JPH0647851Y2 - Tire positioning device on the slatted conveyor - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is intended to apply a wax coating or the like to the lower surface of a vehicle body while the vehicle is supported by wheels in an automobile manufacturing factory, and therefore, the lateral direction on the vehicle transfer device is considered. The present invention relates to a tire positioning device that adjusts a position accurately.

2. Description of the Related Art Wax coating on the underside of an automobile body in an automobile manufacturing plant is usually performed by placing the vehicle wheels on two rows of slat conveyors and moving them along the pit while the wax is being removed from within the pit. It is applied. In this case, in order to perform wax coating by the robot provided in the pit, it is necessary to accurately position the vehicle laterally on the slat conveyor. Therefore, conventionally, a lateral position adjusting device for the vehicle wheel is provided at the starting end loading part of the slat conveyor, but this device pushes the wheel from the inside to the outside while supporting the vehicle body sill part and lifting the car. The longitudinal center of the body is aligned with the midline of the two-slat conveyor before it is lowered onto the slat conveyor.

However, when the vehicle body sill portion is lifted, the tire extends and the camper angle of the wheels changes, and the lateral position of the vehicle body slightly shifts when it is lowered onto the conveyor again due to the relationship between the toes and casters. It is not possible to lift the car body for accurate lateral positioning.

Further, it is also proposed that a guide plate for regulating both side surfaces of an automobile tire is provided at the starting end loading portion of the slat conveyor, and the lateral position of the guide plate is automatically adjusted according to the width of the tire and the distance between the left and right tires. However, the driver cannot get off the vehicle from the time the tire width and the left-right distance are input to the computer every time the vehicle type changes until the automatic adjustment is actually completed and the vehicle is loaded on the slat conveyor. There is a drawback that work efficiency becomes low.

The problem to be solved by the invention is to load the car on the slat conveyor after the car is lifted and the lateral position is adjusted to the regular position. It is an object of the present invention to propose a tire positioning device capable of laterally accurate positioning without being affected by a camper angle or the like.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention proposes a floating system including tire support arms that individually move in and out from the inside of the left and right lower halves of the left and right automobile tires loaded on parallel two-way parallel slatted conveyors. The platform and the floating platform are freely movable in the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the slat conveyor, and the lifting platform that supports the slat conveyor by spring biasing so that it can be restored to the central position of both slat conveyors. On a slat conveyor having a base that can be guided and moved in the transfer direction, and a pushing device that is provided on a lift and that pushes the inner surfaces of the left and right tires to move the tires to a position at a predetermined distance from the central position The gist is the configuration of the tire positioning device.

After the left and right wheels of the automobile are placed on the slat conveyor in the loading section, the tire supporting arm is projected to the front part of the front wheel, the tire of the front wheel hits the tire supporting arm, and the entire device of the present invention is slatted. Move forward with.
Then, the tire support arm is projected to the rear part of the front wheel to raise the lifting platform. At this time, the front wheels are lifted from the slats by the front and rear of the tire being clamped by the tire supporting arms, and the entire device of the present invention is pushed forward by the rear wheels on the slats. When the front wheels are lifted, the pusher operates,
One of the left and right tires, which is closer to the pushing device, is pushed outward first. As a result, the front portion of the vehicle moves outward together with the idler, and the lateral movement of the front portion of the vehicle ends when the pushing device comes into contact with the inner surface of the other tire. By this lateral movement, the center between the front wheels is corrected to a predetermined relational position determined by the pushing device with respect to the central position of both slat conveyors.

Said lateral position of the idler is done against the force of the restoring spring. Then, the lifting table is lowered to put the tire on the slat, and the tire supporting arm is separated from the tire, whereby the idle table is restored to the center position by the spring pressure, and the positioning operation of the front wheels is completed. The base moved forward in the above operation is returned to its original position by another means.

After the positioning operation of the front wheels is completed, similar positioning is performed for the rear wheels that move forward, and the positioning of the entire vehicle is completed.

During the tire positioning, the tire is supported on the tire support arm in a loaded state and is exactly the same as when the camper, tow, and caster are on the slats, so that the tire can be positioned accurately.

The above operation can be easily automated by using a normal control device.

Example FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a work line for performing wax coating work on the lower surface of an automobile in an automobile manufacturing plant. On the upper part of the pit 1, there are two slat conveyors 2, 2 that carry the tires of the car and move synchronously.
When the tires of the automobile are placed on the slat conveyor 2 in the loading section 3, the automobile is transported along the upper side of the pit 1, and a robot provided in the pit 1 applies wax to the lower surface of the vehicle body during the transportation. In order to use the robot, it is necessary to accurately match the lateral position of the vehicle on the slat conveyor 2 at a right angle with the transport direction of the vehicle to a predetermined position. Therefore, the loading unit 3 is provided with the tire positioning device 4 of the present invention.

2 to 4 show the device of the present invention. However, FIG. 2 shows only the left half of the slat conveyor 2 in the transfer direction indicated by the arrow. In FIG. 4, the slat conveyor 2 comprises slats 7 fixed to the links of a pair of chains 6 that guide and move on rails 5 in a pit 1, and a tire 9 is placed on an extension 8 of the slats 7 to move. To do.

The base 10 can be moved by wheels 12 on a rail 11 provided in the pit 1 at the center of the slat conveyors 2, 2.
An elevating table (14) that moves up and down by an air cylinder (13) is guided and supported on a base (10). Further, a rail 15 is fixed on the lifting table 14 in a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction, a roller 17 of a floating table 16 is fitted to the rail 15, and spring supports 18 projecting from the front and rear lower surfaces of the floating table 16,
A compression spring 20 is provided between the spring support 19 fixed on the lifting table 14 on both sides of the lifting table 14, and the idle table 16 is positioned at the center between the slat conveyors 2 and 2 with the forces of the left and right springs 20 being equalized. The spring 20 is pre-loaded appropriately so that

Air cylinders 22a, 22b are horizontally swingably mounted on brackets 21 fixed to the front, rear, left, and right of the idler stand 16, and by the rod, two pairs of tire support arms 23a, 23b supported on both sides of the idler stand 16 are slatted extension portions. It is configured so that each of them can be horizontally rotated slightly above 8.

When the air cylinders 22a and 22b extend, the tire support arms 23a on both sides of the front part rotate forward and the tire support arms 23b on both sides of the rear part rotate rearward to allow passage of the tire 9 on the conveyor 2, When the air cylinders 22a and 22b are shortened, the tire support arms 23a and 23b are located outside at right angles to the transfer direction, and the lower half portion of the tire 9 can be clamped and lifted from the front and rear.

An air cylinder 25 is mounted on a bracket 24 fixed to the rear center of the lifting table 14 higher than the idle table 16, and the inner end of a sliding rod 27 passing through a guide tube 26 fixed to the front left and right of the idle table 16 is connected to the rod of the air cylinder 25. And link 28 and the left and right sliding rods.
At the same time, 27 are moved by the same distance, and a push fitting 29 is fixed to the outer end of the sliding rod 27.

The cars carried into the loading section 3 are the left and right slat conveyors.
When riding on 2, 2 and moving, the tire supporting arms 23a on the front left and right are pivoted outward so that the front tires 9
Let them guess. Air cylinder connected to the front of the base 10.
No. 30 is tired at this time, and base 10 is tire 9
Press to move forward. When the striker provided at the lower portion of the base 10 operates the limit switch 31, the rear air cylinder 22b is shortened to rotate the rear tire support arm 23b outward.

Next, when the cylinder 13 extends to raise the lifting table 14,
The lower half of the tire 9 is clamped by the support arms 23a and 23b and floats above the slat extension 8. At this time, the tire positions on the slats are generally biased to one side with respect to the idler 16. Therefore, when the cylinder 25 is extended to press the push fittings 29 against the inside of the tire 9, one of the push fittings 29 on both sides, which comes into contact with the tire 9 first, pushes the tire 9 together with the idle table 16 with the spring 20. Against one side of the tire, pushing the other side of the pushing metal fitting 29 against the tire 9 to move the idle table.
16 lateral movement stops. At this time, the centers of the left and right tires coincide with the center of the lifting platform 14, that is, the center between the slat conveyors 2 and 2, and the center of the floating platform 16 is biased to the one side,
Although 20 is the tire pressure contact force of the pressing fitting 29, the force of the spring 20 and the pressing force of the cylinder 25 are set so that this pressure contact force does not become excessive.

When the lateral movement of the idler table 16 is stopped, the cylinder 13 is shortened and the tire 9 is placed on the slat conveyor 2, so that the tire support arm 23 is separated from the tire 9 and the idler table 16 is moved to the spring 20. Return to the center position by the force of. Next, the tire support arm 23 is rotated in the transfer direction to shorten the cylinder 25, and then the base 30 is retracted by the cylinder 30 to perform the same positioning action on the advancing rear tire 9 as described above. .

Thus, the front and rear tires 9 are correctly repositioned to the predetermined positions on the slat conveyors 2, 2, but it is also possible to combine the above two devices to center the front and rear tires on the conveyor 2 at the same time.

While the front tire or the upper tire is being positioned, the vehicle mounted on the slat conveyor is advanced in synchronization with the conveyor by the tire mounted on the slat conveyor, but this forward force is the frictional force between the tire and the slat. If this is not enough, the pusher 33 protruding by the air cylinder 32 pushes and holds the lower protruding piece 34 of the slat extension 8 on one side of the base 10 to positively apply a driving force to the base 10. .

In order to move the tire 9 laterally, the position of the tire 9 is detected by a sensor without using the air cylinder 25.
Thereby, the left and right push fittings may be selectively operated individually.

Effect of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, the wheels' campers, toe-ins, casters, etc. do not change during positioning operation, and positioning errors due to these changes do not occur.
In addition to the accurate positioning on the slat conveyor, automation has the effect of saving the driver's hand.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a slat conveyor line implementing the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one half of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an elevation view of the same, and FIG. 4 is an A- of FIG. It is an A line sectional view. 2 ... Slat conveyor, 9 ... Tire 10 ... Base, 14 ... Lifting platform 16 ... Idle, 23 ... Tire support arm 25-29 ... Pushing device

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A play table equipped with tire support arms that individually move in and out from the inside of the tires on the front and rear lower parts of the left and right automobile tires, respectively, loaded on parallel two-way slats conveyors that move in synchronization. An elevating table that supports the floating table freely in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the slat conveyor and spring-biased so that it can be restored to the central position of both slat conveyors; And a tire positioning device on a slat conveyor having a base that can be guided and moved, and a pushing device that is provided on the lifting platform and that pushes the inner surfaces of the left and right tires to move the tires to a position at a predetermined distance from the central position. .