Universal gripper for mixed production of front cover and tail cover and its use method

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of automobile manufacturing technology, and discloses a universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers, comprising a gripper body, a front cover gripper installed at one end of the gripper body, and a tail cover gripper universal part installed at the other end. The front cover gripper comprises an inverted T-shaped gripper frame installed on the gripper body, the upper portion of the gripper frame is provided with a vertically slidable slider, and the left and right portions are provided with horizontally slidable sliders, the sliders slide through switching cylinders provided on the gripper frame, pin cylinder assemblies are installed on the sliders, and a common end for connecting the tail cover gripper is provided at the top middle portion of the tail cover gripper universal part. The present invention also discloses a method for using a universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers. The universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers of the present invention and its method for using facilitate the process layout of mixed production of front covers and tail covers, reduce the number of robots and site occupation, and can complete the fastening process of the front cover or tail cover, increasing the gripper's capacity range.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of automobile manufacturing, and in particular to a universal gripper for mixed-line production of a front cover and a rear cover and a method of using the gripper. Background Art

[0002] The grippers used in the current solution are all set to be dedicated to the front cover or the tail cover. As a result, when the front cover and the tail cover are produced on the same line, it is necessary to add robots and grippers separately, which increases the number of equipment, reduces production efficiency and increases costs.

[0003] At the same time, the dedicated gripper of the front cover or tail cover can only carry, but cannot complete the fastening process of the front cover or tail cover (fastening the inner plate to the outer plate to facilitate subsequent edging or rolling to combine the inner and outer plates), which often results in poor quality; and the switching of the positioning pin or pin cylinder position is achieved by a combination of cylinders and setting external mechanical limits, which is not only complex in structure and heavy in weight, but also reduces the effective load capacity of the gripper. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to address the shortcomings of the above-mentioned technology and provide a universal gripper and a method of using the same for the mixed production of front covers and tail covers, which facilitates the process layout of the mixed production of front covers and tail covers, reduces the number of robots and site occupancy, and can complete the fastening process of the front cover or tail cover, thereby increasing the gripper's capacity range.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the universal gripper designed by the present invention for mixed production of front covers and tail covers includes a gripper body, one end of the gripper body is equipped with a front cover gripper, and the other end is equipped with a universal part of a tail cover gripper back to back with the front cover gripper, the front cover gripper includes an inverted T-shaped gripper frame installed on the gripper body, the upper part of the gripper frame is provided with a slider that can slide vertically, and the left and right parts are provided with sliders that can slide horizontally, the sliders slide through switching cylinders corresponding to them provided on the gripper frame, the sliders are equipped with pin cylinder assemblies, and the top middle part of the universal part of the tail cover gripper is provided with a common end for connecting the tail cover gripper.

[0006] Preferably, the switching cylinder includes a cylinder body and a matching piston, the bottom of the cylinder body is provided with a second air channel communicating with the interior, the top of the cylinder body is provided with a third air channel communicating with the interior, the middle of the cylinder body is provided with several first air channels communicating with the interior, a switching chamber is provided at a position where the inner wall of the cylinder body is connected to the first air channel, a rotatable switching block is installed in the switching chamber through a rotating pin, the switching block is L-shaped, one end is a stop block close to the interior of the cylinder, and the other end is a driving block, which is rotatably installed on the rotating pin at a corner, and the switching block maintains the sealing between the driving block and the inner wall of the switching chamber when rotating, the position where the first air channel is connected to the switching chamber is located on the outside of the driving block, when the stop block is in a horizontal state, the stop block extends out of the switching chamber and enters the interior of the cylinder body, the length of the stop block is smaller than the length of the driving block, and a protrusion is provided at the lower edge of the switching chamber close to the interior of the cylinder body, which only abuts against the driving block, and the first air channel, the second air channel and the third air channel are all connected to the air source through an electromagnetic valve.

[0007] Preferably, an on-site sensor for detecting the position of the piston is provided at a position outside the cylinder body located in the switching chamber.

[0008] Preferably, the first air passages are arranged bilaterally symmetrically on the cylinder body.

[0009] Preferably, the sliding block is connected to a switching piston rod of a corresponding switching cylinder.

[0010] Preferably, the slider is mounted on the gripper frame via a slide rail.

[0011] Preferably, at least two front cover extension arms are mounted on the gripper frame, and buffer cylinders are provided at the ends of the buffer piston rods of the buffer cylinders, and soft buffer blocks are provided at the ends of the buffer piston rods of the buffer cylinders.

[0012] Preferably, the bottom of the tail cover gripper is provided with a connection end of an automatic switching tool docking with the common end, the tail cover gripper is provided with at least two tail cover extension arms, the ends of the tail cover extension arms are provided with a buffer cylinder, and the ends of the buffer piston rods of the buffer cylinders are provided with a soft buffer block.

[0013] Preferably, a plurality of slidable sliders are provided on the universal part of the tail cover gripper, and the sliders slide through switching cylinders corresponding to them one by one and provided on the universal part of the tail cover gripper, and pin cylinder assemblies are installed on the sliders.

[0014] A method for using the universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers, when grabbing the front cover, comprises the following steps:

[0015] A: The solenoid valve is used to control the first and second air channels to cut off the gas source, and the third air channel is controlled to connect the gas source. At this time, the piston moves downward to the bottom of the switching cylinder under the pressure of the gas source, and the switching block retracts into the switching chamber;

[0016] B: The solenoid valve is used to control the third air channel to cut off the air source, and the solenoid valve is used to control the first air channel of the required stroke to connect the air source, so that the corresponding switching block rotates out of the switching chamber, even if the stop block is in a horizontal state;

[0017] C: The solenoid valve controls the second air channel to access the air source to drive the piston to move until it is restricted by the protruding stop block, completing the switching of the pin cylinder assembly;

[0018] D: When the nail cylinder assembly switches to the predetermined position, it can grab the corresponding hole of the front cover part for transportation or fastening;

[0019] When grabbing the tail cap: Use the common end on the universal part of the tail cap gripper to fit the matching tail cap gripper to complete the switch.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0021] 1. It can carry the front cover and the tail cover at the same time, reducing the number of line equipment, reducing the equipment footprint and improving equipment utilization;

[0022] 2. The arm is placed against the transported parts to suppress fluctuations and deformation of the parts during the production process. At the same time, it can prompt the gripper to complete the fastening process of the front cover or tail cover, thereby increasing the gripper's capacity range;

[0023] 3. By switching the pin cylinder assembly, different gripping points can be used to correspond to covers of different models, which has strong versatility;

[0024] 4. The pin cylinder assembly is switched using a cylinder with multi-stage switching capability, which makes the gripper easy to switch, simple in layout, and ensures the gripper's flexibility and effective load capacity;

[0025] 5. A universal part for the tail cover gripper is set up to match different tail cover grippers. The common end is connected to the connection end of different automatic switching tools, which can correspond to the production of two-box and three-box respectively, thereby improving the versatility of the equipment and reducing investment costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic structural diagram of a universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers according to the present invention;

[0027] Figure 2 This is a structural schematic diagram from another angle of the universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 3 for Figure 1A-A sectional view of the switching cylinder;

[0029] Figure 4 for Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the use of position B in the middle;

[0030] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the usage status of the universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers of the present invention.

[0031] The components in the figure are numbered as follows:

[0032] Gripper body 1, front cover gripper 2, tail cover gripper common part 3, gripper frame 4, slider 5, switching cylinder 6, pin cylinder assembly 7, tail cover gripper 8, common end 9, cylinder body 10, piston 11, second air channel 12, third air channel 13, first air channel 14, switching chamber 15, turn pin 16, switching block 17, stop block 18, drive block 19, protrusion 20, in-position sensor 21, front cover extension arm 23, buffer cylinder 24, soft buffer block 25, tail cover extension arm 26, front cover component 27, tail cover component 28, connecting end 29. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0034] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, a universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers comprises a gripper body 1, a front cover gripper 2 is mounted on one end of the gripper body 1, and a tail cover gripper universal part 3 is mounted on the other end, which is back to back with the front cover gripper 2. The front cover gripper 2 comprises an inverted T-shaped gripper skeleton 4 mounted on the gripper body 1, a vertically slidable slider 5 is provided on the upper part of the gripper skeleton 4, and horizontally slidable sliders 5 are provided on the left and right parts, and the sliders 5 slide through switching cylinders 6 which are arranged on the gripper skeleton 1 and correspond to each other one by one, and pin cylinder assemblies 7 are mounted on the sliders 5, and a common end 9 for connecting the tail cover gripper 8 is provided on the top middle part of the tail cover gripper universal part 3.

[0035] Among them, such as Figure 3 and Figure 4As shown, the switching cylinder 6 includes a cylinder body 10 and a matching piston 11. The bottom of the cylinder body 10 is provided with a second air channel 12 communicating with the interior, the top of the cylinder body 10 is provided with a third air channel 13 communicating with the interior, and the middle of the cylinder body 10 is provided with a plurality of first air channels 14 communicating with the interior. A switching chamber 15 is provided at a position where the inner wall of the cylinder body 10 is connected to the first air channel 14. A rotatable switching block 17 is installed in the switching chamber 15 through a rotating pin 16. The switching block 17 is L-shaped, with one end being a stop block 18 close to the interior of the cylinder 10 and the other end being a driving block 19. It is dynamically installed on the rotating pin 16. When the switching block 17 rotates, the sealing between the driving block 19 and the inner wall of the switching chamber 15 is maintained. The position where the first air channel 14 is connected to the switching chamber 15 is located on the outside of the driving block 19. When the stop block 18 is in a horizontal state, the stop block 18 extends out of the switching chamber 15 and enters the interior of the cylinder body 10. The length of the stop block 18 is less than the length of the driving block 19. A protrusion 20 that only rests against the driving block 19 is provided at the lower edge of the switching chamber 15 near the interior of the cylinder body 10. The first air channel 14, the second air channel 12 and the third air channel 13 are all connected to the air source through an electromagnetic valve.

[0036] In addition, an in-position sensor 21 for detecting the position of the piston 11 is provided at the outside of the cylinder body 10 at the position of the switching chamber 15, which is used to detect whether the piston 11 is in place and confirm whether the pin cylinder assembly 7 has completed the switching.

[0037] In this embodiment, the first air passages 14 are arranged symmetrically on the cylinder body 1 to prevent the piston 11 from getting stuck in the cylinder body 10 .

[0038] In this embodiment, the slider 5 is connected to the switching piston rod of the corresponding switching cylinder 6, and the slider 5 is installed on the gripper frame 1 through a slide rail.

[0039] Combine Figure 1 、 Figure 2 and Figure 5 As shown, two front cover arms 23 are also installed on the gripper skeleton 1, and a buffer cylinder 24 is provided at the end of the front cover arm 23, and a soft buffer block 25 is provided at the end of the buffer piston rod of the buffer cylinder 24. In this embodiment, the front cover arms 23 are symmetrically arranged. When in use, when the front cover gripper 2 grabs the front cover component 27 and transports it at high speed or performs a fastening process, in order to prevent the front cover component 27 from vibrating or deforming, the buffer piston rod of the buffer cylinder 24 extends out to drive the soft buffer block 25 to press against the front cover component 27, so that the front cover component 27 is constrained at multiple points to ensure the quality of the front cover component 27.

[0040] Combine Figure 5As shown, the bottom of the tail cover gripper 8 is provided with a connection end 29 of an automatic switching tool docking with the common end 9, and the tail cover gripper 8 is provided with two tail cover extension arms 26. The end of the tail cover extension arm 26 is provided with a buffer cylinder 24, and the end of the buffer piston rod of the buffer cylinder 24 is provided with a soft buffer block 25. Similarly, in this embodiment, the tail cover extension arms 26 are symmetrically arranged. When in use, when the tail cover gripper 8 grabs the tail cover component 28 and then transports it at high speed or performs a fastening process, in order to prevent the tail cover component 28 from vibrating or deforming, the buffer piston rod of the buffer cylinder 24 extends out to drive the soft buffer block 25 to rest on the tail cover component 28, so that the tail cover component 28 is constrained at multiple points to ensure the quality of the tail cover component 28.

[0041] In this embodiment, a plurality of sliding sliders 5 are provided on the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper, and the sliders 5 slide through the switching cylinders 6 corresponding thereto provided on the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper, and pin cylinder assemblies 7 are installed on the sliders 5. The pin cylinder assemblies 7 of the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper can also be driven and switched by the switching cylinders 6 through the sliders 5 like the pin cylinder assemblies 7 of the front cover gripper 2 to ensure that the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper can be suitable for grabbing different tail covers.

[0042] In this embodiment, the universal gripper for the mixed production of front and rear covers includes the following steps when grabbing the front cover:

[0043] A: The solenoid valve controls the first and second air channels 14 and 12 to cut off the gas supply, and controls the third air channel 13 to connect the gas supply. At this time, the piston 11 moves downward to the bottom of the switching cylinder 6 under the pressure of the gas source, and the switching block 17 retracts into the switching chamber 15.

[0044] B: The solenoid valve is used to control the third air channel 13 to cut off the gas source, and the solenoid valve is used to control the first air channel 14 of the required stroke to connect the gas source, so that the corresponding switching block 17 rotates out of the switching chamber 15, even if the stop block 18 is in a horizontal state;

[0045] C: The solenoid valve controls the second air channel 12 to connect to the air source to drive the piston 11 to move until it is restricted by the protruding stop block 18. At this time, if the in-position sensor 21 detects that the position of the piston 11 is OK, the switching of the pin cylinder assembly 7 is completed;

[0046] D: When the nail cylinder assembly 7 switches to the predetermined position, it can grab the corresponding hole of the front cover part 27 for carrying or fastening;

[0047] When grabbing the tail cover: the common end 9 on the tail cover gripper universal part 3 is used to fit the matching tail cover gripper 8 to complete the switching.

[0048] Specifically, when grabbing the rear cover part 28 of the hatchback, Figure 1As shown, the common end 9 on the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper is used to fit the automatic switching tool connection end 29 on the tail cover gripper 8 of the two compartments to complete the switching of the tail cover gripper 8; when the tail cover part 28 of the three compartments is to be grabbed, as shown Figure 2 As shown, the common end 9 on the universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper is fitted with the automatic switching tool connection end 29 on the tail cover gripper 8 of the three-box to complete the switching of the tail cover gripper 8.

[0049] The universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers of the present invention and the method of using the same can simultaneously transport front covers and tail covers, thereby reducing the number of line equipment, reducing the equipment footprint, and improving equipment utilization; by extending the arm to rest on the transported parts, the fluctuation and deformation of the parts during the production process can be suppressed, and at the same time, the gripper can be prompted to complete the fastening process of the front cover or tail cover, thereby increasing the gripper's capacity range; by switching the pin cylinder assembly 7, different gripping points can be used to correspond to covers of different models, which has strong versatility; the switching of the pin cylinder assembly 7 uses a cylinder with multi-stage switching capability, which makes the gripper switching convenient, the layout simple, and ensures the flexibility and effective load capacity of the gripper; a universal part 3 of the tail cover gripper is provided, which can match different tail cover grippers 8, and is connected to the connection ends of different automatic switching tools through the common end 9, which can respectively correspond to the production of two-box and three-box cars, thereby improving the versatility of the equipment and reducing the investment cost.

[0050] It should be noted that the description of the above technical solutions is illustrative only. This specification may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limiting the technical solutions set forth herein. Rather, these descriptions are provided to ensure that the disclosure of the present invention is thorough and complete and to fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, the technical solutions of the present invention are limited only by the scope of the claims.

[0051] The disclosures used to describe various aspects of the present specification and claims are merely examples, and therefore, the present specification and claims are not limited to the details shown. In the above description, when the detailed description of related known functions or configurations is determined to be unnecessary to obscure the key points of the present specification and claims, the detailed description will be omitted.

[0052] Finally, it should be pointed out that the above content is a further detailed description of the invention in conjunction with specific implementation methods. It cannot be considered that the specific implementation of the present invention is limited to these descriptions. For ordinary technicians in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, simple replacements made without departing from the concept of the present invention should be considered to fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. The above embodiments are only more representative examples of the present invention. Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and there can be many variations. Any simple modifications, equivalent changes and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention should be considered to fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers, comprising a gripper body (1), characterized in that: One end of the gripper body (1) is provided with a front cover gripper (2), and the other end is provided with a tail cover gripper universal part (3) back to back with the front cover gripper (2). The front cover gripper (2) includes an inverted T-shaped gripper frame (4) installed on the gripper body (1). The upper part of the gripper frame (4) is provided with a vertically slidable slider (5), and the left and right parts are provided with horizontally slidable sliders (5). The sliders (5) slide through switching cylinders (6) corresponding to them provided on the gripper frame (4). Pin cylinder assemblies (7) are installed on the sliders (5). The top of the middle part of the tail cover gripper universal part (3) is provided with a common end (9) for connecting to the tail cover gripper (8). The switching cylinder (6) includes a cylinder body (10) and a matching piston (11), the bottom of the cylinder body (10) is provided with a second air passage (12) communicating with the interior, the top of the cylinder body (10) is provided with a third air passage (13) communicating with the interior, the middle of the cylinder body (10) is provided with a plurality of first air passages (14) communicating with the interior, a switching chamber (15) is provided at a position where the inner wall of the cylinder body (10) is connected to the first air passage (14), a rotatable switching block (17) is installed in the switching chamber (15) through a rotating pin (16), and the switching block (17) is L-shaped, with one end being a stop block (18) close to the interior of the cylinder body (10) and the other end being a driving block (19), which is rotatably installed on the rotating pin (16) at the corner. 6), the switching block (17) keeps the driving block (19) and the inner wall of the switching chamber (15) sealed when the switching block (17) rotates, the position where the first air channel (14) is connected to the switching chamber (15) is located on the outside of the driving block (19), and when the stop block (18) is in a horizontal state, the stop block (18) extends out of the switching chamber (15) and enters the interior of the cylinder body (10), the length of the stop block (18) is less than the length of the driving block (19), and the switching chamber (15) is provided with a protrusion (20) that only abuts against the driving block (19) at the lower edge of the interior of the cylinder body (10), and the first air channel (14), the second air channel (12) and the third air channel (13) are all connected to the air source through the solenoid valve.

2. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: An on-position sensor (21) for detecting the position of the piston (11) is provided at a position outside the cylinder (10) and located in the switching chamber (15).

3. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first air passage (14) is arranged symmetrically on the cylinder body (10).

4. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sliding block (5) is connected to the switching piston rod of the corresponding switching cylinder (6).

5. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The slider (5) is mounted on the gripper frame (4) via a slide rail.

6. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: At least two front cover extension arms (23) are also mounted on the gripper frame (4), the ends of the front cover extension arms (23) are provided with buffer cylinders (24), and the ends of the buffer piston rods of the buffer cylinders (24) are provided with soft buffer blocks (25).

7. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom of the tail cover gripper (8) is provided with a connection end (29) of an automatic switching tool docked with the common end (9), and the tail cover gripper (8) is provided with at least two tail cover extension arms (26), and the ends of the tail cover extension arms (26) are provided with a buffer cylinder (24), and the end of the buffer piston rod of the buffer cylinder (24) is provided with a soft buffer block (25).

8. The universal gripper for mixed production of front and rear covers according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail cover gripper universal part (3) is provided with a plurality of slidable sliders (5), the sliders (5) slide through switching cylinders (6) provided on the tail cover gripper universal part (3) and corresponding thereto, and pin cylinder assemblies (7) are installed on the sliders (5).

9. A method for using the universal gripper for mixed production of front covers and tail covers as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: When grabbing the front cover: the following steps are included: A: The solenoid valve controls the first air channel (14) and the second air channel (12) to cut off the air source, and controls the third air channel (13) to connect to the air source. At this time, the piston (11) moves downward to the bottom of the switching cylinder (6) under the pressure of the air source, and the switching block (17) retracts into the switching chamber (15); B: The solenoid valve is used to control the third air channel (13) to cut off the air source, and the solenoid valve is used to control the first air channel (14) of the required stroke to connect the air source, so that the corresponding switching block (17) rotates out of the switching chamber (15), even if the stop block (18) is in a horizontal state; C: The solenoid valve controls the second air channel (12) to be connected to the air source to drive the piston (11) to move until it is restricted by the protruding stop block (18), completing the switching of the pin cylinder assembly (7); D: When the pin cylinder assembly (7) switches to a predetermined position, it can grab the corresponding hole of the front cover component (27) for transportation or fastening; When grabbing the tail cover: the common end (9) on the tail cover grabber universal part (3) is used to fit the matching tail cover grabber (8) to complete the switching.

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