JP4209816B2 - Component mounting method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a component mounting method and apparatus for mounting a predetermined component on an object to be mounted.

  For example, in an automobile production line, it is known that an industrial robot is employed when a rearview mirror (mounting part) is mounted on a door (mounted object). This type of robot has a gripping means for gripping the rearview mirror at the tip of the robot arm. The gripping means includes a plurality of fingers that can be freely opened and closed, and an opening and closing mechanism that opens and closes each finger. Then, with each finger of the gripping means gripping the rearview mirror, the robot arm moves the rearview mirror to the rearview mirror mounting position provided on the door to perform the mounting operation.

  However, since the rearview mirror has a relatively complicated shape, the gripping state by each finger is not stable, and the rearview mirror may be misaligned during the transfer to the mounting position, or the rearview mirror may slide down. is there.

  On the other hand, in this type of conventional gripping means, a finger having a deformable contact pad is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to this, the contact pad is deformed corresponding to the contact portion of the rearview mirror, and the rearview mirror can be prevented from slipping and reliably transferred to the mounting position.

  However, when the rearview mirror is gripped by each finger, the rearview mirror cannot be fixed during transfer because the contact pad that is in contact with the rearview mirror is easily deformed. There is an inconvenience that the position shifts to the position. In particular, the installation work for the rearview mirror requires high-precision work such as inserting the rearview mirror mounting screw into the screw hole formed in the door. There is a disadvantage that it is not possible to perform proper mounting work.

  In view of this, it is conceivable to maintain and fix the deformed state of the abutting pad in contact with the rearview mirror when the abutting pad of each finger abuts on the rearview mirror and deforms. For this purpose, the contact pad is composed of a bag-like membrane member having airtightness and a plurality of small pieces accommodated inside the membrane member, and the inside of the membrane member is evacuated so that each small piece in the membrane member is What was made to fix firmly can be employ | adopted (for example, refer patent document 2).

However, since the deformed state is maintained and fixed after the rearview mirror is gripped by each finger and the contact pad is deformed, the gripping position may be shifted when the rearview mirror is gripped. For this reason, when the rearview mirror mounting operation is performed continuously, the gripping position is different each time the rearview mirror is gripped, and there is a disadvantage that the rearview mirror and the mounting position of the door are displaced, and smooth mounting operation cannot be performed. is there.
JP 59-24981 A JP-A-6-206622

  An object of the present invention is to provide a component mounting method and an apparatus thereof that can eliminate such inconveniences and can smoothly mount a mounting component on a mounted object by gripping the mounting component with high accuracy.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a component supply process in which a predetermined mounting component is mounted on a component mounting portion and supplied by a component supply means, and a mounting component mounted on the component mounting portion . A component gripping step of gripping a component by gripping means provided in the robot arm, a component transfer step of transporting the component gripped by the gripping means to a component mounting position of the mounting object by the robot arm, and component mounting of the mounting object In a component mounting method comprising a component mounting step of mounting the mounting component transferred to a position at the mounting position, the gripping means includes a plurality of fingers provided to be openable and closable to grip the mounting component; comprising a closing drive means for driving the opening and closing of each finger, a contact pad of deformable provided in each finger, the shape maintaining means for maintaining the deformed state of abutting pads, the component supply The masterpiece mounting parts having the same shape provided by stage, the is held by the master piece holding portion provided outside of the component supply means, prior to the at least first of said parts gripping step, the master piece held by the gripping means A master piece gripping step of gripping the master piece held by the part, and a shape maintaining step of maintaining the deformed state of the contact pad deformed corresponding to the contact portion of the master piece when the master piece is gripped by the shape maintaining means, The component gripping step is performed in a state where the shape of the contact pad is maintained and fixed by the shape maintaining means.

According to the present invention, first, in the component supply step, the mounting component placed on the component placement portion is supplied by the component supply means . At this time, when it is the first mounting operation, the master piece gripping step and the shape maintaining step are performed. The master piece gripped by the gripping means in the master piece gripping step has the same shape as the mounting component supplied in the component feeding step. As a result, the contact pads provided on the fingers of the gripping means are deformed corresponding to the shape of contact with the master piece, and the shape maintaining means maintains the shape in the subsequent shape maintaining process.

  Next, the component for mounting on the component placement unit is gripped by the component gripping step. Each contact pad of the gripping means for gripping the mounting component in the component gripping step is transformed into a shape corresponding to the gripping position of the mounting component through the master piece gripping step and the shape maintaining step. As a result, each contact pad engages with a predetermined gripping position of the mounting component, so that the mounting component can be reliably gripped without being displaced from each finger, and in the subsequent component transfer step, It is possible to prevent the mounting component from sliding down and to reliably maintain the gripping state of the mounting component by the gripping means.

  As described above, since the mounting component is gripped through the contact pads of the fingers without displacement and the component mounting process is performed, it is possible to perform the mounting operation on the mounted object with extremely high accuracy. it can. In addition, since each contact pad is maintained in the deformed shape of the gripping position of the mounting component, the gripping position with respect to the mounting component is surely secured by each contact pad even if the article gripping process is repeated. Therefore, the mounting operation can be performed in a highly accurate gripping state without shifting the gripping position each time the mounting component is gripped.

  Further, the method of the present invention may be configured such that when the shape of the mounting component supplied in the component supplying step is changed, the shape is changed after at least the first component gripping step after changing the shape of the mounting component. The master piece holding step and the shape maintaining step are performed after replacing the master piece with the same shape as the mounting part.

  In the method of the present invention, it is very easy to change the shape of the mounting part by performing the masterpiece gripping step and the shape maintaining step. That is, when a mounting component whose shape has been changed is supplied in the component supply step, the master piece is replaced with a master piece having the same shape as the mounting component after the change, and the master piece gripping step and the shape maintenance are performed prior to the component gripping step. Perform the process. Thereby, the deformation | transformation shape of the contact pad of each said finger can be easily made to respond | correspond to the mounting component after a change, and the fall of the manufacturing efficiency accompanying the change of a mounting component can be prevented.

In the method of the present invention, it is preferable to perform the masterpiece gripping step every time the mounting operation of mounting components having the same shape is repeated a plurality of times .

Further, the present invention provides a component placement unit for placing a predetermined placement component, a component supply means for supplying the placement component placed on the component placement portion, and a placement on the component placement unit. A component mounting apparatus comprising: gripping means for gripping the mounted mounting component; and a robot arm that includes the gripping means and moves the component gripped by the gripping means to a component mounting position of an object to be mounted and performs a mounting operation The gripping means includes a plurality of fingers provided to be openable and closable so as to grip the mounting component, an opening / closing drive means for driving opening and closing of each finger, and a deformable contact pad provided on each finger. And a shape maintaining means for maintaining the deformed state of the corresponding contact pad, and the mounting component placed on the component placement portion at a position outside the component supply means and grippable by the gripping means Master pin of the same shape as A master piece holding part for holding the attachment detachably, and at least for the first time, when the gripping means grips the mounting part placed on the part mounting part, the gripping means is prior to gripping the mounting part. The master piece holding part holds the master piece, and the deformed state of the contact pad deformed corresponding to the contact part of the master piece is maintained by the shape maintaining means.

According to the present invention, first, the component supply means supplies the mounting component mounted on the component mounting portion. On the other hand, the master piece holding portion holds a master piece having the same shape as the mounting component placed on the component placing portion. The master piece of the master piece holding part is replaced whenever the shape of the mounting component supplied by the component supply means is changed.

  Next, the master piece of the master piece holding part is gripped by the gripping means. At this time, the contact pad contacts and deforms at a predetermined position of the master piece. The deformed state of the contact pad at this time is maintained by the shape maintaining means. Thereafter, the gripping means that has released the grip of the master piece while maintaining the deformation of the contact pad grips the mounting component of the component mounting portion. Thereby, each contact pad engages with a predetermined gripping position of the mounting component, and the mounting component can be reliably gripped without being displaced from each finger. In such a state that the robot arm is securely gripped by the gripping means, the mounting part moves to the part mounting position of the mounted object to perform the mounting operation. Also at this time, each contact pad is engaged with a predetermined gripping position of the mounting component and maintains the gripping state with extremely high accuracy. Installation work can be performed.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, the contact pad includes an airtight bag-shaped membrane member and a plurality of small pieces accommodated in the membrane member, and the shape maintaining means is provided inside the membrane member. It is possible to maintain the deformation state of the contact pad by vacuum-tightening the small pieces in the membrane member in close contact and fixing. According to this, after the contact pad abuts on the mounting component and each small piece moves inside the membrane member following the shape of the mounting component, the shape maintaining means simply evacuates the inside of the membrane member, The deformed shape of the contact pad can be reliably maintained, and the contact pad can be configured simply and compactly.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing a rearview mirror mounting station, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a gripping means, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional explanatory view of a part of the gripping means, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the operation of the contact pad, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the gripping means in the rearview mirror mounting process.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the component mounting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is provided in a rearview mirror mounting station 4 that mounts a rearview mirror 3 as a mounting component on a door 2 that is an object to be mounted in an automobile production line. Yes. The component mounting apparatus 1 includes a robot arm 6 provided along the door conveyance path 5 and a gripping means 7 provided at the tip of the robot arm 6.

  The door 2 is moved upright by the door conveyance path 5 and is stopped while the rearview mirror 3 is attached at the rearview mirror attachment station 4. In addition, a rearview mirror supply path 9 is provided along the door conveyance path 5 to supply the rearview mirror 3 attached to the door 2 on the pallet 8, and the door 2 stops at the rearview mirror mounting station 4. When this is done, the rearview mirror 3 is stopped while being placed on the pallet 8 at a position between the door 2 and the robot arm 6. In the present embodiment, a rearview mirror supply path 9 is provided as a component supply means of the present invention, and a pallet 8 is provided as a component placement portion.

  Further, a master piece holding portion 11 that detachably holds the master piece 10 is provided on the robot arm 6 side. As shown in FIG. 4, the master piece holder 11 is provided with a plurality of positioning members 12. The master piece 10 of the master piece holding unit 11 has the same shape as the rearview mirror 3 attached to the door 2, and when the shape of the rearview mirror 3 is changed, it is replaced with a master piece having the same shape as the rearview mirror after the change.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the gripping means 7 includes a plurality of (three in the present embodiment) fingers 13 that can be freely opened and closed, and an actuator 14 that is an opening and closing drive means for driving the fingers 13 to open and close. ing. As shown in FIG. 3, the finger 13 is supported by the support base 15 via a pivot 16 so as to be swingable. A flange member 17 that is advanced and retracted by the actuator 14 is provided at the center of the support base. The rear end portion of the finger 13 is provided with a lever portion 18 that extends from a portion that is pivotally supported by the pivot 16 and abuts against the eaves member 17. Each finger 13 swings and opens.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a deformable contact pad 19 is provided at the tip of each finger 13. Although the contact pad 19 will be described in detail later, as shown in FIG. 5A, the bag-like film member 20 having airtightness and a plurality of small pieces 21 (for example, Beads). In addition, one end of the air flow path 22 formed inside the finger 13 opens to the inside of the membrane member 20, and although not shown, the inside of the membrane member 20 is evacuated to the other end of the air flow path 22. An air suction means which is a shape maintaining means is connected.

  Next, mounting of the rearview mirror 3 on the door 2 by the component mounting apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described. First, the door 2 is supported by the pallet 8 and conveyed along the door conveyance path 5, and stopped at the rearview mirror mounting station 4. At this time, the rearview mirror 3 is supplied to the rearview mirror mounting station 4 in a state of being placed on the pallet 8 along the rearview mirror supply path 9 (component supply process). Next, the master piece 10 having the same shape as the supplied rearview mirror 3 is held by the master piece holding unit 11.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the operation | movement which hold | grips the masterpiece 10 of the masterpiece holding | maintenance part 11 by the holding means 7 is performed (masterpiece holding process). Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5B, the contact pad 19 provided at the tip of the finger 13 of the gripping means 7 is deformed corresponding to the shape of the master piece 10. The contact pad 19 has a shape corresponding to the master piece 10 as the small piece 21 inside the membrane member 20 moves along the contact portion of the master piece 10. In this state, the inside of the membrane member 20 is evacuated by an air suction means (not shown) (shape maintaining step). As a result, the membrane member 20 is pressed into contact with the small pieces 21 and the small pieces 21 are closely fixed to each other. As shown in FIG. The shape corresponding to 10 is maintained.

  After that, by continuously evacuating the inside of the membrane member 20, the rearview mirror 3 placed on the pallet 8 is held by the gripping means 7 while maintaining the deformed state of the contact pad 19 shown in FIG. (Part gripping process). At this time, each contact pad 19 is deformed into a shape corresponding to each gripping position of the master piece 10 having the same shape as the rearview mirror 3, so that each contact pad 19 is reliably engaged with a predetermined gripping position of the rearview mirror 3. Accordingly, the rearview mirror 3 can be gripped from each finger 13 without being displaced.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the rearview mirror 3 gripped by the gripping means 7 is transferred toward the door 2 by the robot arm 6 (part transfer step), and then the mounting bolt 24 of the rearview mirror 3 is moved to the door 2. The rearview mirror 3 is mounted on the door 2 by being inserted into the bolt hole 25 of the formed rearview mirror mounting portion 23 (component mounting step). The operation at this time will be described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 7, nuts 26 are temporarily fastened to a plurality of (three in this embodiment) mounting bolts 24 of the rearview mirror 3. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of (three in this embodiment) bolt holes 25 corresponding to the insertion positions of the mounting bolts 24 of the rearview mirror 3 are formed in the rearview mirror mounting portion 23. Each bolt hole 25 has a large-diameter opening 27 through which a nut 26 temporarily fastened to the mounting bolt 24 can be inserted, and the mounting bolt 24 can be inserted continuously in one direction of the large-diameter opening 27. And a small-diameter opening 28. Then, the robot arm 6 is operated, and the mounting bolts 24 of the rearview mirror 3 gripped by the fingers 13 of the gripping means 7 are inserted into the bolt holes 25 of the rearview mirror mounting portion 23. At this time, first, the nut 26 temporarily tightened to the mounting bolt 24 is inserted into the large-diameter opening 27 of the bolt hole 25. At this time, high-precision work is required in which the nuts 26 of the plurality of mounting bolts 24 of the rearview mirror 3 are inserted into the large-diameter openings 27 of the respective bolt holes 25. Since the mirror 3 is securely gripped with high accuracy, the nuts 26 of the mounting bolts 24 of the rearview mirror 3 and the large-diameter openings 27 of the bolt holes 25 of the door 2 can be aligned and inserted with high accuracy. it can. Thereafter, the mounting mirror 24 is accommodated in the small-diameter opening 28 by rotating the rearview mirror 3 held by the fingers 13 of the holding means 7 in one direction. Thus, the rearview mirror 3 is in a state in which the nuts 26 of the mounting bolts 24 are hooked on the small-diameter openings 28 of the respective bolt holes 25, and the rearview mirror 3 is attached to the door 2 without dropping from the door 2. . By releasing the holding of the rearview mirror 3 by the holding means 7 in this state, the attachment of the rearview mirror 3 to the door 2 is completed.

  When the attachment of the rearview mirror 3 to the door 2 is completed, the door 2 with the rearview mirror 3 attached is transported to another work station along the door transport path 5, and the subsequent door 2 and rearview mirror 3 are attached to the rearview mirror. It is transported to station 4. Thereafter, as described above, the mounting operation of the rearview mirror 3 to the door 2 is performed. However, when the rearview mirror 3 having the same shape as the previous time is mounted to the door 2, the contact pad 19 is not performed without performing the masterpiece gripping step. The mounting operation is repeated while maintaining the deformed state. Further, when the shape of the rearview mirror 3 is changed, the masterpiece 10 of the masterpiece holding unit 11 is replaced with the masterpiece 10 having the same shape as the rearview mirror 3 after the change, and the masterpiece holding step is performed only for the first time. Note that the masterpiece gripping step may be performed every time the mounting operation is repeated even when the shape of the rearview mirror 3 is not changed.

An explanatory plan view showing a rearview mirror mounting station of this embodiment. Explanatory drawing which shows a holding means. Cross-sectional explanatory drawing of a part of holding means. Explanatory drawing which shows the finger tip part in a masterpiece holding part. Explanatory drawing which shows the action | operation of a contact pad. Explanatory drawing which shows the holding means in the mounting process of a rearview mirror. Explanatory drawing which shows the rear-view mirror in a mounting process. Explanatory drawing which shows the rear-mirror mounting part of a door.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Component mounting apparatus, 2 ... Door (mounting object), 3 ... Rearview mirror (part for mounting), 6 ... Robot arm, 7 ... Holding means, 8 ... Pallet (component mounting part), 9 ... Rearview mirror supply Path (component supply means), 10 ... master piece, 11 ... master piece holding part, 13 ... finger, 14 ... actuator (opening / closing drive means), 19 ... contact pad, 20 ... membrane member, 21 ... small piece, 23 ... back mirror mounted Part (part mounting position).

Claims (5)

A component supplying step of placing a predetermined mounting component on the component mounting unit and supplying the component mounting unit by the component supplying unit, and gripping the mounting component mounted on the component mounting unit by the gripping unit provided in the robot arm A component gripping step, a component transfer step of transferring a component gripped by the gripping means to a component mounting position of the mounted object by the robot arm, and a mounting component transferred to the component mounting position of the mounted object In a component mounting method comprising a component mounting step to be mounted on
The gripping means includes a plurality of fingers provided to be openable and closable to grip the mounting component, an opening / closing drive means for driving opening and closing of each finger, a deformable contact pad provided on each finger, Shape maintaining means for maintaining the deformed state of the contact pad,
A master piece having the same shape as the mounting component supplied by the component supply unit is held in a master piece holding unit provided outside the component supply unit,
Prior to at least the first component gripping step, the masterpiece gripping step of gripping the masterpiece held by the masterpiece holding portion by the gripping means, and when the masterpiece is gripped, the masterpiece is deformed corresponding to the contact portion. A shape maintaining step of maintaining the deformed state of the contact pad by a shape maintaining means,
A component mounting method, wherein the component gripping step is performed in a state where the shape of the contact pad is maintained and fixed by the shape maintaining means.   When the shape of the mounting component supplied in the component supply step is changed, prior to at least the first component gripping step after the shape change of the mounting component, the master piece having the same shape as the mounting component after the shape change The component mounting method according to claim 1, wherein the master piece gripping step and the shape maintaining step are performed after the replacement. 3. The component mounting method according to claim 1 , wherein the master piece gripping step is performed every time a mounting operation of mounting components having the same shape is repeated a plurality of times . A component mounting unit for mounting a predetermined mounting component, a component supply means for supplying the mounting component mounted on the component mounting unit, and a mounting component mounted on the component mounting unit A component mounting apparatus comprising: a gripping unit that grips the component; and a robot arm that includes the gripping unit and moves a component gripped by the gripping unit to a component mounting position of an object to be mounted and performs a mounting operation.
The gripping means includes a plurality of fingers provided to be openable and closable to grip the mounting component, an opening / closing drive means for driving opening and closing of each finger, a deformable contact pad provided on each finger, Shape maintaining means for maintaining the deformed state of the contact pad,
A master piece holding unit that detachably holds a master piece having the same shape as the mounting component mounted on the component mounting unit at a position that is external to the component supply unit and can be gripped by the gripping unit,
At least for the first time, when the gripping means grips a mounting part placed on the part mounting part, the gripping means grips the master piece of the master piece holding part prior to gripping the mounting part, and the master piece A component mounting apparatus, wherein the deformed state of the contact pad deformed corresponding to the contact portion is maintained by the shape maintaining means. The contact pad includes a bag-like membrane member having airtightness, and a plurality of small pieces accommodated in the membrane member,
5. The component mounting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the shape maintaining means maintains the deformed state of the contact pad by tightly fixing each small piece in the membrane member by evacuating the inside of the membrane member.

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