Electric heating – Metal heating – Bonding
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-24
2002-02-05
Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
Bonding
C218S147000, C228S048000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06344629
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a vehicle body, in which at least left and right side panels and a floor panel, out of all constituting members of the vehicle body, are combined by welding to thereby assemble the vehicle body.
2. Description of Related Art
As this kind of apparatus for assembling a vehicle body, there has hitherto been known the following one in Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 53073/1988. Namely, the apparatus comprises: a setting cart which is movable back and forth between a setting station and a vehicle body assembly station; and a jig which is mounted, in an inward-looking posture as seen laterally (i.e., from left or right), on a supporting base which is disposed on each of left and right outside portions of the vehicle body assembly station. The setting cart is provided with: floor panel supporting members for positioning and supporting a floor panel of the vehicle body; side sill receiving members for receiving left and right side sill portions which are defined as combined portions between the floor panel and the left and right side panels of the vehicle body; and side panel forcing members for forcing both the side panels from a lateral outside toward the floor panel. The floor panel and both the side panels are set in position onto the setting cart in the setting station and are transported to the vehicle body assembly station. In the vehicle body assembly station, each of the side panels on the setting bogy are received in a state of being combined to the floor panel by means of the jigs. In this state, each of the side panels is combined by welding to the floor panel to thereby assemble the vehicle body. In this apparatus, a plurality of welding guns are mounted on the jig, and the side panels are combined by welding to the floor panel by means of these welding guns.
The jig is specialized (or specially prepared) for each kind of the vehicle. If the welding guns are mounted on the jig as in the above-described conventional apparatus, the jig becomes higher in cost. If this kind of expensive jig must be prepared for each kind of the vehicle, the equipment cost becomes large.
In this case, the following arrangement is considered. Namely, on each lateral (left and right) side portions of the vehicle body assembly station, a plurality of welding robots are provided at a level below each of the jigs. Each of the side panels is thus combined by welding to the floor panel by means of these welding robots. In this arrangement, it is not necessary to mount the welding guns on the jig and, therefore, the equipment cost can be kept low.
However, if the welding robots are disposed in a manner as described above, during the welding work by the welding robots, the side sill receiving members and the side panel forcing members which are provided on the setting cart interfere with the welding robots. Therefore, the setting cart cannot be returned to the setting position. It follows that, after the side panels and the floor panel are received by the jig, the setting cart must be returned to the setting position first and, thereafter, the welding work by the welding robots must be started. The time required to return the setting cart to the setting position thus becomes a loss time, with the result that the cycle time becomes longer.
In view of the above points, the present invention has an object of providing an apparatus for assembling a vehicle body in which the welding work by welding robots can be started without waiting for the returning of the setting cart back to the setting station, whereby the cycle time can be shortened.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention is an apparatus for assembling a vehicle body comprising: a setting cart movable back and forth between a setting station and a vehicle body assembly station; a jig mounted on a supporting base in a posture to look laterally inward, the supporting base being disposed on each laterally outside portion of the vehicle body assembly station; the setting cart having: floor panel supporting members for positioning and supporting a floor panel of the vehicle body; side sill receiving members for receiving side sill portions which are defined as combined portions between the floor panel and left and right side panels; and side panel forcing members for forcing each of the side panels from a lateral outside toward the floor panel; wherein the floor panel and both the side panels are set onto the setting cart in the setting station and are transported to the vehicle body assembly station, wherein each of the side panels is received in the vehicle body assembly station in a state of being combined with the floor panel by each of the jigs and wherein, in this state, each of the side panels is combined by welding to the floor panel to thereby assemble the vehicle body; a plurality of welding robots for combining by welding each of the side panels to the floor panel, the welding robots being disposed on each of the lateral sides of the vehicle body assembly station at a level below each of said jigs; wherein the side sill receiving members and the side panel forcing members are disposed on the setting cart so as to be retractable into shunted positions free from interference with the welding robots in welding operation.
According to the present invention, even if the welding work on the side panels and the floor panel by the welding robots is started immediately after the side panels on the setting cart are received by the jig in a state of being combined with the floor panel, the setting jig can be returned to the setting station without interference with the welding robots, if the side sill receiving members and the side panel forcing members are retracted into the shunted (or withdrawn) positions. In this manner, the welding work by the welding robots can be started without waiting for the returning of the setting cart back to the setting station. As a result, the cycle time can be shortened and the productivity can be improved.
Preferably, the apparatus further comprises a longitudinally elongated stationary frame positioned at a level below each of the jigs and the welding robots are mounted on the stationary frames so as to be longitudinally movable. Then, each of the robots can be made smaller in size and the welding of a plurality of longitudinal points can be done by each of the welding robots. Here, in the conventional apparatus for assembling a vehicle body, that supporting base for the jig which is disposed on each of the lateral sides of the vehicle body assembly station is formed into a longitudinally elongated rectangle in which the longitudinal length of an upper portion for mounting thereon the jig and the longitudinal length of a lower portion thereof are made equal to each other. If this kind of supporting base is used, all of the welding robots to be mounted on the stationary frame will lie behind the supporting base as seen from a lateral outside. Maintenance work such as electrode tip dressing of the welding guns to be mounted on the welding robots is performed by a worker who must enter into a space between the stationary frame and the supporting base. However, since this space is considerably small, the workability is poor, the load on the worker becomes heavy, and the work takes much time. This is a problem in improving the productivity. As a solution, the apparatus preferably comprises a supporting base formed into a T-configuration in which a longitudinal length of a lower portion thereof is smaller than a longitudinal length of an upper portion thereof for mounting thereon the jig, such that an open space which extends to the stationary frame is secured in a front and a rear at a lower portion of the supporting base. According to this arrangement, by gathering the welding robots on the stationary frame in those front portion and the rear portion of the stationary frame which face the open space in the lower front portion and the l
Fukumori Masayuki
Kato Chitoshi
Kitamura Nagahisa
Koike Masashi
Kusumegi Kenji
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Cooke Colleen
Dunn Tom
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
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