WO2002090042A1

WO2002090042A1 - Thermostat assembling method

Info

Publication number: WO2002090042A1
Application number: PCT/JP2002/003515
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shinichi Sudo
Original assignee: Nippon Thermostat Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2001-04-23
Filing date: 2002-04-08
Publication date: 2002-11-14
Also published as: JP2002321126A; CN1458874A; CN1267245C

Abstract

A slide thermostat assembling method capable of improving the work efficiency of a slide thermostat C-shaped stopper insert step, assuring a safe work, and improving efficiency of an inspection step, thereby improving the inspection accuracy. The method comprises a wax case step (S1) for putting wax (112) into a wax case (111), a case guide assembly step for putting a piston into a guide block (108), an element assembly step (S3) for fixing the wax case (111) and the guide block (108) so as to serve as an element (110), a C-shaped stopper mounting step (S4) for inserting the element (110) into a valve main body (101) and mounting a spring (105) and a C-shaped stopper (115), thereby completing a thermostat (100), and an inspection step (S5) for automatically inspecting the completed thermostat to separate good products from defective products.

Description

Description How to assemble the thermostat

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a thermostat used for cooling an internal combustion engine of an automobile or the like, and more particularly to a method of assembling a thermostat in which a valve slides in the body to control a flow of a coolant.

BACKGROUND ART Currently, most of the commercially available cooling systems for vehicle engines use a water-cooling system that uses a coolant as a medium to cool the engine. A thermostat that controls the flow of the coolant is used to prevent cooling. Motorcycles and starters are also shifting to water cooling to improve fuel efficiency and purify exhaust gas. Especially in recent scooters, the mounting space tends to be small in order to improve the design of the appearance, and a thermostat that can be directly mounted on the engine as a space-saving thermostat corresponding to these vehicles. It has come to be used.

This type of thermostat is shown in FIG. The thermostat 100 is formed integrally with a hollow cylindrical valve body 101, a thermo valve 102, which is housed in sliding contact with a hollow portion of the valve body 101, and a valve body 101. Formed at the other end of the valve body 101, and a joint cover 104 fitted to the other end of the valve body 101, and a thermo valve 1. The coil spring 105 is a biasing member that applies a biasing force to the coil 02.

The thermovalve 102 is an element 111 composed of a piston 106 that moves forward and backward due to the expansion of the wax, a rubber piston 107, and a guide part 108 that guides the piston 106 to move forward and backward. And a wax case 111 provided on the bottom side of the element 110 and containing the wax 112 of the temperature-sensitive part.

If the coolant temperature is low, the thermostat 100 The wax 1 1 2 filled therein is shrunk. At this time, the thermo valve 102 is constantly urged upward by the coil spring 105. For this reason, the element 110 becomes the valve body 120, which keeps the inlet opening 116 and the outlet opening 117 closed so as to cut off the communication of the liquid. At this time, since the bypass outlet portion 119 is open, the coolant flows through the bypass inlet portion 118 provided in the C-washer and the bypass outlet portion 119.

Then, when the coolant temperature rises, this rise in temperature is transmitted to the wax 112 filled therein through the wax case 111, and the wax 112 expands to increase the volume. Due to the increase in the volume of the wax 112, the diaphragm 114 deforms upward, and the piston 106 tries to protrude from the guide 108 via the rubber piston 107. However, since the piston 106 is always in contact with the protruding portion 103 of the valve body 101, the guide 108, that is, the element 110, actually slides in the valve body 101. Descend like so.

When the element 110 is slid so as to move down, the valve body 120 of the element 110 opens the inlet opening 116 and the outlet opening 117 of the valve body in the closed state. At that time, the bypass outlet portion 119 is open, but the descending element 110 force descending bypass outlet portion 119 is closed and the outlet opening portion 117 is opened. Then, the flow of the coolant from the bypass inlet 118 is shut off, and the flow of the coolant is switched and controlled so that the inlet 116 and the outlet 117 communicate with each other.

The assembly of the thermostat 100 is performed as follows.

First, in the case process, the wax case 111 is filled with wax 115 as a temperature-sensitive member and turned over, and the piston 106, the wrapper piston 107, and the back-up plate are placed in the guide portion 108. Insert and fill the semi-fluid 1 1 3 and create a guide assembly sealed with the diaphragm 1 1 4 and fix the box case 1 1 1 and the guide section 108 by pressing with a press etc., and fix the piston Into the element assembly (element 110).

Next, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the element 110 is inserted into the valve body 101 from above, and the coil spring 105 is further inserted. The coil spring 105 is compressed so that it does not protrude from the valve body 101, and the C-washer 115 is inserted into a washer groove 101 formed in the inner wall of the valve body 101. Fit the joint cover 104 onto the valve body 101. , — ■

Next, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), the O-ring 116 is fitted into the O-ring groove formed in the joint cover 104 and the projection 103, and the thermostat 100 is completed. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, an inspection is performed to determine whether the completed thermostat 100 has a predetermined performance. In this inspection method, a worker puts the thermostat 100 in an electric furnace or the like and heats the thermostat 100 to a predetermined temperature (90 ° C.), the wax of the expanding body expands, and the piston moves to a predetermined stroke. It was only confirmed visually.

However, the above-described conventional thermostat 100 assembling process has the following problems.

First, in the process of inserting the C-shaped retaining ring, it is necessary to fit the coil spring into the narrow washer groove of the valve body while compressing the coil spring manually. It was very difficult to work while shrinking the work, so efficiency was not improved, and this was a factor that hindered the production of the thermostat assembly process. In the process of inserting the C-shaped retaining ring, the operator must perform this operation with his fingertips, which places a great burden on the operator, and when the operation fails, the coil spring is skipped. There was a risk of collision with workers and collision with other parts, and there was also a problem with work safety. '

In the inspection process, in the inspection process, the lift inspection of the element is performed in warm water, the thermostat 100 assembled to the thermostat is heated to a predetermined temperature in an electric furnace, etc., and the door is opened. This time, since the lift as a completed thermostat is performed visually, the inspection process must be performed twice before completion, or there is a problem with the accuracy of the inspection, and the valve opening state cannot be confirmed accurately. There was also. Furthermore, in electric furnaces, etc., if the thermostat 100 is replaced by opening the door every time, the internal temperature will decrease and it will take time to raise the temperature to the predetermined temperature again, resulting in poor efficiency. Was.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to improve the working efficiency of a thermostat assembling process, perform a safe operation, and improve the efficiency in an inspection process. It is intended to provide a method for assembling a thermostat capable of improving the accuracy of inspection by using a thermostat. In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a wax case process for incorporating wax into a wax case, a case guide assembly process for incorporating a piston in a guide portion, and an element assembly for fixing the box case and the guide portion to form an element. Inserting the element into the valve body, installing a spring and a C-shaped retaining ring to complete the thermostat, C-retaining ring mounting process, and automatically inspecting the completed thermostat for non-defective and defective products And an inspection step of sorting.

In addition, the C-shaped retaining ring mounting step includes: a C-shaped retaining ring aligning means having a parts feeder for aligning the C-shaped retaining ring; and a pair of holders opened and closed by a cylinder to grip or release the C-shaped retaining ring. A C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism, a C-shaped retaining ring inserting means, comprising: a vertical moving mechanism for inserting the C-shaped retaining ring gripped by the holder by a vertical moving cylinder into the work body; It is characterized by comprising a conveying means having a pick and press unit for moving the valve body in which the retaining ring is inserted, and a force. Further, in the detecting step, a charging means for automatically charging the thermostat into the hot water tank; a hot water tank for heating the thermostat to a predetermined temperature; An index table that rotates and moves at a speed, a measurement unit that measures an open state of the thermostat that has reached the predetermined temperature, and a discharge unit that discharges the measured thermostat. Non-defective products and defective products are automatically sorted and discharged according to the cut measurement results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a process chart showing a method for assembling a thermostat according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing each step of a method for assembling the thermostat of FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an element assembling step of the method of assembling the thermostat in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a thermostat C-shaped stopper mounting device.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a C-shaped snap ring mounting device of a thermostat.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a procedure for inserting a C-shaped retaining ring of a thermostat.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a thermostat inspection device. FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a measurement state of a thermostat in the inspection device of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a conventional thermostat.

FIG. 10 is a process diagram showing the assembly of a conventional thermostat.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional thermostat inspection method.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a method for assembling a thermostat according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a process chart showing a method of assembling the thermostat of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing each step of the method of assembling the thermostat of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a set of the thermostat of FIG. Explanatory drawing showing the element assembly process of the erecting method, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a C-type retaining ring mounting device, FIG. 5 is a front view showing a C-type retaining ring mounting device, and FIG. 6 is a C-type retaining device FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a thermostat inspection device, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a measurement state of the thermostat in the inspection device of FIG.

The same members as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows the steps of a method for assembling a thermostat according to the present invention, a box case step S1 for incorporating a box in a wax case, a case guide assembly step S2 for incorporating a biston in a case guide, and the wax case. An element assembling step S3 in which the element and the case guide are fixed to each other, and the element is inserted into the pulp body and a spring and a C-shaped retaining ring are attached to complete a thermostat. 4, and an inspection process S5 for automatically inspecting the completed thermostat to sort non-defective products and non-defective products, and power.

First, FIG. 2 shows a case process S1, a case guide process S2, and an element assembly process S3. In this case process S1, as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c), the wax case 111 is filled with the wax 111 of the temperature-sensitive member and is inverted. Then, in the case guide step S2, as shown in FIGS. 2 (d) to 2 (g), the rubber biston 107 and the backup plate are inserted into the guide portion 108, and the half fluid body 1 is inserted. Fill 13 and seal with diaphragm 1 14. Further, in the element assembly process S3, as shown in FIG. 1 1 1 and the wax case 1 1 1 are fitted to form a case guide assembly.

In addition, in the element assembly step S3, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the wax case 111 is fixed to the guide portion 108 by pressing with a press or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), after the piston is inserted, the lower surface of the wax case 111 is pushed by the adjusting rod so that the amount of projection of the piston 107 becomes a predetermined value, and the stroke is adjusted. The element is a finished product of 110.

Further, in the C-shaped retaining ring mounting step S4, the piston 106 is inserted into the element 110, inverted, and incorporated into the valve body 101.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the coil spring 105 is fixed in the above state, the coil spring 105 is inserted into the valve body 101 from above, and the coil spring 105 is compressed. To prevent the coil spring 105 from protruding from the valve body 101, fit the C-shaped retaining ring 115 into the ring groove 101 formed in the inner wall of the valve body 101, and join the joint cover 100. 4 is fitted to the valve body 101.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 10 (b), the O-ring groove 103 formed in the joint cover 104 and the projection 103 is fitted with the o-ring 1 16 and the thermostat 100 is inserted. S Complete.

FIG. 4 shows an arrangement of an assembling apparatus used in a C-shaped snap ring mounting step S3 of the thermostat 100 according to the present invention. The thermostat assembling apparatus is arranged on a flat plate-shaped table T, and has C-shaped retaining ring aligning means 1 for aligning and sequentially feeding the C-shaped retaining rings 115, and the aligned C-shaped retaining ring. A C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 for taking out the retaining ring 1 15 and inserting it into the main body of the work, and a conveying means 30 for moving the work body into which the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 is inserted. It has.

The C-shaped retaining ring aligning means 1 applies vibration to the C-shaped retaining rings 115 to align them in one direction, and is generally called a perfeeder and is commercially available. The C-shaped retaining ring alignment means 1 includes a bucket 2 having a substantially circular planar shape and a track formed in a spiral shape on the inner peripheral wall thereof, a chute 3 serving as a port for aligning and taking out parts from the bucket 2, and a packet. And a vibration generator 4 provided at the lower part of the device 2. The vibration generator 4 is provided with an electromagnet (not shown). When an alternating current is applied to the electromagnet, an alternating magnetic attraction force is generated between the electromagnet and a movable core (not shown) attached to the bottom of the bucket 2. The bucket 2 performs torsional vibration.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 has a pair of The C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 that holds and releases the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 by opening and closing the screw, and the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 that holds the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 A vertical movement mechanism 20 inserted into the work body by a moving cylinder, and a moving arm 25 for moving the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 to the position of the C-shaped retaining ring aligning means 1. And a press and press unit (P · P).

As shown in FIG. 5, the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 of the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 is provided with an upper holder 13 driven by an upper cylinder 12 and a lower driven by a lower cylinder 14. A pair of upper holders 13 and lower holders 15 are pivotally supported by support pins 18. Pins 16 and 17 are attached to the front ends of the upper holder 13 and the lower holder 15 in order to hook the C-shaped retaining ring 115. These pins 16 and 17 are inserted into the pin holes 1 15a and 1 15b of the C-shaped retaining ring 115 shown in Fig. 6, and open and close the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15. is there.

In other words, when the arm 13a and the arm 15a are brought closer by the upper cylinder 1'2 and the lower cylinder 14, the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 is connected to the holder 13b on the distal end side and the holder. Since the part 15 b is separated, the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 is opened. On the other hand, if the upper cylinder 1 2 and the lower cylinder 14 separate the arm 13 a and the arm 15 a from each other, the holder 13 b on the tip side and the holder 15 b come closer. C-shaped retaining ring 1 1 5 will be closed. Therefore, when gripping the C-shaped retaining ring 115, insert the pins 17 and 18 into the pin holes 1 15a and 115b of the C-shaped retaining ring 115, and When the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 is closed from its natural dimensions by bringing the 13 b and the holder 15 b closer together, they can be gripped with the resistance of.

The vertical movement mechanism 20 includes a vertical movement cylinder 21 for vertically moving the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11, a bracket 22 for mounting the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 1 1, and a spring 10 at the tip. 5 (see Fig. 6) is provided with a pressure block 23 that moves the C-type snap ring opening / closing mechanism 11 up and down and a spring inserted into the valve body 1 1 1 of the thermostat 100 105 can be pressed.

Next, a procedure for inserting the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 into the work body by the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG.

First, in FIG. 4, the thermostat 110 with the spring 105 inserted into the valve body 101 at the working position of the table T is set on the set jig 31 (see FIG. 5). It is conveyed from the previous process in a state where it has been set. Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means 10 is

With 5 move to the C-shaped retaining ring take-out port of the C-shaped retaining transfer alignment means 1. Then, as shown in Fig. 6 (b), the vertical movement mechanism 20 moves down the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 to the pin holes 1 15a and 1 15b of the C-shaped retaining ring. Insert the pins 17 and 18 of the wheel opening / closing mechanism 11 and close them. Then, since the C-type retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 can hold the C-type retaining ring 1 15, the vertical movement mechanism 20 raises the C-type retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11, and the moving arm 25 as described above. Move to thermostat 100 position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), when the vertical movement mechanism 20 is lowered, the vertical movement mechanism is lowered.

20 presses the spring 105 with the pressing block 23, and lowers the C-shaped retaining transfer opening / closing mechanism 11 to the position of the C-shaped retaining ring groove 1Ola of the valve body 101. Further, at this position, the C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism 11 opens the pins 17 and 18, and as shown in FIG. 6 (d), the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 Spreads by force and fits into C-shaped retaining ring groove 101a. Then, check the mounting status of C-shaped retaining ring 1 1 5 and if it is OK,

C-type snap ring opening / closing mechanism 1 Raise 1 1

After the C-shaped retaining ring 1 15 is attached to the valve body 101, the joint cover 104 is fitted as shown in Fig. 10 (b), and the thermostat 100 is assembled. You. Then, the thermostat 100 is transferred to the next inspection step S by the transport means 30.

It is transported to 4 and inspected for the required performance. This transport means 30, as shown in FIG.

The same pick and press cut (P · P) as the C-type snap ring insertion means 100 is used. The thermostat 100 is grasped by the grasping part using hydraulic pressure, and the thermostat is grasped by the arm. The thermostat 100 is moved to a predetermined position, and the thermostat 100 is released from the grip portion at the predetermined position.

As described above, in the C-shaped retaining ring mounting step of the method for assembling the thermostat of the present invention, the C-shaped retaining ring aligning means 1 and the C-shaped retaining ring 揷It is equipped with 10 and transport means 30 and automatically inserts a C-shaped retaining ring, so that the operator is free from the trouble of inserting the C-shaped retaining ring and can work safely. This improves the efficiency of wheel mounting work.

Next, the inspection step S4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an outline of the inspection device 40. The inspection device 40 includes a supply device P · P 41 for automatically supplying the thermostat 100 to the hot water tank 43, and a hot water tank 40 for heating the thermostat 100 to a predetermined temperature. 3 and thermostat 100 in hot water tank 4 3 The index tape 42 that rotates and moves at a predetermined speed, the measurement unit 50 that measures the valve open state of the thermostat 100 that has reached a predetermined temperature, and the measured thermostat 100 are discharged. It consists of P · P 44 for discharging means, OK chute 45 and NG box 46.

The supply P · P 41 used as the charging means uses the same pick and press unit as the C-shaped retaining ring introduction means 10 and the conveying means 30, and the C-shaped retaining ring mounting process S The thermostat 100 conveyed from 3 is gripped by the gripper, moved to the index table 42 by the moving arm, and inserted into the insertion hole 42 a of the index table 42. Further, the index table 42 is a rotary table immersed in a hot water tank 43, and has insertion holes 42a, 42a, and 42a of thermostat 100 formed at equal intervals around the circumference. There are 16 2 a · · · formed. The thermostat 100 is heated by the hot water tank 43 until the thermostat 100 is inserted by the supply PP 51 and rotated to reach the position of the measuring unit 50. At a predetermined temperature (for example,

It is operated at a rotational speed of 90 ° C).

The hot water tank 43 heats the thermostat 100 inserted into the index table 42 to a predetermined temperature of 90 ° C. The index table 42 is also heated by heating. The aim is to stabilize the temperature. For this reason, the hot water tank 43 is provided with a heater with a temperature adjusting function (not shown) so that the hot water is always maintained at a predetermined temperature.

As shown in FIG. 8, the measurement unit 50 measures whether the thermostat 100 has opened and the piston 107 has reached a predetermined protrusion amount when a predetermined temperature is reached. . Therefore, if the measurement terminal 51 of the dial gauge is applied to the bottom of the wax case 11 that has been pushed up when the temperature has reached the predetermined temperature, if there is a predetermined amount of protrusion, a 0K determination is made and the display of the measurement unit 50 is displayed. Is displayed. The measuring unit 50 is connected to the controller of the discharge P and P 44, and the thermostat determined to be 0K is used.

100 is transported to the OK chute 45. On the other hand, the thermostat 100 whose protrusion amount does not reach the predetermined amount or whose protrusion amount exceeds the predetermined amount is judged to be NG, and is collected in the dedicated NG box 46 by the discharge Ρ 44. ing.

According to the above-described inspection process, the thermostat 100 having the C-shaped retaining ring mounted thereon is automatically supplied to the inspection device 40 by the supply device 51, and is heated to a predetermined temperature by the hot water tank 43. The thermostat 100 that has been stably heated to In the inspection process, the measurement is automatically performed by the unit 50, the non-defective product and the defective product are automatically sorted according to the measurement result, and the defective product is collected in the dedicated NG box 46. The efficiency can be improved and the inspection accuracy can be improved.

Industrial applicability

As described above, in the method of assembling the thermostat according to the present invention, the C-shaped retaining ring mounting step comprises: a C-shaped retaining ring aligning means for arranging the C-shaped retaining ring with a parts feeder; and a cylinder. The C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes a pair of holders to grip or release the C-shaped retaining ring, and the vertical movement that inserts the C-shaped retaining ring gripped by the holder into the work body using a vertical movement cylinder The mechanism and the C-shaped retaining ring insertion means provided with a C-type retaining ring allows the automatically aligned C-shaped retaining ring to be taken out and inserted into the work body. It is possible to eliminate the difficulty and inefficiency of manual work, which has been described above, and achieve an excellent effect that efficient and safe work can be performed. In addition, the detection step includes: an input unit that automatically inputs the thermostat into the hot water tank; a hot water tank that heats the thermostat to a predetermined temperature; and a predetermined speed by gripping the thermostat in the hot water tank. The thermostat is automatically provided by comprising: a turntable that rotates and moves at a temperature; a measurement unit that measures an open state of the thermostat that has reached the predetermined temperature; and a discharge unit that discharges the measured thermostat. Since it is injected into the inspection device and measured, it is possible to perform inspections in hot water and in one process as in actual use, improving efficiency in the inspection process and improving inspection accuracy. This has the effect of being able to increase

Claims

The scope of the claims

1) A case step of incorporating wax into the wax case, a guide assembly step of incorporating pistons in the guide section, an element assembly step of fixing the wax case and the guide section to form an element, and Complete the thermostat by inserting the spring and C-shaped stopper into the valve body to complete the thermostat.C-retaining ring mounting process, and automatically inspect the completed thermostat to sort non-defective products and defective products. A method for assembling a thermostat, comprising:

2. The C-shaped retaining ring mounting step comprises: a C-shaped retaining ring aligning means having a parts feeder for aligning the C-shaped retaining ring; and a pair of holders opened and closed by a cylinder to grip or release the C-shaped retaining ring. A C-shaped retaining ring opening / closing mechanism, a C-shaped retaining ring inserting means, comprising: a vertical moving mechanism for inserting the C-shaped retaining ring gripped by the holder by a vertical moving cylinder into the work body; 2. The thermostat assembling method according to claim 1, further comprising: conveying means provided with a pick-and-press unit for moving the thermostat main body into which the shaped retaining ring is inserted.

3. The inspection step includes: a charging means for automatically charging the thermostat and the lit into a hot water tank; a hot water tank for heating the thermostat to a predetermined temperature; and a predetermined speed by gripping the thermostat in the hot water tank. An index table that rotates and moves the thermostat, a measurement unit that measures a valve opening state of the thermostat that has reached the predetermined temperature, and a discharge unit that discharges the measured thermostat. The thermostat includes: 2. The thermostat assembling method according to claim 1, wherein non-defective products and defective products are automatically sorted and discharged according to the measurement results.