 (workpiece) is supported by a pair of front and rear positioners 72 and 73.
In some cases, a welding robot 74 is used to perform girth welding on a plurality of portions of the column 71. Among them, the drive positioner 72 located at one of the front and rear is rotationally driven by the drive device 75, and the driven positioner 73 located at the other is freely rotatable.

[0003] The welding robot 74 is provided on a traveling carriage 76 that can travel in the longitudinal direction X of a column 71 supported between a pair of positioners 72 and 73. That is, the column member 7 supported by the pair of positioners 72 and 73
A traveling path 78 for the traveling carriage 76 is formed on a floor 77 on one side and below one. A pair of left and right traveling rails 79 are provided on the traveling path 78, and the traveling carriage 76 travels on the traveling path 78 while being supported and guided by the traveling rails 79.

The welding robot 74 is located on one side of a column 71 supported by a pair of positioners 72, 73, and has a robot body 80 provided on a traveling carriage 76.
A robot arm 81 provided on the robot main body 80 and capable of bending and rotation, and a welding torch 82 provided at the end of the robot arm 81.

According to this, after the column 71 is supported between the pair of positioners 72 and 73, the robot arm 81 is operated, and the upward surface of the column 71 is welded. Next, by rotating the driving positioner 72 by 90 ° by the driving device 75, the remaining three surfaces of the column 71 are sequentially turned upward, and the robot arm 81 is operated for each surface, and the upward surface of the column 71 is turned on. Are sequentially welded. When the column member 71 completes a round in this way, the circumferential welding at one location is completed.

Thereafter, the traveling carriage 76 travels on the traveling path 78 in the longitudinal direction X to the next welding position W,
The welding robot 74 moves to the next welding position W. The welding robot 74 performs girth welding at the next welding position W in the same manner as described above, and performs girth welding at a plurality of locations by automatically repeating a series of these operations.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventional type, as shown in FIG. 7, when the traveling carriage 76 travels on the traveling path 78, the entire welding robot 74 is moved between the pair of positioners 72, 73. In order to move one side of the supported pillar 71, it is necessary to secure a sufficient movement space S of the welding robot 74 on one side (left side or right side) between the pair of positioners 72, 73. is there. Therefore, the automatic welding equipment 83 including the moving space S
Is increased, and the installation area (occupied space) required for installing the automatic welding equipment 83 is increased.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic welding equipment capable of reducing the installation area.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic welding equipment according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a pair of support devices for rotatably supporting both ends of a workpiece and a support between the pair of support devices. A traveling vehicle that can travel in the longitudinal direction of the workpiece to be welded, and a welding robot provided on the traveling vehicle. One side and upward of the workpiece to be supported supported by the pair of support devices is provided. The traveling path of the traveling vehicle is arranged,
The welding robot is configured to be capable of welding from above to an object to be welded supported by a pair of support devices.

[0010] According to this, the work to be welded is supported and rotated between a pair of support devices, and a circumferential welding is performed from above on one location of the work to be welded by the welding robot. Thereafter, the traveling vehicle travels in the longitudinal direction on the traveling path to the next welding position, so that the welding robot moves to the next welding position. Then, the welding robot performs circumferential welding from above at the next welding position.

Since the traveling path is located above and to one side of the workpiece to be supported by the pair of supporting devices, the welding robot moves above the workpiece to be supported by the pair of supporting devices. . Accordingly, the moving space of the welding robot may be secured above the pair of support devices, and need not be secured on one side between the pair of support devices as in the related art. Therefore, the width of the automatic welding equipment can be smaller than before, and the installation area required for installing the automatic welding equipment can be reduced.

In the automatic welding equipment according to the second aspect of the present invention, a pair of other supporting devices for supporting another workpiece are provided next to a pair of supporting devices for supporting the workpiece, and the traveling path is
The welding robot is disposed above the workpiece supported by the pair of support devices and another workpiece supported by the pair of other support devices. And is configured to be weldable from above.

According to this, the traveling path is located above the workpiece supported between the pair of supporting devices and the other workpiece supported between the pair of other supporting devices. Is used in common for both objects to be welded, so that even when another pair of supporting devices is installed next to a pair of supporting devices, the width of the automatic welding equipment can be reduced, The installation area required for installing the automatic welding equipment can be reduced.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 1 denotes an automatic welding equipment used when performing circumferential welding on a plurality of locations of a cylindrical column member 2 a (an example of an object to be welded). A pair of front and rear positioners 4 and 5 (an example of a supporting device) for rotatably supporting the vehicle, and a traveling carriage 6 that can travel in the longitudinal direction X (front and rear direction) of the column member 2a supported between the positioners 4 and 5. And a welding robot 7 provided on the traveling carriage 6.

The drive positioner 4 located on one of the front and rear sides
Is a circular face plate 8 driven to rotate by a motor 9,
The fixed frame 10 supports the face plate 8. The fixed frame 10 is erected on a gantry 11 installed on the floor. The driven positioner 5 located on the other side of the front and rear is composed of a circular face plate 12 that is freely rotatable and a movable frame 13 that supports the face plate 12. In addition, a plurality of wheels 1 are provided below the movable frame 13.
The movable frame 13 is movable in the longitudinal direction X (front and rear direction) by rolling the wheels 14 on a pair of left and right rails 15 provided on the gantry 11. The distance between the face plate 8 and the face plate 12 of the driven positioner 5 can be changed. Also,
The movable frame 13 is configured to be locked to the rail 15 by lock means (a lock pin or the like) not shown.

Each of the face plates 8 and 12 of the positioners 4 and 5 is provided with a clamp 18 (holding device) for holding the column member 2a at four locations. still,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, each of the clamps 18 is guided by an interval adjusting rail 19 (or a ball screw or the like) and is configured to be movable in the radial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a traveling path 22 for the traveling carriage 6 is formed on one side and above one of the column members 2a supported by the pair of positioners 4 and 5. The traveling path 22 includes a rectangular tubular traveling frame 23 and a guide rail 24 that supports and guides the traveling vehicle 6 in the longitudinal direction X (front-back direction). The traveling frame 23
Are arranged in the front-rear direction, and are provided between upper portions of a pair of front and rear vertical columns 25 erected on one side of the gantry 11. The guide rails 24 are provided on both sides of the traveling frame 23.

The traveling vehicle 6 is provided with a plurality of linear guide bearings 27 fitted to the guide rails 24 and a drive device 28 for traveling the traveling vehicle 6.
The driving device 28 includes a pinion 30 meshing with a rack 29 provided on the traveling frame 23, and a pinion 30
And a motor 31 for rotationally driving the motor. still,
The motor 31 is mounted on the traveling carriage 6, the pinion 30 is attached to a rotating shaft of the motor 31, and the rack 29 is provided over the entire length of the traveling frame 23.

As shown in FIG. 1, the welding robot 7
Has a robot main body 32, a robot arm 33, and a welding torch 34 provided at the tip of the robot arm 33, and is capable of welding from above to the column 2a supported by the pair of positioners 4, 5. It is configured. The robot arm 33 is a multi-joint type composed of a plurality of arm bodies 33a to 33c flexibly connected via joints. The robot arm 33 can rotate freely about a vertical axis 35. 32.

At the front of the gantry 11, a wire pack 38 for storing wires 37 for transmitting electric power and control signals to the traveling trolley 6 and the welding robot 7 and the traveling trolley 6 and the welding robot 7 are controlled. A control panel 39 and a pump unit 40 for cooling the welding torch 34 are provided.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below.
When circumferential welding is performed on a plurality of portions of the column member 2a, first, one end of the column member 2a is sandwiched and held by the clamp 18 of the drive positioner 4, and the clamp 18 of the driven positioner 5 is held.
To hold the other end of the pillar 2a. As a result, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the column member 2a is a pair of front and rear positioners 4,5.
Supported in between.

At this time, as shown in FIG.
The distance between the clamps 18 can be made to correspond to the diagonal diameter of the column member 2a by moving the 8 along the interval adjusting rail 19. Also, as shown in FIG.
By moving the movable frame 13, the distance between the driving positioner 4 and the driven positioner 5 can be adjusted according to the length of the column member 2a.

After supporting the column member 2a between the pair of positioners 4 and 5 as described above, the traveling carriage 6 travels on the traveling path 22 to the welding position W in the longitudinal direction X (front-rear direction). The welding robot 7 reaches the welding position W together with the traveling vehicle 6. As shown in FIG. 5, the traveling vehicle 6 travels by rotating the pinion 30 with the motor 31. At this time, the traveling vehicle 6 is guided in the longitudinal direction X (front-rear direction) by the bearing device 27 and the guide rail 24. .

After the traveling carriage 6 stops at the welding position W, as shown in FIG. 1, each of the arm bodies 33a to 33c of the robot arm 33 bends from the joint and welds torch 34.
Is moved along the welding line, whereby the upward surface of the column member 2a is welded from above. Then, by rotating the face plate 8 of the drive positioner 4 by 90 ° by the motor 9, the remaining three surfaces of the column member 2a are sequentially turned upward, and the robot arm 33 is operated for each surface, and the column member 2a is turned upward. Are sequentially welded from above. Then, when the column member 2a makes one round, the circumferential welding at one place is completed.

Thereafter, the traveling vehicle 6 travels on the traveling path 22 to the next welding position W, so that the welding robot 7 reaches the next welding position W together with the traveling vehicle 6. Then, the welding robot 7 performs circumferential welding at the next welding position W in the same manner as described above, and performs circumferential welding at a plurality of locations of the column 2a by automatically repeating a series of these operations.

In the automatic welding operation as described above, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the traveling path 22 is located on one side and above one of the column members 2a supported by the pair of positioners 4 and 5, so that the welding robot 7 is connected to the column members supported by the positioners 4 and 5. Move above 2a. Thereby, the moving space S of the welding robot 7 may be secured above the pair of positioners 4 and 5, and one side (left side) between the pair of positioners 72 and 73 as in the related art (see FIG. 7). Or on the right). Therefore, the width Y of the automatic welding equipment 1 can be smaller than before, and the installation area required for installing the automatic welding equipment 1 can be reduced.

The pair of positioners 4 and 5, the traveling carriage 6, the welding robot 7, the traveling path 22, and the wire pack 3
8, control panel 39, pump unit 40, etc.
The automatic welding equipment 1 can be easily installed and removed because it is installed and installed on the upper part.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of positioners 4 and 5, the gantry 11, the control panel 39, and the pump unit 40 are assumed to be one unit A. In the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, another unit B having the same configuration is installed next to one side of the one unit A. That is, the column member 2a is supported between the pair of positioners 4 and 5 of one unit A, and the pair of positioners 4 and 5 of the other unit B (corresponding to another supporting device).
Another column member 2b (corresponding to another workpiece) is supported therebetween.

The traveling path 22 includes a column 2a supported by a pair of positioners 4 and 5 of one unit A and another column 2b supported by a pair of positioners 4 and 5 of the other unit B. It is located above and between.

According to this, the column 2a is supported between the pair of positioners 4 and 5 of one unit A, and the other column 2b is supported between the pair of positioners 4 and 5 of the other unit B. When the column member 2a of one unit A is to be welded, the robot arm 33 horizontally rotates to one side around the vertical axis 35 as shown by the solid line in FIG.
It is located above the pillar 2a of one unit A. Then, the column material 2a is rotated every 90 ° to perform circumferential welding by the welding robot 7, and the traveling carriage 6 is further moved along the traveling path 22.
By traveling above, the welding robot 7 performs circumferential welding at a plurality of welding positions W.

When welding the column member 2b of the other unit B, the robot arm 33 horizontally rotates about the longitudinal axis 35 to the other side, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. Is located above the column member 2b of the unit B. Then, the column material 2b is rotated every 90 ° to perform circumferential welding by the welding robot 7, and further, the traveling carriage 6 is
2, the welding robot 7 performs circumferential welding at a plurality of welding positions W.

As described above, the traveling path 22 is formed by the two pillars 2.
Since it is commonly used for a and 2b, the width Y of the automatic welding equipment 1 can be reduced even when the other unit B is installed next to one unit A.
In addition, since the traveling carriage 6 traveling on the traveling path 22 and the welding robot 7 are commonly used for both the pillars 2a and 2b, the cost can be reduced.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the columnar member 2 (column) in the form of a square tube has been described as an example of the work to be welded. However, a cylindrical columnar member 2 or the like may be used. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

In each of the above embodiments, as shown in FIG. 5, the traveling vehicle 6 is supported and guided by the guide rail 24 via the linear guide bearing device 27 when traveling on the traveling path 22. , Instead of the bearing device 27,
A plurality of guide rollers may be provided on the traveling vehicle 6 so as to be supported and guided by the guide rail 24 via these guide rollers.

In each of the above embodiments, the traveling carriage 6 is run by rotating the pinion 30 meshed with the rack 29 by the motor 31.
Instead of the pinion 30 and the traveling wheel 23, traveling wheels that roll on the traveling frame 23 may be provided on the traveling truck 6, and the traveling wheels 6 may be driven by rotating the traveling wheels with the motor 31.

In each of the above embodiments, the gantry 11 is installed on the floor, and the running frame 23 is provided at the upper end of the vertical support 25 erected on the gantry 11, but the lower end of the support suspended from the ceiling side is provided. The traveling frame 23 may be provided on the vehicle to be suspended from the ceiling.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the traveling path is located on one side and above one of the workpieces supported by the pair of supporting devices, the welding robot is supported by the pair of supporting devices. Move above the welded object. Accordingly, the moving space of the welding robot may be secured above the pair of support devices, and need not be secured on one side between the pair of support devices as in the related art. Therefore, the width of the automatic welding equipment can be smaller than before, and the installation area required for installing the automatic welding equipment can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic welding equipment according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the automatic welding equipment.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view of the automatic welding equipment.

FIG. 4 is a view as viewed in the direction of arrows ZZ in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged front view of a traveling cart and a traveling path of the automatic welding equipment.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the automatic welding equipment according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a conventional automatic welding equipment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the same automatic welding equipment.

9 is a view as viewed in the direction of arrows ZZ in FIG. 7.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic welding equipment 2a Column material (piece to be welded) 2b Other pillar material (other pieces to be welded) 4,5 Positioner (supporting device) 6 Traveling trolley 7 Welding robot 22 Running path X Longitudinal direction

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor, Kanemitsu Kusano 1-7-89, Minamikohoku, Suminoe-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Hitachi Zosen Corporation (72) Koji Yasuda 1-chome, Minamikohoku, Suminoe-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 7-89 Hitachi Zosen Corporation (72) Inventor Kaoru Matsumura 1-7-89 Minami Kohoku, Suminoe-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka F-term in Hitachi Zosen Corporation 3F060 AA05 CA06 CA21 CA23 DA03 DA10 EA01 EB02 EB13 FA05 GA05 GA13 GB12 GB19 GB22

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of supporting devices for rotatably supporting both ends of a workpiece, a traveling bogie that can travel in a longitudinal direction of the workpiece supported between the pair of supporting devices, and The traveling path of the traveling carriage is arranged on one side and above one of the objects to be welded supported by the pair of supporting devices, and the welding robot includes a pair of supporting devices. An automatic welding facility configured to be weldable from above to a supported work piece. 2. A pair of other supporting devices for supporting another workpiece is provided next to a pair of supporting devices for supporting the workpiece, and a traveling path is supported by the pair of supporting devices. The welding robot is disposed above the workpiece and another workpiece supported by the pair of other support devices, and the welding robot is configured to be capable of welding to the workpieces from above. The automatic welding equipment according to claim 1, wherein: