JP2650094B2 - Automatic welding equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic welding apparatus using a plurality of articulated robots.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plurality of articulated robots are arranged along a welding line in order to weld individual welding locations to a work having a plurality of welding locations, such as a car body, and a plurality of articulated robots are arranged in advance. By performing three-dimensional movements as taught, each welding is performed at a specified welding point on the work.

That is, according to the conventional welding method, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), for a work W having seven welding locations, a first welding station I first and a second welding station I are used. And welding using the third and fourth welding robots 3 ′ and 4 ′ at the second welding station II, and so on.
Each of the welding points is welded using seven welding robots 1 'to 7' arranged at the welding stations I to IV, and, as shown in FIG. For W, four welding stations I-IV
The welding is performed by using ten welding robots 1 ′ to 10 ′ arranged in the above.

[0004] For this reason, the conventional welding method requires a number of welding robots corresponding to the welding locations and each station for performing the welding work, which not only increases the equipment cost but also requires a large amount of space. I have

On the other hand, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-240388, a plurality of welding robots are arranged along a welding line, and a welding robot arranged between two welding stations is used. Two welding points are welded by this welding robot while acting on both. This device reduces the number of welding robots by the amount that two welding points are welded by one welding robot. Although it can be slightly reduced, not only can the work space for welding not be reduced, but also it may not be possible to perform welding directly depending on the welding location, so that manual welding work is required, Alternatively, there is a problem that a mechanism for rotating a jig for supporting the work must be provided.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new automatic welding apparatus capable of welding a plurality of required welding points on a workpiece by a simpler operation with as few welding robots as possible.

[0007]

That is, according to the present invention, as an automatic welding apparatus for achieving the above object, a plurality of articulated welding robots are movably arranged on a guide rail provided in a welding work department. At the same time, one or a plurality of welding robots required for the welding operation are moved to the respective welding operation positions designated for each welding process without changing the arrangement order, and the required welding portions of the work are welded. Things.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 11 denotes a guide rail laid on one welding station so as to straddle two welding zones A and B, and two support columns. This guide rail 11 supported by 12, 12
, Several articulated welding robots determined in accordance with a welding process (station) or a welding mode, and in this embodiment, four welding robots 1, 2, 3, and 4 are mounted so as to be able to travel freely. A configuration in which a workpiece W input to one or both of the welding zones A and B is caused to travel as pre-taught, and welding is performed at a predetermined position at a welding position of the workpiece W. Have been.

FIG. 2 shows a welding operation using this welding apparatus. First, three welding robots 1 and 2 are used.
FIG. 2 shows an example in which welding work is performed by welding processes (stations) I, II, III, and IV in welding zone A using the steps 2 and 3.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

[0010] For example, the workpiece W put into the welding zone A
Is sent to the first welding process (station) I, the first robot 1 waiting at a fixed position indicated by a solid line
And the second robot 2 travel on the guide rail 11 to a dashed position suitable for welding a designated welding point on the workpiece W as preliminarily taught, where the first welding step ( In the second welding process (station) II, the first and second robots 1 and 2 are moved from the fixed position to the specified welding operation position in the second welding process (station) II. After moving, welding is performed at a required welding location on the work W.

In this manner, in the third welding step (station) III and the fourth welding step (station) IV, the second robot 2 and the third robot 3 are similarly set for each step (station). Is moved to the welding operation position designated in the above, that is, the broken line position in the figure, and the required welding portion of the work W is welded according to each process.

FIG. 2B shows four welding robots 1, 2, 3, 4, which are used to determine 10 welding locations on the workpiece W.
This shows the welding work performed in the process (station).
In the first step (station) I, the first and second robots 1 and 2 are moved to the positions indicated by broken lines, respectively, to perform welding at the designated location. Similarly, in the second step (station) II, the first , The second and third robots 1, 2, and 3 to the positions indicated by broken lines, and in the third step (station) III, the second and third robots
The robots 2 and 3 are moved to the positions indicated by broken lines, and in the fourth step (station) IV, the second, third and fourth robots 2, 3 and 4
Are moved to designated positions on the work W as preliminarily taught without changing the arrangement order, and the welding operation according to each process (station) is performed at those positions. To make it work.

Further, a similar welding process may be provided in the welding zone B to mix and produce other works.

In the above-described embodiment, the welding robot is of a hanging type. However, it is also possible to arrange a rail on a substrate surface and move the welding robot thereon.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of welding robots arranged in a welding operation section are moved to each welding operation position designated for each welding process (station) without changing the arrangement order. Since the same welding robot performs multiple welding operations, it is not possible to reduce the number of welding robots and to perform multiple welding operations in the same work department. Thus, it is possible to reduce the work space and the equipment cost.

Moreover, by moving a plurality of welding robots without changing the arrangement order, it is possible to perform a welding process on a large number of welding points with fewer steps (stations) and simpler two-dimensional movement. In addition to this, it is possible to weld a welded part of a part that cannot be entered by a stationary welding robot, so that this kind of welding work can be further automated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are diagrams each showing a movement of a welding robot for each process (station) in the above apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a welding operation by a conventional apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3, 4 Welding robot 11 Guide rail I, II, III, IV Welding process (station) W Work

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A plurality of welding stations arranged in parallel are provided.
On the guide rails installed in the welding
In addition to arranging the joint robots movably,
One or more welding robots that required in the welding work station, welding scan without changing the arrangement order
Is moved to the welding position specified for each station, an automatic welding apparatus is characterized in that so as to weld the main welding site of the workpiece.