Conveyors: power-driven – With means to facilitate working – treating – or inspecting...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-24
2001-02-27
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
With means to facilitate working, treating, or inspecting...
C198S803700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193046
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus transferring a body side of an automotive vehicle and a transfer method thereof which is used at a time of assembling the body side such as assembling various kinds of inner parts to a body side outer part. More particularly, the present invention relates to a transfer apparatus transferring a body side and a transfer method thereof which comprises a work holding and transferring member moved by a chain where the body side held by the work holding and transferring member is assembled at a predetermined position in a direction of transferring the body side.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a body side of the automotive vehicle, there is a structure which is assembled by a body side outer and a various kinds of inner parts. The body side outer comprises a front part constituting a part disposed in front of a vehicle body and a rear fender part constituting a part disposed in the rear of the vehicle body. The front part and the rear fender part are joined by welding. After welding the front part and the rear fender part to construct the body side outer, the various kinds of inner parts are joined to body side outer by welding. Then the body side of the automotive vehicle is assembled.
In the above assembling operation, as shown in
FIG. 1
, there is provided a transfer apparatus
205
for transferring a front part
201
and a rear fender part
203
in a state of laying down, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 7-96397, and a plurality of welding robots
207
for welding the parts
201
and
203
to each other and welding the inner part to the parts
201
and
203
.
The transfer apparatus
205
is provided with two transfer bars
209
extending to the transfer direction and capable of moving in the longitudinal direction, and fingers
211
serving as a work receiver for supporting the parts
201
and
203
and disposed on the transfer bar
209
. On a table
213
disposed below the transfer bar
209
, there is provided a jig
215
which ascends the parts
201
and
203
so as to be apart from the finger
211
and fixedly holds the parts so as to position them at a time of welding. The jig
215
is provided in such a manner as to vertically movable by a lifter. When the finger
211
holding the parts
201
and
203
moves forward together with motion of the transfer bar
209
, the parts
201
and
203
are also transferred forward, in a state that the jig
215
is unclamping the parts
201
and
203
.
The assembling operation comprises some stages. In a first stage, the front part
201
and the rear fender part
203
are set on the transfer line and fixed and held by the jig
215
which is in an ascent state, and thereafter, both the parts
201
and
203
are temporarily welded to each other by using the welding robots
207
. In a second stage, the connection portions for connecting the parts
201
and
203
to each other and small parts which are already assembled to the parts
201
and
203
are additionally welded. Next, in a third stage, the various kinds of inner parts are set to the parts
201
and
203
and are temporarily welded to each other, and thereafter, in a fourth stage, the parts are additionally welded, whereby the welding of the body side is completed.
Finally, in a fifth stage, the body side which is completely welded is stood up by a stand-up apparatus having an oil hydraulic cylinder for a standing-up mechanism, and thereafter is hung up by the stand-up apparatus so as to carry out to the following stage.
However, in the conventional operation of assembling the body side, there are following problems.
(1) In the welding operation for the additional welding by the plurality of welding robots, the welding robots interfere with each other due to an obstruction of the jig
215
, thereby deteriorating the operation efficiency.
(2)Since the work W to be assembled as the front part
201
or the rear fender part
203
is supported by the jig
215
at left and right side bottom portions thereof in a state that the work W is laying down in a horizontal direction with respect to the transfer apparatus, the center portion of the work W is bent due to the gravitational force and deformed as shown in
FIGS. 2A and 2B
. Then, since the welding operation is performed in the bent state, the assembling accuracy is deteriorated. When the jig for supporting the center portion in order to prevent the center portion from bending, the cost is increased, and the operable area for the welding robot is narrowed.
(3) Since at a time of performing the welding operation and the transfer operation, it is necessary to provide a plurality of special jigs
215
and fingers
211
for fixing and holding the bottom surface of the works as the front parts
201
and the rear fender parts
203
in the laying down state, the facility cost is required. Particularly, when a plurality types of automotive vehicle are produced in the same line, it is necessary to provide the jigs and fingers for a wide ranged usage so that the facility cost is extremely high. Further, the stand-up apparatus for standing the work up after welding requires also a high cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been achieved with such points in view.
It therefore is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer apparatus and method transferring a body side of an automotive vehicle with a reduced cost, an improved. operation efficiency and an improved transfer accuracy in transferring a body side at a time of assembling the body side.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a transfer apparatus and method transferring a body side of an automotive vehicle with an improved positioning accuracy at a time of transferring the body side to a predetermined position.
To achieve the objects, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transfer apparatus transferring a body side of an automotive vehicle, comprising; a moving body provided in a transfer line; and a clamp member provided on the moving body for clamping a lower end of a side sill of a body side outer in an upright position in such a manner that a roof rail end of the body side outer is an upper portion and the side sill end of the body side outer is a lower portion.
In accordance with the transfer apparatus transferring the body side of the automotive vehicle, since a lower end of the side sill constructing the body side can be made the same shape between different kinds of cars, the lower end of the side sill can be fixed in an upright position, so that it is unnecessary to provide a special jig for each of the kinds of cars for fixing and holding the body side outer. Accordingly, the fixing device for positioning and fixing the body side outer can be easily simplified and used for various kinds of cars. Further, in case a plurality of welding robots perform a welding operation with respect to the body side outer in an upright position, interference between the robots can be avoided so that the operation efficiency can be improved. Further, since the body side outer is transferred and welded in the upright position corresponding to a direction in which a bending rigidity in a cross section of the work becomes maximum with respect to a direction of operating the own weight of the body side outer, the body side outer is hard to be deformed in comparison with the state of horizontally laying down, so that the assembling accuracy can be improved and a space for operation can be reduced.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a transfer apparatus transferring a body side of an automotive vehicle, comprising; a work holding and transferring member for holding and transferring the work to be operated at a predetermined transfer position of the chain is attached to the chain wound between a pair of sprockets; an operating position detecting means for detecting a state that the work holding and transferring member becomes a p
Matsubara Jun
Nakamura Setsuo
Okuyama Kaoru
Segawa Teruo
Takahashi Shoichi
Crawford Gene O.
Ellis Christopher P.
McDermott & Will & Emery
Nissan Motor Co,. Ltd.
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