JP3799237B2 - Plate workpiece positioning device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a plate-shaped workpiece positioning apparatus for positioning and mounting a substantially plate-shaped workpiece, particularly a workpiece that is easily damaged, such as a windshield glass or rear glass for a vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A windshield glass and a rear glass (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece) for a vehicle have a substantially plate shape that is slightly curved with respect to a plane. When this work is attached to the vehicle body, first, the work is placed horizontally at a predetermined position. Then, the work plate surface is adsorbed by a suction cup provided at the tip of the robot arm, moved to a predetermined position of the vehicle body by the robot arm, and fixed to the vehicle body by adhesion or the like. The accuracy of the position fixed to the vehicle body depends on the control accuracy of the robot arm and the suction position by the suction cup on the workpiece. The former is the accuracy of the control that lifts the workpiece from the position where the workpiece is attracted and moves the arm to the workpiece mounting position obtained from the reference point on the vehicle body, and is satisfactory in the present situation. The latter is the position on the workpiece where the suction cup of the robot is attracted, and if this position is shifted, even if the robot carries the workpiece by a predetermined operation, the mounting position on the vehicle body is Deviation occurs. The position on the glass where the robot sucks is determined by the position where the glass is placed before being picked up by the robot. That is, the positioning accuracy for placing the work first determines the mounting accuracy of the work body.
[0003]
Conventionally, the work placement position before being attracted by the robot has been determined by pressing the work against a fixed pin with a rod that moves forward and backward. Specifically, the rod moves forward and backward with respect to the base fixed by the toggle mechanism, contacts the work in the advanced position, and grips the work together with the fixed pin to perform positioning. In order to perform positioning within the mounting surface, there are two sets of fixed pins and advancing / retreating rods. With respect to these two sets, position adjustment is performed several times alternately to perform positioning related to workpiece placement. It was.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The advancing / retracting rod advance position and retreat position of the above-described conventional device are fixed values determined by a toggle mechanism, and when a workpiece with a different dimension is placed, particularly in the case of a large workpiece, the position from the abutting rod Under excessive force, it may be deformed or damaged in some cases. In addition, regarding a glass product or the like having a relatively coarse dimensional accuracy, a structure capable of accepting the roughness of the accuracy to some extent has been demanded. Further, it has been desired that even a dissimilar workpiece can be permitted if the dimensional difference is small, and the number of setup changes can be reduced. In addition, there is a demand to reduce the manufacturing cost by positioning the workpiece with only the robot without helping humans.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece positioning device having a simple configuration without deforming or damaging a substantially plate-shaped workpiece.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, in the plate-shaped workpiece positioning device according to the present invention, among the gripping members that grip the workpiece in pairs, at least one of the groups is retracted away from the plate-shaped workpiece. It has a contact member that can be fixed in position, can be advanced in the direction of the plate-like workpiece, and comes into contact with the workpiece. The force with which the gripping member grips the plate-like workpiece is generated by an elastic member that biases the contact member from the retracted position toward the workpiece.
[0007]
In a state where the contact member is fixed at the retracted position, the work is placed at an approximate position, and the contact member is advanced to contact the work. At this time, the force by which the contact member presses the workpiece is configured to be generated by the elastic member. By the pressing force of the elastic member, the opposing edges of the workpiece are gripped and positioned. Since the workpiece is gripped by the pressing force of the elastic member, it is possible to prevent an excessive force from being applied to the workpiece. Further, since the abutting member advances and retreats, it is possible to allow different types of workpieces having different dimensions and dimensional differences in accuracy.
[0008]
The specific structure of the advanceable / retractable gripping member can be as follows. The abutting member is coupled to a base that slides on the guide in the forward / backward direction via a toggle mechanism. The elastic member urges the base in the advance direction. The retracted position of the contact member is achieved by moving the contact member in the retract direction by the toggle mechanism. At this time, the contact member does not contact the workpiece, and the elastic member positions the base at the front end in the advance direction of the guide. The advance position of the contact member is achieved by moving the contact member in the advance direction by a toggle mechanism. The contact member contacts the edge of the workpiece, and at this time, the base moves away from the front end of the guide and moves to the retracted position against the urging force of the elastic member. As a result, the contact member presses the edge of the workpiece by the biasing force of the elastic member.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic views of a positioning device for a substantially plate-like workpiece of this embodiment, particularly a rear glass for a vehicle. The frame 10 is coupled with constituent members to be described later and defines the relative positions of the members. Subframes 12, 14, and 16 are fixed to the frame 10 in the left-right direction and the upward direction in FIG. Of these, the mounting pins 20 for mounting the rear glass 18 are supported on the left and right subframes 12 and 14. Further, the sub frame 12 is provided with positioning pins 22, and the rear glass 18 abuts on the positioning pins 22, whereby the rear glass 18 is positioned in the left-right direction in the figure. Further, a positioning pin 24 is fixed to the frame 10 via a support plate 26 for vertical positioning in the drawing. Positioning members 26 and 28 are fixed to the subframes 14 and 16 so as to face the positioning pins 22 and 24, respectively.
[0010]
Under the rear glass 18 to be placed, four suction cups 30 supported by the suction cup support frame 32 are arranged to hold the rear glass 18 after positioning so as not to shift.
[0011]
3 and 4 show the detailed configuration of the positioning members 26 and 28. FIG. These positioning members 26 and 28 have the same configuration and will be described together. The guide 34 is fixed on the subframe. A base 38 is slidably supported on the guide 34 via a linear bearing 36. A contact rod 42 is disposed on the base 38 via a toggle mechanism 40. The contact rod 42 includes a contact pad 44 made of a slightly soft material that does not damage the rear glass at the tip. A double nut 45 for adjusting the length of the rod, that is, the length of the contact pad 44 from the node of the toggle mechanism 40 is provided. Further, the contact rod 42 is supported by a guide (not shown) that restricts the movement of the contact rod 42 in the horizontal direction in the drawing.
[0012]
The toggle mechanism 40 includes a toggle handle 48 that rotates about a fulcrum 46 fixed on the base 38 and a connecting link 50 that connects the abutment rod 42 to the toggle handle 48. When the toggle handle 48 is rotated between the position indicated by the solid line and the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in the drawing, the tip of the contact rod 42 advances and retracts between the position indicated by the solid line and the position indicated by the two-dot chain line. To do.
[0013]
The front and rear ends of the guide 34 are supported by the front end support member 52 and the rear end support member 54. A spring 56 is stretched between the base 38 and the front end support member 52 to urge the base 38 toward the front end support member 52.
[0014]
5 and 6 are operation explanatory views of the positioning members 26 and 28 in the rear glass 18 positioning step. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a retracted state of the positioning members 26 and 28. The toggle handle 48 is rotated rearward, and the contact rod 42 is moved to a retracted position retracted in relation to the base 38. At this time, the base 38 is positioned at the front end of the sliding range of the guide 34, and the contact pad 44 that is the tip of the contact rod 42 is not in contact with the edge of the rear glass 18 supported on the mounting pin 20. In other words, the sliding range of the base 38 of the positioning members 26 and 28 is determined at a position where the contact rod 42 does not contact the rear glass 18 when the toggle handle 48 is rotated backward.
[0015]
FIG. 6 shows a state where the positioning members 26 and 28 are advanced, that is, a state where the rear glass 18 is held together with the positioning pins 22 and 24 on the opposite side. Therefore, the positioning pin 22 and the positioning member 26 function as a gripping member that grips the opposing edges of the plate-like workpiece (rear glass 18) and performs positioning. The two positioning pins 24 and the positioning member 28 also function as gripping parts that grip the opposing edges of the plate-shaped workpiece and perform positioning. The toggle handle 48 is rotated forward, that is, in the direction in which the rear glass 18 is placed. As a result, the contact rod 42 advances toward the rear glass 18 with respect to the base 38. With this advancement, the contact pad 44 contacts the rear glass 18, the contact rod 42 receives this reaction force, and the base 38 retreats on the guide 34 against the urging force of the spring 56. At this time, the base 38 is separated from the front end support member 52, and the urging force of the spring 56 presses the rear glass 18 through the positioning members 26 and 28. By this force, the rear glass is pressed against the positioning pins 22 and 24 at the edge opposite to the edge where the positioning members 26 and 28 are located. As a result, the rear glass 18 is positioned. Further, the positioning in the two directions is executed several times if necessary alternately, and the rear glass 18 is positioned more reliably at a predetermined position.
[0016]
Since the force applied to the rear glass 18 does not exceed the elastic force of the spring 56, even if a glass with a large size is placed, an excessive pressing force is not applied. In particular, when an industrial robot operates the toggle handle 48, the pressing force is determined by the elastic force of the spring 56 as in this embodiment, because the force cannot be adjusted according to the situation unlike the manual operation. By doing so, breakage of the workpiece can be prevented.
[0017]
Further, it is possible to deal with types of workpieces having different dimensions as long as the stroke range on the guide 34 is allowable.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a front view showing a detailed configuration of a positioning member.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a detailed configuration of a positioning member.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the positioning member, and particularly shows a retracted state.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the positioning member, and particularly shows the advanced state.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 frame, 18 rear glass (work), 22, 24 positioning pin (gripping member), 26, 28 positioning member (gripping member), 34 guide, 38 base, 40 toggle mechanism, 42 abutment rod, 44 abutment pad, 48 Toggle handle, 52 Front end support member, 54 Rear end support member, 56 Spring.

Claims (3)

A plate -shaped workpiece positioning device that positions a plate-shaped workpiece by gripping the opposing edges of the workpiece with a pair of gripping members,
Among the gripping members forming the set, at least one gripping member is:
An abutting member that can be fixed at a retracted position away from the plate-like workpiece, can advance in the direction of the plate-like workpiece from here, and abuts against the plate-like workpiece;
An elastic member that urges the contact member toward the plate-shaped workpiece;
Have
Force the gripping member grips the plate-like workpiece state, and are not generated by the biasing force of the elastic member,
The advanceable / retractable gripping member has a base that slides in a forward / backward direction on the guide,
The contact member is connected to the base via a toggle mechanism, and the elastic member biases the base,
The retracted position of the contact member is achieved by the base being located at the front end of the guide in the advance direction, and the contact member being moved in the retract direction by the toggle mechanism,
The advancing position of the abutting member is achieved by the abutting member being moved in the advancing direction by the toggle mechanism, the tip abutting on the plate-like workpiece, and the base being in a position retracted from the front end in the advancing direction. The
Plate workpiece positioning device. 2. The plate-like workpiece positioning device according to claim 1 , wherein the direction in which the plate-like workpiece is gripped is two intersecting directions. 3. The plate-like workpiece positioning apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the gripping member is a gripping member in which one side of opposing edges is the advancing and retracting member and the other side is fixed. Positioning device.

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