Source: https://patents.justia.com/patent/6467675
Timestamp: 2020-08-06 23:01:50
Document Index: 37019383

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 55', 'art 55', 'art 55', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art 56', 'art.\n5', 'art.\n8', 'art.\n9']

US Patent for Vehicle body assembly apparatus and assembly method Patent (Patent # 6,467,675 issued October 22, 2002) - Justia Patents Search
Justia Patents Plural Diverse BondingUS Patent for Vehicle body assembly apparatus and assembly method Patent (Patent # 6,467,675)
Vehicle body assembly apparatus and assembly method
Aug 4, 2000 - Nissan
The vehicle body assembly apparatus and vehicle body assembly method according to the embodiment is installed in or applicable to a line of a production plant adapted, without line changes, for assembly of “a vehicle body of an arbitrary kind of vehicle of a plurality of specified kinds of vehicles” (hereafter collectively referred to “VB”) having a total of I vehicle body parts BSi (i=1 to I), and serves for mounting, by use of servo welding guns, necessary small components to a front side and a rear side of “an arbitrary one of J (J<I or J=I) vehicle body parts BSj designated in advance out of the I vehicle body parts” (hereafter sometimes collectively called “workpiece” and referred to “W”).
In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the vertical positioning relationship of the workpiece W is shown set into the locator jig 29. Thus, in FIG. 3, the first small components 33, 35, 37, and 39 are set into the locator jig 29, after which the front floor panel 31 is placed thereover, and positioned in another locator jig 29. In FIG. 4, the second small components 41, 43, 45, and 47 are positioned in the locator jig 29, after which the front floor panel 31 to which are welded the first small components 33, 35, 37, and 39, that is, the front floor panel sub-assembly 31s, is placed thereonto and set into the locator jig 29. In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the vehicle front direction is indicated by FR, the vehicle left side with respect to the front direction is indicated by LH, and the vehicle right side with respect to the front direction is indicated by RH.
The left and right side directions of movement of the moving stage 25 at the welding station T have four welding robots 49 provided as welders. The welding robots 49 perform welding between the front floor panel 31 and the first small components 33, 35, 37, and 39, and welding of the front floor panel sub-assembly 31s shown in FIG. 4 to the second small components 41, 43, 45, and 47.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along line V—V of FIG. 2. The welding robots 49 each have a welding gun 51, in which the distance of a movable electrode relative to a stationary electrode is controllable by a servo feed mechanism 51a. The workpiece W (front floor panel 31) is appropriately grabbed and held between the electrodes of the welding guns 51 of the welding robots 49, and the locator jig 29 accepts the workpiece W that is lowered.
The handling robot 55 has a main part 55a that can rotate within a horizontal plane with respect to a base part 55b thereof, the main part 55a and a first hand part 56a of the robot hand 56 being rotatable about a rotating support 55c, the first hand part 56a and the second hand part 56b being rotatable about the rotating support 55d, and the second hand part 56b and grabbing mechanism 58 being rotatable about the rotating support 55e, these rotational movements being within the plane of the drawing in the condition shown in FIG. 2. The second hand part 56b can rotate about the second hand part 56b as a center with respect to the first hand part 56a. That is, the grabbing mechanism 58 at the end of the second hand part 56b also rotates integrally, so that the workpiece W is reversed front-to-rear.
The motor 81 and ball screw 75 or the like can be used as a drive mechanism to control these movements. By the two-direction movement of the locator 29 itself the positioning by the positioning pin 67 can be done so as to accommodate a wider variety of workpieces W. That is, it is possible to achieve a more universally usable locator jig 29
FIG. 8 shows a grabbing mechanism for grabbing the workpiece in the handling robot 55, as seen from the direction indicated as C in FIG. 2. A clamping mechanism 93 is provided on the lower four comers of the frame 91 of the grabbing mechanism 58. The clamping mechanism 93 has a fixed clamp pin 95 and a movable clamp pin 99 that moves between the position indicated by the solid line and the position indicated by the double-dot-dashed line, via a bracket 99 by means of a cylinder 97, and when the movable clamp 99 is at the position indicated by the solid line, the four corners of the workpiece W (front floor panel 31) are clamped from both the front and the rear surfaces.
When this is done, not all of the locator jigs 29 are used, the jigs used depending upon the type of vehicle, and surplus locator jigs 29 that are not used for positioning are used, for example, as shown in FIG. 11 through FIG. 14. The locator jig 29 here is indicated as a locator jig 29a that is not needed for positioning.
FIG. 11 shows a condition in which a workpiece W is positioned and held by locator jigs 29 positioned on the left and right sides thereof, the end of a positioning pin 67 of a center locator jig 29a supporting either a downward protrusion (indicated by solid lines) of the workpiece W or an upward protrusion (indicated by broken lines) Wa of the workpiece W, so as to prevent sagging thereof at that location. In FIG. 10, as a locator 29 to prevent sagging, there are the two locator jigs 29a supporting the lower surface of the vehicle body rear side (right side in FIG. 10) of the front floor panel 31.
FIG. 12 shows a condition in which a sideward protrusion Wa of a workpiece W supported positioned by two locator jigs 29 is supported from the bottom by a surplus locator jig 29a that is not used for positioning, thereby preventing falling over of the workpiece W.
FIG. 13 shows a condition in which a surplus locator jig 29a not used for positioning and adjacent to a locator jig 29 used for positioning of the workpiece W is used for preventing improper setting of the workpiece W. Here, the solid lines show the workpiece W properly set, and the double-dot-dashed line shows the workpiece W reversed left-to-right with respect to the properly setting attitude. In the improper setting condition, the positioning pin 67 of the locator jig 29a makes contact with the downwardly protruding part Wa of the workpiece W, thereby enabling distinguishing of the improperly set condition.
FIG. 14 shows a condition in which a workpiece detector 105 of a surplus locator jig 29a not used for positioning and which is adjacent to a locator jig 29 using for positioning of the workpiece W is used to detect the workpiece W. For example, with respect to a workpiece W1 of a vehicle type A, the workpiece detector 105 of the locator jig 29 itself performs workpiece detection, and with respect to a workpiece W2 of a vehicle type B, in addition to the workpiece detector 105 of the locator jig 29, the workpiece detector 105 of the locator jig 29a also performs workpiece detection, thereby enabling distinguishing of the type of vehicle.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 11 through FIG. 13, depending on the type of vehicle, it is possible to efficiently use a surplus locator jig 29a not used for positioning, so that, as shown in the example of FIG. 14, by using a workpiece detector 105 of an adjacent locator jig 29, it is possible to accommodate a case in which there is a restriction with regard to the method of detecting the workpiece W or the detection position.
At this time as well, depending upon the vehicle type, a surplus locator jig 29a that is not used in positioning exits. For example, as a locator jig 29 performing prevention of sagging of the workpiece W, there is a locator jig 29a supporting the lower surface of the vehicle body front side of the front floor panel 31 (left side in FIG. 16).
In FIG. 10, a locator jig 29 that positions a front seat mounting outer piece RH 37 and a front seat mounting outer piece LH 39 can become a surplus locator jig 29a, in which case the locator jigs 29 used are different from FIG. 10, or the method of using locator jigs 29 can be different, such as in the case in which a locator jig 29 moves along the guide rails 87 and 89 in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 and has a different position.
According to the embodiment described, a vehicle body assembly apparatus comprises a first mechanism (25, 27, 29, 29a) configured to selectively perform a first positioning in which a first set of small components (33, 35, 37, 39) to be mounted to (a front side as) one side of an arbitrary vehicle body part (W) of a plurality of kinds of vehicle body parts (VB) are positioned thereto, and a second positioning in which a second set of small components (41, 43, 45, 57) to be mounted to (a rear side as) another side of the arbitrary vehicle body part (W) are positioned thereto, and a second mechanism (49, 55) configured to selectively perform a first mounting in which the first set of small components (33, 35, 37, 39) are mounted to the arbitrary vehicle body part (W), and a second mounting in which the second set of small components (41, 43, 45, 57) are mounted to the arbitrary vehicle body part (W).
1. A vehicle body assembly apparatus comprising:
a first mechanism configured to selectively perform a first positioning in which a first set of small components to be mounted to one side of an arbitrary vehicle body part of a plurality of kinds of vehicle body parts are positioned thereto, and
a second positioning in which a second set of small components to be mounted to another side of the arbitrary vehicle body part are positioned thereto; and
a second mechanism configured to selectively perform a first mounting in which the first set of small components are mounted to the arbitrary vehicle body part, and
a second mounting in which the second set of small components are mounted to the arbitrary vehicle body part, and wherein one of the first and second mechanisms makes a reversing of the arbitrary vehicle body part between the first mounting and the second mounting.
2. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second mechanism is configured to perform the first mounting to be achieved by a first welding in which the first set of small components in the first positioning are welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part, the reversing, and the second mounting to be achieved by a second welding in which the second set of small components in the second positioning are welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part.
the first mechanism comprises a union of
a first set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the one side and to perform the first positioning, and
a second set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the other side and to perform the second positioning, and
the second mechanism comprises a combination of a plurality of welding robots and a handling robot configured to cooperatively perform the first welding, the reversing, and the second welding.
4. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second mechanism is configured to perform the first mounting to be achieved by a first welding in which the first set of small components in the first positioning are provisionally welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part,
the first mechanism is configured to perform the reversing, and the second mechanism is further configured to perform the second mounting to be achieved by a second welding in which the second set of small components in the second positioning are provisionally welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part,
the first mechanism is configured to perform the reversing, and
the second mechanism is further configured to perform the second mounting to be achieved by a second welding in which the second set of small components in the second positioning are provisionally welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part.
5. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
the first mechanism comprises
a union of a first set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the one side and to perform the first positioning, and a second set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the other side and to perform the second positioning, and
a handling robot configured to reverse the arbitrary vehicle body part and to place the reversed vehicle body part on the second set of jigs, and
the second mechanism comprises a plurality of welding robots configured to perform the first welding, and the second welding.
6. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a third mechanism configured to perform a reversing of the arbitrary vehicle body part between the first mounting and the second mounting.
the first mechanism comprises a union of a first set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the one side and to perform the first positioning, and a second set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the other side and to perform the second positioning,
the second mechanism comprises a plurality of welding robots configured to the first mounting to be achieved by a first welding in which the first set of small components in the first positioning are provisionally welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part, and the second mounting to be achieved by a second welding in which the second set of small components in the second positioning are provisionally welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part, and
the third mechanism comprises a handling robot configured to perform the reversing of the arbitrary vehicle body part.
8. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
a union of a first set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the one side in a first station and to perform the first positioning, and a second set of jigs configured to hold the arbitrary vehicle body part from the other side in a second station spaced from the first station and to perform the second positioning, and
a transporter configured to transport the union of the first and second set of jigs between the first and second stations, and
the second mechanism comprises a combination of a plurality of welding robots and a handling robot configured to perform in the second station the first mounting to be achieved by a welding in which the first set of small components in the first positioning are welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part, a reversing of the arbitrary vehicle body part subjected to the first mounting, and the second mounting to be achieved by a welding in which the second set of small components in the second positioning are welded to the arbitrary vehicle body part.
9. A vehicle body assembly apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a jig of a complementary set of the union of the first and second sets of jigs is configured to perform one of a supporting and a detection of the arbitrary vehicle body part.
first means for selectively performing
a first positioning in which a first set of small components to be mounted to one side of an arbitrary vehicle body part of a plurality of kinds of vehicle body parts are positioned thereto, and
second means for selectively performing
a first mounting in which the first set of small components are mounted to the arbitrary vehicle body part, and
11. A vehicle body assembly apparatus for welding a small component of a vehicle body part, comprising:
a moving stage that can move between a part setting station and a welding station;
a plurality of general-purpose jigs provided on the moving stage which position the vehicle body part and the small component at the part setting station;
a welder for welding together the vehicle body part and small component positioned on the general-purpose jig at the welding; and
a reverse for grabbing and turning over the vehicle body part after welding.
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Patent number: 6467675
Inventors: Hiromi Ozaku (Tokyo), Kousuke Yoshikawa (Kanagawa-ken)
Application Number: 09/631,621
Current U.S. Class: Plural Diverse Bonding (228/175); With Clamping Or Holding (228/212); And Unclamping (228/213); With Means To Handle Work Or Product (228/47.1)
International Classification: B23K/522; B23K/3102;