JP3044116B2 - Automatic differential assembly apparatus and assembly method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a differential assembling apparatus for assembling a differential (hereinafter referred to as a differential) by assembling a pinion gear and a side gear, and a method of assembling the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automation of automobile assembly lines has been promoted.

For example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 64-64336, a transmission case is known in which a plurality of gear assemblies each having a gear provided on a rotating shaft are automatically assembled. I have.

[0004]

However, even in such a case, since the assembly of the gear assembly itself, for example, the differential device, is performed manually by an operator, there is still room for improvement in that respect.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic differential assembling apparatus and an automatic assembling method capable of automatically assembling a differential.

[0006]

The present invention is based on an automatic differential assembling apparatus for assembling a differential by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears and a pinion shaft on a differential case, and a method of assembling the differential. .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic assembling apparatus for holding and positioning a differential case supporting the differential case, and a side gear for rotatably and fixedly holding one side gear in the differential case. A unit, a rotatable pinion gear, a robot chuck for a pinion gear to be conveyed into a differential case so as to mesh with both side gears, and a rotation of the other side gear, and a pinion gear in a predetermined fixed position in the differential case. A rotation unit for rotating and displacing the robot chuck up to
When the pinion gear is rotated by the
Revolve the above pinion gear without rotating the gear
Spherical guide that guides the rotational displacement of the pinion gear
It has composition which has .

[0008] automatic assembling method according to claim 2, said differential casing - to So設the side gears and the pinion gear in the scan, and rotatably supports one of the side gears and the other side gear giving rotational difference between one side gear By rotating, the side gear meshes with the pinion gear, and after detecting the meshing, one side gear is fixed and the other side gear is rotated without rotating the differential case.
A pinion gear holder for rotatably holding the pinion gear
The rotational displacement of the pinion gear is guided to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case by the spherical guide of the bot chuck.
And, then, a configuration of inserting fixing the pinion shaft.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the differential case is supported by the differential case receiving member, and the pinion gear is formed in the differential case by the robot chuck so as to mesh with both side gears held in the differential case. Conveyed. While the one side gear is rotatably held by the side gear holding and positioning unit, the other side gear is rotated by giving a rotation difference with the one side gear by the rotation unit, and the proper engagement of the side gear and the pinion gear is performed. Let While the pinion gear is properly meshed with the side gear, one side gear is fixed and held by the side gear holding and positioning unit, and the other side gear is turned by the turning unit, and the pinion gear is set in the differential case. A predetermined fixed position is rotationally displaced by the spherical guide of the robot chuck .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a side gear and a pinion gear are provided in the differential case, and one of the side gears is rotatably supported while the other side gear is provided with a rotational difference from the one of the side gears. By properly engaging the side gear and the pinion gear and detecting the engagement, one side gear is fixed and the other side gear is rotated to guide the rotational displacement of the pinion gear.
Rotating the differential case to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case by a robot chuck having a spherical guide.
Instead, the pinion gear is rotationally displaced, and then the pinion shaft is inserted and fixed to the pinion gear.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the differential automatic assembling apparatus 1 is a rotary type having a rotatable rotary table 2, and includes first to sixth stations S1 and S1.
2, S3, S4, S5, and S6. As shown in FIG. 7, a differential 2 assembled by the apparatus 1 has a pair of side gears 4, 4 and thrust washers 5, 5, and an axis perpendicular to the axis of the side gears 4, 4 in a differential case 3. A pair of pinion gears 6, 6 and washers 7, 7 meshing with the side gears 4, 4 are provided, and a pinion shaft 8 fitted to one of the pinion gears 6 is provided. 9 is a spring pin.

On the rotary table 2, the differential case receivers 12 are placed at equal angular intervals, and the respective differential case receivers 12 are positioned corresponding to the respective stations S1 to S6. Has become.

In the first station S1, a low
A fixed differential case 1 provided on the tare table 2
2, a differential case 3 is set. The differential case 3 is retained in a two-stage × two-row differential case supply line 13 and is set on the differential case receiving unit 12 by a three-axis orthogonal robot 14. .

As shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, the differential case receiving member 12 includes an upper member 115 and a lower member 16.
And a bearing member 17 interposed therebetween. The lower member 16 is floatingly connected to the rotary table 2 via a spring 18 so as to be vertically movable. At the same time, it is mounted so as to be positionable by a positioning air cylinder 19. The upper member 15 of the differential case receiving member 12 has an engaging projection 15a protruding therefrom, and the engaging projection 15a is provided with an engaging hole 3 of the differential case 3.
a engages releasably.

In the second station S 2, the side gears 4 set in the side gear magazine 21
4. The thrust washers 5, 5 stored in the thrust washer magazine 22 are assembled to the differential case 3. That is, the four-axis orthogonal robot 23 first mounts the lower case 3 on the differential case 3 and then mounts it on the upper side. Then, while holding them by the side gear holding and positioning unit 24, the third gear
Shift to station S3.

Although not specifically shown, a total of six side gear holding and positioning units 24 are provided for each of the differential case holders 12 on the rotary table 2. Each unit 24 has a collet chuck 25 that engages with the upper side gear 4 and the thrust washer 5 as shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the collet chuck 25 is vertically moved by an air cylinder 26. In the direction, and rotated by a servo motor 27 with a brake. The collet chuck 25 is connected to a servo motor 27 via a built-in air cylinder 28 for an inner diameter collet clamp, and a movable base 29 to which the servo motor 27 and the built-in air cylinder 28 are attached is connected to an air cylinder 26. Of the piston rod 26a. And movable table 29
Is slidably engaged with a guide rail 31 on the unit base 24A side.

In the third station S3, while the upper and lower side gears 4, 4 are held by the differential case 3, the pinion gears 6, 6 on the left and right sides of the pinion gear hoppers 35, 35 are connected to the thrust washer pad. -Feeder 3
Thrust washers 7, 7 are supplied from 6, 36, respectively, and assembled by a 4-axis orthogonal robot 37.

The robot 37 has a robot hand 38
A rotatable rotary actuator 39 is mounted on the actuator 39, and a mounting frame 40 is pivotally mounted on the actuator 39. A pinion gear robot chuck 41 is mounted and fixed to the mounting frame 40. Robot chuck 41
Is a collet chuck 4 holding a pinion gear 6.
2, a spherical guide 42 for guiding the rotation of the pinion gear 6 to a predetermined fixed position of the differential case 3, and an air cylinder 43 for moving the inner diameter collet back and forth. 44 is a pinion gear pressing spring.

On the other hand, a positioning unit 45 (rotation unit) for the lower side gear 4 is provided below. The unit 45 includes a spline rod 46 spline-fitted to the lower side gear 4, a floating mechanism 47 for floating the spline rod 46 in the vertical direction, and a servo-motor for rotating the spline rod 46. And a mounting table 49 to which they are mounted, a guide member 51 slidably engaged with a slider 50 of the mounting table 49, and an air cylinder 52 for moving the spline rod 46 up and down.

Then, the air cylinder 26 is extended to compress the spring 28a to fix the upper side gear 4, and the spline rod 4 is attached to the lower side gear 4.
By rotating the pinion 6, the right and left pinion gears 6, 6 can be rotated by approximately 90 ° with respect to the differential case 3 in order to insert the pinion shaft 8.

Further, a pinion shaft insertion unit 55 is provided at the third station S3. In the insertion unit 55, a slider 57 is attached to the lower end of a slide member 56, and the slider 57 is slidably engaged with a guide rail 59 of a base 58. The sliding member 56 includes a piston rod 60 of an air cylinder.
a is connected and can be moved forward and backward by the air cylinder. Also, on the slide member 56,
A support portion 56a is provided, and a pair of rod members 61, 61 are slidably fitted into the support portion 56a, and shaft receivers 61a, 61a are provided at the distal ends of the rod members 61, 61. The pinion shaft 8 is supported between the shaft 56a and the shaft receiver 61a. A spring 62 is wound around the rod member 61 between the support portion 56a and the shaft receiver 61a.

A positioning pin 63 is provided on the support portion 56a so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and is configured to be moved by an air cylinder 64. Are engaged to perform positioning. The support 5
A pinion shaft pushing air cylinder 65 that pushes the rear end of the pinion shaft 8 is provided at 6 a.

Reference numeral 66 denotes a magazine for a pinion shaft, in which a plurality of pinion shafts 68 are housed while being engaged with a positioning rod 67. The pinion shaft 8 is mounted on the slide member 56 by positioning the slide member 56 below the magazine 66 and operating the escape air cylinders 69A and 69B.

In the fourth station S4, the spring pins 9 supplied from the supply feeders 81, 81 are mounted.

In the fifth station S5, a total backlash measurement unit 82 and a pinion gear size measurement unit 83 are provided to measure the total backlash and pinion gear size.

In the sixth station S6, the finished product 84 of the differential is unloaded from the differential case receiver 12 into a loader 85.
And carried out by the conveyor means 86.

With the above construction, first, in the first station S1, the differential case 3 is set on the differential case receiving member 12, and then the differential case 3 is rotated by rotating the rotary table 2. The differential case 3 is rotated and moved to the second station S1 together with the space receiving member 12.

In the second station S2, the robot 23
Thus, the upper and lower side gears 4 and 4 are assembled together with the thrust washers 5 and 5 to the differential case 3 in the order of lower side and upper side. Then, the collet chuck 25 of the side gear holding and positioning unit 24 is lowered by a predetermined amount, and the differential case 3 is pressed. In this state, the spring 18 is compressed and the differential case receiving member 12 is rotatable by the bearing member 17.

Then, with the collet chuck 25,
The upper side gear 4 is clamped. After this clamp,
A robot (not shown) for assembling the side gear 4 is retracted.

Then, the collet chuck 25 is rotated in the above-described pressed state, whereby the bearing member 1 is rotated.
7 rotates the differential case receiving member 12, that is, the differential case 3 by 90 °. After this rotation is completed, the collet chuck 25 is raised by a predetermined amount, and the differential case receiver 12 is brought into a floating state.

In the third station, the pinion gears 6, 6 are previously set in the robot chucks 41, 41 of the robot 37.
The robot chuck 4 with the axis of
The robot chucks 41 and 41 are rotated by 90 ° after clamping, and are in a standby state shown in FIG.

Then, the robot chucks 41, 41 are advanced, and the pinion gears 6, 6 are pushed into the differential case 3. This pushing is performed simultaneously for the two pinion gears 6,6.

After the pinion gears 6 and 6 are pushed in, the spline rod 46 is raised and spline-fitted to the lower side gear 4, and then the lower side gear 4 is rotated by rotating the spline rod 46. Then, the upper and lower side gears 4, 4 and the left and right pinion gears 6, 6 are properly meshed. This is performed only when it is detected by a sensor (not shown) that the engagement is not properly performed.

Then, the clamp by the robot chuck 41 is released, and the pinion gears 6, 6 are brought into a free state. At this time, the pinion gears 6, 6 are pressed and urged by the spring 44 in the robot chuck 41.

Thereafter, the collet chuck 25 of the upper side gear 4 is rotated (rotation speed A), and the spline rod 46 of the lower side gear 4 is rotated (rotation speed B>).
A), confirm that the meshing of the pinion gears 6, 6 is proper. Here, the reason why the rotation speed is changed is that if the rotation speed is the same, one side may be engaged, but the other side may not be engaged.

After this check, the spherical guide 42 is left, only the collet chuck 41 is retracted, and then the spline rod 46 is rotated in a fixed state in which the rotation of the collet chuck 25 of the upper side gear 4 is stopped, and the lower side gear is rotated. By rotating the pinion 4, the pinion gears 6, 6 are revolved by 90 ° while being guided by the spherical guide 42 without rotating the differential case 3.

After the pinion gears 6 and 6 have revolved by 90 °, the robot chuck 41 is retracted, and the collet chuck 25 of the upper side gear 4 is released to rotate free (servo motor free), and the spline of the lower side gear 4 is rotated. Rod 4
The rotation of No. 6 is referred to as free (servo motor free).

Then, the pinion shaft 8 is advanced by extending the upper escape air cylinder 69A, and the lower escape air cylinder 69B is retracted, so that the pinion shaft 9 is mounted on the slide member 56. set. After the setting, the slide member 56 is advanced to a predetermined position. Then, the positioning pin 63 is lowered, and the pinion shaft 8 is advanced through the opening 3a of the differential case 3 and pushed into the pinion gears 6,6. After the pinion shaft 8 is inserted, the side gears 4 and 4 may be engaged with the pinion gears 6 and 6.

Then, at the fourth station S4, the spring pin 9 is mounted, at the fifth station S5, the total distance between the total backlash and the pinion gear is measured, and at the sixth station S6, The differential finished product 84 is carried out.

[0041]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, while the one side gear is held by the side gear holding and positioning unit, the other side gear is turned by the turning unit, and the pinion gear is set in the differential case. By spherical guide
The pinion gear can be easily and accurately adjusted to the predetermined fixed position by guiding and rotating the predetermined fixed position.
Rotational displacement can be performed well , and automatic assembly of the differential can be easily performed. Also, since one side gear is rotatably held by the side gear holding and positioning unit while the other side gear is given a rotation difference from the one side gear by the rotation unit, the side gear can be rotated. Appropriate meshing with the pinion gear can be easily performed, and its confirmation is also easy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the one side gear is rotatably supported, and the other side gear is rotated by giving a rotation difference to the one side gear, whereby the side gear and the pinion gear are properly meshed. From this, it is possible to easily perform appropriate meshing between the side gear and the pinion gear, and after detecting the proper meshing, fix one side gear and rotate the other side gear to rotate the pinion gear to the spherical guide of the robot chuck. To
Therefore , the pinion gear is guided and rotated to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case.
The differential can be easily and accurately rotated to a predetermined fixed position in the gear, and automatic assembly of the differential can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic differential assembling apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship among various devices in a third station.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a side gear holding and positioning unit.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the pin shaft insertion unit.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the differential device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Automatic assembly device for differential 2 Rotary table 3 Differential case 4 Side gear 6 Pinion gear 8 Pinion shaft 12 Differential case receiver 24 Side gear holding and positioning unit 42 Spherical guide 45 Positioning unit (rotation unit) 55 Pinion shaft insertion unit

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An automatic differential assembly device for assembling a differential by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears, and a pinion shaft to the differential case, wherein the differential case supporter supports the differential case. A side gear holding and positioning unit for holding one side gear rotatably and fixably in a differential case; and a pinion gear for rotatably holding and transporting the pinion gear into a differential case so as to mesh with both side gears. a pinion robot chuck rotates the other side gear, differential case - a pinion gear within the scan and a rotating unit for rotating displaced to a predetermined fixed position, the robot chuck, Pini by the rotating unit
Do not rotate the differential case when the on-gear rotates.
In order to revolve the pinion gear,
An automatic differential assembly apparatus having a spherical guide for guiding the rotational displacement of the differential. 2. A method for automatically assembling a differential by assembling a differential by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears and a pinion shaft to a differential case, wherein a side gear and a pinion gear are provided in the differential case. Then, one side gear is rotatably supported, and the other side gear is rotated by giving a rotation difference to the one side gear, thereby meshing the side gear and the pinion gear. After detecting the meshing, the one side gear is fixed. Rotate the other side gear to rotate the differential case
Pinion that rotatably holds the pinion gear without any
The pinion gear is rotated to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case by the spherical guide of the robot chuck for the gear.
A method for automatically assembling a differential, comprising guiding a displacement and then inserting and fixing a pinion shaft.