JPH0530863Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a stud welding chuck device that can be used in combination with an industrial robot.

[Prior Art] Stud welding includes capacitor discharge type stud welding and arc stud welding, each of which is implemented in various forms and put into practical use.

In recent years, with the development of industrial robots, various tasks have been automated and sequentially carried out on production lines in assembly plants, for example, and industrial robots have also been used to perform stud welding, which is one of the welding methods. It is becoming possible to operate automatically. This not only promotes full automation of the production line, but is also effective in terms of labor savings and worker safety. An example of such an automatically operated stud welding device is the one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-54279. The automatic operating device has a supply section, a stud welding section, a stud supply mounting section, a storage section for the stud welded base metal, and an automatic operating device equipped with an arm that can sequentially move to each of these sections. The arm is equipped with a stud welding gun and a base material transfer mechanism, and is configured as a single device that performs a series of welding operations in a scheduled order.

In this type of automatically operated stud welding equipment,
Everything from attaching the stud to be welded to the welding gun attached to the robot's arm to welding the stud to the base metal can be performed automatically, but in actual stud welding, the studs to be welded are always the same. It is often necessary to weld studs of different sizes to the base material in a predetermined order or even randomly. In such a case, in the automatic stud welding device as described above, the stud gripping chuck on the stud welding gun attached to the arm of the automatic operation device is adjusted according to the size, especially the thickness, of the stud received from the stud supply attachment part. As a result, its operating state will change. As a result, the chuck may not be able to grip the stud firmly, or even if it is able to grip it, it may not be able to center the stud sufficiently, resulting in the stud not being able to be accurately welded to the desired location on the base metal, and the welding condition may become defective. Therefore, even though industrial robots are used to automate the operation, workers have to replace the chuck for gripping the stud in the stud welding gun every time the dimensions of the stud change, making it difficult to fully automate the operation of the equipment. Not only was it impossible to achieve this, but it was also difficult to carry out welding work efficiently.

In order to eliminate such drawbacks, in Utility Application No. 60-199916 (Publication No. 2-43573), a stud gripping chuck was automatically adjusted according to the type and size of the stud to be welded. We have proposed an automatically operated stud welding device that can be selectively attached to a stud welding gun, making it possible to fully automate stud welding. The optimum chuck is fitted according to the dimensions of the stud, so that the stud can always be gripped securely and in the correct position.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-57273 discloses that the chuck main body is made up of a plurality of elastic fingers and has a stud holding part with an inclined surface on the outside of the tip, and that the chuck body is engaged with the sloped surface on the outside of the tip of the stud holding part. It consists of an outer cylinder with a tapered part, and the tip of each elastic finger of the stud holding part can be opened or closed by moving the outer cylinder in the axial direction against the sloped surface on the outside of the tip of the stud holding part. A stud retention device is disclosed that enables stud retention.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, the automatic operation type stud welding device proposed earlier automatically selects the chuck for gripping the stud according to the dimensions of the stud to be welded and attaches it to the stud welding gun. A chuck attachment section for the stud welding gun is provided in front of the stud supply attachment section for easy installation. Before attaching the stud to the stud welding gun, the chuck attachment section can be used to select the most suitable chuck according to the dimensions of the stud. However, it is necessary to move the stud welding gun to the chuck attachment part, stud supply attachment part, and welded part, which takes a long time in the operation cycle, and makes controlling the arm movement complicated and troublesome. Not only that, but the complexity of the structure is also unavoidable.

Furthermore, in the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-57273, the thickness of the stud that can be applied is limited by the diameter of the tip of the outer cylinder surrounding the stud holding part. Since the inner surface needs to have a substantial axial length to position the stud concentrically on the axis, as the thickness of the stud increases, the inner surface of each elastic finger will no longer be parallel to the axis and will extend over the entire area. It becomes impossible to hold the stud, and as a result, reliable holding of the stud and reliable conductive contact cannot be guaranteed.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a chuck device for stud welding that can solve the problems of the prior art, speed up the operation cycle, and can be used particularly advantageously for welding various studs with different sizes and shapes. It is about providing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the chuck device for stud welding according to the present invention is capable of approaching and separating from each other in parallel with each other in the lateral direction across the axis of the gun body for stud welding. , two conductive finger members to which welding energy is supplied from the outside, and two actuators that support each conductive finger member and move in parallel with each other in the lateral direction across the axis of the stud welding gun body. The present invention is characterized in that each finger member is mounted concentrically to the tip of the stud welding gun body via the drive mechanism.

In the present invention, the drive mechanism driving each finger member can be actuated by fluid pressure.

Alternatively, the drive mechanism driving each finger member may be configured to operate by fluid pressure and spring force.

Further, the drive mechanism for driving each finger member may be configured to operate electromagnetically.

[Function] In the stud welding chuck device according to the present invention, the plurality of finger members that can approach and separate from each other in the lateral direction across the axis of the stud welding gun body are arranged according to the size and shape of the stud to be gripped. The amount of lateral displacement can be adjusted, and even if the size or shape of the stud to be gripped changes, the stud can be gripped satisfactorily without having to replace the chuck each time. In this case, the operation of the drive mechanism of the finger member of the stud gripping section can be controlled according to the size and shape of the stud to be gripped by a control signal from the operation control system.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of the main parts of a chuck device for stud welding according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a gun body for stud welding, and this gun body 1 for stud welding consists of a hollow cylindrical spindle in the illustrated embodiment, and is connected to a bearing device (not shown) via bushes 2, 3 and a sliding shaft member 4. (not shown) so that it can be slid in the axial direction. A chuck body 7 is attached to the tip of the stud welding gun body 1 with a pin 6 via an insulator member 5. The chuck body 7 consists of a stud gripping part 8 and its driving mechanism 9, and the stud gripping part 8 consists of two stud gripping parts 8 that can approach and separate from each other in parallel with the axis of the stud welding gun body 1 in the lateral direction. Two conductive finger members 10 are provided. An electrical connection terminal 11 is provided on the outside of each conductive finger member 10 to connect a welding cable (not shown) for supplying welding energy to the attached stud. Further, each conductive finger member 10 is fixed or detachably fixed to an actuator 12 extending from the drive mechanism 9. In the illustrated embodiment, the drive mechanism 9 for driving each finger member 10 in the stud gripping portion 8 is operated by fluid pressure supplied from an inlet port for a pressurized fluid such as compressed air or compressed oil indicated schematically by a phantom line 13. is configured to do so. This drive mechanism 9 itself can be of known construction; therefore, this drive mechanism 9 instead forces each finger member 10 in the direction of opening, usually by means of a spring force, when gripping the stud. Alternatively, the drive mechanism 9 may be configured to be actuated electromagnetically.

In the illustrated embodiment, an electrical connection terminal for connecting a welding cable (not shown) for supplying welding energy to the stud is provided at the rear end of the stud welding gun body 1, as indicated by reference numeral 14. In that case, of course, the stud welding gun body 1 is made of a conductive material, the bushes 2 and 3 are made of an insulator, and the joint between the stud welding gun body 1 and the chuck body 7 is made of an insulated material. It is necessary to interpose a conductor member in place of the body member 5.

[Effects of the invention] As explained above, in the stud welding chuck device according to the invention, the stud welding can be performed by the drive mechanism which is operated by fluid pressure, fluid pressure and spring force, or electromagnetically. The finger members are driven toward and away from each other laterally across the axis of the stud welding gun body in accordance with the installation and removal commands;
Therefore, even if the dimensions of the stud to be welded change, the stud can be easily and reliably gripped, and as a result, studs within the intended size range can be chucked without having to particularly replace the chuck. When this device is applied to an automatically operated stud welding device using an industrial robot, the operation of the stud attachment part becomes simpler and faster, the time required for one operation cycle can be significantly shortened, and high welding work efficiency can be achieved. be able to.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing the structure of a chuck device for stud welding according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic end view of a stud gripping portion. In the figure, 1... Stud welding gun body, 2, 3
...Button, 4...Sliding shaft member, 5...Insulator member, 6...Pin, 7...Chuck body, 8...
Stud gripping portion, 9... Drive mechanism, 10... Finger member, 11... Electrical connection terminal, 12... Operator, 13... Pressure fluid introduction port.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. Guns for stud welding that can approach and separate from each other parallel to each other in the lateral direction across the axis of the gun body 1;
Two conductive finger members 10, each of which is supplied with welding energy from the outside, and two actuators that support each conductive finger member 10 and move parallel to each other in the lateral direction across the axis of the stud welding gun body 1. Stud welding characterized in that it has a drive mechanism 9 for finger members 10 provided with a child 12, and each finger member 10 is attached concentrically to the tip of a stud welding gun body 1 via the drive mechanism 9. chuck device. 2. The chuck device for stud welding according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism 9 for driving each finger member 10 is operated by fluid pressure. 3. The chuck device for stud welding according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism 9 for driving each finger member 10 is operated by fluid pressure and spring force. 4. The chuck device for stud welding according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism 9 for driving each finger member 10 is electromagnetically operated.