JPH0731917A - Device for coating and inspecting material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneosuly inspect the coating state at the time of coating a material with a sealant, etc. CONSTITUTION:A coater 10 provided with a nozzle 12 is moved along the surface Ws of a work W to be coated. A specified material such as a sealant S is applied on the surface Ws from the nozzle 12, and the coating state is continuously inspected by a laser sensor 15 movable along with the coater 10. The output of the sensor 15 is processed by a succeeding processor 20 to detect the change in the distance between the sensor head and the beam irradiation point of the sealant S, and the deficient discharge of the material, etc., are inspected based on the detection result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a material coating inspection device, and more particularly, to a material coating inspection device for continuously applying a material such as a sealant along a surface to be coated of a workpiece. The present invention relates to a material coating inspection device capable of inspecting discharge shortage at the same time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, solid packing has been widely used as a sealing agent between various machine parts, but recently, it has a higher sealing property than solid packing.
The penetration rate of liquid sealants, which can reduce costs, has gradually increased.

In particular, in the process of assembling an engine or the like, it can be easily applied to an assembly line and the working environment can be improved. Therefore, the nozzle provided so as to be movable along the coated surface of the work. An apparatus for discharging a liquid sealing agent from the above and automatically applying the same on the surface to be coated has become widespread.

In the coating apparatus described above, when air or the like is mixed in the sealant for some reason, air is ejected when the sealant is discharged from the nozzle,
There is a disadvantage that a so-called blank ejection state is partially obstructed from continuous discharge of the sealant.

For this reason, it is necessary to confirm the shape of the sealant applied to the surface to be coated after automatic coating. This shape confirmation is often performed by visual observation by an operator, or by a laser sensor. Application confirmation and application confirmation by image processing using a CCD camera have also been adopted.

To confirm the coating by the laser sensor, the work coated with the sealant is set at a predetermined position, and the laser sensor supported by a moving mechanism including a guide block is moved along the sealant on the surface to be coated. It is intended to confirm a broken portion of the sealant or the like by continuously detecting a change in the relative distance between the sensor head of the laser sensor and the laser beam irradiation point of the sealant.

Further, the application confirmation by the image processing is carried out by checking the shape of the sealant in a state where the sealant is normally applied.
While the data is stored in the controller in advance, the CCD camera is relatively arranged on the surface to be coated of the work to be confirmed, and the image captured by this CCD camera and the shape stored in advance are compared to apply the sealant. It is to confirm the state.

[0008]

However, the above-mentioned application confirmation by the laser sensor and the image processing is that the sealant is applied to the work in advance and the individual confirmation is performed in the subsequent steps. There is an inconvenience that the workability is lowered due to the necessity of the above process. In addition, in the confirmation after the completion of coating, it becomes a factor that a large number of workpieces that have been abnormally coated are generated, and the inconvenience of reducing the yield throughout the coating operation cannot be avoided.

Further, the above-mentioned application confirmation by the laser sensor has a disadvantage that the inspection accuracy varies due to the processing or assembly accuracy of the moving mechanism for moving the laser sensor, and the reliability is not always sufficiently guaranteed. Further, since the moving mechanism is separately required, not only the number of parts in the entire coating confirmation apparatus is increased, but also the guide block and the like constituting the moving mechanism are required to be processed with high precision, which leads to an increase in equipment cost. There are also inconveniences.

On the other hand, the application confirmation by image processing is difficult to incorporate into an assembly line such as an engine, and
At the time of confirmation work, there is a disadvantage that erroneous determination is likely to be caused by a disturbance depending on the surrounding environment, and the equipment cost is significantly higher than that of the laser sensor, resulting in poor practicality.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to improve such various inconveniences, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to inspect a coating state at the same time when a sealant is coated on a coated surface of a work. It eliminates the individually required inspection process, effectively avoids the occurrence of defective products, and
It is an object of the present invention to provide a material coating inspection apparatus which can be expected to be easily incorporated into various lines and dramatically improve the work efficiency as a whole, and which can also reduce the equipment cost.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a material coating inspection apparatus according to the present invention is provided so as to be movable along a coated surface of a work, and a predetermined material is applied to the coated surface. A coating device having a nozzle for discharging to
The laser sensor is provided so as to be movable following the movement of the coating device, and is directed to the material ejected from the tip of the nozzle, and the output of the laser sensor is subjected to predetermined processing so that the laser sensor and the material And a processing device for obtaining a relative distance.

[0013]

When the coating device moves along the coated surface of the work, a liquid material such as a sealant is continuously discharged from the nozzle of the coating device. Along with the movement of the coating apparatus, the laser sensor also moves, and the sensor head of the laser sensor irradiates the material ejected from the nozzle tip with a laser beam. In the normal discharge state of the material, the relative distance between the sensor head of the laser beam and the beam irradiation point of the material is captured constant, but when the discharge of the material occurs,
The laser beam passes through the cut portion of the material and is irradiated over a relatively long distance, at which time a change from the original relative distance between the sensor head and the material can be detected.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block configuration diagram of the entire material coating inspection apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of essential parts in a material coated state. In these drawings, the coating device 10 is configured to include a valve 11 and a nozzle 12 mounted on the lower end side of the valve 11. The coating device 10 is supported by a moving mechanism (not shown), and this moving mechanism moves the trajectory data when the nozzle 12 is teaching-operated along the coated surface WS of the work W as shown in FIG. According to the coating device 1
It is possible to move 0 in a predetermined direction.

A liquid sealant such as silicone rubber is supplied to the valve 11 through a predetermined material supply tube, and the sealant supplied to the valve 11 is the discharge port 12A of the nozzle 12. Is continuously discharged.

As shown in FIG. 2, one end of a support arm 14 is fixed to the coating device 10, and the other end of the support arm 14 is provided with a laser sensor 15 such as a laser type optoelectronic switch sensor. It is installed. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, the laser sensor 15 is supported in a direction in which the sensor head 15A can irradiate the seal agent S immediately after being ejected from the ejection port 12A of the nozzle 12 with a beam. At this time, the laser sensor 15 is provided so that the position of the laser sensor 15 can be adjusted with respect to the support arm 14, so that the laser sensor 15 can meet various inspection conditions.

The output of the laser sensor 15 is input to the processing device 20 in the next stage. This processing device 20
Includes a sensor amplifier 21 that converts the output of the laser sensor 15 into a distance, and a controller 22 that performs a predetermined calculation process based on the output of the sensor amplifier 21.

The controller 22 sequentially accumulates the raw data from the laser sensor 15, averages the raw data at a plurality of types of predetermined time intervals, and based on this, calculates the relative distance between the sensor head 15A and the sealant S. It is configured to have a desired filter function.

More specifically, in the present embodiment, the controller 22 takes in the raw data from the laser sensor 15 at a speed of 5 msec and sequentially stores it as the data as shown in FIG. Based on the data, the data is averaged every 0.2 seconds, and the first averaging processing function that obtains the long average LAv as shown in FIG. 6 and the data is further averaged every 0.02 seconds. Second to find the short average SAv shown in FIG.
After the averaging process of each of these averaging processes, the result obtained by subtracting the long average LAv from the short average SAv is shown as the relative distance between the sensor head 15A and the sealing agent S as shown in FIG. It is configured to have a function of requesting a result. 5 to 8, the vertical axis represents the distance (mm) from the sensor head 15A to the beam irradiation point of the sealant S, and the horizontal axis represents the number of data samplings in one cycle.
Further, the initial set distance between the sensor head 15A and the sealant S in this embodiment is based on about 40 mm.

Further, the controller 22 has an allowable limit value T (see FIG. 5 etc.) for judging an abnormality with respect to the relative distance between the sensor head 15A and the sealant S in a normal state.
And further comparing the allowable limit value T with the value of the relative distance in the final result, thereby determining an abnormality in the relative distance, that is, a discharge failure of the sealant S. You can do it. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, at the time of ejection in a normal state, a result corresponding to the sensor head 15A and the distance 1 from the sensor head 15A to the point of the sealant S irradiated with the laser beam is obtained. When the discharge shortage as shown in FIG. 4 occurs, the laser beam reaches the coated surface WS of the work W. The result obtained in this state is that the beam is irradiated for a long distance by L-1, which exceeds the permissible limit value and can be regarded as discharge shortage.

A controller 30 is connected to the controller 22. The control device 30 automatically controls the teaching of the coating device 10 and tracing during coating inspection, and outputs a coating confirmation start and coating end signal to the controller 22 to set a coating confirmation inspection timing. . Further, the control device 30 can receive a result of the coating state from the controller 22 and perform a predetermined operation. For example, the discharge port 1 of the nozzle 12
When the discharge of the sealant S discharged from 2A occurs, the control device 30 outputs an operation signal for interrupting the operation of the coating device 10 based on the output signal from the controller 22, and the operation before the designated step is performed. The application device 10 is controlled to return to the application position, and the sealing agent S is applied to a portion where the sealing agent S is not applied. The program for returning the coating device to the designated step is variable depending on the coating speed and other coating conditions, and is provided so as to temporarily suspend the coating inspection while the coating device 10 is returned. It is also possible to employ a means of giving an external operator an alarm by voice or the like when the discharge of the sealing agent S is exhausted.

Therefore, according to such an embodiment, it becomes possible to follow the movement of the coating apparatus 10 so that the laser sensor 15 continuously confirms the coating state and inspects for any abnormality such as discharge shortage. As in the related art, it is possible to eliminate the work of individually inspecting the work after the coating is completed, and to shorten the process. Moreover, since the inspection result can be captured in real time by the inspection at the same time as the application, necessary maintenance and inspection can be performed when the discharge of the sealant S is interrupted, so that the application state becomes defective. It is possible to prevent the generation of the work in advance, and it is possible to significantly improve the workability of applying the sealant.

Further, as described above, since the controller 22 is provided with the filter function, the inspection result emphasizing only the discharge failure portion can be obtained, while the level in the normal state can be grasped substantially constant. Therefore, it is possible to effectively avoid unnecessary abnormality determination that may occur when noise or the like is mixed in at the time of capturing data, and it is possible to provide a material coating inspection apparatus with extremely high practical value.

Further, the sensor head 15A has a nozzle 12
Since it is directed to the sealing agent S immediately after being discharged from the discharge port 12A of the workpiece W, even if there is a variation in the processing accuracy on the coated surface WS of the work W, there is no obstacle to the inspection accuracy, resulting in high accuracy. It is possible to obtain the inspection result. Moreover, according to such an orientation of the sensor head 15A, it becomes possible to similarly apply to the work W having a shape in which the surface WS to be coated is not located on the same plane, and various works are to be inspected. By doing so, there is an advantage that versatility can be expanded.

Further, since the laser sensor 15 is connected to the coating device 10 via the support arm 14 and the mounting position is adjustable as described above, the discharge amount of the material to be coated and the surface to be coated are adjusted. It can be set at an appropriate position according to the shape and the like, and from this point also, it is expected to be a versatile material coating inspection apparatus.

The controller 2 in the above embodiment
2, averaging time, number of averaging processes and allowable limit value T
Does not limit the present invention in any way, and can be set arbitrarily. In short, the above-mentioned set values and the like in the present invention can be appropriately changed according to the amount of the material to be discharged, the moving speed of the coating device 10, the initial set distance between the sensor head 15A and the sealant S, and the like. .

Further, the supporting means and the supporting position of the laser sensor 15 with respect to the coating device 10 are not limited to the illustrated structural example, and various design changes are possible. For example, laser sensor 1
It is also conceivable that 5 is connected to a material supply tube or the like connected to the valve 11 of the coating device 10.

Further, the coating inspection apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described confirmation of the coating of the sealant S on the mechanical parts, but also when the coating state of the adhesive, other industrial materials or liquid foods is inspected. The same can be applied to.

[0030]

The present invention is constructed as described above, and
Since it works, this allows the sealing agent to be applied to the surface to be coated of the work and at the same time the coating state can be inspected, eliminating the need for an individually required inspection step and effectively avoiding the occurrence of defective products. In addition, it can be expected to dramatically improve the work efficiency as a whole by easily incorporating it into various lines, and it is also possible to reduce the equipment cost, which is an unprecedented excellent effect. A material application inspection device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a material coating inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part showing a mode at the time of coating inspection in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a laser beam irradiation position in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a laser beam irradiation direction when a discharge of a sealing agent is cut off.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing raw data captured by a controller.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing an example when a long average is calculated based on the raw data.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing an example when a short average is calculated based on the raw data.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the results obtained by subtracting the long average from the short average.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 coating device 12 nozzle 15 laser sensor 20 processing device 21 sensor amplifier 22 controller S sealant as material W work WS coated surface

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A nozzle (12) is provided so as to be movable along a coated surface (WS) of a work (W) and discharges a predetermined material (S) onto the coated surface (WS). A coating device (10), a laser sensor (15) provided movably following the movement of the coating device (10), and directed to the material (S) discharged from the nozzle (12); A material coating inspection apparatus comprising: a processing device (20) for processing a predetermined output of the laser sensor (15) to obtain a relative distance between the laser sensor (15) and the material (S). 2. The processing device comprises a sensor amplifier (21) for converting an output from a laser sensor (15) into a distance, and a controller (22) for performing a calculation by using an output of the sensor amplifier (21) as an input. , This controller (2
2) has a function of taking in raw data obtained via the sensor amplifier (21) at a predetermined speed and storing the raw data, and a function of averaging the raw data at a preset time interval. The material coating inspection apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The averaging of the data includes at least a first averaging process and a second averaging process performed at a time interval shorter than the time interval in the first averaging process. The material coating inspection apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the relative distance is calculated based on the first and second averaging process data. 4. The controller (22) has a function of storing an allowable limit value (T) of a preset distance and a function of comparing the allowable limit value (T) with the calculated relative distance. The material coating inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein