JPS63130483A - Method of assembling automobile body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the body component parts of plural types of body models to be continuously fed and assembled by accurately positioning a body side with respect to an under body. CONSTITUTION:A positioning conveying device 20 is movably supported on conveying devices 21 which are oppositely placed on both right and left sides of a body tacking station 6 with their axial directions being agreed. The conveying device 20 laterally supports a body side 1 fed on its support arms 22, 23 in a receiving position, while it has a rotary supporting mechanism 24 which erects the body side 1 straight in a delivering position to the body tacking station 6. The rotary supporting mechanism 24 consists of an air cylinder 25 and a supporting block 29 which is rotated nearly 90 deg. with a pivot shaft 26 as a rotation center, and the supporting posture and conveying timing of the body side 1 are controlled by a signal from a computer provided on the body tacking station.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [19] The present invention relates to a method for assembling an automobile body,
More specifically, the so-called heterogeneous mixed flow method of assembling automobile bodies, in which multiple types of vehicle body models are assembled at a single body plate attachment station, relates to body side positioning means that can be used in the system. It is.

Conventional techniques In recent years, the needs of car buyers have become increasingly diverse.
There is a strong demand for flexibility in vehicle body assembly lines that can accommodate this.

On conventional car body assembly lines, the clamp positions and shapes of car body components such as rebody sides, underbody, and roof differ depending on the car model, so clamps are prepared for each car model in advance to accommodate changes in these specifications. The car body assembly line for new car models was reorganized by replacing the jig carts and positioning jigs currently in use with the jig carts and positioning jigs for car body transport.

The switching system of the vehicle body assembly line as described above can maintain a practically satisfactory operating rate when there is almost no switching between vehicle types and models.

However, in car body assembly lines where it is necessary to frequently change vehicle models in progress in order to respond to the diverse needs of customers, a large number of vehicle It was necessary to keep jig carts and positioning jigs on hand, and the increase in idle equipment significantly hindered improvements in capital investment efficiency. Additionally, when switching vehicle models, the vehicle body assembly line must be stopped for a long time to replace the jig carts and positioning jigs, which significantly reduces the productivity of the vehicle body assembly line. It is also derived.

In particular, the body side is loaded onto the vehicle body transport jig trolley and is temporarily attached onto the underbody introduced into the station, so when the body side is introduced into the station and fixed on the positioning locator, It was necessary to install the reference pin for positioning and perform the positioning operation at the same time, which forced the adoption of a complicated positioning mechanism.This made the structure of the stage unit for temporarily attaching the car body, including the positioning locator, complex. In many cases, problems such as reduced operating rates due to machine breakdowns and reduced precision in car body assembly occurred.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a method for assembling an automobile body using a heterogeneous flow system, in particular a method for positioning the body side, which can solve the above-mentioned problems observed in the conventional body assembly line. There is a particular thing.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a vehicle body temporary attachment station with a locator for positioning vehicle body components, and a multi-axis switching unit controlled by program input. At the same time, a positioning and conveying device for the body side constituting the car body of the automobile is arranged on the side of the body temporary attachment station, and a positioning reference is provided on the body side prior to introduction to the body temporary attachment station. A method is provided for the assembly of an automobile body by installing pins and performing a pre-positioning movement of the body side with respect to the multi-axis switching unit 7.

A multi-axis switching unit controlled by program input operates the locators for positioning the vehicle body components,
The body side, underbody and roof are introduced into the body tacking station and clamped into position. At this time, before the body side is introduced into the vehicle body temporary attachment station, a positioning reference pin is attached to the body side by a positioning conveyance device provided on the side of the vehicle body temporary attachment station, and this reference pin is used to perform the multi-axis switching. A preliminary positioning operation is performed for the unit.

Figure 1 is a schematic front view of a car body temporary attachment station equipped with a body side positioning and conveyance device, and Figure 2 is a schematic front view of the body side illustrating the mounting position of the positioning reference pin with respect to the body side. FIG. FIG. 3 is a bird's-eye view of a vehicle body tacking station equipped with a body side positioning and conveying device.

As seen in these drawings, a positioning and conveying device (20) for a body side (1) constituting an automobile body is disposed on the side of the vehicle body temporary attachment station (6). The positioning conveyance device (20) is movably supported on conveyance devices (21) which are disposed facing the left and right sides of the vehicle body tacking station (6) with their axial directions aligned. Its support arm (22) in position
(23) A rotary support mechanism (24) that horizontally supports the body side (1) supplied above and stands the body side (1) upright at the delivery position to the vehicle body tacking station (6). It is growing. In the illustrated embodiment, an air cylinder device (25) and a support block (29) that rotates approximately 90 degrees about a pivot (26) are included.
to form a rotation support mechanism (24), and automatic control that controls the support posture and transport timing of the body side (1) based on a vehicle type selection signal transmitted from a computer (not shown) attached to the vehicle body temporary attachment station. A positioning and conveying device (20) is configured by connecting devices (not shown).

On the other hand, the body side (1) is provided with a mounting hole (not shown) for a positioning reference pin (27), as shown in FIG.
0), the receiver of the body side (1) is placed in the position of the positioning reference pin (27) in response to the vehicle type selection signal.
A reference pin mounting mechanism (28) for inserting the reference pin into the mounting hole of the body side (1) is provided.

The rotation support mechanism (24) and the reference pin attachment mechanism (2
8) is program-controlled or sequence-controlled by the vehicle type selection signal. :By, body side (1)
is equipped with a positioning reference pin (27) before being introduced into the vehicle body temporary attachment station (6), and completes the preliminary positioning operation for the later-described multi-axis switching unit arranged at the vehicle body temporary attachment station (6). do.

The number and mounting position of the positioning reference pins (27) attached to the body side (1) are determined by the number and mounting position of the positioning reference pins (27) attached to the body side (1) at the side receiving position of the station (6).
is appropriately selected depending on the type of automobile body to which it is assembled. The four-door type vehicle body illustrated in Figure 2A (e.g.
Doors, sedans and wagons), the body side (1
) in the lower part of the front pillar, which is perpendicular to the paper surface.
At the same time as attaching the positioning reference pin (27a),
Corresponding to this positioning reference pin (27a), attach a second positioning reference pin (27b) to the door lock portion of the body side (1) in a direction parallel to the paper surface.
are doing. On the other hand, in a two-door type vehicle body (for example, a two-door punch bank or coupe) illustrated in FIG. Reference pin (27a
), and also attach this positioning reference pin (27a
) Correspondingly, a second positioning reference pin (27c) perpendicular to the plane of the paper is attached to the sector pillar or center pillar of the body side (1).

The body side (1) is supplied in a horizontal state onto the positioning and conveying device (20) by a conveying device (not shown), and at this time, the body side (1) is positioned in the mounting hole through activation of the reference pin mounting mechanism (28). reference pin (27a) (
27b) by inserting the body side (1)
is the positioning and conveying device (2) while maintaining the positioning accuracy.
0) on the support block (29).

The body side (1) thus fixed at the pre-positioning position is introduced into the car body tacking station (6) through activation of the conveying device (21) while still being supported facing the tank. . When the body side (1) arrives at the delivery position to the car body tacking station (6), the rotation support mechanism (24) is activated, thereby positioning reference pins (27a) (27b) (27
The body side (1), which has been pre-positioned by engagement with (c), is rotated 90 degrees toward the position when the body is normally assembled using the positioning locator of the multi-axis switching unit (Rn) described later, and then turned upright. held in state.

In this state, the positioning locator of the multi-axis switching unit (Rn) performs final positioning of the body side (1) relative to the underbody (2) under program control based on the vehicle type selection signal transmitted from the computer.

The procedure for assembling the vehicle body at the vehicle body temporary assembly station (6) will be explained below.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the vehicle body tacking station. As seen in FIGS. 1 to 4 above, the frame member (4) of the car body plate attaching station (6) includes the body side (1) carried into the car body temporary attaching station,
A multi-axis switching unit (Rn) is provided for temporarily clamping the underbody (2) and roof (2) in position. In the following explanation, the body side (
1), before the temporary fixing is fixed in position by the multi-axis switching unit (Rn), the preliminary positioning operation by the positioning conveyance device (20) is completed, and the positioning reference pin (27)
It is assumed that the position is set at . The multi-axis switching unit (Rn) is a multi-axis robot or articulated robot whose operating position is controlled by program input, and the body side (1
), when the underbody (2) and roof (3) are carried in, the locator (5) for positioning them is program controlled by a vehicle type selection signal sent from a computer (not shown), and the body side (1), Clamp the underbody (2) and roof (3) into one piece.

In addition to the above-mentioned multi-axis switching unit (Rn), the body temporary attachment station (6) includes a ceiling-mounted robot for transporting the roof, a jig assembly unit equipped with an automatic jig exchange device, a locker, and the lower part of the front pillar. A welding robot for welding points, a ceiling-mounted welding robot for roof welding points (all not shown), a program-controlled automatic welding machine (12) for lower locker welding points, and a temporary attachment station for the underbody (2). (6) A moving truck-type jig truck that transports one process before and one process for a total of three processes, or a transport device that transports only the body (
13) , the body side positioning and conveying device (20
), a program-controlled automatic welding machine for welding points at the bottom of the wheel house is installed. In the illustrated embodiment, 12 multi-axis switching units are installed on each of the left and right sides of the vehicle body as positioning clamp devices for the body side (1) and the roof (3), as shown by thick solid lines in FIG. (R1) to (R12) are frames (4a) (4b) (4
c) Disposed on (4d). On the other hand, as a positioning clamp device for the underbody (2), temporary mounting is performed using four multi-axis switching units (R
1-5) to (R+s) are station with body plate (6
) is arranged on the lower frame (4b). Furthermore,
Two multi-axis switching units (17) are respectively arranged on the frames (4a) (4d) as positioning and clamping devices for the rear end panel and the rear shelf. (Fig. 17) Since the present invention is to supply the constituent parts of a plurality of types of basic car body models and the constituent parts of car body models derived therefrom to a single car body assembly line, and to assemble the car body in a heterogeneous mixed flow system, the above-mentioned Multi-axis switching unit (Rn
), it is necessary to increase the number of clamping positions for body components of multiple types of car body models introduced into the car body tacking station (6) under program control, i.e., body side (1), underbody (2) for each car model. ) and roof (3) as much as possible. However, it is difficult to unify the shape and clamp position between car body models, such as the rear end panel or the like. When positioning a part of the pillar pillar, a rotary locator (17) supported on the lift device in combination with the above-mentioned multi-axis switching unit (Rn) so as to be able to rise and fall is used,
Alternatively, the locator itself can be automatically replaced using a jig replacement device.

Although the present invention has been described above based on the description of Examples, the present invention can also include the following embodiments in addition to the above. The first application example is dot welding (
Spot explosion welding) is carried out by a welding gun (not shown) attached to a multi-axis switching unit (Rn), and the multi-axis switching unit (Rn) connects the locator (5) and the welding gun. The structure is combined into a single unit. In addition, in the second application example, the loading of the body side (1), underbody (2), and roof (3) are all completed in the pre-process of the car body plate attachment station (6), and the car body temporary attachment station (6) In this step, the final clamp position is finely adjusted using the multi-axis switching unit (Rn) for the temporarily assembled vehicle body. According to this second application example, there is no need to install loading devices such as the body side (1) and the roof (3) at the vehicle body temporary attachment station (6), so it is easy to secure space, and the equipment complication can also be avoided. Therefore, the frame (4a)
(4b) (4c) The structure of (R1) to (RI4) (multi-axis switching unit in (4d)) has been simplified, and vehicle body components such as the body side (1), underbody (2), and roof (3) have been simplified. The locator multi-shaft exchange units, which are arranged with the idea that the shape of the clamp part can be unified between each car model, are distributed above and below, left and right, and front and rear of the car body temporary attachment station (6). A relatively simple structure can be achieved. In addition to program-controllable multi-axis switching units such as 3 to 6 axes,
As the multi-axis cutting unit (Rn), a similar program-controllable articulated robot or an automatically operable mechanical switching unit can be used.

As can be understood from the above explanation, according to the present invention, good positioning accuracy can be achieved for the body side, where it has been difficult to maintain positioning accuracy for the underbody, in a heterogeneous automobile body assembly line. and a bonding function to the underbody. Therefore, according to the present invention, a so-called heterogeneous mixed flow system for assembling an automobile body is established, in which body components of a plurality of types of body models are continuously supplied to a body tacking station under program control. be able to. The present invention addresses the problem of lower operating rates caused by assembly line stoppages when replacing vehicle body transport jig trolleys and positioning jigs, which were recognized in conventional automobile body assembly systems, and the reduction in vehicle models scheduled to be completed. It can exhibit remarkable effects as it fundamentally eliminates problems such as a decline in equipment investment efficiency due to the need to always have two or more types of jigs available depending on the situation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a car body temporary attachment station equipped with a body side positioning and conveyance device, and Fig. 2 is a schematic side view of the body side illustrating the attachment position of a positioning reference pin with respect to the body side. be. Further, FIG. 3 is a bird's-eye view of a car body tacking station equipped with a body side positioning and conveying device, and FIG. 4 is a side view of a car body plate fitting station. (1”) -Body side, (2) -Underbody (3)・-Roof, (5) -Positioning locator- (
6) -Vehicle body temporary attachment station (Rn)--Multi-axis switching unit or articulated robot (
20) - Body side positioning and conveyance device, (24)
- Body side rotation support mechanism, (2B) - Reference pin attachment mechanism. Figure 2 Toy Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A multi-axis switching unit that is equipped with a locator for positioning vehicle body components and controlled by program input is installed in the vehicle body temporary attachment station of the vehicle, and
A body side positioning and conveying device that constitutes the vehicle body is disposed on the side of the vehicle body temporary attachment station, and a reference pin for positioning is attached to the body side prior to introduction into the vehicle body temporary attachment station, A method for assembling an automobile body, the method comprising performing a preliminary positioning operation on the body side for the multi-axis switching unit.