JPH08126946A - Robot arm - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To reduce the expenditure of equipment, and also save a setting space by letting both an action for grinding the welding beam of a fuel tank for a motor bicycle and an action for delivering a work piece to the following process be performed by one robot arm. CONSTITUTION: A grinding head 11 is provided for one end side of a support basement 10 which is freely rotated around the T shaft of the wrist 8 of an robot arm 3, letting a grinding belt 17 is run along an endless track by means of air drive, concurrently a vacuum suction head 12 is provided for the other side of the basement. After a work has been processed by the grinding head 11, the support basement 10 is turned around roughly by 180 deg., the work is sucked so as to be held by the suction cup 26 of the vacuum suction head 12, and the work is then forwarded to the following process. Besides, a floating mechanism 18 keeping grinding pressure constant is provided for the base end section of the grinding head 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a robot used in a grinding process of a fuel tank of a motorcycle, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the process of grinding a weld bead in a fuel tank of a motorcycle, a robot for grinding a weld bead and a robot for transferring a work are conventionally provided, and a work ground by a grinding robot is transferred. It is gripped by a robot and sent to the next process.

[0003]

However, if two robots are provided in this way, there is a problem in that equipment costs and installation space is required.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a robot arm is provided with a rotatable support base, and an air-driven grinding head for grinding a workpiece is provided on one end side of the support base. A vacuum suction head for transferring the work was provided on the other end side. Here, a floating mechanism that holds the grinding pressure constant may be provided at the base end of the grinding head.

[0005]

After the work is ground by the grinding head, the support base is rotated to suck and hold the work by the vacuum suction head, and the work is discharged to the next step. At this time, the floating pressure mechanism at the base end portion of the grinding head keeps the grinding pressure constant and eliminates variations in grinding.

[0006]

Embodiments of the robot arm according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is an overall view of the robot, and FIG. 2 is a partial view of a floating mechanism formed at the base end of the grinding head.

The robot arm of the present invention grinds a weld bead generated when a fuel tank of a motorcycle is welded,
After that, the robot arm 3 of the articulated robot 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is configured as a device for automatically performing a series of operations for discharging the fuel tank to the next process.

That is, the robot arm 3 includes the base 2
With respect to the base 2, a swivel head 4 capable of swiveling about S axis (center axis) and a lower arm swingable around the L axis at the upper end of the swivel head 3. 5 and
An upper arm support portion 6 that is swingable around the U axis at the upper end of the lower arm 5.
An upper arm 7 rotatable around the R axis (center axis) of the upper arm support portion 6, a wrist 8 swingable around the B axis at the tip of the upper arm 7, and a T as a pivot axis of the wrist 8. A support base 10 is provided which is rotatable about an axis (central axis). A base end 11a of the base of the grinding head 11 is attached to one end of the support base 10, and a vacuum suction head 12 is attached to the opposite side.

The grinding head 11 is provided with a drive pulley 14 provided on the support 13 and a driven pulley 16 provided at the tip of the arm 15, and the drive pulley 14 and the driven pulley 16 are provided.
A grinding belt 17 is wound around the outer periphery of the. The grinding belt 17 is caused to travel on an endless track by the operation of a drive pulley 14 driven by compressed air supplied from an air hose 28, for example, and the outer surface of the grinding belt 17 has abrasive grains adhered thereto. ing.

At the base end 11a of the grinding head 11,
As shown in FIG. 2, a floating mechanism 18 for floatingly supporting the base end of the support 13 is provided.
That is, the floating mechanism 18 has a rectangular mounting frame body 20 to be mounted on the support base 10, and an interior provided inside the mounting frame body 20 and slidable along the long side of the mounting frame body 20. A frame 21 is provided, and notches 20a, 20a are provided in the middle portion on the long side of the mounting frame 20, and the middle portion on the long side of the inner frame 21 is extended through the notches 20a, 20a. The projecting plates 22 and 22 are inserted. The gap between the cutouts 20a is set to be larger than the plate thickness of the overhanging plate 22, and support plates 23 that extend outward are provided at both ends of the attachment frame 20 on the long side of the mounting frame 20. Coil springs 24 ... Are provided between the projecting plates 23 and the projecting plates 22, respectively.

Therefore, the inner frame body 21 is floatingly supported with respect to the mounting frame body 20 within the range of the predetermined intervals of the cutout portions 20a, and the support body 13 of the inner frame body 21 is supported. The base end is inserted and fixed. At this time, the belt surface of the grinding belt 17 is inserted and fixed so as to be parallel to the short side of the inner frame body 21.

The vacuum suction head 12 includes a support arm 25 attached to the support base 10 and a suction cup 26 made of, for example, rubber attached to the tip of the support arm 25. The suction cup 26 has a vacuum. A suction hose 27 for pulling is connected. The suction hose 27 and the air hose 2 for driving the grinding head 11
Reference numeral 8 is connected to a common air source, and the grinding head 11 and the vacuum suction head 12 are operated by the same drive source by switching the air passage.

The operation of the robot arm 3 constructed as above will be described with reference to FIGS. here,
3 is a side view of the grinding state by the grinding head 11, FIG. 4 is a front view of the grinding state, and FIG. 5 is a view of the transfer state of the work W by the vacuum suction head 12. For example, a fuel tank W of a motorcycle as shown in FIG. 3 has a jig base 3 after the left and right divided bodies are welded to each other with a central portion as a boundary.
Set above 0. Here, first, the robot arm 3
Welding is performed by rotating the support base 10 so that the grinding head 11 faces the fuel tank W side, moving the grinding belt 17 and moving the grinding belt 17 on the driven pulley 16 side along the welding bead B in the center while pressing it. The bead B is ground.

At this time, for example, the position error of the fuel tank W,
Even if there is a shape error or the like, the grinding pressure can always be kept constant by the floating mechanism 18, and excessive cutting or bead residue does not occur. Further, at this time, if the pressure contact point of the belt is one point, the durability is deteriorated. Therefore, the durability of the belt is improved by appropriately changing the contact points as shown in FIG. 4, for example.

Next, when the grinding is completed, the support base 10 is turned about 180 degrees around the wrist 8 to move the fuel tank W to the suction cup 26 of the vacuum suction head 12 as shown in FIG.
It is adsorbed and held by and transferred to the next step. By thus performing a plurality of operations with one robot, the equipment cost is low and the installation space can be omitted. Also,
Since the grinding head 11 and the vacuum suction head 12 are driven by the same drive source, the equipment cost can be further saved and the installation space can be omitted.

[0016]

As described above, in the robot arm according to the present invention, a grinding head is provided on one end side of a rotatable support base, and a vacuum suction head is provided on the other end side for grinding by one robot. Since processing and delivery of work are performed, it is possible to reduce equipment costs and save space. At this time, since the grinding head and the vacuum suction head are driven by the same air, it is possible to further reduce the equipment cost and save the space.
Also, by supporting the grinding head with a floating mechanism, the grinding amount can be made constant.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1] Overall view of the robot

FIG. 2 is a partial view of a floating mechanism formed at the base end of the grinding head.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view from a side view of a grinding state by a grinding head.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view from a front view showing an example of the grinding state.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view from a side view of a transfer state by a vacuum suction head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... robot, 3 ... robot arm, 10 ... support base,
11 ... Grinding head, 12 ... Vacuum suction head, 18 ... Floating mechanism.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A robot arm having a support base rotatable about a turning axis, wherein a grinding head for grinding a work by air drive is provided on one end side of the support base, and the work is transferred to the other end side. A robot arm equipped with a vacuum suction head. 2. The robot arm according to claim 1, wherein a floating mechanism for holding a grinding pressure constant is provided at a base end portion of the grinding head.