JP3446841B2 - Automobile assembly method and assembly line - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of assembling a vehicle in which a vehicle body that has undergone a painting process is transported and parts are sequentially assembled to the vehicle body, and a vehicle assembly line to which the method is applied.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to consistently assemble parts into a car body of a single or a small number of vehicles, usually, the car body sent from the painting zone is transferred to a slat conveyor or a self-propelled carriage. Alternatively, a method is adopted in which the parts are transferred to a hanger for transporting the vehicle body, and the parts are assembled while sequentially transporting them along each part assembly department.

Although this type of assembly method is extremely efficient, on the other hand, it requires a huge amount of money for its equipment,
When the number of vehicles produced is below a certain limit, there is a problem that it is not necessarily economical from the viewpoint of cost effectiveness.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new automobile assembling method and an assembling line thereof, by which a tire, which is a component of an automobile, is used as a means for conveying a vehicle body, which makes it possible to greatly reduce the amount of conveyance equipment.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems] That is, as the assembly method of a motor vehicle for the present invention is to achieve such an object, whereas one that back and forth relative to the vehicle body passed through the painting process
A step that assembling the wheel only in the non-driving side of the wheel
While rolling, do not transport the above car body along the assembly department.
Bei a step of the reluctant the vehicle body Yuku put the set of parts to be mounted
As a vehicle assembly line to which this method is applied, a vehicle on the lower side of the coating zone in the conveying direction is used.
In the wheel assembly department, a suspending and conveying means for suspending and transporting the vehicle body is arranged so as to assemble the wheels only on one of the front and rear non-driving sides, and the suspending and conveying means conveys the suspension. At least one parts assembly department on the lower side of the direction
Lock the wheel on the non-drive side by locking one end of the body on the non-wheel side.
While rolling distribution of 牽引搬feed means you tow conveying the vehicle body
It was set up.

[0006]

Embodiments Now, the embodiments shown in the drawings will be described. FIG. 1 shows in detail the characteristic part of the present invention in the assembly line shown in FIG.

An assembling station for rear undercarriage parts indicated by reference numeral I in the drawing is a department for assembling a rear tire unit to a vehicle body w, and has been sent out from a coating zone on the right side in the drawing by a trolley 1 here. A manual vehicle body transport hanger 3 is provided for lifting the vehicle body w and transporting the vehicle body w from the start end portion to the end portion of the assembly station I.

This manual vehicle body transport hanger 3 is provided with a base 5 movably mounted via rollers 4 on a vehicle body transport rail 12 installed above the vehicle body w along a transport path of the vehicle body w. The hoist 6 on the base 5 is operated so as to be lifted and lowered, and a body gripping claw 8 that is attached to the lower part of the hoist 6 and that rotates from a holding position to a held position is provided at the lower end. It is composed of front and rear and left and right rods 9 and so on. Further, a pair of rollers 10 and 10 are attached to both sides of the elevating table 5, and stabilizers 13 and 13 are installed on both sides of the assembling station I. It is configured to run on top of.

On the other hand, reference numeral II in the figure denotes a first component assembly station located on the lower side of the rear underbody component assembly station I in the conveying direction, and this component assembly station II is a slat conveyor described later. The unit 15 is configured as a department for sequentially assembling indoor mounting parts while transporting the vehicle body w.

The slat conveyor 15 is constructed as a power-driven type conveyor having a width narrower than the interval between the left and right rear tires RT mounted on the vehicle body w, and from just below the end portion of the vehicle body transport rail 12 described above. It is laid down to the end of this assembly station II.

An engaging member 16 for pulling the vehicle body is fixed to the slat conveyor 15 at an appropriate interval exceeding the length of the vehicle body w, and an engaging member provided on the upper surface of the engaging member 16 is engaged. A part of the vehicle body w downward F in the groove 17 near the front end,
For example, by engaging the jack-up point on the lower surface of the bulkhead or the lower end of the joint portion of the dashboard, the vehicle body w is transported from the start end portion to the end portion of the station II while rolling the rear tire RT. It is configured so that the indoor mounting parts are assembled to w.

Next, turning to FIG. 2, reference numeral III shows a third component assembling station for mainly assembling the lower mounted components of the vehicle body w, and a second assembling station II.
On the rail 20 for carrying the vehicle body extending from the end part of the vehicle to the starting end of the third parts assembling station IV, the same hanger 21 for carrying the car body as that used at the above-mentioned rear underbody parts assembling station I can freely travel. Is attached to the vehicle body w by the hanger 21, and in the process of transporting the vehicle body w from the start end portion to the terminal end portion of the station III, the front tire FT and other lower mounting parts are assembled to the vehicle body w. Is configured.

Further, a third component assembly station indicated by reference numeral IV in the drawing is a department for assembling large components to the vehicle body w and injecting the required liquid therein, and here is a front portion of the vehicle body w. The narrow slat conveyor 25 for mounting and fixing the tire FT on one side of the front tires FT attached to the front tire FT is laid from directly under the vehicle body transport rail 20 to the end portion of the station IV. In this embodiment, the right front tire FT of the vehicle body w is fixed on the slat conveyer 25 to convey the vehicle body w, while assembling large parts and injecting liquid.

Next, a method of assembling the vehicle body on the assembling line thus constructed will be described.

When the vehicle 1 that has undergone the painting process is carried out of the painting zone by the trolley 1, the operator first operates the hoist 6 to move the lifting platform 7 to the vehicle body at the starting end of the rear underbody parts assembling station I. It is lowered to w, and in that state, the body gripping claws 8 ... Attached to the lower ends of the front, rear, left and right rods 9, 9 are rotated in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the body w to move them. The upper vehicle body w is engaged.

Then, the hoist 6 is operated to pull up the vehicle body w until the pair of left and right rollers 10 and 10 reach the height of the stabilizing bases 13 and 13. In this state, the elevating base 7 is slightly moved forward to stabilize the stable base. The rear suspension assembly such as a trailing arm, a brake unit, and a lower arm, or a brake hose, a fuel pump, and a rear damper unit are seated on the rollers 10, 10 while the rollers 10, 10 are seated on the rollers 13, 10 while manually transporting the vehicle body w. While assembling to w, the rear tire RT is rotatably attached to the height position when the vehicle body is completed.

In this way, when the assembly of the rear suspension parts has been completed and the vehicle body transport hanger 3 has reached the end position of the rear suspension parts assembly station, the hoist 6 is then operated in the reverse order of the above. The elevator platform 7 to the stable platform 13, 13
The vehicle body w is lowered from above and suspended and supported so as to straddle the slat conveyor 15 having a narrow width, and is landed at the starting end position of the first component assembly station II.

In this state, the locking member 16 for towing the vehicle body
A part of the front side below the vehicle body w, for example, a jack-up point provided on the lower surface of the bulkhead is engaged with the engaging groove 17 of the vehicle body w, and the vehicle body w is moved by the slat conveyor 15 while rolling the rear tire RT. Transports from the start end to the end, and in the meantime, antenna unit, wiper unit, roof lining, pillar garnish, floor mat, operation pedal unit, heater blower, clutch operation unit, brake pipe, clutch pipe, radiator, front damper, door Mainly indoor mounting components such as a lock unit, a door glass, a rearview mirror, a speaker, a regulator, a headlight, a taillight, bumpers, seat belts, instrument panels, harnesses, and wires are sequentially mounted on the vehicle body w.

When the vehicle body w reaches the terminal end of the first component assembling station II after finishing the assembling of the required components in this way, the same operation as that at the rear underbody component assembling station I described above is performed next. , The vehicle body w is transferred to the vehicle body transport hanger 21 and is transferred to the second component assembly station I.
While being transported from the starting end to the ending end of II, the vehicle body w suspended and supported has an inner fender, a washer tank, a fuel tank, a mat guard, an exhaust pipe,
Mainly bottom mounting parts such as engine, brake unit, knuckle arm, tie rod, front lower arm, drive shaft, front stabilizer spring, engine mount front beam, engine mount rear beam, front radius rod, etc. are assembled with the front tire FT.

When the vehicle body w reaches the rear end of the second assembling station III after the above-mentioned assembly is completed, the right front wheel is placed on the narrow slat conveyor 25 laid at the third component assembling station IV. The vehicle body w suspended and supported so that the FT can ride on it is unloaded from the vehicle body transport hanger 21.

Then, while the right front wheel FT is fixed, the vehicle body w is conveyed from the starting end to the terminating end of the third parts assembling station IV, and the battery, seat, door lining, fuse box, steering unit, spare Assemble large parts such as tires, trunk mats, roof moldings, consoles, windshields, sun visors, wipers, cowl tops, handles, and seats to the vehicle body w, and also gasoline, power steering oil, brake oil, washer fluid, radiator fluid. The required liquid such as is injected into the vehicle body w and shipped as a completed vehicle.

By the way, the above-described embodiments have described the method of assembling the parts to the vehicle body for the front wheel drive vehicle and the assembly line thereof. However, in the case of the rear wheel drive vehicle, the front wheel is first described. It is also possible to adopt a transportation method in which the vehicle is attached to the vehicle body, and then the rear end of the vehicle body is pulled while rolling the front wheels.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the automatic
A means for transporting the body of a non-driving tire, which is a component of a car
As a result , even if the number of units produced is limited, an efficient line production system can be adopted, and the investment of equipment of this kind can be significantly reduced to assemble parts. The cost required for can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an assembly line showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the entire assembly line of the same as above.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 dolly 3,21 Car carrier hanger 12 Car body transport rails 15, 25 slat conveyor 16 Locking member for towing I Rear suspension parts assembly station II 1st parts assembly station III Second parts assembly station IV Third parts assembly station w body RT rear tire FT front tire

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B62D 65/18 B23P 21/00 303 B65G 47/61 B65G 47/90

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A step of assembling a wheel only on the non-driving side of either the front or rear of the vehicle body that has undergone the coating step,
Method of assembling a motor vehicle, characterized by comprising the steps of while rolling the wheels conveying Shinano and along a department assembling the vehicle body Yuku by assembling parts to be attached to et the vehicle body. Wherein the wheel assembly department conveying direction downstream side of the coating zone, co-when disposed hanging conveying means for conveying suspended vehicle body to assemble wheels only on one of the non-driving side longitudinal to, at least one component assembly department provided in the transport direction downstream side of the hanging down transport means, while rolling the wheels of the non-driven side engages a wheel non-mounting side end portion of the vehicle body above An assembling line for an automobile, characterized by having a towing and conveying means for towing and conveying a vehicle body. 3. The automobile assembly line according to claim 2, wherein the towing and conveying means is a conveyor having a width narrower than a distance between the left and right wheels. 4. A conveyance means having a narrow width is provided on the lower side of the parts assembling section in the conveyance direction so as to hold and convey either one of the mounted front and rear wheels. The vehicle assembly line according to claim 2.