JPH0150508B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically distributing materials to be welded at regular intervals and automatically welding the materials.

One of the things that requires welding workpieces arranged at regular intervals in a straight line is the hardware for securing cars that is welded to the loading deck of a car carrier. There are 10,000 to 20,000 pieces per unit.

Conventionally, when building a block, welding of this hardware was done either on the ground when the loading deck was in a horizontal position, or on the deck when the loading deck was not in a horizontal position. After marking the specified dimensions and temporarily placing the hardware in the designated positions, each welder used a CO ₂ semi-automatic welding machine to manually weld and fix the hardware to the deck.

For this reason, there are various drawbacks listed below.

It is necessary to make markings in a grid pattern, and the material to be welded must be temporarily arranged in advance, which takes a considerable amount of man-hours and time.It is necessary to align and fix the material to be welded at each welding position. Although it is a simple task, the large number of pieces requires a great deal of labor and man-hours, and the work efficiency is low.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate such conventional drawbacks and to provide an automatic material arrangement welding device that automates the arrangement and welding of materials to be welded, thereby freeing the user from simple work and improving work efficiency. The structure of the present invention that achieves this object includes a trolley equipped with a steering mechanism that can be stopped at regular intervals and whose straight movement is controlled by a light-guided straight-travel control device; a welding material feeding device that feeds the welding material to the position; and a grip that is mounted on the cart and receives the welded material that is fed to the gripping position by the welding material feeding device, and also positions and fixes the welding material at the welding position on the base material. The present invention is characterized by comprising a fixing device, a welding device that automatically welds the workpiece that is positioned and fixed on the base material mounted on the trolley, and a control device that controls the operation of each of these devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a case in which an embodiment of the present invention is applied to an apparatus for welding hardware for securing automobiles to a loading deck of a car carrier will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a front view and a plan view of the automatic material placement and welding apparatus of the present invention.

A trolley 2 that runs on the deck 1 is equipped with a steering mechanism 3 and a light beam receiver 4 that allows the vehicle to travel straight. A welding material feeding device 5, a gripping and fixing device 6 that receives metal objects and positions and fixes them on the deck 1, an automatic welding device 7 equipped with two welding totes 62, and a control device 8 that controls each of these mechanisms or devices. It is equipped with.

This truck 2 eliminates the need for markings and can move straight while stopping at regular intervals, and is equipped with a steering mechanism 3 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

This steering mechanism 3 is attached to one wheel 19 of the three wheels of the truck 2, and the drive wheel support frame 12 is supported by a hollow cylindrical support portion 11 attached to one end of the truck frame 10 in the running direction. A shaft 13 is rotatably mounted, and a manual handle 14 is attached to the upper end. A worm wheel 15 is fitted in the middle part of the support shaft 13, and the bogie frame 10
It meshes with a wiome 18 that is driven via a steering motor 16 and a chain 17 attached to the steering motor 16 and the chain 17 .

On the other hand, a drive wheel 19 is attached to the lower end of the drive wheel support frame 12, and a drive gear 20 is integrally attached to the drive wheel support frame 12.
is fixed. And the drive wheel support frame 1
2 is provided with a driven gear 23 to which a travel drive motor 21 is attached and meshes with the drive gear 20 via a reduction gear 22. The travel drive motor 21 has a built-in encoder for detecting the travel distance of the truck 2, and is also equipped with a clutch so that the truck 2 can be moved manually.

In order to make this truck 2 move straight without track, as shown in FIG. A light beam from a light beam projection device such as a laser beam installed on the first side is received, a signal indicating the receiving position of the light beam is outputted, and based on this signal, the straight movement is controlled via the control device 8.

Next, the welding material feeding device 5 mounted on this truck 2 will be explained.

The welding material feeding device 5 includes a feeding mechanism 25 that feeds the metal objects 9 one by one to a gripping position, and a separation mechanism 26 that separates and feeds the metal objects 9 one by one.

As shown in FIG. 5, which shows a cross-section of FIG. 2, and FIG. 6, which shows a cross-section of FIG. ，
A workpiece pedestal 32 is provided with a guide roller 31 to which the base end of an air cylinder 29 having a diameter of 28 is attached, and a rod at the tip rolls on two guide bars 30 arranged in parallel in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the truck frame 10. is connected to. A U-shaped hardware receiving section 33 with an upwardly open end is attached to the workpiece pedestal 32, and the presence or absence of the hardware 9 is detected by phototube detectors 34 facing each other in the front and rear of the traveling direction of the cart 2. It is now detectable. A hardware waiting section 35 is formed adjacent to the proximal end side of the hardware receiving section 33 .

The separation mechanism 26 is connected to the guide bar 3 of the truck frame 10, as shown in FIG. 7, which shows a cross section of FIG. 5, and FIG.
A support stand 36 is attached to the support stand 36 as a bridge, and a hardware storage section 37 in the shape of a rectangular frame stands on this support stand 36 so as to face the hardware standby section 35 when the workpiece holder 32 is at the forward end. It has been set up. A locking member 38 that can protrude oppositely in the direction perpendicular to the running direction of the trolley 2 is arranged at the lower end of the hardware storage section 37, and a rod 39 is installed horizontally between the support base 36 and the hardware storage section 37. It can be opened and closed along the .
The locking member 3 is driven to open and close this locking member 38.
8 has a groove 40 formed in the vertical direction, and this groove 40
A cam follower 41 is inserted therein, and this cam follower 41 is planted on the lower side wall of a spur gear 42 that meshes with each other, and this spur gear 42 functions as an eccentric cam. A rod of an opening/closing drive cylinder 43 is connected to the upper side wall of one of the spur gears 42 via a pin, and its base end is attached to the support base 36 via a pin.

Therefore, the spur gear 42 is rotated in opposite directions due to the reciprocating movement of the opening/closing drive cylinder 43, and the cam follower 4 eccentrically installed on the spur gear 42 is rotated in opposite directions.
1, the locking member 38 is driven to open and close, and the lower end of the hardware storage section 37 is brought into an open state or a closed state. Further, the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 includes a limit switch 44 for detecting forward and backward positions,
45 is installed.

Next, the gripping and fixing device 6 that receives the hardware 9 from the welding material feeding device 5 and positions and fixes it at a welding position on the deck 1 will be explained with reference to FIG.

This gripping and fixing device 6 is attached to the truck frame 10 so as to be located above the hardware receiving section 33 when the workpiece pedestal 32 of the welding material feeding device 5 is in the gripping position at the forward end. Dolly frame 10
A bracket 47 having guide rails 46 erected opposite to each other in the running direction of the trolley 2 is attached to the bracket 47, which is attached to the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48.
As the rollers 49 roll along the guide rail 46, the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48 can move up and down. A lifting cylinder 50 is attached to the bracket 4 in order to move the gripping and fixing mechanism body 48 up and down, and a rod at the tip thereof is connected to the gripping and fixing mechanism body 48. Two limit switches 51 and 52 are built into this lifting cylinder 50 to detect upper and lower limit positions. Further, a pair of gripping members 53 are attached to the lower part of the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48 and are urged to open outward by a spring, and these gripping members 53 are attached to the lower part of the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48.
When the hardware 9 on the hardware receiving portion 33 of No. 2 is lowered and inserted, it is gripped by spring force, while the workpiece holder 32
The metal fitting 9 is held at a predetermined welding position by retreating and further lowering. Further, after welding the hardware 9, when the gripping member 53 is raised, it can be automatically opened, and the amount of movement of the gripping member 53 is detected by a limit switch 54.

Next, the welding device 7 for automatically welding the hardware 9 gripped and fixed at the welding position will be explained in FIGS. 5 and 9.
This will be explained using figures.

Frame 55 at the tip of the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48
A torch moving stage 56 is mounted on the torch moving stage 56, which is horizontal in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the trolley 2. A slide base 57 is slidably mounted on the torch moving stage 56. 57 is driven in the direction perpendicular to the travel of the truck 2. A limit switch 59 is attached to the torch moving stage 56 to detect the amount of movement of the slide base 57, and its position can be changed depending on the welding length. Welding torches 62 are mounted opposite to each other at both ends of the slide base 57, that is, at the front and rear ends in the traveling direction of the truck 2, via a left-right position fine adjustment mechanism 60 and a vertical position fine-adjustment mechanism 61, respectively. Further, the slide drive motor 58 incorporates limit switches 63 and 64 for detecting the forward limit position and the backward limit position of the slide base 57.

Furthermore, the trolley 2 is equipped with a control device 8, which includes a light beam receiver 4, each limit switch 2,
7, 28, 44, 45, 51, 52, 54, 5
9, 63, 64, input signals from the phototube detector 34 and the encoder of the travel drive motor 21 are processed and control signals are sent to each air cylinder 29, 43, 50, each motor 16, 21, 58, and automatic welding device 7. It is now possible to output automatic material placement and automatic welding.

Welding of the metal fittings 9 by the automatic material arrangement welding apparatus configured as described above is performed as follows.

First, the light beam projector is set at a predetermined position on the deck 1, and the distance between the metal fittings 9 and the welding length are input to the control device 8 of this device, and the work starting point (0
A predetermined amount of hardware 9, which is the material to be welded, is placed in the hardware storage section 37. Further, at the start of operation, it is preferable that one piece of hardware 9 is also placed in the hardware receiving part 33 at the tip of the workpiece pedestal 32.

After that, when a start instruction is input from an operation panel (not shown), compressed air is supplied to the air cylinder 29 of the welding material feeding device 5, the rod is extended, the workpiece pedestal 32 is guided by the guide bar 30, and the dolly 2 is moved forward in the direction perpendicular to the direction of travel. and,
When the workpiece pedestal 32 reaches the forward end, the limit switch 27 is turned on, the air cylinder 29 is stopped, and the control device 8, after processing calculations, issues a command to drive the lifting cylinder 50 of the gripping and fixing device 6. It will be done. Then, the rod of the lifting cylinder 50 is extended and the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48 is lowered along the guide rail 46, but when it reaches the gripping position, this is detected by the limit switch 54 and the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48 is stopped. , gripping member 5
3 is the predetermined gripping position. For this reason, the gripping member 5
3 is inserted into the hollow part of the hardware 9 and grips the hardware 9 by the biasing force of the spring. At this time, the signal that the limit switch 54 is turned on is transmitted to the control device 8.
When the timer is inputted, the timer is activated, and after the set time has elapsed, the control device 8 outputs a drive signal to the lifting cylinder 50 and the rod is compressed to raise the gripping and fixing mechanism main body 48 and hold the hardware 9 with the gripping member 53. Hold and raise. When the lifting cylinder 50 reaches its upper limit, the limit switch 51 is turned on, this signal is input to the control device 8, and the lifting cylinder 50 is stopped.

On the other hand, at the same time as this metal object 9 is gripped, a signal when the limit switch 27 is turned on to feed the next metal object 9 is outputted to the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 of the separation mechanism 26 via the control device 8. As a result,
The thrust of the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 is transmitted to spur gears 42 as two eccentric cams, and the cam follower 41
The locking member 38 is separated along the rod 39 through the locking member 39, and the lower end of the hardware storage section 37 is opened, and one piece of hardware 9 falls onto the hardware waiting section 35. When the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 reaches the drive end, the limit switch 44 is turned on, the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 is stopped, and this signal is input to the control device 8, and the timer operates to remove one piece of hardware 9. After the set time required for dropping has elapsed, a drive signal is again output to the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 to bring the locking member 38 closer to close the lower end of the hardware storage section 37 and hold the remaining hardware 9 stored therein. When the limit switch 45 of the opening/closing drive cylinder 43 detects that the locking member 38 is closed, this signal is input to the control device 8.

A signal from the limit switch 51 that detects that the gripping member 53 has been raised and the locking member 3
A signal from the limit switch 45 that detects that the metal object 8 is closed, and a signal from the phototube detector 34 that detects that the metal object 9 is not present in the metal object receiving section 33 of the workpiece pedestal 32 are input to the control device 8. When it is confirmed that the hardware 9 is completely gripped, a drive signal is outputted to the air cylinder 29 that drives the workpiece pedestal 32 again, and the workpiece pedestal 32 starts to move backward.

The hardware 9 that has fallen onto the hardware standby section 35 due to the retreat of the workpiece pedestal 32 hits the hardware storage section 37 and is relatively moved and stored in the hardware receiving section 33 to be ready for the next workpiece arrangement. Then, when the workpiece pedestal 32 reaches the backward end, the limit switch 28 is turned on, and this signal is input to the control device 8, and after processing and calculation, a drive signal is outputted to the lifting cylinder 50 again. Then, the lifting cylinder 50 is driven and the gripping member 53 is lowered to set the hardware 9 at a predetermined welding position on the deck 1. This state is detected and held by the limit switch 52. Furthermore, when the signal from the limit switch 52 is input to the control device 8, after processing and calculation, a drive signal is output to the slide drive motor 58 of the automatic welding device 7, and the welding torch 62
The slide base 57 holding the slide base 57 is moved forward. When the slide base 57 reaches its forward limit, the limit switch 63 is turned on, the slide drive motor 58 is stopped, and a welding start signal is sent to the automatic welding device 7 to generate an arc. When the set time elapses due to the operation of the timer, a drive signal is output to the slide drive motor 58 to move the slide base 57 along the torch moving stage 56, and welding is performed with the welding torch 62 attached thereto. A limit switch 59 provided on the torch moving stage 56
When the slide base 57 retreats to the
This turns ON. Then, the drive of the slide base 57 is stopped by the signal from the limit switch 59, and a timer issues a command to the automatic welding device 7 to stop the arc after a set time required for crater treatment has elapsed. Thereafter, a backward signal is output to the slide drive motor 58 again, and the slide base 57 is retreated to the backward end where the limit switch 64 is turned on.
4, a drive signal is output to the lifting cylinder 50, and the gripping member 53 is raised. At this time, since the hardware 9 is welded and fixed to the deck 1, the gripping member 53 separates from the hardware 9 against the spring force. When the lifting cylinder 50 reaches its raised position, the limit switch 51 is turned on to stop the lifting, and the arrangement and welding of the hardware 9 is completed.

After welding is completed, at the lifting limit of the lifting cylinder 50
In response to the signal from the limit switch 51 that is turned on, a drive signal is output to the traveling drive motor 21 of the bogie 2 via the control device 8, and by transmitting the driving force to the drive wheels 19, the bogie 2 is moved forward by a certain distance. In this case, the amount of advance of the truck 2 is detected by an encoder built into the travel drive motor 21, and compared with a value set in advance in the control device 8, and the truck 2 is stopped at the next welding position separated by a certain distance. Further, the running direction of the bogie 2 is determined by inputting a signal from the light receiving panel 24 of the light beam receiving device 4 to the control device 8, and after processing and calculating, if the bogie 2 is not running straight, a steering signal is sent to the steering motor 16. The trolley 2 is made to always travel in a straight line.

After the truck 2 is thus stopped at the next welding position, the metal fittings 9 are arranged and automatically welded in the same manner as described above.

In this way, metal fittings 9 are attached to deck 1 while repeating material arrangement, welding, and movement of trolley 6.

On the other hand, when the truck 2 travels from the base end to the tip of the deck 1 and reaches the tip of the deck 1, a clutch (not shown) is actuated to free the drive wheels 19, and the truck 2 is moved using the manual handle 14. At the same time as the direction is changed, the light receiving plate 24 of the light beam receiving device 4 is reversed so that the light beam from the light beam projecting device can be received even when the trolley 2 is traveling in the opposite direction. Thereafter, while the light beam projection device is moved to the next hardware attachment position, this device is set at the work starting point (0 point) on the distal end side, and the same work can be started again from the opposite direction.

Although the above embodiment describes a device for attaching lashing hardware to the loading deck of a car carrier, the device is not limited to this and can be widely applied to automatic welding of materials to be welded that are arranged at regular intervals in a straight line. can.

As described above in detail with one embodiment, according to the present invention, the automatic material distribution welding device is constituted by a cart, a welding material feeding device, a gripping and fixing device, an automatic welding device, and a control device. This eliminates the need for work and temporary arrangement of materials to be welded, reducing the number of man-hours. In addition, the arrangement of materials to be welded,
Both positioning, fixing, and welding can be performed automatically with a single device, reducing worker labor and greatly improving work efficiency, which is about 7 times more efficient than manual work. It was written. Furthermore, since automatic welding is possible, it is possible to improve and homogenize welding quality, and to shorten the construction period.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 9 show an embodiment of the automatic material placement welding apparatus of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the steering mechanism, and FIG. 4 is the third
Figure 5 is a sectional view of Figure 2, Figure 6 is a sectional view of Figure 5, Figure 7 is a sectional view of Figure 5, Figure 8 is a sectional view of Figure 7. 9 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrow 5 in FIG. In the drawing, 1 is the deck, 2 is the truck, 3 is the steering mechanism,
4 is a light beam receiver, 5 is a welding material feeding device,
6 is a gripping and fixing device, 7 is an automatic welding device, 8 is a control device, and 9 is a hardware.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cart equipped with a steering mechanism that can be stopped at regular intervals and controlled to move straight by an optically guided linear control device, and a material feeder mounted on this cart that takes out the materials to be welded one by one and feeds them to a gripping position. a gripping and fixing device that is mounted on the trolley and receives the welded material fed to the gripping position by the welded material feeding device, and also positions and fixes it at a welding position on the base material; An automatic material placement welding device comprising: a welding device that automatically welds the material to be welded that is positioned and fixed on the material; and a control device that controls the operation of each of these devices.