Air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection equipment and detection method thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of air springs, in particular to air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection equipment and a detection method thereof. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device comprises a loading unit and a detection unit. The loading unit comprises a base, a loading device, a transfer device and a universal tool; the detection unit comprises a moving device, a visual device, a drawing device and a laser device. The detection method of the air spring inflation and deflation torsional deformation detection equipment comprises the steps of transferring, loading, laser emitting, positioning point drawing, pressurizing, offset measuring, identification and analysis and the like. The defects that an existing air spring inspection scheme is low in efficiency, large in error and the like are overcome.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of air springs, and specifically provides an air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device and a detection method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the development of railway passenger car technology, passengers have higher and higher requirements for the smoothness and comfort of passenger cars. The air spring vibration reduction technology has made great progress, and most main engine factories also adopt air spring devices when designing vehicles. During the production process of air springs, it is necessary to inspect parameters such as the air tightness of the assembled air springs to ensure that the products can work stably for a long time in the future. One of the inspection schemes is to observe whether the airbag structure in the air spring will deform over time after the air spring is pressurized.

[0003] Most of the existing detection schemes require manual participation. Workers draw vertical lines on the surface of the airbag during the process of maintaining air pressure, and finally use a caliper to measure the offset. There are defects such as low detection efficiency, high labor intensity, high safety risks, and large errors in detection results.

[0004] After retrieval, there are Chinese invention patents with the application number "202410841782.5", the name "Air Spring Automatic Detection System and Air Spring Detection Method", and the applicant "CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd.", and the application number "202410841780.6", the name "Air Spring Automatic Detection System and Air Spring Internal Pressure Load Test Method", and the applicant "CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd.", etc., which disclose automated air spring detection systems and detection methods.

[0005] Specifically, a scheme of using a lifting device to laser and visually identify the airbag and using a robot to draw lines on the airbag is disclosed in the above patents. However, the robot in the above scheme only performs the line-drawing operation, and the utilization rate is relatively low. If the robot is also used for operations such as the transfer of air springs, it is necessary to frequently replace the fixture, resulting in low detection efficiency. Therefore, the present application provides a detection device and a detection method that avoid the above defects. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To solve the defects of low efficiency and large errors in the existing air spring inspection schemes, the present invention provides an air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device and a detection method thereof.

[0007] The present invention provides an air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device, which includes a loading unit and a detection unit; the loading unit includes a base, a loading device, a transfer device and a general tooling. The loading device and the transfer device are arranged on the base, and the general tooling is respectively arranged on the loading device and the transfer device and moves closer or farther under the drive of the loading device and the transfer device; the detection unit includes a moving device, a vision device, a drawing device and a laser device. The moving device is arranged on the base, the vision device and the drawing device are arranged at the movable end of the moving device, and the laser device is arranged at the fixed end of the moving device.

[0008] Preferably, a linear slide is laid flat on the top of the base as the transfer device, and a lower half general tooling is installed at the movable end of the linear slide. A lifting mechanism is arranged on the top of the base as the loading device. The movable end of the loading device extends above the transfer device, and an upper half general tooling is installed on one side close to the transfer device. Both the lower half general tooling and the upper half general tooling are circular platforms, and one or more air charging holes and a plurality of limiting holes are respectively arranged on the adjacent surfaces. All the air charging holes are connected to a pressure charging pipeline at the distal end, and a plurality of limiting grooves are also arranged on the top surface of the lower half general tooling.

[0009] Preferably, the moving device is arranged at a position on the top of the base beside the transfer device and the loading device, and includes a lifting mechanism and a translation mechanism connected in sequence. The fixed end of the lifting mechanism is provided with the laser device, the translation mechanism faces the loading device, and the drawing device and the vision device are arranged at the movable end of the translation mechanism.

[0010] Preferably, the laser device emits one or more points, one or more lines, or a mesh laser. The vision device includes a vision recognition mechanism and a fill light. The lens of the vision recognition mechanism faces the loading device, and an annular fill light is arranged around the lens. The drawing device includes a buffer, a connecting rod, a clamp and a drawing tool arranged in sequence. The drawing tool faces the loading device. The diameter of the connecting rod is different from the diameter of the telescopic rod of the buffer, and a motion sensor is arranged on the side of the buffer or the connecting rod.

[0011] The present invention provides a detection method applying the air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device, including the following steps: Step 1: Take a finished air spring product that has been assembled or an air spring assembly that has not been assembled yet, place it on the general tooling located on the transfer device, and the transfer device transports the finished product or the assembly to the lower part of the loading device; Step 2: The loading device is started, so that the general tooling located on the transfer device and the general tooling located on the loading device jointly press the air spring tightly. The inflation holes of the general tooling are hermetically docked with one or more air ducts of the air spring, and high-pressure gas is filled into the air spring until the limit air pressure is reached, completing the assembly of the air spring; Step 3: Adjust and maintain the air pressure in the air spring for a period of time; meanwhile, control the drawing device to draw multiple positioning points on the airbag of the air spring, control the laser device to irradiate the airbag of the air spring with dot or line or mesh laser, and control the vision device to take pictures of the initial positions of the laser and the positioning points; Step 4: During the process of maintaining the air pressure, control the vision device to take multiple pictures of the current positions of the laser and the positioning points at preset time intervals; Step 5: Release the pressure, control the vision device to take pictures of the final positions of the laser and the positioning points, and then both the loading device and the transfer device run in reverse. Meanwhile, identify and analyze the images taken multiple times; Step 6: Transfer the air spring according to the analysis results.

[0012] Preferably, in Step 2: All the inflation holes of the general tooling are connected with pressure charging pipelines and are all provided with on-off valves; when the pressure charging pipeline is docked with the air duct of the air spring, the on-off valve therein is opened, and when it is not docked with the air duct of the air spring, the on-off valve therein is closed.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the present invention can achieve the following beneficial effects: 1. The present invention sets a transfer device in the loading unit, forming a structure with one end for loading and unloading and the other end for loading and detecting, with clear operation and no interference.

[0014] 2. The present invention uses a general tooling to load the air spring in the loading unit. Through the adoption of a general design, the general tooling can be adapted to clamp a variety of different types of air springs, reducing the fixture replacement and improving the production efficiency.

[0015] 3. The present invention uses the laser irradiation method as the reference point position and the method of drawing points on the surface of the airbag of the air spring as the real-time point position. By measuring the offset between the two, the deformation amount of the airbag is accurately recorded, and accurate detection is finally achieved.

[0016] 4. The present invention adopts the scheme of drawing multiple positioning points instead of drawing lines. The operation of drawing positioning points can be realized through a two-dimensional moving device, effectively reducing the production and use costs of the equipment without affecting the detection accuracy and detection efficiency.

[0017] 5. The drawing device of the present invention realizes the drawing function by clamping the drawing tool with a fixture, and can be applied to various types of drawing methods such as spraying, painting, and drawing at different positions. The drawing device is provided with a motion sensor. After the drawing tool touches the airbag, the moving device can be automatically controlled to retract, and at the same time, it also functions as a distance sensor to avoid getting too close. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0018] Figure 1 is a three-dimensional view of the air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is Figure 1 a partial enlarged view at the loading unit; Figure 3 is Figure 1 a partial enlarged view at the detection unit; Figure 4 is Figure 3 a partial enlarged view at the drawing device; Figure 5 is a three-dimensional view of the detection unit in the air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] The reference numerals therein include: base 11, loading device 12, transfer device 13, general tooling 14; inflation hole 141, filling block 142, limit hole 143; moving device 21, vision device 22, laser device 23, drawing device 24; vision recognition mechanism 221, fill light 222, buffer 241, connecting rod 242, fixture 243, drawing tool 244, motion sensor 245. Detailed Embodiment

[0020] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, the same modules are denoted by the same reference numerals. In the case of the same reference numerals, their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, their detailed descriptions will not be repeated.

[0021] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only for explaining the present invention, and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention.

[0022] Please refer to Figures 1 to 5, which are respectively the three-dimensional view of the air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device provided by the present invention, the partial enlarged view at the loading unit, the partial enlarged view at the detection unit, the partial enlarged view at the drawing device, and the three-dimensional view of the separate detection unit.

[0023] The air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device provided by the present invention includes a loading unit and a detection unit.

[0024] Among them, the loading unit includes a base 11, a loading device 12, a transfer device 13, and a general tooling 14; the detection unit includes a moving device 21, a vision device 22, a laser device 23, and a drawing device 24.

[0025] The base 11 has a T-shaped structure, and a linear slide is laid along the central axis of its top as the transfer device 13. The linear slide is a common part, and its specific structure will not be elaborated here. A lower half general tooling 14 is installed on the linear slide.

[0026] The lower half general tooling 14 is generally in a disc-shaped structure, and an inflation hole 141 is provided at the center position of the top. The inflation hole is connected downward with a pressure charging pipeline (not drawn in the attached drawing), and the pressure charging pipeline is provided with an opening and closing valve (not drawn in the attached drawing).

[0027] On the top surface of the lower half general tooling 14, three limiting grooves are arranged side by side at an angle parallel to the linear slide, and a filling block 142 is detachably arranged therein. A plurality of limiting holes 143 are distributed on the filling block 142 and other positions on the top surface.

[0028] The design of the limiting grooves and the limiting holes 143 is to make the general tooling 14 adaptable to various types of air springs. The working principle of the limiting grooves is that, according to the type of air spring being processed, it can be selected whether to install the filling block 142 to adapt to the position of the bottom pin shaft of different air springs. The working principle of the limiting holes 143 is that limiting holes 143 are provided at the positions of the bottom pin shafts of the air spring types being processed to achieve adaptation.

[0029] Take Figure 1 the left end of the transfer device 13 in the shown perspective as the loading end, and the other end as the unloading end. At the two-wing positions of the base 11, a gantry-type lifting mechanism is provided, which straddles the loading end of the transfer device 13 above as the loading device 12.

[0030] In the loading device 12, the cross beam located directly above the loading end of the transfer device 13 is a movable part, and an upper half general tooling 14 is installed at its bottom.

[0031] The upper half general tooling 14 is generally in a disc-shaped structure, and an inflation hole (covered in the attached drawing) is provided at the center position of the bottom. The inflation hole is connected upward with a pressure charging pipeline (not drawn in the attached drawing), and the pressure charging pipeline is provided with an opening and closing valve (not drawn in the attached drawing).

[0032] On the bottom surface of the upper half general tooling 14, a plurality of limiting holes 143 are provided based on the same principle as the lower half general tooling 14. And in other embodiments, a plurality of inflation holes can be provided and are respectively connected upward with pressure charging pipelines.

[0033] From Figure 1 the shown angle, at the corner position on the left side of the top surface of the base 11, a small platform is additionally provided for installing the moving device 21.

[0034] The moving device 21 includes a lifting mechanism vertically arranged on the small platform and a translation mechanism horizontally arranged on the slider of the lifting mechanism. Both the lifting mechanism and the translation mechanism adopt linear modules. Linear modules are common parts, and the vertical combination of two sets of linear modules is also a common solution, so the specific structure in this regard will not be elaborated here.

[0035] On the slider of the translation mechanism, a mounting bracket 25 is arranged at an angle parallel to its moving direction. The mounting bracket 25 extends towards the loading end, which plays a role in increasing the stroke of the translation mechanism and avoiding interfering with the transfer device 13. The moving device 21 is installed at an angle where the translation mechanism forms an approximately 45° angle with the transfer device 13, so that the translation mechanism points to the loading device 12 without interfering with the transfer device 13 and the air spring it loads.

[0036] At the top of one end of the mounting bracket 25 close to the loading device 12, a vision recognition mechanism 221 is installed at an angle parallel to it. The lens of the camera faces the loading device 12 and extends outside the mounting bracket 25. Around the lens, a circular ring of supplementary light lamps 222 is arranged. The vision recognition mechanism 221 and the supplementary light lamps 222 form a vision device 22.

[0037] At the tip of one end of the mounting bracket 25 close to the loading device 12, a long strip-shaped cantilever platform is installed at an angle parallel to it. A drawing device 24 is arranged on the cantilever platform, including a buffer 241, a connecting rod 242, a fixture 243, and a drawing tool 244 arranged coaxially.

[0038] The buffer 241 adopts a spring buffer and is installed through an L-shaped plate. The diameter of the connecting rod 242 is larger than the diameter of the telescopic rod of the spring buffer. A hoop is arranged outside the connecting rod 242 and fixed to the cantilever platform. The hoop only provides limit and does not restrict the sliding of the connecting rod. The fixture 243 is a square fixture and directly lies flat on the top of the cantilever platform and slides; the drawing tool 244 adopts a marker pen.

[0039] In addition, in the diastolic state of the buffer 241, motion sensors 245 are provided at positions on both sides of the telescopic rod of the buffer 241. Here, optoelectronic sensors are used. The height of the sensing light is located between the telescopic rod of the buffer 241 and the connecting rod 242. When the marker pen touches an object and is pressed, driving the connecting rod 242 to move backward, the connecting rod 242 blocks the sensing light, and based on this signal, the translation mechanism is controlled to stop operating.

[0040] The laser device 23 is an existing product that can emit linear laser light. It is installed on the outer wall of the lifting mechanism on the side far from the translation mechanism in a detachable manner. Here, it is installed on the outer wall of the lifting mechanism by magnetic attraction, which is convenient for adjusting the position of the light.

[0041] In addition, there are also conventional designs such as a power supply system for powering the loading unit and the detection unit, a control system for controlling the loading unit and the detection unit to operate according to preset rules, and a pressure supply system for providing high-pressure air to the general tooling 14. Those skilled in the art can flexibly design according to the on-site situation, and the specific structure thereof will not be elaborated here.

[0042] A method for detecting an air spring by using the air spring charging and discharging torsional deformation detection device provided by the present invention specifically includes: Step 1: In the initial state, the lower half of the general tooling 14 moves to the loading end of the transfer device 13; the upper half of the general tooling 14 moves to the high position of the loading device 12; in the moving device 21, the translation mechanism moves to the high position of the lifting mechanism, and the mounting bracket 25 moves to the end of the translation mechanism far from the loading device 12.

[0043] Take the main structure of the air spring and the cover plate of the air spring, and place them on the lower half of the general tooling 14 in sequence. The transfer device 13 moves the lower half of the general tooling 14 and the components it carries to the loading end, directly below the upper half of the general tooling 14.

[0044] Step 2: The loading device 12 presses down the upper half of the general tooling 14 so that the general tooling 14 clamps the air spring from both the upper and lower directions. In the upper and lower inflation holes of the general tooling 14, there are variable diameter pipes adapted to the air spring to be detected in this test. While clamping the air spring, the variable diameter pipes are hermetically attached to the air ducts of the air spring.

[0045] Assume that the upper and lower parts of the air spring to be detected in this test are provided with air ducts, then the valves of the pressure charging pipelines connected to the upper and lower inflation holes are opened, and the air spring is filled with air to the limit pressure. While charging, the cover plate and the air spring are automatically assembled together.

[0046] Step 3: Adjust the air pressure in the air spring to the rated pressure and maintain it for a period of time. At the same time, the lifting mechanism first drives the translation mechanism to the height of the first positioning point, and then the translation mechanism drives the mounting frame 25 to move forward until the drawing tool 244 leaves the first positioning point on the airbag of the air spring. When the drawing tool 244 is held back by the airbag and moves backward, the motion sensor 245 is immediately triggered to control the translation mechanism to retract; Then the lifting mechanism drives the translation mechanism to the height of the second positioning point and operates according to the same process; and so on, until the drawing of multiple positioning points is completed.

[0047] At the same time, the laser device 23 is controlled to start, and a laser line is irradiated along the meridian direction of the airbag of the air spring, and the laser line is parallel to or coincides with the line connecting the multiple positioning points.

[0048] After all the positioning points are drawn, the moving device 21 drives the visual device 22 to move to a specific shooting position, controls the visual device 22 to start, and shoots the initial positions of the laser line and the positioning points.

[0049] Step 4: While maintaining the air pressure, the moving device 21 drives the visual device 22 to move to the shooting position at a preset time interval, and controls the visual device 22 to start, and takes multiple shots of the current position of the laser line and the positioning point.

[0050] Step 5: Release the pressure, the moving device 21 drives the visual device 22 to move to the shooting position, and controls the visual device 22 to start, and shoots the final position of the laser line and the positioning point. Since the laser line always maintains a fixed position, the positioning point will shift as the airbag of the air spring deforms during the charging and holding process. By measuring the offset between the positioning point and the laser line, it is determined whether the current air spring meets the detection requirements.

[0051] After the shooting is completed, the loading device 12 runs in the reverse direction, so that the universal tooling 14 releases the air spring. Then the transfer device 13 also moves in the reverse direction to transport the air spring to the feeding end. At the same time, the images shot multiple times are identified and analyzed to obtain the detection results.

[0052] Step 6: Transport the air spring according to the test results.

[0053] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. Those skilled in the art may change, modify, replace and modify the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

[0054] The specific embodiments of the present invention described above do not limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any other corresponding changes and deformations made according to the technical concept of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device, characterized in that: It includes a loading unit and a detection unit; the loading unit includes a base, a loading device, a transfer device and a universal tooling; the loading device and the transfer device are provided on the base; the universal tooling is respectively provided on the loading device and the transfer device, and moves in a manner of approaching or moving away from each other under the drive of the loading device and the transfer device; the detection unit includes a moving device, a visual device, a drawing device and a laser device; the moving device is provided on the base; the visual device and the drawing device are provided on the movable end of the moving device; and the laser device is provided on the fixed end of the moving device.

2. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A linear slide is laid flat on the top of the base as the transfer device, and the lower half of the universal tooling is installed on the movable end of the linear slide.

3. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A lifting mechanism is provided on the top of the base as the loading device, the movable end of the loading device extends above the transfer device, and the upper half of the universal tooling is installed on a side close to the transfer device.

4. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The universal tooling described in the lower and upper halves are both circular platforms, and one or more inflation holes and multiple limit holes are respectively provided on the adjacent surfaces of the two. All inflation holes are connected to the pressurized pipe at the far end, and the top surface of the universal tooling described in the lower half is also provided with multiple limit grooves.

5. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The moving device is arranged on the top of the base beside the transfer device and the loading device, and includes a lifting mechanism and a translation mechanism connected in sequence. The laser device is arranged at the fixed end of the lifting mechanism, the translation mechanism faces the loading device, and the drawing device and the visual device are arranged at the movable end of the translation mechanism.

6. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The laser device emits one of one or more points, one or more lines, and a mesh laser.

7. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The visual device comprises a visual recognition mechanism and a fill light, the lens of the visual recognition mechanism faces the loading device, and a ring-shaped fill light is arranged around the lens.

8. The air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 5, characterized in that: The drawing device comprises a buffer, a connecting rod, a fixture and a drawing tool which are arranged in sequence. The drawing tool faces the loading device. The diameter of the connecting rod is different from the diameter of the telescopic rod of the buffer. A motion sensor is arranged on the side of the buffer or the connecting rod.

9. A detection method using the air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step 1: Take the assembled air spring product, or take the unassembled air spring assembly, and place it on the universal tooling located on the transfer device, and the transfer device transports the product or assembly to the bottom of the loading device; Step 2: The loading device is started, so that the universal tooling located on the transfer device and the universal tooling located on the loading device press the air spring together, the inflation hole of the universal tooling is sealed and docked with one or more air guide tubes of the air spring, and high-pressure air is filled into the air spring to reach the limit air pressure; Step 3: Adjust and maintain the air pressure in the air spring for a period of time; at the same time, control the drawing device to draw a plurality of positioning points on the airbag of the air spring, control the laser device to irradiate the airbag of the air spring with a point, line or mesh laser, and control the visual device to shoot the initial position of the laser and the positioning point; Step 4: In the process of maintaining the air pressure, the visual device is controlled to take multiple shots of the current position of the laser and the positioning point at preset time intervals; Step 5: Release the pressure, control the visual device to shoot the final position of the laser and the positioning point, then the loading device and the transfer device both run in reverse, and at the same time, perform recognition analysis on the images shot multiple times; Step 6: Transport the air spring according to the analysis results.

10. The detection method of the air spring inflation and exhaust torsional deformation detection device according to claim 9, characterized in that: In step 2: All the inflation holes of the universal tooling are connected to the pressure charging pipes and are provided with on-off valves; when the pressure charging pipe is connected to the air guide pipe of the air spring, the on-off valve is opened, and when it is not connected to the air guide pipe of the air spring, the on-off valve is closed.

Images