JP2003026400A - Assist supporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold a work in an arbitrary attitude. SOLUTION: A ball 25 is rotatably supported at the bottom 22 of a body part 4, and the ball 25 is integrated with a movable part 5 by a shaft 28. A joy stick switch 30 is fitted to ball 25. The movable part 5 is rockably hung and supported on the body part 4, and rocked by assist drive of a driving motor PID-controlled by a control device. When a work is mounted on the movable part 54, and manually pushed to change in its attitude arbitrarily, the change amount of the ball 25 rotated according to the change is detected by the joy stick switch 30 and sent to the control device, the movable part 5 is assist-driven under the PID control, and when the change is stopped in a designated attitude, the attitude is held as it is.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assist support device for facilitating work of handling a work by changing a relatively heavy work into an arbitrary posture and holding the posture arbitrarily.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As such a device, a main body and a movable part which is swingably supported by the main body are supported, and a work and a movable part are desired with the work fixed to the movable part. In addition to the manual movement in the direction, the drive motor provided in the main body assists the movable part in the moving direction to change the posture of the workpiece, and when the desired posture is reached, the drive motor switch is turned off. It is conceivable that the device is configured so as to maintain a predetermined posture.

[0003]

By the way, in the structure of the above-mentioned assist support device, the switch of the drive motor must be turned off each time the work is changed to an arbitrary posture and the posture is to be held. Temporarily ON
If it remains as it is, when you release your hand from the work, the work will change its posture by itself due to its own weight, in the direction that balances with the center of gravity
This is because the drive motor assists this change. However, O for the switch of such a drive motor
The N / OFF switching operation becomes difficult because one hand must be released while supporting the work. In particular, it becomes more difficult when handling a heavy work piece that needs to be supported by both hands. Therefore, it is desired to realize an assist support device which can eliminate such an ON / OFF switching operation for the switch of the drive motor and can maintain the same posture even when the hand is released in any posture. Therefore, the present invention aims to realize such a request.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an assist support device according to the present invention comprises a main body part, a movable part which is suspended and supported so as to be swingable with respect to the main body part, and a work is supported by the movable part. Swing detecting means for detecting the movement of the movable portion when the posture of the movable portion is manually changed, and the movable portion is assisted or stopped at an arbitrary swing position based on the information detected by the swing detecting means. A movable part driving means for changing the work supported by the above into a predetermined posture and holding the work in the predetermined posture, and drivingly controlling the movable part drive means by PID control.

At this time, the movable part is integrated with the ball, and the ball is rotatably supported by the main body so that the movable part is swingably supported by the main body.
A joystick switch for detecting the amount of displacement of the ball may be used as the swing detecting means.

The PID control is a proportional operation (P),
This is a control method for performing a combined operation of the three operations of the integral operation (I) and the differential operation (D), and PID control itself is known.

[0007]

When the posture of the work attached to the movable part is changed, when the work is manually pushed in a desired direction, the movable part swings together with the work, and the swing detecting means detects this change. The movable portion driving means is PID-controlled based on the detection detection information of. Therefore, the movable portion driving means assists the movable portion in the pushing direction of the work when the work is pushed to change the posture of the work. When the work has a predetermined posture, the movement of the work is stopped by pressing the work with a hand to stop the swing of the movable part. Then, the PID control causes the movable portion driving means to stop the swinging of the movable portion at the stopped position, and holds the posture of the work as it is.

Therefore, even if the hand is released at a stage where the work is changed to a predetermined posture, the work is held in the posture as it is, and one hand is released to hold the posture each time, and the work of the drive motor is stopped. There is no need to turn the switch on and off. Therefore, the posture control of the work is facilitated, and the work efficiency of handling the work is improved.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an assist support device according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the method of use, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the main body in principle, and FIG. 4 is a posture control motor. And FIG. 5 is a view showing a part of the joystick switch.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the assist support device 1 includes a main body portion 4 supported at the tip of an articulated arm 3 extending from a support base 2 provided at a high place in a work space.
A movable part 5 that is movably connected to the main body part 4 is provided, and a support arm 6 and a clamp 7 that are integrally coupled to the movable part 5 make it possible to use a work made of a heavy object such as a motorcycle engine. 8 is fixed. This work 8 is
It can be assembled by being moved to the body frame 9 while being supported by the assist support device 1 and being changed to an arbitrary posture.

The movable portion 5 drives a posture control motor, which will be described later, housed in a motor box 10 supported by the support base 2 to rotate in the forward or reverse direction to rotate it in any direction via the wire cable 11. And can be swung at any angle. Therefore, when the worker manually pushes the work 8, the posture can be changed by assisting driving in this direction. If the work 8 is stopped in any posture, the posture can be maintained as it is by the PID control described later.

From the motor box 10 to the articulated arm 3
A wire cable 11 routed along is connected to the movable part 5 through the body part 4. A signal line 12 extending from a joystick switch (described later) provided in the main body 4 together with the wire cable 11 is also wired,
It is connected to the control device 13.

The control device 13 is arranged as a unit at an appropriate position of the support base 2, and the inside thereof has an AD converter 14,
Sequencer 15, DA converter 16, single-layer power regulator 1
7, a relay 18, a spark killer surge suppressor 19 and the like, and the drive of the attitude control motor is controlled by PID control.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the attitude control motors 20 are provided as a pair, and each of them is responsible for driving in either of the XY2 directions which are orthogonal to each other, and performs normal rotation or reverse rotation. A wire cable 11 is wound around each pulley 21 which is a rotation output part of each attitude control motor 20, and these wire cables 11 are arranged on a diagonal line of the movable part 5 when viewed from above in FIG. Both ends are movable parts 5
It is connected to the diagonal position of.

Therefore, when each attitude control motor 20 rotates in the normal direction or the reverse direction, the movable portion 5 tilts in the X and Y directions by raising one of the diagonal points and lowering the other. For example, on both sides in each of the XY directions, the side that tilts and rises when the posture control motor 20 rotates normally is the + direction, and the side that tilts and rises when the posture control motor 20 reverses the opposite direction is −.
As for the direction, by combining the rotation directions of the respective attitude control motors 20, it is possible to incline in the +-direction in each of the XY directions, and by controlling the rotation amount of each of the attitude control motors 20, the movable portion 5 can be set arbitrarily. Can be swung in any direction at any angle.

Further, if a force exceeding a preset reference torque (described later) of each attitude control motor 20 is applied to the work 8, even if the attitude control motor 20 is rotationally locked, the work 8 will win. The movable portion 5 can be swung in any direction, and the assist drive of the attitude control motor 20 is started by this manual operation. FIG. 2 explains this manual operation, and it is possible to swing an arbitrary amount in an arbitrary direction. It is also possible to rotate the main body 4 about the axis by 360 °. Note that FIG. 2 merely shows the operation schematically, and the detailed structure does not necessarily correspond to other drawings.

As shown in FIG. 3, the main body 4 has a bottomed cylindrical shape, and an annular sloped wall 24 is provided inside the main body 4 so as to surround an opening 23 provided at the center of the bottom 22 thereof. The inner surface of the annular slanted wall is a slanted surface that opens outward in the upward direction in the drawing, and the balls 25 are spherically supported by bearings 26 through the bearings 26, so that universal movement is supported. The inner wall surface 27 that surrounds the opening 23 of the bottom portion 22 is also an inclined surface that opens outward toward the lower side in the drawing.

A shaft 28 extends downward from the ball 25, extends outward from the opening 23, and is integrally connected to the central portion of the movable portion 5. Therefore, the movable part 5 has the shaft 28
Is suspended and supported by the main body 4 via the ball 25
Is spherically supported by the main body portion 4, the movable portion 5 can rotate 360 ° around the axis of the shaft 28 and can swing about the center point O of the ball 25.

A joystick switch 30 is provided above the ball 25. The joystick switch 30 includes a switch body 31 and a joystick 32. The lower end of the joystick 32 forms a spherical portion 33, which is a small-diameter tubular portion 3 integrated with the top of the ball 25.
4 is supported spherically inside and universally supported (FIG. 5). The center of the switch main body 31 is located on the center line C which is a perpendicular line passing through the center point O of the ball 25, and the upper end of the joystick 32 extends into the center line C. The upper end and the switch main body 31 are provided inside. The joystick switch 30 is constituted by the contact points.

In the joystick 32, since the ball 25 is integrally rotated by the swing of the movable portion 5, the position of the small-diameter cylindrical portion 34 integrated with the ball 25 is changed, and as a result, the small-diameter cylindrical portion 3 is moved.
The spherical portion 33 at the lower end moving together with the ball 2
5 is rocked according to the rotation, and the rocking angle is proportional to the rocking angle of the movable portion 5, and the rocking direction is also the same as that of the movable portion 5. The joystick switch 30 functions similarly to a kind of potentiometer and can detect the displacement amount and the swing direction which are the swing angle of the joystick 32. This is a detection signal of the displacement amount by the swing of the movable part 5. Is input to the control device 13.

The control device 13 will now be described in detail. First, the AD converter 14 converts the detection signal of the joystick switch 30 into a digital signal, and the sequencer 1
Send to 5. The sequencer 15 detects the swing amount and direction of the movable portion 5 based on the output signal of the AD converter 14, and the PID
A predetermined PID signal corresponding to the displacement of the movable portion 5 is created by control, converted into an analog signal by the DA converter 16 and input to the single-layer power regulator 17.

The single-layer power regulator 17 includes an attitude control motor 20.
In (1), the amount of electric power required to obtain the required torque is adjusted to supply appropriate power from the relay 18 to the attitude control motor 20, and the attitude control motor 20 is driven based on the PID signal. The attitude control motor 20 is set with a reference torque to be generated according to the weight of the work 8, and the reference torque is automatically calculated by inputting the weight of the work 8 to the sequencer 15 in advance.

As a result, the posture control motor 20 drives the work 8 with a torque equal to or higher than the reference torque to assist the manual operation to control the posture of the work piece 8. You can lock the rotation. Further, if the work side is pushed with a force larger than the reference torque, the rotation lock of the posture control motor 20 is released and the posture control motor 20 is manually rotated, so that this change is detected and the control device 13 is detected.
Is input to.

The sequencer 15 has its PID control
When the movable portion 5 swings, the change in the displacement amount is output as an integral operation as a deviation. Therefore, as long as the deviation is detected, the posture control motor 20 is assist-driven in the direction of displacement, and the work 8 is pressed by hand to reach a predetermined position. When stopped, the deviation disappears, so the assist drive is stopped at that position and the rotation is locked, so that the posture is maintained in that state.
After that, to change the posture again, the work 8 is pushed with a force stronger than the reference torque, and the assist drive is restarted.

As described above, according to the apparatus of the present application, the work 8 can be changed to a desired posture by the assist drive, and the load on the operator can be reduced even when the posture of the heavy work 8 is changed. Moreover, since the PID control is adopted, the posture can be maintained as it is if the work 8 is set in an arbitrary posture and the hand is released. Therefore, the work 8
Is not required to be supported by hand for maintaining the posture, and the ON / OFF operation of the switch of the drive motor is not required each time, so that the posture control of the work 8 becomes extremely easy. As a result, necessary work such as an operation for connecting the work 8 to the vehicle body frame 9 can be performed with both hands, and the assembling work can be facilitated and made more efficient. This is particularly effective when the work 8 is a heavy object such as a vehicle engine.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the inner wall surface 27 surrounding the opening 23 of the bottom portion 22 is formed as an inclined surface which is open downward toward the lower side, whereby the swing angle of the shaft 28 can be increased and the movable portion can be moved. 5 can be swung more greatly. Further, if a bearing support structure similar to that of the lower bearing 26 is adopted also on the upper half side of the ball 25 in FIG.
It becomes possible to further reduce the required torque of, and energy saving can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a method of use.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the main body in principle.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a control motor.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a part of a joystick switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: support device, 4: body part, 5: movable part, 8: work,
11: Wire cable, 20: Drive motor, 25: Ball, 30: Joystick switch

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takahisa Sonoda             1500 Hirakawa, Otsu-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto             Inside the Kumamoto Factory of TAGIKEN Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An assist support device in which a work is suspended and supported so that the posture of the work can be freely controlled in order to facilitate handling of the work. A movable portion supporting the movable portion, a swing detecting means for detecting the swing of the movable portion, and assist driving or stopping the movable portion at an arbitrary swing position based on information detected by the swing detecting means. And a movable part drive means for changing the work supported by the movable part to a predetermined posture and holding the work in the predetermined posture, and driving control of the movable part drive means by PID control. Support device. 2. The movable portion is supported by a main body through an integrated ball, the ball is rotatably supported with respect to the main body, and the swing detecting means is a displacement amount of the ball. The assist support device according to claim 1, which is a joystick switch for detecting a.