Assembly apparatus

• US 10,940,904 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2017
• Issued: 03/09/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Shimoyama, Masao, Akami, Kazuki, Hada, Kazuhisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Cigna, Jacob J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hotchkiss, Michael W
• Application Number:
  US15/704,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20180079460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 31/02 relating to soldering or welding dip or wave soldering in the manufacture of printed circuits H05K3/34
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 37/04 for holding or positioning work
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 65/024 Positioning of sub-units or components with respect to body shell or other sub-units or components
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 65/06 the sub-units or components being doors, windows, openable roofs, lids, bonnets, or weather strips or seals therefor assembling sealing arrangements with vehicle parts, e.g. doors, windows B60J10/45

Abstract

An assembly apparatus is constituted to include positioning mechanisms for aligning the positions of side panels and a roof panel. For example, a front positioning mechanism includes a first base portion disposed on a first distal end arm of a front side robot, roof positioning members and side panel positioning members supported displaceably by the first base portion, a right front beam member and a left front beam member extending along a vehicle widthwise direction from the first base portion, a first left marking member and a first right marking member disposed at respective distal ends of the beam members, and a left visual sensor and a right visual sensor for detecting positions of each of the first left marking member and the first right marking member.

Claims

1. An assembly apparatus for assembling a vehicle body by attaching a roof panel to side panels, and comprising a positioning mechanism for aligning positions of the side panels and the roof panel, wherein the positioning mechanism comprises:

a robot;

a base portion attached to a distal end arm of the robot;

roof positioning members supported on the base portion on outer sides thereof in a vehicle widthwise direction and laterally movable independently of each other in the vehicle widthwise direction so that the roof panel is positioned;

side panel positioning members supported on the base portion on outer sides thereof in the vehicle widthwise direction and laterally movable independently of each other in the vehicle widthwise direction so that the side panels are positioned;

a first beam member and a second beam member positioned and fixed to the base portion and extending respectively from the base portion rightward and leftward in the vehicle widthwise direction;

a right marking member disposed on a distal end of the first beam member and facing toward an outer right side of the vehicle;

a left marking member disposed on a distal end of the second beam member and facing toward an outer left side of the vehicle;

a left visual sensor positioned and fixed so as to face the left marking member to detect a position of the left marking member; and

a right visual sensor positioned and fixed so as to face the right marking member to detect a position of the right marking member;

wherein the left visual sensor and the right visual sensor are disposed respectively on left and right sides of the vehicle body, wherein the left and right visual sensors detect a degree to which amounts of positional deviation have occurred to the front and rear as well as the right and left of the left and right marking members, in a state where the roof positioning members are applying pressure to the roof panel and the side panel positioning members are applying pressure to the side panels, the apparatus obtains an amount of three dimensional deviation from a reference posture of the vehicle body based on the detected amounts of positional deviation, and the robot performs corrective operation to reduce the amount of three dimensional deviation to zero.

2. The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving mechanism which is capable of moving the vehicle body along a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, together with a first groove and a second groove being formed respectively on right and left sides in the vehicle widthwise direction of the moving mechanism;

wherein the left visual sensor and the right visual sensor and the robot are installed externally of the first groove and the second groove.

3. The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the left visual sensor and the right visual sensor are cameras.

4. The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the left marking member and the right marking member are arranged more outwardly in the vehicle widthwise direction than the roof positioning members and the side panel positioning members.

5. The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the roof positioning members are configured to be displaced along the vehicle widthwise direction and a vehicle heightwise direction, and the side panel positioning members are configured to be displaced along the vehicle widthwise direction.

6. The assembly apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the roof positioning members and the side panel positioning members are configured to be displaced by a ball screw mechanism, a rack and pinion mechanism, or an air cylinder mechanism.

7. The assembly apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the left visual sensor comprises a lower left visual sensor having an optical axis which is oriented upward, and being configured to detect front and rear and left and right displacements of the left marking member, and an upper left visual sensor having an optical axis which is oriented inwardly in the vehicle widthwise direction, and being configured to detect front and rear displacements and vertical displacements of the left marking member;

the right visual sensor comprises a lower right visual sensor having an optical axis which is oriented upward, and being configured to detect front and rear and left and right displacements of the right marking member, and an upper right visual sensor having an optical axis which is oriented inwardly in the vehicle widthwise direction, and being configured to detect front and rear displacements and vertical displacements of the right marking member; and

the upper right visual sensor is supported by a first support column, and the upper left visual sensor is supported by a second support column.

8. The assembly apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the left marking member includes a lower left marking detected by the lower left visual sensor, and a left side marking detected by the upper left visual sensor, and the right marking member includes a lower right marking detected by the lower right visual sensor, and a right side marking detected by the upper right visual sensor.

9. The assembly apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the lower left visual sensor, the upper left visual sensor, the lower right visual sensor, and the upper right visual sensor are cameras.