JPH07251268A - Automatic welding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To weld plural required welding places on a work in a simple action with welding robots as smaller number as possible by moving the welding robot required in the welding working to each welding working position appointed in every welding process without changing their arrangement order and welding a required welding place. CONSTITUTION:For example, when a work W thrown in a welding zone is carried to a 1st welding process 1, a 1st robot 1, a 2nd robot 2 waiting on their regular positions run to positions suitable for welding appointed welding positions on the work W following to respective pre-teachings. In this case, they weld following to the appointed action in the 1st welding process 1, next, in a 2nd welding process II, the same 1st and 2nd robots 1, 2 move from their regular positions to the appointed welding working positions and they weld the required welding places on the work W. In such a way, also in a 3rd, 4th welding processes, III, IV, they move similarly and weld the required welding places following to their respective processes.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic welding apparatus using a plurality of articulated robots.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to weld a work piece having a plurality of welding points, such as a car body, to each of the welding points, a plurality of articulated robots are arranged along a welding line, By making three-dimensional movements as taught, each welding is performed at a designated welding location on the work.

That is, according to the conventional welding methods, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), for a work W having seven welding points, the first and second welding stations I and I are used. Welding robots 1 ', 2', and at the second welding station II, the third and fourth welding robots 3 ', 4'are used for welding.
Each welding point is welded by using seven welding robots 1'to 7'arranged at the welding stations I to IV, and as shown in Fig. 3 (b), there are 10 welding points. For W, four welding stations I to IV
Welding is performed by using each of the ten welding robots 1'to 10 'arranged in.

Therefore, the conventional welding methods require a number of welding robots corresponding to the welding points and each station for performing the welding work, which not only increases the equipment cost but also requires a large space. Have a

On the other hand, the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-240388 has a plurality of welding robots arranged along the welding line, and a welding robot arranged between two welding stations. This welding robot is used to weld two welding points while acting on both of them. This device allows two welding points to be welded by one welding robot. Although it can be slightly reduced, not only can the work space for welding not be reduced, but there are cases where direct welding cannot be performed depending on the welding location, so manual welding work is required, Alternatively, there is a problem in that a mechanism for rotating a jig that supports the work must be provided.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to:
An object of the present invention is to provide a new automatic welding device capable of welding a plurality of welding points on a workpiece by a simpler operation with a welding robot as few as possible.

[0007]

That is, according to the present invention, a plurality of articulated welding robots are movably arranged on a guide rail installed in a welding work station as an automatic welding apparatus for achieving the above object. At the same time, one or more welding robots required for welding work are moved to the respective welding work positions designated for each welding process without changing the arrangement order, and the welding required portion of the workpiece is welded. It is a thing.

[0008]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a guide rail laid on one welding station so as to straddle two welding zones A and B, and two columns are provided. This guide rail 11 supported by 12, 12
In this embodiment, several articulated welding robots, which are determined according to the welding process (station) or welding mode, in this embodiment, four welding robots 1, 2, 3, 4 are movably mounted. The work W put into one or both of the welding zones A and B is made to travel as taught in advance, and then the work W is welded to the welding position at each predetermined position. Has been done.

FIG. 2 shows a welding operation using this welding apparatus. First, three welding robots 1,
FIG. 2 shows an example in which welding work is performed in the welding zone A by using the welding processes (stations) I, II, III, and IV using 2 and 3.
This will be described with reference to (a).

For example, the work W put in the welding zone A
When the robot is sent to the first welding process (station) I, the first robot 1 that was waiting at the fixed position indicated by the solid line
The second robot 2 and the second robot 2 travel on the guide rails 11 to the positions of broken lines suitable for welding the designated welding points on the work W as taught in advance, and here, the first welding process ( Welding work is performed according to the operation specified in (Station) I, and then in the second welding process (Station) II, the first and second robots 1 and 2 are also moved from the fixed position to the specified welding work position. After moving, welding is performed at a necessary welding position on the work W.

In this way, similarly in the third welding step (station) III and the fourth welding step (station) IV, the second robot 2 and the third robot 3 are similarly provided for each step (station). After moving to the welding work position designated in 1), that is, the position indicated by the broken line in the figure, the welding required portion of the work W is welded in accordance with each process.

In FIG. 2 (b), four welding robots 1, 2, 3 and 4 are used to make 10 welding points on the workpiece W.
It shows the welding work performed in the process (station),
In the first step (station) I, the first and second robots 1 and 2 are moved to the positions indicated by broken lines to perform welding at designated locations. Similarly, in the second step (station) II, the first step is performed. , The second and third robots 1, 2 and 3 to the positions of broken lines, and the second and third robots in the third step (station) III.
Robots 2 and 3 to the position of the broken line, and in the fourth step (station) IV, the second, third and fourth robots 2, 3 and 4
Are moved to the positions indicated by broken lines, to the designated welding points on the work W as taught in advance without changing the arrangement order, and then the welding operation according to each process (station) is performed at each of those positions. I will let you.

Further, a similar welding process may be provided in the welding zone B to mix and produce other works.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the welding robot is constructed as a hanging type, but it is also possible to construct a rail on the substrate surface and move the welding robot on it.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of welding robots arranged in a welding work station are moved to respective welding work positions designated for each welding process (station) without changing the arrangement order. Since it is made to weld, the same welding robot can perform multiple welding operations, the number of welding robots can be reduced by that amount, and it is not possible to perform multiple welding operations in the same work department. Thus, it is possible to reduce the work space and the facility cost.

Moreover, by moving a plurality of welding robots without changing the arrangement order, it is possible to perform a welding process on a large number of welding points with a smaller number of steps (stations) and a simpler two-dimensional movement. In addition to this, it is possible to weld a welding portion that cannot be entered by the installation-type welding robot, so that this kind of welding work can be further automated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are diagrams showing the movement of the welding robot in each step (station) in the above apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a welding operation by a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3, 4 Welding robot 11 Guide rail I, II, III, IV Welding process (station) W Work

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of articulated welding robots are movably arranged on a guide rail installed in a welding work department, and the order of arrangement of one or more welding robots required for welding work is changed. The automatic welding device is characterized in that the welding-required portion of the work is welded without moving to each welding work position designated for each welding process.