JPH0248286A - Method for manufacturing car body and apparatus thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the working efficiency of car body manufacturing by conducting welding work and viscous material coating work by an identical work station. CONSTITUTION:Spot-welding is conducted at the required positions of the lower portion of a main body 2 by welding robots 16a-16d arranged at the lower portion of a work station 1. Meantime, coating work as sealing and caulking work is conducted at the required portion of the joint portions of respective metal members in an engine room, truck room and cabin. Accordingly, a welding process and the coating process of viscous coating material are conducted by an identical work station so that both processes can be conducted by conducting the positioning work of metallic parts for constructing a car body only at once and the conveyance of the main body is unnecessary so that working efficiency can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing an automobile body.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, an automobile body is constructed by fabricating a large number of metal members mainly made of steel plates into parts such as a main body, doors, and bonnet by spot welding, and then assembling these parts. Furthermore, the joints between the metal members are coated with a sealant or the like to ensure watertightness for dust prevention and rust prevention.

As a method for applying the sealant, for example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-25184 by the same applicant, a sealing process is provided before assembling metal parts such as the main body, doors, and bonnet manufactured by a welding process to each other. 2. Description of the Related Art A method has been proposed that eliminates the need for devices for opening and closing doors, bonnets, etc. when performing sealing work, thereby reducing equipment costs.

However, even with the above method, the welding work and the sealing material application work are performed at different work stations, resulting in the disadvantage that the overall length of the assembly line becomes long. Also,
In order to automatically perform welding and coating work, for example, it is necessary to accurately position the main body, so each work station is equipped with a positioning device to position the main body at each work process. There is a problem that the work becomes complicated.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In view of the problems of the prior art, the main object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for manufacturing an automobile body that can improve work efficiency.

[Structure of the Invention] <Means for Solving the Problems> According to the present invention, in a method for manufacturing an automobile body, metal members constituting metal parts of an automobile body are welded together. and a step of applying a viscous coating material to the joints of metal members constituting the metal parts of the car body, the manufacturing of an automobile body characterized in that both steps are performed at the same work station This is achieved by providing a method. Alternatively, in equipment for manufacturing automobile bodies, there is a welding device for welding metal parts that make up the metal parts of the car body, and a viscous coating on the joints of the metal parts that make up the metal parts of the car body. This is achieved by providing an apparatus for manufacturing an automobile body, characterized in that the apparatus has a coating device for coating a material, and the coating device and the welding device are arranged at the same work station. .

<Function> In this way, since the welding work and the viscous material application work are performed at the same work station, it is not necessary to position the metal parts separately for each work, and a transport process is provided between the two work processes. There's no need.

<Embodiments> Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 are a front view and a plan view showing a work station 1 for performing welding work and viscous material application work according to the present invention, and FIG.
■This is a diagram seen from the line. For example, a main body 2 as a metal part constituting an automobile body is carried into the work station 1 from the side of the figure by a shuttle conveyor 3 serving as a conveying device extending along the left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 2. After the welding work and the viscous material application work on the necessary parts are completed, the work station 1 is carried out toward the left in the figure.

A receiver part 3a is integrally provided on the upper surface of the shuttle conveyor 3 to support the main body 2 when it is transported between work stations. The main body 2 is positioned with respect to the shuttle conveyor 3 by coming into contact with a specific part of the lower surface. The shuttle conveyor 3 is supported by parallel rails 4 so as to be able to reciprocate in the conveyance direction, and a drive device (not shown) conveys the main body at each station toward the next station after the work is completed, and records one trigram. After the main body 2 is floated and supported from the shuttle conveyor 3 by other supporting devices such as the positioning device 5, it is moved backward by the above-mentioned pitch. In this way, the main body 2 is carried in and out of the work station 1.

A positioning device 5 is provided below the work station 1 . As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, this positioning device 5 includes a pair of X-shape sinks 6 that are parallel to each other.
The movable base 8 provided at the free ends of both X-links 6 is driven by an air cylinder 7 to drive a pivot member that pivotally supports each intersection of both X-links 6 at both ends. It is intended to be raised and lowered while keeping it in a horizontal state. Positioning supports 9 are integrally provided at the four corners on the upper surface of the movable table 8.
By lifting up the movable table 8, the positioning support part 9 is engaged with a specific part of the lower surface of the main body 2 carried in by the shuttle conveyor 3, and the main body 2 is removed from the shuttle conveyor 3 as described above. It is floated and supported, and also positioned at the work station 1.

Above the work station 1, frames 11a and 11b each having a gate shape in the width direction are arranged.
On the horizontal beams 1a and 11b, two articulated robots 12a to 12d each having the same structure are supported in a so-called ceiling-suspended state and are arranged symmetrically with each other. A nozzle 14 is provided at the tip of the bending/extending arm 13 of these robots 12a to 12d, and the nozzle 14 faces the main body 2 from above.

In addition, each robot 12a to 1 is mounted on the mounts 11a and 11b.
A constant discharge pump 15 with a heater is provided corresponding to each pump 2d, and the nozzle 14 and the pump 15 are connected via a conduit with a heater (not shown). The viscous coating material is sent from a viscous coating material supply device (not shown) located near the work station 1 and is supplied to the tip of the nozzle 14 via a constant discharge pump 15 with a heater. As the viscous coating material, it is preferable to use one that has excellent oil surface adhesion properties, shower resistance, coating resistance, processing material properties, and paint finishing properties, and whose viscosity decreases the most at around 50°C. .

Each of the robots 12a to 12d is trained in advance to apply a viscous coating material to the required parts of the metal parts in the engine compartment, trunk compartment, and vehicle compartment, and each robot is trained to apply a viscous coating material to the required parts of the metal parts in the engine compartment, trunk compartment, and vehicle compartment, and each robot is trained to apply a viscous coating material to the required parts of the metal parts in the engine compartment, trunk compartment, and vehicle interior. And the coating work is performed automatically. In addition, the viscous coating material is heated to a certain extent and is discharged from the nozzle 14 while maintaining a relatively low viscosity state, and the moving speed of the nozzle 14 is slowed down to caulk in areas where there are relatively many gaps between metal mating parts. By performing sealing work on other parts while moving at a relatively high speed,
One robot can perform caulking and sealing work according to the target area.

The main body 2 is located on both sides below the work station 1.
The welding robots 16a~
16d is arranged one by one. These robots 1
6a to 16d are the coating robots 12a to 12d described above.
It consists of a multi-jointed robot with the same structure as , and has a pair of electrode parts 18 at the tip of a bending and extending arm 17, and mainly spot welds the metal joints in the lower part of the main body 2. In addition, the welding work for the necessary parts is similarly taught in advance, and each receiver continuously and automatically performs the welding work on the corresponding parts.

Next, the operation procedure is shown below.

When a detector (not shown) detects that the main body 2 is carried into the work station 1 by the shuttle conveyor 3, the positioning device 5, which is in the standby state at the lower limit position, lifts up as shown in the figure to support the main body 2. The main body 2 supported by the portion 9 is connected to the shuttle conveyor 3
It is positioned in a stationary state floating from the ground. Next, in response to the output of the positioning detection signal of the main body 2, the coating robots 128 to 12d apply the viscous coating material to the required parts of the metal parts mating parts in the engine compartment, trunk compartment, and vehicle interior, as described above. Similarly, the welding robots 168 to 16d perform spot welding work mainly on the required portions of the lower part of the main body 2.

In response to the output of the completion signal for both operations, the positioning device 5 lifts down, and the main body 2 is again supported by the receiving portion 3a of the shuttle conveyor 3, which is in a standby state after running in reverse by one step during the operation. Ru. After the welding and coating work has been completed, the main body 2 is transported by the shuttle conveyor 173 to the next station on the left side of the figure, and the next work target is transferred from the previous station on the right side of the figure. The main body is brought in, and the following steps are repeated sequentially.

In this way, the main body 2 is mainly welded by the welding robots 16a to 16d disposed below the work station 1.
The robots 128 to 12d placed above the work station 1 spot weld the necessary parts on the lower part of the
Accordingly, sealing and caulking can be applied to the necessary parts of the metal parts in the engine compartment, trunk compartment, and vehicle interior of the main body 2.

In this embodiment, the welding and coating work for the main body 2 has been described, but the welding and coating work may be applied to any metal part constituting the automobile body, and for example, the welding and coating work can be similarly performed for doors and bonnets. Further, the welding and coating operations may be performed simultaneously, or the coating operations may be performed on the welded metal parts at the same work station.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the welding process and the process of applying the viscous coating material are performed at the same work station, both processes can be completed by performing the positioning work of the metal parts that constitute the automobile body only once. In addition, there is no need to provide a process to transport the main body between the two processes.
Work efficiency can be improved. In addition, since the number of positioning devices can be reduced and the total length of the line can be shortened,
The effects are extremely large, such as reducing equipment costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a work station according to the invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of a work station according to the invention. FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1. 1...Work station 2...Main body 3...
・Shuttle conveyor 3a...Reception part 4...Rail
5... Positioning device 6... Link
7... Air cylinder 8... Movable base 9.
... Supporting parts 11a, 11b... Frames 12a to 12d.
...Robot 13...Arm 14...Nozzle 15...Pump 168-16d...Welding robot

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In the method of manufacturing an automobile body, there is a step of welding together the metal members constituting the metal parts of the automobile body, and a step of applying a viscous coating material to the joints of the metal members constituting the metal parts of the automobile body. 1. A method of manufacturing an automobile body, the method comprising: a coating step, and both steps are performed at the same work station. (2) In the equipment for manufacturing automobile bodies, there is a welding device for welding the metal members that make up the metal parts of the car body, and a viscous part in the joints of the metal members that make up the metal parts of the car body. An automobile body manufacturing apparatus comprising: a coating device for applying a coating material, the coating device and the welding device being disposed at the same work station.