JP2003181728A - Equipment for automatically assembling component - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide equipment that automatically assembles components with reduced human errors while assembling components. <P>SOLUTION: Equipment is composed of a component storing shelf 3 for sorting and storing assembling components 2 and screws 6 used for the assembly, at least one automatically assembling tool 4 for assembling with screws 6 the components 2, which are picked up from the shelf 3, and a design data processing means 7 that compares the assembling components 2 and screws 6 that are used for the assembly with the data registered in the memory in advance and verifies whether the types and numbers of these components 2 and screws 6 are appropriate. By this structure the types and numbers of the components 2 to be assembled and the screws 6 used for assembling the components 2 are automatically checked against component data read from the drawing so that it does not require tasks for visually confirming the types and numbers of the screws 6 used for the assembly and that a significant reduction of human errors can be achieved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic component assembling apparatus for assembling components such as electronic equipment casings and electronic components using an automatic assembly tool such as an electric auto-feed driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, many electric and electronic devices have electric and electronic parts mounted in a case made of sheet metal by screwing, and many different kinds of screws are used to fix the parts. In addition, the assembly work is performed by using an automatic assembly tool such as an electric auto-feed driver in order to increase the efficiency of the assembly work.

FIG. 13 shows an example of assembling a housing g using an automatic assembly tool a. The automatic assembly tool a is a supply pipe d connecting a tool body b and a feeder c and a tool body b and a feeder c. When a predetermined screw f is inserted into the storage box e in the feeder c, the screws f are pneumatically supplied one by one to the tool body b through the supply pipe d. .

An operator holding the tool body b inserts a screw f protruding from the tip of the tool body b into a screw hole h formed in a housing g and screwing the screw f with the tool body b, thereby Similarly, when the body g is assembled and a component (not shown) is assembled in the assembled housing g, the screw f is screwed by the tool body b into the screw hole h formed in the housing g. , Parts are attached to the housing g at predetermined positions.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional mounting method, before assembling the housing g and the parts, the assembly drawing is used.
Since the type and number of parts and screws f to be used are selected, and the type and number of screws to be used at the time of work are checked and put into the feeder c, the selection and confirmation work of parts and screws f etc. can be done visually. It is a work, and there is a problem that human error is likely to occur.

Further, if it is found that there are mistakes in the type and number of the screws f used for screwing after the assembly, it is necessary to remove the parts once and reassemble them with the correct screws f. It requires a lot of man-hours for repair work, resulting in poor productivity.If mistakes are found in the product stage, more man-hours are needed for repair work, and some products may be defective. There are also problems such as.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and by automatically checking the parts to be assembled, the types of screws used in the assembly, the number of screws, etc., human error during assembly is made. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic component assembling apparatus with reduced number of components.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an automatic parts assembly apparatus of the present invention uses an automatic assembly tool to which screws are automatically supplied, so that a housing of electronic equipment or an electronic part can be obtained. It is an automatic parts assembly device for assembling the parts of the parts, and a parts storage shelf that divides and stores the parts to be assembled and the screws used for the assembly, and at least one automatic device that assembles the parts picked from the parts storage shelf with the screws. It is composed of an assembly tool and a design data processing means for comparing the parts and screws used for assembly with the data registered in the memory in advance and checking whether the type and number of the parts and screws are appropriate. .

With the above structure, the parts to be assembled and the types and the number of screws used for assembling the parts are compared with the data that is fetched from the design drawing and registered in the memory of the design data processing means, and the parts and screws are identified. Since it is checked whether it is correct, there is no need to look at the assembly drawing before assembling the parts, select the parts and screw types to be used, and visually check the screw types used during assembly. As a result, it is possible to significantly reduce human errors and also to reduce correction work such as correction of mistakes found after assembly, thereby improving productivity.

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic component assembly apparatus of the present invention counts the number of screws used for assembly and an indicator light for displaying a check result between the automatic assembly tool and the design data processing means. There is provided a part name display instructing means having a counter for displaying and an alarm for notifying the completion of assembly.

According to the above construction, an indicator light indicates to the operator that wrong parts or screws are supplied to the assembly table or the automatic assembly tool during the assembly work. Since the number of screws used is displayed on the counter, even if there are many screwing points, there is less concern that you will forget to stop the screws, and the alarm will inform you that assembly has been completed, so move to the next work block. Can be done smoothly.

In order to achieve the above object, the automatic parts assembly apparatus of the present invention is provided with a parts name display means for displaying the names of the parts used for assembly between the parts name display instruction means and the parts storage shelf. is there.

With the above construction, the names of the parts to be assembled next can be known in advance, so that assembly mistakes are reduced and work efficiency is improved.

In order to achieve the above object, the component automatic assembly apparatus of the present invention is provided with an indicator lamp for indicating a storage position of a component to be assembled next, on each of the component storage shelves.

With the above construction, the parts can be picked easily and accurately according to the assembly order.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic structure of an automatic parts assembling apparatus. In the vicinity of a workbench 1, a parts accommodating shelf 3 for accommodating parts 2 and an automatic assembling tool 4 composed of an electric auto-feed driver are provided. Parts 2 temporarily assembled on the workbench 1
By using an automatic assembling tool 4 and screwing, the housing 5 is assembled, and electronic parts and the like are assembled in the housing 5.

A parts storage shelf 3 installed near the workbench 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of shelves 3b are provided in a case 3a whose front surface is open.
The shelf 3b is provided with an indicator light 3c for indicating the distribution position of the components 2 that are stored separately for each type.
By lighting c, the operator is notified of the parts 2 to be used next in the order of assembly.

The automatic assembly tool 4 comprises a tool body 4a composed of an electric screwdriver and a screw 6 used when assembling the parts 2.
Which are housed by type, and which are pneumatically supplied to the tool body 4a via the supply pipe 4c by a feeder 4b. The screw 6 supplied to the tool body 4a is
Is projected from the tip of the.

On the other hand, FIG. 3 is an overall block diagram of the automatic component assembly apparatus, in which, for example, four automatic assembly tools 4 prepared for each type of screw 6 used for assembly are installed near the assembly table 1. There is.

Each automatic assembly tool 4 is connected to a part name display instruction means 8 controlled by a design data processing means 7 composed of a personal computer.

As shown in FIG. 4, the part name display instructing means 8 counts the number of parts 2 to be assembled and the number of screws 6 used for assembling the parts 2 and displays the number.
b, an indicator lamp 8a that lights up to inform the operator when the number of the components 2 and the screws 6 counted by the counter 8b is proper, and an alarm device 8 such as a buzzer that informs the operator of the completion of the assembly process by sound.
c and a power switch 8d are provided on the front surface, and are also connected to the component housing shelf 3 and the component name display means 9.

As shown in FIG. 5, the parts name display means 9 is provided with a plurality of LCD (liquid crystal) panels 9a for displaying the names of the parts 2 currently assembled in real time. By looking at 9a,
Next, the component 2 to be assembled can be confirmed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the design data processing means 7 connected to the component name display instruction means 8 by the communication cable 10 uses the design component data shown in FIG. 7 to identify the component name of the component 2 required for assembly. The type of screws, the number of screws 6 required for assembly, etc. are selected, processed into component data, and sent to the component name display instruction means 9 via the communication cable 10. As shown in FIG. CPU7a and CPU7
It is composed of an input I / O unit 7b, an output I / O unit 7c, a memory I / O 7d, a communication unit 7e and a power unit 7f connected to a.

The CPU 7a has the functions shown in FIG. 9, that is, a design data set function 7g and a driver selection function 7
h, screw number confirmation function 7j, part name data set function 7
k, a component picking display function 7m is incorporated in advance by a program to control each means 3, 8 and 9 shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the thus-configured automatic component assembly apparatus will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS.

First, when starting the work, design data set is performed according to the flow chart shown in FIG.

As the design data set, the product data shown in FIG. 7 is read into the design data processing means 7 shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 in step S1 of the flowchart, and registered in the memory of the design data processing means 7 in step 2.

After that, in step S3, the data is divided into sections (by the assembly process). In step S4, the divided data is subdivided into the types of screws 6, the number of screws, the part names, and the parts shelves. Then, the flow ends.

Since the automatic assembly tool 4 to be used changes depending on the type of screw to be used, the driver selection flow shown in FIG. 10B is executed.

In step S5 of this flow, the type of screw is classified from the design data created in the design data set, and in step S6 the automatic assembly tool 4 to be used is classified from the design data.

Since the shape of the screw mounting portion of the automatic assembly tool 4 differs depending on the screw used, the automatic assembly tool 4 used depends on the type of the screw 6.

For this reason, after the addresses are added to the respective automatic assembling tools 4 for division in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, and the parts 2 are divided into blocks according to the order of assembling work, and the flow is ended.

When the preparation for assembling the parts is completed as described above, the assembling work of the parts 2 is started.

To assemble the component 2, the component 2 previously stored in the component storage shelf 3 for each work block is picked up and conveyed to the assembly table 1, and the assembly is started by using the automatic assembly tool 4. The tightening torque of 4a, the number of screws 6 to be used, the data of the component 2 to be used and the picking of the component 2 are monitored according to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 11A is a flow chart for monitoring the tightening torque of the screw 6. In step S9, the number of screws 6 used for each work block is read and registered in the memory of the design data processing means 7 in step S10. To do.

Thereafter, in step S11, the tightening torque of the tool body 4a tightening the screw 6 is monitored, and in step S12, the number of the screws 6 tightened by the tool body 4a from the torque-up signal sent from the tool body 4a and the memory. The component data registered in advance is read and the two are compared.

If the two are the same, the alarm device 8c of the part name display instructing means 8 is sounded to notify the operator that the work in the work block is completed, and the next work block is proceeded to. To continue to work.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not all the work in the work block has been completed. If not completed, the process returns to step S11 to repeat the above operation, and if the work in all work blocks is completed, the step is completed. In step S15, a work end indicator lamp (not shown) provided in the design data processing unit 7 is turned on to notify the operator that all the work has been completed, and then the flow ends.

During the assembly work of the component 2, the number of screws 6 used for assembling the component 2 is confirmed by the flowchart shown in FIG. 11B and displayed on the counter 8b of the component name display instruction means 8. It

The screws 6 used for assembling are housed in the feeder 4b of the automatic assembling tool 4 for each type, and are supplied to the tool body 4a via the supply pipe 4c by pneumatic pressure. The tightening torque of the tightened screw 6 is sent to the design data processing means 7 via the part name display instruction means 8.

In step S16 of the flowchart for confirming the number of screws shown in FIG. 11B, the number of screws 6 used for each work block is read, and the data of the number of screws 6 is registered in the memory in step S17.

In step S18, the number of screws 6 is monitored based on the tightening torque sent from the tool body 4a, and is compared with the previously registered screw number data in step S19.

When it is determined in step S20 that they are the same, the process is moved to the next work block and the work is continued.

In step S21, it is determined whether or not all the work in the work block has been completed. If not completed, the process returns to step S18 to repeat the above operation, and if completed, the flow is ended.

On the other hand, the flow chart shown in FIG. 12A shows the data such as the name of the component 2 being assembled on the component name display means 9. In step S22, the component data is read for each work block, and the step After the component data is registered in the memory in S23, the tightening torque sent from the tool body 4a assembling each work block is monitored in step S24.

In step S25, the component data to be used is displayed on the display portion 9a of the component name display means 9, and in step S26, the proper tightening torque of the screw 6 that is being tightened is read from the memory registered in advance. Compare both.

If both are the same or are within the allowable range, the process proceeds to the next work block to continue the work, and in step S28 whether all the works of the work block are finished or not is checked. If it is determined that it has not been completed, the process returns to step S24 to repeat the above operation,
When it is finished, the flow is finished.

FIG. 12B is a flow chart showing the picking data of the component 2 picked from the component storage shelf 3. In step S29, the component data is read for each work block, and in step S30, the picking component data is stored in the memory. After registration, the tightening torque sent from the tool body 4a that is assembling each work block is monitored in step S31.

In step S32, the component 2 to be picked
Is displayed by turning on the indicator light 3c provided on the front surface of the shelf 3b of the component storage shelf 3, the step S33 displays the part picking data and the part picking data registered in advance in the memory. Is read and the two are compared.

Then, the process proceeds to step S34, and if both are the same, the process moves to the next work block to continue the work, and it is judged in step S35 whether all the work in the work block have been completed, and the work must be completed. If step S31
The operation is returned to and the above operation is repeated, and when the operation is ended, the flow is ended.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention, the parts to be assembled and the type and number of screws used for assembling the parts are fetched from the design drawing and registered in the memory of the design data processing means. It is automatically checked whether the parts and screws are correct by comparing with the above.Before assembling the parts, look at the assembly drawing, select the type of parts and screws to use, and select the screws to be used during assembly. This eliminates the need to visually check the types of products, which can significantly reduce human error, and also reduce the correction work such as correcting mistakes found after assembly, thus improving productivity. improves.

Further, between the automatic assembling tool and the design data processing means, there are an indicator light for displaying a check result, a counter for counting and displaying the number of screws used for assembling, and an alarm for notifying the completion of the assembling. Since the part name display instructing means having the above is provided, the operator is notified by the indicator light when the wrong parts or screws are supplied to the assembly table or the automatic assembly tool during the assembly work. In addition to being able to prevent it, the number of screws used for assembly is displayed on the counter.Therefore, even if there are many screw-fastening points, you do not have to worry about forgetting to stop the screws and the alarm device informs you that the assembly is complete. The transition to the work block can be done smoothly.

Further, since the part name display means for displaying the name of the part used for assembly is provided between the part name display instruction means and the part storage shelf, the name of the part to be assembled next can be grasped in advance. In addition to reducing mistakes, work efficiency is also improved, and because each shelf of the parts storage shelf is provided with an indicator light that indicates the storage position of the next component to be assembled, parts can be picked easily and accurately according to the assembly order. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a basic structure of an automatic component assembly apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a component storage shelf which constitutes the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic component assembly apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a component name display instructing means that constitutes the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a part name display means that constitutes the part automatic assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a design data processing unit and a component name display instructing unit that constitute the automatic component assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a table showing design component data created by a design data processing unit that constitutes the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an internal structure of design data processing means that constitutes the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a function of a design data processing unit that constitutes the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

10 (a) and 10 (b) are operation explanatory views showing the operation of the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

11 (a) and 11 (b) are operation explanatory views showing the operation of the automatic component assembly apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

12 (a) and 12 (b) are operation explanatory views showing the operation of the component automatic assembly apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional automatic component assembly apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 parts 3 parts storage shelves 3b shelf 3c indicator light 4 Automatic assembly tools 6 screws 7 Design data processing means 8 Parts name display instruction means 8a Indicator light 8b counter 8c alarm 9 Parts name display means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A parts automatic assembly apparatus for assembling a housing such as an electronic device or a part such as an electronic part by using an automatic assembly tool to which a screw is automatically supplied, which is used for a part to be assembled or an assembly. A component storage shelf that divides and stores the screws to be stored, at least one automatic assembly tool that assembles the components picked from the component storage shelf with the screws, and the components and screws used for assembly in advance in a memory. An automatic component assembly apparatus comprising: design data processing means for checking whether or not the type and number of parts and screws are appropriate as compared with the data registered in. 2. An indicator light for displaying a check result, a counter for counting and displaying the number of screws used for assembly, and a notification of completion of assembly between the automatic assembly tool and the design data processing means. 2. The parts automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a parts name display instruction means having an alarm device. 3. The parts automatic assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a parts name display means for displaying names of parts used for assembly between the parts name display instruction means and the parts storage shelf. . 4. The automatic component assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the component storage shelves is provided with an indicator light indicating a storage position of a component to be assembled next.