JP2661410B2 - Filling gun - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a filling gun for automatically filling a predetermined container with a liquid, and more particularly to a filling gun suitable for filling a liquid by a vacuum filling method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A gun for automatically filling a radiator of an automobile with cooling water is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-193898.
Is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-205,878. As shown in FIG. 5, the filling gun includes a nozzle 53 attached to the tip of a robot arm 51 via an equalizing mechanism 52,
The nozzle 53 includes a pair of clamp claws 54 provided on the outer periphery of the distal end portion, and an air cylinder 55 for opening and closing the clamp claws 54. Since the clamp claw 54 is inserted and guided in the cam groove 56, when the clamp claw 54 is pulled up by the air cylinder 55 from the open state shown by the imaginary line, the clamp claw 54 moves upward while performing a clamp operation. By being caught by the flange portion F of the injection port P and lowering the nozzle 53 relatively, the seal rubber 57 at the tip of the nozzle 53 is pressed against the seating surface S of the injection port P.

That is, in order to fill the radiator R with cooling water by a vacuum filling method, first, the inside of the radiator R is depressurized by so-called evacuation, and then the cooling water is supplied to the nozzle 5.
3 is released from the clamp claw 54
The two-step operation ensures the close contact between the seal rubber 57 and the seat surface S.

Further, instead of the above structure, a pair of clamp claws 54, 54 are brought close to and away from each other with an inlet P interposed therebetween by an air cylinder arranged in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the nozzle 53. In some cases, the inlet P is clamped.

[0005]

In the conventional structure, a clamp claw 5 is provided at the lower part of the neck of the flange portion F of the injection port P.
4, 54 are hooked to clamp the inlet P, so that the inlet P does not have the flange portion F, and for example, as shown in FIG. In the case where it is formed on the outer periphery, the injection port P
Cannot be securely clamped.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an external thread portion in a case where an external thread portion for mounting a cap is formed on the outer periphery of an inlet. An object of the present invention is to provide a structure capable of clamping an injection port by utilizing the method.

[0007]

A filling gun according to the present invention comprises a nozzle fixedly supported by a holder and an inner peripheral surface of an injection port which is fixed to a tip of the nozzle and has a thread portion formed on an outer peripheral surface. A guide member for centering the injection port and the nozzle as a reference, and mounted on the outer periphery of the nozzle and urged toward the injection port side by an elastic body, and is driven to rotate around the nozzle as a rotation center. The peripheral female screw portion is provided with a clamp socket for screwing with the male screw portion on the inlet side to clamp the inlet between the guide member and the rotation driving means for rotating the clamp socket.

[0008]

According to this structure, when the filling gun is positioned so as to have a predetermined positional relationship with respect to the injection port on the other side,
A guide member is inserted into the inlet to center the nozzle and the inlet. At the same time, the clamp socket is pressed against the opening end of the inlet by the force of the elastic body. Therefore, when the clamp socket is rotationally driven in this state, the clamp socket is screwed into the inlet and tightened, so that the inlet is securely clamped by the guide member and the clamp socket.

[0009]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention.
1 shows an example of a filling gun for automatically filling a brake fluid reservoir tank with brake fluid in an automobile assembly line.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an external thread 3 for mounting a cap is formed on the outer periphery of the distal end of the inlet 2 of the reservoir tank 1 filled with the brake fluid.

A nozzle 5 serving as the center of the filling gun 4 is supported by a hand base member 6 on the robot arm side (not shown) via an equalizing mechanism 7 so as to be able to float. The nozzle 5 is integrally fixed to a holder 8, and the holder 8 is further connected to a slide shaft 9.

The equalizer frame 10 of the equalizing mechanism 7 incorporates a linear guide (not shown) and a spring that urges the equalizer frame 10 in directions opposing each other, whereby the equalizer frame 10 is connected to the hand base member 6. Is slidable in the Y direction. When no external force acts on the nozzle 5, the equalizer frame 10 is located at the neutral position of the slide stroke in the Y direction by the force of the spring.

A slider 12 is supported on the equalizer frame 10 via two guide rods 11 so as to be slidable in the X direction.
Are supported so as to be vertically movable. The slide shaft 9 is urged downward by the compression coil spring 13 and the stopper 14 restricts the lower limit position with respect to the slider 12. On the other hand, the slider 12 is moved so that it is positioned at the neutral position of the slide stroke in the X direction. Are urged by tension coil springs 15 and 16 which antagonize the pressure. Therefore,
The nozzle 5 connected to the slide shaft 9 is X, Y, Z
Floating in three axis directions.

A spline is formed on the outer periphery of the slide shaft 9 and is spline-coupled to the slider 12, thereby preventing the slide shaft 9 from rotating with respect to the slider 12.

As shown in FIG. 3, a small-diameter auxiliary nozzle 17 capable of maintaining a predetermined gap with respect to the nozzle inner diameter is inserted in the nozzle 5, and the nozzle 5 itself has a double cylindrical structure. . The upper end of the auxiliary nozzle 17 communicates with the supply passage 18 in FIG.
Is connected from a port 19 to a brake source supply source (not shown).

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, a predetermined passage 20 is formed between the nozzle 5 and the auxiliary nozzle 17 in the nozzle 5 having the double cylinder nozzle structure. The upper end communicates with the chamber section 40 in the holder 8, and the chamber section 40 is connected to a vacuuming device (not shown) via the pipe 21. This evacuation system is used when the inside of the reservoir tank 1 is evacuated to a predetermined degree of decompression prior to filling the reservoir tank 1 with brake fluid, as will be described later.

A circular tapered guide plate 22 is fixed to the tip of the nozzle 5, while a clamp socket 23 is rotatably mounted on the outer periphery of the nozzle 5. Driven gear 2
4 are integrally fixed. The guide plate 22 is provided with an inner plate 25 inside the inlet 2 as shown in FIG.
And serves to center the injection port 2 and the nozzle 5 by fitting to the inner peripheral surface of the injection port 2.

A thread 26 corresponding to the external thread 3 on the inlet 2 side is formed on the inner periphery of the lower end of the clamp socket 23, and the clamp socket 23 itself is vertically movable with respect to the nozzle 5. , Compression coil spring 27
Urged downward. Here, the spring constant of the compression coil spring 27 is set smaller than that of the compression coil spring 13 that biases the nozzle 5 itself so as to float.

On the other hand, a drive motor 29 is provided on a motor bracket 28 coupled to the holder 8 so as to be able to rotate forward and backward. A drive gear 31 meshing with the driven gear 24 on the nozzle 5 side is provided on an output shaft 30 of the drive motor 29. Fixed. Therefore, the clamp socket 23 is driven to rotate about the nozzle 5 by the activation of the drive motor 29, and the drive motor 29 and the drive gear 3 are driven.
1 and driven gear 24 to clamp socket 23
Are configured.

In the filling gun configured as described above, the filling gun 4 is moved by the movement of the robot arm into the injection port 2.
When the filling gun 4 is lowered after being moved right above the guide plate 22, the guide plate 22 is inserted into the inlet 2 as shown in FIG. It relatively moves upward and is pressed against the opening end face of the inlet 2.

At this time, even if there is a slight misalignment between the inlet 2 and the nozzle 5, the guide plate 22 contacts the inner peripheral surface of the
By matching the sides, the center of the injection port 2 and the center of the nozzle 5 coincide with each other, and the movement of the nozzle side accompanying the misalignment correction is absorbed by the degrees of freedom of the equalizing mechanism 7 in the X and Y directions.

When the drive motor 29 starts in this state,
The clamp socket 23 rotates (forward rotation) via the drive gear 31 and the driven gear 24, and the clamp socket 23 is screwed into the male screw 3 on the inlet 2 side and the female thread 26 on the clamp socket 23 side. It is tightened into the inlet 2. As a result, the inlet 2 is clamped so as to be sandwiched between the guide plate 22 and the clamp socket 23.

Here, the clamp socket 23 is
Prior to being clamped, the clamp socket 23 is pressed against the opening end face of the injection port 2, but this pressing force is not due to the pressing force of the robot itself or the force of the compression coil spring 13, but has a small spring constant. Since it is provided by the compression coil spring 27, the opening end face of the injection port 2 is not damaged or the screw portion 3 is not galled.

When the inlet 2 is clamped by the clamp socket 23 in this way, the reservoir tank 1 is evacuated by a conventional method, and then the predetermined brake fluid is filled from the nozzle 5.

That is, prior to filling the brake fluid, the air in the reservoir tank 1 is evacuated through a passage 20 between the nozzle 5 and the auxiliary nozzle 17, a chamber 40, a communication passage 41, and a pipe 21 by a vacuuming device (not shown). Is sucked to perform a so-called vacuum evacuation. When the inside of the reservoir tank 1 reaches a predetermined reduced pressure state, the brake fluid is filled through the auxiliary nozzle 17.

When the brake fluid in the reservoir tank 1 becomes full, the supply of the brake fluid is cut off.
9 is driven in reverse. This allows the clamp socket 23
The clamp socket 23 is disengaged from the inlet 2 by disengaging the screw from the inlet 2, and thereafter, the entire filling gun 4 is pulled up by the movement of the robot arm, thereby completing the operation of filling the brake fluid.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the clamp socket mounted on the outer periphery of the nozzle is rotationally driven to be screw-coupled to the external thread portion on the injection port side, and the gap between the guide plate and the clamp socket is formed. The inlet is clamped at a distance, so that the inlet can be reliably clamped and the liquid can be automatically filled even when the inlet does not have a flange portion as in the related art.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory right side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view before the clamp socket of FIG. 1 is tightened.

FIG. 5 is a configuration explanatory view showing an example of a conventional filling gun.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part of an injection port.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Reservoir tank (container) 2 ... Injection port 3 ... Male thread part 4 ... Filling gun 5 ... Nozzle 8 ... Holder 9 ... Slide shaft 12 ... Slider 22 ... Guide plate (guide member) 23 ... Clamp socket 26 ... Female thread part 27: compression coil spring (elastic body) 29: drive motor (rotation drive means)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A filling gun in which a nozzle is attached to an injection port of a predetermined container to fill the container with liquid, a nozzle fixedly supported by a holder, a screw fixed to a tip of the nozzle, and a screw on an outer peripheral surface. A guide member for centering the injection port and the nozzle with reference to the inner peripheral surface of the injection port in which the portion is formed, and mounted on the outer periphery of the nozzle and urged toward the injection port side by an elastic body, the nozzle The female screw part on the inner circumference of the tip part is screwed with the male screw part on the inlet side to clamp the inlet between the guide member and the clamp socket, and the clamp socket is driven to rotate. And a rotation driving means for causing the charging gun to perform the operation.