Electric heating – Metal heating – For bonding with pressure
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-11
2002-01-15
Shaw, Clifford C. (Department: 1725)
Electric heating
Metal heating
For bonding with pressure
C219S086240, C219S086250, C901S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06339204
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a floor in which a floor of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle is assembled by combining a plurality of workpieces which are made up of a front component constituting an engine room, a front floor constituting a floor surface of a vehicle compartment, a rear floor constituting a floor surface of a trunk room, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
As this kind of apparatus for assembling a floor of a vehicle, there has been known the following. Namely, the apparatus comprises: a floor assembly station; a setting jig which is disposed in the floor assembly station and which positions and supports a plurality of workpieces constituting the floor of the vehicle; and a plurality of welding robots disposed on each lateral side of the floor assembly station, each of the welding robots having a welding gun mounted on an operating end thereof such that a plurality of workpieces on the setting jig are combined by welding to form the floor (see Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 193433/1992).
In this apparatus, the floor assembled in the floor assembly station is transferred by a transfer apparatus such as a transfer bar, or the like, to a station which lies ahead to perform the next step of assembling. By providing the transfer apparatus as explained above, the equipment cost becomes high.
There is also known the following apparatus in Published Examined Japanese Patent Application No. 6072/1989. In this apparatus, a welding robot is provided with a joint portion to which a workpiece holding device can be coupled. After the welding of the workpiece has been finished, the workpiece holding device is coupled to the joint portion and the workpiece is held by a plurality of clamping members provided in the workpiece holding device. The workpiece is thus transferred to the next station by the welding robot.
It is considered to apply this kind of art to the apparatus for assembling a floor. Namely, among a plurality of welding robots which are disposed on both lateral sides of the floor assembly station, one welding robot is provided with a joint portion to which a holding device for the floor can be coupled. After the assembling of the floor has been finished, the holding device is coupled to the joint portion. The floor is then supported by the holding device for transportation from the floor assembly station to the next station by means of a single welding robot.
However, since the floor is large in size and weight, it is difficult to stably transport it with a single welding robot. In addition, after the floor has been assembled, the holding device must be coupled to the joint portion before the floor is transported. Therefore, the time required to couple the holding device becomes a loss in time, with the result that the cycle time becomes longer. Alternatively, if the holding device is kept coupled to the welding robot, the holding device interferes with the floor during the assembly work of the floor. Therefore, the holding device must be removed out of the welding robot during the assembly work.
In view of the above-described points, the present invention has an object of providing an apparatus for assembling a floor of a vehicle in which the floor can be transported with welding robots, whereby the equipment cost can be reduced by deleting the transporting apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention is an apparatus for assembling a floor of a vehicle, comprising: a floor assembly station; a setting jig which is disposed in said floor assembly station and which positions and supports a plurality of workpieces constituting the floor of the vehicle; a plurality of welding robots disposed on each lateral side of the floor assembly station, each of the welding robots having a welding gun mounted on an operating end thereof such that a plurality of workpieces on the setting jig are combined by welding to form the floor; wherein at least two welding robots on each lateral side of the floor assembly station, i.e., a total of four welding robots, among the welding robots disposed in the floor assembly station, are provided on each operating end thereof with a workpiece receiving member in a certain positional relationship with the welding gun, whereby the four welding robots are constituted into dual-purpose welding robots for both welding and transporting; and wherein the floor is transported by cooperation of the dual-purpose welding robots from the floor assembly station to a subsequent station in which a subsequent assembling step is performed, the floor being transported in a state of being supported through the workpiece receiving members at least at four longitudinal and lateral positions of the floor.
According to the present invention, at least two welding robots on each lateral side of the floor assembly station, i.e., a total of four welding robots, are constituted into dual-purpose welding robots for performing both welding work and transporting work, and the floor is supported through the workpiece receiving member at least at four longitudinal and lateral positions. Therefore, even if the floor is large in size and weight, it can be transported in a stable manner. In addition, since the workpiece receiving members may support only part of the floor, they can be formed small in size. Therefore, even in a state in which the workpiece receiving member remains mounted on the operating end of the robot, the assembly work of the floor can be performed without interference of the workpiece receiving member with the floor. Right after the floor has been assembled, the floor can be supported by the workpiece receiving members and can therefore be quickly transported.
The floor is provided with a jack-up point at each of four longitudinal and lateral positions, the jack-up point being for applying a jack at the time of jacking up the vehicle. Since the jack-up point is high in rigidity, the stability in supporting the floor improves if each of the workpiece receiving members of the dual-purpose welding robots supports each of the jack-up points of the floor. In this case, it is preferable to arrange the workpiece receiving member of at least one of the dual-purpose welding robots to support a corresponding jack-up point by aligning the corresponding jack-up point in both longitudinal and lateral directions, to thereby prevent the floor from deviating in position during transportation.
Preferably, the welding gun is mounted, through a supporting frame, on a wrist of three-axis construction provided at a front end of a robot arm of each of the dual-purpose welding robots, wherein the supporting frame is made up of: that first side frame on one side which extends in a longitudinal direction at a right angle to an axis of rotation of a wrist member provided at a front end of the wrist and which is coupled to the wrist member; a second side frame on a side opposite to, and parallel with, the first side frame; and cross members which combine both the first and second side frames, wherein the welding gun is mounted between the first and second side frames such that a gun arm projects in one longitudinal direction of the first and second side frames, and wherein the workpiece receiving member is fixed to an outer side surface of the second side frame. According to this arrangement, when the floor is supported, the load which operates on the workpiece receiving member is received by the supporting frame. Therefore, the load from the workpiece receiving member does not operate on the welding gun, thereby preventing the welding gun from being adversely affected. In addition, the workpiece receiving member is fixed to that surface of the supporting frame which faces the direction different from the direction in which the gun arm projects. Therefore, the welding work of the workpiece can be performed without interference of the workpiece receiving member with the workpiece. Also, the workpiece can be supp
Doi Shoji
Hattori Takatoshi
Kato Chitoshi
Nakamura Takeshi
Nakanishi Takashi
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