JPH0562755A - Contact pin bending device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Correction) [Purpose] Bending at two locations can be performed in one step, and even if the bending dimensions are different, bending can be performed without substantial setup change. To obtain a contact pin bending device that can be used. A contact pin bending apparatus is provided with a clamp means 203 for holding an insulator to which a contact pin is attached, a support means 221 for movably supporting the clamp means, a clamp means arranged to face the clamp means, and held by the clamp means. Contact gripping means 240 for gripping the contact pin 16 protruding from the insulator
Composed of and. After the insulator is held by the clamp means and the contact pin protruding from the insulator is grasped by the contact grasping means, the clamp means is moved by the supporting means to bend the contact pin.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for bending a contact pin, which is inserted into an insulator at one end thereof and protrudes outward, into a predetermined shape in an automatic connector assembling machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A connector for assembling a connector by inserting contact pins into insulators (insulating housings) that are successively conveyed, and then bending the portions of the contact pins protruding outward from the insulators into a predetermined shape. Assembling machines have been known for some time. As a connector assembled by such a connector assembling machine, for example, there is a connector 1 as shown in FIG. This connector 1 is called a straight type connector, and is composed of an insulator 2 and a plurality of contacts 11a and 11b which are press-fitted from the rear end side of the insulator 2 with their tips protruding into the internal space 3d. There is. The contact 11a is projected straight rearward while being pressed in, and the contact 11b is bent in a crank shape at a portion projecting to the rear end surface of the insulator 2 and then straightly projected rearward.

[0003]

The contact 11b of the straight type connector is bent at two places and formed into a crank shape. The bending process in the conventional connector assembling machine is such that the two bending points are sequentially performed. Therefore, the bending apparatus has two steps for performing the bending processes at the two bending points. There is a problem that the device becomes large and complicated. further,
If the type of connector is different and the crank-shaped bending dimension changes, it is necessary to change the setup of the bending device (replacement of jigs and device components), which hinders improvement in productivity. It was

The present invention has been made in view of these problems.
When processing the contact pin into a crank shape or the like, it is possible to perform bending at two locations in one step, and even if the bending dimensions are different, bending can be performed without substantial setup change. An object of the present invention is to provide such a contact pin bending device.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, a contact pin bending apparatus of the present invention has a clamp means for holding an insulator to which a contact pin is attached, and a support for movably supporting the clamp means. And a contact gripping means that is arranged to face the clamp means and grips the contact pin protruding from the insulator held by the clamp means. The clamp means holds the insulator and the contact gripping means grips the contact pin protruding from the insulator, and then the supporting means moves the clamp means to bend the contact pin. , The insertion root portion "P" of the contact pin into the insulator is moved so as to draw an arcuate locus around the gripping root portion "O" of the contact pin by the contact gripping means. When the clamp means is moved in this way, the contact pins are bent at the two positions of the insertion root portion "P" and the gripping root portion "O", and the crank-shaped bending work is performed only by the above-mentioned one-step working. ..

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The connector to be bent by the contact pin bending apparatus according to the present invention has, for example, a configuration shown in FIG. The connector 1 shown in FIG. 4 is composed of an insulator 2 and a plurality of contacts 11a, 11b that are press-fitted from the rear end side of the insulator 2 with their tips protruding into the internal space 3d. The contact 11a straightly protrudes rearward while being press-fitted. The contact 11b is bent in a crank shape at a portion projecting to the rear end surface of the insulator 2 and then straightly projecting rearward. Below, the connector 1 of such a structure is called a straight type connector. The insulator 2 is formed with a first protrusion 3a protruding toward the front end side and a second protrusion 3c protruding toward the rear end side, and a notch 3b is formed on one side of the first protrusion 3a.

An assembly machine for automatically assembling the connector 1 as shown in FIG. 4 will be described below. In the automatic assembly machine described below, the size of the insulator and
It is possible to assemble connectors having different sizes and numbers of contacts. In order to assemble various connectors in this way, various contrivances have been made in this general-purpose automatic assembly machine. First, an outline of the assembly process by this general-purpose automatic assembly machine is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

In this general-purpose automatic assembly machine, the insulators 2 are supplied one by one from the vibrating parts feeder 20 in a line in a predetermined direction. As shown in FIG. 2, the insulator 2 thus supplied has the first transport path 3
0 to the insulator alignment device 50.
The insulators 2 are supplied side by side in a predetermined direction by the vibrating parts feeder 20, but the vibrating parts feeder 20 cannot arrange the insulators 2 in the front-back and up-down directions (front and back). Therefore, the external shape of each insulator 2 is read by the image processing device, the direction of each insulator 2 is read from the image data, and the direction of each insulator 2 is aligned by the insulator aligning device 50. After that, the insulators 2 whose directions are aligned in this way are sequentially sent to the transport holding device 80 through the second transport path 70. The step of aligning the insulators 2 supplied from the vibrating parts feeder 20 as described above, that is, the step of reaching the conveyance holding device 80 from the first conveyance path 30 is referred to as a first station ST1.

On the other hand, the contacts are supplied from the reel 100. As shown in FIG. 5, the reel 100 is wound with a contact belt 10 having a large number of contact pins 16 held at a predetermined pitch by a carrier 15 having a pilot hole 15a. Therefore, reel 1
00 to the contact belt 10 is the contact supply device 1
It is pulled out by 10 and supplied to the contact cutter 130 and the transport pallet 140. The feeding by the contact supply device 110 is stopped in a state in which the contact belt 10 projects above the transport pallet 140 by a predetermined size. Next, the portion protruding onto the transport pallet 140 is held by the pallet 140, and the held portion is separated from the contact belt 10 on the reel 100 side by the contact cutter 130. As a result, the contact belt 10 cut into a predetermined size is held by the transport pallet 140. The process of pulling out the contact belt 10 from the reel 110 and cutting the contact belt 10 into a predetermined size as described above is referred to as a second station ST2.

The transport pallet 140 holding the contact belt 10 cut into a predetermined size as described above is transported on the rectangular transport device 300. This quadrangular transfer device 300 includes first to fourth transfer rails 310, 320, 33.
0, 340, and these transport rails form a square loop transport path as shown in FIG. The first transfer base 350 is mounted on the first transfer rail 310,
The transfer pallet 140 is placed on the first transfer base 350. As described above, the first transfer base 350 moves from the position adjacent to the contact cutter 130 on the first transfer rail 310 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2 to the position adjacent to the temporary contact insertion device 160. Therefore, the transfer pallet 140 is also moved onto the temporary contact insertion device 160 together with the first transfer base 350 while holding the contact belt 10 that has been cut to a certain size.

On the other hand, the insulator 2 sent to the carrier holding device 80 is gripped by the manipulator arm of the first handling robot 410 arranged in the vicinity of the temporary contact inserting device 160, and the temporary contact inserting device 160 is kept in that state. Transport pallet 14 that has moved to the top
Transported above zero. Next, the image processing device for alignment enters between the contact belt 10 held by the transport pallet 140 and the insulator 2 held by the manipulator arm, and the contact insertion hole of the insulator 2 with respect to the position of the contact pin 16 of the contact belt 10. Read the position of. Then, based on the read image data, the positional deviation of the insertion hole of the insulator 2 with respect to the contact pin 16 is corrected by operating the manipulator arm. Next, the manipulator arm is moved downward while being held by the manipulator arm to press the insulator 2 onto the contact belt 10, and the contact pin 16 is lightly inserted into the contact insertion hole of the insulator 2. The process of temporarily inserting the contact pin 16 into the contact insertion hole as described above is referred to as a third station ST3.

After the contact pin 16 is temporarily inserted in this way, the insulator 2 by the manipulator arm is inserted.
Is released, and the manipulator arm retracts to a predetermined position. As a result, the insulator 2 is temporarily inserted and attached onto the contact belt 10 held by the transport pallet 140. Next, in this state, the transfer pallet 140 is transferred to the first transfer base 350.
A second transport base which is moved away from the second transport rail 320, is transported in the direction of the arrow B on the second transport rail 320, and is located on the third transport rail 330 so as to face the second transport rail 320. It is conveyed onto 360. The contact press-fitting device 180 is located above the second transfer base 360 at this position. When the transfer pallet 140 is transferred onto the second transfer base 360, the insulator 2 temporarily inserted into the contact belt 10 held thereby is pressed by the contact press-fitting device 18, and the contact pins 16 are inserted into the contacts of the insulator 2. Fully pressed into the hole. The press-fitting process by the contact press-fitting device 18 is referred to as a fourth station ST4.

When this press-fitting is completed, the second transfer base 3
60 is the third with the carrier pallet 140 placed on it.
It is moved on the transport rail 330 in the direction of arrow C to the transport position shown by the chain line in FIG. 2, that is, to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 and 3 both show a general-purpose automatic assembly machine according to this embodiment.
Shows the first half of the process, and FIG. 3 shows the second half of the process. However, FIG.
3 and FIG. 3 show a part of the transport device 300 partially overlapping.

Next, the second handling robot 420 is operated, and the manipulator arm of the second handling robot 420 grips the insulator 2 on the transfer pallet 140. At this time, the holding of the contact belt 10 by the transfer pallet 140 is released, and the manipulator arm transfers the insulator 2 into which the contact pin 16 is press-fitted onto the carrier cutting device 200. In the carrier cutting device 200, the contact belt 10 in which the contact pin 16 is press-fitted and attached to the insulator 2
The carrier 15 of is separated from the contact pin 16. As a result, the contact pins 16 are independently press-fitted into the contact insertion holes of the insulator 2. The step of separating the carrier 15 by the carrier cutting device 200 is referred to as a fifth station ST5.

When the detachment of the carrier 15 is completed, the third handling robot 430 is operated to grip the insulator 2 on the carrier cutting device 200 and convey it to the first bending device 220. In the first bending apparatus 220, the tail portion of one row of the contact pins 16 that are press-fitted into the insulator 2 and project in two rows is bent into a predetermined shape. When the first bending process is completed, the fourth handling robot 440 is operated to grip the insulator 2 on the first bending device 220 and convey it to the second bending device 250. In the second bending apparatus 250, the tail portions of the contact pins 16 forming a row on the side that has not been bent yet are bent into a predetermined shape. Both of these bending devices 2
When the bending process of the tail portion of the contact pin 16 by 20, 250 is completed, the connectors 1, 5 having the configuration shown in FIG. 4 or 5 are completed. The bending process performed by the bending devices 220 and 250 will be referred to as sixth and seventh stations ST6 and ST7.

The first to seventh stations ST1 to ST
1 is schematically shown in FIG. 1, and the controller 510 controls the operation control of the devices constituting each station and the operation of the parts feeder 20. This operation control differs depending on the type of the connector to be assembled. Therefore, data on the connector to be assembled is input from the input device 500 to the controller 51 prior to the assembly work.
It is designed to be input to 0.

Since the contact pin bending apparatus according to the present invention is included in the sixth and seventh stations ST6 and ST7, both of these stations will be described in detail below. In addition, as described above, when the disconnection of the carrier 15 is completed in the fifth station ST5,
The insulator 2 having the contact pins 16 on the carrier cutting device 200 press-fitted by the third handling robot 430 shown in FIG.
6 is conveyed on the 1st bending apparatus 220 which comprises.
The robot 430 includes a base 431 and horizontally rotatable arms 432 and 433 mounted on the base 431.
And a chuck hand 435 attached to the tip of the rod 434 and a manipulator arm composed of a rod 434 which is movable in the vertical direction and rotatable. The chuck hand 435 grips the insulator 2 to perform the above-described conveyance. ..

As shown in FIG. 7, the first bending device 220 is a clamp device 2 for fixing and holding the insulator 2 conveyed by the third handling robot 430.
03, expansion means 229 that spreads the contacts 16 that are aligned and projected from the insulator 2 in two rows, and bending means 230 that bends the contacts 16 into a predetermined shape.
Consists of. As shown in FIG. 10, the clamp device 203 is mounted on the fourth base 221d. The fourth base 221d is attached to the third base 221c so as to be vertically movable, and the third base 221c is the first base 221c. 2 base 2
21b is attached to the second base 221b so that the second base 221b can be moved left and right (in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 10).
It is attached to 21a so that it can be moved back and forth (left and right in FIG. 10). That is, these first to fourth bases 2
21a, 221b, 221c, 221d constitute a supporting means, and the clamp device 203 is vertically moved by the supporting means.
It is movably supported left and right and front and back.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the clamp device 203. The device 203 includes a mounting block 208 fixed to the fourth base 221d and the mounting block 208.
And a moving block 204 that can move back and forth. A mounting surface 208b having a projection 208a is formed at the front end of the mounting block 208, and the insulator 2 transported by the third handling robot 430 as described above is, as shown by a chain line in the figure, The contact pin 16 is mounted on the mounting surface 208b so as to project forward. The front end of the mounting block 208 faces the insulator 2 and the spring 2
A rear fixed block 206 biased rearward by 06c is attached so as to be movable back and forth. When the insulator 2 is mounted on the mounting surface 208b as described above, the cylinder 206a operates and pushes the rear fixed block 206 forward through the rod 206b.
The insulator 2 is sandwiched between 06 and the projection 208a of the mounting block 208.

Next, the cylinder 204a is actuated, the moving block 204 is moved forward (in the direction of arrow J1) via the rod 204b, and the front end portion thereof is the insulator 2
It is located on the upper side of the so as to cover it. Moving block 20
An upper fixed block 205 is attached to the front end portion of No. 4, and after the moving block 204 is moved forward as described above, the cylinder 205a on the moving block 204 is attached.
Is activated, and the upper fixed block 2 is connected via the link 205b.
05 is moved down. As a result, as shown in FIG.
The upper fixing block 205 presses the insulator 2 from above and holds it in a fixed manner. Although not shown,
Means for sandwiching the insulator 2 from the left and right are also provided in the clamp device 203, and thus the clamp device 203 is configured to firmly fix and hold the insulator 2 from the front and rear, the left and right, and the top and bottom.

In the state where the insulator 2 is fixedly held by the clamp device 203 as described above, the insulator 2 faces the expansion device 229 as shown in FIG. 9, and in this state, the cylinder 229a of the expansion device 229.
Is operated to push the expansion blade 229b toward the insulator 2. The expansion blade 229b has a wedge shape with a sharp tip as shown in the drawing, and this tip has an insulator 2
From between the two rows of the contacts 16 projecting side by side in the upper and lower rows, and the expansion blades 229b push the contacts 16 outwardly as shown by the chain line.

Next, the clamp device 203 is moved to the arrow M in FIG.
Is moved in the direction indicated by and faces the bending means 230 as shown in FIG. The bending means 230 includes a pair of left and right rotary plates 23 rotatably mounted around a rotary shaft “O” between a pair of left and right fixed plates 231.
2, and the contact gripping means 240 is disposed between the rotating plates 232. The contact gripping means 240 is connected to the rotary plate 232 and can rotate together with the rotary plate 232 about the rotation axis “O”.

The contact grip means 240 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the lower grip plate 241 fixed to the rotary plate 232, and the upper grip plate 2 rotatable about the shaft 242c with respect to the lower grip plate 241.
42, and a lever 243 that is rotatable about a shaft 243a and that rotates the upper grip plate 242 in response to this rotation.
It is composed of a cylinder 245 for rotating the lever 243. When the cylinder 245 is extended, the front protrusion 243b of the lever 243 presses the front portion of the upper grip plate 242 and rotates it in the closing direction as indicated by the solid line, so that the cylinder 2
When 45 is contracted, the rear projection 243c of the lever 243 presses the rear portion of the upper grip plate 242 to rotate it in the opening direction like a chain line. Both grip plates 24
As shown in FIG. 11 (B), the tip ends of the teeth 1 and 242 are comb-teeth-shaped, and the contact 16 is sandwiched and held by the comb teeth 241a and 242a. A groove 242b corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of the contact 16 is formed on the upper grip plate 242, and the contact 1 is formed by both grip plates 241 and 242 as shown in FIG. 11C.
6 is gripped.

Bending of the contact 16 by the bending means 230 having such a structure will be described. This bending work produces the straight type connector 1 shown in FIG. 4, and this bending work is performed as shown in FIG. First, the clamp device 203 is moved with the insulator 2 held, and the contact pins 16 in the upper row protruding forward from the insulator 2 are moved to the contact gripping means 240. Then, the front part of the upper contact pin 16 is gripped by the upper and lower grip plates 241 and 242 as shown in FIG. At this time, the pitch of the comb teeth 241a, 242a at the tips of both gripping plates 241, 242 is twice the pitch of the contact pins 16, and the contact pin 1
Every other 6 is gripped.

Next, the movement of the clamp device 203 in the Y and Z directions shown in the figure is controlled, and the clamp device 20 is moved.
The insulator 2 held by 3 is moved in an arc shape as shown by an arrow N. Both grip plates 241, 2
42, that is, both grip plates 241 and 24
The gripping root portion “O” of the contact pin 16 gripped by 2 coincides with the rotation axis “O” of the contact gripping means 240. Here, the insulator 2 of the contact pin 16 gripped by both grip plates 241 and 242
Assuming that the insertion root portion is “P”, the insulator 2 moves so that the point “P” moves in an arc around the point “O” with the length connecting the points “P” and “O” as a radius. Movement is controlled. By this arc-shaped movement of the insulator 2, the insertion root "P" of the contact pin 16 moves to a point "P '" along the arc-shaped locus shown by the chain line, and the contact pin 16 is shown in FIG. 12 (B). Thus, the crank-shaped contact 11b of the connector 1 shown in FIG. 4 is formed by bending the crank-shaped contact 11b. The grip plate 241,
The contact pin 16 which is not gripped by 242 directly projects straight to form the straight contact 11a of the straight type connector 1 shown in FIG.

As described above, the bending means 230 bends the upper contact pin 16. Similarly, when the lower contact pin 16 is bent by the bending means 230, the assembly of the straight type connector 1 shown in FIG. 4 is completed. However, in the device of this example, as shown in FIG. 3, the second bending device 250 is arranged next to the first bending device 220, and the bending process of the lower contact pin 16 is performed as follows. This second
It is performed by the bending device 250. For this reason, the second bending device 250 has a clamp device and a bending device having the same configuration as described above. In the bending process, the length of the crank-shaped portion can be arbitrarily changed by changing the holding position of the contact pin by the holding plates 241 and 242. Therefore, it is possible to perform the bending process for the connectors having different bending dimensions without changing the setup.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
After the insulator is held by the clamp means and the contact pin protruding from the insulator is gripped by the contact gripping means, the root "P" of the contact pin inserted into the insulator is the grip root "O" of the contact pin by the contact gripping means. The crank pin of the straight type connector can be bent simply by moving the clamp means by the support means so as to move along an arcuate locus around "". Therefore, the bending process can be shortened and the production efficiency can be improved. In this case, the bending dimension can be changed only by changing the holding position of the contact pin by the contact holding means. For this reason, it is possible to bend a connector having different crank-shaped portions with substantially no setup change, thereby improving production efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an assembly station configuration of a connector general-purpose automatic assembly machine equipped with a contact pin bending apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a front half of the general-purpose automatic assembly machine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of the latter half of the general-purpose automatic assembly machine.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view and a sectional view showing an example of a connector assembled by the general-purpose automatic assembly machine.

5A and 5B are a front view and a side view showing a contact belt having contact pins that are press-fitted into this connector.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a handling robot.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a first bending apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a clamp device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the operation of the expansion device.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the first bending apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a side view, a perspective view and a sectional view showing a contact gripping means.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing bending of a contact pin of a straight type connector by a bending device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Connector 2, 5 Insulator 10 Contact Belt 20 Parts Feeder 25 Reel 110 Contact Supply Device 116, 126 Drive Sprocket 130 Contact Cutter 140 Conveyor Pallet 160 Contact Temporary Insertion Device 180 Contact Press-fitting Device 200 Carrier Cutting Device 203 Clamping Device 210 Cutting Device 220, 250 Bending device 410, 420, 430, 440 Handling robot

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device for bending the other end side of a contact pin, one end of which is inserted into an insulator and the other end of which protrudes outward from the insulator, into a predetermined shape, and a clamping means for holding the insulator. A support means for movably supporting the clamp means, and a contact gripping means arranged to face the clamp means and gripping a contact pin protruding from the insulator held by the clamp means. The insulator is held by the clamp means, and the contact pin protruding from the insulator is held by the contact holding means, and the root "P" of the contact pin inserted into the insulator is the holding root of the contact pin by the contact holding means. Department "O" To move an arc-shaped trajectory to the center, the support means contact pin bending apparatus characterized by being configured to perform bending of the contact pin by moving the clamping means.