Vane pump assembling method and equipment

Abstract

The invention provides a vane pump assembly method and assembly equipment, and the method comprises the following steps: (1) considering possible space limitation above a pump body, firstly placing a lower positioning ring in the pump body, and then clamping and positioning the pump body; or when the upper space is sufficient, the lower positioning ring and the rotor shaft assembly are placed after the pump body is subjected to primary positioning; (2) aligning the initial angle of the rotor shaft according to the angle between the blades; (3) placing the upper positioning ring on the rotor shaft; then the rotor shaft assembly after angle alignment and the upper positioning ring are placed in the pump body; (4) blades start to be placed, and when the blades are placed, the blades are laterally pushed in from the notches of the variable spring of the oil pump and then pressed downwards from the front face to the blade placing grooves in the rotor shaft; and (5) after the detection mechanism detects, the pump body is released.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to a method and device for assembling a vane pump, and to the assembly of vanes, positioning rings and rotor shafts of a vane pump. BACKGROUND

[0002] The oil pump is an important part of the automobile transmission control system, mainly providing oil to the control valve of the power system execution element, and the lubrication and cooling of the rotating element. Whether it is a traditional fuel vehicle or a new electric drive system, an oil pump is needed as an auxiliary device for transmission parts. Sometimes the oil pump is also an important node for the thermal management of the power system, and is an important part of the engine, transmission, electric drive system and hybrid transmission assembly.

[0003] In 2021, the production and sales of automobiles were 26,082,200 and 26,275,000 respectively, and in 2022, the production and sales of automobiles were 27,021,000 and 26,864,000 respectively. Since the oil pump is an important part of the transmission system, it will not be affected by the trend of automobile electrification. At least one oil pump will be provided on the automobile power system assembly. The booming development of the automobile industry is the premise for the continuous growth of the market for oil pumps, and is an important factor for the strong demand for oil pumps.

[0004] The vane oil pump is the main type of product in the oil pump, and the vane, positioning ring and rotor shaft are the core of this type of product. The reliability, stability and consistency of the assembly quality are critical. At present, this part is mainly manually assembled and semi-automatically assembled.

[0005] Manual assembly: At present, the assembly of vanes, positioning rings and rotor shafts in vane variable oil pumps is mostly based on manual assembly. Purely manual assembly mostly requires skilled workers, and some people with talent need to practice and train to meet the assembly requirements.

[0006] Semi-automatic assembly: In addition to manual assembly, there is a method of assembling vanes automatically off-line, and then assembling the vanes, upper and lower positioning rings and rotor shafts by manual / robot on-line. If manual assembly is used to assemble vanes, upper and lower positioning rings and rotor shafts, this method can achieve the assembly goal, but it does not realize the full automation of vane, positioning ring and rotor shaft assembly. If the robot is used to assemble vanes, upper and lower positioning rings and rotor shafts, it will take a lot of time, the production rhythm cannot be followed, the cost is high, and there is a possibility of damage to the vanes and lower positioning rings.

[0007] Referring to the prior art structure of Figure 1 and Figure 2 , Figure 1 illustrates the structure of assembling all vanes off-line, Figure 2The structure of the rotor with assembled vanes outside the grabbing line is shown, the clamping jaw cylinder 101 drives the clamping jaw 102 to clamp the assembled vane rotor shaft assembly 103 from the oil pump variable spring gap. Figure 1

[0008] The current assembly method mainly has the following disadvantages:

[0009] 1. Manual assembly: manual assembly requires workers with talent. Since product quality is produced rather than tested, product quality and reliability will be unstable when there is a large personnel mobility and mainly relies on manual work.

[0010] 2. Semi-automatic assembly: semi-automatic assembly liberates part of the work of manpower, but it does not achieve full automatic assembly by manual work, and its shortcomings are obvious.

[0011] 3. Full automatic assembly: the production rhythm cannot keep up, and the rotor shaft and the lower positioning ring may be damaged. This damage is irreversible and difficult to find, which affects product quality. SUMMARY

[0012] The technical problem to be solved by the present application is to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art, and to provide a blade pump assembly method which can liberate manpower, reduce labor intensity and improve production rhythm.

[0013] The technical problem to be solved can be solved by the following technical scheme.

[0014] A blade pump assembly method, the method comprising the following steps:

[0015] (1) Considering the possible space limitation above the pump body, first place the lower positioning ring in the pump body, and then assemble and position the pump body; or when the space above is sufficient, choose to position the pump body first, then place the lower positioning ring and the rotor shaft assembly;

[0016] (2) According to the angle between the vanes, find the initial angle of the rotor shaft;

[0017] (3) Place the upper positioning ring on the rotor shaft; then place the rotor shaft assembly with the found angle and the upper positioning ring into the pump body;

[0018] (4) Start placing the vanes, the vanes are placed from the oil pump variable spring gap side to the front and then downward, into the vane placing groove on the rotor shaft;

[0019] (5) The detection mechanism detects and releases the pump body.

[0020] ​Further, the rotor shaft with the aligned position is placed on the fixed tooling for later use, and then the rotor shaft assembly at the fixed tooling is placed into the pump body in a suitable time window according to the balance between space and production rhythm.

[0021] Another technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a vane pump assembly device, which comprises:

[0022] a locating ring assembly mechanism capable of sequentially assembling the lower locating ring into the pump body and placing the upper locating ring above the rotor shaft assembly; and

[0023] a rotor shaft locating mechanism capable of identifying and aligning the initial installation angle of the vane on the rotor shaft; and

[0024] a rotor shaft placing mechanism capable of placing the rotor shaft assembly with the determined initial installation angle of the vane into the central hole of the vane pump rotor shaft; and

[0025] a vane assembly mechanism capable of conveying the vane to be assembled to the variable spring gap of the oil pump, and laterally pushing and frontally pressing the vane into the corresponding vane placing groove on the rotor shaft.

[0026] Further, the locating ring assembly mechanism comprises a circular vibration disc, the outlet of the circular vibration disc is connected with a straight vibration track, and the end of the straight vibration track is connected with a distributing groove capable of accommodating the vane; the locating rings in a scattered state are arranged in a queue by the vibration of the circular vibration disc, and the scattered locating rings are sequentially conveyed to the distributing groove along the straight vibration track, and the locating rings are transferred and assembled into the pump body through the distributing groove.

[0027] Further, the locating rings falling into the distributing groove are pushed to the subsequent work station, and then placed into the pump body of the vane pump by the robot or gantry manipulator.

[0028] Preferably, the vane pump assembly device further comprises an oil spraying device capable of spraying oil before the lower locating ring is placed, so as to increase the friction or adhesion between the lower locating ring and the pump body, and reduce the displacement of the lower locating ring during movement.

[0029] Further, the rotor shaft locating mechanism comprises a set angle locating position and a sensor capable of identifying the relevant information on the rotor shaft placed at the angle locating position, the rotor shaft is rotated along the rotation axis of the rotor shaft by the driving of the gripper cylinder after the gripper holding the rotor shaft is shifted to the angle locating position, and the rotor shaft is fixed after the initial installation angle of the vane on the rotor shaft is identified by the sensor.

[0030] Preferably, the rotor shaft with the identified initial installation angle of the vane is placed at a set fixed tooling position.

[0031] Furthermore, the rotor shaft placement mechanism includes a drive mechanism that can move the rotor shaft and place it into the central hole of the vane pump rotor shaft. The drive mechanism has a drive system that is movable in three dimensions and rotatable along the rotor shaft.

[0032] Furthermore, the blade assembly mechanism includes:

[0033] A blade feeding mechanism that can transport blades from the blade hopper to the notch of the variable spring in the oil pump;

[0034] A blade pusher mechanism that can laterally push the blade at the notch in;

[0035] A pressing mechanism that can press the blades, after being pushed in laterally, into the corresponding blade mounting slots on the rotor shaft;

[0036] A rotating mechanism that can drive the rotor shaft inside a vane pump to rotate to the target vane placement slot.

[0037] The assembly method and equipment for the vane pump using the above-mentioned technical solution can greatly reduce manpower and labor intensity during the assembly of the upper and lower positioning rings and rotor shaft assembly, and is conducive to improving production cycle time. Furthermore, it ensures the consistency, reliability, and traceability of product quality data when automating the assembly of vanes, upper and lower positioning rings, and rotor shaft assembly. Attached Figure Description

[0038] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure in the prior art where all blades are assembled outside the centerline;

[0039] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the rotor with blades assembled off-line in the existing technology;

[0040] Figure 3 This is a simplified structural diagram of a variable displacement vane pump. Figure 3 a and Figure 3 b illustrates different cross-sectional structures;

[0041] Figure 4 A simplified diagram illustrating the working principle of a vane pump;

[0042] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating the assembly process of the assembly method of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the positioning ring assembly mechanism of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the rotor shaft positioning mechanism of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the rotor shaft placement mechanism of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the blade assembly mechanism of the present invention;

[0047] In the picture:

[0048] 1—Needle roller bearing; 2—Slider; 3—Stator; 4—Rotor; 5—Blade; 6—Control piston; 7—Drive shaft; 8—Flow rate adjusting screw; 9—Spring seat; 10—Spring; 11—Pressure adjusting screw; 12—Oil distribution plate; 13—Rotating shaft; 14—Rotor; 15—Stator; 16—Blade;

[0049] 21—Circular vibratory feeder; 22—Straight vibratory track; 23—Material distribution mechanism; 24—Oil injection position; 25—Positioning ring; 26—Vanilla pump; 27—Rotor shaft; 28—Gripper cylinder; 29—Gripper; 30—Angle recognition position; 31—Sensor; 32—Fixed fixture position; 33—Rotor shaft center hole; 34—Oil pump positioning fixture; 35—Vanilla; 36—Vanilla storage box; 37—Vanilla feeding mechanism; 38—Oil pump variable spring notch; 39—Vanilla mounting slot;

[0050] 101—Gripper cylinder; 102—Gripper; 103—Rotor shaft assembly with blades assembled. Detailed Implementation

[0051] The fully automated assembly of the vanes, upper and lower positioning rings, and rotor shaft in a vane-type variable displacement pump mainly consists of several modules, including the assembly of the upper and lower positioning rings, the assembly of the vanes, the assembly of the rotor shaft, and a detection mechanism to check whether the vanes are properly assembled. The following will explain its assembly process, module composition, and layout. (Refer to...) Figure 3 The figure shows a simplified structural diagram of a vane variable pump. This diagram helps to understand the relevant structural characteristics of vane pumps. Figure 3 a and Figure 3 b illustrates different cross-sectional structures, showing the needle roller bearing 1, slider 2, stator 3, rotor 4, blade 5, control piston 6, drive shaft 7, flow regulating screw 8, spring seat 9, spring 10, and pressure regulating screw 11; through Figure 3 This will give you a basic understanding of vane-type variable pumps. Figure 4 A simplified diagram of the working principle of a vane pump is given, which shows the distribution plate 12, rotating shaft 13, rotor 14, stator 15, vanes 16, and the direction and path of oil suction and pressure.

[0052] The specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0053] This invention provides an automatic assembly method and assembly equipment for a vane pump, with reference to... Figure 5 The assembly process flowchart, and the basic steps and ideas of the entire assembly process are described below:

[0054] 1. Before assembling the blades, rotor, and positioning ring into the pump body, the lower positioning ring needs to be placed into the pump body first. Considering the limited space above the pump body, you can choose to put down the positioning ring first, and then clamp and position the pump body for arrangement (the clamping and positioning of the pump body provides a precise position for the rotor shaft and blades). If there is sufficient space above, you can also choose to position the pump body once and then place the lower positioning ring and rotor shaft assembly.

[0055] 2. Position and clamp the pump body (before placing the rotor shaft assembly). During this process, the initial angle of the rotor shaft can be found in parallel (based on the angle between the blades). Considering the balance between space and production cycle, the rotor shaft at the found position can be placed on the fixed fixture and the robot / gantry robot can place the rotor shaft assembly at the fixed fixture into the pump body.

[0056] 3. After the rotor shaft is aligned and fixed at the correct angle, the upper positioning ring needs to be placed on the rotor shaft before the rotor shaft assembly is placed into the pump body; then the rotor shaft assembly with the corrected angle and the upper positioning ring are placed into the pump body. At this time, the lower positioning ring, rotor shaft assembly and upper positioning ring have been placed in the pump body.

[0057] 4. Then start placing the blades. The blades must be pushed in from the side from the variable spring port of the variable pump and then pressed down from the front. After placing one blade, rotate the rotor shaft. After placing several blades in sequence, rotate the rotor shaft quickly to align these blades with the upper and lower positioning rings, and try to avoid the blades pressing on the lower positioning ring. Then place the remaining blades in sequence. After placing the blades, rotate quickly again until all blades are aligned with the lower and upper positioning rings. Finally, the inspection mechanism will check and release the pump body.

[0058] The vane pump assembly equipment of the present invention mainly consists of the following four modular structures: positioning ring assembly mechanism, rotor shaft positioning mechanism, rotor shaft placement mechanism, and vane assembly mechanism.

[0059] See Figure 6This is a schematic diagram of the positioning ring assembly mechanism of the assembly equipment of the present invention. The assembly of the lower positioning ring into the pump body requires a positioning ring feeding and distributing mechanism, a gantry manipulator / robot, and an oil spraying mechanism (this mechanism is required when the lower positioning ring is assembled before clamping and positioning in the pump body). Specifically, a package of positioning rings in a scattered state is dispersed and arranged into a queue after being vibrated by a circular vibrating plate 21. The positioning rings are then transported to the distributing mechanism 23 along the straight vibrating track 22 (the positioning rings on the straight vibrating track 22 are usually laid flat, but can also be set to be inclined or vertical as needed). The distributing mechanism 23 includes a receiving groove. The positioning rings 25 entering the groove are pushed to the subsequent work station, and then picked up by the robot or gantry manipulator and placed into the pump body of the vane pump 26. Before the positioning ring 25 (lower positioning ring) is placed in, the oil spraying mechanism can spray oil on the pump body at the oil spraying position 24 to prevent the placed positioning ring 25 from shifting during movement and to increase the friction between it and the pump body.

[0060] The assembly of the upper positioning ring is relatively simple. It can be placed manually when loading the rotor shaft assembly or loaded onto the rotor shaft assembly by a robot / gantry manipulator. The assembly sequence of the upper positioning ring can be selected to be any time before assembling the first blade.

[0061] See Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the rotor shaft positioning (initial angle) mechanism of the present invention. The rotor shaft positioning mechanism uses a robot / gantry manipulator to grasp the rotor, and then rotates it at the positioning angle position via a rotation mechanism. After finding the specific included angle of the blade, the rotor is placed in a fixed fixture position. Specifically, the gripper 29 holds the rotor shaft 27 to the positioning angle position 30. This position facilitates recognition by the sensor 31, and then, driven by the gripper cylinder 28, it finds the initial angle of the blade installation in the mounting slot on the rotor shaft 27. As shown in the figure, the rotor shaft 27 has several (e.g., 8) blade mounting slots 39, each slot can hold one blade; therefore, the initial angle of these slots needs to be found. After the initial position is found, the gripper 29 drives the rotor shaft to place it in the fixed fixture position 32 for later use; that is, after the position is corrected, it is placed in the fixture position, and then, according to the production assembly cycle time, further... Figure 8 The rotor shaft placement mechanism is then used for subsequent operations.

[0062] See Figure 8This is a schematic diagram of the rotor shaft placement mechanism of the present invention. The rotor shaft placement mechanism mainly consists of a moving mechanism in the X, Y, and Z directions plus a rotating mechanism in the Z direction. It realizes the placement of the rotor shaft assembly (the initial angle has been determined at the fixed tooling position 32) at the blade tooling placement position (i.e., the fixed tooling position 32) into the rotor shaft center hole 33 of the vane pump 26 (the pump body is precisely positioned and clamped by the oil pump positioning tooling 34). At this time, the vane rotor gripper (i.e., gripper 29) cannot be released because, in addition to being responsible for placing the rotor shaft assembly into the pump body, it also needs to be responsible for the rotation of the rotor shaft. Since the vane pump 26 is generally composed of multiple blades, it needs to be rotated once for each blade to be installed. The vane rotor gripper (i.e., gripper 29) is released and removed until all blades are rotated and assembled.

[0063] See Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the blade assembly mechanism of the present invention. The blade assembly mechanism consists of a blade material magazine (blade storage box 36), a blade feeding mechanism 37, and a blade pressing mechanism. To assemble the blade into the pump body, the blade assembly mechanism must select the oil pump variable spring notch 38, insert it from the side (the upper positioning ring is pushed to one side), and then press it down. The sequence of actions is shown below. Figure 9 In the diagram, numbers ① to ⑤ and their corresponding arrows represent the path of one blade's movement. Because there is a rotor shaft above that requires a rotating mechanism (i.e., the gripper 29 in the diagram needs to drive the rotor shaft 27 to rotate), the blade storage box 36 needs to be placed to the side (to avoid interference from the rotating shaft). In order to deliver the blade 35 to the pump body of the blade pump 26, the blade needs to perform the actions of numbers ① to ⑤. After being delivered to the pump body, the gripper rotates the rotor shaft to load the next blade in sequence. The complete process is as follows: The blade 35 falls vertically from the blade storage box 36 along the predetermined track (the path represented by number ① in the diagram), is transversely transported along the arrow of path ② to the side near the gripper 29, descends along the arrow of path ③, and then is delivered to the oil pump variable spring notch 38 along the arrow of path ④. After alignment, the blade 35 is pressed down along the arrow of number ⑤ to assemble the blade into the corresponding blade mounting slot 39 of the rotor shaft 27 that has been installed in the blade pump 26. Then, the gripper cylinder 28 drives the gripper 29 to rotate the rotor shaft 27, and the blade assembly of the next blade placement slot 39 is carried out in a cycle. Of course, the blade conveying path can be set as needed, as long as it avoids interference with the gripper and its rotating shaft, and can eventually be delivered to the oil pump variable spring notch 38 to be pressed into the corresponding blade placement slot 39.

[0064] The vane pump assembly equipment of the present invention mainly consists of four parts: the positioning ring assembly mechanism, the rotor shaft positioning mechanism, the rotor shaft placement mechanism, and the vane assembly mechanism. The four parts serve and act on each stage of the assembly. During the setup process, the four parts should coordinate with each other to avoid mutual interference. The spatial layout should be reasonable to avoid time-related conflicts or inefficiencies.

[0065] The vane pump assembly equipment employing the technical solution of this invention can serve as the basic technical approach for fully automated vane assembly. This significantly reduces manpower and labor intensity during the assembly of the upper and lower positioning rings and rotor shaft assembly, thereby improving production cycle time. Furthermore, it ensures the consistency, reliability, and traceability of product quality data during automated assembly of vanes, upper and lower positioning rings, and rotor shaft assemblies.

Claims

1. A method of assembling a vane pump, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: (1) placing the lower positioning ring in the pump body first, and then clamping and positioning the pump body, considering the possible space limitation above the pump body, or placing the lower positioning ring and the rotor shaft assembly after the pump body is positioned once when there is sufficient space above; (2) finding the initial angle of the rotor shaft according to the angle between the blades; (3) placing the upper positioning ring on the rotor shaft, and then placing the rotor shaft assembly with the found angle and the upper positioning ring in the pump body; (4) placing the blades, which are pushed into the blade accommodating groove on the rotor shaft from the oil pump variable spring gap and then pressed from the front side; (5) releasing the pump body after detection by the detection mechanism.

2. The method of assembling a vane pump according to claim 1, wherein, In step (2), the rotor shaft with the found position is placed on a fixed tool for use, and then the rotor shaft assembly on the fixed tool is placed in the pump body in a suitable time window according to the balance between the space and the production rhythm.

3. A vane pump assembly apparatus, characterized by, It comprises: a positioning ring assembly mechanism which can sequentially realize the assembly of the lower positioning ring into the pump body and the placement of the upper positioning ring above the rotor shaft assembly; a rotor shaft positioning mechanism which can identify and find the initial installation angle of the blades on the rotor shaft; and a rotor shaft placing mechanism which can place the rotor shaft assembly with the determined initial installation angle of the blades into the central hole of the blade pump rotor shaft; and a blade assembly mechanism which can transport the blades to be assembled to the oil pump variable spring gap, and then push the blades into the corresponding blade accommodating groove on the rotor shaft from the side and press the blades from the front side. The positioning ring assembly mechanism comprises a circular vibration disc, the outlet of the circular vibration disc is connected with a straight vibration track, the end of the straight vibration track is connected with a distribution groove which can accommodate the blades; a positioning ring material in a scattered state is dispersed and arranged into a queue after being vibrated by the circular vibration disc, and the dispersed positioning ring is sequentially transported to the distribution groove along the straight vibration track, and then the positioning ring is transferred and assembled into the pump body through the distribution groove.

4. The vane pump assembly apparatus of claim 3, wherein, The positioning ring falling into the distribution groove is pushed to the subsequent station, and then is placed into the pump body of the blade pump by a robot or a gantry manipulator.

5. The vane pump assembly apparatus of claim 4, wherein, It also comprises an oil spraying device which can be used to spray oil before the lower positioning ring is placed in, so as to increase the friction or adhesion between the lower positioning ring and the pump body, and reduce the displacement of the lower positioning ring during movement.

6. A vane pump assembly apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein, The rotor shaft positioning mechanism comprises a set identification angle position and a sensor which can identify the relevant information on the rotor shaft placed in the position, after the jaw clamping the rotor shaft is shifted to the identification angle position, the rotor shaft can be rotated along its rotation axis after being driven by the jaw cylinder, and after the rotated rotor shaft is identified by the sensor, the position of the rotor shaft is fixed after the initial installation angle of the blades on the rotor shaft is identified.

7. The vane pump assembly apparatus of claim 3, wherein, The rotor shaft with the found initial installation angle of the blades is placed in a set fixed tool position.

8. A vane pump assembly apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, The rotor shaft placing mechanism comprises a driving mechanism which can shift and place the rotor shaft into the central hole of the blade pump rotor shaft, and the driving mechanism has a driving system which can move in three-dimensional directions and rotate along the shaft body of the rotor shaft.

9. The vane pump assembly apparatus of claim 3, wherein, The blade assembly mechanism comprises:

10. The vane pump assembly apparatus of claim 3, wherein, a blade feeding mechanism which can transport the blades from a blade warehouse to the oil pump variable spring gap; a blade pushing mechanism which can push the blades in the gap from the side; ​ A pressing mechanism that can press the laterally pushed-in blade down to the corresponding blade accommodation groove on the rotor shaft; A rotating mechanism that can drive the rotor shaft in the blade pump to rotate to the target blade accommodation groove position.

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