JPH0461296B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a pressure leakage inspection device for hollow workpieces, and in particular, to an apparatus for efficiently performing pressure leakage inspection for hollow workpieces and workpiece setting and unloading operations. This invention relates to a pressure leakage inspection device.

[Prior art]

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, pressure leakage tests have been performed on cast hollow workpieces such as cylinder heads, intake manifolds, and exhaust manifolds of automobile engines in order to detect cavities, cracks, etc., which are casting defects.
This pressure leakage test is a test in which after the opening of the workpiece is sealed, air is pressurized and sealed into the workpiece, and the pressure drop is checked.

In order to automatically and efficiently carry out the pressure leakage inspection of the hollow workpiece, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 62-5144 discloses that a plurality of pressing jigs are installed to seal and close the opening of the hollow workpiece, and are equipped with a detachable mechanism when not in use. It is transferred to the dummy member and held in the retracted position by the dummy member, and when in use, it is transferred from the dummy member to the pressing unit by the attachment/detachment mechanism, thereby automatically replacing the sealing means for pressure leakage inspection of multiple types of hollow workpieces. It describes what has been made possible.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

According to the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, it is possible to automatically seal the openings of a plurality of types of hollow workpieces. However, since it is only equipped with a roller conveyor device for loading and unloading hollow workpieces, it is not possible to carry in and set up the next hollow workpiece until the hollow workpiece is loaded and unloaded after inspection. There is a problem in that it is difficult to improve the efficiency of loading and unloading operations.

In particular, in the case of hollow workpieces with complex shapes such as intake manifolds and exhaust manifolds, it is difficult to transport them with conveyor equipment, so it is extremely difficult to improve the efficiency of loading and unloading workpieces, which relies on manual labor. is the current situation.

[Means for solving problems]

The hollow workpiece pressure leakage inspection device according to the present invention includes:
In a pressure leak inspection device that introduces pressurized gas into a cavity of a hollow workpiece and inspects for gas leakage, the system is located at a first position where the pressure leakage test of the hollow workpiece is performed and a second position horizontally moved from the first position. It has a workpiece pedestal that is switched, and a clamp mechanism that clamps the workpiece of a sealing member that is disposed above the workpiece pedestal in the first position and presses and seals the opening at the upper end of the hollow workpiece on the workpiece pedestal. A sealing/clamping unit that presses and seals the opening with a sealing member and is switched between a sealing position where a workpiece can be clamped by a clamp mechanism and a standby position retracted above the sealing position, and a second workpiece holder. It is arranged on the side of the workpiece pedestal so that it is located horizontally below the seal/clamp unit when moved to the first position, and is integrally connected to the workpiece pedestal, so that the workpiece pedestal is located in the first position. It is equipped with a workpiece unloading chute that can sometimes be switched to an inclined position.

[Effect]

In the pressure leakage inspection device for a hollow workpiece according to the present invention, when the workpiece pedestal on which the hollow workpiece is seated is in the first position, the seal/clamp unit presses downward without clamping the workpiece, and the sealing member presses the workpiece downward. The opening is sealed and tested for pressure leaks.
After the inspection is completed, the passed work is clamped by a clamp mechanism and held at a standby position.

Then, when the workpiece pedestal is horizontally moved to the second position, the workpiece unloading chute, which is held horizontally, is moved below the clamped workpiece, and by setting the clamp mechanism to the non-clamping state, the workpiece is lowered to the above-mentioned position. It is placed on the top of the chute. On the other hand, in this second position, the workpiece pedestal is moved to the side away from the sealing/clamping unit, and the workpiece that failed the aforementioned inspection is replaced with a new workpiece.

Next, when the workpiece pedestal is moved to the first position again, the workpiece carry-out chute is placed in an inclined position, and the workpiece is carried out from the carryout chute, and a new workpiece is moved below the seal/clamp.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the pressure leakage inspection device for a hollow workpiece according to the present invention, as described above, a seal/clamp unit that can be vertically switched and has a clamping mechanism is provided, and a workpiece whose position is switched horizontally is provided. By providing a pedestal and a carry-out chute that is integrally connected to the pedestal, it is possible to automate the placement of inspected workpieces onto the carry-out chute, and the delivery of new workpieces set on the workpiece pedestal to the inspection position. It is possible to simultaneously and automatically carry out the carrying-out of the inspected workpiece on the carrying-out chute in parallel, and thereby the carrying-in, inspection, and carrying-out of the hollow workpiece can be carried out efficiently and in a short time.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In order to detect casting defects in a cast iron exhaust manifold of an automobile engine (hereinafter referred to as hollow work W), the hollow workpiece pressure leakage inspection device of this embodiment injects pressurized air into the interior with its opening closed. The system incorporates various mechanisms as shown below to efficiently transport hollow workpieces to the inspection position, inspect for pressure leaks, and carry out inspected hollow workpieces. It is something.

This pressure leakage inspection device D for hollow workpieces will be explained based on the front, rear, left, and right sides of Figure 1.
As shown in the figure, a main frame 1, a movable base 2 disposed on a base plate 11 of the main frame 1 and movable in the left-right direction, and a moving air cylinder 3 for moving the movable base 2 in the left-right direction, A workpiece pedestal unit 4 disposed on the movable table 2 and detachable and replaceable for each type of hollow workpiece W, and a presser disposed on the workpiece pedestal unit 4 to seal the opening at the left end of the hollow workpiece W. The unit 5, a seal/clamp unit 6 disposed on the main column 12 and top plate 13 of the main frame 1, and a shutter device 8 disposed on the left end of the movable table 2 are provided.

To explain the main frame 1, a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped base frame 10 with a wide width is provided on the floor in the front and rear, and a moving air cylinder 3 is installed in a concave portion approximately in the center of the base frame 10 in the front and back direction. Base plates 11 extending to the left and right of the base frame 10 are fixed to the front and rear parts of the base frame 10, respectively.
A guide rail 11a is fixed on the top in the left-right direction. Furthermore, four cylindrical main columns 12 are erected on the base plate 11 at positions corresponding to the four front, rear, left and right corners of the base frame 10, and the upper ends of these main columns 12 are connected to a rectangular plate-shaped top plate 13.
are connected.

The movable base 2 includes a pair of front and rear movable frames 21 whose left and right ends are connected by connecting members, and a groove-shaped base 2 fixed on the right half of the movable frames 21.
2, the front movable frame 21 is disposed on the front guide rail 11a, and the rear movable frame 21 is disposed on the rear guide rail 11a, and is movable only in the left-right direction. Side walls 22a rising upward are formed on the front and rear edges of the base 22, respectively, and two roller conveyors 22c are provided on the bottom wall 22b of the base 22, spaced apart from each other in the front and back. Built-in so that it can be moved left and right.

The moving air cylinder 3 is disposed horizontally with its piston rod 3a facing left, and the tip of the piston rod 3a is fixed to a bracket 3b protruding from the lower surface of the left end of the movable frame 21. When the piston rod 3a is fully extended, the movable base 2 moves to the left limit position (first position), and when the piston rod 3a is retracted, the movable base 2 moves horizontally a predetermined distance to the right from the left limit position to the right limit position (first position). (second position).

The workpiece pedestal unit 4 is a support pedestal 4 disposed over two conveyors 22c of the base 22.
1, a base plate 42 that is fixed to the upper surface of the support base 41 and extends outward from both the front and rear sides of the movable base 2, a workpiece pedestal 43 arranged on the base plate 42, and four corners of the front, rear, left, and right sides of the base plate 42. It is equipped with an engagement rod 44, etc., which is installed vertically. A pair of front and rear brackets 42a are vertically provided on the lower surface of the portion of the base plate 42 that extends forward and backward of the base 22, and a plurality of screw holes 22b are provided in the side wall portion 22a of the base 22 in the front and rear direction. The bracket 42a and the screw hole 22 are formed with a predetermined pitch.
The workpiece pedestal unit 4 is removably fixed to the movable table 2 by screwing the bolt 22d over the movable table 2. The workpiece pedestal 43 supports the flange part f at the upper end of the hollow workpiece W placed with the intake port side opening facing upward and the collective passage side opening facing leftward. There is.

The pressing unit 5 has an air cylinder 52 mounted on a bracket member 51 erected at the left end of the base plate 42.
is fixed horizontally facing right, and a plate-shaped seal member 54 made of urethane rubber is fixed to the right end surface of a flange member 53 at the tip of the piston rod 52a. When the piston rod 52a is extended, the seal member 54 is fixed. The hollow workpiece W and the side end opening are airtightly sealed.

To explain the seal/clamp unit 6, an air cylinder 61 for raising/lowering/pressing is installed in the center of the top plate 13 of the main frame 1 in an inverted manner, and its piston rod 61a is inserted through the top plate 13. Below the above-mentioned top plate 13 is a top plate 13.
A movable plate 62 similar to that shown in FIG.
The movable plate 62 is fixed to the center portion of the upper surface of the movable plate 62 via the air cylinder 1c, so that the movable plate 62 is driven up and down by the air cylinder 61.

Below the movable plate 62 is a seal/clamp unit main body 6 that is replaced for each type of hollow workpiece W.
A is detachably attached.

A pair of front and rear T-groove forming members 6 are provided on the upper surface of the holder plate 63 of the seal/clamp unit main body 6A.
4 is fixed in the left-right direction, and the T-groove forming member 6
4 and the holder plate 63, a T-slot 65 is formed between the movable plate 62 and a pair of left and right clamping air cylinders 66 in an inverted manner at positions corresponding to the front and rear T-slots 65. A locking plate 67 that engages with the T-slot 65 is fixed to the lower end of the piston rod 66a through which the piston rod 66 is inserted, and the seal/clamp unit main body 6A is attached to and detached from the movable plate 62 by these four sets of clamp cylinders 66. It is fixed freely. The above holder plate 63
A pair of seal blocks 68 are fixed to the lower surface of the hollow work W for sealing the pair of front and rear upper end openings, and a plate-shaped seal member 69 made of urethane rubber is fixed to the lower surface of each seal block 68. An air supply hole 70 is formed between one seal block 68 and the seal member 69, and the air supply port 70 is connected via a hose 71 to a pressurized air supply and pressure drop detection device.

Furthermore, in order to clamp the front flange part f and the rear flange part f of the inspected hollow workpiece W and feed it into the shooter 81 of the shooter device 8, a pair of front and rear clamping devices are connected to a seal block as shown below. 6
8. That is, a pair of left and right clamp arms 72 are arranged so as to sandwich each seal block 68, and the upper end of each clamp arm 72 is connected to a pivot portion 68a on the upper end side of the seal block 68.
The middle part of the pair of clamp arms 72 on the left side and the middle part of the pair of clamp arms 72 on the right side are connected by a rod 74 in the front and rear direction. An air cylinder 75 is disposed in the middle section between the seal blocks 68 so as to face in the left-right direction, and the end of the cylinder body of the air cylinder 75 is pivotally connected to the rod 74 on the left side, and the tip of the piston rod is connected to the rod 74 on the right side. A locking portion 72a capable of locking the flange portion f of the hollow workpiece W is formed at the lower end of each clamp arm 72, and a sealing member 69 is attached to the flange portion f of the opening of the hollow workpiece W. The flange part f of the hollow workpiece W can be clamped by a pair of front and rear clamp arms 72 in a state in which the two clamp arms 72 are pressed into contact with each other.

Regarding the positional relationship between the workpiece pedestal 43 and the seal/clamp unit 6, with the movable table 2 held at the leftmost position, the upper end opening of the hollow workpiece W on the workpiece pedestal 43 is connected to the seal/clamp unit main body 6A. It is now possible to seal it with

Furthermore, engagement holes are formed in each of the four corners of the front, rear, left, and right sides of the holder plate 63, into which engagement pin portions 44a at the upper ends of the corresponding engagement rods 44 are fitted.

Next, the shooter device 8 will be described. A pivot post 82 is provided upright in the center of the left end of the movable frame 21 in the front-rear direction, and a bracket on the lower surface of the left end side of the shooter 81 is attached to the upper end of the pivot post 82. 83 are rotatably connected by a support shaft 84 in the front-rear direction. The shutter 81 has approximately the same width as the base plate 42 in the front and back direction, and has a groove-shaped cross section between the front and rear side walls and the bottom wall, and has a large number of idle rollers 81a on the bottom wall.
is attached.

When the movable table 2 is moved to the rightmost position and the workpiece pedestal 43 is moved to the rightmost position as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. At this time, the shooter 81 is received by a locking post 85 erected on the movable frame 21 on the right side of the pivot post 82 and maintained in a horizontal position. And movable platform 2
Stoppers 86 are erected on the sides of the front and rear base plates 11 so that when the shutter 81 is moved to the left limit position, the shutter 81 is in an inclined position as shown by the solid line in FIG. A lever 87 projects from the rear side wall of the lever 87, and each lever 87 is provided with an engaging member 87a that abuts a locking flange 86a of the stopper 86 from the right side. Furthermore, there is an inspected hollow workpiece W on the floor to the left of the shooter 81.
A conveyor device 9 is provided for transporting the materials to the next process.

Next, the operation of the hollow workpiece pressure leakage inspection device D will be explained.

When the moving air cylinder 3 is operated to move the movable table 2 to the rightmost position, the workpiece pedestal 43 is located at the rightmost position as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. In this state, the hollow workpiece W is set on the workpiece pedestal 43 as shown in the figure, and at this time the shutter 81
is located below the seal/clamp unit 6 and is in a horizontal position. Next, when the piston rod 3a of the air cylinder 3 is extended and the movable base 2 is moved to the left limit position, the hollow workpiece W and the workpiece pedestal 43 are located directly below the seal/clamp unit 6, and the shutter 81 is moved to its lever. Since the engaging member 87a of 87 is received by the stopper 86, the first
It assumes a tilted posture as shown by the solid line in the figure.

Next, while the clamp arm 72 of the clamp device is open, the piston rod 61 of the air cylinder 61 is
A is extended to lower the movable plate 62 and the seal/clamp unit main body 6A to the sealing position, and the engagement rod 44 regulates the height position of the holder plate 63, and the pair of front and rear seal members 69 are moved to the corresponding upper end. After pressing the opening to seal, the piston rod 52a of the pressing unit 5 is extended to press the sealing member 54 against the side opening to seal.
In this manner, with all the openings of the hollow workpiece W sealed, pressurized air is supplied from the pressurized air supply and pressure drop detection device into the hollow workpiece W via the hose 71 and the air supply port 70. The supply is cut off, and the pressure drop inside the hollow workpiece W is detected for about 10 seconds.If the pressure drop is less than the allowable value, the product is accepted, and if the pressure drop is greater than the allowable value, the product is rejected. .

When the hollow workpiece W is an acceptable product, the air cylinder 75 of the clamping device is operated to clamp the flange part f of the hollow workpiece W with a pair of front and rear clamp arms 72 before the seal/clamp unit main body 6A is raised. When the air cylinder 61 and the air cylinder 52 are operated to return, the hollow workpiece W is lifted upward to the standby position together with the seal/clamp unit main body 6A while being held by the clamp device. When the movable base 2 is moved to the rightmost position in this state, the shutter 81 is positioned horizontally below the seal/clamp unit main body 6A.
At that point, when the clamping air cylinder 75 is operated to return, the clamp arm 72 opens and the hollow workpiece W falls onto the shooter 81. When the hollow workpiece W is set on the workpiece pedestal 43 in the same manner as described above while the workpiece pedestal 43 is at the rightmost position, and the movable table 2 is moved to the leftmost position, the shooter 81 automatically tilts as described above. A hollow workpiece W that has been inspected and is an acceptable product is fed from the shooter 81 to the conveyor device 9.

When the hollow workpiece W is a rejected product, if the air cylinder 61 and the air cylinder 52 are operated to return without operating the clamp device, the hollow workpiece W
Since the hollow workpiece W is moved to the right limit position while being placed on the workpiece pedestal 43, the rejected hollow workpiece W is removed before setting the new hollow workpiece W.

When the type of hollow workpiece is changed, the workpiece pedestal unit 4 and the seal/clamp unit main body 6A are replaced. In that case, bolt 22d
After removing the workpiece pedestal unit 4 and taking it out to the right, another workpiece pedestal unit 4 is installed and the bolt 22d is screwed.

Regarding the seal/clamp unit main body 6A, the clamp is released by extending the piston rod of the clamping air cylinder, the unit main body 6A is removed, and another unit main body 6A is attached to bring it into the clamped state.

In the above embodiment, the case where the hollow workpiece is an exhaust manifold has been described, but this hollow workpiece is only an example, and the present invention can also be applied to various hollow workpieces for which pressure leakage inspection is performed. In that case, various types of clamping devices corresponding to the shape of the hollow workpiece will be used as the clamping device. Although the movable base 2 is driven by a moving air cylinder, it can also be configured to be driven by an electric motor via a sprocket chain mechanism or a rack and pinion mechanism.

As described above, according to the hollow workpiece pressure leakage inspection device of this embodiment, the seal/clamp unit 6
Since the hollow workpiece W is installed immediately after the pressure leakage inspection,
Furthermore, since a movable workpiece pedestal 43 and a shutter 81 are provided, it is possible to carry in a new hollow workpiece W and carry out the inspected and accepted hollow workpiece W in parallel. Work W
Effects such as being able to efficiently perform pressure leakage inspection as a whole can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a front view of a pressure leakage inspection device for a hollow workpiece, and FIG. 2 is a right side view of the same. W...Hollow workpiece, 2...Movable base, 3...Moving air cylinder, 6...Seal/clamp unit, 8...Shooter device, 43...Work holder,
61... Air cylinder for lifting and pressing, 62... Movable plate, 63... Holder plate, 69... Seal member, 72... Clamp arm, 74... Rod, 75... Air cylinder for clamp, 81...
Shooter, 82... Pivot post, 85... Locking post, 86... Stopper, 87... Lever.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a pressure leak inspection device that introduces pressurized gas into a cavity of a hollow workpiece and inspects for gas leakage, a first position where pressure leakage inspection of the hollow workpiece is performed and a horizontal movement from the first position. a workpiece pedestal whose position is switched to a second position, a sealing member disposed above the workpiece pedestal in the first position and which press-seals an opening at the upper end of the hollow workpiece on the workpiece pedestal; a seal/clamp unit which has a clamp mechanism for clamping the workpiece, and presses and seals the opening with a sealing member and switches the position between a sealing position where the clamping mechanism can clamp the workpiece and a standby position retreating above the sealing position; , disposed on the side of the workpiece pedestal so as to be positioned horizontally below the seal/clamp unit when the workpiece pedestal moves to the second position, and integrally connected to the workpiece pedestal; 1. A pressure leakage inspection device for a hollow workpiece, comprising: a workpiece unloading chute that is switched to an inclined posture when the chute is in a first position.