JPH03213247A - Two-position select indexing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make selectively turning possible to an accurate position over an angular range of two kinds by providing a stopper and a stopper arm for restricting a turn stroke end of a turning member which can be reciprocation- turned with a shaft serving as the center by a rotary actuator. CONSTITUTION:When a rod 164 of an actuator 162 is actuated in an extension side, a point end part 165 of a stopper arm 153 is protruded on a turn locus of a turning member 150. Here the turning member 150 can be turned in a 60 deg. range from the initial position till the turning member 150 hits the point end part 165 of the arm 153. When the rod 164 of the actuator 162 is actuated in a contraction side, the turning member 150 can be turned in a 180 deg. range by retracting the point end part 165 of the arm 153 from the upper of the turn locus of the turning member 150. In such a way as mentioned, a holder for holding a workpiece or the like can be selectively turned to an accurate position over an angular range of two kinds.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is a device that can be used to selectively rotate a workpiece in two different angle ranges in a device that handles six types of workpieces. The present invention relates to a two-position switching indexing device.

(Prior Art) A Zeppa joint 1 as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 is used as a constant velocity joint in a driving force transmission system of an automobile. The Tsuetsuba joint 1 includes an outer ring 4 having a shaft portion 2 and a bowl-shaped portion 3, a cage 5 that is swingably housed inside the outer ring 4, and an inner ring 6 that is swingably housed inside the cage 5. , and six balls 7. The ball 7 is fitted into a ball groove 8 provided in the outer ring 4, an opening window 9 provided in the cage 5, and a ball groove 10 provided in the inner ring 6. An internally toothed center hole 11 is provided in the center of the inner ring 6 .

Outer ring as above 4. Cage 5. Since a certain "trick" is required to assemble the Tsuetsupa joint 1 consisting of the inner ring 6, etc., automatic assembly by a machine was thought to be difficult. Therefore, conventionally the assembly work was carried out manually, but the present inventors have developed an automatic assembly machine that can automatically assemble the Tetsupa joint 1.

In the automatic assembly machine developed by the present inventors, the balls 7 are assembled in the order shown in FIGS. 18 to 27. First, an outline of this ball assembly procedure will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 18, the outer ring 4, the cage 5, and the inner ring 6
One ball 7a is inserted in advance into an assembly consisting of. Then, as shown in FIG. 19, two balls 7b are inserted into the ball groove 8 located 180 degrees opposite to the single ball 7a.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 20, the entire assembly is rotated 60'' clockwise, and then
As shown in FIG. 1, three balls 7C are inserted into the ball groove 8.

Thereafter, the entire assembly is rotated 180' clockwise as shown in FIG.
d is inserted.

Next, as shown in FIG. 24, the assembly is again rotated 60'' clockwise in the drawing, and then the five-hole ball 7e is inserted into the ball groove 8, as shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 26, after the assembly is rotated 180° clockwise in the drawing, six balls 7f are inserted into the ball groove 8 as shown in FIG. 27.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) When assembling the balls 7 in the above order, it is possible to selectively rotate the outer ring 4 around the axis by two different angles to an accurate position. A two-position switching indexing device is required, but there has been no suitable device to date that satisfies this need, and the development of one has been desired.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a two-position switching indexing device that can selectively rotate a workpiece or the like to a predetermined position in two different angle ranges in an automatic assembly machine or the like that handles the workpiece or the like. be.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The device of the present invention developed to achieve the above object has the following features:
As conceptually shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a rotating member 150 is provided to be rotatable back and forth about a shaft 143, and a rotation actuator 1 that rotationally drives the rotating member 150.
44, and the rotating member 150 has a wide angle range (for example, 180@
), and first and second stoppers 151 and 152 restrict the rotation stroke end of the rotating member 150 so that the rotating member 150 reciprocates within a small angle range (for example, 60°).
) is provided with a stopper arm 153 that restricts the end of the rotational stroke of the rotational member 150 so that the rotational member 150 reciprocates.

The stopper arm 153 is provided so as to be rotatable about a fixed shaft 160 that is parallel to the shaft 143 of the rotating member 150 . This stopper arm 153 has two positions: a first position where it is retracted from the rotation locus of the rotating member 150 as shown in FIGS. is provided so as to be displaceable over a second position protruding on the rotation locus of. This stopper arm 153 is reciprocated in the above direction by a stopper driving actuator 162.

Note that, if necessary, one of the drive-side shafts 143 may be
The rolling force may be transmitted to the wave-side shaft 128.

(Function) When the stopper arm 153 is in the first position shown in FIG. 1, the rotating member 150 rotates over a wide angle range until it hits the stopper 152 on the fixed side as shown in FIG. can do. When the stopper arm 153 is in the second position shown in FIG. 3, the pivoting member 150 rotates within a small angle to a position where it abuts the stopper arm 153 as shown in FIG.

When the rotating member 150 and the stopper arm 153 return from the state shown in FIG. 4 to the initial state shown in FIG.
, 1.60, the pivoting member 150 and the stopper arm 153 can return quickly if the pivoting member 150 and the stopper arm 153 are configured to return to their original positions by pivoting to the same side in synchronization with each other.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The two-position switching indexing device 120 according to the present invention has a fifth position.
Ball assembly device 1 for the Tetsuba joint shown in the figure
5, it is used to rotate the outer ring holder 16 in one direction by a predetermined angle around a vertical axis.

The outer ring 4 is held by an outer ring holder 16 with its end surface 4a facing upward. Inside the outer ring 4, a cage 5, an inner ring 6, and one ball 7a are assembled in advance. In the initial state, this outer ring 4 is connected to the first ball 7a.
is held by a clamp mechanism (not shown) so that it faces to the left in FIG. The outer ring holder 16 is attached to a turntable 17 (only a portion of which is shown in FIG. 10) that rotates intermittently in a horizontal plane.

A fixed base 18 (see FIG. 5) is provided on the side of the turntable 17. A base body 19 is mounted on the fixed base 18.
has been erected. A pair of left and right vertical guide members 20 (only one of which is shown) is provided on the front side of the base body 19 . An elevating unit 25 is provided along the guide member 20 so as to be movable up and down. The elevating unit 25 is driven up and down with a predetermined stroke by an actuator 26 such as an air cylinder. A lower stroke end of the lifting unit 25 is regulated by a stopper 27.

The lifting unit 25 has a base structure 30 extending in the horizontal direction, and a pair of left and right leg members 31 and 32 (see FIG. 6) extending downward are provided on the lower surface side of the base structure 30. Bearings 33 and 34 are provided on the leg members 31 and 32, and the head unit 37 is supported by these bearings 33 and 34 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal axis.

The head unit 37 includes a pair of left and right shafts 38 and 39, an inverted U-shaped bridge structure 40 provided between these shafts 38 and 39, and a shaft member 42 attached to the bridge structure 40. has been done. The end portion 45 of the shaft member 42 is dimensioned to be insertable into the center hole 11 of the inner ring 6.

Lower arms 50 (only a portion of which is shown in FIG. 5) are attached to the shafts 38 and 39, respectively. The lower arm 50 is connected to the lower end of the connection unit 51. The upper end of the connection unit 51 is connected to a drive arm 52. The base of the drive arm 52 is fixed to a drive shaft 53. This drive shaft 53 is connected to an actuator 54 such as an air cylinder.
It is rotated by.

That is, when the rod 55 of the actuator 54 moves toward the contraction side, the drive arm 52 rotates downward, and the connection unit 51 is pushed down, thereby lowering the lower arm 50.
rotates downward, and the head unit 37 rotates to the position shown in figure m8, that is, to the position where the shaft member 42 falls down by about 75@. When the rod 55 of the actuator 54 moves to the extension side, the head unit 37 moves to the position shown in FIG. 5 or 7.
The configuration is such that the shaft member 42 rotates to the position shown in the figure, that is, to a position in which the shaft member 42 faces downward.

The connection unit 51 includes a first member 61 and a first member 6.
1, the second member 62 is movably inserted in the axial direction.
, and a compression coil spring 63 that biases both members 61 and 62 in the direction of extension. A cage holding arm 70 is provided above the cage 5.

A ball driving mechanism 85 is provided at the bottom of the lifting unit 25. The ball driving mechanism 85 will be explained below.

As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, etc., the base structure 3
A zinc 87 having a ball passage 86 is provided below the ball. A ball take-out port 88 is provided at the lower end opening side of the ball passage 86 and is large enough to take out the balls 7 one by one. A ball supply pipe 90 is connected to the ball passage 86.

A bushing rod 95 for pushing out the balls 7 one by one is inserted into a through hole 94 provided in the housing 87 so as to be movable in the axial direction.

The tip end 96 of the bushing rod 95 is capable of reciprocating from a standby position shown in FIG. 7 to an advanced position shown in FIG. 9. A rear end portion of the bushing rod 95 is connected to a first end 99 of a drive member 98 via a pin 97.
It is connected to the. The drive member 98 is rotatable about the shaft 100.

As shown in FIG. 5, second end 101 of drive member 98
is connected to the rod 103 of the actuator 102. When the rod 103 of the actuator 102 is driven to the extension side, the drive member 98 rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure around the shaft 100, and the bushing rod 95 moves forward.

The outer ring holder 16 has two parts shown in FIGS. 10 to 15.
The position switching indexing device 120 allows the indexing device 120 to be rotated in one direction (for example, clockwise) around a vertical axis by 60° and 180”.
0 will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 11 and the like, a housing 122 is provided on the lower surface side of the substrate 121. This housing 12
2, drive shaft unit 124 by bearing 123
is rotatably supported around a vertical axis. The drive shaft unit 124 includes a hollow spindle 126, a wave gear 127 mounted on the spindle 126, and an elevating shaft that is held movable in the axial direction (vertical direction) by spline engagement with the inside of the spindle 126. A shaft 128 and a chuck 12 provided on the upper end side of this elevating shaft 128
9 and a flange body 1 provided on the lower end side of the lifting shaft 128.
30, etc.

One end 132 of a rotating arm 131 is engaged with the flange body 130 . The other end 133 of the rotating arm 131 is connected to an output end 135 of the actuator 134. Output end 13 of this actuator 134
5 moves toward the extension side as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
is configured to mesh with an engaging portion 136 (see FIG. 10) of the outer ring holder 16. Further, a suppressing member 137 is provided to provide resistance to the rotation of the spindle 126.

The wave gear 127 is always meshed with the drive gear 141. Both gears 127 and 141 have the same number of teeth. Drive gear 141 is connected to drive shaft 143 via one-way clutch 142. This drive shaft 143 is rotatably driven by a rotary actuator 144 that can rotate in forward and reverse directions.

A rotating member 150 is fixed to the drive shaft 143.

This rotating member 150 rotates together with the drive shaft 143, and can reciprocate within a range of 180'' between the first and second stoppers 151 and 152, as shown in FIG. In addition, this rotating member 150
An intermediate stopper mechanism 154 equipped with a stopper arm 153 that can move forward and backward on a rotational locus allows reciprocating rotation within a range of 60° to an intermediate position shown in FIG. Shock absorbers 155° and 156 for buffering are provided near the stoppers 151° and 152, respectively.

The intermediate stopper mechanism 154 includes the stopper arm 153
and an actuator 162 that drives this arm 153.
It is equipped with shock killer 163, etc. When the rod 164 of the actuator 162 moves to the extension side, the tip 165 of the stopper arm 153 protrudes onto the rotation trajectory of the rotation member 150, as shown in FIG. In this case, the rotating member 150 can rotate within a range of 60 degrees from the initial position shown in FIG. 12 until it hits the tip 165 of the arm 153 as shown in FIG. When the rod 164 of the actuator 162 is operated in the retracting side, the arm 153 is moved as shown in FIG.
The configuration is such that the tip portion 165 of the rotary member 150 is retracted from the rotation locus of the rotary member 150, so that the rotary member 150 can rotate within a range of 180e.

Next, the operation of the embodiment device 15 having the above configuration will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 5, an assembly consisting of an outer ring 4, a cage 5, and an inner ring 6 is transported to a ball assembly device 15 while being held by an outer ring holder 16. As shown in FIG. The first ball 7a is placed inside the above assembly in advance.
is inserted.

The lifting actuator 26 operates, and the y1 lowering unit 2
5 descends, the head unit 37 descends. As a result, the end portion 45 of the shaft member 42 is inserted into the center hole 11 of the inner ring 6, as shown in FIG.

By operating the tilting actuator 54 in the above state, the head unit 37 is tilted 75 degrees as shown in FIG. Therefore, the inner ring 6 is tilted by 75'', and the cage 5 is tilted by 37'' by the cage holding arm 70.
It stops when it is slightly tilted.

With the cage 5 and inner ring 6 tilted to a predetermined angle by the above process, the ball driving actuator 102 operates to move the bushing rod 95 forward. This results in
As shown in FIG.
is driven into the ball groove 10 of the inner ring 6.

Thereafter, by operating the tilting actuator 54 in the opposite direction to that described above, the cage 5 and the inner ring 6 are returned to their original positions, as shown in FIG.

The series of ball insertion steps described above are illustrated in FIGS. 18 to 2.
By repeating the sequence shown in FIG. 7, five balls 7b to 7f are inserted.

As shown in FIG. 20 or 24, when the outer ring 4 is rotated 60'' clockwise in the drawing, this rotation angle is determined by the rotation angle of the stopper arm 153 as shown in FIG. In this case, the drive shaft 143 is regulated by protruding onto the trajectory.
44 in the counterclockwise direction from the initial state shown in FIG.
1), and the wave gear 127 meshing with this gear 141 rotates clockwise as shown in FIG. 14. Then, when the rotation member 150 rotates 60'', the tip portion 1 of the stopper arm 153
It hits 65 and stops rotating.

When the wave gear 127 rotates 60'' in this way, the lifting shaft 1
28 also rotates 60'' together with the chuck 129. Since this chuck 129 has been raised by the Y-eye actuator 134 to a position where it engages with the engaging portion 136 of the outer ring holder 16, as the chuck 129 rotates,
The outer ring holder 16 rotates 60 degrees clockwise.

After the outer ring holder 16 has rotated 60 degrees, the stopper actuator 162 is operated to the retracting side, and the stopper arm 153 is rotated to the retracted position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 144 rotates clockwise, the drive shaft 143
The rotating member 150 also rotates clockwise and returns to its initial state. When the drive shaft 143 rotates in this direction (reverse direction),
Since the one-way clutch 142 slips and spins idly, the rotational force of the actuator 144 is not substantially transmitted to the drive gear 141, and a moderate rotational resistance is applied to the spindle 126 by the suppressing member 137 (see FIG. 10). Therefore, there is no possibility that the elevating shaft 128 will be reversed. That is, the elevating shaft 128 rotates in only one direction.

As shown in FIG. 22 or FIG. 26, the outer ring 4 is
When rotated 80", the end 165 of the stopper arm 153 is rotated by the pivot member 150, as shown in FIG.
The rotating member 150 rotates 180e due to being moved away from the rotational trajectory of the rotating member 150 . In this way, the drive shaft 14
3 has rotated 180e, the drive shaft 143 is reversed by the actuator 144, and the pivot member 150 is rotated clockwise to return to the initial position shown in FIG.

In this case as well, since the one-way clutch 142 idles, the spindle 126 will not rotate in the reverse direction.

After all the balls for one Zeppa joint have been inserted through the above steps, the outer ring holder 16 holding the new outer ring 4 moves to the bottom of the device 15 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The initial state shown in is returned to and a new ball assembly cycle is repeated.

The two-position switching indexing device of the present invention can be used in various devices other than the ball assembly device 15 of the Tsutsupa joint.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the holder etc. that holds the work etc.
can be selectively rotated to precise positions over a similar angular range.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1114 to 4 are plan views conceptually showing the configuration and operation mode of the two-position switching indexing device according to the present invention, respectively;
Fig. 5 is a side view, partially in section, of an example of a Zeppa joint ball assembly device, Fig. 6 is a front view of the head unit portion of the device shown in Fig. 5, and Figs. 7 to 9. 10 is a partially sectional side view showing a ball driving mechanism with different operating modes, FIG. 10 is a partially sectional front view showing an embodiment of the two-position switching indexing device of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a longitudinal sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 10, and FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a part of the device shown in FIG.
13 is a side view of a part of the device shown in FIG. 10; FIGS. 14 and 15 are cross-sectional plan views showing mutually different operating modes of the part of the device shown in FIG. 1O; 16th
17 is an exploded perspective view of the Zeppa joint, and FIGS. 18 to 27 are cross-sectional views showing the ball insertion process in order. 1... Tsuetsuba joint, 4... Outer ring, 5...
Poppy, 6...Inner ring, 7,7a-7f...Ball, 1
5... Ball assembly device, 120... 2-position switching indexing device, 144... Rotation actuator, 150...
- Swivel member, 151...first stopper, 152...
-Second stopper, 153...stopper arm, 16
2... Actuator for driving the stopper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A rotating member provided to be reciprocatingly rotatable about an axis; a rotation actuator for rotationally driving the rotating member; first and second stoppers that regulate the end of the rotational stroke of the rotational member; a first stopper that is rotatable about an axis parallel to the axis of the rotational member and that is retracted from the rotational trajectory of the rotational member and a second position protruding on the rotation locus of the rotating member, and when the rotating member is in the second position, the rotating member has a second angular range narrower than the first angular range. A two-position switching split comprising: a stopper arm that restricts the rotation stroke end of the rotation member so that it rotates within an angular range; and a stopper drive actuator that drives the stopper arm in the direction. Output device.