JPH05192830A - Device and method for automatically assembling differential - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To readily rotate and displace each pinion gear to a predetermined fixing position so as to facilitate automatic assembling of a differential by providing a rotating unit for rotating side gears to thereby rotate and displace each pinion gear to the predetermined fixing position within a differential case. CONSTITUTION:One of side gears is rotatably held by a unit for holding and positioning the side gears, and then the other side gear is rotated by a rotating unit 45 with a difference in rotation from the former side gear and the side gears are properly engaged with pinion gears 6. When the pinion gears are properly engaged with the side gears and one of the side gears is fixed and held by the unit for holding and positioning the side gears, the other side gear is rotated by the rotating unit 45 so that each of the pinion gears 6 is rotated and displaced to a predetermined fixing position within a differential case.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic differential assembling apparatus for assembling a differential device (hereinafter referred to as a differential) by assembling a pinion gear and a side gear, and an assembling method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automation of automobile assembly lines has been promoted.

For example, as described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 64-64336, there is known an automatic assembly of a plurality of sets of gear assemblies each having a rotating shaft provided with gears in a transmission case. There is.

[0004]

However, even in such a case, the assembly of the gear assembly itself, for example, the differential device, is done manually by an operator, and there is still room for improvement in that respect.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic diff assembling apparatus capable of automatically assembling a diff, and an assembling method thereof.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is premised on an automatic diff assembling apparatus for assembling a diff by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears and a pinion shaft to a diff case and an assembling method thereof. ..

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic assembling apparatus for holding and positioning a diff case receiver for supporting the diff case and a side gear for holding one side gear in the diff case in a rotatable and fixable manner. The unit and the pinion gear are rotatably held, and in order to mesh with both side gears, the robot chuck for the pinion gear that is conveyed into the diff case and the other side gear are rotated, and the pinion gear is moved to a predetermined position in the diff case. A rotation unit for rotationally displacing to a fixed position is provided. In the automatic assembly apparatus according to the second aspect, the robot chuck has a spherical guide that guides the rotational displacement of the pinion gear.

In the automatic assembling method according to a third aspect of the present invention, a side gear and a pinion gear are installed in the differential case, one side gear is rotatably supported, and the other side gear is provided with a rotation difference from the one side gear. The side gear and the pinion gear mesh with each other by rotating, and after detecting the meshing, one side gear is fixed and the other side gear is rotated to rotationally displace the pinion gear to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case. Then, the pinion shaft is inserted and fixed.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the pinion gear is supported in the differential case by the robot chuck so that the differential case is supported by the differential case support and meshes with both side gears held in the differential case. Be transported. With one side gear held rotatably by the side gear holding and positioning unit, the other side gear is rotated by giving a rotation difference to the one side gear by the turning unit, and the side gear and pinion gear are properly meshed. Let With the pinion gear properly meshing with the side gear, with one side gear fixed and held by the side gear holding and positioning unit, turn the other side gear with the turning unit to move the pinion gear in the differential case. Rotate and displace a predetermined fixed position.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the rotational displacement of the pinion gear is guided by the spherical guide of the robot chuck.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the side gear and the pinion gear are provided in the differential case, and the one side gear is rotatably supported and the other side gear is rotated with a rotational difference from the one side gear. The side gear and the pinion gear are properly meshed with each other, and after detecting the meshing, one side gear is fixed and the other side gear is rotated to rotationally displace the pinion gear to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case. Then, the pinion shaft is inserted and fixed to the pinion gear.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in the schematic configuration of FIG. 1, an automatic differential assembling apparatus 1 is a rotary type having a rotatable rotary table 2 and includes first to sixth stations S1 and S1.
2, S3, S4, S5, S6. As shown in FIG. 7, the diff 2 assembled by this device 1 has a pair of side gears 4, 4 and thrust washers 5, 5 in a diff case 3 and an axis line orthogonal to the axis lines of the side gears 4, 4. A pair of pinion gears 6 and 6 that mesh with the side gears 4 and 4, washers 7 and 7, and a pinion shaft 8 that is fitted to one of the pinion gears 6 are provided. 9 is a spring pin.

The differential case receivers 12 are mounted on the rotary table 2 at equal angular intervals so that the respective differential case receivers 12 are positioned corresponding to the respective stations S1 to S6. Is becoming

In the first station S1, the roll
A fixed differential case receiver 1 provided on the tare table 2.
The differential case 3 is set in 2. The differential case 3 is retained in the differential case supply lane 13 of two stages × two rows, and is set on the differential case receiving member 12 by a three-axis orthogonal robot 14. ..

Further, the diff case receiver 12 has an upper member 115 and a lower member 16 as shown in detail in FIGS.
And a bearing member 17 interposed therebetween, and the lower member 16 is floatingly connected to the rotary table 2 via a spring 18 so as to be vertically movable. At the same time, it is mounted so that it can be positioned by the positioning air cylinder 19. The upper member 15 of the differential case receiver 12 is provided with an engaging convex portion 15a, and the engaging convex portion 15a has an engaging hole 3 of the differential case 3.
a is engaged in a disengageable manner.

In the second station S2, the side gears 4, which are set in the side gear magazine 21,
4. The thrust washers 5, 5 housed in the thrust washer magazine 22 are attached to the differential case 3. That is, the four-axis orthogonal robot 23 first assembles the differential casing 3 on the lower side and then on the upper side. Then, while holding them by the side gear holding and positioning unit 24,
Transition to station S3.

Although not specifically shown, six side gear holding and positioning units 24, one for each differential case holder 12 on the rotary table 2, are provided in total. As shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, each unit 24 has a collet chuck 25 that engages with the upper side gear 4 and thrust washer 5, and the collet chuck 25 is vertically moved by an air cylinder 26. It is moved up and down in the direction and is rotated by a servo motor 27 with a brake. The collet chuck 25 is connected to a servo motor 27 via a built-in air cylinder 28 for an inner diameter collet clamp, and a movable table 29 to which the servo motor 27 and the built-in air cylinder 28 are attached is an air cylinder 26. Is connected to the piston rod 26a. And the movable table 29
The slider 30 provided in the above is slidably engaged with the guide rail 31 on the unit base 24A side.

In the third station S3, the left and right pinion gears 6 and 6 are moved from the pinion gear hoppers 35 and 35 to the thrust washer pad while the upper and lower side gears 4 and 4 are held by the differential case 3. -Tsfuda 3
Thrust washers 7 and 7 are supplied from 6 and 36, respectively, and assembled by a 4-axis orthogonal robot 37.

The robot 37 has a robot hand 38.
A hand revolving rotor reactor 39 is attached to the actuator, and a mounting frame 40 is pivotally attached to the actuator 39. The pinion gear robot chuck 41 is attached and fixed to the attachment frame 40. Robot chuck 41
Is a collet chuck 4 that holds a pinion gear 6.
2, a spherical guide 42 for guiding rotational displacement of the pinion gear 6 to a predetermined fixed position of the differential case 3, and an air cylinder 43 for moving the inner diameter collet back and forth. Reference numeral 44 is a pinion gear pressing spring.

On the other hand, a positioning unit 45 (rotating unit) for the lower side gear 4 is arranged below. The unit 45 includes a spline rod 46 that is spline-fitted to the lower side gear 4, a floating mechanism 47 that floats the spline rod 46 in the up-down direction, and a servo mechanism that rotates the spline rod 46. And a mounting member 49 to which they are mounted, a guide member 51 slidably engaged with a slider 50 of the mounting member 49, and an air cylinder 52 for raising and lowering the spline rod 46.

Then, the air cylinder 26 is extended to compress the spring 28a to fix the upper side gear 4 and the spline rod 4 to the lower side gear 4.
By rotating the pinion 6, the left and right pinion gears 6, 6 can be rotated by about 90 ° with respect to the differential case 3 in order to fit and insert the pinion shaft 8.

A pinion shaft insertion unit 55 is also arranged in the third station S3. In this insertion unit 55, a slider 57 is attached to the lower end of a slide member 56, and the slider 57 is slidably engaged with a guide rail 59 of a base 58. The slide member 56 includes a piston rod 60 of an air cylinder.
a is connected and can be moved back and forth by the air cylinder. Further, on the slide member 56,
A support portion 56a is provided, a pair of rod members 61, 61 are slidably inserted into the support portion 56a, and shaft receivers 61a, 61a are provided at the tip end portions of the rod members 61, 61. The pinion shaft 8 is supported between 56a and the shaft receiver 61a. A spring 62 is wound around the rod member 61 between the support portion 56a and the shaft receiver 61a.

A positioning pin 63 is provided on the support portion 56a so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and is configured to be moved by an air cylinder 64. The positioning pin 63 is provided in the engagement hole 8a near the rear end of the pinion shaft 8. By engaging with each other, positioning is performed. Also, the support portion 5
A pinion shaft pushing air cylinder 65 that pushes the rear end portion of the pinion shaft 8 is provided at 6a.

Reference numeral 66 is a pinion shaft magazine in which a plurality of pinion shafts 68 are accommodated while being engaged with a positioning rod 67. The slide member 56 is positioned below the magazine 66, and the escape air cylinders 69A and 69B are operated, so that the pinion shaft 8 is placed on the slide member 56.

In the fourth station S4, the spring pin 9 supplied from the supply feeders 81, 81 is attached.

In the fifth station S5, a total backlash measuring unit 82 and a pinion gear-to-pinion gear dimension measuring unit 83 are provided to measure the total dimension between the total backlash and the pinion gear.

In the sixth station S6, the finished differential gear 84 is carried out from the differential casing receiver 12 by a loader 85.
And is carried out by the conveyor means 86.

According to the above construction, first, in the first station S1, the differential case 3 is set on the differential case support 12, and then the rotary case 2 is rotated to rotate the differential case. The differential case 3 is rotated and moved to the second station S1 together with the shoe receiving member 12.

In the second station S2, the robot 23
Thus, the upper and lower side gears 4, 4 are assembled with the thrust washers 5, 5 in the diff case 3 in the order of the lower side and the upper side. Then, the collet chuck 25 of the side gear holding and positioning unit 24 is lowered by a predetermined amount to bring the differential case 3 into a pressed state. In this state, the spring 18 is compressed, and the differential case receiver 12 is rotatable by the bearing member 17.

With the collet chuck 25,
Clamp the upper side gear 4. After this clamp
A robot (not shown) for assembling the side gear 4 moves backward.

Then, the collet chuck 25 is rotated in the above-mentioned pressed state, whereby the bearing member 1
The differential case holder 12, that is, the differential case 3 is rotated by 90 by 7. After this rotation is completed, the collet chuck 25 is raised by a predetermined amount to bring the differential case receiving member 12 into a floating state.

In the third station, the pinion gears 6 and 6 are previously moved by the robot chucks 41 and 41 of the robot 37.
With the axis line of the robot being in the vertical direction, the robot chuck 4
After being clamped by 1, 41, the robot chucks 41, 41 are rotated by 90 ° after being clamped to be in the standby state shown in FIG.

Then, the robot chucks 41, 41 are advanced to push the pinion gears 6, 6 into the differential case 3. This pushing is performed simultaneously for the two pinion gears 6 and 6.

After the pinion gears 6 and 6 are pushed in, the spline rod 46 is raised to be spline-fitted to the lower side gear 4, and then the spline rod 46 is rotated to rotate the lower side gear 4. Then, the upper and lower side gears 4, 4 and the left and right pinion gears 6, 6 are properly meshed. It should be noted that this is performed only when it is detected by the sensor (not shown) that the engagement is not performed properly.

Then, the clamp by the robot chuck 41 is released, and the pinion gears 6 and 6 are brought into a free state. At this time, the pinion gears 6 and 6 are pressed and biased by the spring 44 in the robot chuck 41.

After that, the collet chuck 25 of the upper side gear 4 is rotated (rotation speed A), and the spline rod 46 of the lower side gear 4 is rotated (rotation speed B>
A) Confirm that the pinion gears 6 and 6 are properly meshed. Here, the rotation speed is changed because at the same speed, one side may mesh, but the other side may not mesh.

After this confirmation, the spherical guide 42 is left, only the collet chuck 25 is retracted, and then the spline rod 46 is rotated in a fixed state in which the rotation of the collet chuck 25 of the upper side gear 4 is stopped and the lower side gear 4 is rotated. By rotating 4, the pinion gears 6, 6 are revolved by 90 ° while being guided by the spherical guide 42 without rotating the differential case 3.

After the pinion gears 6 and 6 have revolved by 90 °, the robot chuck 41 is retracted, the collet chuck 21 of the upper side gear 4 is released to make a rotation free (servo motor free), and the spline of the lower side gear 4 is released. Rod 4
The rotation of 6 is called free (servo motor free).

Then, the upper escape air cylinder 69A is extended to move the pinion shaft 8 forward, and the lower escape air cylinder 69B is moved backward to place the pinion shaft 9 on the slide member 56. set. After setting, the slide member 56 is advanced to a predetermined position. Then, the positioning pin 63 is lowered, the pinion shaft 8 is advanced through the opening 3a of the differential case 3, and is pushed into the pinion gears 6 and 6. The side gears 4, 4 and the pinion gears 6, 6 may be engaged with each other after the pinion shaft 8 is inserted.

Then, in the fourth station S4, the spring pin 9 is attached, in the fifth station S5, the total distance between the total backlash and the pinion gear is measured, and in the sixth station S6. The finished differential 84 is unloaded.

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the one side gear is held by the side gear holding and positioning unit, and the other side gear is turned by the turning unit so that the pinion gear is moved in the differential case. Since the predetermined fixed position is rotationally displaced, the pinion gear can be easily rotationally displaced to the predetermined fixed position, and the automatic differential assembly can be easily performed. Further, since the side gear holding and positioning unit holds one side gear rotatably, the other side gear can be rotated by giving a rotation difference to the one side gear by the turning unit. Appropriate meshing with the pinion gear can be easily performed, and its confirmation is easy.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the rotational displacement of the pinion gear is guided by the spherical guide, the rotational displacement of the pinion gear is accurately performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the one side gear is rotatably supported, and the other side gear is rotated with a rotational difference from the one side gear to rotate the side gear and the pinion gear properly. From the above, it is possible to easily perform the proper meshing of the side gear and the pinion gear, and after detecting the proper meshing, fix one side gear and rotate the other side gear to move the pinion gear in the differential case. Since the pinion gear is rotationally displaced to the predetermined fixed position, the pinion gear can be easily rotationally displaced to the predetermined fixed position in the differential case, and the automatic differential assembly can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic differential assembly apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship among various devices of a third station.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a side gear holding and positioning unit.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the pin shaft insertion unit.

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the differential device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Differential automatic assembly device 2 Rotatable 3 Differential case 4 Side gear 6 Pinion gear 8 Pinion shaft 12 Differential case support 24 Side gear holding and positioning unit 42 Spherical guide 45 Positioning unit (rotating unit) 55 Pinion shaft insertion unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An automatic diff assembling apparatus for assembling a diff by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears and a pinion shaft to a diff case, the diff case receiving device supporting the diff case. And a side gear holding and positioning unit that holds one side gear rotatably and fixably in the diff case, and a pinion gear that holds the pinion gear rotatably and engages both side gears in the diff case. An automatic diff assembling apparatus comprising: a robot chuck for a pinion gear to be conveyed; and a rotating unit for rotating the other side gear to rotationally displace the pinion gear to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case. 2. The robot chuck has a spherical guide for guiding the rotational displacement of the pinion gear.
Automatic differential assembling device described. 3. A method of automatically assembling a diff by assembling a pair of side gears, a pair of pinion gears and a pinion shaft to a diff case, the side gear and the pinion gear being installed in the diff case. Then, one side gear is rotatably supported, and the other side gear is rotated by giving a rotation difference to the one side gear, thereby causing the side gear and the pinion gear to mesh with each other.After detecting the meshing, the one side gear is fixed. An automatic diff assembling method comprising rotating the other side gear to rotationally displace the pinion gear to a predetermined fixed position in the differential case, and then inserting and fixing the pinion shaft.