JPH0794201B2 - Attitude detection device and attitude detection method for wheel hub - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting the attitude of a wheel hub when automatically assembling a wheeled tire to a wheel hub on the vehicle body side in an automobile assembly process. Regarding

2. Description of the Related Art There is already known a device that automatically and consistently carries out tire mounting work which has conventionally been carried out manually only by hand instead of manually mounting the tire (for example, JP-A-50) -122783). In this type of device, a tire gripping device is provided on the line side of the vehicle body transportation line, and a hub bolt position detector is provided integrally with the tire gripping device, and the vehicle body is detected based on the detected value of the hub bolt position detector. Side wheel hub and the tire gripped by the tire gripping device, and then move the tire gripping device forward from the front side of the wheel hub to attach the tire to the wheel hub on the vehicle body side. Even tighten the nuts.

The tire gripping device has a function of moving in three orthogonal directions and a function of turning in a direction around the vertical axis and in a tire circumferential direction.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 50-122783, the center of the wheel hub is detected after the two-dimensional planar position of the hub bolt is detected by a hub bolt position detector in a non-contact manner. It is not always sufficient to mount the tire in search of the wheel bolt, and in some cases, the wheel side bolt hole cannot be inserted into the hub bolt. That is, since the wheel hub to which the tire is attached usually has a constant inclination angle of the toe-in and the camber, simply detect the two-dimensional plane position of the hub bolt and mount the tire as described above. However, due to the above-mentioned inclination angle, the hub bolt and the bolt hole may not match each other, which makes it impossible to automatically mount the tire.

Further, another position detecting device used for the above-mentioned automatic tire mounting is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-69352. This device is provided with a detector for detecting the toe-in of the wheel hub from the displacement amount of the contact body when the contact body is pressed against the tip surfaces of the two hub bolts, and the signal of this detector is given to the tire handling device. The tires are automatically mounted.

However, simply detecting the toe-in of the wheel hub cannot not only be applied to the tire mounting of the wheel hub having a camber, but the tip surface of the hub bolt is usually not finished with high accuracy,
Even if the toe-in is detected based on the tip end surface of the hub bolt, there is a limit to the improvement in the position detection accuracy, and there is still a problem in realizing full automation of automatic tire mounting.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and not only finds the center of the wheel hub based on the two-dimensional planar position of the hub bolt, but also detects the toe-in and camber of the wheel hub to detect the tire. (EN) Provided are a wheel hub posture detection device and method capable of completely automating automatic mounting.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, an overall outline of an automatic tire mounting apparatus including the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1 is a vehicle body transport for positioning a vehicle body B on a carriage 2 and transporting the vehicle body B linearly. A line, 10 is a tire transporting conveyor installed above the vehicle body transporting line 1, S ₁ is a tire mounting station, and Sb is a backup station installed after the tire mounting station S ₁ . Tire mounting station S
₁ is a total of 4 installed on both sides of the body transport line 1.
Tire mounting unit 50, a tire phasing device 20 also serving as a tire delivery device, and a nut supply device 110
And a wheel hub posture detection device 80 (see FIGS. 3 to 5) attached to the side of the tire mounting unit 50, a tire discharge area 140, which is a tire discharge conveyor 140, and a nut discharge device 150. On the other hand, the backup station Sb is equipped with a manual rat runner 8 which replaces the tire mounting unit 50 described above.

Then, in the tire mounting station S ₁ , the tire phasing device 20 receives the tire W dropped from the tire transport conveyor 10 and performs the phasing, and the tire W on which the phasing is completed is handed on the tire mounting unit 50. The unit 55 (see FIGS. 3 to 5) is gripped and mounted on the wheel hub H to tighten the nut.

At this time, in the unlikely event that the tire W is wheel hub H (see FIG. 11)
If any abnormality occurs such as when the tire mounting unit 50 cannot be mounted on the side, the tire mounting unit 50 is moved backward to the retracted position and the tire W gripped by the tire mounting unit 50 is moved to the tire discharge conveyor.
The tire W that has been discharged to 140 and thus could not be mounted at the tire mounting station S ₁ is sent to the backup station Sb, and this backup station Sb
At, the vehicle body B sent from the tire mounting station S ₁ is waited for and is manually mounted by the worker. Then, when it takes a long time to process the above-mentioned abnormality due to, for example, a failure of the tire mounting unit 50 itself, the tire W originally carried out from the tire transport conveyor 10 to the tire mounting station S ₁ is Without loading, the tire W is transported to the end of the tire transport conveyor 10 and directly sent to the backup station Sb. At this backup station Sb, the tire W is temporarily installed manually by a worker. Will be done.

Next, the details of each device will be described in order.

First, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the vehicle body B is a carriage 2
It is firmly positioned and clamped by the clamp device 4 and the gauge plate 5 provided at appropriate positions above,
The carriage 2 is linearly conveyed along the vehicle body conveyance line 1.
That is, the vehicle body B is positioned with respect to the carriage 2 with the gauge plate 5 as a reference by pushing down the entire vehicle body with a clamp device 4 that engages with a tow hook portion at the front and rear of the vehicle body.

Since the tire transfer conveyor 10 is disposed right above the vehicle body transfer line 1 with a predetermined inclination, it is branched to the left and right sub-conveyors 11a and 11b at the front stage of the tire mounting station S ₁ as shown in FIG. These sub-conveyors 11a and 11b are extended to the backup station Sb. As shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B), the branching portion 12 is provided with a slider 14 which horizontally reciprocates by an air cylinder 13, whereby the tire W is moved to the left and right sub-conveyors 11a, It is distributed to 11b.

Further, a tire loading mechanism 15 is provided in each of the left and right sub-conveyors 11a and 11b at a position directly above the tire phasing device 20. This tire loading mechanism 15
Is a retractable stopper for stopping the tire W conveyed on the sub-conveyors 11a and 11b as shown in FIG.
16 and a movable conveyor for changing the posture of the tire W stopped by the stopper 16 to the upright posture and dropping it by its own weight
17 and a sliding shutter that temporarily holds the tire W whose posture has been changed to the upright posture inside the shooter 18.
The tire W is held upright until it is received by the lifter 24 of the tire phasing device 20, which will be described later. Further, by arranging the stopper 16 in the retracted state, the tire W can be directly conveyed to the backup station Sb without dropping to the tire mounting station S ₁ .

The tire phasing device 20 is a hub bolt of the wheel hub H.
It is for matching the phase of the bolt hole 9 (Fig. 10) on the wheel R side with the phase of 21 (see Fig. 8 and Fig. 11).
It is constructed as shown in FIG. 9 and FIG.

In FIGS. 9 and 18, 22 is a base and 23 is a base
A main body portion provided on 22 and provided with a vertical substrate 43, and 18 is a shooter located above the main body portion 23 for inserting the tire W into the main body portion 23 side. A large number of ball casters 211 for smoothing the loading of the tire W and the rotation of the tire W are attached to the substrate 43, and the tangential plane shared by the balls of each ball caster 211 functions as a vertical tire regulating surface. . Here, a large number of ball casters 211
Are arranged over several rows at a predetermined pitch so as to contact the highest portion of the sidewall portion even when the size of the tire W changes.

Reference numeral 24 is a lifter which is guided by a guide lock 26 by the action of an air cylinder 25 and moves up and down between a solid line position in FIG. 18 and an imaginary line position immediately below the shooter 18. The lifter 24 receives a roller 212 for receiving a tire W. Is attached.

Further, 27 is a tire pedestal provided so that the lifter 24 can be lifted up and down so as not to interfere with the lifter 24, and this tire pedestal 27 gives a vehicle type signal from the outside to a motor 28 which is its drive source. As a result, the roller 30 is moved up and down to a position commensurate with the tire size diameter of the vehicle type, and the tire receiving surface is provided with a roller 30 which is rotationally driven by a motor 29 via a belt or the like. The height position of the tire pedestal 27 is confirmed and detected by the multiple photoelectric switch group 31 provided on the side of the tire pedestal 27. That is, the lifter
As 24 rises to the lower part of the shooter 18, the shutter 19 under the shooter 18 temporarily retracts, whereby the tire W standing by in the upright state inside the shooter 18 is transferred to the lifter 24. Further, the lifter 24 is lowered again so that the tire W can be transferred to the tire receiving stand 27.

32 is installed above the tire pedestal 27, and the air cylinder 33
With a slider that slides horizontally by the operation of
In addition to the two locate pins 34 and the light receiver 35B of the photoelectric switch 35 which is a detector, the slider 32 has a slider 32.
Further, there is provided a center 36 for tire centering, which is relatively movable. That is, the locate pin 34 and the light receiver 35B arranged around the center 36 are the wheel R.
It is located on the pitch circle of the four bolt holes 9 on the side, and the arrangement pitch of the locate pins 34 and the light receivers 35B is set to match the pitch of the bolt holes 9. The center 36 moves forward and backward with respect to the slider 32 by the operation of the air cylinder 213, and the forward limit and backward limit positions of the center 36 and the slider 32 are detected by limit switches 214 to 217, respectively.

Here, a plurality of types of tires W having different sizes are put in the tire phase alignment position 20, but the number of the bolt holes 9 and the pitch circle diameter of the wheel R are unified in advance regardless of the size of the tire.

37 is a swing arm that can be swung about the hinge pin 39 as the center of rotation by the operation of the air cylinder 38. At the tip of this swing arm 37, the projector 35A of the photoelectric switch 35 corresponding to the photoreceiver 35B is attached. Arm 37
It functions as a photoelectric switch only when the light receiver 35B and the light projector 35A are turned so as to face each other.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a pair of tire positioning arms provided on both sides of the tire W on the tire cradle 37 so as to face each other (however, in FIG. This drawing arm 40 slides by the operation of the air cylinder 41 and rotates by the operation of the rotary cylinder 44.
A guide roller 42 is provided at the tip.

In the tire phasing device 20 configured as described above, when the lifter 24 moves up and receives the tire W from the shooter 18 as described above, the lifter 24 moves down again. Then, the tire W is gradually lowered while being guided by the ball caster 211, and the tire W is transferred onto the tire pedestal 27 which is waiting in advance at a position corresponding to the tire size diameter. When the tire W is transferred to the tire pedestal 27, the positioning arm 40 moves to the right in FIG. 9 to restrain the tire W, and the sidewall portion of the positioning arm 40 is pressed against the substrate 43 for positioning. As a result, the tire W is constrained to have a vertical posture.

Then, the slider 32 is advanced from the back side of the tire W by the operation of the air cylinder 33. This forward movement is temporarily stopped at an intermediate position of the total stroke of the air cylinder 33, and instead, the air cylinder 213 is actuated to move the center 36
Moves independently, and the center 36 is the center hole of the wheel R.
Fit in 218 and perform centering. At this time, the tire W is centered by the center 36 so that the tire support 27
Since it slightly floats up from the roller 30, the tire pedestal 27 rises slightly so as to follow it, and the tire W and the roller 30 come into pressure contact with each other again. The raising operation at this time is performed by the air cylinder 200.

After that, the roller 30 is rotationally driven by the motor 29, so that the tire W rotates about the center 36, and during the rotation, it passes between any one of the bolt holes 9 and between the emitter / receiver 35A and 35B of the photoelectric switch 35. The rotation of the roller 30 immediately stops when the optical axis of the roller is connected. Since the four bolt holes 9 are indexed by this, the roller 30
When the slider 32 moves forward due to the operation of the air cylinder 33 at the same time that the rotation of the
The positioning of the tire W is completed by fitting with the two bolt holes 9 of No. 1 and positioning the tire W in the rotation direction.

When the locate pin 34 is inserted into the bolt hole 9 as described above, the center 36 is retracted by the operation of the air cylinder 213, and the tire pedestal 27 is slightly lowered by the operation of the air cylinder 200. Is supported only by the locate pin 34, and the positioning state is still maintained.

Furthermore, the swing arm 37 is activated by the operation of the air cylinder 38.
Turns to the imaginary line position in FIG. 18 and retracts, and when this retracting operation ends, the hand unit 55 including the nut runner 73 and the tire hand 74 for gripping the tire W as shown in FIG. When moving forward from the front side of the tire W,
As shown in FIG. 18, the tire hand 74 grips three locations on the circumference of the tire W.

When the tire hand 74 grips the tire W, the locating pin
The positioning arm 40 retreats from the front of the tire W as the positioning arm 40 moves leftward in FIG. Then, the tire W gripped by the tire hand 74 is handled by the backward movement of the hand unit 55, while the positioning arm 40, the swing arm 37, and the tire pedestal 27 are returned to their initial states, thereby completing one cycle. .

In addition, when tires of different sizes are loaded, the same operation as above is performed only by changing the height of the tire pedestal 27 according to the tire size information.

The tire mounting unit 50 is for receiving the tire W for which the phase matching has been completed from the tire phase matching device 20, mounting it on the wheel hub (brake disc) H on the vehicle body B side, and tightening the nuts. The details are the third
It is shown in FIGS. 5 to 10.

This tire mounting unit 50 includes an X-axis base 52 that can slide the base 51 in the X direction (vehicle width direction), and an X-axis base 52.
A Y-axis base 53 that is slidable in the Y-direction (front-back direction of the vehicle body), a Z-axis base 63 that is supported on the Y-axis base 53 so as to be vertically movable, and a sleeve 62 is integrally mounted, and a Z-axis base.
A θ-axis base 301 rotatably supported by the sleeve 62 of 63 in the θ-direction, a hand unit 55 mounted on the θ-axis base 301, and a wheel hub posture detection device 80 attached to the side of the hand unit 55. And Z-axis base
63 is configured to be tiltable in the γ direction. This allows
Of the above components, the base 51, the X-axis base 52, the Y-axis base 53, the Z-axis base 63, and the θ-axis base 301 are the moving means 302 such as a kind of robot of a 5-axis type of 2-axis rotation at 3 orthogonal axes. I am configuring.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10 (however, FIG. 10 is a single drawing obtained by synthesizing drawings of different cross sections in drawing), the X-axis base 52 is an X-axis drive composed of a motor 56 and a ball screw 57. The mechanism can slide on the guide rail 58 in the X direction, and the Y-axis base 53 slides on the guide rail 61 in the Y-direction by a Y-axis drive mechanism including a motor 59 and a ball screw 60. The sleeve 62 is integrally fixed to the Z-axis base 63, and the Z-axis base 63 has a tubular collar 64.
Is rotatably supported by a pin 65. The collar 64 is guided by three guide posts 66 (see FIG. 3) vertically provided on the Y-axis base 53 so as to be vertically movable. Therefore, a motor 67 and a ball provided for each guide post 66 and a ball are provided. The Z-axis base 63 including the sleeve 62 moves up and down in the Z direction by driving the Z-axis drive mechanism including the screw 68 to move the collars 64 up and down all at once.

Further, the motor 67, the ball screw 68, the collar 64, and the like also serve as a γ-axis drive mechanism for tilting the Z-axis base 63 in the γ-direction, and the tenth of the three connecting portions by the pin 65 described above.
Since the collar 64 side at one location on the left side of the figure is the elongated hole 69, the rotation amounts of the left and right motors 67 in FIG. 10 are made different from each other so that the entire Z axis base 63 including the sleeve 62 is in the γ direction. Tilt to. The tilt angle in the γ direction here corresponds to the camber of the wheel hub H to which the tire W is attached, as will be described later. Further, the θ-axis base 301 can be swung in the θ-direction by a θ-axis drive mechanism including a motor 70 and a chain 71. The turning angle in the θ direction mentioned here corresponds not only to the function as the swinging turning angle of the hand unit 55, but also to the toe-in that the wheel hub H has. Therefore, the tire mounting unit 50 receives the detection signals regarding the toe-in and the camber from the wheel hub posture detecting device 80 described later, and performs the tire mounting work while controlling the posture according to the detection signals.

Similarly to the hand unit 55, as shown in FIG. 10, the hand base 54 is fixed on the θ-axis base 301, and three hinge rotation type fingers are arranged on the outer periphery of the base 72 on the hand base 54. A tire hand 74 is installed slidably (however, the remaining two fingers are not shown in FIG. 10), and a nut runner unit 79 having four nut runners 73 is the same as the tire hand 74. It is mounted in a core shape and slidable in the same direction as the tire hand 74.

Each finger of the tire hand 74 is an air cylinder.
While the bracket 76 is slid by 75 to open and close all at once, the tire hand 74 moves on the hand base 54 by θ by the operation of the air cylinder 77 which is a slide driving means.
The shaft base 301 is slid in a direction orthogonal to the center of rotation, and the nut runner unit 79 is slid in the same direction as the tire hand 74 with respect to the hand base 54 by the operation of another air cylinder 78.

The wheel hub attitude detection device 80 matches the phase of the four bolt holes 9 on the tire W side and the phase of the same four hub bolts 21 on the wheel hub H side that have been phase-matched as described above, and It is used to detect the center of H and toe-in and camber, and details thereof are shown in FIGS. 11, 19, and 20 (however, in FIG. As one drawing).

This wheel hub posture detection device 80 is provided on the side surface of the base 72 of the hand unit 55 described above, more specifically, on the θ-axis base 301.
When the rotation center of the tire hand 74 is used as a reference, the tire hand 74 is installed at a position shifted in phase by 90 degrees in the θ direction from the central axis line. Reference numeral 81 is a substantially L-shaped base plate. The lower end of the base plate 81 is rotatably hinged to the base body 72, while the upper end of the base plate 81 is provided with a damper unit 84 including a coil spring 82 and a cushion rod 83. Is elastically supported. Further, a position detector (potentiometer) 85 for detecting the position of the hub bolt 21 in the X direction is provided adjacent to the damper unit 84, and the hand unit 55 moves forward with respect to the wheel hub H to form a base plate 81. When the integral ring-shaped contact plate 86 comes into contact with the tip end surface of the hub bolt 21, the hinge pin 102 is pressed as described later.
The position of the hub bolt 21 in the X direction is detected based on the rotational displacement of the base plate 81 with the center of rotation as.

Reference numeral 88 is a substantially wedge-shaped Z-direction restricting plate vertically attached to the ends of the horizontal leg portions 81a of the base plate 81. The Z-direction restricting plate 88 is guided by a linear guide 90 by the operation of an air cylinder 89 to move up and down. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 19, the wheel hub H is forced until the two adjacent hub bolts 21 (for example, 21b and 21c) come into contact with the inclined restricting surface 88a by raising in the Z direction. It is designed to be rotated and restrained.

Further, 93 is a pair of arms which are arranged parallel to each other on both sides in the horizontal direction with the contact plate 86 sandwiched therebetween, and 94 is a Y-direction regulating plate attached to the tip of the arm 93 (however,
In FIG. 11, the arm 93 and the Y-direction regulating plate 94 are drawn by shifting their positions in the vertical direction in the drawing), and the Y-direction regulating plate 94 is an air cylinder 96 arranged in a bridging manner between the two. Guide rod 97 together with arm 93
The four hub bolts 21, which are preliminarily regulated by the Z-direction regulating plate 88, are closely spaced from each other along the wheel hub H.
It is designed to be sandwiched from both sides.

That is, the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94 forcibly rotate the wheel hub H until the pair of hub bolts 21 come into contact with the Y-direction regulating plates 94 as shown in FIG.
It serves to match the phase of the hub bolt 21 of the book with the phase of the bolt hole 9 (see FIG. 10) on the tire W side that is previously gripped by the tire hand 74. The position of the hub bolt 21 in the Y direction is detected by the pair of first position detectors (potentiometers) 98 attached to the base plate 81 based on the displacement amount of the arm 93.

Here, prior to restraining the hub bolt 21 by the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94, the Z-direction regulating plate 88 having the inclined regulating surface 88a preliminarily regulates, for example, the Y-direction regulating plate 94.
When the relationship between the wheel bolt H and the hub bolt 21 is in a so-called dead point state as shown in FIG. 21, it is difficult to rotate the wheel hub H to match the phase of the hub bolt 21 with the phase of the tire W side. is there. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the Z-direction regulating plate 8 having the inclined regulating surface 88a.
By preliminarily restricting the hub bolt 21 at 8, the dead point state is surely avoided when the hub bolt 21 is restricted by the pair of Y-direction restriction plates 94.

95 is attached to one Y-direction regulating plate 94 and has a Z
In the second position detector (potentiometer) having the direction detector 92, the Z direction detector 92 is attached to the air cylinder while the hub bolt 21 is restrained by the pair of Y direction regulating plates 94 as described above.
The second position detector 95 detects the Z-direction position of one of the hub bolts 21a shown in FIG.

99A, 99B and 99C are inclination detectors attached to the contact plate 86 for detecting the inclination (including both the toe-in and camber) of the wheel hub H. The inclination detectors 99A to 99C are shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. As shown in FIG. 19, the hub surface (tire mounting surface) of the wheel hub H is arranged at _three positions corresponding to P ₁ , P ₂ , and P ₃ (however, in FIG. 11, three detection points are provided). Child is drawn on the same plane), each tilt detector 99A
The wheel hub is obtained by pressing ~ 99C against the hub surface of the wheel hub H by the operation of the air cylinder 100, and detecting the amount of displacement by each of the third position detectors (potentiometers) 101A, 101B, 101C. The inclination of H as a whole is detected. In addition to the position detector 85 described above, first, second and third position detectors 98, 95, 101A to 10
The output of 1C is as shown in Fig.22.
It is supposed to be input to 303.

That is, the third position detector 1 corresponding to the tilt detector 99A
The toe-in, which is the lateral tilt of the wheel hub H, is obtained by performing a predetermined calculation based on the values detected by the third position detector 101B corresponding to 01A and the tilt detector 99B. The vertical direction of the wheel hub H is calculated by performing a predetermined calculation based on the values detected by the third position detector 101B corresponding to the detector 99B and the third position detector 101C corresponding to the tilt detector 99C. The camber which is the inclination of is required.

Here, a series of operations of the wheel hub attitude detecting device 80 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8, 10, 11 and 12, as well as FIG.

In this wheel hub attitude detecting device 80, the θ-axis base 301 turns 90 degrees in the θ direction and the hand unit 55 faces the tire phase adjusting device 20, that is, the wheel hub attitude detecting device 80 faces the wheel hub H. The posture of the wheel hub H is detected under such a state. At this time, the tire hand 74 has previously received and gripped the tire W for which the phase matching has been completed from the tire phase matching device 20 as described above.

First, when the X-axis motor 56 is activated, the X-axis base 52 moves forward, whereby the contact plate 86 comes into contact with the tip surface of the hub bolt 21, so that the entire base plate 81 is hinge pin 102.
Tilting around. Then, from this tilt displacement amount of the base plate 81, the hub bolt 21 (wheel hub H)
A relatively rough position in the entire X direction is detected by the position detector 85, and the X axis base 52 retracts again.

Next, the Z-direction regulating plate 88 rises, and the wheel hub H is forcibly rotated until the two hub bolts 21b, 21c come into contact with the regulating surface 88a, as shown in FIGS. Position is pre-regulated, and then the Z-direction regulating plate 88
Goes down. Next, the pair of Y-direction regulating plates 94 advance to each other, and as shown in FIGS.
The entire wheel hub H is rotated until the two hub bolts 21 come into contact with each other, and all the hub bolts 21 are sandwiched between both Y-direction regulating plates 94. As a result, the phase of the hub bolt 21 matches the phase of the bolt hole 9 on the tire W side already gripped by the tire hand 74. Y direction regulation plate at this time
The position of the hub bolt 21 in the Y direction is detected by the first position detector 98 from the displacement amount of 94, and the second position detector 95 is detected.
Detects the position of the hub bolt 21 in the Z direction. Then, the wheel hub attitude calculating unit 303 in FIG. 22 calculates and obtains the center position of the wheel hub H based on the Y direction position and the Z direction position of the hub bolt 21, and the center position information is controlled by the tire mounting unit 50. By feeding back to the device 304, the tire mounting unit 50 is moved in the Y and Z directions, and the center of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions is set to the wheel hub H.
Match the center position of. However, tire mounting unit
Even if the center of the Y and Z directions of 50 coincides with the center of the wheel hub H, it is not perpendicular to the hub surface of the wheel hub H. At this time, the Y-direction regulating plate 94 and the like are temporarily retracted.

Subsequently, the tilt detectors 99A to 99C are moved forward all at once, and as shown in FIG. 8, three positions P ₁ , P ₂ ,
Pressing against P ₃ respectively, the third position detector 10
1A to 101C detect the positions of the three positions P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ of the wheel hub H in the direction of the wheel hub center axis, and the wheel hub attitude calculation unit 303 in FIG. 22 uses the third position detector 101A. ~ 101C
The inclination of the wheel hub H, that is, the toe-in and the camber are calculated and obtained based on the output of Then, the attitudes of the tire mounting unit 50 in the θ and γ directions are corrected based on the values of the toe-in and camber, and the center of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions is perpendicular to the hub surface of the wheel hub H. Modify so that At this time, by moving the tire mounting unit 50 in the θ and γ directions, the center of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions and the center of the wheel hub H also deviate in the Y and Z directions. The unit 50 is also moved in the Y and Z directions to correct the misalignment. By the above operation, Y, Z of the tire mounting unit 50
The directional center is a so-called right angle to the hub surface of the wheel hub H.

Next, the Y-direction regulating plate 94 moves forward again to restrain the hub bolt 21, and the first position detector 98 detects the Y-direction position of the hub bolt 21, and the Z-direction detector 92 also descends again. The Z position of the hub bolt 21 is detected by the second position detector 95, and the center position of the wheel hub H is calculated again based on these values. Then, based on the finally obtained center position data of the wheel hub H, the posture of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions is corrected again, and the center of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions is set to the wheel hub H. Match the center of the hub surface of.

As a result, the center of the tire mounting unit 50 in the Y and Z directions coincides with the center of the wheel hub H and is also perpendicular to the hub surface. Therefore, the hand unit 55 is rotated 90 degrees in the θ direction together with the θ axis base 301. Let tire hand 74
As soon as the tire W gripped by the wheel hub is opposed to the wheel hub H, the center axis of the tire W immediately coincides with the center of the hub surface of the wheel hub H at a right angle.

When the alignment of the tire mounting unit 50 and the wheel hub H is completed as described above, the tire mounting unit 50 temporarily retracts in the X direction, and the tire W has already been received from the tire phase aligning device 20 as shown in FIG. The gripped hand unit 55 rotates 90 degrees together with the θ-axis base 301, whereby the tire W gripped by the hand unit 55 and the wheel hub H face each other.

Then, the tire mounting unit 50 advances in the X direction to the position where the hub bolt position is previously detected, and further, the hand unit 55 advances the tire hand 74 by the air cylinder 77 independently, and the tire W gripped by the tire unit 74 is hub bolted. Attach to 21. Then, finally, the nut runner unit 79 is advanced by the air cylinder 78, and the nut N previously inserted into the nut runner 73 is tightened as described later, whereby the mounting of the tire W is completed.

The nut supply device 110 is a device for inserting and supplying pre-aligned nuts into the nut runner 73, and details thereof are shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 (however, see FIGS. 3 to 5). ). This nut supply device 110, as shown in the figure,
A nut take-out unit 115 for taking out the nuts aligned in the magazine shooter 114 one by one by traveling in the Y-direction on the guide rail 113 which is horizontally mounted on the frame 112 by the operation of the air cylinder 111, and the nut take-out unit 115. Hand unit 55 receiving nut from unit 115
Side nut runner 73 and a nut delivery unit 116 for supplying / feeding the nut runner 73. The nut delivery unit 116 is configured to travel in the Y direction on a guide rail 118 that is laid across the frame 112 by the operation of the air cylinder 117. Has become.

As shown in FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, the nut take-out unit 115 is attached to the slide base 119 in a vertical state and can move up and down by the operation of the air cylinder 120, and by the operation of the air cylinder 122. An arm 124 for rotating and pushing open the gripper 123 of the terminal of the magazine shooter 114, and an air cylinder 125 arranged horizontally.
And the push rod 126 that moves forward and backward by the operation of the. The nuts N are taken out one by one onto the nut receiving base 121, and the taken-out nuts N are inserted into the nut holding holes 126a of the nut delivering unit 116 by advancing the push rod 126.

On the other hand, the nut transfer unit 116 includes an index plate 127 having four nut holding holes 126a formed therein.
A push rod 130 driven by an air cylinder 129 is intermittently rotated by a constant angle of 90 degrees by 28, and a push rod 130 corresponding to each nut holding hole 126a is provided on the back side of the plate 127. Then, this nut delivery unit 116 is the same as the above-mentioned nut take-out unit 1
It travels to a position corresponding to 15, receives a total of four nuts N in the nut holding hole 126a in cooperation with the nut take-out unit 115, travels to a predetermined standby position again, and stands by. After that, when the tire mounting unit 50 comes to receive the nut N at this standby position, the push rod 130 moves forward to move the nut N to the nut runner 73.
The nut will be supplied by pushing it into the tip of the.

Next, the tire discharge conveyor 140 is temporarily moved to the hand unit 5
5 gripped even though the tire mounting unit 50 side of the fault or nut tightening at torque failure or the like by discharging a non-tire mounted on a wheel hub H side by subsequent backup station tire mounting station S ₁
It is for transferring to the Sb side, and its details are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
Shown in Figures and FIG. As shown in the figure, a slightly inclined sub-conveyor 141 is arranged on each side of each tire mounting unit 50, and the main conveyor 14 is also slightly inclined so as to intersect these sub-conveyors 141.
2 is provided so as to extend to the backup station Sb side.

When the tire W once gripped by the tire hand 74 cannot be mounted, the hand unit 55 receives the error signal and turns to the discharge position shown in FIG. Place on conveyor 141. When the tire hand 74 is opened, the tire W rolls on the sub-conveyor 14, falls at the confluence with the main conveyor 142, and falls on the main conveyor 142 to the backup station Sb by its own weight. Will be transported.

On the other hand, the nut discharging device 150 is for discharging the unfittable tire W as described above and discharging the nut N prepared for the tire from the nut runner 73, as shown in FIG. As shown, they are provided on the sides of the tire phasing device 20, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 16, the nut discharging device 150 includes four electromagnets 152 in a main body 151 thereof and a nut receiving box 153, and the nut runner 73 is connected to the nut discharging device after the tire is discharged. Electromagnet 152 facing 150
The nut runner 73 is retracted while exciting the nut N to attract the nut N to the electromagnet 152. Then the electromagnet 152
Degaussing causes the nut N to be discharged into the nut receiving box 153.

Next, a series of operations of the automatic tire mounting apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the truck 2 positioning the vehicle body B reaches the tire mounting station S ₁ and is positioned, the lifter 6 shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 is lifted to push up the suspension system to lift the wheel hub H. Restrain it at a certain height. At this time, the hand unit 55 of the tire mounting unit 50
Is in the left turning position in FIG. 3 and has previously received and gripped a tire W suitable for the vehicle type from the tire phase aligning device 20, and therefore the wheel hub attitude detecting device 80 faces the wheel hub H. . Then, the tire mounting unit 50 moves forward in the X direction, the position of the hub bolt 21 is detected by the wheel hub attitude detecting device 80 shown in FIG. 11 as described above, and the wheel hub H of the wheel hub H is detected based on the detected value. The center, toe-in, and camber are calculated, and the tire mounting unit 50 is aligned with the wheel hub H based on the calculated values.

On the other hand, in parallel with the positioning of the tire mounting unit 50, the nut delivery device 110 is delivering nuts in preparation for the next tire, and the nut delivery unit 116 that has received the nut N waits at a predetermined position. (Nuts for fixing the tire W currently gripped by the hand unit 55 are already inserted in the nut runner 73). Further, also on the tire phasing device 20 side, tire phasing work is in preparation for the next tire installation.

Then, when the alignment of the tire mounting unit 50 with the wheel hub H is completed, the tire mounting unit 50 is completed.
50 is once retracted in the X direction, and the hand unit 55 turns 90 degrees to the right in FIG. 3 to the state shown by the solid line. As a result, the tire W gripped by the hand unit 55 and the wheel hub H are opposed to each other for the first time. Then, the tire mounting unit 50 moves forward in the X direction by moving the X-axis base 52, and the air cylinder 77
When the hand unit 74 is independently advanced by the operation of, the hub bolt 21 and the bolt hole 9 are aligned and the tire W is mounted. After that, the nut runner unit 79 further advances by the operation of the air cylinder 78 to tighten the nut N, and at the same time, the torque check is performed.

When the installation of the tire W is completed in this way, the tire hand 74 is opened and the tire hand 74 and the nut runner unit 79 are respectively retracted, while the tire mounting unit 50 is also retracted in the X direction and the hand unit 55 is rotated by 90 degrees. While turning, the attitude of each axis is returned to the attitude before correction when the hub bolt was detected. And the tire mounting unit 50
And the nut passing unit 116 individually advance to a position where they are opposed to each other, and after the nut runner 73 receives the next four nuts N from the nut passing unit 116, the tire mounting unit 50 is transferred to the tire phasing device 20. On the other hand, the next tire W will be received.

Here, if the tire cannot be mounted for some reason as described above, the corresponding tire mounting unit
As shown in FIG. 5, 50 is moved backward to the backward limit position to discharge the gripped tire W to the sub-conveyor 141 and the nut N from the nut discharging device 150, whereby the tire mounting station S ₁ The tire W that could not be mounted in the above is sent to the backup station Sb in the subsequent stage by the main conveyor 142. At this time, in the backup station Sb, the occurrence of non-wearing of the tire and the cause point are displayed by a display device (not shown), so that the worker waiting at the backup station Sb is sent from the tire mounting station S _1. After waiting for the vehicle body B, the tire W is manually mounted using the nut runner 8.

Then, if the tire cannot be mounted due to an abnormality on the side of the tire mounting unit 50 and it takes a long time to process the abnormality, originally, the tire phase of the tire mounting station S ₁ from the tire transport conveyor 10 is originally assumed. The tire W is not loaded into the aligning device 20, and the tire W is transported to the end portion of the tire transport conveyor 10 and directly sent to the backup station Sb. Tire installation work is done manually. As a result, it is not necessary to stop the entire line, which improves the operating rate.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the center of the wheel hub is not detected by simply detecting the two-dimensional plane position of the hub bolt of the wheel hub, but the first, second
After the two-dimensional planar position of the hub bolt is detected by the position detector to determine the center of the wheel hub, at least three positions on the tire mounting surface of the wheel hub are set to the third position. Since the toe-in and camber are detected by the position detector, the posture of the wheel hub having the toe-in and camber can be accurately detected in one operation even if the wheel hub on the other side is tilted. In addition to shortening the time required to detect the attitude of the hub, the tire mounting surface of the wheel hub is finished with a higher degree of accuracy than when detecting the inclination of the wheel hub based on the tip surface of the hub bolt as in the past. As a result, the accuracy of toe-in and camber detection is improved, and the hub bolt and the bolt hole on the road wheel side can be secured when the tire is mounted. So that it can be matched to, can contribute greatly to full automation of the tire mounting operation.

Further, since the third position detector is made to contact not the tip surface of the hub bolt but the tire mounting surface itself of the wheel hub, a contactor or the like is made to contact the tip surfaces of the plurality of hub bolts. Unlike the method, the object to be detected does not have directionality in the rotation direction, and the area of the wheel hub tire mounting surface is larger than the area of the hub bolt tip surface, so the third position detector is mounted on the tire. There is no risk that the detector will come off the tire mounting surface when pressed against a surface, which facilitates control of the position where the third position detector should be pressed against the mating surface.

Further, the third position detector is designed to be pressed to at least three positions on the tire mounting surface on the wheel hub diametrical outside of the hub bolt installation position, so that the tip surface of the hub bolt is used as a reference as in the conventional case. Compared with the case of detecting the wheel hub toe-in, the span between at least three detection positions on the tire mounting surface can be ensured to be large, which also allows the toe-in and camber detection accuracy and the wheel hub attitude detection accuracy. Is greatly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view showing the outline of the entire automatic tire mounting apparatus including the device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front explanatory view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a tire mounting unit, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a front view, FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 3, FIG. 6 (A) is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing details of essential parts of the tire transport conveyor, and FIG. 6 (B) is the same view (A). FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing details of a tire loading mechanism, FIG. 8 is a front view showing details of a wheel hub, FIG. 9 is a sectional explanatory view showing details of a tire phase adjusting device, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a sectional explanatory view showing details of the tire mounting unit, FIG. 11 is a sectional explanatory view showing details of a wheel hub posture detecting device, FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing an operation of the device shown in FIG. 11, and FIG. Is an overall explanatory view of the nut feeding device, FIG. 14 is a side explanatory view of FIG. 13, and FIG. 15 is a side explanatory view of a main part of FIG. , FIG. 16 is an explanatory view showing the details of the nut discharging device, FIG. 17 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the entire tire automatic mounting device, and FIG. 18 is a left side view of the tire phasing device of FIG. , Fig. 19 shows 11
Fig. 20 is a right side view of the wheel hub attitude detection device
FIG. 19 is a side view of FIG. 19, FIG. 21 is an explanatory view showing the relationship between the hub bolt and the Y-direction regulating plate, and FIG. 22 is a block circuit diagram of the output processing system of each position detector. 20 …… Tire phasing device, 21 …… Hub bolt, 50…
… Tire mounting unit, 51 …… Base, 52 …… X axis base, 53 …… Y axis base, 55 …… Hand unit, 63 ……
Z-axis base, 72 …… base, 74 …… tire hand, 79 ……
Nut runner unit, 80 …… Wheel hub attitude detector, 81 …… Base plate, 93 …… Arm, 94 …… Y
Direction regulating plate, 95 ... second position detector, 98 ... first position detector, 101A, 101B, 101C ... third position detector, 301
...... θ-axis base, 302 …… Movement means, 303 …… Wheel hub attitude calculation unit, B …… Vehicle body, H …… Wheel hub, N ・ ・ ・
... nuts, R ... wheels, W ... tires.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Naoji Yamanaka 6-17-1, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-52-69352 (JP, A) JP-A-SHO 54-18502 (JP, A) JP 59-176102 (JP, A) JP 59-227502 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device for detecting the attitude of a wheel hub prior to mounting a tire with a wheel on a wheel hub of an automobile having a toe-in and a camber, wherein the degree of freedom of movement of three orthogonal axes and the toe-in and A moving means having two directions of rotational freedom corresponding to the camber, a base plate provided on the moving means and having a surface facing the wheel hub, and provided on the base plate so that they can approach and separate from each other,
A pair of arms that regulate the rotational direction position of the wheel hub by sandwiching the hub bolt of the wheel hub in the facing gap; and a pair of arms that are connected to the arms and that detect the radial position of the hub bolt based on the displacement of the arms. No. 1 position detector, and a second position detector provided on the base plate for abutting the outer periphery of the hub bolt from a direction orthogonal to the movement direction of the arm to detect the position of the hub bolt orthogonal to the movement direction of the arm. And a plurality of a plurality of parts provided on the base plate, abutting at least three positions on the diamond mounting surface of the wheel hub on the wheel hub diametrical outside of the hub bolt installation position, and detecting the positions of the abutting positions in the wheel hub center axis direction. Of the third position detector, and the center position of the wheel hub based on the detection values of the first and second position detectors. As well as out, the third position detector calculating means for calculating the toe-in and camber of the wheel hub on the basis of the detected value, to be composed of capital posture detection device of the wheel hub, characterized in. 2. An attitude detecting device having an arm for restricting a wheel hub and first, second and third position detectors prior to mounting a wheeled tire on a wheel hub of an automobile having a toe-in and a camber. A method of detecting the attitude of a wheel hub by means of a pair of arms that can approach and separate from each other to restrict the rotational position of the wheel hub by sandwiching the hub bolt of the wheel hub, and then based on the displacement of the arm. The position detector detects the radial position of the hub bolt, and the second position detector is brought into contact with the outer periphery of the hub bolt from a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the arm so that the hub bolt moves in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the arm. A step of detecting the position; a step of calculating the center position of the wheel hub based on the detection values of the first and second position detectors; A third position detector is brought into contact with at least three locations on the tire mounting surface of the wheel hub that are outside the hub bolt installation position in the wheel hub diameter direction, and the position of the contact location in the wheel hub center axis direction is detected. And a step of calculating a toe-in and a camber of the wheel hub based on the detection value of the third position detector, the attitude detection method of the wheel hub.