JPH1067355A - Wheel conveying and attaching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semi-automatic type wheel attaching device of simple structure which can facilitate the attachment of a wheel in an automobile assem bling line. SOLUTION: A main cylinder unit 4 is fitted on a movable traveling frame 3 in an arbitrary direction, and a lifting element 5 is formed so as to be lifted. The upper substrate 9 of the lifting element 5 is supported by a balance cylinder 8, and a pair of right and left wheel retainers 10, 10 are fitted on both ends of the upper substrate 9. An oscillatable arm 16 is fitted around an oscillating shaft 14 as the wheel retainer 10 and is energized in the opening direction of its upper end. Rotatable collars 20a are fitted around the rotating shaft 17, and the outer periphery lower surface of a wheel W is supported by the respective collars 20a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a wheel mounting device used when mounting wheels on an automobile assembly line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a mounting device for mounting wheels on a vehicle body in an automobile assembly line, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No.
Devices such as 16003 are known. In this device, a base movable in synchronization with a vehicle body transfer device is provided, and wheel gripping means, nut tightening means, and hub bolt position detecting means are provided on the base, and the phase of the hub bolt is detected by the hub bolt position detecting means. Thereafter, the hub bolt is inserted into the bolt hole of the wheel by adjusting the phase of the wheel gripped by the wheel gripping means, and the nut is fastened to the hub bolt by the nut tightening means.

[0003]

However, such an apparatus as described above automates everything from the detection of the position of the hub bolts to the mounting of the wheels and the tightening of the nuts on the hub bolts. There was a problem that the equipment cost was also high.

[0004] Therefore, a semi-automated apparatus which can be simply constructed by automating only those parts which cause heavy labor in manual work and which can be easily handled without requiring skill is desired.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a wheel carrier mounting device for mounting a wheel on a vehicle body being assembled and transported, comprising a movable gantry movable in an arbitrary direction. An elevating body provided to be able to move up and down with respect to the movable gantry, and a pair of left and right wheel holding members provided at both ends of the elevating body are provided, and the wheel holding members are parallel to a wheel shaft in a wheel holding state. Arm and a pair of tubular members attached to both ends of the arm and supporting the lower surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wheel, and this tubular member is parallel to the swing axis. It is freely rotatable around the rotation axis.

[0006] Then, the outer peripheral portion of the wheel in the upright state is held by a pair of wheel holders, and the elevating body is moved up and down to raise the height of the wheel to a predetermined mounting height. Make fine adjustments. At this time, since the cylindrical member supporting the lower surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wheel is rotatable around the rotation axis, the wheel can be rotated only by applying a light force to the wheel, and the phase adjustment in the rotation direction is facilitated. In addition, since the arm of the wheel holder is swingable about the swing axis, even when the diameter of the wheel changes, the cylindrical member can be reliably brought into contact with the outer peripheral portion of the wheel, thereby securely holding the wheel. You can do it.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the arms of the pair of left and right wheel holders are always urged by the urging means in a direction in which the upper side opens. And when holding the wheel, raise the wheel holder from below the upright wheel and hold it with the wheel holder, or lower the upright wheel from above the wheel holder and hold it. Then, it can be easily held regardless of the diameter of the wheel. Further, at this time, the arm swings via the tubular member that has received the weight of the wheel first, and finally the tubular members at both ends of the arm can be held in contact with the outer peripheral portion of the wheel.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the elevating body is provided with a balance means for supporting the wheel with almost no load. This balance means is constituted by, for example, a balance cylinder for canceling the weight of the wheels. This makes it possible to move the wheel up and down with a very light force, and it becomes easy to finely adjust the height of the hub bolt and the bolt insertion hole of the wheel by manual work, for example.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a front view of the wheel transport mounting device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the wheel holder, and FIG. 4 is an air circuit diagram.

The wheel transport mounting apparatus of the present invention is a semi-automated apparatus that automates lifting of wheels, which causes particularly heavy labor when mounting wheels on an automobile assembly line. And is applicable to wheels having different diameters.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a wheel carrier mounting device 1 comprises a movable base 3 having a ball 2 attached to a lower end thereof, and a main cylinder unit 4 attached to a central portion of the movable base 3. And an elevating body 5 connected to the upper end of the main cylinder unit 4, wherein the movable gantry 3 is movable on a floor surface 6 in an arbitrary direction, and the elevating body 5 is It can be moved up and down by operation.

The elevating body 5 includes a lower substrate 7 fixed to the tip of a cylinder rod of the main cylinder unit 4, a balance cylinder 8 mounted on the upper surface of the central portion of the lower substrate 7, and a rod tip of the balance cylinder 8. A guide bar 11 attached to the lower surface of the upper substrate 9 extends downward, and the guide bar 11 is attached to a guide cylinder 12 attached to the lower substrate 7.
And a guide tube 13 attached to the movable gantry 3 is slidably inserted.

A pair of left and right wheel holders 10 are provided at both left and right ends of the upper substrate 9. This wheel holder 10
As shown in FIG. 2, the swing shaft 14 extends rearward from the upper substrate 9 and an arm 16 is attached to the swing shaft 14 via a ball bearing 15 so as to be swingable. A pair of rotating shafts 17 are fixed to both ends of the arm 16 and extend rearward, and a collar as a cylindrical member is attached to the rotating shaft 17 via a needle roller bearing 18. 20 are mounted. The left and right arms 16, 16 are arranged in a substantially inverted C-shape when viewed from the front.
Of the outer peripheral portion can be held.

The collar 20 has a flange 20.
a is provided to regulate the position of the wheel W. The flange portion 20a may be formed on the rotating shaft 17 instead of the collar 20, and the rotatable collar 20 may be mounted on the rotating shaft 17 behind the flange portion.

Incidentally, the arm 16 is biased in a predetermined direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, a plate 21 is attached to an end portion of the upper substrate 9, and the upper end of the arm 16 is opened (in the case of the left arm 16, the arm 16 is A stopper 22 for restricting the swing in the clockwise swing direction (in the case of the right arm 16 in the case of the arm 16 swinging clockwise) is attached, and the pin portion 21a provided on the plate 21 is attached to the stopper 22. One end of the spring 23 is locked, and the other end of the spring 23 is locked to the pin 16 a of the arm 16. The spring 23 urges the upper end of the arm 16 in the opening direction.

Next, an air circuit for supplying air to the main cylinder unit 4 and the balance cylinder 8 will be described with reference to FIG. The main cylinder unit 4 is connected to an air supply source 25 via solenoid valves 26 and 27. A switch or the like for operating the solenoid valves 26 and 27 includes an operation panel 28 ( (Fig. 1, Fig. 2)
Is provided. Further, the balance cylinder 8 is connected to an air supply source 25 via a reverse regulator 30, so that the air from the air supply source 25 is constantly supplied so that a constant pressure is obtained. Then, when pressure is applied from the upper substrate 9 side, a part of the air is released as necessary, and the pressure is controlled to be constant.

This pressure is set to a pressure that substantially cancels the weight of the wheel W. Therefore, when the wheel W is held by the wheel holders 10, 10, the wheel W is supported with almost no load. It can be moved up and down with a light force. Then, operation handles 24, 24 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are attached to the upper substrate 9 for the convenience of moving up and down.

A tire erecting device 31 is provided near the wheel mounting station. The tire erecting device will be briefly described. This tire upright device 31
As shown in FIG. 2, a top surface of a V-shaped receiving member 33 attached to a base 32 is provided as shown in FIG.
Is smaller than the interval. The upright wheel W can be placed on the upper part of the receiving member 33.

Next, the operation and the like of the wheel transport mounting device 1 will be described. Wheels W conveyed by conveyors, etc.
Is a tire upright device 3 as shown by a solid line in FIGS.
Set to 1 in the upright state. Then, the wheel transport mounting device 1 is moved below the upright wheels W (FIG. 1).
, The operation switch of the operation panel 28 is operated, and the main cylinder unit 4 is raised.

Then, the arm 16 of the wheel holder 10 is
Since the upper side is urged in the opening direction by the force of the spring 23, first, the lower surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wheel W abuts against the lower collars 20, 20 of the respective arms 16, 16 and presses downward. The upper ends of the right and left arms 16 and 16 are swung in a closing direction (the left arm 16 is clockwise, and the right arm 16 is counterclockwise). For this reason, the collars 20, 20 on the upper side of the arms 16, 16 also contact the outer peripheral portion of the wheel W, and the outer peripheral portion of the wheel W is finally supported by a total of four collars 20,. 4 lifts it to a predetermined height position (dotted line position in FIGS. 1 and 2).

The lifting height of the main cylinder unit 4 is set slightly higher than the mounting height according to the model. Then, while moving the movable gantry 3 to a position close to the wheel mounting position of the vehicle body, the operator rotates the wheel W to move the bolt hole of the wheel W to the hub bolt while operating the handle 24 as necessary. Set the wheel W
Insert the hub bolt into the bolt hole of.

When the bolt holes are engaged with the hub bolts, the movable base 3 follows the vehicle body even in a released state, so that the operator can perform a nut tightening operation using both hands.
When the nut tightening operation is completed, the main cylinder unit 4 is lowered.

In the mounting of the wheel as described above, it is possible to cope with the case where the diameter of the wheel W is different. Also, since the outer peripheral portion of the wheel W is supported by the rotatable collars 20,. Can be rotated with a light force, and phase adjustment in the rotation direction is easy. Moreover, since the wheels W are supported by the balance cylinder 8, fine adjustments in the vertical direction can be easily performed.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, an elevating body is provided on a movable base movable in any direction so as to be able to move up and down, and a plurality of wheel holders provided on the elevating body are provided with: An arm that can swing around the swing axis is provided, and a pair of rotatable cylindrical members are provided at both ends of the arm to support the lower surface of the outer peripheral portion of the wheel. And phase adjustment in the rotation direction can be easily performed. Further, since the arm of the wheel holder is swingable, it can be reliably held by the tubular member even if the diameter of the wheel changes. Further, if each arm is urged by the urging means so that the upper side is always open, the holding of the wheel is easy, and the arm can be easily held even if the diameter of the wheel changes. Claim 3
If the lifting means is provided with a balance means as described above, the wheels can be moved up and down with an extremely light force, and fine adjustment of the height becomes easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a wheel transport mounting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a wheel holder.

FIG. 4 is an air circuit diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wheel conveyance mounting device, 3 ... Moving stand, 4 ... Main cylinder unit, 5 ... Lifting body, 8 ... Balance cylinder, 1
0: wheel holder, 14: swing shaft, 16: arm, 17 ...
Rotating shaft, 20: collar, 23: spring, W: wheel.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A wheel transport mounting device for mounting wheels on a vehicle body being assembled and transported, comprising: a movable gantry movable in any direction; an elevating body provided to be movable up and down with respect to the movable gantry; It has a pair of left and right wheel holders provided at both ends of the elevating body. The wheel holder has an arm swingable around a swing axis parallel to a wheel axis in a wheel holding state, and both ends of the arm. A pair of cylindrical members attached to the portion and supporting a lower surface of an outer peripheral portion of the wheel, and the cylindrical member is rotatable around a rotation axis parallel to the swing axis. apparatus. 2. The wheel transport mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the arms of the pair of left and right wheel holders are constantly urged in the direction in which the upper side is opened by an urging means. apparatus. 3. The wheel transport mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the lifting / lowering body includes a balance means for supporting the wheel with almost no load. .