JPH06191719A - Airbag folding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide inexpensive automatic folding equipment which is moved parallel to a first, second and third operation boards which move parallel to the upper surface board of a machine table and the upper surface board, and also moves in the vertical direction, and can fold an airbag in an accurate and rapid manner by a turnable fourth operation board. CONSTITUTION:A work hole 3 is provided in an upper surface board 2 of a machine table 1. A three-axis slide unit 4 at the tip of which a turning means 8 is provided downward of the work hole 3 is arranged, a first operation board 9 which is moved in/out alone the center line of the work hole 3 parallel to the upper surface board 2, a second operation board 10 which is orthogonal to the moving direction of the first operation board slightly underside of the first operation board 9 and is moved in/out of the center part of the work hole 3, and the third operation board 11 which is moved in/out of the center part of the work hole 3 from the position opposite to the second operation board 10 slightly underside of the second operation board are arranged, and a fouth operation board 12 is mounted on a turning means 8. In addition, upper and lower slide units 13 are arranged above the upper part of the work hole 3, a holding means 16 is turnably mounted on the upper and lower slide units 13, and the driving source thereof is connected to a control means 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic folding device for an automobile airbag.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An air bag for an automobile is generally folded small and attached to a handle portion. Conventionally, the work of folding the airbag has been performed manually, but in recent years, there has been some work performed by an automatic machine. For example, a mounting table for horizontally mounting the airbag, a plurality of guiding means for guiding the folding position, a first folding means for laterally folding the airbag, and a second for vertically folding.
There is an air bag folding device in which a folding means and a plurality of holding means for holding a folded state for each operation are attached to a machine base. The folding operation of this device is as follows. First, the airbag is spread horizontally on the mounting table and placed at a predetermined position. Then, when the device is started, the two guide rods, which are the guide means, move in and out of the airbag and are bent. After guiding the position, the first folding means of the swiveling method grabs the outer peripheral edge of the airbag and folds it upward a plurality of times in a lateral direction, presses it by the holding means and holds it, and then in the same way from the opposite direction. It is folded up and held down by the pressing means, and then it is folded up and down by the second folding means of the swiveling method at the same time in the vertical direction at the same time. There is.

[0003]

However, this folding device has a drawback that the device is expensive because it has many constituent devices and has a complicated structure. In addition, this device requires a long folding time due to the large number of operations of the device, and there is a problem that a plurality of devices must be installed for mass production. The present invention was invented for the purpose of solving these problems.

[0004]

In order to achieve this object, a work hole 3 is provided in a top plate 2 of a machine base 1 and is movable below the work hole 3 in a horizontal vertical direction, a horizontal horizontal direction and a vertical direction. A triaxial slide unit 4 is arranged, and a pivoting means 8 for pivoting in a horizontal direction is attached to the tip end of the triaxial slide unit 4, while a work hole 3 is formed in parallel with the top plate 2 of the machine base 1.
The first operation plate 9 that moves in and out along the center line of the first operation plate 9 is arranged, and is located slightly below the first operation plate 9 and
The second operation plate 10 which goes in and out of the central portion of the work hole 3 is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the second operation plate and parallel to the upper plate 2,
A third position which is located slightly below the operation plate 10 and which faces the second operation plate 10 at right angles to the moving direction of the first operation plate 9 and which moves in and out of the central portion of the work hole 3 in parallel with the upper plate 2.
The operation plate 11 is arranged, the fourth operation plate 12 is attached to the rotary shaft of the swivel means 8, and the upper surface plate 2 is provided above the working hole 3.
The vertical slide unit 13 that moves vertically with
The holding means 16 is rotatably attached to the vertical slide unit 13, and the drive sources having the above-mentioned configurations are respectively controlled by the control means 18.
It is connected to and automatically operates.

[0005]

[Operation] First projecting in a bridge state to the center of the working hole 3
When the airbag 20 is placed on the operation plate 9 (FIG. 3) and folded and started, the holding means 16 descends and grips, the air in the airbag 20 is discharged, and then the airbag 20 hanging downward is secondly operated. The plate 10, the third operation plate 11, and the fourth operation plate 12 are vertically folded downward (FIG. 4) by the movement operation of the plate 10, and the swiveling means 8 is used to
It is rotated by 0 °, and again folded laterally downward by the moving operation of the second operation plate 10, the third operation plate 11 and the fourth operation plate 12 (FIG. 5). And the folded airbag 20
To the position higher than the top plate 2 to complete the course. When the airbag 20 is placed at a predetermined position in this manner, it can be folded accurately and quickly by an automatic operation thereafter.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a machine base, and a top plate 2 of the machine base 1
A working hole 3 is formed in the hole. A triaxial slide unit 4 which is movable in the horizontal vertical direction (X direction), the horizontal horizontal direction (Y direction), and the vertical direction (Z direction) with respect to the machine base 1 is arranged below the work hole 3. It is installed in the machine base 1. The triaxial slide unit 4 includes an X table 5 movable in the X direction and a Y table 6 movable in the Y direction.
And a Z table 7 movable in the Z direction. The Z table 7 is provided with a turning means (for example, a pneumatic high rotor) 8 which turns 90 ° in the horizontal direction.
On the other hand, a first operation plate 9 that moves forward and backward along the longitudinal center line of the work hole 3 is slidably mounted in the machine base 1 in parallel with the upper surface plate 2, and the width of the first operation plate 9 is Airbag 20
Is formed in such a size that it can be folded and is connected to a first reciprocating drive source (not shown, for example, an air cylinder). Slightly below the first operation plate 9, there is slidably a second operation plate 10 which is orthogonal to the moving direction of the first operation plate 9 and moves forward and backward toward the center of the work hole 3 in parallel with the upper plate 2. The second operation plate 10 is assembled, and the width of the second operation plate 10 is approximately equal to the outer dimension of the airbag 20 and is connected to a second housing drive source (not shown, for example, an air cylinder). Slightly below the second operation plate 10, the second operation plate 10 is orthogonal to the moving direction of the first operation plate 9 and
A third operation plate 11 that moves forward and backward toward the center of the work hole 3 at a position facing the operation plate 10 and parallel to the upper plate 2.
Is slidably assembled, and the width of the third operation plate 11 is formed to be approximately the outer dimension of the airbag 20, and is connected to a third reciprocating drive source (not shown, for example, an air cylinder). Further, a fourth operation plate 12 having a horizontal surface at the tip is fixed to the rotation shaft of the swivel means (pneumatic high rotor) 8, and the width of the fourth operation plate 12 is formed so as to fold the airbag 20. There is. Further, an upper and lower slide unit 13 which is vertically movable vertically with respect to the upper surface plate 2 is arranged above the work hole 3 and is fixed to the machine base 1 via a column 14. A holding means 16 having a plurality of chuck members 15 (FIG. 2) attached to the lower end of the vertical slide unit 13
Is rotatably attached, the shaft center of the holding means 16 is located above the central portion of the working hole 3, and a through hole 17 is provided in the shaft center portion of the holding means 16. Each drive source having the above construction is connected to the control means 18 so as to operate automatically.

Next, the operation and action of this device will be described. When the apparatus is started, the first operation plate 9 advances along the longitudinal center line of the work hole 3 and stops in the bridge state. The airbag 20 is manually placed on the first operation plate 9 at a predetermined position with the stud bolt 21 side facing upward (FIG. 3). At this time, a portion where the airbag 20 is not supported by the first operation plate 9 hangs downward (see FIG. 6).
(A)). When the folding start is started in this state, the folding is automatically started thereafter. First, the holding means 1
6, the chuck member 15 grips the stud bolt 21, and the air in the airbag 20 is sucked and discharged from the through hole 17. Next, the second operation plate 10 advances and folds downward as shown in FIG. 6 (B), and then the third operation plate 11 advances and folds as shown in FIG. 6 (C). Next, the fourth operation plate 12 moves up and moves forward and is folded as shown in FIG. 6 (D). Then, the first operation plate 9, the second operation plate 10 and the third operation plate 11 move backward and are moved as shown in FIG. 6 (E). Held in the state of. In this state, the turning means 8 and the holding means 16 move 90
The airbag 20 is rotated to the state shown in FIG. 7 (A). Next, the second operation plate 10 moves forward and folds downward as shown in FIG. 7 (B), and subsequently the third operation plate 11 moves forward and moves to FIG. 7 (C).
Fold it like. Next, the second operation plate 10 moves backward, the fourth operation plate 12 moves backward and descends, the turning means 8 subsequently rotates 90 °, and the fourth operation plate 12 again rises and moves forward as shown in FIG. ). Next, the third operation plate 1
1, the fourth operation plate 12 moves up together with the holding means 16, and the folded airbag 20 moves up to a position higher than the upper surface plate 2 and stops (FIG. 7 (E)). In this state, the airbag 20 folded may be temporarily clamped and removed (FIG. 2).

[0008]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention is
A work hole 3 is provided in the top plate 2 of the machine base 1, and a triaxial slide unit 4 provided with a swivel means 8 at the tip is arranged below the work hole 3, while the work hole 3 is provided in parallel with the top plate 2. A first operation plate 9 that moves in and out along the center line is arranged, and a second operation plate 9 that moves in and out of the central portion of the work hole 3 in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the first operation plate 9 is slightly below the first operation plate 9. An operation plate 10 is arranged, and a third operation plate 11 that goes in and out of the central portion of the work hole 3 from a position facing the second operation plate 10 is arranged slightly below the second operation plate 10, and the turning means 8 The fourth operation plate 12 is attached to the rotary shaft, the vertical slide unit 13 is arranged above the work hole 3, and the holding means 16 is rotatably attached to the vertical slide unit 13 to control the drive sources of these constituent devices. It is connected to the means 18.

According to the present invention, the manual work of initially placing the air bag can be facilitated and shortened. Further, since the airbag is structured to be folded downward by a plurality of operation plates, the number of steps of pressing and holding the airbag many times during folding as in the conventional case is reduced, and the folding operation can be continuously performed. Therefore, the working time can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, since the width of the operation plate is set to the folding dimension, it is possible to obtain a peculiar effect such as accurate folding.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an airbag folding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the holding means of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which an airbag is placed.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the airbag is folded in the vertical direction.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a completed state of folding the airbag.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation state of folding the airbag in a vertical direction.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation state of laterally folding the airbag.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Machine stand 2 Top plate 3 Working hole 4 3-axis slide unit 5 X table 6 Y table 7 Z table 8 Revolving means 9 1st operation plate 10 2nd operation plate 11 3rd operation plate 12 4th operation plate 13 Vertical slide unit 14 Struts 15 Chuck member 16 Holding means 17 Through hole 18 Control means 20 Airbag 21 Stud bolt

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A work hole is provided in a top plate of a machine base, and a triaxial slide unit movable in a horizontal vertical direction, a horizontal horizontal direction, and a vertical direction is arranged below the work hole, and a tip of the triaxial slide unit. A swivel means for swiveling in a horizontal direction is attached to the section, while a first operation plate that goes in and out along the center line of the working hole is arranged in parallel with the upper plate of the machine base, and slightly below this first operation plate. A second operation plate, which is positioned and orthogonal to the moving direction of the first operation plate and which goes in and out of the central portion of the work hole, is arranged parallel to the upper surface plate, and is located slightly below the second operation plate and the first operation plate is provided. A third operation plate that goes in and out of the center of the work hole is arranged at a position that is orthogonal to the moving direction of the plate and faces the second operation plate, and is parallel to the upper plate, and the fourth operation plate is provided on the rotation shaft of the turning means. Mount and then move vertically above the work hole to move vertically to the top plate. A folding device for an airbag, characterized in that a slide unit is arranged, a holding means is rotatably attached to the upper and lower slide units, and the drive sources having the above-mentioned constitutions are connected to respective control means.