JP2013071213A - Apparatus and method for assembling component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and a method for assembling components by which a component assembling angle is easily adjusted.SOLUTION: The apparatus for assembling components is used to assemble the components to a product, and includes a conveyer belt conveying the product, a component assembling part assembling the components to the product placed on the conveyer belt, and a tilting adjusting part tilting the conveyer belt in such a manner that the assembling angle of the component assembled by the component assembling part matches with the angle of an assembling target portion of the product to which the components are assembled.

Description

  The present application discloses a component assembling apparatus and method.

  In a production line for various products, for example, an apparatus for automatically assembling parts such as screws is used. In the production line, products are conveyed using a conveyor belt (see, for example, Patent Document 1-2).

JP 2005-35873 A JP 2004-78785 A

  The operation of assembling the parts to the product may be performed while the product is still on the conveyor belt. For example, when a screw is assembled to a product with an automatic device installed on a conveyor belt, the automatic device uses a two-axis actuator to confirm the screw hole position provided in the product with a camera and then use a two-axis actuator to tighten the screw. Move it over the screw hole and tighten it.

Depending on the shape of the product, the product placed on the conveyor belt may be tilted at the part assembly site. For example, when the thickness of a notebook personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a notebook PC (Personal Computer)) is not uniform, when the notebook PC is placed upside down on the conveyor belt, the back surface may be inclined with respect to the conveyor belt.

  When assembling a part with an automatic device for a product placed on a conveyor belt with the part assembling part tilted, it is necessary to adjust the assembling angle of the part by the automatic device depending on the inclination angle of the part assembling part. There is a case. For example, when attaching screws with an automatic device to a notebook PC that is mounted on a conveyor belt with the screw holes tilted, the screw must be tilted so that the tilt angle of the driver of the automatic device with respect to the screw holes is within an allowable range. It is necessary to adjust the assembly angle.

  If the parts to be assembled are tilted, it is necessary to correct the position of the automatic device. For example, when assembling a screw with an automatic device, if the driver is tilted, the position of the tip of the driver is displaced. Therefore, it is necessary to correct the position of the automatic device so that the tip of the driver matches the position of the screw hole. However, the correction amount of the position differs depending on the inclination angle, the size of the component, and the height of the part where the component is assembled, so that the correction of the position is complicated and difficult.

  Then, this application makes it a subject to provide the component assembly apparatus and method which can adjust the assembly | attachment angle of components easily.

The present application discloses the following apparatus.
A component assembling apparatus for assembling components into products,
A conveyor belt for flowing the product;
A component assembly part for assembling the component to the product on the conveyor belt;
An inclination adjusting unit for inclining the conveyor belt so that an assembly angle of the component by the component assembly unit matches an angle of an assembly portion of the product to which the component is assembled.
Parts assembly device.

  In addition, this application discloses the component assembly method which caught the said component assembly apparatus from the side surface of the method.

  The assembly angle of the parts can be easily adjusted.

It is a block diagram of a component assembly apparatus. It is AA sectional drawing of a component assembly apparatus. It is the figure which showed the relationship of the angle of the screw hole of a notebook PC, and a driver.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a component assembling apparatus and method disclosed in the present application will be described. The following embodiments exemplify one aspect of the component assembling apparatus and method disclosed in the present application, and the technical scope of the component assembling apparatus and method disclosed in the present application is not limited to the following aspect.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a component assembling apparatus according to the embodiment. The component assembling apparatus 10 includes a conveyor (which is one aspect of the conveyor belt in the present application) 20, a driver (which is one aspect of the component assembling section in the present application) 30, and an inclination adjusting unit that inclines the conveyor 20. 40.

  The conveyor 20 is a belt-type conveyor and carries the notebook PC 1 thereon. The conveyor 20 carries the notebook PC 1 sent from an apparatus (not shown) adjacent to the component assembling apparatus 10 and conveys it. Then, the conveyor 20 carries the notebook PC 1 in which the screws have been assembled to a device (not shown) adjacent to the component assembling device 10.

  The driver 30 is a device that automatically attaches many screws to the notebook PC 1. The driver 30 includes a rail 51X direction (hereinafter referred to as an X-axis direction) extending along the conveyance direction of the conveyor 20, and a rail 51Y direction (hereinafter referred to as a Y-axis) orthogonal to the conveyance direction so as to straddle the conveyor 20. Direction) and a direction that is orthogonal to both the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction (hereinafter referred to as the Z-axis direction). The driver 30 and the triaxial actuator 50 are controlled by a control device (not shown), and a screw is assembled to the notebook PC 1. That is, the triaxial actuator 50 moves the driver 30 to the position of the screw hole (which is an aspect of the assembly portion in the present application) specified by analyzing the image of the notebook PC 1 placed on the conveyor 20. Further, when the driver 30 moves to the position of the screw hole, the screw 30 is assembled into the screw hole.

The inclination adjusting unit 40 is a device that adjusts the inclination of the conveyor 20, and includes a cam 42 fixed to the camshaft 41 and a cam driving unit 43 that rotates the camshaft 41. The cam drive unit 43 is a servo mechanism, and can rotate the cam 42 at an arbitrary angle. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the component assembling apparatus 10 taken along the line AA. The conveyor 20 is supported by a first fulcrum 44 that supports the conveyor 20 in a rotatable state, and a second fulcrum 45 that abuts the peripheral surface of each cam 42. The first fulcrum 44 is configured such that the shaft 47 provided in the conveyor 20 is fitted to the bearing member 46 fixed to the gantry 3 that supports the component assembling apparatus 10.
0 is supported in a rotatable state. The second fulcrum 45 supports the conveyor 20 by the roller 48 being in contact with the peripheral surface of the cam 42 when the roller 48 provided on the conveyor 20 is placed on the cam 42.

  The cam 42 is a disk-like member attached so as to be eccentric from the rotation center of the camshaft 41. The cam 42 causes the roller 48 of the conveyor 20 to move the distance Rc from the rotation center of the camshaft 41 to the nearest outer peripheral portion and the distance Rf from the rotation center of the camshaft 41 to the outermost peripheral portion by the rotation of the camshaft 41. Can be raised and lowered to an arbitrary height within the range between. When the roller 48 of the conveyor 20 is raised and lowered, the conveyor 20 rotates about the shaft 47, and the conveyor 20 is tilted laterally with respect to the transport direction.

  When the conveyor 20 is inclined at an arbitrary inclination angle by the inclination adjustment unit 40, the angle of the screw hole of the notebook PC 1 placed on the conveyor 20 can be matched with the angle of the driver 30. FIG. 3 shows the angle relationship between the screw hole of the notebook PC 1 and the driver 30 when the camshaft 41 is rotated.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the thickness of the notebook PC 1 is not uniform, and when the notebook PC 1 is turned upside down and placed on the conveyor 20, the screw hole 2 on the back of the notebook PC 1 moves to the left with respect to the driver 30. May tilt. In the component assembling apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the conveyor 20 can be tilted by rotating the cam 42 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the inclination of the conveyor 20 is adjusted by the cam 42 in accordance with the size of the notebook PC 1, and the angle of the screw hole 2 and the angle of the driver 30 are matched as shown in FIG. There is no need to tilt the driver 30. When the notebook PC 1 in which the screw hole 2 on the back surface is inclined when placed upside down is placed on the conveyor 20, the notebook PC 1 is placed on the conveyor 20 so that the screw hole 2 is inclined to the side with respect to the path of the conveyor 20.

  When the driver 30 is tilted, the position of the tip of the driver 30 is also displaced, so the position of the driver 30 by the triaxial actuator 50 needs to be corrected. However, in the component assembling apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, the conveyor 20 is tilted so that the angle of the screw hole 2 and the angle of the driver 30 coincide with each other. Therefore, the driver 30 required when the driver 30 is tilted. There is no need for position correction.

  The inclination adjusting unit 40 may be automatically controlled by a control device (not shown), or may be manually controlled by an operator. That is, for example, when the inclination adjusting unit 40 receives a data signal regarding an angle defined in the notebook PC 1 from a computer that manages the production line of the notebook PC 1, the tilt adjusting unit 40 operates the cam driving unit 43 to move the conveyor 20 to the notebook PC 1. You may make it incline to a prescribed angle. In addition, for example, the operator may operate the cam drive unit 43 by operating a switch so that the inclination of the conveyor 20 becomes an angle defined in the notebook PC 1. In addition, the tilt adjustment unit 40 detects, for example, the tilt of the surface of the notebook PC 1 on the conveyor 20 where the screw hole 2 is located by using a camera, an optical sensor, or the like. The inclination may be automatically adjusted.

  Here, regarding the adjustment of the inclination of the conveyor 20, the inclination adjustment unit 40 may adjust the inclination of the conveyor 20 based on a sensor that measures the inclination angle of the conveyor 20, or a sensor that measures the rotation angle of the cam 42. The inclination of the conveyor may be adjusted based on the above.

That is, the inclination adjusting unit 40 operates the cam driving unit 43 so that the inclination angle of the conveyor 20 detected by, for example, a rotation angle sensor directly connected to the shaft 47 coincides with the prescribed inclination angle of the notebook PC 1. Also good. In addition, the inclination adjustment unit 40 has, for example, a map that defines the correlation between the rotation angle of the cam 42 and the inclination angle of the conveyor 20 in the storage device in advance, and the conveyor of the conveyor estimated from the rotation angle of the cam 42. The cam driving unit 43 may be operated so that the inclination angle matches the inclination angle specified for the notebook PC 1.

  The conveyor 20 may be automatically controlled by a control device (not shown), or may be manually controlled by an operator. That is, for example, the conveyor 20 automatically transports the notebook PC 1 to a predetermined position by the optical sensor 4, and takes out the notebook PC 1 when receiving a signal indicating that the screw has been assembled from the device that controls the driver 30. You may make it do. In addition, the conveyor 20 is configured so that, for example, the operator operates the switch to convey the notebook PC 1 to a predetermined position, and when the driver 30 finishes the assembly of the screw, the operator operates the switch again to carry out the notebook PC 1. May be.

  In FIG. 2, the conveyor 20 is illustrated so as to be substantially horizontal in a state where the rollers 48 of the conveyor 20 are supported by the outer peripheral portion closest to the rotation center of the camshaft 41. Therefore, although the component assembly apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 2 can incline the conveyor 20 only to the right side of FIG. 2, the component assembly apparatus disclosed by this application is not limited to such an aspect. That is, the component assembling apparatus 10 may adjust the height of the camshaft 41 or the height of the first fulcrum 44 so that the conveyor 20 can be tilted to the left in FIG. The height of the camshaft 41 or the height of the first fulcrum 44 may be adjusted so that it can be tilted to either the left side or the right side of FIG.

  Further, the range of the tilt angle at which the conveyor 20 can be tilted varies depending on the size of the cam 42 and the distance between the first fulcrum 44 and the second fulcrum 45. That is, if the size of the cam 42 is increased, the range of the tilt angle at which the conveyor 20 can be tilted increases. In addition, if the distance between the first fulcrum 44 and the second fulcrum 45 is reduced, the range of the inclination angle at which the conveyor 20 can be inclined is widened. Therefore, when manufacturing the component assembling apparatus 10, the conveyor 20 can be inclined so that the angle of the driver 30 can be adjusted to at least the angle of the screw hole of the notebook PC 1 that is assumed to be assembled with screws. Determine the range of tilt angles. Then, the size of the cam 42 and the distance between the first fulcrum 44 and the second fulcrum 45 are determined so that the conveyor 20 can be tilted within the determined tilt angle range.

  Moreover, although the said component assembly apparatus 10 used the inclination adjustment part 40 using the cam 42 as a mechanism which inclines the conveyor 20, the component assembly apparatus disclosed by this application is not limited to such an aspect. Absent. That is, as a mechanism for inclining the conveyor 20, for example, an inclination adjusting unit that moves the first fulcrum 44 up and down with an elastic member such as a ball screw, a hydraulic cylinder, or a pneumatic cylinder may be applied. Alternatively, as a mechanism for tilting the conveyor 20, for example, an inclination adjusting unit that moves the first fulcrum 44 up and down by placing a stretchable bag that can be expanded and contracted in accordance with the internal pressure to expand and contract is applied. May be. Alternatively, as a mechanism for inclining the conveyor 20, for example, an inclination adjustment unit using a rotation drive device that rotates the shaft 47 at the first fulcrum 44 may be applied.

  Moreover, although the said component assembly apparatus 10 was comprised of the inclination adjustment part 40 so that the conveyor 20 might incline to the side with respect to the course of the conveyor 20, the component assembly apparatus disclosed by this application is in such a mode. It is not limited.

  That is, the inclination adjusting unit may cause the conveyor 20 to tilt forward or backward with respect to the course of the conveyor 20. When the tilt adjustment unit is configured so that the conveyor 20 tilts forward or backward with respect to the path of the conveyor 20, when the notebook PC 1 in which the screw hole 2 on the back is tilted when placed upside down is placed on the conveyor 20, The notebook PC 1 is placed on the conveyor 20 so that the screw holes 2 are inclined forward or backward with respect to the path of the conveyor 20.

  Further, the inclination adjusting unit may cause the conveyor 20 to tilt forward, backward, and sideward with respect to the course of the conveyor 20. When the tilt adjustment unit is configured so that the conveyor 20 tilts forward, backward, and laterally with respect to the path of the conveyor 20, the notebook PC 1 in which the screw hole 2 on the back is tilted when placed upside down is placed on the conveyor 20. First, the notebook PC 1 is placed on the conveyor 20 so that the screw hole 2 is inclined forward, backward, or sideward with respect to the path of the conveyor 20.

  Moreover, although the said component assembly apparatus 10 was comprised so that a screw might be assembled | attached to the back surface of notebook PC1, the component assembly apparatus disclosed by this application is not limited to such an aspect. That is, in the component assembling apparatus disclosed in the present application, for example, a screw may be assembled to the front surface of the notebook PC 1, a component other than the screw may be assembled to the notebook PC 1, or various products other than the notebook PC 1 may be used. Various parts may be assembled to the main body.

1 .... Note PC; 2 .... Screw hole; 3 .... Stand base; 4 .... Optical sensor; 10 .... Part assembly device; 20 .... Conveyor; 30 ... Driver; · Camshaft; 42 · · Cam; 43 · · Cam drive; 44 · · First fulcrum; 45 · · Second fulcrum; 46 · · Bearing member; 47 · · Shaft; 48 · · Roller;・ 3-axis actuator; 51X, 51Y ・ ・ Rail

Claims (5)

A component assembling apparatus for assembling components into products,
A conveyor belt for flowing the product;
A component assembly part for assembling the component to the product on the conveyor belt;
An inclination adjusting unit for inclining the conveyor belt so that an assembly angle of the component by the component assembly unit matches an angle of an assembly portion of the product to which the component is assembled.
Parts assembly device. The tilt adjustment unit tilts the conveyor belt so that an assembly angle of the component by the component assembly unit matches an angle of the assembly portion that is defined in advance for the product flowing through the conveyor belt.
The component assembling apparatus according to claim 1. The conveyor belt flows the product placed so that the assembly portion is inclined to the side with respect to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt,
The inclination adjusting unit moves the conveyor belt in the transport direction so that an assembly angle of the component by the component assembly unit matches an angle of the assembly portion that is defined in advance in the product flowing through the conveyor belt. Tilt to the side,
The component assembling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The conveyor belt flows the product placed so that the assembly portion is inclined along the conveying direction of the conveyor belt,
The inclination adjusting unit moves the conveyor belt in the transport direction so that an assembly angle of the component by the component assembly unit matches an angle of the assembly portion that is defined in advance in the product flowing through the conveyor belt. Tilt along,
The component assembling apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A part assembly method for assembling a part into a product,
The conveyor belt is mounted so that the assembly angle of the component by the component assembly portion for assembling the component matches the angle of the assembly portion of the product for assembling the component to the product placed on the conveyor belt through which the product flows. Tilt,
Part assembly method.

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