JPS6339352B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a jig for positioning a predetermined workpiece when welding and assembling the workpiece in, for example, an automobile assembly process.

As is well known, in the automobile assembly process,
Many vehicle body components, including panels, are assembled by welding, and it is common for individual workpieces to be positioned using a welding jig that serves as a shape receiver and subjected to the above-mentioned welding.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional welding jig for assembling a vehicle body, particularly a jig for positioning a front pillar W as a workpiece.
As shown in the figure, a plurality of gauge posts 2 are erected on a jig base 1, and the upper end of each gauge post 2 has a shape receiver corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of each part of the workpiece W. A gauge plate 3 having a surface 3a is attached to each, and a locating pin 5 is attached via a bracket 4 as required. A clamp device 6 is attached to each gauge plate 3, and this clamp device 6 is composed of a clamper 7 that rotates to open and close with respect to the receiving surface 3a, and an actuator 8 that drives the clamper 7 to open and close. Then, as shown in the figure, the workpiece W is firmly clamped between the receiving surface 3a and the clamper 7 as if it were held between them.
Thereafter, predetermined spot welding is performed using a welding robot (not shown).

Note that 9 is a dowel pin that controls the relative positioning of the jig base 1 and each gauge post 2, and 10 is a mounting bolt.

In the case of such conventional welding jigs for car body assembly, the accuracy of the product after welding is determined by the accuracy of the welding jigs, so the gauge plate 3 and gauge post 2 must be firmly connected. At the same time, the gauge post 2 is fixed to the jig base 1 with a mounting bolt 10, and the final accuracy of the jig itself is ensured with a dowel pin 9. Therefore, the gauge plate 3 The shapes of the receiving surface 3a and the clamper 7 are limited to and specialized for only one type of workpiece W. For this reason, for example, in a so-called mixed production system where multiple car models are assembled on the same line, it is impossible to handle multiple car models unless the entire jig including the jig base is replaced with light, resulting in a lack of versatility. There is.

In view of the above points, this invention was made mainly for the purpose of making the jig itself more versatile.For this purpose, the present invention has developed a fixed gauge having a linear fixed receiving surface. An industrial robot holds a gauge unit including a plate and a movable gauge plate that is hinge-rotatable with respect to a fixed gauge plate and has a linear movable receiving surface, while the gauge unit is equipped with the movable gauge plate. It is equipped with an angle adjustment mechanism that changes the angle of the receiving part in an angular shape consisting of a fixed receiving surface and a movable receiving surface according to the shape of the corner part of the workpiece by rotating. It is designed to be applicable to various types and shapes of workpieces.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings from FIG. 2 onwards.

2 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, 11 is a jig base, 12 is a jig base 11.
There is an articulated industrial robot (hereinafter simply referred to as a robot) as a manipulator disposed above, and this robot 12 corresponds to the gauge post 2 described above. A gauge unit 46 is attached to the wrist portion of the robot 12 via a mounting bracket 47, and this gauge unit 46 swings in the P ₁ and P ₂ directions by the action of a first actuator 49. be.

The gauge unit 46 has a linear fixed receiving surface 50.
a fixed gauge plate 50 and a movable receiving surface 53a which is rotatably supported by the fixed gauge plate 50 via a hinge pin 52 and which is also linear.
a movable gauge plate 53 having a movable gauge plate 53; a rack shaft 54 connected to the movable gauge plate 53;
A pinion 55 that meshes with this rack shaft 54
and a second actuator 56 that rotates the pinion 55. By rotating the movable gauge plate 53 via the rack shaft 54 and pinion 55, an angular receiving portion 57 composed of the movable receiving surface 53a of the movable gauge plate 53 and the fixed receiving surface 50a of the fixed gauge plate 50 is rotated. This changes the angle θ ₁ of . In this way, the rack shaft 54, pinion 55, and second actuator 56 constitute an angle adjustment mechanism 58 having an angle θ ₁ .

Here, the robot 12 is positioned by providing electrical position information to move the gauge unit 46 to a position according to the position information. type, orthogonal coordinate type, polar coordinate type, etc. may be used alone or in combination, and the number of axes, control method, etc. may be arbitrarily set according to the intended operating range. In the case of this embodiment, a robot 12 having a total of four axes, three rotational axes and one linear axis, is used, which has actuators M ₁ , M ₂ , M ₃ , and M ₄ .

In the above configuration, the gauge unit 4 is moved by the movement of the robot 12 itself as shown in FIG.
At the same time, the position of the gauge unit 46 is changed by the action of the first actuator 49.
The whole body is oscillated to change its angle, for example, Q ₁ , Q ₂ , Q ₃ , and on the other hand, the second actuator 56 works to change the angle θ ₁ of the receiving part 57 to the angle of the corner part of the workpiece W. By changing accordingly, Fig. 5 A, B, C and Fig. 6 A, B, C
As shown in the figure, a plurality of workpieces W ₁ , W ₂ , and W ₃ whose flange portions F are bent at different angles can be individually positioned. Of course, the above-mentioned operations are automatically performed by retrieving position information and the like stored in the control device each time based on, for example, a vehicle type signal.

In this way, according to this embodiment, even if a plurality of workpieces have different corner shapes, one jig can be used by changing the angles of the receiving parts according to the shapes of the workpieces. It can support positioning of multiple workpieces. In addition, in conventional jigs, all of the components are fixed, so it takes a lot of man-hours to correct or change the positioning accuracy of the jig itself, but with the jig of this example. Since the gauge unit 46 is movable as necessary, by directly providing the amount of correction to the robot as information, the positioning accuracy can be corrected and changed easily and quickly.

As described above, according to the present invention, a gauge unit having a gauge plate with a variable angle-shaped receiving part is held in an industrial robot. In addition to being able to handle the positioning of multiple types of workpieces with different jigs and being highly versatile, this method also has the effect of making it easier and faster to correct or change accuracy errors in the jig itself compared to conventional methods.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a conventional welding jig for car body assembly, Fig. 2 is a front explanatory view showing an embodiment of the jig of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the main parts of Fig. 2. , FIG. 4 is a right side view of FIG. 2, FIGS. 5A, B, and C are perspective views of the workpiece, and FIGS. 6A, B, and C are explanatory views of the operation of the gauge plate. 12...Industrial robot, 46...Gauge unit, 50...Fixed gauge plate, 50a...
Fixed receiving surface, 53...Movable gauge plate, 53a
...Movable receiving surface, 57...Receiving portion, 58...Angle adjustment mechanism, W, _W1 , _W2 , _W3 , _W4 ...Work.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A jig for receiving and positioning a workpiece with a gauge plate having an angled receiving part corresponding to a corner of the workpiece, which includes a fixed gauge plate having a linear fixed receiving surface, and a fixed gauge. An industrial robot holds a gauge unit that includes a movable gauge plate that is hinge-rotatable relative to the plate and also has a linear movable receiving surface, and the gauge unit has a movable gauge plate that rotates with respect to the plate. A workpiece positioning jig characterized by being attached with an angle adjustment mechanism that changes the angle of an angled receiving part composed of a fixed receiving surface and a movable receiving surface according to the shape of the corner part of the workpiece. .