Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – With control means energized in response to activator...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-15
2001-07-10
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
With control means energized in response to activator...
C029S714000, C029S783000, C029S784000, C029S701000, C483S015000, C483S901000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06256868
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Nos. H. 10-109429 filed Apr. 20, 1998, and H. 11-46453 filed Feb. 24, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly process apparatus with which it is possible to change the equipment capacity of line equipment in correspondence with fluctuations of production volume of a product.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, an assembly processed product is manufactured by a series of line equipments which successively assemble numerous steps consecutively.
That is, as shown in
FIG. 14
, as the above-mentioned assembly process apparatus
9
, for example, there is one consisting of ten assembly robots
91
disposed along a belt conveyor
95
. The assembly robots
91
each have a tool
93
as an assembly process module corresponding to a step to be carried out.
The assembly robots
91
each grasp a part
6
with the tool
93
and assemble the part
6
to a workpiece
2
carried thereto on the belt conveyor
95
. Then, the belt conveyor
95
carries the workpiece
2
with the part
6
assembled thereto to in front of the assembly robot
91
which will carry out the next step.
In this way, in the series of line equipments, successively, assembly and carrying are repeated, and when the assembly of the tenth assembly robot
91
, which carries out a final step, finishes, one unit of a product
29
is completed.
The assembly process apparatus
9
described above, by carrying out a series of operations like this, provides a predetermined production volume.
However, in the conventional assembly process apparatus
9
described above, there are the following problems.
That is, the assembly process apparatus
9
, by the time it completes the product
29
, necessitates all of the above-mentioned ten assembly robots
91
. Consequently, even when the production volume has decreased, the series of operations must be carried out using all of the ten assembly robots
91
.
That is, in the assembly process apparatus
9
, irrespective of the size of the production volume, to manufacture one product
29
, all of the ten assembly robots
91
are necessary, and the equipments necessary for the manufacture of that product
29
are fixed.
On the other hand, in recent years, often the demand volume of a product is not constant, and fluctuates with for example model changes of the product.
Consequently, when the production volume is large, because the assembly process apparatus
9
is fully active, production efficiency is high. However, when the production volume decreases, the production efficiency falls, and the period for which the whole assembly process apparatus
9
is in an idle state becomes long. In this case, the operating efficiency of the assembly process apparatus
9
is low and consequently the production cost becomes high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention was made in light of the foregoing problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly process apparatus having excellent productivity with which it is possible to expand or cut line equipments easily in correspondence with the size of a production volume and it is possible to achieve utilization of surplus assembly robots.
According to an assembly process apparatus of the present invention, it includes an assembly robot for assembling a part to a workpiece; a part supply apparatus having a plurality of part supply modules which are interchangeable with respect to the assembly robot for supplying the part to the assembly robot; a work pallet for supplying the workpiece to the assembly robot; a plurality of assembly process modules which are interchangeable with respect to the assembly robot for assembling the part to the workpiece; and a tool pallet for supplying the plurality of assembly process modules to the assembly robot.
According to the assembly process apparatus of the present invention, with an assembly process apparatus constructed as described above as 1 unit, there is the case wherein parts are assembled with this 1 unit only, and the case wherein parts are assembled with a plurality of units combined.
In the case wherein parts are assembled with 1 unit only, from among the prepared part supply modules and assembly process modules, those necessary for that part assembly are allotted to one assembly robot.
On the other hand, in the case wherein parts are assembled with a plurality of units combined, from among the prepared part supply modules and assembly process modules, those necessary for that part assembly are divided up and allocated to the assembly robots.
Accordingly, different part supply modules can be interchanged freely with respect to a single assembly robot.
Also, when a plurality of units are used, different part supply modules can be interchanged freely with respect to a plurality of assembly robots. This is also the same for the assembly process modules.
Because of this, by changing the allocation of the part supply modules and the assembly process modules, it is possible to handle changes in the number of the assembly robots easily. Consequently, the number of units can be changed simply and freely.
Consequently, when the demand volume of a product is small, the number of units can be reduced to suppress production capacity, and when the demand volume of a product is large, the number of units can be increased to raise production capacity.
In this way, with the assembly process apparatus of the invention, by the above-mentioned
1
unit only or by a plurality of combined units being used, suitable production adjustment can be carried out.
Also, when the production volume is reduced, assembly process apparatuses becoming surplus, and the assembly robots therein, can be transferred to use in other equipment.
For this reason it is possible to expand or cut line equipments easily in correspondence with the size of a production volume, suitable running corresponding to production volume can be carried out, and production cost can be made low.
Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an assembly process apparatus having excellent productivity with which it is possible to expand or cut line equipments easily in correspondence with the size of a production volume and it is possible to achieve utilization of surplus assembly robots.
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patent: 5125149 (1992-06-01), Inaba et al.
patent: 5247733 (1993-09-01), Kubota et al.
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patent: 59 115144 (1984-07-01), None
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Nakamura Kazunori
Sugito Katsuhiko
Watanabe Masakazu
Compton Eric
Denso Corporation
Hughes S. Thomas
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
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