JPH0440829Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] A. Purpose of the invention (1) Industrial application field The present invention is a workpiece positioning device for positioning and holding a workpiece in a fixed posture prior to processing the workpiece. Regarding.

(2) Conventional technology When machining a workpiece, it is necessary to position and hold the workpiece in a certain posture prior to machining. The workpiece is positioned by bringing a positioning tool into contact with this reference edge, and the workpiece is held by suction with a suction tool such as a suction cup to prevent positional deviation.

(3) Problems that the invention aims to solve Generally, the parts of the workpiece that can be positioned with a positioning tool and held with a suction tool depend on the shape of the workpiece itself, the robot used to perform machining on the workpiece, etc. Due to these limitations, the base of a thin plate-shaped workpiece (for example, an automobile door skin) must be cut at a certain level so that the tip is cantilevered. If an attempt is made to position and hold the workpiece in this position, the tip of the workpiece will be bent and deformed due to its own weight. However, such bending deformation at the tip of the workpiece affects the machining accuracy when machining the workpiece, and this effect is especially noticeable when the machining is automated using robots, etc. noticeable.

The present invention was developed in view of the above circumstances, and even if the base of a thin plate-shaped workpiece is positioned and held in a fixed posture so that the tip thereof is in a cantilevered state, the above-mentioned problem may occur. The object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece positioning device that is free of

B. Structure of the invention (1) Means for solving the problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is based on the invention in which, before processing a thin plate-like workpiece, the base of the workpiece is shaped so that the tip thereof is cantilevered. a positioning and holding mechanism for positioning and holding in a certain posture so that the positioning and holding mechanism holds the base, and a correction jig for correcting bending deformation due to its own weight of the tip of the workpiece whose base is held by the positioning and holding mechanism. Therefore, the positioning and holding mechanism is
A positioning tool that positions the workpiece by contacting a reference edge at its base, and a suction device that sucks and holds the base of the workpiece that is positioned by the positioning tool, and the correction jig includes: , a support disposed on the outside of the tip of the workpiece that is positioned by the positioning tool; and a support that is pivotally supported by the support to correct the bending deformation of the tip of the workpiece. an operating position that pushes up so that the
a pressing member that can rotate up and down between a non-operating position that releases the tip; and a space between the pressing member and the support for forcibly rotating the pressing member between the operating position and the non-operating position. It is characterized by comprising a telescopic cylinder interposed in the.

(2) Action The positioning and holding mechanism includes a positioning tool that positions the workpiece by contacting the reference edge at its base, and a suction device that sucks and holds the base of the workpiece that is positioned by the positioning tool. By working together, the base of the thin plate-shaped workpiece can be positioned and held in a constant posture so that the tip thereof is in a cantilevered state. Even if the tip of the workpiece bends and deforms due to its own weight while maintaining its position, if the pressing member of the correction jig is forcibly rotated from the non-operating position to the operating position by operating the telescopic cylinder, the pressing member can be The member comes into contact with the tip of the workpiece and positively pushes it up from below, thereby reliably correcting the bending deformation of the tip.

Furthermore, when the positioning and holding mechanism positions and holds the base of the workpiece, if the pressing member is previously placed on standby at the non-operating position, interference between the pressing member and the workpiece can be easily avoided.

Moreover, the pressing member has a structure that allows it to rotate vertically between the operating position and the non-operating position, and it is easy to turn, so even though it pushes up the tip of the workpiece from below in the operating position. , the telescopic cylinder serving as its driving means can be placed as high as possible near the support. For this reason, the tip of the workpiece is cantilevered, and the vertical space can be opened as wide as possible, and the flexibility of the layout of machining equipment such as robots around the tip of the workpiece is increased. greatly enhanced.

(3) Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 1, loading stations Si, A processing station Sm and an unloading station So are set in order, and the workpiece W is placed at the loading station Si.
After being transported to the processing station Sm, the material is subjected to processing such as sealing and welding, and then transported from the transport station So.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 together, a base 2 extending along the conveyance direction 1 is disposed on the floor surface, and a base 2 extending parallel to the conveyance direction 1 is disposed on the floor surface. A pair of guide rails 3, 3 extending from the top to the right are laid. Between adjacent stations Si and Sm or
A trolley 4 having a length extending between Sm and So is disposed so as to be able to run along both guide rails 3, 3, and support frames 5, 6 are movable up and down at both ends in the longitudinal direction of this trolley 4. Each is arranged. Moreover, the trolley 4 is provided with a self-propelled drive means including a motor 7, and the self-propelled drive means allows the trolley 4 to move one support frame 5 to the loading station.
The position where the support frame 6 corresponds to Si and the other support frame 6 corresponds to the processing station Sm (position shown in Figure 2)
and the position where one support frame 5 corresponds to the processing station Sm and the other support frame 6 corresponds to the unloading station So (the position shown in FIG. 3). This is possible, and stoppers 8 and 9 are provided on the base 2, respectively, for abutting against both ends of the truck 4 in the longitudinal direction and positioning the truck 4 in the transport direction 1.

In FIG. 4, between the support frame 5 and the truck 4, there are a plurality of lifting cylinders 1 having vertically extending axes.
0 are provided, and these lifting cylinders 10
The support frame 5 is moved up and down by extending and contracting the support frame 5. This support frame 5 attracts the workpiece W.
A plurality of, for example, four, vacuum couplers 11 are provided for holding, and the workpiece W can be held by the support frame 5 by these vacuum couplers 11. Further, the support frame 5 is provided with a positioning member 56 that engages with the edge of the workpiece W, which becomes the front edge when mounted on a vehicle, to perform positioning.

Three pillars 12, 13, and 14 are erected on one side of the base 2 in the loading station Si.
The support 12 is provided with a receiving member 15 for positioning and receiving the side edge of the workpiece W, which is the upper edge in the installation attitude to the vehicle, and the support members 13 and 14 are provided in the support member 15 for positioning and receiving the side edge of the workpiece W which is the upper edge in the installation attitude to the vehicle. Receiving members 16 and 17 are provided for positioning and holding the workpiece W at the lower edge of the window opening. Furthermore, a support 18 is erected on the other side of the base 2.
A positioning member 19 is provided on the upper part of the workpiece 8 for positioning by abutting against the side edge of the workpiece W, which is the lower edge when the workpiece is mounted on a vehicle.

In FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, the support frame 6 is driven up and down by a plurality of lifting cylinders 20 provided between the support frame 5 and the truck 4. As shown in FIGS. The support frame 6 is provided with a plurality of vacuum couplers 21, for example, four vacuum couplers 21 for adsorbing and holding the workpiece W. Further, the support frame 6 is provided with a positioning member 57 that engages with the edge of the workpiece W, which becomes the front edge when mounted on a vehicle, to perform positioning.

The processing station Sm is provided with a positioning device A for receiving, positioning and holding the workpiece W from the support frame 6 when processing the workpiece W. This positioning device A is a workpiece W
Prior to machining, the base Wm of the workpiece W (in the illustrated example, the portion of the door skin below the window hole when mounted on the vehicle), and its tip Wf (in the illustrated example, the window frame portion of the door skin) are A positioning and holding mechanism 22 for positioning and holding the base in a fixed posture so as to be in a cantilevered state;
The positioning and holding mechanism 22 is configured with a correction jig 25 for correcting the bending deformation due to its own weight of the tip Wf of the workpiece W in which Wm is held.
, three positioning tools 23a to 23c for positioning the workpiece W by contacting the reference edges W1 and W2 at the base Wm, and the positioning tool 2.
Eight suction devices 24a to 24h are provided for suctioning and holding the base portion Wm of the workpiece W that is positioned by the suction devices 3a to 23c.

On one side of the cart 4 in the processing station Sm, the lower end of a lifting cylinder 26 that extends vertically is supported and fixed on the base 2, and a support plate that extends along the conveyance direction 1 and is connected to the lifting cylinder 26. 27, positioning tools 23a to 23c are arranged. The positioning tool 23a is provided on the support plate 27 for positioning by engaging with a reference edge W1 of the trailing edge along the conveyance direction 1 of the workpiece W, which becomes the trailing edge when the positioning tool 23a is attached to the vehicle. 23b, 23c
are provided on the support plate 27 to engage with and position the reference edge W2, which is the side edge of the window opening of the workpiece W.

The suction tools 24a to 24h are vacuum couplers, and the suction tools 24a to 24f are arranged on the support plate 27. Also, on the other side of the trolley 4, there is a support 2 on the base 2.
8 is erected, and an elevating cylinder 29 having an axis extending vertically is fixed and supported on the upper part of this column 28. The remaining suction tools 24g, 24
h is arranged.

By the way, in the processing station Sm, the base of the workpiece W is removed by each of the suction tools 24a to 24h.
While holding Wm, the part that becomes the upper part when the workpiece W is attached to the vehicle (i.e., the tip part Wf)
is in a cantilevered state and is not supported in any way, so that the tip portion Wf is bent downward as a bending portion 31 due to its own weight as shown by the solid line in FIG. The correction jig 25 positively pushes up the tip portion Wf, which is in such a bending and deformed state, from below to correct it to its normal posture as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6 (solid line in FIG. 7). , processing station
It is placed at the top of one side of Sm.

In FIG. 8, a guide member 32 extending along the conveyance direction 1 is fixedly installed at the upper part of one side of the base 2, and the correction jig 25 is attached to the guide member 3.
Attached to 2. That is, this correction jig 25 is
An arm 33 as a support extends from the guide member 32 toward the workpiece W, and a rotating frame 34 is rotatable around an axis parallel to the conveying direction 1 and is pivotally supported at the tip of the arm 33. A pair of fixed pressing members 35
a, 35b, and the arm 3 to rotate the rotation frame 34.
3 and a telescopic cylinder 36 provided between the rotating frame 34.

The rotating frame 34 is rotatably supported at the tip of the arm 33 via a support shaft 37 parallel to the conveying direction 1, and the pressing members 35a and 35b are spaced apart from each other along the conveying direction 1 and are attached to the rotating frame 34. mounted on. And arm 33
At the tip of the rotating frame 34, that is, a pressing member 35
Rotation frame 3 to restrict upward rotation of a and 35b
A stopper bolt 38 that can come into contact with the workpiece W is screwed so that it can move forward and backward, and when the rotating frame 34 comes into contact with the stopper bolt 38, both pressing members 35a and 35b push up the tip Wf of the workpiece W from below. This is the operating position (upper position) where the posture is corrected to normal.

The head side end of the telescoping cylinder 36 is supported by the lower part of the arm 33 via a clevis pin 39 parallel to the support shaft 37, and the tip of the piston rod 40 in the telescoping cylinder 36 is supported by a connecting pin 41 parallel to the support shaft 37. It is connected to the lower part of the rotating frame 34 via. Therefore, by telescopically operating the telescoping cylinder 36, the rotation frame 34, that is, the pressing member 3
5a and 35b are the operating position (upper position);
It can be rotated up and down between a non-operating position (lower position) where the workpiece W is released.

Furthermore, two limit switches 42 and 43 are arranged below the piston rod 40 and are operated by contact with a contact ring 34a provided on the rotating frame 34 surrounding the connecting pin 41. 42 and 43 are supported by a limit switch support plate 44 fixed to the telescopic cylinder 36. These limit switches 42 and 43 define the extension limits and contraction limits of the telescoping cylinder 36, that is, the rotation ranges of the pressing members 35a and 35b fixed to the rotation frame 34.

By the way, in the processing station Sm, a welding robot 45 and a sealing robot 46 are arranged as shown in FIG. The sealing robot 46 is guided by a guide member 32 to prevent interference with the correction jig 25.

In Figure 9, at the unloading station So,
Supports 47 and 48 are erected on one side of the base 2, and the upper parts of these supports 47 and 48 have a structure that engages with the lower edge of the window opening in the workpiece W for positioning. Receiving members 49 and 50 for receiving the workpiece W are fixedly installed. Further, pillars 51 and 52 are erected on the other side of the base 2, and receiving members 53 and 54 for receiving the workpiece W are fixedly installed above these pillars 51 and 52.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. When processing the workpiece W, the cart 4 is in a position where it is in contact with the stopper 8, and the lifting cylinder 1
0 and 20 are contracted and the support frames 5 and 6 are in the lower position, the workpiece W is moved to the loading station.
Delivered to Si. The carried-in workpiece W is positioned and supported by the receiving members 15 to 17 and the positioning member 19. Therefore, by extending the elevating cylinder 10, the vacuum coupler 11 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the workpiece W, and by suctioning the vacuum coupler 11, the workpiece W is moved into the vacuum coupler 1.
At 1, it is attracted and held. Also processing station
In Sm, the workpiece W during machining is sucked and held by the vacuum coupler 21 due to the extension operation of the lifting cylinder 20 and the suction operation of the vacuum coupler 21 . Next, by extending the lifting cylinder 10 in response to a start signal, the loading station Si lifts the workpiece W from above the receiving members 15 to 17, and in the machining station Sm, the positioning and holding mechanism 22 is lowered in response to a machining end signal, and the carriage is lifted up. 4, the workpiece W is supported.

In this state, the cart 4 is driven forward along the transport direction 1 and stopped at a position where the support frame 5 corresponds to the processing station Sm and the support frame 6 corresponds to the carry-out station So. At this time, in the correction jig 25 of the positioning device 22, the pressing members 35a, 3
The telescoping cylinder 36 is contracting so that the position 5b is in the lower position, and when the trolley 4 is traveling, the workpiece W
does not come into contact with the correction jig 25.

When the support frame 5 stops at a position corresponding to the processing station Sm, the positioning and holding mechanism 22 moves up. As a result, the workpiece W is positioned by the positioning tools 23a to 23c of the positioning and holding mechanism 22 and placed on the suction tools 24a to 24h.
On the other hand, at the unloading station So, the support frame 6 is lowered as the lifting cylinder 20 is contracted in response to the processing start signal, and the workpiece W after processing is positioned on the receiving members 49, 50, 53, and 54. It will be placed.

At processing station Sm, positioning tool 2
Base of workpiece W positioned at 3a to 23c
Wm is sucked and held by the suction operations of the suction tools 24a to 24h, but the tip Wf of the workpiece W bends downward due to its own weight as shown by the solid line in FIG. 6. Therefore, by extending the telescopic cylinder 36 of the correction jig 25, the rotation frame 34, that is, the pressing members 35a, 35b, is rotated from below to the upper side, and the tip portion Wf is moved between the pressing members 35a, 35b.
Press b to aggressively push it upwards to correct it to its normal posture as shown by the two-dot chain line in Figure 6. In this state, the workpiece W is positioned while maintaining its normal posture, and is processed there by the welding robot 45 and sealing robot 46, thereby improving processing accuracy.

During the processing, the cart 4 moves so that the support frame 5 is located at a position corresponding to the carry-in station Si and the support frame 6 is located at a position corresponding to the processing station Sm.

Thereafter, by repeating the above-described procedure, the workpiece W can be sequentially transported from the carry-in station Si, via the processing station Sm, to the carry-out station So, and processed with high precision at the processing station Sm.

In the above embodiments, the door skin of a passenger vehicle was used as the workpiece W, but the present invention is a thin plate-like covering whose base is positioned and held so that the tip is cantilevered prior to processing. It can be widely implemented as a positioning device that positions a workpiece.

C. Effects of the invention As described above, according to the invention, the positioning and holding mechanism positions and holds the base of the thin plate-like workpiece in a constant posture so that the tip is cantilevered. Even if the tip of the workpiece bends and deforms due to its own weight, the correction jig comes into contact with the tip and actively pushes it up from below.
Since the bending deformation of the tip can be reliably corrected and the workpiece can be held in a normal posture during machining, machining accuracy can be improved.
This is particularly advantageous when automating machining using a robot or the like. Moreover, since the correction of the bending deformation of the workpiece can be performed by the correction jig alone, the structure of the apparatus can be simplified to that extent, contributing to cost reduction.

The above-mentioned correction jig also includes a support body disposed on the outside of the tip of the workpiece that is being positioned by the positioning tool, and a support body that is pivotally supported by the support to move the tip of the workpiece to the outside of the workpiece. A pressing member that can be vertically rotated between an activated position for pushing up to correct the deflection deformation and a non-activated position for releasing the tip, and a forced rotation of the pressing member between the activated position and the non-activated position. Since the press member is provided with a telescopic cylinder interposed between the press member and the support body for movement, the press member can be kept in advance at the non-operating position when the positioning and holding mechanism positions and holds the base of the workpiece. For example, interference between the pressing member and the workpiece can be easily avoided. Moreover, the pressing member has a structure in which it is pivoted on a support body located on the outside of the tip of the workpiece and can be rotated up and down between the operating position and the non-operating position, so that it can be easily turned. Therefore, even though the tip of the workpiece is pushed up from below in its operating position, the telescopic cylinder serving as its driving means can be placed as high as possible near the support, and therefore,
Coupled with the effect that the tip of the workpiece is cantilevered and the vertical space can be opened as wide as possible, the degree of freedom in the layout of machining equipment such as robots around the tip of the workpiece is greatly increased. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a plan view, FIG. 2 is a simplified side view of FIG. A side view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing the state of moving forward in the direction, FIG.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the - line in Fig. 1, Fig. 6 is a sectional view corresponding to Fig. 5 showing a partially bent state of the workpiece, and Fig. 7 is a positioning and holding of the workpiece with a positioning device. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line -- of FIG. 1. 22... Positioning and holding mechanism, 23a to 23c...
...Positioning tool, 24a-24h...Suction tool, 25
... Correction jig, 33 ... Arm as support, 35
a, 35b...Press member, 36...Extendable cylinder, Wf...Tip, Wm...Base, W...Workpiece, W1, W2...Reference edge.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A positioning and holding mechanism 22 for positioning and holding the base part Wm of the thin plate-shaped workpiece W in a certain posture so that the tip part Wf is in a cantilevered state prior to processing the workpiece W, and the positioning and holding mechanism 22 for positioning and holding the base part Wm of the thin plate-shaped workpiece W. Mechanism 22
The tip of the workpiece W whose base Wm is held by
It consists of a correction jig 25 for correcting the deflection deformation of Wf due to its own weight, and
2 are positioning tools 23a to 23c that position the workpiece W by contacting the reference edges W1 and W2 at the base Wm thereof, and the positioning tools 23a to 23.
The base of the workpiece W in the positioning state by c
Suction devices 24a to 24h that suck and hold Wm are provided, and the correction jig 25 is disposed outside the tip Wf of the workpiece W that is positioned by the positioning tools 23a to 23c. Support body 33
It is pivotally supported by this support 33 and moves between an operating position in which it pushes up the leading end Wf of the workpiece W to correct its bending deformation, and a non-working position in which it releases the leading end Wf. Pressing member 35 that can rotate up and down
a, 35b, and a telescopic cylinder 36 interposed between the pressing members 35a, 35b and the support body 33 for forcibly rotating the pressing members 35a, 35b between the operating position and the non-operating position. A workpiece positioning device characterized by: