Patent Publication Number: US-10766551-B2

Title: Auto mounting system of door hinge for vehicle and method thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/494,307, filed Sep. 23, 2014, which is based on and claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0113121, filed on Sep. 24, 2013 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire contents of which applications are incorporated herein for all purposes by these references. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present disclosure relates to an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle and a method thereof, and more particularly, to an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle and a method thereof capable of automatically mounting door hinges for front and rear doors on side panels of the vehicle. 
     Description of Related Art 
     Generally, a door for the vehicle is mounted on a side panel by a door hinge to be openly and closely mounted on the side panel of the vehicle body. 
     So far, for mounting the door hinge, a worker manually mounts the door hinge on the side panel of the vehicle body by using a dedicated mounting jig in the vehicle body factory. However, reliability of door hinge mounting quality may be degraded due to the manual operation using the dedicated mounting jig. 
     The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle and a method thereof capable of automatically mounting door hinges for front and rear doors on side panels of the vehicle. 
     According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle includes an auto mounting apparatus of a door hinge configured to automatically mount the door hinge on a side panel of the vehicle. 
     The auto mounting apparatus of a door hinge may include a door hinge stacking part configured to stack the door hinge, a door hinge arranging part configured to arrange the door hinge from the door hinge stacking part, a door hinge picking part configured to pick the door hinge supplied from the door hinge arranging part, and an auto robot configured to move the door hinge picking part from which the door hinge is picked to mount the door hinge on the side panel of the vehicle. 
     The auto mounting system may further include a controller configured to control the auto robot. 
     The auto mounting system may further include a door hinge sliding part configured to be provided under the door hinge stacking part to pick the door hinge from the door hinge stacking part and slidably move the picked door hinge to the door hinge arranging part. 
     The door hinge picking part may include a fastening part configured to bolt the door hinge on the side panel of the vehicle. 
     The auto robot may include a hanger configured to be fastened with the door hinge picking part. 
     According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an auto mounting method of a door hinge for the vehicle includes stacking a bolted door hinge on a door hinge stacking part, slidably moving the door hinge stacked in the stacking of the door hinge to arranging the stacked door hinge in a door hinge arranging part, picking the door hinge arranged in the arranging of the door hinge by operating an auto robot, and bolting the door hinge picked in the picking of the door hinge by the auto robot to the side panel of the vehicle. 
     The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other features and advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in more detail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and the following Detailed Description, which together serve to explain certain principles of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  are diagrams illustrating an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a door hinge stacking part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating a door hinge arranging part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a door hinge picking part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an auto robot in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7A  and  FIG. 7B  are diagrams illustrating an example of the door hinge stacking part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8A  and  FIG. 8B  are diagrams illustrating an example of the door hinge arranging part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 9A ,  FIG. 9B  and  FIG. 10  are diagrams illustrating an example of the door hinge picking part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 11A  and  FIG. 11B  are diagrams illustrating a fastening part in the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 12  is a flow chart of an auto mounting method of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. 
     In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will be understood that the present description is not intended to limit the invention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, the invention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
     Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 8 ,  FIG. 9 ,  FIG. 10 ,  FIG. 11A  and  FIG. 11B , an auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is characterized in that a door hinge  101  is automatically mounted on a side panel of the vehicle by an auto mounting apparatus  100  of a door hinge. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the auto mounting apparatus  100  of a door hinge includes a door hinge stacking part  110 , a door hinge arranging part  120 , a door hinge picking part  130 , and an auto robot  140  as equipments for automatically mounting the door hinge  101  on the side panel of the vehicle. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 7A and 7B , the door hinge stacking part  110  is configured to stack the door hinge  101  mounted on the side panel of the vehicle and is vertically provided on a table T having a predetermined height. 
     As the result, the door hinge stacking part  110  may guide the door hinge  101  in an up and down direction. 
     In this case, the door hinge  101  is provided with bolts to be able to be mounted on the side panel by the auto robot  140  to be described below. 
     Meanwhile, the door hinge  101  is mounted on the side panel to open and close a door, which is a known technology, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 8A and 8B , the door hinge arranging part  120  arranges the door hinges  101  supplied from the door hinge stacking part  110  to be able to pick the door hinges  101  using the door hinge picking part  130  to be described below. 
     Here, the door hinge arranging part  120  may limit the movement of the door hinge  101  to be less than 1.0 mm. 
     In this case, the auto mounting system of a door hinge for the vehicle may include a door hinge sliding part  121  configured to be provided under the door hinge stacking part  110  to pick the door hinges  101  from the door hinge stacking part  110  and slidably move the picked door hinges to the door hinge arranging part  120 . 
     That is, when the door hinges  101  are stacked on the door hinge stacking part  110 , the stacked door hinges  101  are picked by the door hinge sliding part  121  and move to the door hinge arranging part  120  to be arranged. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 9A and 9B , when the door hinge picking part  130  picks the door hinges  101  arranged in the door hinge arranging part  120  and moves the picked door hinges to the side panels, the door hinge picking part  130  may prevent the door hinges  101  from separating and guide the door hinges  101  to mount the door hinges  101  at accurate positions at which the doors of the side panels are mounted at the time of mounting the door hinges  101  on the side panels. 
     Further, as illustrated in  FIGS. 10 and 11A and 11B , the door hinge picking part  130  is provided with a fastening part  131  configured to fasten the door hinge  101  with the side panel to bolt a bolt mounted at the door hinge at the time of mounting the door hinge  101  on the side panel, thereby mounting the door hinge  101  on the side panel. 
     In this case, the door hinge picking part  130  and the door hinge  101  may be coupled with each other in place to improve a coupling force between the door hinge picking part  130  and the door hinge  101 . 
     Further, a space between the door hinge picking part  130  and the door hinge  101  may be set to be less than 0.1 mm to improve the coupling force between the door hinge picking part  130  and the door hinge  101 . 
     Meanwhile, the door hinge picking part  130  may be detached from the auto robot  140  to be described below and thus a size of the side panel is different depending on car models, such that the door hinge picking part  130  may be replaced to be applied to various kinds of car model. 
     Here, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the door hinges  101  picked from the door hinge picking part  130  are picked four in total by two at both ends, respectively and thus two door hinges  101  are each mounted at filler A and at filler B on the side panels of the vehicle. To this end, the door hinge stacking part  110  and the door hinge arranging part  120  are also provided in plural to arrange a pair of door hinges  101  by two. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the auto robot  140  moves the door hinge picking part  130  from which the door hinge  101  is picked to mount the door hinge  101  on the side panel of the vehicle. 
     In this case, the auto robot  140  may include a hanger  141  which is fastened with the door hinge picking part  130 . 
     Meanwhile, the side panel of the vehicle is provided with a hole in which the door hinge  101  may be mounted. 
     The auto robot  140  is fastened with the door hinge picking part  130  by the hanger  141  and then rotates to pick the door hinges  101  arranged in the door hinge arranging part  120  from the door hinge picking part  130  and then rotates to the side panel of the vehicle to mount the door hinges  101  on the side panels. 
     In this case, the auto robot  140  may move in all directions to be able to improve the operation convenience. 
     Meanwhile, the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes a controller, in which the controller may control an operation process of the auto robot  140  and also interwork with the door hinge arranging part  120 , such that when the auto robot  140  uses the door hinge picking part  130  to pick the door hinges  101  from the door hinge arranging part  120 , the door hinge sliding part  121  may pick the door hinges  101  from the door hinge stacking part  110  for the following operation. 
     That is, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, when one worker stacks the door hinges  101  on the door hinge stacking part  110 , the door hinge sliding part  121  picks the stacked door hinges  101  and arranges the picked door hinges in the door hinge arranging part  120  and the auto robot  140  uses the door hinge picking part  130  to pick the arranged door hinges  101  and mounts the picked door hinges on the side panels of the vehicle, such that the door hinges  101  are automatically mounted on the side panels of the vehicle with the minimum number of workers, thereby improving operation convenience, assembling quality, and an operating ratio. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 8 ,  FIG. 9 ,  FIG. 10 ,  FIG. 11  and  FIG. 12 , an auto mounting method of a door hinge for the vehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes stacking the door hinges  101  S 10 , picking the stacked door hinges  101  and moving and arranging the picked door hinges  101  S 20 , picking the arranged door hinges  101  S 30 , and bolting the picked door hinges  101  on the side panels S 40 . 
     In the stacking of the door hinges S 10 , a worker stacks the bolted door hinges  101  on the door hinge stacking part  110 , which is only manual operation performed by the worker among the operations of the auto mounting method of the door hinge  101  for the vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     In the arranging of the door hinges S 20 , the door hinges  101  stacked in the stacking of the door hinges S 10  are picked through the door hinge sliding part  121  and then slidably move and thus are arranged in the door hinge arranging part  120 . 
     Further, in the arranging of the door hinges S 20 , the door hinge  101  may slidably move through the door hinge sliding part  121 . 
     In this case, in the stacking of the door hinges S 10 , when the door hinge  101  moves to the arranging of the door hinges S 20 , the door hinge  101  stacked in the door hinge stacking part  110  may automatically move downwardly. 
     Meanwhile, in the stacking of the door hinges S 10 , the door hinge  101  may include a bolt. 
     In the picking of the door hinges S 30 , the door hinges  101  arranged in the arranging of the door hinges S 20  are picked by the auto robot  140 . 
     In this case, in the picking of the door hinges S 30 , the detachably provided door hinge picking part  130  may be replaced and thus a size of the side panel is different depending on car models, such that the door hinge picking part  130  may be replaced to be applied to various car models. 
     In the bolting of the door hinge S 40 , the door hinges  101  picked in the picking of the door hinges S 30  by the auto robot  140  are bolted to the side panels of the vehicle. 
     In this case, in the bolting of the door hinges S 40 , the side panel of the vehicle may be provided with the hole to bolt the door hinge  101 . 
     Meanwhile, the auto mounting method of a door hinge for the vehicle according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure is operated by the controller, in which the controller may control the operation process of the auto robot  140  and when the auto robot  140  may pick the door hinges  101  from the door hinge arranging part  120 , may make the door hinge sliding part  121  pick the door hinges  101  from the door hinge stacking part  110  for the following operation. 
     That is, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, when one worker stacks the door hinges  101  on the door hinge stacking part  110  in the stacking of the door hinges S 10 , the door hinge sliding part  121  picks the stacked door hinges  101  and arranges the picked door hinges  101  in the door hinge arranging part  120  in the arranging of the door hinges S 20  and the auto robot  140  picks the arranged door hinges  101  in the picking of the door hinges S 30  and mounts the picked door hinges  101  on the side panels of the vehicle through the bolting of the door hinges S 40 , such that the door hinges  101  are automatically mounted on the side panels of the vehicle with the minimum number of workers, thereby improving the operation convenience, the assembling quality, and the operating ratio. 
     As described above, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to improve the operation convenience due to the minimization of the number of workers, the assembling quality, and the operating ratio, by automatically mounting the door hinges for the front and rear doors on the side panels of the vehicle. 
     For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appended claims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner” and “outer” are used to describe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such features as displayed in the figures. 
     The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain certain principles of the invention and their practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make and utilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well as various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto and their equivalents.