JP2006036033A - Assembling method of axle module and its device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a module assembling method capable of preventing generation of unexpected stress on other members such as a leaf spring in an axle module assembling process when an axle member is placed in a regular position on a working base, not the reverse side, and the leaf spring is attached. <P>SOLUTION: Before fastening a U bolt for attaching the leaf spring in the state that the axle member is placed on the working base, a pin penetrating attachment holes of right and left leaf springs to a vehicle body is inserted. Thereby, even when the leaf spring and the axle member are joined before the leaf spring and the vehicle body frame are joined, unnecessary stress is not applied to the leaf spring. The pin is pulled out before the axle module is mounted on the vehicle body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention is used in a vehicle assembly factory. The present invention relates to a method for assembling an axle module, which is a main part of a vehicle, and an apparatus used in the assembling process. The present invention is used in a process of assembling a vehicle, particularly in a process of attaching a leaf spring to an axle member. The present invention is one of the inventions associated with omitting a large-scale process for vertically turning a vehicle body frame to which an axle module is attached, which is conventionally performed in a vehicle manufacturing process.

  The present invention relates to a prior application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-66516, PCT / JP2004 / 003135, both of which are unpublished at the time of filing of the present application, the title of the present invention “vehicle assembling method and assembly plant”, hereinafter simply “ This is an invention related to the "prior application"). The present invention has been experimentally implemented in the working process of the form disclosed in this prior application, but is not limited to the process disclosed in this prior application, and can be widely implemented in the vehicle manufacturing process.

  Conventionally, in the process of attaching an axle module to a vehicle body frame, a method of performing work by turning the vehicle body frame upside down once has become widespread. In other words, the body frame is turned upside down (with the body mounting side down) and placed in the work area, and the axle module that is originally located below the frame is suspended from the upper side of the body frame. The process is assembled so as to perform the mounting operation in a state where it is placed on the machine. This is because when the body frame is in the normal position (the body mounting side is up and the axle mounting side is down), the distance between the body frame and the floor surface becomes small, and the operator can One of the main reasons is that it is difficult to access. For this reason, in the conventional vehicle assembly process, after the axle module is attached to the vehicle body frame, the vehicle body frame is once lifted high by a large-scale device including a crane device, and then rotated 180 degrees around the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body frame. In addition, it is necessary to suspend the body frame from the process position.

Edited and published by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan “Automotive Technology Handbook” Volume 4 Volume, Production / Quality / Maintenance, published on September 1, 1991, especially on pages 283-286.

  For this purpose, the factory that assembles the vehicle requires a large crane or similar mechanical device in order to be able to lift the body frame completely and to reverse it while holding it firmly in space. is there. And large-scale machinery for this purpose must be designed to be compatible with the largest standard vehicles that can be manufactured in the factory. For this reason, the conventional vehicle assembly line requires an extremely large ceiling space in order to accommodate the large-scale mechanical device above the vehicle assembly line, which increases the scale of the factory building itself.

  The specification of the prior application discloses a method and an apparatus for assembling a vehicle on a rotary assembly table, instead of moving the vehicle to be assembled on a linear production line. That is, a work mode is described in which the vehicles being assembled are placed one by one (or a small number of vehicles) on a disk-shaped table, and the assembly operation is performed while slowly rotating the table. This disk-like rotary assembly base rotates, for example, several tens of minutes. In the meantime, modules necessary for vehicle assembly are supplied one after another from the peripheral preparation area set radially toward the center of the rotary assembly table. Then, when the rotary assembly table has just made one revolution, the vehicle is completed to a state where it can run on its own, and the driver gets into the vehicle, starts the engine, runs on its own, and leaves the rotary assembly table.

  By adopting the vehicle assembly process disclosed in the previous application, it is possible to reduce the scale of the mass production assembly factory, thereby reducing the quantity of work in progress and reducing the time spent in the factory as work in progress. It is understood that the interest rate associated with automobile assembly can be made economical. This new vehicle assembly process is particularly advantageous when the specifications of the vehicle being assembled are not uniform. In this new vehicle assembly process, the crane device disposed in the space above the assembly work place is limited to a simple device sufficient to carry in necessary modules individually, and the vehicle frame itself is lifted and reversed. It has been recognized that it is not appropriate to install a large-scale device for this purpose.

  For this reason, it was considered to assemble the axle module in place on the workbench (not upside down position). As described above, in the conventional construction method, the vehicle body frame is turned over at the work position, the axle module is mounted thereon, and then the entire vehicle body frame is reversed. Therefore, in the stage of assembling the conventional axle module, the procedure is to attach the leaf spring to the body frame and then attach the axle member. However, when the axle module is assembled in the normal position, the upper member will be supplied later. (I) After attaching the leaf spring to the axle member, (ii)・ The procedure is to install the spring.

  As a result, it has been experienced that the attachment form of the leaf spring to the axle member may not necessarily be optimal when it is attached to the vehicle body frame in a later process. For example, (a) two leaf springs each bowed may not be in two planes parallel to each other. This occurs because the leaf spring is attached in the center and the end of the leaf spring is open. (B) Even if a pair of leaf springs are in two parallel planes, the height of the front end of one leaf spring may be different from the height of the front end of the other leaf spring. possible.

  These disadvantages do not occur in the process sequence in which the leaf spring is first attached to the vehicle body frame and the axle member is then tightened with the U-bolt by the conventional method.

  The above problem (a) or (b) may occur in the process of tightening the leaf spring to the axle member using the U bolt, or may occur in the stage of transferring the unit after the tightening. If the subsequent process is executed in this state, unexpected stress stress may be accumulated in the leaf spring or the axle member. Further, the problem (a) or (b) is related to the skill level and ability of the worker, and even a highly skilled worker needs extra man-hours to avoid such a problem. Will be.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a very simple construction method that can avoid such disadvantages. That is, according to the present invention, the parallelism of the pair of leaf springs is maintained even if the process is set so that the leaf spring is attached to the axle member before the end of the leaf spring is attached to the vehicle body or the frame. Another object of the present invention is to provide a construction method capable of avoiding the attachment positions of the pair of leaf springs to the vehicle body becoming staggered.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for eliminating the need for a large-scale mechanical device provided for lifting a vehicle frame once in a space and turning it upside down in the space as conventionally used in a vehicle assembly process. The purpose is to provide. An object of the present invention is to simplify and economicalize the vehicle assembly process. An object of the present invention is to reduce the number of work steps in the process of mounting an axle module on a vehicle body frame. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an axle module assembling process and an apparatus therefor that can uniformly cope with a vehicle model having a part of the specification. It is an object of the present invention to reduce the time during which work-in-process items stay in the vehicle assembly process and to make the vehicle assembly cost more economical. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle assembly method and apparatus suitable for carrying out the invention disclosed in the above-mentioned prior application.

  The first aspect of the present invention is a method for assembling an axle module, the step of placing one axle member (13) in a normal position on a workbench (1), and a pair of left and right leaves on the workbench (1). A step of placing the spring (11) so as to be orthogonal to the axle member (13) and a U-bolt (12) spanned between the pair of leaf springs (11). ) Each of the pair of leaf springs (11) provided to the left and right sides of the vehicle body prior to the tightening step. The method includes a step of inserting a single pin (6) penetrating the attachment hole (8) together. In the structure in which a plurality of attachment holes (8) to the vehicle body (or vehicle body frame) are provided in each leaf spring (11), so as to penetrate the corresponding left and right attachment holes (8) of each leaf spring, respectively. It is desirable to insert a plurality of pins (6). The numbers in the parentheses are reference numbers for the embodiment drawings to be described later. This is provided to facilitate understanding of the configuration of the invention, and is not intended to limit the configuration of the invention to this embodiment.

  With this configuration, when the pair of leaf springs (11) are fastened to the axle member (13) by the U bolt (12), the pair of leaf springs (11) are in a parallel state, and the U bolt (12) As a result, the individual leaf springs (11) are not newly distorted.

  The pin (6) is removed from the axle module when the U-bolt tightening process is complete. This pin (6) is reused. That is, the pin (6) according to the present invention is a single tool and is not added to the product. This pin (6) itself is a general product. The pin (6) is preferably made of metal. This may be a rod or a tube. A stopper can be provided at the end.

  In the most standard design, each leaf spring (11) has two mounting holes (8), one for each so that it can be inserted through the corresponding mounting hole for each leaf spring. The two pins (6) are penetrated so as to be parallel to each other.

  In the method of the present invention, as the work table (1), a work table having a structure for supporting the pins or leaf springs so that the plurality of pins are parallel when the U bolt is tightened may be used. desirable.

  The above “normal position” means that it is not reversed as described in the conventional method. In other words, it means that the vehicle is placed so that the completed vehicle and the vertical relationship thereof are equal. The “prior to the tightening step” may be after the U bolt (12) has already been temporarily tightened and before the final tightening is performed. The axle member (13) is a single component, and a form in which a pair of leaf springs (11) are assembled to the axle member (13) by U-bolts (12) is referred to as an axle module.

  A second aspect of the present invention is a work-in-progress product of an axle module, which includes one axle member (13) and a pair of leafs arranged so as to be orthogonal to the left and right of the axle member (13). In an in-process product of an axle module comprising a spring (11) and a plurality of U bolts (12) for fastening the pair of leaf springs (11) to the axle member (13), the axle module is A pin (6) that penetrates through the corresponding holes in the left and right of the mounting holes (8) to the vehicle body provided in the pair of leaf springs (11) before being attached to the vehicle body (or vehicle body frame). ) Is provided. As described above, when the axle module is attached to the vehicle body frame in a later process, the pin (6) is removed from the work-in-process product of the axle module.

  By assembling the axle module according to the method of the present invention, the relative position between the axle member and the leaf spring is stably and correctly held when the U bolt is tightened. Unexpected stress is not applied to leaf springs. Even after the U-bolt is tightened or attached to the vehicle body, the stress is not held by any member.

  By assembling the axle module using the method of the present invention or the apparatus of the present invention, the axle module is completed in the normal position on the workbench. be able to. Accordingly, there is no need to perform the work of lifting the vehicle body frame in the air and reversing it after assembling the axle module as in the case of using the conventional method or apparatus. As a result, the factory facilities can be made extremely economical, such as the fact that the ceiling space of the factory can be set small and no large-scale facilities are required. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform vehicle assembly by an economical and rational method using a rotary assembly table.

(Example)
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view for explaining the outline of the construction method of the embodiment of the present invention and the apparatus used therefor. In the embodiment of the present invention, the axle member 13 and the leaf spring 11 are placed at the normal position of the work table 1. In other words, it is not placed upside down as in the conventional method, but is placed in the up-and-down direction equal to the up-and-down direction mounted on the assembled vehicle. Further, the pair of leaf springs 11 are respectively placed on the leaf spring support 3 in the direction perpendicular to the axle member 13 in the normal position.

  Here, as a feature of the present invention, the two pins 6 are inserted into the mounting holes 8 formed at the ends of the two leaf springs 11 respectively. The ends of these two pins 6 fall into the notches of the leaf spring support 3 provided on the work table 1. As a result, the pair of leaf springs 11 correctly form a quadrilateral at a fixed position.

  The support base 3 is provided with appropriate notches so that the two pins 6 can be inserted as extension lines through a path of a two-dot chain line displayed horizontally.

  FIG. 2 is a top view thereof. In FIG. 2, the axle member 13 is placed on the work table, the two leaf springs 11 are placed thereon, and the pin 6, which is a feature of the present invention, is placed in the mounting hole 8 of the leaf spring 11. It is a top view which shows the state inserted from the horizontal direction. The axle member mounting table 2 on which the axle member 13 is mounted is configured to be movable within a predetermined range in plan by the movable means 4. This is a structure provided so that the insertion hole position of the U bolt provided in the axle member 13 can be adjusted to the tightening position of the leaf spring 11.

  Here, returning to FIG. 1, a pair of U-bolts 12 is bridged over a leaf spring 11 which is one of the parts to be mounted on the vehicle to be assembled. And each front-end | tip of this U volt | bolt 12 is penetrated to the back side of the axle member 13. FIG. Nuts 14 are tightened from the back side of the axle member 13 to the respective ends of the U bolts 12. The two pins 6, which are the main constituent elements of the present invention, act to maintain the two leaf springs 11 in the correct form during the period in which the tightening is performed and the periods before and after the tightening. That is, as the U bolt 12 is tightened, no unnatural force is applied to the leaf spring 11 or the axle member 13, and the two leaf springs 11 are Tightening of the U-bolt 12 is performed in a form equivalent to the form when attached to the vehicle body in the process.

  After the tightening of the U-bolt 12 is completed, the two pins 6 are removed from the axle module. Here, a form in which one axle member 13 and a pair of leaf springs 11 are fastened by four U bolts 12 is referred to as an “axle module”. That is, these two pins 6 are auxiliary tools for assembling work, and are removed after the assembly of the axle module is completed, and then repeatedly used for the same work performed in this process. The two pins 6 are metal round bars.

  Here, the work table 1 will be briefly described. In this application, this workbench is not the subject of the invention, so only an overview is provided. The planar movable structure and the like of this work table are applied for patents for their characteristics by a separate application from the present application. When the axle member 13 is placed on the axle member mounting table 2 provided on the work table 1, the axle member mounting table 2 is provided with movable means 4, and the entire supported axle member 13 is planar in the horizontal direction. Can be moved to. That is, as described above, the two leaf springs 11 are fixedly placed on the two pairs of leaf spring support bases 3, but the axle member mounting base 2 is movable in a plane. The relative position of the spring 11 and the axle member 13 can be changed in a plane.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view in which the work table 1 is partially broken. The outline of the main part structure can be understood from FIG. By operating the setting knob 5, the movable means 4 of the axle member mounting table 2 is structured to return to its standard position.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the axle member of the drive shaft (rear wheel). Similarly, in the case of the drive shaft, the leaf springs 11 are attached to both sides of the axle member 13 by U bolts 12. At this time, the two pins 6 according to the present invention are respectively inserted into the mounting holes 8 provided in the left and right leaf springs 11. As a result, the left and right leaf springs 11 are maintained in the desired form designed for the axle member 13.

  FIG. 5 shows a top view of the drive wheel (rear wheel) in a state where it is placed on the work table. From this figure, it is possible to understand the positional relationship in a state where the U-bolt is bridged. Also in this case, by inserting the two pins 6 into the attachment hole to the vehicle body provided at the end of the leaf spring 11, a stable state corresponding to the state attached to the vehicle can be created. . The U bolt is tightened in this stable state. Therefore, the leaf spring 11 can be attached to the axle member 13 without applying unnecessary stress to the leaf spring 11.

  As for the drive wheels, the axle member 13 has several uneven structures. By using the uneven structure, the axle member 13 can be stably placed at a fixed position on the work table 1. Accordingly, by performing centering of the mounting table before mounting the axle member, the planar position adjusting mechanism that is necessary for the non-driving wheels is not necessarily required. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a planar movable mechanism for centering is omitted.

  The method and apparatus disclosed herein can be widely implemented, not limited to the process of using a rotary assembly as described above. If it is applied to a production line that has been widely known from the past, it is possible to eliminate the need for large-scale equipment such as lifting and reversing the vehicle frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. The top view explaining the positional relationship by the example of the present invention. The perspective view of the apparatus utilized for this invention Example construction method. The perspective view explaining the structure which utilizes this invention Example construction method for a drive shaft member. The top view explaining the positional relationship by the Example of this invention (in the case of a drive shaft).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Work table 2 Axle member mounting table 3 Leaf spring support table 4 Movable means 5 Setting knob 6 Pin 7 Stopper 8 Mounting hole 11 Leaf spring 12 U bolt 13 Axle member 14 Nut

Claims (4)

A step of placing one axle member in a normal position on the workbench, a step of placing a pair of left and right leaf springs on the workbench so as to be orthogonal to the axle member, and a pair of leaf springs respectively. A method for assembling an axle module, including the step of tightening each leaf spring to the axle member by a U-bolt that is bridged;
Prior to the tightening step, the assembly of the axle module includes a step of inserting a single pin penetrating through the corresponding mounting holes on the left and right sides of the vehicle body provided in the pair of leaf springs. Method.   2. The axle module according to claim 1, wherein in the structure in which a plurality of attachment holes to the vehicle body are provided in each leaf spring, a plurality of pins are inserted so as to penetrate through the corresponding left and right attachment holes of each leaf spring. Assembling method.   3. The method of assembling an axle module according to claim 2, wherein a work table having a structure for supporting the pins or leaf springs so that the plurality of pins are parallel when the U bolt is tightened is used as the work table. . An axle module comprising one axle member, a pair of leaf springs arranged so as to be orthogonal to the left and right of the axle member, and a plurality of U-bolts that fasten the pair of leaf springs to the axle member In process in-process items,
In a state before the axle module is attached to the vehicle body, a pin that penetrates the left and right corresponding holes among the attachment holes to the vehicle body provided in the pair of leaf springs is inserted. Axle module process work in progress.

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