JP2008161764A - Application method of sealant and application machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for applying a sealant to the junction of various work pieces which prevents the generation of the stringiness of a sealant, and to provide an application machine. <P>SOLUTION: The application machine of the sealant discharges the sealant 23 from the nozzle 10 of the sealing gun body 9 and applies the sealant 23 to the work piece by conducting the relative displacement of the nozzle 10 to the work piece. The discharge of the sealant 23 is terminated when the nozzle 10 of the sealing gun body 9 reaches the application finalizing point 1 of the sealant. At that point, the sagging 23b from the distal end of the nozzle of the sealant 23 is cut by transferring the nozzle 10 along the sealant applied line L, and then the nozzle 10 is separated from the sealant applied line L. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for applying a sealing material to joints of various workpieces.

  For example, a motor cover in which an aluminum alloy heat sink is insert-molded in a resin cover body is used in an automobile wiper device. In this motor cover, a gap is likely to be formed at the joint between the heat sink and the cover main body having different heat shrinkage. Therefore, a sealing material is applied along the periphery of the heat sink to prevent rainwater from entering.

For application of the sealing material, for example, a sealing gun as shown in Patent Document 1 is used. In this seal gun, an opening / closing valve is provided in a seal material supply passage in the gun body to control discharge of the seal material. Also, a check valve is provided at the upstream end of the nozzle to prevent the sealing material from dripping from the nozzle when the on-off valve is closed.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-3476 (FIG. 1)

  By the way, since the sealing material has a high viscosity, even if the discharge of the sealing material is stopped at the end of application of the sealing material, the sealing material hangs down from the tip of the nozzle. If the seal gun is moved away from the workpiece in this state, the seal material hangs down and falls to a place other than the seal material application line on the work, and threading of the seal material occurs on the work surface, which impairs the appearance of the product. .

  An object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of stringing of the sealing material.

  The sealing material application method of the present invention is a sealing material application method in which a sealing material is applied by discharging a sealing material from a nozzle of a sealing gun and moving the nozzle relative to a workpiece, wherein the nozzle is a sealing material. The step of stopping the relative movement of the nozzle and the discharge of the sealing material when reaching the application end point, the step of moving the nozzle along the sealing material application line and cutting the sag of the sealing material, And a step of separating the nozzle from the sealing material application line.

  The sealing material application method of the present invention is characterized in that the moving speed of the nozzle when cutting the sag of the sealing material is larger than the moving speed when applying the sealing material.

  A sealing material application apparatus according to the present invention is a sealing material application apparatus that discharges a sealing material from a nozzle of a sealing gun and applies the sealing material by moving the nozzle relative to the work, and the nozzle is applied to the work. And a control means for controlling the movement of the seal gun and the control means for controlling the relative movement of the nozzle when the nozzle reaches the application end point of the sealing material. And the discharge of the sealing material is stopped, and in this state, the nozzle is moved along the sealing material application line to cut the hanging of the sealing material, and then the nozzle is separated from the sealing material application line. .

  The sealing material application apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the moving speed of the nozzle when cutting the sag of the sealing material is larger than the moving speed when applying the sealing material.

  According to the present invention, after the discharge of the sealing material is stopped, the sag of the sealing material can be cut by moving the nozzle along the sealing material application line. Furthermore, since the drooping of the cut sealing material at this time falls on the sealing material application line, the nozzle can be separated from the sealing material application line without causing threading of the sealing material on the work surface.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a motor cover used for a wiper device of an automobile.

  The motor cover 20 closes an opening of a case (not shown) that houses a reduction gear of an electric motor, and an aluminum alloy heat sink 22 and a bus bar 24 are insert-molded in a resin cover body 21. . A protrusion 22a protruding from the surface is formed on one surface of the heat sink 22 so that heat exchange between the heat sink and the surrounding air is actively performed. Further, circuit elements such as transistors and FETs connected to a substrate (not shown) are in contact with one surface facing the one surface of the heat sink 22 and the other surface while maintaining an insulating relationship. Further, a bus bar 24 insert-molded on the cover body 21 is disposed on the other surface side of the heat sink 22. The bus bar electrically connects a substrate (not shown) and an electric motor (not shown). Here, the cover main body 21 and the heat sink that is insert-molded in the cover main body are resin and metal, that is, materials using different heat shrinkage are used. Therefore, the cover main body 21 and the heat sink 22 form a groove 25 that is recessed at each boundary A, and a sealing material 23 is applied along the groove 25 to prevent rainwater from entering the case.

  FIG. 2 shows an apparatus for applying a sealing material 23 to the motor cover 20.

  This apparatus includes a stage 1 on which a plurality of motor covers 20 as workpieces can be placed. The stage 1 is installed on the base 3 via the first guide rail 2 and is connected to a drive source (not shown) so as to be movable in the X-axis direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface). A second guide rail 4 is horizontally disposed above the base 3, and the moving body 5 is configured to be movable in the Y-axis direction along the guide rail 4. Further, a third guide rail 6 is erected on the movable body 5, and a seal gun holder 7 is assembled to the movable body 5 so as to be movable. A motor 8 is mounted on the seal gun holder 7 so that the seal gun holder 7 can be moved in the Z-axis direction. A seal gun body 9 is attached to the seal gun holder 7.

  The drive sources of the stage 1, the moving body 5 and the seal gun holder 7 are controlled by a control means (not shown) to move the nozzle 10 of the seal gun body 9 relative to the motor cover 20. Moreover, the discharge and stop of the sealing material 23 from the nozzle 10 are also controlled by this control means.

  Next, a method of applying the sealing material 23 to the motor cover 20 with this apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the nozzle 10 from the front, and FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the nozzle 10 from directly above.

  First, the motor cover 20 is set on the stage 1, the nozzle 10 is moved relative to the motor cover 20 while discharging the sealing material (silicone) 23 from the nozzle 10 of the seal gun 9, and the boundary between the cover main body 21 and the heat sink 22. A sealing material 23 is applied in a loop along A (see FIG. 3A). Then, when the nozzle 10 reaches the application end point P1 of the sealing material 23, the discharge of the sealing material 23 from the nozzle 10 is stopped (see FIG. 5B). At this time, since the sealing material 23 has a high viscosity, even if the discharge of the sealing material 23 is stopped, the tip of the nozzle 10 and the sealing material 23 are not cut off, and the sealing material 23 hangs down from the tip of the nozzle 10. Next, the nozzle 10 is moved obliquely upward and rearward along the sealing material application line L, and the sag 23b from the nozzle tip of the sealing material 23 is cut (see FIG. 3C). The moving speed of the nozzle 10 at that time is preferably larger than the moving speed when the sealing material 23 is applied. This is for facilitating cutting of the seal material 23 from hanging down. The sagging 23b of the cut sealing material 23 falls onto the sealing material application line L. In addition, it is preferable to arrange | position the point which starts application | coating of the sealing material 23 (same as application | coating end point P1) in a linear part avoiding the corner part of the sealing material application line L, for example, as shown in FIG.

  Then, after the nozzle 10 is retracted to a point P2 that is a predetermined distance away from the application end point P1 (see FIG. 4D), the nozzle 10 is pointed obliquely upward and forward along the sealing material application line L. Move to P3 (see (E) of the figure). This point P3 is a predetermined distance away from the application end point P1. The reason why the nozzle 10 is moved between the points P2 and P3 in this way is that the seal material 23 remaining in the seal gun body 9 may be dripped from the nozzle 9 even if the sag 23b of the seal material 23 disappears. Because there is. That is, the dropped sealing material 23 is dropped onto the sealing material application line L to prevent the workpiece surface from being soiled. After the nozzle 10 reaches the point P3, the nozzle 10 may be moved to another workpiece and the sealing material 23 may be applied.

  In this way, after the discharge of the sealing material 23 is stopped, the nozzle 10 moves along the sealing material application line L and cuts the sag 23b of the sealing material 23. Therefore, the sag 23b of the cut sealing material 23 is cut. Falls on the sealing material application line L, and stringing of the sealing material 23 does not occur on the workpiece surface. On the other hand, when the nozzle 10 is moved to another work immediately after the nozzle 10 reaches the application end point P1 of the seal material 23, the sag 23b of the seal material 23 is detached from the seal material application line L and the surface of the work And the stringing 23a of the sealing material 23 as shown in FIG.

  By the way, since the sealing material 23 is applied in a loop shape in this workpiece, that is, the application end point of the sealing material 23 is the same as the application start point, the nozzle 10 is moved obliquely upward and forward as shown in FIG. Then, the sagging 23b of the sealing material 23 may be cut.

  Note that the moving speed and moving distance of the nozzle 10 may be set to values that allow the sagging 23b of the sealing material 23 to be reliably cut in consideration of the viscosity of the sealing material 23 and the like.

  It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, in this embodiment, the seal gun 9 is moved in the XYZ axial directions by the three guide rails 2, 4, and 6. However, the seal gun 9 may be attached to the tip of the articulated robot arm.

(A) is a front view of a motor cover, (B) is sectional drawing which follows the aa line of (A). It is a front view of the sealing material application apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of a nozzle seeing from a front. It is a figure which shows the modification of FIG.3 (C). It is a figure explaining operation | movement of a nozzle seeing from right above.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stage 2 1st guide rail 3 Base 4 2nd guide rail 5 Moving body 6 3rd guide rail 7 Seal gun holding body 8 Motor 9 Seal gun main body 10 Nozzle 20 Motor cover 21 Cover main body 22 Heat sink 22a Projection part 23 Seal material 23a Seal material Threading 23b Seal material sag 24 Bus bar 25 Groove L Seal material application line P1 Application end point

Claims (4)

A sealing material is applied to the workpiece by discharging the sealing material from a nozzle of a seal gun and moving the nozzle relative to the workpiece.
Stopping the discharge of the sealing material when the nozzle reaches the application end point of the sealing material;
Moving the nozzle along the sealant application line to cut the sag of the sealant;
Separating the nozzle from the sealant application line;
A method of applying a sealing material comprising:   2. The sealing material application method according to claim 1, wherein a moving speed of the nozzle when cutting the sagging of the sealing material is larger than a moving speed when applying the sealing material. Application method. A sealing material is applied to the workpiece by discharging the sealing material from a nozzle of a seal gun and moving the nozzle relative to the workpiece.
A moving means for moving the nozzle relative to the workpiece; and a control means for controlling the moving means and the operation of the seal gun.
The control means stops the discharge of the sealing material when the nozzle reaches the application end point of the sealing material, and in that state, moves the nozzle along the sealing material application line to cause the sealing material to hang down. An apparatus for applying a sealing material, wherein the nozzle is moved away from the sealing material application line after cutting.   4. The sealing material coating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a moving speed of the nozzle when cutting the sagging of the sealing material is larger than a moving speed when applying the sealing material. Coating device.

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