JP2720674B2 - Transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device used for transferring a vehicle body or a vehicle body part in, for example, an automobile body assembly process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In addition to a plane shuttle conveyor, there is a lift and carry conveyor as a transfer device used in an automobile body assembly process. The plane shuttle conveyor transports the work between each stage by linear reciprocating movement of the transfer bar (shuttle bar), and lifts and lowers the work at each stage by an independent lifter separate from the transfer bar. On the other hand, in the lift and carry conveyor, the transfer of the work between the stages and the lift-up / lift-down operation of the work at each stage are performed by the linear reciprocating motion of the transfer bar itself and the vertical movement. This is different from the plane shuttle conveyor in that it is performed (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-15852 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-261852).

[0003]

In the conventional structure as described above, the transfer bar passes through the jig of each stage in both the plane shuttle conveyor and the lift & carry conveyor, so that the equipment becomes large. In addition, its installation and adjustment take a long time. In particular, when changing the work to be conveyed, all fingers must be replaced and the positions adjusted as work receivers attached to the transfer bar, which requires a great deal of man-hour and time.

[0004] In addition, particularly with respect to the lift and carry conveyor, if a stage is added after the installation, a large-scale modification including a transfer bar drive system is required, and it is possible to flexibly cope with an increase in the number of stages. Can not.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and in particular, does not require a finger as a work receiver on the transfer bar side and its adjustment, and can flexibly cope with an increase in the number of stages. It is intended to provide a transport device.

[0006]

A transfer device according to the present invention is provided on a plurality of stages arranged in series, and is provided with a fixed positioning jig for positioning a work to be worked; Are provided separately for
A roller conveyor which is moved up and down by a lift cylinder between a work transfer height position and a standby position lower than the work transfer height position, and the work received at the work transfer height position when the roller conveyor is lowered. And a lifter that pushes the work on the positioning jig to a work transfer height position when the roller conveyor is lifted, and a crotch on the plurality of stages and above the plurality of stages. And a plurality of hook members that can be moved forward and backward in the work transfer direction and are engaged with the work pushed up to the work transfer height position by each of the lifters. An overhead transfer bar that conveys the workpiece to the next stage all at once along the roller conveyor It consists of.

[0007]

According to this structure, the lift-up and lift-down of the work at each stage is performed by a lifter having a roller conveyor as in the case of the existing plain shuttle conveyor, while the transfer of the work between the stages is performed by an overhead method. It will be done by the transfer bar. When the work that has completed the predetermined work or processing at each stage is lifted up from the positioning jig by the lifter, a part of each work is engaged with the hook member of the transfer bar waiting above the lifter. I do. When the transfer bar moves forward in this state, since the hook members of the transfer bar are engaged with each work, each work is dragged by the transfer bar and slides on the cola conveyor to move to the next stage all at once. Conveyed.

After that, when the lifter of each stage moves down, each work is disengaged from the hook member on the transfer bar side and is transferred to the positioning jig of the corresponding stage. Processing is performed, during which the transfer bar retracts.

[0009]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention.
An example in which the present invention is applied to a welding assembly line mainly for a floor of an automobile is shown. The floor-main welding assembly line includes, for example, a work carry-in stage S1, a welding stage S2, a manual work stage S3, and a work carry-out stage S arranged in series as shown in FIGS.
In each of the stages S1 to S4, a positioning jig 1 and a lifter 2 for positioning a floor main (hereinafter referred to as a work) W to be welded are individually provided.

[0010] In the work loading stage S1, the work W carried in by the hoist 3 is moved by the worker M.
The workpiece is transferred onto the positioning jig 1 by one hand, and a plurality of welding robots 4, 4,... Perform spot welding of a predetermined number of spots on a welding stage S2 subsequent to the work loading stage S1. At the manual work spot S3, small parts can be set or welded by manual work if it is set up by the hand of the worker M2. Further, at the work carry-out stage S4, the body side is put in by a drop lifter (not shown), and carried out as a set with the floor main W, for example, to a subsequent body main welding assembly line.

As shown in FIG. 3, the positioning jig 1 has a fixed gauge 5 for directly receiving and positioning the lower surface of the work W, and comprises the welding stage S2, the manual work stage S3, and the work stage S3. Unloading stage S4
About the positioning jig 1, in addition to the gauge 5 described above,
A clamper 6 for clamping the work W is provided. Further, the positioning jig 1 of the welding stage S2 is provided with a back bar electrode 7 functioning as a part of an electrode during spot welding described later.

The lifter 2 includes a positioning jig 1
A pair of lifter tables 10 arranged on both sides of the lifter table and moved up and down by a lift cylinder 8 via a frame 9, and a roller conveyor (free roller conveyor) 11 placed on each lifter table 10. The roller conveyor 11 has a work transfer height position P1 shown in FIG. 1, which is a height position at which the work W is to be unloaded, and a standby position P2 lower than the work transfer height position P1. It moves up and down between.

On the other hand, an overhead type transfer bar (shuttle bar) 12 that reciprocates linearly in the work transfer direction is supported by a gantry 13 above each of the stages S1 to S4. The transfer bar 12 is a frame 13
Are guided by a plurality of guide rollers 14, 14,.
The transfer bar 12 linearly reciprocates in the work transfer direction by meshing between the transfer bar 12 and the rack 17 on the transfer bar 12 side. The transfer bar 12 is provided with a plurality of hook members 18 that engage with a part of the work W when the work W of each of the stages S1 to S4 is lifted up by the lifter 2.

In the transfer device configured as described above, while the work W is being transferred from the hoist 3 to the positioning jig 1 at the work loading stage S1, the roller conveyors 11 of all the lifters 2 are moved. At the lower limit standby position P2, the workpieces W of the stages S2 to S4 are supported by the positioning jigs 1 of the respective stages S2 to S4, and predetermined work is performed. Then, the transfer bar 12 is waiting at the retreat position Q1 indicated by a virtual line shown in FIG.

That is, in the welding stage S2, the work W is positioned by the gauge 5 of the positioning jig 1 and clamped by the clamper 6 as shown in FIG. 3, and the stud gun 19 and the C-shaped gun 20 of the welding robot 4 are provided. , And a predetermined spot welding is performed. At this time, the roller conveyor 11 of each lifter 1 stands by at a standby position P2 below the work W without contacting the work W.
In the manual work stage S3, the work W is similarly positioned by the gauge 5 of the positioning jig 1 and then clamped by the clamper 6, and the manual welding work is performed by the worker M2 as described above. Further, at the work unloading stage S4, the work W is positioned by the gauge 5 of the positioning jig 1 and clamped by the clamper 6, and in this state, the left and right body sides to be assembled to the work W by the drop lifter (not shown) are loaded. Then, the work W is temporarily assembled.

After that, when the work in each of the stages S1 to S4 is completed, in the positioning jig 1 provided with the clamper 6 shown in FIG. 3, the clamper 6 performs an unclamping operation. The lifter 2 of S4 simultaneously moves upward, and the work W of each of the stages S1 to S4 floats from the gauge 5 of the positioning jig 1 and reaches the work transfer height position P1 indicated by a virtual line in FIG.
1 lifted up. At this time, each lifter 2
The roller conveyor 11 supports the lower end surface of the side sill inner panel S (see FIG. 3) of the work W as a supporting portion.

When the work W of each of the stages S1 to S4 is lifted up, except for the work unloading stage S4,
The hook member 18 of the transfer bar 12 waiting above these works W is inserted into the strut housing H of the work W located inside the engine room as shown in FIG. At the same time, another transfer bar enters below the work W on the work unloading stage S4 from the body main assembly line side in the post-process. Note that the lift timing of the lifter 2 in each of the stages S1 to S4 does not necessarily need to be completely synchronized.

As described above, when the work W of each of the stages S1 to S4 is lifted up and engaged with the hook member 18 on the transfer bar 12, the drive motor 15 drives the pinion 16 to rotate, and the transfer bar 12 is moved between the stages. Advances in the work transfer direction by the pitch. As a result, the work W of each of the stages S1 to S3 is dragged by the transfer bar 12 for engagement with the hook member 18, and is conveyed onto the roller conveyor 11 of the next stage while sliding on each roller conveyor 11. You. At the same time, the work W on the work unloading stage S4 is carried out to a body main assembly line, which is a subsequent process, by a transfer bar on the body main assembly line side (not shown).

When the lifters 2 of the stages S1 to S4 move down, the respective works W are transferred from the roller conveyor 11 to the positioning jig 1 of the corresponding stage, and the roller conveyor 11 of the lifter 2 moves down. At the standby position P2, the transfer bar 12
Returns to the original retreat limit position Q1, and thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated.

The position where the hook member 18 on the transfer bar 12 side should engage with the work W is not necessarily limited to the strut housing H shown in the above embodiment.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the lifter of each stage is configured to move the roller conveyor up and down, while the transfer bar is arranged above each stage to be an overhead type. A part of the work lifted up by the lifter is engaged with a hook member of a transfer bar, and the work of each stage is conveyed to the next stage while sliding along the roller conveyor. Therefore, the transfer bar does not pass through the positioning jig as in the past, so that the structure and adjustment of the equipment can be simplified, and
Restrictions on layout such as positioning jigs and lifters can be eased. In addition, it is sufficient that the hook member capable of engaging with a part of the work is provided on the transfer bar side, and it is not necessary to use a large number of fingers that are faithful to the shape of the receiving portion on the work side as in the related art. The installation and adjustment can be performed quickly, so that the number of man-hours can be reduced.

Further, since the lifter including the roller conveyor and the positioning jig are independent for each stage, even if the stage is added, it is only necessary to extend the transfer bar, and the number of stages can be flexibly increased. There is an effect that can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line aa of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view showing an engagement state between a work and a hook member;
(A) is the top view, (B) is the side explanatory drawing of the same figure (A).

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Positioning jig 2 ... Lifter 4 ... Welding robot 5 ... Gauge 8 ... Lift cylinder 11 ... Roller conveyor 12 ... Transfer bar 15 ... Drive motor 16 ... Pinion 17 ... Rack 18 ... Hook member S1 ... Work loading stage S2 ... Welding stage S3: Manual work stage S4: Work unloading stage W: Floor main as work P1: Work transfer height position P2: Standby position

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fixed positioning jig which is individually provided on a plurality of stages arranged in series and positions a work to be worked, and which is individually provided on the plurality of stages and which is lifted by a lift cylinder. A roller conveyor that moves up and down between a transfer height position and a standby position lower than the work transfer height position, and when the roller conveyor descends, the work received at the work transfer height position is positioned by the positioning jig; A lifter that pushes the work on the positioning jig to a work transfer height position when the roller conveyor is lifted, and a crotch on the plurality of stages and is disposed above the plurality of stages. The lifter can move forward and backward in the work transfer direction, and can be pushed up to the work transfer height position by each of the lifters. An overhead transfer bar that has a plurality of hook members that engage with the hooks, and that conveys the work of each stage to the next stage at the same time along the roller conveyor by forward movement. Characteristic transport device.