JPH084729A - Automatically installing method for grommet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an automatically installing method for a grommet by which the grommet can be automatically installed on a member to be installed by a robot and installing workability is improved. CONSTITUTION:A pin 6 which is installed on a robot arm 5 and whose extension part to elastically engage with a projecting step part 7 is formed in the other side part, is inserted in a synthetic resin grommet in which the pin engaging projecting step part 7 is arranged on an inner peripheral surface of a body part 3 continuing with a head part 1 having a screw inserting hole 2 and locking claws 4 with the hole edge of an installing hole 12 of a member 11 to be installed is arranged on an outer peripheral surface, and the grommet is held on the pin tip by engagement between the projecting step part 7 and the extension part. The pin 6 is moved onto the installing hole 12 of the member 11 to be installed, and after the grommet is inserted so that the locking claws 4 are engaged with the hole edge of the installing hole 12, only the pin 6 is forcibly pulled out, and the grommet is installed on the member 11 to be installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a grommet mounting operation in which a grommet for screwing a mounting member such as a small part to a mounted member is automatically and automatically mounted in a mounting hole of the mounted member by a robot. The present invention relates to a method for automatically mounting a grommet with improved performance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A grommet having a locking claw provided on the outer peripheral surface of a body portion following a head portion having a screw insertion hole and engaging with a hole edge of a mounting hole of a mounted member below the head portion is, for example, an automobile. Although it is widely used in the assembly line, etc., the work of mounting such a grommet in the mounting hole of the mounted member has conventionally been done manually, so that the speed of the line could not be improved. Therefore, it has been attempted to hold the grommet at the tip of the robot arm and automatically mount it in the mounting hole.However, unlike robots that are manually mounted by a robot, it is determined whether the grommet is correctly inserted in the mounting hole. Since there is a possibility that many defective products will occur, it is necessary to solve this problem in order to automate the grommet mounting process.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and allows robots to be automatically mounted in the mounting holes of the member to be mounted. An object of the present invention is to provide a grommet automatic mounting method that allows the robot to determine whether or not the mounting has been performed and eliminates defective mounting, which has good mounting workability.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic grommet mounting method according to the present invention is applied to an outer peripheral surface of a body portion following a head having a screw insertion hole at the center. In a grommet mounting operation for inserting and holding a synthetic resin grommet provided with a locking claw with a hole edge of a mounting hole of the mounting member below the head in the mounting hole of the member to be mounted, the grommet of the body is used as a grommet. A convex part for pin engagement is provided on the inner peripheral surface, and an enlarged part attached to the tip of the robot arm and elastically engaged with the convex part is formed in the front part of the grommet. The pin is inserted through the screw insertion hole to hold the grommet at the tip of the pin by the engagement between the convex step and the enlarged portion, and then the pin is moved onto the mounting hole of the member to be mounted by operation of the robot arm. To the mounting hole The locking claw is inserted so that the locking claw is engaged with a hole edge of the mounting hole, and in this state, the pin is forcibly pulled out so that the grommet is mounted on the member to be mounted. .

[0005]

According to such a method, the pin at the tip of the robot arm is inserted from the screw insertion hole of the grommet to enlarge the pin and the convex step for engaging the pin formed on the inner peripheral surface of the body. The grommet is held at the pin tip by engaging with the part, and the robot arm is operated to move the pin to the mounting hole of the mounted member and then insert the grommet into this mounting hole to attach the locking claw. The grommet can be automatically attached to the member to be attached simply by engaging and holding the edge of the hole and then retracting the robot arm to forcibly pull up the pin. Moreover, when the grommet is not correctly inserted into the mounting hole in such an automatic grommet mounting process, the engaging force between the pin and the convex step when the robot arm is retracted is the engaging force between the grommet and the mounting hole. Since the grommet is pulled out from the mounting hole while holding the pin, it is possible to know whether or not the grommet is correctly inserted into the mounting hole by the magnitude of the pulling force of this pin, and the operator can grommet. Since it is not necessary to confirm whether or not the device is properly attached, it is possible to save the labor.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a grommet used in the present invention, in which 1 is a disc shape made of a tough synthetic resin such as nylon resin having a screw insertion hole 2 formed in the center thereof. The bottom of the head 1 is integrally provided with a bottomed tubular body 3 having a square cross section. A pair of locking claws are provided at the outer facing positions of the body 3. 4 and 4 are head 1
Is provided toward the lower surface of the. These locking claws 4,
Numeral 4 is for fixing the grommet to the member 11 to be mounted by inserting the grommet into the mounting hole and then screwing the grommet outward through the body portion 3 to open the grommet. On the inner peripheral surface of the screw insertion hole 2, there is provided a projecting step 7 that elastically engages with the pin 6 at the tip of the robot arm 5. As shown in FIG. 2, the pin 6 has an enlarged portion 8 that engages with the convex portion 7 when the tip is inserted into the screw insertion hole 2. When the grommet is inserted into the screw insertion hole 2 by the engagement, the grommet is held at the tip of the pin so that the grommet cannot be pulled out unless a predetermined force or more is applied. The upper and lower surfaces of the enlarged portion 8 of the pin 7 and the pin 6 are preferably formed on corresponding tapered guide surfaces as shown in the drawing to reduce the insertion / removal resistance of the pin 6 with respect to the grommet.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the grommet used in the present invention. In the grommet of the second embodiment, the body 3 and the locking claws 4 The shape is different from that of the first embodiment of the grommet described above,
A split type in which the body 3 is divided into a plurality of parts by a vertical groove without a bottom so that the body 3 can be easily expanded in diameter and the engagement state of the locking claws 4 and 4 with the mounting hole 12 can be accurately maintained. Has become. For this reason, the lower portion of the screw insertion hole 2 is formed by a groove having an arcuate cross section formed on the inner circumference of each body portion 3. The upper portion of the screw insertion hole 2 is provided with a robot. As in the first embodiment of the grommet, the convex step portion 7 that elastically engages with the pin 6 at the tip of the arm 5 is provided.

In order to automatically mount the grommet constructed as described above on the member 11 to be mounted, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the pin 6 at the tip of the robot arm 5 is inserted into the grommet with a screw. The convex step 7 for pin engagement formed on the inner peripheral surface of the body 3 is inserted through the hole 2 to a position beyond the enlarged section 8 of the pin 6 to engage the convex step 7 and the enlarged section 8. When the grommet is engaged, the grommet is held at the tip of the pin by the engagement between the convex step 7 and the enlarged portion 8. Then, the robot arm 5 is operated to attach the pin 6 to the member 11.
Then, the grommet is inserted into this mounting hole 12. If the pin 6 is correctly inserted into the mounting hole 12 at the time of this insertion, the pair of upward locking claws 4, 4 provided at positions facing the outside of the body 3 will be Then, when the robot arm 5 is moved backward and the pin 6 is forcibly pulled up,
The locking claw 4 of the grommet acts as a stopper, and the pin 6 comes out of the screw insertion hole 2 against the elastic engagement force between the enlarged portion 8 and the convex step 7 of the grommet. Since the grommet is securely left attached to the mounting hole 12, the grommet is automatically mounted on the member 11 to be mounted.

However, in such an automatic grommet mounting process, when the grommet is not properly inserted into the mounting hole 12, the engaging force between the pin 6 and the convex step portion 7 when the robot arm 5 is retracted. Is larger than the engaging force between the grommet and the mounting hole 12, the grommet is pulled out from the mounting hole 12 together with the pin 6, and therefore the pin 6 of the robot arm 5 after the grommet is inserted into the mounting hole 12 It is possible to know whether the grommet is correctly inserted into the mounting hole 12 or not by the magnitude of the pulling-out force, and it is not necessary to manually check whether the grommet is properly mounted, so the number of steps is saved accordingly. be able to.

In this way, the grommet is attached to the member 11
After the screw is screwed into the screw insertion hole 2, the locking claw 4 is expanded and firmly fixed to the mounting member 11 after the grommet is attached to the mounting hole 12 of the mounting member 11.
It is the same as the case where it is attached to 12 manually.

[0011]

According to the present invention, as is apparent from the above description, a convex step is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the grommet to elastically engage with the enlarged portion of the pin attached to the tip of the robot arm. A pin is inserted into the grommet by the operation of the robot arm to hold the grommet at the tip of the pin by the engagement between the protruding step and the enlarged portion, and the pin is attached to the mounting member by the operation of the robot arm. The grommet is moved upward to insert the grommet into the mounting hole so that the locking claw engages with the hole edge of the mounting hole. In this state, the pin is forcibly pulled out and the grommet is mounted on the member to be mounted. This allows the grommet to be automatically mounted on the member to be mounted, which not only improves the mounting workability, but also determines the quality of the mounting of the grommet on the member to be mounted based on the magnitude of the pull-out force without manual intervention. It is possible to, is very effective in achieving the automation of the grommet mounting process to be able to reliably prevent the occurrence of poor mounting. Therefore, the present invention enables the robot to be automatically mounted in the mounting hole of the member to be mounted, and also allows the robot to judge whether or not it has been correctly inserted into the mounting hole at the time of mounting without human intervention. There is a big contribution to the industry as a good grommet automatic mounting method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing a first embodiment of a grommet used in the present invention, and is a perspective view showing an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view showing a mounting step using the grommet shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view showing a second embodiment of the grommet used in the present invention, and is a perspective view showing the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway side view showing a mounting process using the grommet shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Head 2 Screw insertion hole 3 Body 4 Locking claw 5 Robot arm 6 Pin 7 Convex step 11 Mounted member 12 Mounting hole

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Naoto Horiguchi 2-chome Toyota-cho, Kariya city, Aichi Stock company Toyota Industries Corporation (72) Inventor Somei Yamamoto 2-chome Toyota-cho, Kariya city, Aichi prefecture Stock company Toyota Automatic Loom Works (72) Inventor Hiroshi Kajino 2 at 101, Yagotohoncho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture 2 Aoyama Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaaki Ide, 101, Yagotohoncho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture 2 Aoyama Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuki Hideki at 101 Yagotohonmachi, Showa-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 2 Aoyama Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kappu Tomiho, Yagotohoncho, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi 2 Inside Aoyama Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A synthetic resin material comprising a head provided with a screw insertion hole at the center and a locking claw provided on an outer peripheral surface of a body portion at a lower portion of the head with a hole of a hole of a mounting hole of a member to be mounted. In the grommet mounting operation for inserting and holding the grommet into the mounting hole of the member to be mounted, a grommet provided with a convex step for pin engagement on the inner peripheral surface of the body is used, and a robot arm is provided in the grommet. A pin formed at the front end of the enlarged portion that is attached to the tip of the convex portion and elastically engages with the convex portion is inserted through the screw insertion hole, and the grommet is engaged by the engagement between the convex portion and the enlarged portion. Let the pin hold, then
By operating the robot arm, the pin is moved over the mounting hole of the member to be mounted and the grommet is inserted into the mounting hole so that the locking claw engages with the hole edge of the mounting hole. An automatic grommet mounting method, characterized in that the grommet is pulled out and mounted on a member to be mounted. 2. A grommet automatic grommet according to claim 1, wherein the convex step portion of the grommet and the upper and lower surfaces of the enlarged portion of the pin are formed as corresponding tapered guide surfaces to reduce resistance to insertion and removal of the pin from the grommet. How to wear. 3. The automatic grommet mounting method according to claim 1, wherein a grommet having a body portion having no bottom and divided into a plurality of parts by a vertical groove is used.