JPH0431906Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention relates to a spare tire mounting hand used when mounting a spare tire on a vehicle body on an automobile assembly line.

2. Description of the Related Art A hand for automating the work of mounting a spare tire is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 107465/1983. As is well known, spare tires are generally stored in a horizontal position in a spare tire storage area recessed in the trunk compartment, but since the degree of spatial freedom near the spare tire storage area is extremely small, loading work is difficult. The most important point when it comes to automation is the gripping structure of the spare tire.

In the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-107465, a method is adopted in which the hub center hole of a spare tire is gripped by a so-called inner diameter chuck, and the process up to the tightening of the clamp bolt that has been inserted into the hub bolt hole in advance is automated. There is.

Problems that the invention aims to solve With conventional hands like this, there is no particular problem when mounting spare tires of the same size repeatedly, but in a so-called mixed flow production system where multiple car models are run on the same line, size When installing different tires, the following problems occur.

In other words, the tire size usually differs depending on the model of the car, and the difference in tire size is due to, for example, the pitch diameter of the hub bolt holes (generally 4 holes) formed on the road wheel. It may appear as a difference. As mentioned above, the hub bolt hole is used as a clamp bolt insertion hole for clamping the spare tire, so if the pitch diameter changes, it becomes difficult to tighten the clamp bolt with a conventional hand. Become.

On the other hand, although it is possible to change the hand each time to accommodate tires of different sizes as described above, in that case, the structure and control become extremely complicated.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention basically follows the structure of the conventional hand, but allows one hand to handle tires of different sizes. That is, as shown in the embodiments, the clamp bolt tightening means is provided with a plurality of operation members that engage with the head of the clamp bolt to tighten the clamp bolt, and the hub bolt hole pitch diameter of the spare tire is adjusted. A switching means is provided for selectively operating any one of the plurality of operating members in accordance with the operation.

The gripping means for gripping the hub center hole of the spare tire can be used in common even if the tire sizes are different.

Further, the above-mentioned operating members are arranged according to the pitch diameter of the hub bolt hole of each spare tire, and the distances of both operating members from the hub center hole are different from each other.

Operation: Prior to the gripping means gripping the spare tire at a predetermined standby position, one of the operating members corresponding to the tire size receives the vehicle type information and temporarily holds the clamp bolt. Then, just load the spare tire into the spare tire storage area,
Tighten the clamp bolt.

Embodiment FIGS. 2 and 3 are general views of a spare tire mounting system using a hand according to the present invention.

In Figures 2 and 3, the vehicle body B is conveyed to the spare tire loading process S by the conveyor 1 with the trunk lid L open (see Figure 12), and after the spare tire is mounted, it is conveyed again to the next process. Ru. In the trunk room R of the car body, there is a
As shown in FIG. 2, a spare tire storage section 3 including a clamp bracket 2 is formed, and a spare tire T is stored in this spare tire storage section 3.

On the line side of the conveyor 1, there is an industrial robot (hereinafter simply referred to as a robot) 4 that actually controls the loading of the spare tire T, and a phase alignment device 6 that positions the spare tire T transferred by the shooter 5. is provided. That is, the spare tire T is placed on standby on the phasing device 6 after its hub bolt holes are phased by the phasing device 6.

The robot 4 is equipped with a hand 8 at the tip of an arm 7, and the arm 7 and the hand 8 are connected via a long columnar bracket 9. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 4 and 5, there is a fixed base 10 at the tip of the bracket 9, and an air motor 11 as a swinging means is attached to the fixed base 10. An adapter 14 having two guide rods 13 is integrally fixed to the output shaft 12 of the air motor 11, and a rotating base 15 is connected to the guide rods 13. The adapter 14 and the guide rod 13, and the guide rod 13 and the rotating base 15 are movable relative to each other in the axial direction of the guide rod 13, and a compression coil spring 16 is interposed between the adapter 14 and the movable base 15. Therefore, the rotating base 15 has a substantially floating structure. The movable base 15 rotates and swings by the action of the air motor 11, and moves to each stop position P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ in FIG.
Each can be stopped separately. Movable base 1
5 is provided with a gripping means 17 for gripping the spare tire T, as shown in FIG. hub center hole
A chuck mechanism 19 that engages and disengages from H ₁ (see Figure 11)
It consists of The drive mechanism 18 is mainly composed of a cylinder 20 fixed to a movable base 15, and a tapered cone-shaped cam 22 is attached to the tip of the piston rod 21, and a plate 23 is further fixed to the tip of the cam 22. This is what I did.

On the other hand, the chuck mechanism 19 has chuck pawls 24 arranged at three locations around the cam 22 as shown in FIG. It is supported separately. Each chuck pawl 24 has a cam 22
The chuck pawl 2 is provided with a protrusion 26 located between the piston rod 21 and the plate 23, and each chuck pawl 2
4 will rotate and open/close. A biasing force is applied to each chuck pawl 24 by a compression coil spring 27 so that the protrusion 26 comes into pressure contact with the cam 22.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 7 and 8, the movable base 15 temporarily holds a clamp bolt 30 for fixing the spare tire T, and fixes it to the clamp bracket 2 on the vehicle body side (FIG. 12). Tightening means 31 are provided. This tightening means 31 is
An air motor 32 as an actuator attached to the movable base 15, a pair of sleeves 34, 35 rotatably supported by the movable base 15 via a bearing 33, and each sleeve 34, 35.
It is composed of drivers 36, 37 as operating members connected to one end of the sleeves 34, 35, and cylinders 38, 39 as switching means inserted into the respective sleeves 34, 35. A gear 41 is fixed to the output shaft 40 of the air motor 32, and gears 42, 43 and 44 are similarly fixed to each sleeve 34, 35.
Each of the sleeves 34 and 35 is rotationally driven through a total of five gear trains including idle gears 45 and 2, 43, and 44, respectively.

A rectangular guide hole 46 is formed at the end of the sleeves 34, 35, and a driver 36, which is also formed in a prismatic shape, is connected to the guide hole 46.
A small diameter portion 47 of 37 is inserted therein, and the drivers 36 and 37 are biased by a compression coil spring 48 interposed between the sleeves 34 and 35. Therefore, although the sleeves 34, 35 and the drivers 36, 37 can move relative to each other in their axial directions, they rotate as one unit under the rotational force of the air motor 32. In addition, the driver 36,
As shown in FIG. 9, the large diameter portion 49 of 37 is formed with a slotted groove 50 into which the head 30a of the clamp bolt 30 fits.

The cylinders 38, 39 are fixed to a cover 51, and their piston rods 52 extend up to the cylindrical inner cylinder portions 53 of the drivers 36, 37. The piston rod 52 has a stopper 5 at its tip.
4, and when this stopper 54 comes into contact with the end of the inner cylindrical portion 53, the drivers 36, 37 are prevented from coming off from the sleeves 34, 35.
In other words, when the piston rod 52 is in the most extended state, the sleeves 34, 35 move from the drivers 36, 3.
The respective dimensions are set so that the sleeves 34, 35 and the drivers 36, 37 do not slip out, and the stopper 54 allows rotational movement of the sleeves 34, 35 and the drivers 36, 37.

Next, the operation of the spare tire mounting system as described above will be explained.

First, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the spare tire T is sequentially sent to a phase matching device 6 by a shooter 5 (not shown), and the phase of the spare tire T is matched by the phase matching device 6. The phase matching device 6 has a table 55 that supports a spare tire T, as shown in FIG. The tire T is rotated, and the spare tire T is positioned and stopped at a predetermined position by a position sensor 59 such as a photoelectric switch. At this stage, the hub bolt hole _H2 into which the clamp bolt 30 is inserted is determined at a predetermined position, and the phase alignment of the spare tire T is completed.

Next, attach the clamp bolt 30 to the spare tire T.
(Figure 9) is inserted. That is, the clamp bolt 30 is guided to the hub bolt hole _H2 at a specific position by a handling robot (not shown), and is inserted into the hub bolt hole _H2 in an upright position with its tip restrained by the guide mechanism 60.

Here, in a so-called mixed flow production system in which multiple car models are produced on the same line, spare tires T of different sizes will also randomly flow into the phasing device 6, but the phasing device 6 and clamp bolt insertion This handling robot can accommodate any size spare tire.

Thereafter, the robot 4 is activated by a signal from a control device (not shown), and the hand 8 grips the spare tire T on the phase matching device 6 and temporarily holds the clamp bolt 30. In this case, the movable base 15 of the hand 8 is positioned such that the piston rod 21 of the cylinder 20 shown in FIG. 4 is parallel to the axis of the bracket 9, that is, the stop position shown in FIG.
_P1 , and the hand 8 approaches the spare tire T on the phase matching device 6 from directly above it. Then, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 11, when the hand 8 reaches a position close to the spare tire T, the gripping means 17 shifts from the non-grip state to the non-grip state. That is, in the non-gripping state of the gripping means 17, since the piston rod 21 of the cylinder 20 is retracted, each chuck pawl 24 in the chuck mechanism 19 is moved into the hub center hole of the spare tire T by the engagement between the plate 23 and the protrusion 26. It will be located inside H ₁ (Figure 10),
Substantially each chuck pawl 24 is inserted into the hub center hole _H1 . Then, when the gripping means 17 shifts to the gripping state, the piston rod 21 of the cylinder 20
As the cams 22 and projections 26 are pressed against each other, each chuck pawl 24 expands in the radial direction of the hub center hole _H1 and is locked in pressure contact with the opening edge of the hub center hole _H1 . Therefore, the spare tire T is gripped by the hand 8 via the gripping means 17 while being self-centripetally centered.

On the other hand, at this time, the vehicle model information is received in advance, and one driver 36 matching the tire size is selected.
or 37 is selected. That is, the driver 36 in FIG. 1 is set to suit a spare tire with a small hub bolt hole pitch circle diameter, while the driver 37 is set to match a spare tire with a large hub bolt hole pitch circle diameter. For example, when gripping a spare tire T with a small hub bolt hole pitch circle diameter, one cylinder 39, which is a switching means, is activated, and the driver 37
Pull up to the imaginary line position. As a result, upon actuation of the other driver 36, driver 37
does not interfere with the spare tire T in any way.

When the hand 8 is lowered as described above, one driver 36 is inserted into the head 3 of the clamp bolt 30.
0a, the air motor 32 is activated, and both drivers 36, 37 are activated via gear trains 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and sleeves 34, 35.
rotates. However, since one driver 37 is pulled up by the cylinder 39, it simply rotates idly. Since the driver 36 rotates while descending, the tip of the driver 36 comes into contact with the head 30a of the clamp bolt 30 and engages with the split groove 50 in the head 30a. and,
After the tip end surface of the driver 36 contacts the head flange portion 30b (FIG. 9) of the clamp bolt 30, the hand 8 descends by a predetermined amount and stops. At this time, since the biasing force of the coil spring 48 is acting on the driver 36, the clamp bolt 3
The head flange portion 30b of No. 0 is held between the driver 36 and the road wheel W. This state is a state in which the clamp bolt is temporarily held by the tightening means 31.

Thereafter, the robot transports the spare tire 4 held by the hand into the trunk room R shown in FIG. 12. In this case, robot 4 first moves hand 8.
After the spare tire T held by the driver is floated from the phase matching device 6 and the attitude of the movable base 15 is changed, the spare tire T is moved into the trunk room R. That is, the rotary base 15 is rotated 90 degrees by the air motor 11 until the piston rod 21 of the cylinder 20 in FIG. 4 is at a position perpendicular to the axis of the bracket 9 (stop position P ₃ in FIG. 5).
The spare tire T is rotated and carried into the trunk room R in such a position that the bracket 9 and the side surface of the spare tire T are parallel to each other as shown in FIG. Therefore, the spare tire T is
It is smoothly carried in from between the trunk lid L and the opening surface of the trunk room R without interfering with the trunk lid L.

When the movable base 15 is rotated in the trunk room R to the stop position _P2 shown in Fig. 5 (at an angle of 65 degrees), the spare tire T is gradually lowered in a horizontal position and clamped as shown in Fig. 13. It is stored in the spare tire storage section 3 along the bracket 2. In this case, the gripping state of the gripping means 17 is released before the spare tire T is seated in the spare tire storage section 3, while the clamping bolt 30
Since it is temporarily held by the tightening means 31, the clamp bolt 30 matches the screw hole on the clamp bracket 2 side, and at this point, the air motor 32 of the tightening means 31 is activated. air motor 3
2, the clamp bolt 30 held by the driver 36 rotates, and the clamp bolt 30
The spare tire T is fixed by being tightened to the clamp bracket 2.

After tightening the clamp bolt 30, the robot 4
The hand 8 is evacuated from the trunk room R and returned to its original position, completing one cycle of the spare tire mounting work.

Furthermore, when a spare tire with a large hub bolt pitch circle diameter as shown in FIG. 1 is mounted, the driver 36 to be selected is changed to 37, and the process is basically the same as above.

Effects of the invention According to the invention, one of the plurality of operation members included in the clamp bolt tightening means is selectively operated according to the hub bolt pitch diameter of the spare tire. One machine can handle the work of mounting multiple spare tires, and not only does it eliminate the need to change hands each time, but it also does not complicate control.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the hand of the present invention, and is a sectional view taken along line C-C in Fig. 7, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a spare tire mounting system including the hand, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in Fig. 7. 2 is a left side view of the hand, FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the hand, FIG. 5 is a left side view of FIG. 4,
Figure 6 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in Figure 4, Figure 7 is a plan view of Figure 4, Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in Figure 4, and Figure 9 is a driver and clamp bolt. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the phase matching device, FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the gripping means and tightening means, and FIGS. 12 and 13 are explanatory diagrams of the spare tire mounting procedure. be. 2...Clamp bracket, 3...Spare tire storage section, 4...Industrial robot, 7...Arm, 8...Hand, 10...Fixed base, 11...
...Air motor as swinging means, 15...Movable base, 17...Gripping means, 19...Chuck mechanism, 20...Cylinder, 24...Chuck claw, 3
0... Clamp bolt, 31... Tightening means, 32
...Air motor, 34, 35...Sleeve, 3
6, 37...Screwdriver as an operating member, 3
8, 39...Cylinder as switching means, 50...
...Slot groove, B...Car body, L...Trunk lid, R...Trunk room, T...Spare tire, _H1 ...Hub center hole, _H2 ...Hub bolt hole.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A hand that is attached to the end of an arm of an industrial robot, grips a spare tire at a predetermined standby position, and mounts it on the vehicle body, while tightening a clamp bolt attached to the spare tire in advance to fix the spare tire to the vehicle body. A fixed base connected to the robot arm side, a movable base attached to the fixed base so as to be able to change its posture via a swinging means, and a movable base attached to the movable base to grasp the hub center hole of the spare tire. and a tightening means attached to the movable base to temporarily hold the clamp bolt and tighten and fix the clamp bolt to the vehicle body, the tightening means being attached to the head of the clamp bolt. a plurality of operation members that engage with the clamp bolt to tighten the clamp bolt; and a switching means that selectively operates any one of the plurality of operation members according to the pitch diameter of the hub bolt hole of the spare tire. A hand equipped with a spare tire for an automobile, characterized in that the hand includes the following.