JPS6286685A - Cable connector insertion device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to an automatic cable connector insertion device, and particularly to a cable connector automatic insertion device suitable for performing three-dimensional wiring within a narrow housing. .

[Background of the invention]

FIG. 4 schematically shows the inside of a terminal device housing, which is a target work of the present invention. The inside of the housing is roughly divided into three parts, with the floppy disk drive unit 1 (hereinafter referred to as FDD) in the center.
There is a hard disk unit 2 (hereinafter referred to as HD2).

A control board 3 and a power supply unit 4 are located on both sides thereof. Furthermore, the FDDI, HD2, and control board 3 are connected on a common base board 5, and the FDDI and base board 5 are connected by one signal cable 6 and one power cable 7, and the HD2 and base board 5 are connected by one signal cable 6 and one power cable 7. The board 5 is 2
It is connected by two signal cables 6 and one power cable 7. How to connect the 5 cables.

Cable connectors 8 or 9 provided at both ends of the cable are FDDI, HD2. This is done by inserting it into the plug connector 10 or 11 of the base board 5. FIG. 5(a) shows connectors 8, 10 for signal cables, (
b) shows connectors 9, 11 for power cables. Fourth
As shown in the figure, FDDI and HD2 plug connector 10
．． 11 is fixed to the rear part 12 of the FDDI and HD 2 with the longitudinal direction of the plug connector 10.11 parallel to the base board 5, and the plug connector 10.11 of the base board 5 has its longitudinal direction FDDI and HD2
It is fixed perpendicularly to the back surface part 12 of. Therefore, the two sets of cable connectors and plug connectors connected by one cable are in a twisted relationship and are not on the same plane, and the lengths of the five cables are also different. Therefore, when performing automation, the mechanism that grips the connectors at both ends of the cable must be able to freely set the distance and orientation of the two cable connectors.
The mechanism becomes complicated, and the external size of the mechanism also increases accordingly. However, since the interior of the housing is a narrow space surrounded by panels and other units, the mechanism that grips the cable connector must be small to enter the housing.

Due to these factors, in the past, this work had to be done entirely manually, which increased the cost of terminal equipment.

It is becoming difficult to shorten takt time. still.

A known example of conventional connector insertion work is Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 75788/1983.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic cable connector insertion device that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art and realizes automation of three-dimensional wiring of connector cables within a narrow housing.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, in one aspect of the present invention, a robot equipped with a hand with two chucks grasps and takes out the connectors at both ends of the cables from a magazine in which connector cables are arranged and stored, and transfers one end to an intermediate jig. The intermediate jig has a mechanism for gripping each connector and a mechanism for inserting it into the housing, as many connectors as are required for one terminal device, and there is a mechanism for gripping each connector and a mechanism for inserting it into the housing. has a compliance mechanism in place. Furthermore, the intermediate jig base.

Two bases are connected by a hinge, and a rotary actuator rotates the two bases from 0 degrees to 90 degrees. When the two bases are bent 90 degrees, one is parallel to the back of the FDD and HD, and the other is parallel to the base board.On each base is a plug inside the housing. A cable connector gripping mechanism and an insertion mechanism are arranged via a compliance mechanism in accordance with the arrangement of the connector. When transferring the connector cable from the magazine to the intermediate jig, the bending angle of the two-fold mechanism of the intermediate jig is 0 degrees, and the two bases are on the same plane. Therefore, the function of the robot hand is that the two chucks on the hand each have a rotational positioning mechanism and a linear positioning mechanism that sets the distance from each other, so that different types of connector cables can be transferred onto the intermediate jig. . The intermediate jig holding one cable connector is bent 90 degrees by the rotary actuator, and the i-pot's hand grasps the intermediate jig again and moves it into the housing in a drawing pattern, inserting the connectors one by one into the mechanism. into the mating plug connector. At this time.

Due to errors in assembly accuracy, all plug connectors of the housing and
Since it is difficult to align all the cable connectors on the intermediate jig at the same time, the robot performs repeated micro-positioning for each connector insertion. Also,
Due to the compliance mechanism of the intermediate jig, even if the cable connector is guided by the chamfered portion of the plug connector during insertion, no large external force is applied to the connector or the intermediate jig. Due to this.

It becomes possible to automate the mounting and wiring of three-dimensional connector cables within a narrow housing.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the cable connector automatic insertion device according to the present invention. A plurality of 65 types of connector cables 13 are each stored in a dedicated magazine 14, and each connector cable is placed at the top of the magazine 14. 13 is taken out by a hand 16 fixed to the tip of the robot 15. The hand 16 has two chucks 17, and each chuck 17 can be rotated and positioned by a rotary air cylinder 18, and the distance between the two chucks 17 can be arbitrarily set by a motor 19 rotating a feed screw 20. can. Therefore, when taking out the connector cable 13, the interval between the chucks 17 in the hand 16 is set to the length of the cable to be taken out, and the chuck 17 is rotated by the rotary air cylinder 18 so that the opening and closing directions of the two chucks 17 are parallel. Connector cable 1
3. Grasp the connectors 8 (or 9) of both terminals. and,
The connector cable is transferred to the intermediate jig 22 positioned on the same pedestal 21 by the operation of the robot 15. The following details will be explained using FIG. As shown in (a), when transferring the connector cable 13 onto the intermediate jig 22, the chuck 17 in the hand 16 is configured so that the opening and closing directions thereof are perpendicular to each other by the rotary air cylinder 18. Pass it to chuck 23 above.

The chuck 23 is in a closed state at this time, and the air cylinder 24
The receiver grasps the connector 8 (or 9) of the connector cable 13 passed thereto. In this way, all five types of connector cables 13 (only two types are shown in Figure 2) are transferred to the intermediate jig 22, and the intermediate jig 22 is rotated 180 degrees with the rotary air cylinder 25 shown in Figure 1. After turning the intermediate jig 22 upside down, the inner base 28 of the base 27 and the base 28 connected by the hinge 26 is rotated by the rotary air cylinder 29, and the intermediate jig 22 is bent 90 degrees as shown in FIG. 2(b). . Then, the robot 15 grasps the protrusion 30 of the base 27 with the hand 16 of the robot 15, moves and positions the intermediate jig 22 into the terminal device housing 32 on the conveyor 31 shown in FIG. ), the connector 8 (or 9) is opened by the chuck 23 and inserted by the pusher 33. At this time, due to errors in assembly accuracy of the terminal equipment, it is difficult for all the plug connectors 10 and 11 in the housing 32 to match the positions of all the connectors 8 and 9 on the intermediate jig 22 at the same time, so the robot Reference numeral 15 performs minute positioning for insertion of one connector. Also,
The chuck 23 and button 33 of the intermediate jig 22 are attached to the base 2.
7.28 and has a compliance mechanism between them.
Even if the connector 8 (or 9) is guided by the chamfered part of the plug connector 10 (or 11) when inserting the connector, no large external force will be applied to the connectors 8, 9, 10.11 or the intermediate jig 22. do not have.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the chuck mechanism, button mechanism, and compliance mechanism of the intermediate jig 22. The chuck 23, guided by the groove 35 of the plate 34, grips the connector 8 (or 9) by means of a spring 36.

When opening, the cam 40 opens the chuck 23 by the protrusion of the rod 39 of the air cylinder 38 fixed to the plate 34 by the bracket 37, and at the same time the connector 8 (or 9) can be inserted by the button 33 at the tip of the rod 39. .

Further, the plate 34 is connected to the base 27, 28 on all sides by springs 42. Furthermore, since the base 28 of the intermediate jig 22 has low rigidity to receive the reaction force when the connector 8 (or 9) is inserted, the air cylinder 38 is made into a double rod type and the housing rear panel 41 is inserted at the same time. This can prevent reaction force from being applied to the base 28. This makes it possible to automate the mounting and wiring of three-dimensional connector cables within a narrow housing.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the connector insertion work for cable mounting and wiring is performed in a narrow space inside the housing, the insertion directions of the connectors at both ends of one cable are not on the same plane, and Since the insertion work of connectors whose longitudinal directions are not parallel can be fully automated instead of manual work, it is possible to reduce the cost of 11 products and increase production volume by shortening takt time. Furthermore, by providing intermediate jigs for each model, the system's versatility is increased, and it can accommodate cable mounting and wiring within the housing of many models.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the operating procedure of the invention, Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing an intermediate jig of the invention, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5, which is a rear perspective view of a certain terminal device, is a perspective view showing an example of a connector to which the present invention is applied. 1... Terminal equipment, 8, 9, 10. 11... Connector, 15... Robot, 16... Hand, 22...
intermediate jig

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a device that mounts and wires cables with connectors fixed to both ends into a housing, there is a cable storage means for storing multiple cables, and cables taken out from the storage means are mounted and arranged in units and fixed. intermediate jig means for taking out the cables from the storage means, arranging them in the intermediate jig means, and moving and positioning the intermediate jig means into the housing, the robot means removing the cables from the storage means. Predetermined cables are taken out and arranged and fixed in units on the intermediate jig means, and the intermediate jig means on which the cables are mounted are moved and positioned into the housing by the robot means and installed on the intermediate jig means. 1. A cable connector insertion device characterized in that a plurality of cable connectors can be easily inserted into a housing by inserting connectors at both ends of the cable into mating connectors inside the housing using pushing means. (2) In a device for mounting and wiring a cable with connectors fixed at both ends into a housing, the intermediate jig means is provided with a bifold mechanism, and when the cable is placed from the storage means, the intermediate jig means has a planar shape, and after all the cables are arranged, the intermediate jig is bent at an arbitrary angle by a two-fold mechanism between the connectors at both ends of the cable, and moved into the housing and positioned. A cable connector insertion device characterized in that a plurality of connectors can be inserted in a three-dimensional positional relationship within a narrow housing.