JPH0724723A - Polishing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a polishing device with a self-follow function capable of maintaining a surface at right angle to a surface to be polished. CONSTITUTION:A polishing member 18 is connected to a housing 11 in which a motor 12 is stored so that it can be oscillated in all directions around a motor output shaft 12a through a universal joint comprising members 27, 25, and 22 and a pin 29. Also the motor output shaft 12a is connected to the shaft 18a of the polishing member 18 through the universal joint 16. The shaft 18a of the polishing member 18 can be installed eccentrically relative to the motor output shaft 12a. It is also possible to hold the polishing member 18 fixedly at as specified basic attitude position with a rod 33a of an air cylinder 33 installed in the housing 11 brought into contact with multiple arms 30 installed on the member 22 oscillated together with the polishing member 18.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a polishing apparatus, and more particularly to a polishing apparatus which is mounted on a hand of a working robot and is suitable for polishing a three-dimensional curved surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In vehicle assembly, a coating inspection process is provided subsequent to a body coating process. When a coating film defect is found, the coating is moved to a recoating process, and the defective portion is polished and then partially repainted. Is being done. In order to automate such a polishing operation, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-64157 discloses a polishing member mounted on the hand of a robot.

[0003]

By the way, the body of a recent vehicle is formed with a delicate curved surface. For this reason, even if the robot is instructed to perform polishing work by teaching, for example, it is practically difficult to follow the delicate curved surface of the vehicle body and maintain the polishing member in a straight surface. .

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus having a self-following function for keeping the surface to be polished straight.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it includes a motor housed in a housing, a polishing member attached to the housing so as to be swingable in all directions with respect to a predetermined axis line, and a swing absorbing means for absorbing swing of the polishing member. A rotation transmission means for transmitting the rotation of the motor to the polishing member. A preferred embodiment of the present invention is set forth in claim 2 of the appended claims.
As described below.

[0006]

According to the present invention described in claim 1,
When the polishing member is pressed against the work to be polished, the polishing member receives a reaction force from the work and automatically changes its posture so as to be flush with the work. Even when polishing the curved surface of the work, the polishing member can always be kept in a straight posture with respect to the work, and good polishing can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the flat surface is polished, the polishing member is fixedly held in the basic posture position so that the polishing member is not rocked unnecessarily. Good polishing can be performed while preventing the above. In this case, with the configuration as described in claim 3, the posture holding means can be obtained with a simple configuration.

According to the structure described in claim 4, the simple structure of using two universal joints having two axes orthogonal to each other makes it possible to swing the polishing member in all directions and to form the polishing member. The rotation driving force can be transmitted.

With the structure as described in claim 5, it is possible to give the polishing member the same movement as when performing the polishing manually by utilizing the offset.

With the structure as described in claim 6, polishing is performed by using a robot, which is preferable for automation of polishing.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a hanging-type teaching robot, which has a first arm 3, a second arm 4, and a third arm 5 that sequentially extend from a main body 2. The first arm 3 and the second arm 4 are the first
The second arm 4 and the third arm 5 are connected to each other via the rotary connecting portion 6, and the second arm 4 and the third arm 5 are connected to each other via the second rotary connecting portion 7. A potentiometer (not shown) is provided. Since such a robot 1 is conventionally known, further description will be omitted.

A polishing device 10 is attached to the tip of the third arm 5 via a fixture 8 and a pressure detector 9.
Details of the polishing apparatus 10 are shown in FIGS. The polishing apparatus 10 includes a housing 11 and the housing 11
The motor 12 is housed with the output shaft 12a thereof facing downward, and the output shaft 12a is supported by a bearing 13 interposed between the output shaft 12a and the housing 11.

A universal joint 16 which constitutes swing absorbing means is connected to the output shaft 12a. This universal joint 16
Is an upper member 16a and a lower member 16b that have two swing axes (pins constituting the swing axis are denoted by reference numerals 41 and 42) orthogonal to each other and are swingable in all directions. And the upper member 16a is connected to the motor through the first pin 14.
It is attached so as to rotate coaxially with the output shaft 12a. Further, the first sleeve 20 is attached to the lower member 16b via the pin 15 so as to rotate coaxially and integrally.

An eccentric shaft 17 is integrally formed on the lower end surface of the lower member 16b at an eccentric position. A shaft 18a extending from the center of the polishing member 18 is coaxially attached to the eccentric shaft 17 so as to rotate integrally therewith.

A first sleeve 20 is arranged around the eccentric shaft 17, and the first sleeve 20 and the eccentric shaft 17 are arranged.
The second bare link 21 is interposed between the first and second links. Also,
A second sleeve 22 is arranged around the first sleeve 20, and a third sleeve 22 is provided between the second sleeve 22 and the first sleeve 20.
The bearing 24 is interposed.

The upper end of the second sleeve 22 is attached to the housing 11 via a ring member 25. More specifically, the housing 11 has a skirt portion 27 extending downward, and the ring member 25 is coaxially arranged with respect to the skirt portion 27.
It is swingably attached via 8. On the other hand, the second sleeve 22 is swingably attached to the ring member 25 via a pair of pins 29 arranged coaxially. The axis line of the pin 28 and the axis line of the pin 29 are orthogonal to each other, and the polishing member 18 is rotated 360 around the motor output shaft 12a with respect to the housing 11 by the respective member portions 22, 25, 27, 28 and 29. The universal joint is configured to be swingable in all directions, that is, swingable in all directions around the output shaft 12a.

The second sleeve 22 has three arms 30 extending outward in the radial direction.
A total of three pieces are provided at equal intervals (120 degree intervals) in the circumferential direction of the second sleeve 22. On the other hand, the housing 11
Has a flange portion 32 that extends radially outward at the upper end of the skirt portion 27.
Air cylinders 33 are respectively provided at positions corresponding to 0, and these three air cylinders 33 are attached downward, and a piston rod 33 as a stopper member thereof is provided.
The tip of a faces the tip of the arm 30.

Here, the motor output shaft 12a and the polishing member 1
In FIG. 3 showing the basic posture position in which the shaft 18a of No. 8 is parallel to each other, on the axis of the motor output shaft 12a, the extension line of the swing axis of each universal joint, that is, the pin 41,
The extension lines of 42, 28, and 29 are set to match.

In the above structure, during polishing,
The robot 1 moves the polishing apparatus 10 along a predetermined track that has been taught. At this time, the polishing device 10, that is, the polishing member 18, is pressed against the work W (the automobile body in the embodiment) to be polished with a predetermined pressing force. The polishing member 18 pressed against W by the work
The polishing member 18 receives the reaction force from the workpiece W so that the polishing surface 18b of the polishing member 18 is in a straight surface posture with respect to the work W.
It is rocked with respect to 1 (omnidirectional rocking using pins 28 and 29).

The polishing member 18, which is rotated by rotating the motor 12, performs polishing while always holding the work W in an upright posture. Of course, the swing of the polishing member 18 is absorbed by the universal joint 16, so that the rotational driving force is smoothly transmitted from the motor 12 to the polishing member 18. Then, when the polishing member 18 rotates,
Since the shaft 18a is offset from the motor output shaft 12a, the same movement as when polishing is performed while circularly moving the tip of the hand during the manual work.
Will be given to.

By operating the air cylinder 33 to bring the tip of the piston rod 33a into contact with the tip of the arm 30, the shaft 18a of the polishing member 18 is moved to the motor output shaft as shown in FIG. 12A, that is, the polishing member 18 is fixed and held in a basic posture position such that the polishing surface 18b is located in a plane orthogonal to the motor output shaft 12a. In this basic posture position, the flat surface of the work W can be polished.

In the polishing work, the pressure detector 9
In response to the signal from, the pressing force of the robot controller (not shown) is adjusted to make the pressing force of the polishing member 10 against the work W constant. Also, the Pisiton rod 33
By setting the distance of the distance a from the arm 30 to a predetermined distance, it is possible to prevent the polishing member 18 from swinging unnecessarily large.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention also includes the following cases, for example. (1) To make the polishing member 18 swingable in all directions with respect to the housing 11, various appropriate methods can be adopted, and for example, an elastic member may be used. More specifically, for example, the housing 11 and the second sleeve 2
The two may be connected to each other by a plurality (preferably three or more) of elastic members provided around the motor output shaft 12a at a predetermined interval. (2) The universal joint 16 can adopt an appropriate method capable of transmitting rotation while absorbing swing, such as being constituted by an elastic tubular body. (3) Shaft 18a of polishing member 18 and motor output shaft 12
a (center of rotation of the lower member 16b in the universal joint 16)
It is also possible not to offset and.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a polishing apparatus mounted on a teaching robot.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a polishing device.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a polishing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Robot 10: Polishing device 11: Housing 12: Motor 12a: Motor output shaft 16: Rotation transmission universal joint 17: Eccentric shaft 20: First sleeve 22: Second sleeve 28, 29: Connection pin (omnidirectional shaking) Dynamic universal joint) 33: Air cylinder (stopper member and drive means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A motor housed in a housing, a polishing member attached to the housing so as to be swingable in all directions with respect to a predetermined axis line, and a swing absorber for absorbing swing of the polishing member. And a rotation transmitting means for transmitting the rotation of the motor to the polishing member. 2. The posture holding means according to claim 1, further comprising a posture holding means for holding the polishing member in a basic posture position in a predetermined swing posture with respect to the housing. 3. The posture holding means according to claim 2, wherein the posture holding means is held by the housing, is capable of coming into contact with and separated from the polishing member, and is arranged at substantially equal intervals around the predetermined axis. In addition, three or more stopper members, and a driving means provided in the housing for driving each stopper member. 4. The polishing member according to claim 1, wherein the polishing member is connected to the housing by a universal joint having two swinging axes which are orthogonal to each other, whereby the polishing member swings in all directions around the predetermined axis. It is possible, and the rocking | fluctuation absorption means is comprised by the universal joint which has two rocking | fluctuation axis lines mutually orthogonal. 5. The motor according to claim 2, wherein the output shaft of the motor is set to coincide with the predetermined axis, and the basic posture position is the polishing surface of the polishing member.
A position orthogonal to the output shaft of the motor, and in the basic posture position, the rotation axis of the polishing member and the output shaft of the motor are parallel to each other and offset by a predetermined distance. 6. The handing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the polishing device is attached to a hand of a teaching robot.