Metal working – Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for... – With means to feed work intermittently from one tool station...
Patent
1997-06-20
2000-08-08
Howell, Daniel W.
Metal working
Plural diverse manufacturing apparatus including means for...
With means to feed work intermittently from one tool station...
295641, 29 33K, 29 33P, 29794, 1983462, B23P 2100
Patent
active
060982683
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a workshop for producing sheet metal assemblies. In such a workshop, elements held in determined and precise relative positions are assembled together in stages.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In automobile body construction, a body subassembly is constructed using elements which are prepared by being disposed relative to one another in a sort of jig, the jig then being transported to and placed in a station in which the held-together elements are fixed together, in particular by spot welding. A subassembly is thus obtained which, if necessary, is transferred to a second preparation station so that other individual elements can be added. The new, supplemented assembly is then assembled precisely by spot welding.
This operation sequence can be repeated as many times as is necessary to obtain a completed assembly.
Usually, the stations for constructing such an assembly are disposed along a general direction defined by general conveyor means which serve each preparation station, assembly station, and finishing station. An assembly line is thus constituted in which the stations control one another. In such a line, since the stations are numerous and they are disposed in succession, they are ill-suited to making sheet metal assemblies that are different from one another. Furthermore, access to each of the stations of such a line is limited because the space available around each station is limited.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to remedy the drawbacks suffered by conventional workshops for assembling sheet metal assemblies, by providing a modular workshop organization in which all of the modules have a standard pattern, and each of them includes all of the functions required for preparing, assembling, and finishing off a respective subassembly, it being necessary merely to increase the number of modules as a function of the complexity and of the number of parts constituting the final assembly to satisfy almost all of the needs encountered in this type of industry.
To this end, the invention provides an assembly workshop in particular for assembling together sheet metal parts, the workshop including preparation stations for putting parts in place relative to one another, assembly stations for fixing the prepared parts together, and optionally finishing stations serving to finish off fixing the parts together. More precisely, said workshop is constituted by a plurality of modules, interconnected by at least one general conveyor means extending in a determined direction, each module including a loading and unloading central station through which the general conveyor means passes, a preparation lateral station connected to the central station by a conveyor substantially perpendicular to the conveyor means, an assembly station connected to the central station by a conveyor substantially perpendicular to the general conveyor means, and at least one finishing station situated along the general conveyor means, downstream from the central station.
One of the advantages of this type of structure lies in the fact that it is possible to rationalize the equipment and the tools to be implemented, since they can be standard regardless of the type of sheet metal assembly to be constructed.
Advantageously, provision may be made for the assembly stations of the modules making up the workshop to be situated on the same side of the general conveyor means. When the assembly workshop includes two sets of modules for constructing at least two different sheet metal assemblies, this enables the assembly station of each module in a set to be shared in common by the corresponding module of the other set.
Generally, the sheet metal parts to be assembled together to constitute subassemblies or assemblies are put in place in supports of the jig type which may take various forms. They may be pallets in which the parts to be assembled together are put in place, held, and transported from one station to another within the same module. They may also be more lightwe
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Machinery and Production Engineering vol. 124, No. 3190, 16 janvier 1974 Burgesshill GB, pp. 54-59 XPOO2OOO651 J.J. Marklew : "Fiat examine fresh techniques for producing motor cars" voir p. 55 colonne de gauche ligne 35 p. 56 colonne de gauche ligne 16.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin vol. 27, No. 12, mai 1985 Armonk NY USA, pp. 6876-6877 XP002000652 "Adaptable automatic circuit board transportation system".
Negre Bernard
Pinchon Gerard
ABB Preciflex Systems
Howell Daniel W.
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