Production device, production system, and production method

Abstract

The present invention provides a production device, a production system, and a production method which enable an improvement in productivity. A production device according to the present disclosure comprises a support mechanism that supports a workpiece and a pair of welding mechanisms that perform a welding process on the workpiece, wherein the workpiece has a processing target that is temporarily fixed, and the pair of welding mechanisms are configured to perform a coordinated operation in which the welding process is performed simultaneously and in the same direction with respect to a front surface and a rear surface of the temporarily fixed member. A production method according to the present disclosure uses a pair of welding mechanisms to perform, with respect to a workpiece that has a processing target which is temporarily fixed, a coordinated operation in which a welding process is performed simultaneously and in the same direction with respect to a front surface and a rear surface of the processing target.

Description

Manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing system, and manufacturing method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing system, and a manufacturing method, and more particularly to a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing system, and a manufacturing method for a fan provided in an oven apparatus.

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a laser processing system that uses a manipulator having a laser processing head to weld a workpiece.

[0003] International Publication No. 2016 / 013171

[0004] The fan blades used for heat exchange, ventilation, and exhaust of the oven device are formed by temporarily welding multiple blades, for example, about eight, to the fan body (rotating shaft), then turning the fan body over and welding again.

[0005] This series of forming processes is mainly done by hand, and because the fan blades have a complex shape and are made by welding thin plates, the work must be carried out while making adjustments to prevent distortion, which poses a significant time-consuming challenge.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing system, and a manufacturing method that can improve productivity.

[0007] The manufacturing apparatus according to the present disclosure comprises a support mechanism for supporting a workpiece and a pair of welding mechanisms for performing welding processing on the workpiece, the workpiece having a temporarily fixed object to be processed, and the pair of welding mechanisms are configured to perform coordinated operations to perform welding processing on the front and back surfaces of the temporarily fixed member simultaneously and in the same direction.

[0008] The manufacturing system according to the present disclosure comprises a first processing mechanism that forms the workpiece before it is temporarily fixed, a second processing mechanism that temporarily fixes the workpiece to the workpiece, a first transport mechanism that transports the workpiece to which the workpiece is temporarily fixed, the manufacturing device, and a second transport mechanism that transports the workpiece to which the workpiece is fixed.

[0009] The manufacturing method disclosed herein uses a pair of welding mechanisms to perform coordinated operations on a workpiece having a temporarily fixed workpiece, performing welding simultaneously and in the same direction on the front and back surfaces of the workpiece.

[0010] The present disclosure makes it possible to provide a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing system, and a manufacturing method that can improve productivity.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a manufacturing apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a fan according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram explaining a manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining a manufacturing method according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a manufacturing system according to a second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a manufacturing system according to a third embodiment. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a manufacturing system according to the third embodiment. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a manufacturing system according to the third embodiment.

[0012] First Embodiment An embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a manufacturing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The manufacturing apparatus 10 includes a pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B that perform welding on a workpiece 20, and a support mechanism 13 that supports the workpiece 20.

[0013] The pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B each include a robot arm, and welding torches 12A and 12B are provided at the tip of the robot arm.

[0014] The welding torches 12A and 12B are ２ The welding tool may be compatible with arc, TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding, MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding, or MAG (Metal Active Gas) welding.

[0015] In addition, instead of the welding torches 12A and 12B, a laser processing head connected to a laser oscillator may be used. ２ Laser, YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) laser, disk laser, semiconductor laser, or fiber laser welding may be used.

[0016] In the configuration example shown in FIG. 1, at least two robot arms are provided, but this is not limitative and more than two robot arms may be provided.

[0017] The workpiece 20 to be machined by the manufacturing device 10 may be a fan used in an oven device, etc. An example of the configuration of the fan will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0018] The workpiece 20 (fan) includes a rotating shaft 21 that serves as the fan body, and a plurality of workpieces 22 (blades), each of which is temporarily fixed to the rotating shaft 21 that serves as the fan body. The workpieces 22 are made of stainless steel, aluminum, or the like. The temporary fixing may be performed by temporary welding using a temporary fixing member, or by fitting by shrink fitting or press fitting.

[0019] The shape of the workpiece 22 (blade) may be not only a straight shape but also a curved shape with a constant curvature in the region where it is temporarily fixed to the fan rotation shaft 21. Furthermore, to improve the efficiency of heat exchange, air blowing, and exhaust, it may be a curved shape with a continuously changing curvature, for example.

[0020] The pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B are configured to perform a cooperative operation to simultaneously weld the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 22 (blade) in the same direction. The cooperative operation will be described with reference to Figures 3A and 3B.

[0021] Fig. 3A is a view of the workpiece 20 as seen from the side of the workpiece 22, and Fig. 3B is a view of the workpiece 20 as seen from above the workpiece 22. In each of Figs. 3A and 3B, the left view shows the workpiece 20 during welding, and the right view shows the workpiece 20 after welding. Figs. 3A and 3B show an example in which the workpiece 22 is temporarily fixed to the rotating shaft 21 by a temporary fixing member 23.

[0022] Welding torches 12A and 12B provided at the tips of the pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B perform welding on a front surface 22A and a back surface 22B of the workpiece 22, respectively.

[0023] The two robot arms included in the pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B move welding torches 12A and 12B in a coordinated operation so as to simultaneously and in the same direction weld the front surface 22A and the back surface 22B of the workpiece 22. In the example shown in Fig. 3B , the welding torches 12A and 12B move from the top to the bottom in the figure along the shape of the workpiece 22. The movement speeds of the welding torches 12A and 12B in the coordinated operation may be continuously changed depending on the shape, curvature, etc. of the workpiece 22.

[0024] Furthermore, the above-described cooperative operation may not only be performed by the two robot arms of the pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B, but may also be combined with movement of the workpiece 20 by the support mechanism 13. For example, in accordance with the movement of the pair of welding mechanisms 11A and 11B, at least one of movement, rotation, and swing of the workpiece 20 may be performed using the support mechanism 13.

[0025] In this way, the front and back surfaces of the workpiece 22 can be welded simultaneously, which significantly reduces the time required for welding compared to welding one surface at a time. Furthermore, because the front and back surfaces can be welded simultaneously, even if the workpiece 22 is a thin plate, thermal distortion caused by welding can be canceled out, reducing distortion, thereby shortening the time required for post-processing.

[0026] The molding of workpieces, such as fan blades, is often done manually, which has led to the problem of time-consuming manufacturing, but by using the manufacturing device according to the present disclosure, it is possible to shorten the manufacturing time. Furthermore, since the variation in quality due to the worker can be suppressed, the quality of the workpieces can be made uniform.

[0027] Second Embodiment In the present embodiment, a manufacturing system incorporating the manufacturing apparatus 10 described in the first embodiment will be described. The manufacturing system 100 includes a first processing mechanism 101, a second processing mechanism 102, and a first conveying mechanism 103 upstream of the manufacturing apparatus 10, and includes at least a second conveying mechanism 104 downstream of the manufacturing apparatus 10.

[0028] The first processing mechanism 101 is a mechanism for forming the workpiece 22 (wing) before it is temporarily fixed. The workpiece 22 is formed by laser processing a flat plate and then pressing it to perform bending processing, pressing the flat plate to perform punching, etc.

[0029] The second processing mechanism 102 is a mechanism that temporarily fixes the object 22 to the workpiece 20. The temporary fixation may be performed by first fixing the workpiece 20 at a predetermined location, then positioning the object 22, and then temporary welding using a temporary fixing member 23, or by fitting by press-fitting.

[0030] The workpiece 20 with the workpiece 22 temporarily fixed thereto is transported by the first transport mechanism 103 to the manufacturing apparatus 10. Thereafter, the workpiece 20 is processed in the manufacturing apparatus 10 as described in the first embodiment to form the workpiece 20 with the workpiece 22 fixed thereto. The workpiece 20 with the workpiece 22 fixed thereto is transported by the second transport mechanism 104 to the next process, for example, an inspection process.

[0031] By systematizing the manufacturing process of the workpiece in this way, an automated manufacturing line can be obtained without human intervention, thereby improving productivity.

[0032] Third Embodiment In the present embodiment, a form will be described in which a post-process is performed by the manufacturing apparatus 10 described in the first embodiment and / or the manufacturing system 100 described in the second embodiment. The adjustment mechanism 105 that performs the post-process may be incorporated into the manufacturing system 100 as shown in Fig. 5A, or may be provided downstream of the manufacturing apparatus 10 as shown in Fig. 5B. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 5C, a small-scale manufacturing system 100 may be configured in which a first conveyance mechanism 103 and a second conveyance mechanism 104 that transfer the workpieces 22 to and from the manufacturing apparatus 10 are provided, and an adjustment mechanism 105 is provided downstream of these.

[0033] The adjustment mechanism 105 performs distortion correction and / or dynamic balance adjustment on the workpiece 22 manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus 10. Stress correction is a process of using a press, a hammer, or a robot arm to relieve residual stress in the workpiece 22 and return any distorted parts to their original position.

[0034] Dynamic balance adjustment is a process for adjusting whether the blade rotates without eccentricity when the workpiece 22 is a blade. The adjustment mechanism 105 that performs dynamic balance adjustment includes a device that measures imbalance in the rotational motion and a robot arm that cancels the imbalance of the workpiece 22. The process for canceling the imbalance is performed, for example, by attaching a weight to the workpiece 22, and is performed manually or automatically.

[0035] In this way, it is possible to provide a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing system, and a manufacturing method that can improve productivity.

[0036] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0037] This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-103553, filed on June 27, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

[0038] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Manufacturing device 11A, 11B Welding mechanism 12A, 12B Welding torch 13 Support mechanism 20 Workpiece 21 Rotating shaft 22 Object to be processed 22A Front surface 22B Back surface 23 Temporarily fixed member 100 Manufacturing system 101 First processing mechanism 102 Second processing mechanism 103 First conveying mechanism 104 Second conveying mechanism 105 Adjustment mechanism

Claims

1. A manufacturing device comprising: a support mechanism for supporting a workpiece; and a pair of welding mechanisms for welding the workpiece, wherein the workpiece has a temporarily fixed workpiece, and the pair of welding mechanisms are configured to perform coordinated operations to weld the front and back surfaces of the workpiece simultaneously and in the same direction.

2. The manufacturing device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of welding mechanisms comprises at least two robot arms, and a welding torch is provided at the tip of each of the robot arms.

3. The manufacturing device according to claim 1, wherein the support mechanism is configured to perform at least one of movement, rotation, and oscillation with respect to the workpiece in accordance with the coordinated operation of the pair of welding mechanisms.

4. The manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece is a fan and the object to be machined is a blade.

5. The manufacturing device according to claim 4, wherein the area of ​​the blade that is temporarily fixed to the rotation shaft of the fan has at least one of a straight shape, a curved shape with a constant curvature, and a curved shape with a continuously changing curvature.

6. A manufacturing system comprising: a first conveying mechanism that conveys the workpiece to which the object to be processed is temporarily fixed; a manufacturing device according to any one of claims 1 to 5; and a second conveying mechanism that conveys the workpiece to which the object to be processed is fixed.

7. The manufacturing system according to claim 6, further comprising an adjustment mechanism configured to perform distortion correction and / or dynamic balance adjustment on the workpiece after the workpiece has been transported by the second transport mechanism.

8. The manufacturing system of claim 7, wherein the distortion correction is performed by using a press, hammer, or robot arm to relieve residual stress in the workpiece and return the distorted portion to its original position, and / or the dynamic balance adjustment is performed by an instrument that measures imbalance in the rotational movement of the workpiece and a robot arm that performs the work of canceling out the imbalance in the workpiece.

9. The manufacturing system according to claim 6, further comprising: a first processing mechanism that forms the object to be processed before it is temporarily fixed; and a second processing mechanism that temporarily fixes the object to the workpiece.

10. A manufacturing method in which a pair of welding mechanisms are used to perform a coordinated operation on a workpiece having a temporarily fixed workpiece to be welded simultaneously and in the same direction on the front and back surfaces of the workpiece.

11. The manufacturing method according to claim 10, wherein, during the welding process, the workpiece is supported by a support mechanism, and the support mechanism performs at least one of movement, rotation, and oscillation relative to the workpiece in accordance with the coordinated operation of the pair of welding mechanisms.

12. The manufacturing method according to claim 10, wherein the workpiece is a rotating shaft of a fan, and the object to be machined is a blade.

13. The manufacturing method according to claim 12, wherein the region of the blade that is temporarily fixed to the rotation shaft of the fan has at least one of a linear shape, a curved shape with a constant curvature, and a curved shape with a continuously changing curvature.

14. A manufacturing method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, further comprising, before the welding process, forming the object to be processed before being temporarily fixed, temporarily fixing the object to the workpiece, and transporting the workpiece to which the object to be processed has been temporarily fixed to the pair of welding mechanisms.

15. The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, further comprising, after the welding process, transporting the workpiece to which the object to be processed is fixed to a next process.

Images