JPH058020Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Field of Application> The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically supplying nuts to a nut runner in an automatic wheel mounting machine that automatically attaches wheels to the hub of an automobile.

<Prior Art> An automatic wheel mounting machine for automatically mounting wheels on the hub of an automobile is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-42524. As shown in FIG. 8, the assembly vehicle 1 is placed on a cart on a conveyor and transported. On the other hand, the wheels 3 are supplied by a tire shooter 4 and held in an upright position by a wheel positioning device 5. Furthermore, Natsuto is Natsuto feeder 6
The nuts are supplied to the nut delivery device 7 from there. The wheel mounting device 9 is equipped with a nut runner, and after receiving the nut with the nut delivery device 7 and the wheel 3 with the wheel positioning device 5, the wheel 3 is aligned with the hub 8, and the nut is tightened on the hub bolt 8a for assembly work. This is what we do.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> In the automatic wheel mounting machine described above, when receiving nuts from the nut feeder 6 to the nut delivery device 7 and delivering the nuts from the nut delivery device 7 to the socket of the nut runner of the wheel mounting device 9, this It is necessary to ensure delivery. However, the above-mentioned Utility Model Application Publication No. 60-42524 does not disclose its specific structure.

<Means for solving the problem> The present invention is designed to reliably and automatically feed nuts from a nut feeder to the socket of a nut runner, and its characteristic configuration is that a nut feeding unit, a nut indexing unit, and a rotating The nut supply unit is composed of a unit case and a front surface of the unit case, and a plurality of nut receiving holes are provided at predetermined pitches on a circumferential line. a cylindrical shaft-shaped plunger fitted into the unit case so as to be movable forward and backward in the axial direction coaxially with the nut receiving hole;
The nut indexing unit is composed of an actuator that moves the plunger forward and backward, and a magnet that is positioned facing the nut housing hole at the inner tip of the plunger and is fixed to move relative to the plunger. a positioning plate rotatably supported around a central axis parallel to the axis of the plunger, provided with a plurality of positioning holes in the same phase as the nut receiving hole, and fixed to the rear end of the unit case of the nut supply unit; It is composed of an indexing position for rotationally indexing the positioning plate, and a positioning device that fits into the positioning hole at the indexing position, and the rotating unit is rotatably supported on a fixed base so as to be rotatable around a horizontal axis, and the rotating unit is rotatably supported on a fixed base, and It is composed of a table on which a nut indexing unit integrated with a nut supply unit is placed, and which changes the axis of indexing rotation in two directions, horizontal and vertical, and an actuator that rotates this table.

<Function> The nut feeding unit integrated with the nut indexing unit is indexed by the rotating unit and rotated upward so that the axis of rotation faces vertically, and the nut falling from the nut feeder is indexed by the nut indexing unit. Therefore, the nuts are sequentially accommodated in a plurality of nut accommodating holes, and are attracted to the magnets within the nut accommodating holes. Thereafter, the nut supply unit and the nut indexing unit are rotated sideways so that the index rotation axis faces horizontally, and in this state, the socket of the nut runner is brought into contact with the nut housing hole, and the plunger is moved forward to insert the nut into the nut housing hole. The nut is pushed out and delivered to the socket.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 7. The present invention is composed of three elements: a nut supply unit 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a nut indexing unit 11 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and a rotating unit 12 shown in FIG. There is. The specific configuration of each of the three elements will be explained below.

A Regarding the nut supply unit 10.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 13 is a unit case. A nut receiving case 14 is fixed to the front surface of this unit case 13.
This nut receiving case 14 is provided with a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) nut receiving holes 15 arranged at equal pitches on the circumference of the front surface thereof. moreover,
The unit case 13 has a cylindrical shaft-shaped plunger 1.
6 is fitted coaxially with the nut accommodating hole 15 so as to be movable forward and backward in the axial direction. The mechanism for advancing and retracting the plunger 16 is as follows. That is, a plunger plate 17 is fixed to the rear end of the plunger 16, and a spring 18 is provided between the plunger plate 17 and the unit case 13 to press the plunger plate 17 rearward.
Interpose. Further, a cylinder 20 is fixed to a mounting plate 19 fixed to a nut indexing unit 11, which will be described later, and a knockout pin 21 connected to a piston rod of this cylinder 20 is positioned opposite to the back surface of the plunger plate 17. be.

A magnet 22 is fixedly installed at the tip of the plunger 16 at a position facing the nut receiving hole 15. The means for fixing the magnet 22 is to tighten and fix the rear end of a bolt 23 that passes through the inside of the plunger 16 in the axial direction to a positioning plate 25 of the nut indexing unit 11, which will be described later, and to screw the magnet 22 onto the tip of the bolt 23. It has a suitable structure.

B Regarding the nut indexing unit 11.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, 24 is the unit body. This unit main body 24 is fixed to a swing table 40 of the rotating unit 12, which will be described later. A positioning plate 25 is provided on the unit main body 24 to connect the nut supply unit 10.
The plunger 16 is rotatably supported via a one-way clutch 26 about a central axis parallel to the axis of the plunger 16 . The unit case 13 of the nut supply unit 10 is fastened to the front surface of the positioning plate 25 with bolts or the like. Further, a positioning hole 34 is formed in the positioning plate 25 in the same phase as the nut accommodating hole 15 of the nut supply unit 10. This positioning plate 25 is rotated and indexed by an indexing mechanism, which will be described later, and fixed in position by a positioning device. In the positioning device, a guide case 34 is fixed to the swing table 40, a positioning cylinder 35 is fixed to the rear end of the guide case 37, and the positioning cylinder 3
Positioning pin 3 connected to piston rod 5
6 is slidably inserted into the guide case 37 and corresponds to one of the positioning holes 34 of the positioning plate 25.

The plurality of positioning holes 34 opened in the positioning plate 25 are inserted into the positioning pins 36.
The mechanism for indexing to correspond to is as follows. That is, the concentric driven shaft 27 is inserted into the bearing portion of the positioning plate 25 . This driven shaft 2
7 is rotatably supported by a block 28 fixed to a swing table 40 via a bearing. The driven shaft 27 and the positioning plate 25 are coupled in rotational direction by a key 29. Further, a concentric pulley 30 is fixed to the driven shaft 27. Further, a rotary actuator 31 is fixed to a block 38 fixed to the swing table 40, and a pulley 32 is provided which rotates by the rotation axis of the rotary actuator 31. This configuration has a timing belt 33 stretched between them.

C Regarding the rotating unit 12.

In FIG. 5, 39 is a fixing base. A swing table 40 is rotatably supported on the upper end of the fixed base 39 by a hinge pin 41 about a horizontal axis. A nut indexing unit 11 integrated with the nut supply unit 10 is fixedly mounted on the swing table 40.
The nut indexing unit 11 is fixed so that the surface of the swing table 40 and the index rotation axis 0 of the nut indexing unit 11 are parallel to each other. This swing table 40 has its surface rotated to two positions, horizontal and vertical. In this rotation operating mechanism, a cylinder 42 is swingably attached to a bracket 43 fixed to a fixed base 39, and a knuckle bracket 45 is fixed on a swing table 40. Then, the knuckle 4 at the tip of the piston rod 44 of the cylinder 12
6 and the knuckle bracket 45 are connected by a pin. 47 is a fixed stand, 39
This is a stopper fixedly installed on the side for regulating the horizontal position, and is in contact with a stopper 49 provided on the swing table 40 side. Reference numeral 48 denotes a vertical position regulating stopper fixedly provided on the fixed base 39 side, and a stopper 50 provided on the swing table 40 side comes into contact with it.

The above is the configuration of the three elements of the present invention, and FIG. 6 shows an automatic wheel mounting machine in which nuts are delivered and delivered by the device of the present invention. This automatic wheel mounting machine 51 has a head 53 equipped with an arm 52 whose direction can be changed in multiple directions, a wheel gripping device 54 for gripping a wheel T, and a nut runner socket 55 for tightening a hub nut.

Next, the operation of the device of the present invention will be explained. First, nuts are received into the nut receiving hole 15 of the nut supply unit 10 from a nut feeder (not shown).
For this purpose, the swing table 40 is rotated by the rotation unit 12 so that the surface of the swing table 40 is oriented vertically.
As a result, the nut supply unit 10 and the nut indexing unit 11 are placed in an upward position. At this time, one of the nut accommodating holes 15 corresponds to the chute of the nut feeder, and the nut falls into the nut accommodating hole 15 by the operation of the nut feeder and is attracted by the magnet 22. After that, the positioning pin 36 is pulled out from the positioning hole 34 of the positioning plate 25 by the positioning cylinder 35,
The positioning plate 25 is rotated via the driven shaft 27 by a predetermined rotation of the rotary actuator 31, and the nut supply unit 10 rotates together with the positioning plate 25.
Next, the nut receiving hole 15 for receiving the nut is indexed so as to correspond to the chute of the nut feeder, and the positioning pin 36 is fitted into the positioning hole 34 of the positioning plate 25 for positioning. After sequentially indexing the plurality of nut accommodating holes 15 and receiving the nuts in this manner, the swing table 40
Rotate so that the surface is horizontal. When the front surface of the nut receiving case 14 has changed its posture in the vertical direction in this way, the head 53 of the wheel mounting device 51 shown in FIG. 6 is attached to the nut receiving case 14.
The socket 55 of the nut runner is placed in front of the nut receiving hole 15 as shown in FIG. 7A. Next, the cylinder 20 is actuated to move the knockout pin 21 in the forward direction, thereby pushing the plunger plate 17 against the pressure of the spring 18. This causes the plunger 16 to move forward, pushing out the nut N in the nut accommodating hole 15 that was attracted to the magnet 22, and transferring it into the socket 55 as shown in FIG. 7B. After the transfer of the nut N is completed, the knockout pin 21 is moved backward, and the plunger plate 17 is moved backward by the spring 18, so that the plunger 16 returns to its original position and completes the nut transfer cycle. .

<Effects of the invention> As described above, the invention has the following special effects. When receiving nuts from the nut feeder into the nut supply unit, the nut housing hole of the nut supply unit is placed in an upward position, and the nut is indexed and rotated relative to the chute, and then the nut is dropped into the nut housing hole.
Nuts can be received into the hole more reliably than the nut feeder.

Further, since the nuts received in the nut accommodating hole are attracted and held by the magnet, the nuts do not fly out from the nut accommodating hole when changing the attitude of the nut supply unit sideways. Also,
When the nut is transferred to the socket of the nut runner while the nut supply unit is in a horizontal position, the plunger pushes the nut out of the nut receiving hole and transfers it to the socket, so that reliable transfer can also be achieved.

Therefore, the device of the present invention enables reliable automatic supply of hub nuts in an automatic wheel mounting machine for automobiles, and can greatly contribute to an automated wheel mounting system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of a nut supply unit, which is a component of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a front view of a nut indexing unit, which is a component of the present invention, and Fig. 4. Figure 3 - Line sectional view, 5th
Figure 6 is a side view of the components of the present invention, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the automatic wheel mounting machine, Figure 7 is a sectional view illustrating the nut delivery operation of the present invention, and Figure 8 is a conventionally disclosed nut supply. It is a figure showing an apparatus. 10... Nut supply unit, 11... Nut indexing unit, 12... Rotating unit, 13...
...Unit case, 15...Nut accommodation hole, 16
... Plunger, 20 ... Cylinder, 21 ... Knockout pin, 22 ... Magnet, 24 ...
Unit body, 25... Positioning plate, 27
... Driven shaft, 30 ... Pulley, 31 ... Rotary actuator, 32 ... Pulley, 33 ... Timing belt, 34 ... Positioning hole, 35 ... Cylinder, 36 ... Positioning pin, 39 ... Fixed Base, 40... Swing table, 41... Hinge pin, 42... Cylinder.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A device for automatically supplying nuts from a nut feeder to a socket of a nut runner, which is composed of three elements: a nut supply unit, a nut indexing unit, and a rotating unit, The supply unit includes a unit case, a nut receiving case fixed to the front surface of the unit case and provided with a plurality of nut receiving holes at predetermined pitches on a circumferential line, and a nut receiving case provided with the nut receiving holes in the unit case. A cylindrical shaft-shaped plunger fitted so that it can move forward and backward in the axial direction along a coaxial line,
The nut indexing unit is composed of an actuator that moves the plunger forward and backward, and a magnet that is located at the inner end of the plunger facing the nut housing hole and is fixedly installed so as to move relative to the plunger. a positioning plate rotatably supported around a central axis parallel to the axis of the plunger, provided with a plurality of positioning holes in the same phase as the nut receiving hole, and fixed to the rear end of the unit case of the nut supply unit; It is composed of an indexing device that rotationally indexes the positioning plate, and a positioning device that fits into the positioning hole at the index position, and the rotation unit is rotatably supported on a fixed base so as to be rotatable around a horizontal axis, and the rotation unit is rotatably supported on a fixed base, and A nut characterized by comprising a table on which a nut indexing unit integrated with a nut supply unit is mounted and which converts the axis of indexing rotation into two directions, horizontal and vertical, and an actuator that rotates this table. Feeding device.