JP5794681B2 - Vehicle assembly equipment and vehicle assembly method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automobile assembly facility and an automobile assembly method.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 14, an automobile assembly facility disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes an overhead conveyor 110 that conveys a vehicle body B in a suspended state, and a lower direction of the vehicle body B in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the vehicle body B. A lifter 120 that can reciprocate, elevators 121 and 122 provided on the lifter 120, and carriages 131 and 132 that carry a part E (engine) and a part R (rear axle) into the movement path of the lifter 120. . In this automobile assembly facility, the elevators 121 and 122 are arranged below the carriages 131 and 132 on which the parts E and R are mounted (see FIG. 14), and the elevators 121 and 122 are raised in this state, The parts E and R are mounted on the lifting platforms 121 and 122 (see FIG. 15). At this time, the component E is mounted on the lifting platform 121 together with the carriage 131, and the component R is separated from the carriage 132 and mounted on the lifting platform 122. Thereafter, the parts E and R are assembled from below the vehicle body B while the lifter 120 on which the parts E and R are mounted is conveyed downstream in synchronization with the vehicle body B (see FIG. 16).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 17, when the lifter 120 is conveyed to the downstream end, the elevators 121 and 122 are lowered to the intermediate position, and the lifter 120 is stopped. Thereafter, the lifter 120 is transported upstream, and is temporarily stopped at the discharge position of the carriage 131 (see FIG. 18). At this discharge position, the lifts 121 and 122 of the lifter 120 are lowered to the lower limit position, and the carriage 131 is grounded (see FIG. 19). Thereafter, the lifter 120 is further transported to the upstream side so as to be submerged below the carriages 131 ′ and 132 ′ on which parts E ′ and R ′ to be assembled next are mounted, and the carriage 131 remaining at the discharge position is lifted. Discharge from 120 movement paths.

JP 2011-110636 A

  In the above-mentioned automobile assembly facility, in order to place the empty carriage 131 at the discharge position, it is necessary to temporarily stop the lifter 120 while returning it to the upstream side (see FIG. 19), leading to an increase in cycle time. It was.

  For example, when the lifter 120 is stopped at the downstream end (see FIG. 17), the lift 121 is lowered to the lower limit position, the carriage 131 is grounded, and the carriage 131 is discharged from this position. There is no need to stop it during the return. However, the downstream end of the movement path of the lifter 120 is a work area where the worker assembles the parts E and R on the vehicle body B, and therefore the carriage 131 cannot be discharged across the work area. . For this reason, it is necessary to provide a discharge position for discharging the empty carriage 131 in the vicinity of the upstream end of the movement path of the lifter 120.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is a technical problem to be solved to return an empty cart to a discharge position without causing an increase in cycle time.

  The present invention made to solve the above problems is provided in an overhead conveyor for transporting a vehicle body in a suspended state, a lifter that can be reciprocated in the same direction as the vehicle body transport direction under the overhead conveyor, and the lifter. A lifting platform that supports the parts to be assembled to the vehicle body so that the parts can be moved up and down.In the state where the lifting platform is arranged below the carriage on which the parts are mounted, the lifting platform is raised to lift the parts together with the carriage to the lifting platform. It is an automobile assembly facility that mounts and mounts parts mounted on the lifting platform from the lower side of the vehicle body while synchronizing them with the vehicle body, and pulls the grounded truck to the upstream side. Discharge position for discharging other carts pulled by the lifter from the lifter's movement path in a state where the lifting platform is placed below the one cart equipped with parts. It is obtained by so disposed to.

  The present invention also provides an overhead conveyor that transports the vehicle body in a suspended state, a lifter that can reciprocate in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the vehicle body below the overhead conveyor, and a lifter that lifts and lowers parts to be assembled to the vehicle body. It is an automobile assembly method performed using an automobile assembly facility equipped with a lift platform that supports it, and includes a mounting preparation step in which the lift platform is arranged below the carriage on which the parts are mounted, and by raising the lift platform The parts mounting process for lifting the parts together with the carriage and mounting them on the lifting platform, the assembly process for assembling the components mounted on the lifting platform from the bottom of the vehicle body while synchronizing with the vehicle body, and lowering the lifting platform The grounding process for grounding the carriage, the return process for transporting the lifter to the upstream side while towing the grounded truck, and the carriage pulled by the lifter And a discharge preparation step of placing the discharge position for discharging the dynamic path is intended to complete the mounting preparation step and the discharge preparation step simultaneously.

  As described above, in the present invention, the lift truck is arranged at the discharge position in the state where the lifting platform is arranged below the truck on which the parts are mounted, and the empty truck pulled by the lifter is set at the discharge position. The preparatory process for disposing the vehicle and the preparatory process for disposing the lifting platform below the carriage on which the parts are mounted are completed at the same time. This eliminates the need to temporarily stop the lifter during return to place an empty carriage at the discharge position, and the lifter can be transported non-stop from the downstream end to the upstream end. Time can be shortened.

  For example, the traction means can be configured by an engagement portion that engages with the carriage and pulls it upstream. In this case, when the cart is ejected from the ejection position, the cart and the engaging portion may interfere with each other, which may hinder the ejection. Therefore, it is preferable that the engaging portion can be switched between an engaging position that can be engaged with the carriage and pulled upstream and a retracted position that does not interfere with the carriage in the discharging direction of the carriage.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the lifter can be transported to the upstream end without being temporarily stopped halfway, and the empty carriage pulled by the lifter can be disposed at the discharge position. Shortening is achieved.

It is a side view of the automobile assembly equipment which concerns on embodiment of this invention (mounting preparation process). It is a top view of the said automobile assembly equipment. It is a perspective view of the 1st cart. It is a perspective view of the 2nd trolley. It is a top view of the engaging part distribute | arranged to the retracted position. It is a top view of the engaging part distribute | arranged to the engagement position. It is a side view of the said automobile assembly equipment (component mounting process). It is a side view of the said automobile assembly equipment (assembly process). It is a side view of the said automobile assembly equipment (trolley grounding process). It is a side view of the said automobile assembly equipment (returning process). It is a side view of the said automobile assembly equipment (discharge preparation process and mounting preparation process). It is a top view which shows the other example of an engaging part. It is a top view which shows the other example of an engaging part. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment. It is a side view of the conventional automobile assembly equipment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  An automobile assembly facility according to an embodiment of the present invention is for assembling a part E (engine) and a part R (rear axle) to a vehicle body B from below as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This automobile assembly facility includes an overhead conveyor 10 that suspends and conveys a vehicle body B, a lifter 20 that includes a pair of elevators 21 and 22, and driving means that reciprocates the lifter 20 in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the vehicle body B ( Conveyor C). The reciprocating movement of the lifter 20 by the conveyor C, the raising and lowering of the elevators 21 and 22, and the rotation of the engaging unit 40 described later are controlled by a control unit (not shown). In the following description, the transport direction of the vehicle body B by the overhead conveyor 10 is simply referred to as “transport direction”, the downstream side in the transport direction (left side in FIGS. 1 and 2) is “downstream”, and the upstream side in the transport direction (FIG. 1 and the right side of FIG. 2 are referred to as “upstream side”. A horizontal direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2) orthogonal to the transport direction is referred to as a width direction.

  The parts E and R are carried into the movement path of the lifter 20 while being mounted on the first carriage 31 and the second carriage 32, respectively. The 1st trolley | bogie 31 has comprised the structure lifted with the components E by the raising of the raising / lowering stand 21 (refer FIG. 7). In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, it has a rectangular top plate 31a, a leg portion 31b extending downward from the top plate 31a, and a wheel 31c provided at the lower end of the leg portion 31b. The component E is mounted on the top. On the other hand, the 2nd trolley | bogie 32 has comprised the structure in which only the components R are lifted by the raising / lowering stand 22 (refer FIG. 7). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a pair of support beams 32a spaced apart in the width direction, leg portions 32b extending downward from the support beams 32a, and wheels 32c provided at the lower ends of the leg portions 32b are provided. The component R is mounted on the pair of support beams 32a in a state of being spanned in the width direction.

  The lifter 20 includes a base 23 and elevators 21 and 22 provided on the base 23 (see FIG. 1). The base 23 can be reciprocated in the transport direction by a conveyor C provided on the ground. The elevators 21 and 22 are driven up and down by an elevator cylinder (not shown). The elevators 21 and 22 can be moved up and down in parallel and steplessly through, for example, a pantograph mechanism, and can be stopped at an arbitrary height while being kept horizontal.

  The lifter 20 is provided with towing means for towing the first carriage 31. The pulling means is for moving the first carriage 31 to the upstream side along with the movement of the lifter 20 to the upstream side. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The traction means is constituted by. The pair of engaging portions 40, 40 are provided at the downstream end of the lifter 20 and can be engaged with the first carriage 31 from the downstream side. In the illustrated example, the engaging portion 40 has a semicircular arc shape in plan view. The engaging portion 40 can be switched between an engaging position that can be engaged with the first carriage 31 from the downstream side and a retracted position that is not engaged with the first carriage 31 in the width direction. In the present embodiment, one end 41 of each engagement portion 40 is attached to the base 23 of the lifter 20 so as to be rotatable about the vertical axis, and the engagement portion 40 is driven to rotate by a driving means (not shown). The other end 42 of the first carriage 31 is disposed on the downstream side of the leg portion 31b of the first carriage 31 (see FIG. 6), and the other end 42 of the engagement portion 40 is retracted upstream of the leg portion 31b. Switching between the retracted position (see FIG. 5). In the illustrated example, the engaging portion 40 at the engaging position protrudes downstream from the base 23 (see FIG. 6), and the engaging portion 40 at the retracted position is arranged upstream of the downstream end of the base 23 (see FIG. 6). (See FIG. 5).

  Hereinafter, the assembly process of the parts E and R to the vehicle body B by the above-described automobile assembly facility will be described.

  First, the first carriage 31 loaded with the part E and the second carriage 32 loaded with the part R are carried into the movement path of the lifter 20, and the lifter 20 is submerged below the carriages 31 and 32 to move up and down. The bases 21 and 22 are respectively arranged below the trucks 31 and 32 (see a mounting preparation process, see FIGS. 1 and 2). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7, the elevators 21 and 22 are raised to lift the parts E and R, and the parts E and R are mounted on the elevators 21 and 22 (component mounting process). In this embodiment, the component E is mounted on the lifting platform 21 together with the first carriage 31, and the component R is separated from the second carriage 32 and mounted on the lifting platform 22.

  Next, the lifter 20 on which the parts E and R are mounted is conveyed downstream in synchronization with the vehicle body B conveyed by the overhead conveyor 10 (see arrow A1 in FIG. 8). At the same time, the lifts 21 and 22 of the lifter 20 are further raised, and the parts E and R are assembled at predetermined positions on the vehicle body B (assembly process). The second carriage 32 that is separated from the component R and is emptied is discharged from the conveyance path of the lifter 20 by a driving means (not shown) (see arrow A2 in FIG. 8).

  When the lifter 20 reaches the downstream end, the conveyance of the lifter 20 by the conveyor C is stopped. At this position, the elevators 21 and 22 are lowered to ground the first carriage 31 (the carriage grounding step, see FIG. 9). Thereafter, the lifter 20 is returned to the upstream side while pulling the first carriage 31 via the engaging portion 40 (returning step, see FIG. 10). This return process will be described in detail. First, the elevators 21 and 22 are lowered and the first carriage 31 is grounded, and then the transfer of the lifter 20 to the upstream side is started in a state where the engaging portion 40 is disposed at the retracted position (see FIG. 5). . After that, when the engaging portion 40 passes the leg portion 31b (A) on the downstream side of the first carriage 31, the engaging portion 40 is rotated as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 5, and the engaging position shown in FIG. To place. When the lifter 20 is further conveyed upstream, the engaging portion 40 at the engaging position engages with the upstream leg portion 31b (B) of the first carriage 31 from the downstream side, whereby the first carriage 31 is engaged. It is pulled by the lifter 20 through the engaging portion 40. At this time, the first carriage 31 is pulled in a state separated from the base 23 of the lifter 20 in the transport direction.

  By the time the lifter 20 that pulled the first carriage 31 reaches the upstream end, the carriages 31 ′ and 32 ′ loaded with the parts E ′ and R ′ to be assembled next are the upstream end parts of the movement path of the lifter 20. It is carried in. Then, the lifter 20 is submerged below the new carriages 31 ′ and 32 ′, and the lifter 20 and the first carriage 31 are stopped (see FIG. 11). Thereby, the lifting platforms 21 and 22 are respectively arranged below the new carts 31 ′ and 32 ′ (mounting preparation process), and at the same time, the first cart 31 pulled by the lifter 20 is moved from the movement path of the lifter 20. It is arranged at the discharge position for discharging (discharge preparation process). In other words, when the lifter 20 is stopped at the upstream end of the movement path, the shape and size of the engaging portion 30 are set so that the first carriage 31 pulled by the lifter 20 is disposed at the discharge position. Is set.

  In this way, the discharge preparation step of arranging the first carriage 31 pulled by the lifter 20 at the discharge position and the mounting preparation step of arranging the lifts 21 and 22 below the new carriages 31 ′ and 32 ′ are performed simultaneously. By completing the process, the lifter 20 can be transported non-stop from the downstream end (see FIG. 9) to the upstream end (see FIG. 11) after the assembly process, thereby shortening the cycle time. Is planned.

  Thereafter, the engaging portion 40 is rotated to switch to the retracted position (see FIG. 5), and the first carriage 31 is discharged from the moving path of the lifter 20 by a discharge means (not shown), whereby the state shown in FIGS. It becomes. In the present embodiment, the first carriage 31 is discharged in the width direction. At this time, if the engaging portion 40 remains in the engaging position shown in FIG. 6, the engaging portion 40 and the upstream leg portion 31 b (B) of the first carriage 31 interfere in the width direction. Although the first cart 31 cannot be discharged in the width direction, in the present embodiment, the engagement portion 40 is switched to the retracted position as described above, so that the engagement portion 40 is located upstream of the cart 31 at the discharge position. It is possible to avoid interference in the width direction with the leg portion 31b (B) on the upstream side of the first carriage 31. By repeating the above steps, the parts E, E '... And the parts R, R'... Are sequentially assembled to the vehicle bodies B, B '.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the engaging portion 40 has a semicircular shape in plan view. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 13, it may be substantially L-shaped in a plan view.

  In the above-described embodiment, the engagement position and the retraction position can be switched by rotating the engagement portion 40. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the engagement is performed by a linear drive unit (air cylinder or the like). The unit 40 may be switchable.

  In the above-described embodiment, an engaging portion that engages and pulls the carriage from the downstream side is shown as the towing means. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, towing that attracts and draws the carriage with a magnet or the like. Means may be employed.

  Moreover, although the case where the two lifting platforms 21 and 22 were provided in the lifter 20 was shown in said embodiment, it is not restricted to this, For example, you may provide only one lifting platform in a lifter.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Overhead conveyor 20 Lifter 21 Lifting stand 22 Lifting stand 23 Base 31 1st cart 32 2nd cart 40 Engagement part (traction means)
B Body C Conveyor E Parts (Engine)
R parts (rear axle)

Claims (2)

An overhead conveyor that conveys the vehicle body in a suspended state, a lifter that can be reciprocated in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the vehicle body below the overhead conveyor, and an elevator that is provided on the lifter and supports the components to be assembled to the vehicle body so as to be movable up and down With a stand,
In the state where the lifting platform is arranged below the carriage on which the components are mounted, the lifting platform is raised, the components are lifted together with the carriage and mounted on the lifting platform, and the components mounted on the lifting platform are , An automobile assembly facility that is assembled from below the vehicle body while being transported downstream in synchronization with the vehicle body,
The lifter is provided with towing means for towing the cart in a grounded state to the upstream side,
In a state where the lifting platform is disposed below another cart on which the parts are mounted, the cart that is pulled and grounded by the lifter is disposed at a discharge position for discharging from the movement path of the lifter. Car assembly equipment. An overhead conveyor that conveys the vehicle body in a suspended state, a lifter that can be reciprocated in the same direction as the conveyance direction of the vehicle body below the overhead conveyor, and an elevator that is provided on the lifter and supports the components to be assembled to the vehicle body so as to be movable up and down An automobile assembly method performed using an automobile assembly facility provided with a table,
A mounting preparation step of disposing the lifting platform below the carriage on which the components are mounted; a component mounting step of lifting the components together with the carriage and mounting the lifting platform on the lifting platform; and the lifting platform The assembly process of assembling from the lower side of the vehicle body while transporting the parts mounted on the vehicle in synchronization with the vehicle body, the vehicle grounding step of lowering the lifting platform to ground the vehicle, and pulling the grounded vehicle While having a return process for conveying the lifter to the upstream side, and a discharge preparation process for arranging the carriage pulled by the lifter at a discharge position for discharging the lifter from the movement path of the lifter,
An automobile assembly method for simultaneously completing the discharge preparation step and the mounting preparation step.

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