JPH07121765B2 - Transport device for automatic assembly - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer device used in an automatic assembly line, and particularly to a transfer device for automatic assembly suitable for transferring and positioning a wide variety of products. Regarding

[Conventional technology]

In the assembly line, at each work station, parts are assembled to the transported members to be assembled,
When one line is completed, a predetermined assembly process is completed.

An example of this is the invention disclosed in JP-A-50-160889. The present invention has a plurality of movable work stations and a conveyor unit for transferring an article to be assembled from one station to the next station, and the conveyor of the conveyor unit has a predetermined conveyor section for the presence of the article to be assembled. It relates to an assembly line system arranged to stop when sensed in an area and to start a conveyor when a part is removed from said area. The present invention is a system in which an assembly line is assembled for manual work, the conveyor unit conveys parts, and when the article reaches a predetermined position, the conveyor stops,
It has the function of restarting the conveyor when the article is removed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the conveyor unit in the above conventional example detects an article, the belt conveyor stops at a predetermined position, a person takes out the article and performs an assembly work, places it on the belt conveyor on the downstream side, and conveys it to the next stage. Is set.

Therefore, no consideration is given to the positioning and posture control of the conveyed article at the stop position, and it is impossible to introduce this conveyor unit into the automatic assembly line.

The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances of the conventional art as described above, and an object thereof is to provide a carrying device which can perform accurate positioning of a carried product and can be introduced into an automatic assembly line. Especially.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the problems associated with the prior art and to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention receives a member to be assembled, which is an assembly base, from an adjacent station of a previous process, and after a predetermined part is assembled, a post-process is performed. In the automatic assembling transfer device for sending out to the station, a transfer stage including three stages of a loading part, a positioning part, and a unloading part is provided, and each of the transfer stages detects that the member to be assembled has reached a predetermined position. Position detecting means, and a belt conveying means for stopping the assembling member at the predetermined position by a signal output from the position detecting means and restarting the assembling member by a stop release signal, The carry-in unit has a product type detection unit that detects the type of the assembled member that has been carried in, and the positioning unit positions the assembled unit at a component mounting position as the predetermined position of the positioning unit. The belt conveying means directly conveys the member to be assembled, and has width adjusting means capable of adjusting the widthwise dimension according to the size of the member to be assembled. It is configured as follows.

[Action]

According to the above-mentioned means, the three conveying stages each having the independent belt conveying means are provided in one conveying device, and each conveying means is configured to independently stop, so that the member to be assembled is conveyed at the time of conveying. Since it is possible to eliminate hits and overlaps between the attached members, it is possible to accurately control the transfer and stop of the members to be attached, and thus, it is possible to perform accurate positioning at the position of the positioning portion. it can.

Further, by configuring the belt conveying means to be adjustable in the width direction, it is possible to quickly respond to diversification of dimensions of the member to be assembled, and further to adjust the spacing of the positioning means in the positioning portion, for example, the engaging portion in the conveying direction. If configured, positioning can be performed more reliably.

In addition, if a product type detection unit is provided in the carry-in section, which is the first stage, the operation in the subsequent stage can be set according to the detected product type, so it is possible to perform different types of assembly operations using the same transport path. Become.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

All of the drawings are for explaining the embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a carrying device according to the embodiments.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stop mechanism, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a positioning mechanism, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a signal transmission / reception relationship regarding the present transport device, and FIG. 5 (a) is an explanatory view showing an outline, FIG. 5 (a) is a plan view of a main portion showing a product identification mark forming position, FIG. 5 (b) is an explanatory view showing a concrete example of the mark, and FIG. 5 (c) is a mark. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state at the time of reading, and FIG.

In FIG. 1, a carrier device 1 according to this embodiment is a pedestal.
The operation control unit 5 is provided on the upper surface of the pedestal 19 and mainly includes a loading unit 2, a loading unit 2, a positioning unit 3, and a loading unit 4.

As shown in FIG. 6, the introduction section 2, the positioning section 3, and the unloading section 4 are provided with a pair of belt conveyors 40 as belt conveying means. The belt conveyor 40 includes a rotating shaft 41 rotatably supported between both side plates 39 supported by supporting plates 23 on both sides, and a motor for rotating the rotating shaft 41.
14,17,22, a driving pulley 42 axially attached to a rotating shaft 41, a driven pulley 43 rotatably supported at a predetermined position on the rotation plane of the driving pulley 42, the driving pulley 42, and a driven pulley 42. It comprises a pair of conveyor belts 44 stretched between pulleys 43.

A groove 24 is formed on the bottom surface of the support plate 25 that supports the belt conveyor 40.
Is kerfed so that it can be moved along the rail 25 provided on the upper surface of the pedestal 19 and is fixed to a position set on the rail 25 by a fixing screw 26 when not moving. . In addition, the drive pulley 42 on one side also has a pulley fixing screw 27.
It is fixed to the rotating shaft 41 through the belt conveyor 40.
If adjustment in the width direction (direction of arrow A) is required, the fixing screw 26 and the pulley fixing screw 27 can be loosened for adjustment.

Transport direction of belt conveyor 40 at each transport stage (direction of arrow B)
Downstream, position detecting sensors 9, 10, 11 as position detecting means of the member 13 to be assembled are provided at preset positions, and the position detecting sensors 9, 10 are projections of the stop mechanisms 46, 47.
The signal is obtained from 6 and 7, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the stop mechanism 46 is composed of a cylinder 16 and an operating shaft 6a. The operating shaft 6a penetrates the position detection sensor 9 and projects from the transport surface of the transport belt 44. The protrusion 6 is formed. A coil spring 45 is attached to the operation shaft 6a, and the operation shaft 6a is always urged upward in the drawing. The position detection sensor 9 detects the contact of the assembling member 13 with the protrusion 6 and sends a position detection signal to the operation control unit 5.
The stop mechanism 46 is supported by a support plate 48,
48 is adjustably fixed to the upper surface of the pedestal 19 via a screw 50 inserted in a long hole 28 formed in a support portion 49 at the lower end in the figure. The stop mechanism 47 of the positioning unit 3 is also constructed in exactly the same manner.

Product type reading unit as product type detection means provided in the carry-in unit 3
Reference numeral 12 is provided with an optical sensor 15. As shown in FIG. 5, white paint printing 31 of, for example, 4 bits is preliminarily applied to a predetermined position of the assembly target member 13 according to the type, and the white paint printing position is The type of product is identified by detecting with the optical sensor 15.

The positioning mechanism 8 provided in the positioning section 3 includes a support base 51 supported by a positioning cylinder 326 as shown in FIG.
An elevating table 52 that supports the guide shaft 29 at both ends, and a pair of positioning members 53 that are inserted into the guide shaft 29 and are movable along the guide shaft 29 are mainly configured to be provided outside the side plate 39 on one side. It is arranged. The elevator 52 is
It is supported by the operation shaft 54 of the positioning cylinder 32, and is constantly urged upward by a coil spring 55 in the drawing. The elevating position of the elevating table 52 is defined by the guide 56 inserted through the supporting table 51. Further, the supporting arm 57 projects from the positioning member 53 to the belt conveyor 40, and the positioning pin 18 is vertically provided at the tip of the supporting arm 57, and the guide shaft 29 is pressed against the positioning member 53 to be positioned. A screw 30 is provided that defines The positioning pin 18 is set so that it can be fitted into a small hole 20 preliminarily formed in the member 13 to be assembled, and two small holes formed at the front and rear in the transport direction.
The positioning member 53 is adjusted to the interval of 20 and the assembled member 13
After being stopped by the stop mechanism 47, the elevating table 52 is lowered to fit the positioning pins 18 into the small holes 20, respectively. As a result, the assembly member 13 can be accurately positioned in the positioning portion 3.

An operation control unit 5 is also provided on the upper surface of the pedestal 19 to process the detection signals from the position detection sensors 9, 10, 11 and control the motors 14, 17, 22 and the positioning mechanism 8 and the like. Signal processing as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 4 is performed in association with an automatic assembly machine (not shown), etc., to control the operation of the entire carrier device 1.

Subsequently, the operation of the transport device 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The assembling member 13 shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIGS. 1 to 3 is carried into the carry-in section 2 carried in the direction indicated by the arrow B from the carrying device 1 (not shown) in the previous step D, and the carrying belt is carried.
It is conveyed in the direction of the protrusion 6 by 44. When the tip of the assembling member 13 comes into contact with the projection 6 due to this conveyance, the position detection sensor 9 detects this and stops the motor 14, and at the same time, the operation control unit 5 is used to move to the preceding process D. Request signal P
Is turned off, and the read start signal Q is turned on by the product type reading section 12. As a result, the optical sensor 15 operates to read the signal from the white paint printing 31 and determine the product type.

When the product type determination is completed by this reading, the automatic assembly machine
The reading completion signal R that functions as a stop release signal is output from the 57 side, the stop mechanism 46 is turned off, the cylinder 16 operates, the projection 6 descends, and the conveyor belt 44 of the carry-in section 2 moves.
The motor 14 for driving and the motor 17 for driving the conveyor belt 44 of the positioning portion 3 are turned on, and the member 13 to be assembled is conveyed from the carry-in portion 2 to the positioning portion 3.

The assembled member 13 conveyed to the positioning unit 3 has its tip end abutted against the protrusion 7 of the stop mechanism 47 during the conveyance process, and the position detection sensor
10 detects this. When the position sensor 10 operates, the motor 17 is turned off and the conveyor belt 44 is stopped in the same manner as described above.
Further, the previous process product request signal P to the carry-in section 2 is turned off. Then, the positioning cylinder 32 of the positioning mechanism 8
Is turned on, and the elevator 52 is lowered. Then, the positioning pin 18 descends as described above, and the tip end of the positioning pin 18 is inserted into the small hole 20 of the assembled member 13 whose stop position is roughly defined by the stop mechanism 47, and further descends. By this, the positioning pin 18 is fitted exactly into the small hole 20, and the member 13 to be assembled is accurately positioned. In this case, it is sufficient for the stop mechanism 47 to secure stop accuracy such that at least the tip of the positioning pin 18 is inserted into the small hole 20.

When the positioning is completed, the stop mechanism 47 of the positioning unit 3 is turned off, the protrusion 7 descends, and the positioning completion signal S is output to the automatic assembly machine 57 side. As a result, the automatic assembling machine 57 assembles the predetermined parts to the parts set in advance according to the type of the assembling parts 13 read by the product type reading section 12.

When the assembling is completed, the assembling completion signal T is output by the automatic assembling machine 57.
To the operation control section 5 on the side of the carrying device 1, whereby the positioning cylinder 32 is turned off, the lifting table 52 is raised, and the positioning pin 18 is disengaged from the small hole to cancel the positioning. At the same time, a stop release signal is output, and the motor 17 that drives the transport belt 44 of the positioning unit 3 and the motor 22 that drives the transport belt 44 of the unloading unit 4 are turned on,
The member 13 to be assembled is transported from the positioning unit 3 to the unloading unit 4.

When the assembling member 13 conveyed to the carry-out section 4 reaches the preset conveyance position, the position detection sensor 11 detects it,
The position detection sensor 11 is turned on to stop the motor 22, and the member 13 to be assembled also stops on the conveyor belt 44 driven by the motor 22. Then, the motor 22 is restarted in response to the product request signal U functioning as a stop release signal from the conveying device in the post-process E, and the assembled member 13 stopped in the carry-out section 4 is removed in the post-process E, for example. Transport to the carry-in section. In this carrying device 1, one assembling member 13
When it is conveyed from the unloading section of the previous process D to the next member 13 to be assembled,
Are continuously conveyed to the carry-in section 2, and the above operation is repeated. This allows continuous automatic assembly in an automatic assembly line.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

Since the transport stages are formed in three stages of the carry-in part 2, the positioning part 3, and the carry-out part 4, the assembling members 13 are prevented from overlapping and abutting, and can be reliably transported one by one.

Because of the above reasons, they can be transported one by one, so
The positioning mechanism 8 can be operated reliably, and the assembled member 13 can be accurately positioned by the positioning portion 3.

Since the member 13 to be assembled can be accurately positioned, the parts can be easily assembled by the automatic assembly machine 57.

Since the assembling by the automatic assembling machine 57 is easy, the assembling efficiency can be improved.

The belt conveyor 40 is configured to be adjustable in the width direction of the conveyor belt 44, and the positioning pin of the positioning mechanism 8
Since 18 can be freely adjusted in the direction parallel to the conveying direction B, it is easy to deal with a change in the dimensions of the member 13 to be assembled, and the versatility is excellent.

Since the product type reading unit 12 is provided and the product type identification function is provided, it is possible to select the assembly parts and the assembly process according to the product type, so that automation can be further promoted.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, which is configured such that the conveying stages are formed in three stages and the second stage positioning portion is used to position the assembled members, Since they can be transported one by one with certainty, the positioning means can be reliably operated to accurately position the members to be assembled. Further, since the members to be assembled can be accurately positioned one by one, the device can be readily adapted to automation, can be used as a transfer device in an automatic assembly line, and the efficiency of assembly work can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings are all for explaining the embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carrying device according to the embodiments, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stop mechanism, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a positioning mechanism. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a signal transmission / reception relationship regarding the present transport device,
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an outline of product type detection, and FIG. 5 (a)
Is an explanatory view showing a white paint printing position, FIG. 5 (b) is a table showing a concrete example of white paint printing, FIG. 5 (c) is an explanatory view showing a state at the time of reading, and FIG. FIG. 1 ... conveying device, 2 ... carrying-in section, 3 ... positioning section, 4
…… Unloading section, 8 …… Positioning mechanism, 9,10,11 …… Position detection sensor, 12 …… Model reading section, 13 …… Assembled member, 15…
… Optical sensor, 23 …… Support plate, 39 …… Side plate, 40 …… Belt conveyor, 42 …… Drive pulley, 46, 47 …… Stop mechanism.

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP 61-14827 (JP, A) JP 59-158727 (JP, A) JP 61-81690 (JP, A) JP 55-93299 (JP , A) JP 60-257200 (JP, A) JP 57-139274 (JP, A) Actual development 61-128224 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic assembling transfer device for receiving a member to be assembled from an adjacent station of a previous process, assembling predetermined parts, and then sending the assembled member to a station of a subsequent process, which includes a loading section, a positioning section, and a unloading section. A transport stage including a stage is provided, and each of the transport stages includes a position detecting unit that detects that the member to be assembled has reached a predetermined position, and a signal output from the position detecting unit that causes the transport unit to move to the predetermined position. And a belt conveying means for stopping the assembling member and restarting the assembling member in response to a stop release signal, wherein the carry-in section is a product type detecting means for detecting the type of the carried-in assembling member. The positioning unit has a positioning unit that positions the member to be mounted at a component mounting position as the predetermined position of the positioning unit, and the belt conveying unit is the member to be mounted. It conveyed directly, also the transfer device for automatic assembly, characterized by comprising a width adjusting means adjustable width dimension depending on the size of the assembly member.