JP2689737B2 - Automatic gear insertion machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-stage gear which requires not only tooth matching but also tooth phase matching when assembling a multi-stage gear having at least two gears due to the combination. The present invention relates to an automatic gear insertion machine that automates assembly.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional multi-stage gear insertion has been performed in the following procedure.

First, while visually checking the tooth positions and phases of the teeth of the upper multi-tooth gear part and the teeth of the lower low-tooth gear part, three multi-stage gears 5 are attached to the mis-assembly prevention hire 22. . Next, as shown in FIG.
Each of them is manually inserted while aligning with the three support pins 6a in the gear drum 6 set in the misassembly prevention employee 23.

Then, while rotating the rotary shaft 6e with a gear inserting machine, the teeth of the toothless gear portion 5c of the multi-stage gear 5 and the teeth of the gear shaft B6c in the gear drum 6 are engaged with each other, and the press-fitting rod 2
After inserting the three multi-stage gears 5 into the gear drum 6 with 1,
It was to remove the misassembly prevention employment 22.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the tooth position and phase of the multi-stage gear 5 are visually confirmed and mounted on the misassembly preventive worker 22, and then three multistage gears 5 are employed to prevent misassembly. 22 together with three support pins 6a in the gear drum 6
Since all the steps of inserting while aligning with are performed by hand, there is a problem that it takes a lot of labor in a mass production site.

The present invention eliminates the misassembly prevention employee 22,
The purpose of the present invention is to prevent erroneous assembly by the means described below, and to automate not only gear matching, but also gear phase matching, and gear assembly that requires gear matching, as described above, based on the relationship of combination. .

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the dedicated software provided in the image processing apparatus performs the work of confirming the tooth position and phase of the multi-stage gear 5, and the operation of the image processing apparatus and the robot control apparatus is performed. By providing an assembling robot, the tooth positions and phases of the multi-stage gear can be adjusted, and further, the assembly into the drum is possible.

More specifically, according to the present invention, a drum forming a gear unit, at least three gear support pins provided on the gear drum, and rotatably supported by the gear support pin and having a number of teeth. A plurality of multistage gears having a large number of teeth gear part and a small number of teeth gear part, a gear A which is coupled so as to mesh with the large number of teeth gear part, and a gear A which meshes with the small number of teeth gear part. A gear B coupled to the gear B, and the center of rotation of the gear A is located at a central position occupied by the plurality of gear parts having a plurality of teeth arranged at equal intervals,
The rotation center of the gear B is arranged at a central position occupied by the plurality of gear parts having a small number of teeth arranged at equal intervals, and the rotation centers of the gear A and the gear B are arranged on the same axis. Gears arranged in a line so that the tooth engagement between the gear A and the gear part having a large number of teeth and the tooth engagement between the gear B and the gear part having a small number of teeth are always maintained normally during rotation. In an automatic gear insertion machine that incorporates the multi-stage gear of the unit into the gear drum,
An assembly robot that incorporates the multi-stage gear into the gear drum, a camera that captures the upper surface shape of the multi-stage gear, the image data taken by this camera is analyzed by dedicated software, and the position of a fixed reference line and the predetermined tooth position of the multi-stage gear are determined. An image processing device that calculates the angle difference between the image processing device and the image processing device that creates the phase adjustment correction data that corrects the angle difference to zero, and controls the operation of the assembly robot with the phase adjustment correction data of the image processing device. It is characterized by.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a component supply unit 1 for storing a multi-stage gear 5 for equipment installation, and a separation unit for separating the multi-stage gear 5 from the component supply unit 1 to a gear take-out position 4a by an assembly robot 4. 14, an annular illuminator arranged at a certain distance from the multistage gear 5 to irradiate only the upper surface of the multistage gear 5, and a cover provided to prevent the influence of ambient light and to prevent internal reflection of the semitransparent gear. 15,
The camera 2 for taking an image of the multi-stage gear 5 recognizes the tooth position and phase of the multi-stage gear 5 and is provided with dedicated software for transferring data to the robot controller 13, and receives a command from the robot controller 13 to receive the multi-stage gear 5. 5, the assembly robot 4 which is incorporated in the gear drum 6 while matching the tooth position and the phase of the multi-stage gear 5, and is re-inserted when the multi-stage gear 5 floats; a detection sensor unit 16 for detecting the occurrence of floating of the multi-stage gear 5; Platen 7 with gear drum 6
A conveyor 9 that conveys and a sequencer 10 that controls the entire operation are combined.

When an image cannot be input or when an error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and phase of the multistage gear 5 by the dedicated software provided in the image processing device 11, an error code is output to the robot controller 13. The assembly robot 4 discards the multi-stage gear 5 in the gear discard box 17 to prevent erroneous assembly.

[0011]

When the top surface image of the multi-stage gear 5 shown in FIG. 6 is photographed by the camera 2, a black cover 15 is provided in order to prevent the influence of ambient light and to prevent internal reflection of the semi-transparent gear. An annular illumination is used to illuminate the upper surface of the gear 5 evenly, and the annular illumination is arranged at a short distance of about 10 mm from the gear to illuminate only the upper surface of the multistage gear 5.
By cutting the vertical component of light, the top surface shape of the multistage gear 5 can be clearly photographed.

The features of the image are analyzed by dedicated software provided in the image processing apparatus 11, and the correction angle from a certain reference line for aligning the tooth position and the phase of the multi-stage gear 5 with an error of ± 0.12 °. calculate. The phase adjustment correction data is transferred to the robot controller 13 in units of 0.01 °. As a result, the assembling robot 4 corrects the angle in units of 0.01 ° at the allowable angle ± 0.32 ° due to the minimum backlash between the teeth of the small tooth gear part 5c and the teeth of the gear shaft B to be assembled, and thus the erroneous assembly is performed. There is nothing to do.

If the multistage gear 5 floats for some reason, it is detected by the detection sensor section 16 and the assembly robot 4 re-inserts it via the sequencer 10 and the robot controller 13, so that the gear is lifted and the insertion failure occurs. Will not occur.

Further, when an image cannot be input or when an error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and the phase of the multi-stage gear 5 by the dedicated software provided in the image processing device 11, the error code is transferred to the robot control device 13. Since the assembling robot 4 discards the multistage gear 5, there is no erroneous assembly.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, since the multistage gears 5 are assembled as shown in FIG. 7, not only the tooth position alignment but also the phase alignment of the teeth are performed after the multistage gears 5 are combined. I need.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an automatic gear insertion machine. In the component supply unit 1, a plurality of multi-stage gears 5 are arranged vertically and horizontally in a plurality of rows. When is separated, it moves horizontally by one column.

As shown in the operation diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 2, the separation unit 14 separates the multistage gear 5 from the component supply unit 1 to the image input area and the medium 14a to the gear pick-up position 4a by the assembly robot 4. 14c and.

When one multi-stage gear 5 is separated from the component supply section 1 by the medium 14a to the image input position (imaging position),
The camera 2 takes a top view image of the multi-stage gear 5 shown in FIG. 6 which is covered by a cover 15 to prevent ambient light from being photographed and whose top surface is illuminated only by the annular illumination 3. After shooting, medium 14a
Passes the multistage gear 5 to the medium 14c, and the medium 14c separates the multistage gear 5 to the gear take-out position 4c.

The image processing device 11 analyzes the image data sent from the camera 2 with dedicated software, and calculates a correction angle from a certain reference line for matching the tooth position and phase of the multistage gear 5. Then, the reference position for incorporating the multistage gear is calculated, the analysis result is output to the TV monitor 12, and the calculated phase adjustment correction data is transferred to the robot controller 13.

The assembling robot 4 takes out the multistage gear 5 from the gear take-out position 4a in accordance with a command from the robot controller 13 which has received the data, aligns the tooth position and the phase of the multistage gear 5 at the rotation correction position 4c, and conveys it to the conveyor 9 It is set on the platen 7 positioned by the positioning pin 8 on the upper side, and is inserted into the support pin 6a in the drum 6 aligned at a fixed position, and meshed with the teeth of the gear shaft B6c in the gear drum 6. At this time, it is necessary to assemble the first multi-stage gear 5 to be inserted while screwing the multi-stage gear 5 in order to mesh the teeth of the small tooth gear portion 5c with the teeth of the gear shaft B6c in the gear drum 6. . Further, the other multi-stage gears 5 can be assembled simply by dropping the teeth positions and phases in alignment with each other.

Further, when an image cannot be input due to a lighting outage or the like, or when an error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and the phase of the multistage gear 5 by the dedicated software provided in the image processing apparatus 11, the image processing apparatus 11 is The robot controller 1 outputs the error code to the TV camera 12
Transfer data to 3. Then, the assembly robot 4 moves to the gear discarding position 4e and discards the multi-stage gear 5 in the gear discarding box 17.

After the insertion, the insertion state is detected by the detection sensor section 16, and if the multistage gear 5 is lifted, the sequencer 1
0 and the robot controller 13 to re-insert the assembly robot 4.

By repeating the above operation, the drum 6
Insert the multi-stage gear 5 inside.

FIG. 3 shows the input / output of the sequencer 10, the assembling robot 4, and the image processing apparatus 11 for the above operation, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the respective operations of the embodiment in the form of flow charts. Is.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the gear drum forming the gear unit, at least three gear support pins provided on the gear drum, the gear support pin rotatably supported, and the number of teeth. With a large number of teeth and a small number of gears with a small number of teeth, a gear A that is coupled so as to mesh with the large number of gears, and a mesh with the small number of gears. A gear B that is coupled as described above, and the center of rotation of the gear A is at a central position occupied by the plurality of multiple gear parts arranged at equal intervals,
The rotation center of the gear B is arranged at a central position occupied by the plurality of gear parts having a small number of teeth arranged at equal intervals, and the rotation centers of the gear A and the gear B are arranged on the same axis. Gears arranged in a line so that the tooth engagement between the gear A and the gear part having a large number of teeth and the tooth engagement between the gear B and the gear part having a small number of teeth are always maintained normally during rotation. In an automatic gear insertion machine that incorporates the multi-stage gear of the unit into the gear drum,
An assembly robot that incorporates the multi-stage gear into the gear drum, a camera that captures the upper surface shape of the multi-stage gear, the image data taken by this camera is analyzed by dedicated software, and the position of a fixed reference line and the predetermined tooth position of the multi-stage gear are determined. An image processing device that calculates the angle difference between the image processing device and the image processing device that creates the phase adjustment correction data that corrects the angle difference to zero, and controls the operation of the assembly robot with the phase adjustment correction data of the image processing device. The automatic gear insertion machine is characterized by.

According to this structure, when assembling a multi-stage gear composed of at least two-stage gears, not only the tooth alignment but also the tooth phase alignment is performed after the teeth are aligned due to the combination of the respective multi-stage gears. Since gear insertion that requires alignment can be automated, production can be performed with 20% of the labor required in the past.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic gear insertion machine that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an input / output diagram of a sequencer, an assembly robot, and an image processing device.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a multi-stage gear according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a combination of gears according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a conventional gear insertion machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Component supply part, 2 ... Camera, 3 ... Annular illumination, 4 ... Assembly robot, 5 ... Multistage gear, 6 ... Drum, 7 ... Platen,
8 ... positioning pin, 9 ... conveyor, 10 ... sequencer,
11 ... Image processing device, 12 ... TV monitor, 13 ... Robot control device, 14 ... Separation part, 15 ... Cover, 16 ... Detection sensor part, 17 ... Gear waste box.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsumasa Aikawa 1-1-1, Higashitaga-cho, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki Hitachi Ltd. Taga factory (56) References JP 62-277227 (JP, A) JP-A 63-109923 (JP, A) JP-A 2-220182 (JP, A) JP-A 59-205240 (JP, A) JP-A 1-92082 (JP, A) JP-A 61-244423 (JP, A) Actually developed Sho 55-89526 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A drum forming a gear unit, at least three gear support pins provided on the gear drum, a multi-tooth gear part having a large number of teeth and rotatably supported by the gear support pins, and the number of teeth. A plurality of multi-stage gears having a small number of gears with a small number of teeth, a gear A that is engaged with the gears with a large number of teeth, and a gear B that is engaged with the gears with a small number of teeth. The center of rotation of the gear A is at a central position occupied by the plurality of gears having a large number of teeth arranged at equal intervals, and the rotation center of the gear B is occupied by a plurality of gears having a small number of teeth arranged at equal intervals. The gear A and the gear B are arranged in a line so that the rotation centers of the gear A and the gear B are on the same axis. B and the small number of teeth In a gear automatic insertion machine that incorporates the multi-stage gear of the gear unit configured to be normally kept in meshing with a gear portion during rotation, an assembly robot that incorporates the multi-stage gear in the gear drum, A camera showing the top view of the multi-stage gear and the image data taken by this camera are analyzed by dedicated software to calculate the angle difference between the position of the fixed reference line and the predetermined tooth position of the multi-stage gear, and this angle difference is calculated. An automatic gear inserting machine, comprising: an image processing device that creates phase adjustment correction data for correcting to zero, and controlling the operation of the assembly robot based on the phase adjustment correction data of the image processing device. 2. The automatic gear inserting machine according to claim 1, further comprising a light shielding cover surrounding the multistage gear. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lift detection sensor for detecting lift of the multi-stage gear, and when the lift is detected, the assembling robot performs a reinsertion operation. Automatic gear insertion machine. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the image data from the camera does not come or an error occurs in the calculation of the embedded reference position by the image processing apparatus, an error code is issued from the image processing apparatus. An automatic gear insertion machine characterized by outputting to a robot controller, and in response to this output, the robot controller instructs the assembling robot to dispose of its multistage gear.