JPH04252702A - Tire mounting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible that a tire is automatically mounted aligning itself with the wheel toe-in and camber by allowing a moving means having the degree-of-freedom of motion of three orthogonal axes and two rotational axes to support a hand unit wherein a tire hand and a nut runner unit are installed on the same straight line. CONSTITUTION:The degree-of-freedom of three orthogonal axes in X, Y, Z directions and the degree-of-freedom of two rotational axes in theta, gamma directions corresponding to wheel toe-in and camber are given to a moving means 302. A hand unit 55 wherein a tire hand 74 that graps a tire W and is capable of sliding in the direction perpendicular to the turning center of a theta axis base 301 and a nut runner unit 79 are provided on the same straight line and an air cylinder 77 are provided above the theta axis base 301 of the moving means 302. After the attitude of the tire W grasped by the tire hand 74 aligned with the toe-in and camber of a wheel hub is corrected, the tire hand 74 is moved forward to mount the tire W on a wheel hub.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically attaching a tire with a wheel to a wheel hub on a vehicle body in an automobile assembly process.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A tire mounting device of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 122783/1983. As shown in Figure 22, this device operates in the vehicle body longitudinal direction (X
a base 501 movable in the direction), a vertical support 502 rotatable in the φ direction, a movable body 503 movable in the vertical direction (Y direction), and a drive shaft movable in the vehicle width direction (Z direction). A tire gripping device 505 with a built-in nut runner 511 is provided at the tip of the drive shaft 504 so as to be rotatable in the θ direction, while a support shaft 506 parallel to the drive shaft 504 is equipped with a camera. A detector 507 such as the like is provided.

[0003] The tire 508 is supported in advance by a tire gripping device 505 in such a position that the position of the bolt hole of the wheel matches the reference coordinates of the detector 507. Each axis is driven synchronously.

Therefore, the position of the bolt 510 of the brake drum 509 is detected by the detector 507 to calculate the center position of the brake drum 509, and then the center position of the brake drum 509 is calculated using the X-axis and the Y-axis. 507. Further, when the detector 507 is rotated in the θ direction until the position of the bolt 510 matches the reference coordinates of the detector 507, the tire gripping device 505
also rotates in the θ direction, and the bolt 51 of the brake drum 509
The phase of 0 matches the phase of the bolt hole of the wheel.

In this state, there is an offset amount Y0 between the center of the brake drum 509 and the center of the tire gripping device 505, so after the above phase alignment is completed, the moving body 503 is moved upward by the offset amount Y0. By doing so, the center of the brake drum 509 and the center of the tire gripping device 505 can be aligned. Then, by moving the tire gripping device 505 forward relative to the brake drum 509 using the drive shaft 504, the bolts 510 on the brake drum 509 side and the bolt holes on the wheel side can be fitted together, and then nuts can be tightened. can.

[0006]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] The brake drum of a car on which tires are mounted has toe-in (the inclination of the brake drum when the car is viewed from above) and camber (the inclination of the brake drum when the car is viewed from the front). ), so the tire mounting device that mounts the tire needs to have a degree of freedom that can accommodate toe-in and camber.

However, in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 22, the vertical support 502 only has rotational freedom in the φ direction, so even if it can accommodate the toe-in of the brake drum 509, the camber cannot respond to

[0008] Therefore, if the brake drum 509 has toe-in and camber, it is not possible to mount a tire on the brake drum 509 from a direction perpendicular to its surface, making automatic tire mounting impossible. Sometimes.

Furthermore, as an alternative to the above structure, there is an automatic wheel nut tightening device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-24758. In this automatic wheel nut tightening device, the tire gripping portion has a degree of freedom in the vertical direction corresponding to the camber in addition to the degrees of freedom in the X, Y, and Z directions shown in FIG. Even if it is possible to align the central axis of the tire so that it is perpendicular to the surface of the brake drum by giving an angle in the elevation direction to Since the tire is not aligned horizontally (Z direction), it is not possible to smoothly insert the tire into the bolt of the brake drum.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and even if the wheel hub to which the tire is mounted has toe-in and camber, the center of the tire relative to the center of the wheel hub is The purpose of the present invention is to provide a structure in which the axes can be aligned perpendicular to the surface, and the tire can be smoothly inserted and mounted on the wheel hub by moving the tire hand forward along the central axis of the tire. shall be.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention mounts a tire with a wheel on a wheel hub of an automobile having toe-in and camber, in which the hub bolt on the wheel hub side and the bolt hole on the wheel side are aligned in advance. In the tire mounting device, an a Z-axis base that is provided on the shaft base so as to be movable up and down and swingable in the vertical direction corresponding to the camber; and a Z-axis base that is provided on the Z-axis base and is swingable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle corresponding to the toe-in. It is constructed mainly of a moving means having a degree of freedom of movement in three orthogonal axes and a degree of freedom of movement in two rotational axes in the toe-in direction and the camber direction. Further, a tire hand, which is provided on the θ-axis base of the moving means and is capable of gripping a tire and slide in a direction perpendicular to the rotation center of the θ-axis base, and a nut runner unit for tightening nuts are arranged on the same axis. and a slide drive means provided on the θ-axis base of the moving means to slide the tire hand.

0012

[Operation] According to this structure, the phase of the hub bolt of the wheel hub and the phase of the bolt hole of the wheeled tire held by the tire hand are matched in advance, and, for example, the center position of the wheel hub, toe-in, and camber are determined. This information is fed back to the drive system of the transportation means. As a result, the moving means has degrees of freedom in the three orthogonal axes of X, Y, and Z, as well as degrees of freedom in the θ and γ directions corresponding to toe-in and camber. Align the axis so that it is perpendicular to the center of the wheel hub. If only the tire hand is moved forward in this state, the tire will be smoothly inserted into the wheel hub, which has toe-in and camber, from a direction perpendicular to its surface.

[0013]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the outline of the entire tire mounting system including the tire mounting device of the present invention will be explained based on FIGS. 10 is a tire transport conveyor installed above the vehicle body transport line 1, S1 is a tire mounting station, and Sb is a backup station installed after the tire mounting station S1. The tire mounting station S1 serves as a tire mounting device installed on both sides of the vehicle body conveyance line 1, and has a total of 4 tire mounting stations.
A tire mounting unit 50, a tire phasing device 20 that also serves as a tire delivery device, and a nut supply device 1
10, a wheel hub attitude detection device 80 (see FIGS. 3 to 5) attached to the side of the tire mounting unit 50, a tire discharge conveyor 140 serving as a tire discharge area, a nut discharge device 150, etc. On the other hand, the backup station Sb is equipped with a manual rat runner 8 in place of the tire mounting unit 50 described above.

At the tire mounting station S1, the tire phasing device 20 receives the tires W dropped from the tire conveyor 10, performs phasing, and transfers the tires W with completed phasing onto the tire mounting unit 50. hand unit 55 (Figs. 3 to 5)
) is gripped, attached to the wheel hub H, and tightened with a nut.

At this time, in the unlikely event that the tire W is attached to the wheel hub H (
(see FIG. 11), if any abnormality occurs, such as when the tire cannot be mounted on the side, the relevant tire mounting unit 50 retreats to the reverse limit position and discharges the tire W it is gripping onto the tire discharge conveyor 140. Therefore, the tires W that could not be mounted at the tire mounting station S1 are sent to the backup station Sb, and at this backup station Sb, they are manually mounted by an operator after waiting for the vehicle body B sent from the tire mounting station S1. . For example, if it takes a long time to process the above-mentioned abnormality due to a failure of the tire mounting unit 50 itself, the loading of the tires W from the tire conveyor 10 to the tire mounting station S1 may be delayed. The tire W is transported to the end of the tire transport conveyor 10 and sent directly to the backup station Sb without being carried out, and at this backup station Sb, the tire W is temporarily installed manually by a worker. You will be killed.

Next, the details of each of the above-mentioned devices will be explained in order. First, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the vehicle body B has a clamp device 4 and a gauge plate 5 provided at appropriate positions on the bogie 2. The carriage 2 is firmly positioned and clamped by the carriage 2, and is linearly conveyed along with the carriage 2 on the car body conveyance line 1. That is, the vehicle body B is positioned relative to the truck 2 with respect to the gauge plate 5 by pushing down the entire vehicle body, for example, with a clamp device 4 that engages with tow hook portions at the front and rear of the vehicle body.

Since the tire transport conveyor 10 is disposed directly above the vehicle body transport line 1 at a predetermined inclination, it is branched into left and right sub-conveyors 11a and 11b at the stage before the tire mounting station S1, as shown in FIG. , these sub-conveyors 11a, 11b are extended to backup station Sb. As shown in FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B), the branching portion 12 is provided with a slider 14 that reciprocates in the horizontal direction by an air cylinder 13, thereby moving the tires W onto the left and right sub-conveyors 11.
It is arranged to be distributed to a and 11b.

[0019] Furthermore, the left and right sub-conveyors 11a, 11b
A tire loading mechanism 15 is provided at a position directly above the tire phasing device 20. As shown in FIG. 7, this tire loading mechanism 15 includes a retractable stopper 16 that stops the tires W conveyed on the sub-conveyors 11a and 11b, and a retractable stopper 16 that allows the tires W stopped by the stopper 16 to stand upright. The tire phasing device, which will be described later, is composed of a movable conveyor 17 that changes its posture and drops its own weight, and a sliding shutter 19 that temporarily stops the tires W whose posture has been changed to an upright position in a chute 18. 20 lifters 2
The tire W is held in an upright position until someone 4 comes to pick it up. Then, by placing the stopper 16 in the retracted state, the tire W is moved to the tire mounting station S.
The structure is such that it can be directly transported to the backup station Sb without dropping it to the back-up station Sb.

The tire phasing device 20 is for matching the phase of the bolt hole 9 (FIG. 10) on the wheel R side with the phase of the hub bolt 21 (see FIGS. 8 and 11) of the wheel hub H. It is configured as shown in FIG. In FIGS. 9 and 18, 22 is a base;
3 is a main body provided on the base 22 and includes a vertical substrate 43; 18 is a main body located above the main body 23;
This is a chute for putting tires W on the side. Board 4
3 is attached with a large number of ball casters 211 for smooth loading of the tire W and rotation of the tire W, and the tangential plane shared by the balls of each ball caster 211 functions as a vertical tire regulating surface. here,
A large number of ball casters 211 are arranged in several rows at a predetermined pitch so that they contact the highest part of the sidewall even when the size of the tire W changes.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a lifter that is guided by a guide rod 26 by the action of an air cylinder 25 and moves up and down between the solid line position in FIG. 18 and the imaginary line position directly below the shooter 18. roller 21
2 is installed.

Further, reference numeral 27 denotes a tire pedestal that is provided so as to be able to be raised and lowered by crossing the lifter 24 so as not to interfere with the lifter 24. When a signal is applied, the roller 30 moves up and down to a position suitable for the tire size and diameter of the vehicle type, and the tire receiving surface is equipped with a roller 30 that is rotationally driven by a motor 29 via a belt or the like. The height position of the tire pedestal 27 is confirmed and detected by a group of multiple photoelectric switches 31 provided on the side thereof. In other words, when the lifter 24 rises to the bottom of the chute 18, the shutter 19 at the bottom of the chute 18 is temporarily retracted, thereby causing the chute 1
Tire W, which was waiting in an upright position inside 8, is lifter 2.
4, and the lifter 24 descends again, so that the tire W can be transferred to the tire holder 27.

A slider 32 is installed above the tire holder 27 and slides horizontally by the operation of an air cylinder 33.The slider 32 has two locating pins 34 and a light receiving device for a photoelectric switch 35 serving as a detector. In addition to the container 35B, a tire centering center 36 that is movable relative to the slider 32 is provided. In other words, the locate pins 34 and the light receivers 35B arranged around the center 36 are located on the pitch circle of the four bolt holes 9 on the wheel R side, and the arrangement pitch of the locate pins 34 and the light receivers 35B is Bolt hole 9
The pitch is set to match that of the two. The center 36 moves forward and backward relative to the slider 32 by the operation of an air cylinder 213, and the forward limit and backward limit positions of the center 6 and the slider 32 are detected by limit switches 214 to 217, respectively.

[0024] Here, a plurality of types of tires W of different sizes are put into the tire phasing device 20, but the number of bolt holes 9 and pitch circle diameter of the wheel R are unified in advance regardless of the tire size. There is.

Reference numeral 37 denotes a swing arm that can be rotated about a hinge pin 39 by the operation of an air cylinder 38, and the light receiver 35 is attached to the tip of this swing arm 37.
The light emitter 35A of the photoelectric switch 35 corresponding to B is attached, and the swing arm 37 is rotated to illuminate the light receiver 35.
Only when B and the light projector 35A face each other does it function as a photoelectric switch.

A pair of tire positioning arms 40 are provided on both sides of the tire W on the tire pedestal 27 so as to face each other (however, in FIG. 9, only one positioning arm 40 is shown). is drawn above the tire W), this positioning arm 40 is connected to the air cylinder 41
The rotating cylinder 4 slides due to the operation of the cylinder 4.
4, and is provided with a guide roller 42 at the tip.

In the tire phasing device 20 configured as described above, when the lifter 24 rises and receives the tire W from the chute 18, the lifter 2
4 goes down again. Then, the tire W is gradually lowered while being guided by the ball caster 211, and the tire W is transferred onto the tire pedestal 27 which is waiting in advance at a position commensurate with the tire size and diameter. Tire W is tire pedestal 2
7, the positioning arm 40 moves to the right in FIG. 9, restrains the tire W, presses its sidewall portion against the substrate 43 side, and positions the tire W. As a result, the tire W is restrained in a vertical position.

Next, the slider 32 moves forward with respect to the tire W from the rear side by the operation of the air cylinder 33. This forward movement stops once at the middle position of the total stroke of the air cylinder 33, and instead, the center 36 moves forward independently due to the operation of the air cylinder 213, and the center 36 fits into the center hole 218 of the wheel R to perform centering. I do. At this time, the tire W is centered by the center 36 and is slightly lifted off the roller 30 of the tire pedestal 27, so the tire pedestal 27 rises slightly to follow this, and the tire W and the roller 30 are separated from each other. Press again. Note that the rising operation at this time is performed by the air cylinder 20.
done by 0.

Thereafter, the roller 30 is rotationally driven by the motor 29, so that the tire W rotates about the center 36, and during this rotation, the light emitting/receiving device 35A of the photoelectric switch 35 is inserted through any one of the bolt holes 9. ,3
When the optical axes between the optical axes 5B and 5B are connected, the rotation of the roller 30 immediately stops. Since the four bolt holes 9 are indexed by this, the slider 32 is moved forward by the operation of the air cylinder 33 at the same time as the rotation of the roller 30 is stopped, and the locate pin 34 is indexed to the two bolt holes 9 of the wheel R. The phasing of the tires W is completed by fitting them and positioning the tires W in the rotational direction.

When the locate pin 34 is inserted into the bolt hole 9 as described above, the center 36 is moved back independently by the operation of the air cylinder 213, and the air cylinder 20
0, the tire pedestal 27 is slightly lowered, so that the tire W is supported only by the locating pin 34 and continues to be positioned.

Further, by the operation of the air cylinder 38, the swing arm 37 turns and retracts to the imaginary line position shown in FIG. A hand unit 55 equipped with a tire hand 74 advances from the front side of the tire W, and grips three positions on the circumference of the tire W with the tire hand 74, as shown in FIG.

When the tire hand 74 grips the tire W, the locating pin 34 moves backward together with the slider 32, and the positioning arm 40 moves a predetermined amount to the left in FIG. evacuates from the front of the tire W. Then, the tire W gripped by the tire hand 74 is handled by the backward movement of the hand unit 55, while the positioning arm 40, swing arm 37, and tire pedestal 27 each return to their initial states, thus completing one cycle. .

[0033] Furthermore, when tires of different sizes are inserted, the tire cradle 2 is moved according to the tire size information.
It works in the same way as above, only the height of 7 changes.

The tire mounting unit 50 receives the tire W for which phase alignment has been completed from the tire phase alignment device 20, attaches it to the wheel hub (brake disc) H on the vehicle body B side, and tightens the nuts. The details are shown in FIGS. 3 to 5 and 10.

[0035] This tire mounting unit 50 has a base 5.
1, an X-axis base 52 that can slide in the X direction (vehicle width direction), a Y-axis base 53 that can slide on the X-axis base 52 in the Y direction (vehicle body longitudinal direction), and A Z-axis base 63 that is movably supported and has a sleeve 62 integrally mounted thereon, a θ-axis base 301 that is rotatably supported in the θ direction by the sleeve 62 of the Z-axis base 63, and
A hand unit 55 mounted on the shaft base 301,
It consists of a wheel hub attitude detection device 80 attached to the side of the hand unit 55, and a Z-axis base 63.
is configured to be tiltable in the γ direction. As a result, among the above components, the base 51, the X-axis base 52, the Y-axis base 53, the Z-axis base 63, and the θ-axis base 301 move like a kind of robot of a 5-axis type with 3 orthogonal axes, rotation, and 2 axes. It constitutes means 302.

That is, FIG. 10 (However, for drawing purposes, FIG. 10 is created by combining different cross-sectional views into one drawing.)
As shown in , the X-axis base 52 can slide in the X direction on a guide rail 58 by an X-axis drive mechanism consisting of a motor 56 and a ball screw 57, and the Y-axis base 53 consists of a motor 59 and a ball screw 60. It slides in the Y direction on the guide rail 61 by the Y-axis drive mechanism. Further, the sleeve 62 is integrally fixed to a Z-axis base 63, and furthermore, this Z-axis base 63 is connected to a pin 6 with respect to a cylindrical collar 64.
It is rotatably supported by 5. This collar 64 has three guide posts 66 (
(see Figure 3), each of which is guided so that it can move up and down.
Therefore, a motor 67 is provided for each guide post 66.
By driving a Z-axis drive mechanism consisting of a ball screw 68 and a ball screw 68 to move each collar 64 up and down simultaneously,
The Z-axis base 63 including the Z-axis moves up and down in the Z direction.

Further, the motor 67, ball screw 68, collar 64, etc. are used to tilt the Z-axis base 63 in the γ direction.
It also serves as a shaft drive mechanism, and the collar 64 on the left side in FIG.
Since the side has an elongated hole 69, the rotation amount of the left and right motors 67 in FIG.
The entire Z-axis base 63 including Z-axis 2 tilts in the γ direction. still,
The tilt angle in the γ direction here corresponds to the camber of the wheel hub H to which the tire W is attached, as will be described later. Further, the θ-axis base 301 can be turned in the θ direction by a θ-axis drive mechanism including a motor 70 and a chain 71. The turning angle in the θ direction mentioned here not only functions as a turning angle of the hand unit 55, but also corresponds to the toe-in of the wheel hub H described above. Therefore, the tire mounting unit 50 receives detection signals related to toe-in and camber from a wheel hub attitude detection device 80, which will be described later, and executes tire mounting work while controlling the attitude accordingly.

As shown in FIG. 10, the hand unit 55 has a hand base 54 fixed on a θ-axis base 301, and three hinge-rotatable fingers arranged on the outer periphery of a base 72 on the hand base 54. A nut runner unit 79 having four nut runners 73 is installed in a concentric manner with the tire hand 74. It is mounted so as to be slidable in the same direction as the tire hand 74.

Each finger of the tire hand 74 is opened and closed simultaneously by sliding the bracket 76 using the air cylinder 75.
The nut runner unit 7 slides on the hand base 54 in a direction perpendicular to the rotation center of the θ-axis base 301 by the operation of an air cylinder 77 serving as a slide drive means.
9 is the hand base 5 by the operation of another air cylinder 78.
4 in the same direction as the tire hand 74.

The wheel hub attitude detection device 80 matches the phases of the four bolt holes 9 on the tire W side, which have been phase-aligned as described above, with the phases of the same four hub bolts 21 on the wheel hub H side. , for detecting the center, toe-in, and camber of the wheel hub H, the details of which are shown in FIGS. 11, 19, and 20 (
However, for drawing purposes, FIG. 11 is a single drawing by combining drawings of different cross sections).

This wheel hub attitude detection device 80 is arranged 90 degrees in the θ direction from the center axis of the tire hand 74 when the side surface of the base body 72 of the hand unit 55 described above, more specifically, the rotation center of the θ axis base 301 is used as a reference. They are installed at positions with different degrees of phase. Reference numeral 81 denotes a substantially L-shaped base plate, and the lower end of the base plate 81 is rotatably hinged to the base 72, while the upper end is connected to the base plate 82 via a damper unit 84 consisting of a coil spring 82 and a cushion rod 83. It is elastically supported. A hub bolt 2 is provided adjacent to this damper unit 84.
A position detector (potentiometer) 85 for detecting the position of the hand unit 5 in the X direction is provided.
5 moves forward with respect to the wheel hub H and the base plate 81
When the ring-shaped contact plate 86 integral with the hub bolt 21 comes into contact with the tip end surface of the hub bolt 21, the hinge pin 102
The position of the hub bolt 21 in the X direction is detected based on the rotational displacement of the base plate 81 about the center of rotation.

88 is the horizontal leg portion 81 of the base plate 81
A roughly wedge-shaped Z attached vertically to the tip of a.
This Z direction regulating plate 88 is a direction regulating plate.
9 moves up and down guided by a linear guide 90, and as shown in FIGS. 8 and 19, by raising it in the Z direction, two adjacent hub bolts 21 (for example, 21b and 21c) can be moved up and down from their inclined regulation. The wheel hub H is forcibly rotated and restrained until it comes into contact with the surface 88a.

Further, 93 is a pair of arms arranged parallel to each other on both sides of the contact plate 86 in the horizontal direction, and 94 is a Y-direction regulating plate attached to each end of the arm 93. (In FIG. 11, the arm 93 and the Y-direction regulating plate 94 are drawn with their positions shifted in the vertical direction). When the arm 93 and the guide rod 97 are actuated, they approach and separate from each other along the guide rod 97, and are pre-regulated by the Z-direction regulating plate 88.
A real hub bolt 21 is inserted into the wheel hub H from both sides.

In other words, the pair of Y direction regulating plates 94 are as shown in FIG.
The wheel hub H is forcibly rotated until each pair of hub bolts 21 comes into contact with each Y-direction regulating plate 94 as shown in FIG. bolt hole 9 on the tire W side (
(see FIG. 10). and,
Based on the amount of displacement of the arm 93, the Y-direction position of the hub bolt 21 is detected by a pair of Y-direction position detectors (potentiometers) 98 attached to the base plate 81.

Here, before the hub bolt 21 is restrained by the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94, the inclined regulating surface 88 is
Preliminary regulation is performed by the Z direction regulation plate 88 having a
For example, if the relationship between the Y-direction regulating plate 94 and the hub bolt 21 reaches a so-called dead point state as shown in FIG. 21, it is possible to rotate the wheel hub H to match the phase of the hub bolt 21 with the phase of the tire W. This is because it becomes difficult. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the hub bolts 21 are
By pre-regulating the above, the dead point state described above is reliably avoided when the hub bolt 21 is restrained by the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94.

Reference numeral 95 denotes a Z-direction position detector (potentiometer) attached to one Y-direction regulating plate 94 and having a Z-direction detector 92 at the tip.
By lowering the Z direction detector 92 by operating the air cylinder 91 while the hub bolt 21 is restrained by the direction regulating plate 94, the position of one of the hub bolts 21a in the Z direction in FIG. Detected.

Reference numerals 99A, 99B, and 99C are tilt detectors attached to the contact plate 86 to detect the tilt of the wheel hub H (including both toe-in and camber), and these tilt detectors 99A to 99C are shown in FIG. and as shown in Fig. 19, they are arranged at positions corresponding to three locations P1, P2, and P3 on the hub surface of the wheel hub H (however, in Fig. 11, the three detectors are drawn on the same plane). ), each of the tilt detectors 99A to 99C is connected to the air cylinder 1.
00 is pressed against the wheel hub H and its displacement is detected by each position detector (potentiometer) 101.
A, 101B, and 101C detect and calculate the inclination of the wheel hub H as a whole. The above-described tilt detectors 99A to 99C, the air cylinder 100, and the position detectors 101A to 101C constitute a tilt detection means for detecting toe-in and camber.

That is, by performing a predetermined calculation based on the values detected by the position detector 101A corresponding to the tilt detector 99A and the position detector 101B corresponding to the tilt detector 99B, the left and right direction of the wheel hub H is determined. The toe-in, which is the inclination of The camber, which is the vertical inclination of the wheel hub H, is determined.

Here, a series of operations of the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 described above are shown in FIGS. 8, 10, 11, and 12.
Explain using.

[0050] This wheel hub attitude detection device 80
When the shaft base 301 is rotated 90 degrees in the θ direction and the hand unit 55 faces the tire phasing device 20, that is, the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 faces the wheel hub H. This is to detect the posture of the person. At this time, tire hand 74
As described above, the tire W whose phase alignment has been completed is received and held in advance from the tire phase alignment device 20.

First, the X-axis base 52 moves forward by starting the X-axis motor 56, and as a result, the contact plate 86 comes into contact with the end surface of the hub bolt 21, so that the base plate 81
The whole unit tilts around the hinge pin 102 as the center of rotation. Then, the position of the entire hub bolt 21 (wheel hub H) in the X direction is detected from the amount of tilting displacement of the base plate 81 by the position detector 85. In other words, the value at the moment when the contact plate 86 comes into contact with the end surface of the hub bolt 21 and the output of the position detector 85 rises is the position in the X direction. Even if the X-axis motor 56 is stopped at the moment when
2 is fed at a high speed in order to shorten the cycle time as much as possible, so the position of the hub bolt 21 in the X direction is exceeded by a predetermined amount from the detected position. Therefore, the X-axis base 52 is moved back by the difference between the value of the position detector 85 when the X-axis base 52 completely stops and the value of the position detector 85 when the hub bolt 21 is detected first. As a result, the state at the moment when the contact plate 86 abuts the hub bolt 21 is reproduced, and the position of the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 in this state becomes the origin position for various detections thereafter.

Next, the Z-direction regulating plate 88 is raised, and the wheel hub H is forcibly rotated until the two hub bolts 21b and 21c come into contact with the regulating surface 88a, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 19. Preliminary regulation of the position of 21,
After that, the Z direction regulating plate 88 is lowered. Next, the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94 move forward relative to each other, and the entire wheel hub H is rotated until the two hub bolts 21 are in contact with each Y-directional regulating plate 94, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 19.
All hub bolts 21 are sandwiched between both Y-direction regulating plates 94. As a result, the phase of the hub bolt 21 is adjusted to the bolt hole 9 on the tire W side, which is already held by the tire hand 74.
coincides with the phase of A position detector 98 detects the position of the hub bolt 21 in the Y direction from the amount of displacement of the Y direction regulating plate 94 at this time, and another position detector 95 detects the position of the hub bolt 21 in the Z direction. Then, the center position of the wheel hub H is calculated and determined based on the Y direction position and Z direction position of the hub bolt 21, and this center position information is fed back to the control system of the tire mounting unit 50 to control the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y direction. , Z direction to align the center axis of the contact plate 86 of the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 with the center position of the wheel hub H. However, even though the center axis of the contact plate 86 coincides with the center of the wheel hub H, it is not perpendicular to the hub surface of the wheel hub H. Incidentally, at this time, the Y-direction regulating plate 94 and the like have temporarily retreated.

Subsequently, the inclination detectors 99A to 99C are advanced all at once and pressed against three positions P1, P2, and P3 on the hub surface of the wheel hub H, respectively, as shown in FIG. ~101C, the inclination of the wheel hub H, that is, the toe-in and camber are detected. Then, the attitude of the tire mounting unit 50 in the θ and γ directions is corrected based on the detected data regarding toe-in and camber, so that the center axis of the contact plate 86 of the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 is aligned with the hub surface of the wheel hub H. Correct it so that it is perpendicular to the surface. At this time, by moving the tire mounting unit 50 in the θ and γ directions, the contact plate 8
6 and the center of the wheel hub H are also shifted in the Y and Z directions.
is also moved in the Y and Z directions to correct the misalignment. By the above operation, the center axis of the contact plate 86 is aligned with the wheel hub H.
The surface is perpendicular to the hub surface.

Next, the Y direction regulating plate 94 moves forward again to restrain the hub bolt 21, and the position detector 98 detects the position of the hub bolt 21 in the Y direction, and the Z direction detector 92 also moves down again. The hub bolt 2 is detected by the position detector 95.
1 is detected in the Z direction, and the center position of the wheel hub H is calculated again based on these detected data. and,
Based on the center position data of the wheel hub H finally determined in this way, the Y and Z positions of the tire mounting unit 50 are again adjusted.
The orientation of the contact plate 86 is corrected to align the central axis of the contact plate 86 with the center of the hub surface of the wheel hub H.

As a result, the central axis of the contact plate 86 coincides with the center of the wheel hub H and is also perpendicular to the hub surface. Therefore, the hand unit 55 can be rotated 90 degrees in the θ direction together with the θ-axis base 301. When the tire W held by the tire hand 74 is made to face the wheel hub H, the central axis of the tire W immediately coincides with the center of the hub surface of the wheel hub H at a right angle to the surface.

The tire mounting unit 50 is assembled as described above.
When the alignment of the wheel hub H and the wheel hub H is completed, the tire mounting unit 50 moves backward once in the X direction, and as shown in FIG. base 3
01 and rotates 90 degrees, so that the tire W held by the hand unit 55 and the wheel hub H face each other.

Then, the tire mounting unit 50 advances in the X direction to the position where the hub bolt position was previously detected, and the hand unit 55 independently advances the tire hand 74 using the air cylinder 77 to remove the tire it is gripping. W
Attach it to the hub bolt 21. Finally, the nut runner unit 79 is advanced by the air cylinder 78, and the nut N inserted in advance into the nut runner 73 is tightened, as will be described later, thereby completing the installation of the tire W.

The nut feeding device 110 is a device for inserting and feeding pre-aligned nuts into the nut runner 73, and its details are shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 (however, FIG.
~See Figure 5). As shown in the figure, this nut supply device 110 travels in the Y direction on a guide rail 113 horizontally suspended on a frame 112 by the operation of an air cylinder 111, and picks up one nut aligned in a magazine shooter 114. Nut removal unit 1 for taking out one by one
15, and the nut runner 7 on the hand unit 55 side that receives the nut from this nut take-out unit 115.
Nut delivery unit 11 for inserting and supplying nuts to 3
6, the nut delivery unit 116 is configured to travel in the Y direction on a guide rail 118 horizontally suspended on the frame 112 by the operation of an air cylinder 117.

The nut take-out unit 115 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 15, a nut holder 121 is vertically attached to the slide base 119 and can be raised and lowered by the operation of an air cylinder 120;
2, the arm 124 rotates and pushes open the gripper 123 at the end of the magazine shooter 114.
and a push rod 126 that moves back and forth by the operation of a horizontally arranged air cylinder 125.
The taper portion 124a at the tip of the 4 contacts the roller 123a on the gripper 123 side and pushes the gripper 123 open left and right, so that the nuts N in the magazine shooter 114 are taken out one by one onto the nut holder 121, and the push rod 126 As the nut moves forward, the removed nut N is inserted into the nut holding hole 126a of the nut transfer unit 116.

On the other hand, the nut delivery unit 116 is
It is equipped with an index plate 127 in which four nut holding holes 126a are formed, and this index plate 127 is intermittently rotated at a constant angle of 90 degrees by a rotary cylinder 128, and on the back side of the plate 127, A push rod 130 operated by an air cylinder 129 corresponds to each nut holding hole 126a.
is provided. Then, this nut delivery unit 116 travels to a position corresponding to the nut take-out unit 115, and the nut take-out unit 11
5 receives and receives a total of four nuts N into the nut holding hole 126a, and travels to a predetermined standby position again to wait. Thereafter, when the tire mounting unit 50 comes to the standby position to receive the nut N, the push rod 130 moves forward and pushes the nut N into the tip of the nut runner 73 to supply the nut.

Next, the tire discharge conveyor 140 picks up a tire that cannot be mounted on the wheel hub H due to a failure on the tire mounting unit 50 side or insufficient torque when tightening the nut, even though it has been once gripped by the hand unit 55. It is for discharging and transferring to the back-up station Sb side after the tire mounting station S1, and its details are shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. As shown in the figure, sub-conveyors 141 that are slightly inclined are arranged on the sides of each tire mounting unit 50, and a main conveyor 142 that is also slightly inclined is installed at backup station Sb so as to intersect with these sub-conveyors 141. It is provided so as to extend to the side.

If the tire W once gripped by the tire hand 74 cannot be mounted, the hand unit 55 receives the abnormality signal and turns to the ejecting position shown in FIG. is placed on the sub-conveyor 141. Then, as the tire hand 74 opens, the tire W rolls on the sub-conveyor 141, falls over at the junction with the main conveyor 142, and falls on the main conveyor 142 to the backup station Sb due to its own weight. It will be transported by

On the other hand, the nut discharging device 150 is for discharging the nut N prepared for the tire from the nut runner 73 in addition to discharging the tire W which cannot be mounted as described above. As shown in FIG. 1, the tire phasing device 20 is provided on each side of the tire phasing device 20.

As shown in FIG. 16, this nut discharging device 150 has four electromagnets 152 in its main body 151 and a nut receiving box 153, and after discharging the tire, the nut runner 73 is inserted into the nut. Discharge device 1
By facing the electromagnet 150 and retracting the nut runner 73 while energizing the electromagnet 152, the nut N is connected to the electromagnet 1.
It is attracted to 52. Thereafter, the nut N is discharged into the nut receiving box 153 by demagnetizing the electromagnet 152.

Next, a series of operations of the automatic tire mounting device having the above structure will be explained based on FIG. 17.

First, when the trolley 2 that is positioning the vehicle body B reaches the tire mounting station S1 and is positioned, the lifter 6 shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 rises to push up the suspension system and lift the wheel hub H. Constrain to a certain height position. At this time, the hand unit 55 of the tire mounting unit 50 is in the left turning position as shown in FIG. 80 faces the wheel hub H. Then, the tire mounting unit 50 moves forward in the X direction, and as shown in FIG.
As described above, the wheel hub attitude detection device 80 shown in FIG. It will be done.

On the other hand, in parallel with this positioning of the tire mounting unit 50, nuts are being delivered on the nut supplying device 110 side in preparation for the next tire, and the nut delivery unit 116 that has received the nut N is in a predetermined position. Waiting (the nut for fixing the tire W currently held by the hand unit 55 has already been inserted into the nut runner 73). Further, on the tire phasing device 20 side, tire phasing work is also in progress in preparation for the next tire installation.

Subsequently, when the alignment of the tire mounting unit 50 with respect to the wheel hub H is completed, the tire mounting unit 50 is temporarily moved backward in the X direction, and the hand unit 55 is rotated 90 degrees to the right in FIG. The state is shown by the solid line. As a result, the tire W held by the hand unit 55 and the wheel hub H face each other for the first time. Then, the tire mounting unit 50 moves forward in the X direction again by moving the W is installed. Thereafter, the nut runner unit 79 moves forward by further operation of the air cylinder 78 to tighten the nut N, and at the same time, a torque check is performed.

When the installation of the tire W is completed in this way, the tire hand 74 opens and the tire hand 74 and the nut runner unit 79 move backward, while the tire mounting unit 50 also moves backward in the X direction and the hand unit 55 rotates 90 degrees, and the posture of each axis is returned to the posture before correction when the hub bolt was detected. Then, the tire mounting unit 50 and the nut delivery unit 116 individually move forward to positions where they face each other, and after the nut runner 73 receives the next four nuts N from the nut delivery unit 116, the tire mounting unit 50 moves forward. The driver then goes to receive the next tire W from the tire phasing device 20.

If it becomes impossible to mount a tire for some reason as described above, the corresponding tire mounting unit 50 moves back to the rearward limit position as shown in FIG. The sub conveyor 141
At the same time, the nut N is also discharged by the nut discharging device 150, so that the tire W that could not be mounted at the tire mounting station S1 is transferred to the main conveyor 14.
2, it is sent to the subsequent backup station Sb. At this time, at the backup station Sb, since the occurrence of uninstalled tires and the location of the cause are displayed on a display device not shown, the backup station Sb
A worker waiting at the tire mounting station S1 waits for the vehicle body B to be sent from the tire mounting station S1, and manually installs the tire W thereon using the nut runner 8.

In the unlikely event that tire mounting becomes impossible due to an abnormality on the tire mounting unit 50 side and it takes a long time to resolve the abnormality, the tire mounting station S1 should be moved from the tire conveyor 10 to the tire mounting station S1. The tire W is not inputted into the tire phasing device 20, and the tire W is transported to the end of the tire transport conveyor 10 and directly sent to the backup station Sb, where the tire W is temporarily operated. The tire installation work is done manually by a person. As a result, the entire line does not have to be stopped, which improves the operating rate.

[0072]

As described above, according to the tire mounting device of the present invention, the moving means has a degree of freedom of movement in three orthogonal axes in the X, Y, and Z directions and a degree of freedom in movement in two rotational axes in the toe-in and camber directions. In addition, the tire hand and nut runner unit are arranged on the same axis to support a hand unit, and the hand unit has a configuration that allows the tire hand to slide independently. As long as information about the center position of the hub and the inclination of the hub surface is given, even if the wheel hub has toe-in and camber, the center axis of the tire and the center axis of the wheel hub can be aligned on the same axis. By sliding the tire hand, you can attach the tire to the wheel hub from a direction perpendicular to the surface of the wheel hub. Therefore, automatic tire mounting work can be performed accurately and reliably, and reliability is greatly improved in fully automating the tire mounting work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view schematically showing an entire tire mounting system including a tire mounting device (tire mounting unit) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory front view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the tire mounting unit.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6(A) is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing details of main parts of the tire conveyor, and FIG. 6(B) is a side explanatory view of FIG. 6(A).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing details of the tire loading mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing details of the wheel hub.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing details of the tire phasing device.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing details of the tire mounting unit.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing details of the wheel hub attitude detection device.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the device shown in FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is an overall explanatory diagram of the nut supply device.

14 is an explanatory side view of FIG. 13. FIG.

15 is an explanatory side view of the main part of FIG. 14. FIG.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing details of the nut ejecting device.

FIG. 17 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the entire tire mounting system.

18 is a left side view of the tire phasing device of FIG. 9. FIG.

19 is a right side view of the wheel hub attitude detection device shown in FIG. 11. FIG.

FIG. 20 is a side explanatory view of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the hub bolt and the Y-direction regulating plate.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional tire mounting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

9... Bolt hole 20... Tire phasing device 21... Hub bolt 50... Tire mounting unit 51 as a tire mounting device
...Base 52...X-axis base 53...Y-axis base 55...Hand unit 63...Z-axis base 72...Base 73...Nut runner 74...Tire hand 79...Nut runner unit 77...Air cylinder 80 as slide drive means...Wheel hub Attitude detection device 301...θ-axis base 302...Moving means B...Vehicle H...Wheel hub N...Nut R...Wheel W...Tire

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) For a wheel hub (H) of an automobile having toe-in and camber, the hub bolt (21) on the wheel hub (H) side and the bolt hole (
9) Wheeled tires (W
) in the tire mounting device for mounting the base (51).
An X that is slidable in the width direction of the car
An axis base (52) and a Y-axis base (5) provided on the X-axis base (52) so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the automobile.
3), a Z-axis base (63) provided on the Y-axis base (53) so as to be movable up and down and swingable in an elevation direction corresponding to the camber, and a Z-axis base (63) provided on the Z-axis base (63). and a θ-axis base (301) that can rotate in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle corresponding to the toe-in, and has degrees of freedom of movement in three orthogonal axes and two rotational axes in the toe-in direction and the camber direction. It is provided on the moving means (302) and the θ-axis base (301) of the moving means (302), and is capable of gripping the tire (W) and sliding in a direction orthogonal to the rotation center of the θ-axis base (301). tire hand (7
4) and a nut runner unit (7) for tightening nuts.
9) and a hand unit (55) arranged on the same axis.
and a slide drive means (77) that is provided on the θ-axis base (301) of the moving means (302) and slides the tire hand (74).