Source: https://patents.justia.com/patent/6193142
Timestamp: 2019-11-12 03:16:12
Document Index: 639039044

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 5', 'art 7', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 7', 'art 9', 'art 11', 'art 13', 'arts 9', 'arts 9', 'arts 9', 'art 9', 'art 11', 'art 13', 'arts 9', 'art 3', 'arts 9', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 7', 'art 7', 'art 7', 'art 7', 'art 503', 'art 507', 'arts 503', 'art 507']

US Patent for Assembling apparatus assembling body side of automotive vehicle and assembling method thereof Patent (Patent # 6,193,142 issued February 27, 2001) - Justia Patents Search
Justia Patents With Clamping Or HoldingUS Patent for Assembling apparatus assembling body side of automotive vehicle and assembling method thereof Patent (Patent # 6,193,142)
An assembling apparatus assembling a body side of an automotive vehicle, comprises: a moving body provided in a transfer line; a clamp member provided on the moving body for fixing and positioning a body side outer in an upright position in such a manner that a roof rail end of the body side outer is an upper portion and the side sill end of the body side outer is a lower portion; and a welding robot disposed in a side of the transfer line, the welding robot assembling the body side by welding the body side outer positioned by the clamp member.
Below are described several preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like members are designated by like reference characters.
The handling robots 15 and 17 are provided with robot hands 41 and 43 with grip portions 41a and 43a provided in upper and lower ends of the robot hands 41 and 43 as shown in FIG. 4 Positioning arms 41c and 43c are provided to serve as positioning portions in a center portion in the vertical direction. Two positioning arms 41c and 43c are respectively provided in each of the robot hands 41 and 43 as shown in FIG. 3.
The grip portions 41a and 43a respectively grip the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7 disposed on the temporary tables 19 and 21 to move these parts to the transfer apparatus 2. A robot 45 disposed in a right side of the temporary tables 19 and 21 in FIG. 4 sets the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7 on the temporary tables 19 and 21, and is disposed in such a manner as to move in the same direction as the transfer direction of the transfer apparatus 2. In this case, the grip portions 41a and 43a are omitted in FIG. 3.
The positioning mechanism 47 for positioning the positioning arms 41c and 43c of the handling robots 15 and 17 mentioned above is provided in the side portion opposite to the handling robots 15 and 17 in the transfer apparatus 2. In the positioning mechanism 47, as shown in FIG. 5, three supports 49 are provided along the transfer apparatus 2, and each of the supports 49 is connected to each other by a connecting member 51 extending along the transfer apparatus 2 at the upper end. Further, four supporting brackets 53 are projected upward on the connecting member 51, and a positioning portion 55 for positioning each of the robot arms 41 and 43 by inserting the front ends of the respective two positioning arms 41c and 43c therein is formed on the side portion of the upper end of the supporting bracket 53.
The position and the length of the supporting bracket 53 is set such that the positioning portion 55 is positioned so as to not interfere with the work-piece (the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7) as shown in FIG. 5, whereby the positioning operation of the positioning arms 41c and 43c can be performed from the side opposite to the work-pieces 5 and 7 with respect to the positioning portion 55. In a state that the positioning operation is performed, the welding robot 23 temporarily welds a B portion and a C portion shown in FIG. 5 which correspond to the connecting portions between the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7.
Next, an operation by the work-piece positioning apparatus in the first stage I mentioned above will be described below. The handling robots 15 and 17 respectively grip the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7 on the temporary tables 19 and 21 by the grip portions 41a and 43a so as to move the predetermined welding position on the transfer apparatus 2. At this time, the respective positioning arms 41c and 43c of the handling robots 15 and 17 are positioned and fixed by fitting the front ends thereof to the positioning portion 55 of the positioning mechanism 47. Due to this positioning and fixing, the front outer part 5 and the rear fender part 7 are set to the normal welding and connecting position to each other. In this state, the B portion and the C portion shown in FIG. 5 are welded by the welding robot 23 so that the front outer part and the rear fender part 7 are temporarily welded together.
A handling robot 57 serving as a first handling robot is provided in the right side facing the transfer direction of the transfer apparatus 2 in the third stage III mentioned above. The handling robot 57 is provided with a robot hand 59, and as shown in FIG. 7, a grip portion 59a for gripping the body side outer 3 corresponding to a first work-piece which is completed in the welding and connecting operation by additionally welded in the second stage II on the transfer apparatus 2 is provided in both vertical ends of a robot hand 59.
A positioning arm 59b serving as a positioning portion is provided at a position apart from the body side outer 3 near the both right and left ends of the robot hand 59, as shown in FIG. 6, and projects toward the handling robots 27, 29 and 31. A positioning mechanism 61 is provided on an opposite side of the transfer apparatus 2 with respect to the handling robot 57 Body side outer 3, gripped by robot hand 59, is positioned and fixed by inserting and fitting the front end of the positioning arm 59b into the positioning mechanism 61. The positioning arm 59b and the positioning mechanism 61 mentioned above are omitted in FIG. 7.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the robot hand 59 is provided with a combination arm 59c serving as a positioned portion projecting toward the handling robots 27, 29 and 31 near the center portion in the vertical direction in correspondence to respective robot hands 63, 65 and 67 of the handling robots 27, 29 and 31. The robot hands 63, 65 and 67 are omitted in FIG. 6. On the contrary, combination arms 63a, 65a and 67a corresponding to a positioning portion in which both arms are combined so as to be positioned and fixed by inserting and fitting a front end thereof to a fitting portion 69 are respectively provided in the robot hands 63, 65 and 67.
The robots hands 63, 65 and 67 mentioned above are provided with grip portions 63b, 65b and 67b for gripping the front pillar inner part 9, the center pillar inner part 11 and the rear pillar inner part 13 corresponding to a second work-piece in the vertical portions, and move the respective inner parts 9, 11 and 13 disposed on the temporary tables 33, 35 and 37 to the predetermined welding position of the body side outer 3 on the transfer apparatus 2 with gripping the respective inner parts 9, 11 and 13. A robot 71 (which is not illustrated in FIG. 6) disposed in the right portion of the temporary tables 33, 35 and 37 in FIG. 6 is used for setting the respective inner parts 9, 11 and 13 to the temporary tables 33, 35 and 37, and is disposed in such a manner as to move in the same direction as the transfer direction of the transfer apparatus 2.
In this case, the respective combination arms 59c, 63a, 65a and 67a are disposed at a position of not interfering the body side outer 3 in a state of positioning the first handling robot 57 to the positioning mechanism 61.
Next an operation by the work-piece positioning apparatus in the third stages 111 mentioned above will be described below. When the completely welded body side outer 3 exiting the second stage II is transferred to the third stage III, the handling robot 57 moves the robot hand 59 to the body side outer 3 so as to grip the body side outer 3 by the gripping portion 59a, and inserts and fits the positioning arm 59b to the positioning mechanism 61 so as to position and fix the robot hand 59.
Next, the gripping portions 63b, 65b and 67b in the robot hands 63, 65 and 67 of the handling robots 27, 29 and 31 respectively grip the front pillar inner part 9, the center pillar inner part 11, and the rear pillar inner part 13 on the temporary tables 33, 35 and 37 The handling robots 27, 29, and 31 then move their respective work-pieces to the predetermined welding portions of the body side outer 3 on the transfer apparatus 2. At this time, the front ends of the combination arms 63a, 65a and 67a of the robot hands 63, 65 and 67 are inserted and fitted to the front end of the combination arm 59c of the handling robot 57 so as to combine both the arms to each other. Accordingly, the robot hands 63, 65 and 67 respectively gripping the inner parts 9, 11 and 13 are positioned and fixed with respect to the robot hand 59 gripping the body side outer part 3.
As mentioned above, since the robot hand 59 gripping the body side outer 3 on the transfer apparatus 2 is positioned and fixed to the positioning mechanism 61, the rigidity of the robot hand 59 is increased so that the positional accuracy is improved. Further, since the robot hands 63, 65 and 67 gripping the inner parts 9, 11 and 13 are combined with the positioned and fixed robot hand 59 through the respective combination arms 59c and 63a, 65a and 67a, the rigidity of the robot hands 63, 65 and 67 can be increased and the positional accuracy thereof can be improved.
In the fifth stage V, the body side 1 obtained in the fourth stage IV is hung up by the lifter 133, and is transferred to the following stage. The lifter 133 is constituted by a drop lifter in which two supporting arms 133a are hung down from the overhead conveyor (not shown) so as to ascend and descend as shown in FIG. 15, and the body side 1 is hung up by the hook portion disposed in the lower end of the supporting arm 133a and is carried out.
The work-piece on the transfer apparatus 2 mentioned above is transferred with the lower ends of the side sills 5a and 7a in the respective lower portions of the front part 5 and the rear fender part 7 positioned and fixed by a clamp means 137 disposed on a moving body 135. The moving body 135 moves along a pair of guide rails 139 disposed to extend toward the transfer direction together with the clamp means 137.
In the locating clamp 522, as shown in FIG. 18, a clamping hook 522b is housed within a body 522a in such a manner as to move in the lateral direction by the piston and cylinder shown in the drawing. This lateral motion is performed by inserting and fitting a supporting pin 522c provided on the body 522a into a long hole provided in the clamp hook 522b. The long hole 522d is provided with a bent portion 522e in the rear end corresponding to the right end in the drawing, and the clamp hook 522b moves forward and the supporting pin 522c inserts into the bent portion 522e so that the clamp hook 522b becomes a state shown by a two dot chain line.
The body 522a is provided with an insertion portion 522f to be inserted into an inserting hole formed on the sub part 7 in the front end thereof. When the insertion portion 522f is inserted into the inserting hole of the sub part 7, the clamp hook 522b moves toward the front end as shown in the two dot chain line and a hook portion 522g disposed in the front end is inserted into the insertion portion 522f. However, at a time of clamping the sub part 7 the clamp hook 522b is retracted backward and the hook portion 522g projects from the side portion of the insertion portion 522f, so that the sub part 7 can be clamped between the hook portion 522g and the body 522a.
In this case, the work-piece comprising the main part 503 and the sub part 507 have welding portions on both top and bottom sides, as depicted in FIG. 17, and from a central space portion therebetween when the two parts are connected An upper portion of the work-piece comprising parts 503, 507 near the upper welding portion is held by the holding portion 523 and a portion of the work-piece near the other welding portion disposed in the lower portion in FIG. 17 is supported by the contact portion 525 by bringing into contact with the sub part 507.
An air cylinder 539 is attached to the portion opposite to the portion to which the fixing arm 527 of the supporting bracket 521 is mounted, and the front end of a rod 539a of the air cylinder 539 is fixed to the base end of the movable arm 531. Accordingly, the movable arm 531 is rotated around the connecting portion to the connecting link 529 by operating the air cylinder 539, and is displaced between the held position shown in FIG. 17 and the non-held position shown in FIG. 19.
1. An assembling method for assembling a body side of an automotive vehicle, comprising the steps of:
clamping a lower side sill end of a body side outer to a moving body by a clamp member provided on the moving body so that the clamp member fixes and positions the lower side sill end of the body side outer to the moving body in an upright position, wherein the body side outer is fixed in such a manner that a roof rail end of the body side outer is positioned substantially above the side sill end of the body side outer; and
transferring the body side outer in the upright position by the moving body along a transfer line to a next welding stage of the transfer line.
2. The assembling method for assembling a body side of an automotive vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
setting a plurality of work-pieces to be welded to a predetermined welding position of the body side outer by handling robots.
3. The assembling method for assembling a body side of an automotive vehicle according to claim 2, further comprising the step of:
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Assistant Examiner: Colleen Cooke
Application Number: 08/998,018
Current U.S. Class: With Clamping Or Holding (228/212); Means To Move Applicator (228/32); With Means To Handle Work Or Product (228/47.1); And Unclamping (228/213); Progressively Advancing Of Work Assembly Station Or Assembled Portion Of Work (29/429); 29/200
International Classification: B23K/522; B23K/3102; B23K/3700; B21D/3903;