JPH04261724A - Automatic insertion machine for gear - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a misassembly by providing an assembly robot which assembles to the body to be fed of a drum, etc., while setting the tooth position and phase of a gear with its being taken off by receiving an order from a robot control unit. CONSTITUTION:A camera 2 which inputs the upper face shape image of a gear 5, and a picture image processing device 11 equipped with an exclusive software which transfers data to a robot control unit by recognizing the tooth position and phase of the gear 5, are provided. Moreover, an assembly robot which receives an order from the robot control unit, assembles to a drum 6 while setting the tooth position and phase and re-inserts at the gear 5 float generation time, a sensor part detecting the gear 5 float generation, a conveyor 9 transferring the platen 7 in which the drum 6 comes, a gear dumping box 17 dumping the gear 5 at the image recognition error time and a sequencer controlling the motion of the whole body, are provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] When assembling gears consisting of at least two stages, the present invention is applicable to gear assemblies that require not only simple tooth alignment but also phase alignment of the gears due to the combination. This article relates to an automatic gear insertion machine that automates gear insertion.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, gear insertion has been carried out in the following manner.

First, three gears 5 are attached to the misassembly prevention gear 22 while visually confirming the gear phases. Next, as shown in FIG.
Insert it manually while aligning with the three pins 6a in the drum 6 set in the drum.

[0004] Then, while rotating the shaft 6e with a gear insertion machine, the 5c part of the gear 5 and the gear 6c part in the drum 6 are engaged, and after inserting the three gears 5 into the drum 6 with the press-fitting rod 21, there is no possibility of incorrect assembly. The plan was to remove 22 preventive measures.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above prior art, after the gears 5 are aligned in phase by visual confirmation and installed on the misassembly prevention gear 22, the three gears 5 are moved together with the misassembly prevention gear 22 into the drum 6. The process of inserting while aligning with the three pins 6a is all done manually, which poses a problem in that it requires a considerable amount of labor in a mass production site.

[0006] The present invention eliminates the need for the misassembly prevention mechanism 22,
The purpose is to prevent incorrect assembly by the means shown below, and to automate gear assembly that requires not only simple tooth alignment but also gear phase alignment and tooth alignment due to the combination shown above. There is.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the task of recognizing the tooth position and phase of the gear 5 is performed using dedicated software provided in the image processing device 11, and the image processing device 11 and the assembly robot Gear 5 by combining 4
This makes it possible to perform tooth position and phase matching as well as assembly into the drum 6.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a parts supply section 1 that stores gears 5 for installation, a separation section 14 that separates gears 5 from the parts supply section 1 to a gear take-out position 4a by the assembly robot 4; An annular lighting 3 placed at a certain distance from the gear to illuminate only the top surface of the gear 5, a cover 15 provided to prevent the influence of ambient light and internal reflection of the gear even in the case of a translucent gear, A camera 2 that inputs an image, an image processing device 11 equipped with dedicated software that recognizes the tooth position and phase of the gear 5 and transfers the data to the robot control device 13, and receives a command from the robot control device 13 to take out the gear 5 and gear 5. An assembly robot 4 that assembles the gear 5 into the drum 6 while adjusting the tooth position and phase and re-inserts the gear 5 when the gear 5 floats, a sensor section 16 that detects when the gear 5 floats, and a conveyor 9 that conveys the platen 7 containing the drum 6. , and a sequencer 10 that controls the overall operation.

Furthermore, when an image cannot be input or when an error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and phase of the gear 5 using the dedicated software provided in the image processing device 11, an error code is output to the robot control device 13. , the assembly robot 4 discards the gear 5 into a gear disposal box 17 to prevent incorrect assembly.

0010

[Operation] When inputting an image of the top surface shape of the gear 5 shown in Fig. 5 using a camera, a cover such as black is provided to prevent the influence of ambient light and to prevent internal reflection of the gear even if it is a translucent gear.
An annular light is used to evenly illuminate the top surface of the gear, and in order to illuminate only the top surface of the gear, the annular light is placed at a short distance of about 10 mm from the gear and the vertical component of the light is cut. You can clearly capture the shape.

The characteristics of the image are analyzed by special software provided in the image processing device 11, and the correction angle from a certain standard is adjusted to the error ± for the tooth position and phase alignment of the gear 5.
Calculated at 0.12°. The data is transferred to the robot control device 13 in units of 0.01°. As a result, the assembly robot 4 assembles the gears (5c, 6c) at positions within the allowable angle of ±0.32° due to the minimum backlash of the gears (5c, 6c) with angle correction in units of 0.01°, thereby preventing incorrect assembly.

Furthermore, if the gear 5 floats for some reason, the sensor unit 16 detects this and the assembly robot 4 reinserts it via the sequencer 10 and robot control device 13, so that there is no possibility of incorrect insertion due to the gear floating. do not have.

Furthermore, when image input is not possible or when some error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and phase of the gear 5 using the dedicated software provided in the image processing device 11,
Since the error code is transferred to the robot control device 13 and the gear 5 is discarded by the assembly robot 4, there is no possibility of incorrect assembly.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, two-stage gears are assembled as shown in FIG. 6, so due to the relationship between the combinations of each gear, it is necessary to perform not only simple tooth alignment but also phase alignment of the gears before tooth alignment. shall be.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic gear insertion machine, in which a component supply section 1 receives a plurality of gears 5 vertically and a plurality of rows horizontally, and a separating section 14 inserts gears 5 for one row. When separated, it moves one column horizontally.

As shown in the operational diagram of the embodiment in FIG. 2, the separation unit 14 has a medium 14a for separating the gear 5 from the component supply unit 1 to the image input position, and a medium 14c for separating the gear 5 to the gear take-out position 4a by the assembly robot 4. Consists of.

When one gear 5 is separated from the component supply section 1 to the image input position by the medium 14a, the camera 2 is covered with a cover 15 to prevent the influence of ambient light, and only the top surface is illuminated by the annular illumination 3. The irradiated top image of the gear 5 shown in FIG. 5 is input. When the image input is completed, the medium 14a transfers the gear 5 to the medium 14c, and the medium 14c separates the gear 5 to the gear take-out position 4a.

The image processing device 11 analyzes the input image using dedicated software, calculates a correction angle from a certain standard for tooth position and phase alignment of the gear 5, and displays the analysis results on the TV monitor 12. The data is output and transferred to the robot control device 13. The assembly robot 4 shifts the gear 5 according to the command from the robot control device 13 that has received the data.
Take out the gear from the gear take-out position 4a and rotate it to the rotation correction position 4c.
The pin 6a in the drum 6 is set on the platen 7, which is positioned on the conveyor 9 by the positioning pin 8, and aligned at a certain position.
and engage the gear 6c in the drum 6. Regarding the first gear 5 to be inserted at this time, it is necessary to assemble the gear 5 while screwing it in order to mesh the gear 5c portion with the gear 6c inside the drum 6. Further, the other gears 5 can be assembled by simply aligning the phases and dropping them.

Furthermore, when image input is not possible due to a lighting failure, etc., or when some error occurs while recognizing the tooth position and phase of gear 5 using the dedicated software installed in the image processing device 11, the image processing device 11 TV error code
The data is output to the monitor 12 and transferred to the robot control device 13. Then, the assembly robot 4 moves to the gear disposal position 4e and discards the gear 5 into the gear disposal box 17.

After the insertion, the insertion state is detected by the sensor section 16, and if the gear 5 is floating, the assembly robot 4 inserts it again via the sequencer 10 and the robot control device 13.

By repeating the above operations, the drum 6
Insert gear 5 inside.

FIG. 3 shows the input/output of the sequencer 10, assembly robot 4, and image processing device 11 for the above operations, and FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of each operation of the embodiment.

[0024]

According to the present invention, when assembling gears consisting of at least two stages, it is possible to perform not only simple tooth alignment but also gear phase alignment based on the relationship between the combinations of each gear. Since the necessary gear insertion can be automated, production can be done with 20% of the labor required in the past.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic gear insertion machine that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operational diagram of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an input/output diagram of a sequencer, an assembly robot, and an image processing device.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a two-stage gear according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a gear combination according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a conventional gear insertion machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1... Parts supply unit, 2... Camera, 3... Annular lighting, 4... Assembly robot, 5... Gear, 6... Drum, 7... Platen, 8...
Positioning pin, 9... Conveyor, 10... Sequencer, 11
...Image processing device, 12...TV monitor, 13...Robot control device, 14...Separation section, 15...Cover, 16...Sensor section, 17...Gear disposal box.

Claims (6)

[Claims] Claims 1: A parts supply unit that stores gears, a separation unit that separates gears from the parts supply unit to a take-out position by an assembly robot, a camera that inputs an image of the top surface shape of the gear, and a robot control that recognizes the tooth position and phase of the gear. An image processing device equipped with dedicated software that transfers data to the device, an assembly robot that receives commands from the robot control device, takes out gears, and assembles them onto the object to be supplied such as a drum while adjusting the tooth position and phase of the gears, and the overall operation. An automatic gear insertion machine characterized by comprising a sequencer that controls. 2. In claim 1, for the purpose of assisting image input by a camera, a cover is provided on the top surface of the gear to prevent the influence of ambient light, and is placed at a certain distance from the gear in order to illuminate only the top surface of the gear. An automatic gear insertion machine characterized by an annular lighting arrangement. 3. The automatic gear insertion machine according to claim 1, wherein the automatic gear insertion machine is connected to a production line by providing a conveyor for conveying a platen containing materials to be supplied such as a drum. 4. The automatic gear insertion machine according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor section for detecting the occurrence of gear float, thereby providing a function for reinserting the gear by an assembly robot when gear float occurs. 5. In claim 1, when an image cannot be input or when an error occurs while recognizing the gear tooth position and phase, an error code is output to the robot control device, and the assembly robot outputs an error code to the gear being recognized by the assembly robot. An automatic gear insertion machine characterized by having a function to prevent incorrect assembly by discarding the gear. 6. In claim 1, when assembling a gear consisting of at least two stages, the gear assembly requires not only simple tooth alignment but also phase alignment of the gears and then teeth alignment due to the relationship of the combination. An automatic gear insertion machine that recognizes the tooth position and phase of a gear by using features or marks on the upper surface of the gear.