Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-29
2001-04-24
Mayes, Curtis (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S297000, C156S379800, C156S499000, C156S538000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06221195
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention pertains to a device for automatic setting of retaining bolts on support surfaces, wherein the retaining bolts are provided with disk plates that are coated on their underside with a dry hot-melting adhesive that can be reactivated by the action of heat.
A device for setting such retaining bolts is known from DE 44 02 550 A1, in which the bolt shafts are seized by a pincer which can be brought into the intended bonding position by a robot arm. This publication does not discuss the manner in which bolts are supplied to the pincer, seized by it and set.
The present invention is directed to providing a device for automated setting of retaining bolts coated with hot-melting adhesive (adhesive bolts) of the aforementioned type. The adhesive bolts are brought in from a supply channel by means of compressed air and are glued to the support surfaces at the designated bonding points securely and permanently in the shortest possible time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve this problem, a device is proposed according to the invention which is characterized by an elongated housing with a bolt-catching station and a bolt-supply channel. The bolt supply channel has an end projecting from the housing which is connected to a flexible supply hose, through which the adhesive bolts are conveyed. The bolts are conveyed disk-shoulder-first, into the housing by means of compressed air and through the bolt-supply channel up to the catching station. At the catching station a cylinder equipped with an induction coil (=inductor) is located at the end of the supply channel. Means for pressing the adhesive bolt present in the inductor onto the bonding position on the support surface are provided above the inductor.
The bolt-setting device guides the bolts disk-shoulder-first by means of a parts-separating device and a supply hose through the bolt-supply channel into the bolt-catching station. From there, the bolts are supplied to an inductor located underneath. After placing the bolts onto the bonding point the inductor induces the adhesive layer to melt by means of inductive heating and simultaneously presses the threaded bolt onto the bonding point, to produce a sufficiently firm adhesive bond with the support surface.
The bolt-catching station has the task of stopping the adhesive bolts brought in by means of compressed air as close to the bonding position as possible while preventing the impact of the disk plate provided with the adhesive layer against the support surface.
In a preferred embodiment of the bolt-setting device, a pincer of the type disclosed in DE 44 02 550 A1, seizes the bolt on its shaft and presses it onto the designated bonding position after the heating of the adhesive layer, and is employed as the means for pressing the adhesive bolt against the support surface. The bolt-catching station is located on a transfer plate seated to rotate freely underneath the bolt-supply channel and has a removal station offset by 180° from the catching station. The pincer is guided movably in the housing above the removal station in an axial extension of the inductor. The inductor is located underneath the removal station.
According to a refinement of the invention, the gluing process can be accelerated by pressing the bolt on the inductor at its lower edge onto the support surface simultaneously with the bolt disk while the latter is heated up by means of the inductor.
In order to relieve the bolt from transverse forces during the pressing, a cap is formed to be elastically deformable in the pressing direction between the gripping arms. The cap presses the bolt with uniform force against the support surface during the heating of the inductor after the opening of the gripping arms.
The gripping arms are moved by two coupled piston power cylinders: one piston power cylinder guiding the gripping arms up to the removal position in order to seize the bolt shaft, and the other moving the bolt into the bonding position at the lower edge of the inductor.
The intercalation of the clamp jaws in the two end positions of the rotating plate permits the bolts to be introduced into the uptake position with the plate and then held securely in the removal position without having to actuate the clamp jaws separately. The opening of the clamp jaws is accomplished solely by the introduction of the angled plunger tip which overcomes the force of the springs.
The inductor is to be understood as a cylindrical housing with an annular collar at the lower end, the inside diameter of which is somewhat larger than the outer diameter of the disk plate of the bolt. The inductor housing is seated on the housing underneath the removal position in an extension of the axis of displacement of the gripping arms. The housing wall of the inductor includes one or more coil windings which generate a magnetic field when current flows. Thus, both the bolt present in the inductor and the support surface are rapidly heated up. The adhesive material on the underside of the bolt disk is melted by the action of the heat, causing the bolt disk to be glued to the support surface.
In an alternative preferred embodiment of the bolt-setting device, a pressing plunger is movably guided in the housing in the axial extension of the inductor. The plunger is actuated by a power piston cylinder and is utilized as the means for pressing the adhesive bolts. The bolt-supply channel enters into the elongate axis of the inductor from one side of the housing underneath the upper position of the pressing plunger.
The pressing plunger is connected via a plunger rod to a pneumatically acting pressing cylinder which is in turn driven by a pneumatically acting advance cylinder which moves the pressing plunger from the initial position into the bonding position. Acting on the pressing plunger with two cylinders offers the advantage that the main motion of the plunger is accomplished by the advance cylinder, while the pressing cylinder is provided with a considerably shorter stroke, which is necessary to press against the adhesive bolt while the adhesive layer melts.
A slide gate is provided above the inductor transverse to the axis of the channel. The slide gate is equipped with a damping plate on the bolt supply side, to be utilized as a bolt-catching station.
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Bremont Michel
Lesser Hans-Jurgen
Lubert Thomas
A. Raymond & Cie
Gifford, Krass, Groh Sprinkle, Anderson & Citkowski, P.C.
Mayes Curtis
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