Automatic assembly line for guides, automatic assembly method

Abstract

The application discloses an automatic assembly line and method of a guide, and relates to the field of manufacturing of automobile shock absorbers. The technical scheme is characterized in that the automatic assembly line comprises a first material machine and a second material machine which are separated from each other, and a butt joint conveying belt which connects the first material machine and the second material machine. The first material machine is provided with an assembly turntable which is used for sequentially stacking parts such as oil scraping rings and valve plates to form a small assembly, and is provided with a small assembly detection station and a small assembly NG unloading station before the small assembly is assembled into a guide bare part. The second material machine is used for bushing press-fitting and final detection of a semi-finished product conveyed from the first material machine. The application separates the precise assembly and the high force press-fitting process, effectively solves the process interference problem, improves the assembly stability and the product quality, sets an intermediate quality gate at the sub-assembly level, can remove unqualified products in advance, fundamentally eliminates the cost superposition type waste, and significantly improves the production efficiency and the economic benefits.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of automotive shock absorber manufacturing, and particularly to an automatic guide assembly line and an automatic assembly method. Background Technology

[0002] As a key precision component in automotive shock absorption systems, the guide typically integrates multiple elements such as an oil scraper ring, valve plate, wave spring, and bushing. The assembly precision and cleanliness of these components directly determine the overall performance and service life of the guide.

[0003] In existing production technologies, the assembly of such multi-part guides generally suffers from significant defects. A common pattern is to place the quality inspection stage at the very end of the production process. In this model, a minor defect occurring in the initial stage, such as a missing wave spring or an incorrectly installed valve plate, cannot be detected immediately. This defective semi-finished product continues to circulate on the production line, consuming materials, equipment, and time from all subsequent processes, including being fitted into a qualified guide and then pressed into a qualified bushing. Only at the final stage of production is the product deemed defective during final inspection. At this point, the loss has evolved from a single part to the total material cost and processing time of the entire assembly, creating a cumulative waste that leads to severe economic losses and resource waste in large-scale production.

[0004] Furthermore, the assembly process of the guide itself contains inherent technical contradictions. The process involves both the gentle and precise stacking of multiple thin and delicate parts such as the oil scraper ring and valve plate, and the application of significant and controlled pressure to stably press the bushing into place. In traditional equipment layouts, integrating these two drastically different processes onto the same machine or near workstations inevitably leads to mechanical vibration and impact during the press-fitting process. This interference is directly transmitted to the precision stacking station, causing inaccurate part positioning and misalignment, severely impacting the success rate and stability of the front-end assembly. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide an automated assembly line for guides that can effectively isolate process interference, achieve process quality control to avoid cost waste, and improve the stability, pass rate and economic benefits of automated production of guides.

[0006] The above-mentioned technical objective of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solution:

[0007] An automated guide assembly line includes:

[0008] The first material handling machine includes:

[0009] Assembly turntable;

[0010] Multiple workstations are arranged sequentially along the circumference of the assembly turntable, each workstation having a fixture. The multiple workstations include:

[0011] The oil scraper ring loading station, the first valve plate loading station, the wave spring loading station, and the second valve plate loading station are used to stack the oil scraper ring, the first valve plate, the wave spring, and the second valve plate sequentially onto the tooling to form a small assembly.

[0012] And located sequentially behind the second valve plate loading station:

[0013] The component inspection station is used to inspect the assembly quality of small components.

[0014] The NG unloading station for small components is used to remove unqualified small components based on the inspection results.

[0015] The small component transfer station is used to transfer qualified small components from the station and load them onto a guide bare part;

[0016] Second material feeder;

[0017] And a docking conveyor belt, connected between the first feeder and the second feeder, used to transport the bare guide parts with small components loaded from the first feeder to the second feeder;

[0018] The second material feeder includes components arranged sequentially according to the material flow path:

[0019] The small component re-inspection station is used to re-inspect the assembly quality of small components;

[0020] The press-fitting station is used to press the bushing into the bare guide piece that already has small components installed;

[0021] The inspection station inspects the pressed-fit guides.

[0022] And an NG unloading station and an OK unloading station for sorting the guides into qualified and unqualified products based on the test results of the aforementioned test stations.

[0023] Further configuration: The testing station includes, in sequence, those located behind the pressing station:

[0024] The cleaning and dust removal station is used to clean the guide after the press-fitting is completed;

[0025] The internal bore gauge inspection station is used to inspect the internal bore dimensions of the cleaned guide.

[0026] The internal bore go / no-go gauge inspection station is used to inspect the go / no-go status of the inner bore of the guide.

[0027] Further configuration: The oil scraper ring feeding station, the first valve plate feeding station, the second valve plate feeding station, and the pressing station all include a vibratory feeder for automatically supplying the corresponding parts.

[0028] Further configuration: The oil scraper ring loading station, the first valve plate loading station, the second valve plate loading station, the small component NG unloading station, and the small component transfer station are each equipped with a triaxial linear module and a gripper driven by it.

[0029] Further configuration: The small component re-inspection station, pressing station, cleaning and dust removal station, internal hole measuring instrument inspection station, and internal hole go / no-go gauge inspection station are arranged in a straight line; the second material machine is also equipped with a three-axis servo platform and multiple material transfer claws driven by the three-axis servo platform. The three-axis servo platform is suitable for driving any material transfer claw to reciprocate between adjacent stations.

[0030] Further configuration: The wave spring feeding mechanism includes:

[0031] A feeding turntable, a feeding rod located on the feeding turntable, and a wave spring located on the feeding rod;

[0032] The lifting mechanism is used to lift the wave spring on the material bar upwards; the lifting mechanism has preset material picking height and detection height within its stroke range;

[0033] A detection sensor is used to detect whether the uppermost wave spring has reached the preset detection height;

[0034] The controller is electrically connected to the lifting mechanism and is configured as follows:

[0035] When the detection sensor detects that the uppermost wave spring has reached the detection height, the lifting mechanism is controlled to continue rising by the preset compensation stroke so that the wave spring reaches the material picking height.

[0036] Further configuration: The controller is also configured to: after the uppermost wave spring is grasped, control the lifting mechanism to descend a preset stroke, and perform detection and compensation actions again, so as to position the next wave spring at the material picking height.

[0037] Further configuration: The lifting mechanism is a servo lifting mechanism, and its stroke range also has a preset zero position; the controller is also configured to: after all the wave springs on a material bar are removed, control the servo lifting mechanism to return to the zero position for reference calibration.

[0038] Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic assembly method for a guide, comprising the following steps:

[0039] S1: Perform small component assembly and pre-inspection steps on the first material feeder;

[0040] S11: Through the oil scraper ring loading station, the first valve plate loading station, the wave spring loading station, and the second valve plate loading station, the oil scraper ring, the first valve plate, the wave spring, and the second valve plate are sequentially stacked onto a tooling on an assembly turntable to form a small component.

[0041] S12: Inspect the assembly quality of small components through the small component inspection station;

[0042] S13: Remove small components that are detected as non-compliant;

[0043] S14: Transfer the qualified small component from the tooling and install it onto a guide bare part;

[0044] S2: Perform the conveying step;

[0045] S21: The bare guide piece, which has been loaded with small components in step S14, is transported from the first feeder to the second feeder via the docking conveyor belt;

[0046] S3: Perform the pressing and final inspection steps on the second material feeder. The specific steps include:

[0047] S31: Re-inspect the bare guide parts with installed small components through the small component re-inspection station;

[0048] S32: After passing the re-inspection, the bushing is pressed into the bare guide part through the press-fitting station;

[0049] S33: The final inspection of the press-fitted guide is carried out through the inspection station;

[0050] S34: Based on the detection results of step S33, the guides are sorted into qualified and unqualified products through the NG unloading station and the OK unloading station.

[0051] Further settings: In S33, the final detection includes:

[0052] S331: Clean and remove dust from the guide;

[0053] S332: Use an internal bore gauge to measure the inner bore dimension of the guide;

[0054] S333: Use an internal hole go / no-go gauge to check the go / no-go status of the guide's internal hole.

[0055] In summary, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0056] First, this invention fundamentally resolves the technical conflict between precision assembly and high-pressure pressing processes by designing the entire assembly line as separate first and second material handlers connected by a connecting conveyor belt. This physical separation creates independent and optimized working environments for each process. The first material handler can focus on interference-free, high-precision stacking of small parts, while the second material handler can be designed to withstand the impact of pressing. This modular design ensures that both processes operate in the most stable condition, significantly improving the assembly pass rate of small components and the overall quality consistency of the final product.

[0057] Secondly, in this invention, the solution incorporates a small component inspection station and a small component NG unloading station within the first material feeder. This design solves the problem of cumulative cost waste caused by end-of-line inspection. It avoids the situation where any minor defects generated in early processes accumulate value with the semi-finished product in subsequent processes, ultimately wasting all material costs and processing time if the final product is found to be defective. Through this intermediate inspection step, defective sub-components can be removed in advance at extremely low cost, fundamentally eliminating ineffective material consumption and wasted time, and greatly improving production efficiency and resource utilization.

[0058] Third, in this invention, all defective products are forcibly and automatically removed before the small components leave the first material feeder. This design ensures that every semi-finished product conveyed to the second material feeder meets the preset quality standards before entering the next stage. While setting up a re-inspection station at the entrance of the second material feeder, after the first material feeder has already inspected and screened the small components, may seem redundant, it actually solves a key but easily overlooked technical problem in automated production lines: the risk of transfer between processes. During the transfer process between the first and second material feeders via the connecting conveyor belt, dynamic factors such as vibration and start-stop may cause slight displacement, tilting, or even part detachment of the small components that have been placed in the guide bare parts but not yet pressed and fixed. If this change in state is not detected and the components directly enter the pressing station, it may result in undetectable internal quality problems in the final product, or even damage to the pressing mold, bushing, or guide bare parts due to inaccurate positioning, causing costly equipment damage and production interruption. Therefore, this re-inspection station serves as a handover verification function, ensuring that the semi-finished products remain in perfect assembly condition after physical transfer. It provides a secondary guarantee for the final quality of the product and is a proactive equipment protection measure for the subsequent high-cost and high-risk pressing process, which significantly improves the stability and reliability of the entire production line.

[0059] Fourth, in this invention, an independent cleaning and dust removal station is set up before the terminal's testing step, creating a highly reliable testing environment and fundamentally ensuring the accuracy of subsequent testing results. The pressing process itself may generate or introduce tiny metal shavings, oil, or dust into the guide's inner hole. These contaminants directly affect the measurement results of high-precision measuring instruments. For example, a tiny particle may cause the reading of the internal bore gauge to exceed the tolerance, or obstruct the smooth passage of the goroutine gauge, thus misjudging qualified products as unqualified products. Through the pre-cleaning process, this critical interfering variable is actively eliminated, reducing the misjudgment rate and avoiding the waste of qualified products.

[0060] Fifth, wave springs, being flexible, thin-walled workpieces with minute dimensional tolerances, have a dedicated feeding mechanism. Firstly, the mechanism employs a vertical feeding method using a material rod and overall lifting, fundamentally avoiding the damage caused to wave springs by traditional vibratory feeder feeding methods. Due to their thin walls and elastic structure, wave springs are prone to entanglement, deformation, and even breakage during violent tumbling and collisions in a vibratory feeder, leading to feeding failure. This solution neatly places the wave springs onto the material rod and transports them via stable vertical lifting. The entire process is free of violent movement between springs, ensuring that each spring maintains its intact physical shape upon reaching the picking position, providing a high-quality material guarantee for subsequent precise gripping and assembly.

[0061] Secondly, the core of the solution lies in its closed-loop positioning control logic of detection and compensation. This logic solves the problem of inaccurate material handling height and the tendency for adjacent springs to partially overlap due to the cumulative thickness tolerance of individual springs. In automated gripping, the robotic arm needs to pick up materials at an absolutely precise and constant height. However, because the actual thickness of each wave spring has slight manufacturing tolerances, the total height of a stack of springs is a variable, making it impossible to accurately position the top layer using a simple open-loop, fixed-stroke lifting motion with a stepper motor. The principle of this solution is that it doesn't directly position the material handling height. Instead, it first raises the springs to a fixed detection height, triggering a signal from the detection sensor. Then, the controller instructs the lifting mechanism to precisely continue rising a preset, fixed compensation stroke. In this way, regardless of the cumulative height of the lower springs, the final material handling surface of the top spring is always precisely positioned at the same absolute height, achieving extremely high positioning accuracy and repeatability. The subsequent cyclic control of gripping, lowering, and repositioning extends this high-precision positioning capability to every spring on the material bar and makes it less likely for adjacent springs to overlap.

[0062] Finally, by employing a servo lifting mechanism and adding a zero-calibration control program, the solution ensures the long-term stability and reliability of the mechanism. Any mechanical system may accumulate minor errors due to wear, temperature drift, and other factors after prolonged operation. Ordinary lifting mechanisms may gradually deviate from their initial accuracy reference. This solution, by forcing the servo mechanism to return to a fixed physical zero position for reference calibration after each material bar is empty, can proactively and periodically eliminate any potential system accumulation errors. This self-calibration mechanism ensures that the coordinate system upon which the aforementioned detection and compensation rely remains accurate, thereby ensuring that the equipment maintains its initial high-precision positioning capability throughout its entire lifespan, eliminating the need for frequent manual intervention and calibration, and greatly improving the equipment's stability and maintenance-free operation. Attached Figure Description

[0063] Figure 1 This is a structural schematic diagram of an automated guide assembly line;

[0064] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of the assembly turntable;

[0065] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the oil scraper ring feeding mechanism;

[0066] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the first valve plate feeding mechanism;

[0067] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the second valve plate feeding mechanism;

[0068] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the small component transfer mechanism;

[0069] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the pressing mechanism;

[0070] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the wave spring feeding mechanism.

[0071] In the diagram, 100 is the first feeder; 110 is the guide bare part feeding conveyor belt.

[0072] 200. Second material feeder; 201. Small component re-inspection station; 202. Pressing station; 203. Cleaning and dust removal station; 204. Internal bore gauge inspection station; 205. Internal bore go / no-go gauge inspection station; 206. NG unloading station; 207. OK unloading station;

[0073] 210. Vibratory feeder; 220. Three-axis servo platform; 230. Transfer gripper; 240. Sensor; 241. Pressure bar; 242. Pressing mechanism;

[0074] 300. Assembly turntable; 310. Docking conveyor belt; 320. Tooling;

[0075] 301. Oil scraper ring loading station; 302. First valve plate loading station; 303. Wave spring loading station; 304. Second valve plate loading station; 305. Small component inspection station; 306. Small component NG unloading station; 307. Small component transfer station;

[0076] 401. Three-axis linear module; 402. Gripper;

[0077] 400. Oil scraper ring feeding mechanism; 500. First valve plate feeding mechanism; 600. Wave spring feeding mechanism; 700. Second valve plate feeding mechanism; 800. Small component NG unloading mechanism; 900. Small component transfer mechanism;

[0078] 601. Feeding turntable; 602. Feeding rod; 603. Drive unit; 604. Pallet; 605. Lifting mechanism; 606. Detection sensor; 607. Support component. Detailed Implementation

[0079] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0080] In the description of this invention, it should be understood that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," and "circumferential" indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used only for the convenience of describing this invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this invention.

[0081] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, this embodiment of the invention provides an automatic assembly line for guides, which includes a first material feeder 100 and a second material feeder 200. A docking conveyor belt 310 is provided between the first material feeder 100 and the second material feeder 200 to transport the semi-finished products pre-assembled by the first material feeder 100 to the second material feeder 200 for subsequent processing.

[0082] Specifically, the core component inside the first material handling machine 100 is an assembly turntable 300, which is automatically selected and driven by a servo motor. On the circumference of the assembly turntable 300, along the rotation direction of the turntable, multiple stations with different functions are sequentially arranged, and each station is equipped with a fixture 320 for carrying and positioning parts. These stations include multiple loading stations for forming small components, specifically an oil scraper ring loading station 301, a first valve plate loading station 302, a wave spring loading station 303, and a second valve plate loading station 304. During equipment operation, these loading stations work together to sequentially stack the oil scraper ring, the first valve plate, the wave spring, and the second valve plate into the fixture 320 on the turntable station, thereby forming a pre-assembled small component.

[0083] Downstream of the loading station, along the rotation path of the turntable, there are sequentially arranged a small component inspection station 305, a small component NG unloading station 306, and a small component transfer station 307. The small component inspection station 305 is used to inspect the quality of small components assembled in the preceding station. The small component NG unloading station 306 automatically removes unqualified small components from the tooling 320 based on the inspection results from the inspection station. The small component transfer station 307 is responsible for picking up qualified small components from the tooling 320 and transferring them into a guide component supplied to another station. Thus, the first material handling machine 100 completes the pre-assembly operation of a semi-finished product.

[0084] The docking conveyor belt 310 transports the pre-assembled guide components from the first feeder 100 to the second feeder 200. The second feeder 200 also contains multiple stations arranged sequentially according to the material flow path. First, there is a component re-inspection station 201, used to re-inspect the incoming semi-finished product and its internal components before entering the high-value processing stage. After passing the re-inspection, the semi-finished product is sent to the pressing station 202, where a bushing is pressed into the guide component already equipped with its components. After pressing, the guide is sent to a comprehensive inspection station for a full quality inspection of the finished guide. Finally, after all inspections are completed, there are NG unloading stations 206 and OK unloading stations 207, used to automatically sort the finished guides into qualified and unqualified products based on the final inspection results from the aforementioned inspection stations.

[0085] In one specific embodiment, the aforementioned comprehensive inspection station for conducting full quality inspection of the finished product guide includes a cleaning and dust removal station 203, an internal bore gauge inspection station 204, and an internal bore go / no-go gauge inspection station 205, which are arranged sequentially along the material conveying path.

[0086] The cleaning and dust removal station 203 follows immediately after the pressing station 202. Its function is to actively clean and remove dust from the guide that has just been pressed, in order to remove tiny debris or contaminants that may be generated during the pressing process, thereby providing a clean measurement environment for subsequent high-precision testing and ensuring the accuracy of the test results.

[0087] After cleaning, the guide is sent to the internal bore gauge inspection station 204. This station is used to perform precise and quantitative data measurement of the key dimensions of the guide's internal bore using a high-precision pneumatic gauge.

[0088] After dimensional measurements are completed, the guide is finally sent to the internal bore go / no-go gauge inspection station 205. At this station, the guide's internal bore is functionally verified using standard go and no-go gauges to ensure that its geometry and shape meet the final assembly requirements. This sequential cleaning, precision measurement, and functional verification together constitute a complete and reliable finished product quality inspection process.

[0089] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 As shown, in a specific implementation of the present invention, in order to achieve automated material feeding at each workstation, some workstations are equipped with vibratory feeders 210. Specifically, the oil scraper ring feeding station 301, the first valve plate feeding station 302, the second valve plate feeding station 304 on the first feeder 100, and the pressing station 202 on the second feeder 200 all include a vibratory feeder 210 for automatically supplying the corresponding parts. These vibratory feeders 210 can automatically and directionally transport disordered oil scraper rings, valve plates, or bushings and other parts to a preset picking position for subsequent gripping.

[0090] like Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 as well as Figure 6 As shown, in order to perform precise material grabbing and placement actions between various workstations, both the first material feeder 100 and the second material feeder 200 of the present invention are equipped with high-precision actuators.

[0091] Taking the first material feeder 100 as an example, its multiple stations are equipped with independent mechanisms for performing specific operations. Specifically, the oil scraper ring feeding station 301 is equipped with an oil scraper ring feeding mechanism 400; the first valve plate feeding station 302 and the second valve plate feeding station 304 are respectively equipped with a first valve plate feeding mechanism 500 and a second valve plate feeding mechanism 700; the small component NG unloading station 306 is equipped with a small component NG unloading mechanism 800; and the small component transfer station 307 is equipped with a small component transfer mechanism 900.

[0092] In this embodiment, all the mechanisms except the wave spring feeding mechanism 600 adopt similar structures. Specifically, each mechanism is provided with a triaxial linear module 401, and each triaxial linear module 401 is equipped with a gripper 402 that it drives. The triaxial linear module 401 can be programmed and positioned with high precision in three-dimensional space, thereby driving the gripper 402 to stably complete a series of complex actions such as gripping, placing, transferring or rejecting the corresponding parts, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the stacking and transfer process.

[0093] like Figure 1 , Figure 2 As shown, the internal workstations of the second material feeder 200 have been optimized in terms of spatial layout. Specifically, the small component re-inspection station 201, pressing station 202, cleaning and dust removal station 203, internal bore gauge inspection station 204, and internal bore go / no-go gauge inspection station 205 are arranged along a straight line. This layout facilitates the sequential flow of materials and cycle control. To efficiently transfer the guide between the linearly arranged workstations, the second material feeder 200 is also equipped with a three-axis servo platform 220, on which multiple transfer claws 230 are mounted. The three-axis servo platform 220 can drive any one of its transfer claws 230 to reciprocate between two adjacent workstations, thereby realizing the step-by-step transfer of the guide between various processing and inspection processes within the second material feeder 200.

[0094] like Figure 7 As shown, a pressing mechanism is provided on the pressing station 202 of the second material feeder 200. The pressing mechanism is used to perform the action of pressing the bushing into the guide bare part. The specific structure of the pressing mechanism is not limited. In this embodiment, as an example, the pressing mechanism may include a pressing rod 241 that can move up and down and a pressing mechanism 242 for driving the pressing rod 241 to press down.

[0095] In addition, to ensure accurate positioning of materials at each workstation and error-free handover between workstations, sensors 240 can be installed at multiple workstations. For example... Figures 2 to 7 As shown, in this embodiment, each station on the first material feeder 100 and the second material feeder 200, such as the loading station, the detection station, and the material transfer station, is equipped with a sensor 240. These sensors 240 are used to detect the presence or absence of materials at the station or to detect their location, thereby ensuring the accurate and reliable operation of the entire automated process.

[0096] like Figure 8 As shown, considering that wave springs are easy to wind, easy to deform, and have tolerances in individual thickness, in order to achieve stable and reliable automated feeding, the wave spring feeding station 303 of this invention adopts a specially designed wave spring feeding mechanism 600.

[0097] The wave spring feeding mechanism 600 includes a feeding turntable 601 and a drive device 603, which is a servo motor. The mechanism also includes multiple vertically mounted feed rods 602 on the turntable, each with a sliding support 607 at its bottom. Wave springs to be fed are neatly fitted onto these feed rods 602. The mechanism further includes a lifting mechanism 605 and a tray 604 driven by the lifting mechanism 605, which acts on the bottom of the support 607. In this embodiment, the lifting mechanism 605 is preferably a servo lifting mechanism 605 capable of precise position control, used to drive the feed rods 602 and the stack of wave springs on them to vertically lift and lower.

[0098] The wave spring feeding mechanism 600 also includes a detection sensor 606 and a controller, used to detect whether the uppermost wave spring has reached a preset detection height. The controller is electrically connected to the lifting mechanism 605.

[0099] The mechanism employs a closed-loop, compensated positioning control method. Specifically, a fixed detection height and a final material-picking height are pre-set along the travel path of the lifting mechanism 605. When the controller drives the lifting mechanism 605 to raise the material rod 602, a detection sensor 606 located at the detection height will detect the position of the uppermost wave spring in real time. Once the detection sensor 606 detects that the uppermost wave spring has reached the detection height, the controller will not stop lifting but will continue to instruct the lifting mechanism 605 to rise by a preset, precise compensation stroke, thereby ensuring that the top surface of the uppermost wave spring can be accurately positioned at the material-picking height for the loading robot to grasp.

[0100] To achieve continuous feeding, the controller is also configured to perform cyclic positioning. After a wave spring is successfully grabbed, the controller instructs the lifting mechanism 605 to descend by a preset stroke, and then restarts the sequence of rising, detecting, and compensating actions to accurately position the next layer of wave springs to the picking height and avoid overlap between adjacent wave springs.

[0101] Furthermore, to ensure the mechanism maintains its high positioning accuracy over a long period, the servo lifting mechanism 605 also has a preset zero position. The controller is configured to automatically control the servo lifting mechanism 605 to return to the zero position for a reference calibration after all the wave springs on a feed bar 602 have been removed. This periodic self-calibration mechanism can proactively eliminate any accumulated errors that may occur due to long-term operation, ensuring the long-term stability and reliability of the equipment.

[0102] In this embodiment, the automatic guide assembly line also includes a guide bare component loading conveyor belt 110. The guide bare component loading conveyor belt 110 is arranged on one side of the assembly turntable 300 of the first material feeder 100, with its end near the small component transfer station 307. It is specifically responsible for continuously transporting the guide bare components to be assembled from the outside to the predetermined pick-up position of the first material feeder 100. The docking conveyor belt 310 serves as a transfer mechanism connecting the first material feeder 100 and the second material feeder 200, responsible for transporting the pre-assembled semi-finished products from the first material feeder 100 to the second material feeder 200.

[0103] In the automated production process, once a qualified small component is ready on the assembly turntable 300, the small component transfer mechanism 900 located at the small component transfer station 307 performs a pre-assembly action. This action includes: first, taking an incoming guide component from the end of the guide component loading conveyor 110; then, precisely inserting the qualified small component from the turntable fixture 320 into the guide component that was just taken out.

[0104] After the above pre-assembly is completed, a semi-finished product is formed and fed from the working area of ​​the first material machine 100 onto the docking conveyor belt 310. The docking conveyor belt 310 then transports it to the second material machine 200 for further processing.

[0105] The specific application scenarios and methods of the automatic guide assembly line in the above embodiments are not specifically limited. This embodiment also provides an automatic guide assembly method, characterized by including the following steps:

[0106] S1: Perform small component assembly and pre-inspection steps on the first material feeder 100;

[0107] S11: By using the scraper ring loading station 301, the first valve plate loading station 302, the wave spring loading station 303, and the second valve plate loading station 304, the scraper ring, the first valve plate, the wave spring, and the second valve plate are sequentially stacked onto the tooling 320 of an assembly turntable 300 to form a small component.

[0108] S12: The assembly turntable 300 rotates to the small component inspection station 305 to inspect the quality of the newly assembled small component;

[0109] S13: Based on the test results, discard any small components that fail the test.

[0110] S14: The qualified small components are transferred from the tooling 320 by the small component transfer station 307 and installed into a guide bare part, completing all the assembly processes on the first material machine 100.

[0111] S2: Perform the conveying step;

[0112] S21: The bare guide piece, into which the small components have been loaded in step S14, is transported from the first feeder 100 to the second feeder 200 via the docking conveyor belt 310.

[0113] S3: After the semi-finished product arrives at the second material feeder 200, the pressing and final inspection steps begin. The specific steps include:

[0114] S31: The bare guide component with the small components installed is re-inspected through the small component re-inspection station 201;

[0115] S32: After passing the re-inspection, the bushing is pressed into the bare guide piece by the pressing station 202;

[0116] S33: After pressing is completed, the guide enters a comprehensive final inspection process;

[0117] S34: Finally, based on the final inspection results, the finished product guides are automatically sorted into qualified and unqualified products through the NG unloading station 206 and the OK unloading station 207, thus completing the entire automated assembly process.

[0118] Specifically, in S33, the final inspection is a multi-stage precision inspection process, which includes the following steps:

[0119] S331: Clean and remove dust from the guide to ensure the surface being measured is clean and to eliminate measurement interference;

[0120] S332: The inner diameter of the guide is precisely measured using an internal bore gauge;

[0121] S333: Use an internal go / no-go gauge to perform functional go / no-go testing on the inner hole of the guide to ensure that it meets assembly requirements.

[0122] The above embodiments are merely explanations of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. After reading this specification, those skilled in the art can make modifications to these embodiments without contributing any inventive step, but as long as they are within the scope of the claims of the present invention, they are protected by patent law.

Claims

1. A guider automatic assembly line characterized by, The utility model relates to a kind of valve guide assembly line, comprising: First material machine (100), comprising: Assembly carousel (300); Multiple workstations are sequentially arranged along the circumference of assembly carousel (300), each workstation is provided with a tooling (320), and the multiple workstations include: oil scraping ring feeding station (301), first valve piece feeding station (302), wave spring feeding station (303), second valve piece feeding station (304), for sequentially stacking oil scraping ring, first valve piece, wave spring and second valve piece on tooling (320) to form subassembly; And sequentially located at the rear side of second valve piece feeding station (304): Subassembly detection station (305) for detecting the assembly quality of subassembly; Subassembly NG unloading station (306) for removing unqualified subassembly according to detection results; Subassembly material transfer station (307) for transferring qualified subassembly from the workstation and loading into a guide bare piece; Second material machine (200); And docking conveyor belt (310) connected between first material machine (100) and second material machine (200), for conveying guide bare piece loaded with subassembly from first material machine (100) to second material machine (200); Wherein, second material machine (200) includes sequentially arranged according to material flow path: Subassembly re-inspection station (201) for re-inspecting the assembly quality of subassembly; Pressing station (202) for pressing bushing into guide bare piece loaded with subassembly; Detection station for detecting guide after pressing; And NG unloading station (206) and OK unloading station (207) for sorting guide into qualified product and unqualified product according to the detection results of the foregoing detection station; The detection station includes sequentially located at the rear side of pressing station (202): Cleaning and dust removal station (203) for cleaning the guide after pressing; Hole gauge detection station (204) for detecting the size of the inner hole of the cleaned guide; Inner hole pass-stop gauge detection station (205) for detecting the inner hole of the guide; Wherein, the subassembly re-inspection station (201), pressing station (202), cleaning and dust removal station (203), hole gauge detection station (204) and inner hole pass-stop gauge detection station (205) are arranged along a straight line; Wave spring feeding station (303) is provided with wave spring feeding mechanism (600), comprising: Feeding carousel (601), material rod (602) located on feeding carousel (601), wave spring is located on material rod (602); Lifting mechanism (605) for lifting wave spring on material rod (602) upward;Lifting mechanism (605) has preset picking height and detection height in stroke range; Detection inductor (606) for detecting whether the uppermost wave spring reaches the preset detection height; Controller, controller is configured to: When the detection sensor (606) detects that the uppermost wave spring reaches the detection height, the control mechanism (605) continues to rise for a preset compensation stroke to make the wave spring reach the picking height.

2. The guide automatic assembly line of claim 1, wherein: The oil scraper ring loading station (301), the first valve plate loading station (302), the second valve plate loading station (304), and the press-fitting station (202) each include a vibration disc (210) for automatically supplying corresponding parts.

3. The guide automatic assembly line of claim 1, wherein: The oil scraper ring loading station (301), the first valve plate loading station (302), the second valve plate loading station (304), the small assembly NG unloading station (306), and the small assembly moving station (307) are respectively provided with a three-axis linear module (401) and a gripper (402) driven thereby.

4. The guide automatic assembly line of claim 1, wherein: The second material machine (200) is further provided with a three-axis servo platform (220) and a plurality of moving grippers (230) driven by the three-axis servo platform (220), and the three-axis servo platform (220) is suitable for driving any moving gripper (230) to reciprocate between adjacent stations.

5. The guide automatic assembly line of claim 1, wherein: The controller is further configured to, after the uppermost wave spring is picked, control the lifting mechanism (605) to descend for a preset stroke and perform the detection and compensation actions again to position the next layer of wave spring to the picking height.

6. The guide automatic assembly line of claim 5, wherein: The lifting mechanism (605) is a servo lifting mechanism (605) which has a preset zero position within a stroke range; and the controller is further configured to, after the wave springs on one material rod (602) are all picked, control the servo lifting mechanism (605) to return to the zero position for reference calibration.

7. A guide automatic assembly method of a guide automatic assembly line according to claim 1, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: S1: performing small assembly assembly and pre-detection steps on the first material machine (100); S11: sequentially stacking an oil scraper ring, a first valve plate, a wave spring, and a second valve plate on a tooling (320) of an assembly turntable (300) through the oil scraper ring loading station (301), the first valve plate loading station (302), the wave spring loading station (303), and the second valve plate loading station (304) to form a small assembly; S12: detecting the assembly quality of the small assembly through the small assembly detection station (305); S13: rejecting the small assembly detected as unqualified; S14: moving and loading the small assembly detected as qualified from the tooling (320) onto a guide bare; S2: performing a conveying step; S21: conveying the guide bare on which the small assembly is loaded from the first material machine (100) to the second material machine (200) through the docking conveying belt (310); S3: performing a press-fitting and final detection step on the second material machine (200), and the step specifically comprises: S31: re-inspecting the guide bare on which the small assembly is loaded through the small assembly re-inspection station (201); S32: after the re-inspection is qualified, pressing a bushing into the guide bare through the press-fitting station (202); S33: finally detecting the guide bare on which the press-fitting is completed through the detection station; S34: sorting the guide bare into qualified products and unqualified products according to the detection result of step S33 through the NG unloading station (206) and the OK unloading station (207).

8. The method of claim 7, wherein: In S33, the final detection includes: S331: cleaning and dust removing treatment is performed on the guide; S332: the inner hole size of the guide is detected by using an inner hole gauge; and S333: the pass-fail detection of the inner hole of the guide is performed by using an inner hole pass-fail gauge.

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