JPS61117033A - Multi-parts automatic assembling station - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve working efficiency in an assembling robot, by forming a stock conveyor into two upper and lower stages, while installing a traverse conveyor opposite to the assembling robot face-to-face. CONSTITUTION:A product 2 is conveyed by a base machine 1 and positioned by a stopper pin at the specified assembling spot. After this positioning is over, an assembling rotor 3 takes each part A out of an actual parts box on a traverse conveyor 5 and assembles it to the product 2. Next, the traverse conveyor 5 is moved in both directions and positions the actual parts box housing parts B to the front of the assembling robot 3. After completion of this positioning, the assembling robot 3 takes out the parts B from the actual parts box on the traverse conveyor 5 and assembles it to the products 2. Repeating the same motion, the whole lot of parts to be assembled at the station are assembled to the product 2, thus operation is all over.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a station for automatically assembling multiple parts onto a product using a robot, particularly an automatic assembly station suitable for an assembly line with a long cycle time.

[Background of the invention]

Conventional assembling stations of this kind are, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1983
As described in Publication No. 97862, the feeding system was one in which multiple parts were fed into a circulating parts feeder1.As shown in FIG. Parts feeder 6 that circulates parts
Then, the position, orientation, shape, or a combination thereof of the parts circulating in the parts feeder 3 is detected by the television camera 5, and the assembly robot 4 is detected based on this detection signal.
The system is configured to operate the parts feeder s, take out the corresponding parts from the parts feeder s, and assemble them into the product 2.

On the other hand, first divide the parts to be aligned, that is, the inside of the parts box, and -
In the conventional automatic assembly of aligned parts in which individually and all parts are stored in one station, the station is as shown in FIG.
0, a supply conveyor 12 that supplies parts boxes 15, and a discharge conveyor (not shown) that discharges empty parts boxes 13A.
A robot 15 that assembles the parts 14 in the parts box 15 to the product 11, a control device 16 that controls the robot 15,
The supply conveyor 12 is comprised of a control device 17, and the supply conveyor and discharge conveyor are arranged in parallel.

If such a method is to be applied to multiple types of aligned parts, a plurality of both conveyors described above must be arranged in parallel. ) using a robot with an extremely large operating range; (ii) using a self-propelled robot; (i) using a self-propelled robot;
ii) Countermeasures are taken into consideration, such as having the conveyor of depalletized parts traverse left and right and moving the parts within the operating range of the robot for assembly.

Measures in (i) above mean that robots become more expensive and at the same time
Removal time becomes longer. Also, the above QD.

The countermeasure is that the robot's stop time and self-running time are included in the time taken to take out the parts, so the time taken to take out the parts becomes longer. Furthermore, the measure (iii) above has various problems such as the need to increase the distance between adjacent stations since the long conveyor is traversed from side to side.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a multi-component automatic assembly station that can automatically assemble a plurality of types of parts to a product through one robot.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a base machine that conveys a product, an assembly robot that automatically assembles multiple types of parts to the product, a traverse conveyor that moves the parts to the front of the assembly robot, and an empty A plurality of stock conveyors that store parts boxes and actual parts boxes in upper and lower stages, respectively, a first transfer conveyor that transfers between the two conveyors, and a bread die that stacks empty parts boxes on the upper stage of each stock conveyor. a depalletizing device for stacking actual parts boxes stacked at the bottom of each stock conveyor;
A self-propelled vehicle that supplies actual parts boxes from the warehouse and returns empty component boxes to the warehouse, a second transfer conveyor that performs transfer between the self-propelled vehicle and the stock conveyor, and the assembly robot. a robot control device that controls the stock conveyor and the first robot controller; The present invention is characterized in that it has a V configuration including a conveyor control device that controls the second transfer conveyor.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 5, 1 is a base machine that automatically transports the product 2 being assembled, 3 is an assembly robot that automatically assembles parts (not shown) to the product 2, and 4 is a robot that controls the operation of the assembly robot 3. A control device 5 is a traverse conveyor that moves the parts stored in the parts box to the front of the assembly robot 3 according to the number to be assembled by the assembly robot 3; 6 is a traverse conveyor 5, an empty parts box and the actual parts; Transfer conveyor 11 transfers boxes (components boxes for storing parts) to and from stock conveyors 9 to 11 that store boxes (components boxes for storing parts) in the upper and lower stages, respectively; 7 indicates each stock conveyor 9 to 11;
A palletizing device 8 stacks up empty parts boxes in multiple stages for each stock conveyor 9 to 11, and a depalletizing device 8 loads and unloads stacked actual parts boxes (parts boxes containing parts) supplied one by one from each stock conveyor 9 to 11. A device 12 is a second transfer unit that transfers between the self-propelled vehicle 13 that supplies actual parts boxes from a warehouse (not shown) and returns empty parts boxes to the warehouse, and each of the stock conveyors 9 to 11. A loading conveyor 14 is a stock conveyor 9 to 11 and a first conveyor. This is a conveyor control device that controls the second transfer conveyor 6.12.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

The product 2 is transported by the base machine 1 and positioned at a predetermined assembly location by a stopper pin (not shown).

After this positioning is completed, the assembly robot 5 takes out the part A from the actual parts box on the traverse conveyor 5 and assembles it to the product 2.

Next, the traverse conveyor 5 is moved left and right to position the actual parts box that stores the part B in front of the assembly robot 3. After this positioning is completed, the assembly robot 3 moves the actual parts box containing the part B from the actual parts box on the traverse conveyor 5. Take out and assemble to product 2. By repeating similar operations and assembling all of the parts to be assembled at the station into the product 2, the work on one product 2 is completed. Such operations are repeated for each product that is successively conveyed by the base machine 1.

Since the number of parts to be stored in the actual parts box on the traverse conveyor 5 is determined in advance, the actual parts box is emptied periodically. For example, when the assembly robot 3 takes out the last part in the actual parts box that stores part A, a parts box replacement instruction is output from the robot control device 4 to the conveyor control device 14.

For convenience of explanation, it is assumed here that parts A to C correspond to the stock conveyors 9 to 11, respectively, and parts A to C correspond to each other from the right side of the traverse conveyor 5.

In response to the parts box replacement instruction, the carry-in side (left side in the figure) of the first transfer conveyor 6 is positioned at the position of the stock conveyor 9, and then the actual parts box containing the parts is transferred. When this transfer is completed, the unloading side (right side in the figure) of the first transfer conveyor 6 is positioned at the right end of the traverse conveyor 5, that is, where the empty parts box for part A is placed, and then part A is delivered. Transfer empty parts boxes. After this transfer is completed, the carry-in side of the first transfer conveyor 6 is moved to the traverse conveyor 5.
, and transfer the actual parts box containing part A.

The first transfer conveyor 6 loaded with empty parts boxes is positioned on the upper stage of the stock conveyor 9 on its discharge side, and transfers the empty parts boxes to the palletizing device 7 of the stock conveyor 9.

After palletizing a predetermined number of stages, the palletizing device 7 conveys the material to the stock conveyor 9 and palletizes it anew.

The discharge side of the M1 transfer conveyor 6 has a liter function.

The depalletizing device 8 unloads component boxes stored on the stock conveyors 9 to 11 and stacked in a predetermined number of stages one by one and sends them to the first transfer conveyor 6. therefore,
In the stock conveyors 9 to 11, actual parts boxes are carried into the lower stages, and empty parts boxes are carried out from the upper stages. The carry-in side of the stock conveyors 9 to 11 sequentially progresses in the direction of the dotted arrow as the parts are used, and when a space for transport becomes available, a parts request signal is output to the self-propelled vehicle 15.

The above signal is also output to the second transfer conveyor 12.
Empty parts boxes stacked in a predetermined number of stages from the top of the stock conveyor 9 are transferred to the discharge side (left side in the figure) of the second transfer conveyor 12. The carry-out side is positioned at the upper stage of the stock conveyor 9. Next, the system waits for the self-propelled vehicle 15 to arrive, and after its arrival, the empty parts box is carried out and the actual parts box (a box containing parts) is carried in at the same time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention (according to this invention), by forming the stock conveyor into two stages, upper and lower, and arranging the traverse conveyor opposite to the assembly robot, the width of the stock conveyor at the station is reduced by half. At the same time, the operating rate of the assembly robot can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are perspective views showing two examples of conventional multi-component automatic assembly stations, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the structure of an embodiment of a multi-component automatic assembly station according to the present invention. It is a diagram. 1... Base machine 2... Product 5... Assembly robot 4... Robot it! Control device 5... Traverse conveyor 6... First transfer conveyor 7... Palletizing device 8... Deno (Retizing devices 9 to 11... Stock conveyor 12... Second transfer conveyor 13 ... Self-propelled vehicle 14 ... Conveyor tail control device 1 (
Figure 32

Claims (1)

[Claims] At a station where multiple types of parts are automatically assembled via an assembly robot onto a product transported by a base machine, a traverse conveyor moves the parts to the front of the assembly robot, and an empty parts box and an actual parts box are placed on the upper stage and A plurality of stock conveyors each stored in a lower tier, a first transfer conveyor that transfers between these stock conveyors and the traverse conveyor, and a palletizing device that stacks empty parts boxes on the upper tier of each stock conveyor. , a depalletizing device that loads and unloads actual parts boxes stacked on the lower tier of each stock conveyor, a self-propelled vehicle that supplies actual component boxes from the warehouse and returns empty component boxes to the warehouse, and this self-propelled vehicle and the aforementioned A second transfer conveyor that transfers to and from the stock conveyor, a robot control device that controls the assembly robot, and a conveyor control device that controls the stock conveyor and the first and second transfer conveyors, A multi-component automatic assembly station that is characterized by the ability to automatically assemble multiple types of parts onto a product using a single robot.