Assembly system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11769978-B2
Application number	US-201916701648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2019
Priority date	Dec 3, 2018
Publication date	Sep 26, 2023
Grant date	Sep 26, 2023

Abstract

An assembly system includes a robot, a first gripper mounted on the robot, the first gripper gripping a first housing, and a first clamping device clamping a cable and a contact connected to an end of the cable. The robot moves the first gripper and assembles the first housing gripped by the first gripper onto the contact held by the first clamping device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An assembly environment, comprising:
a first housing;
a second housing; and
an assembly system, including:
a robot;
a first gripper mounted on the robot, the first gripper gripping the first housing;
a second gripper mounted on the robot and gripping the second housing; and
a first clamping device clamping a cable and a contact connected to an end of the cable, the robot moves the first gripper and assembles the first housing gripped by the first gripper onto the contact held by the first clamping device, the robot moves the first housing relative to the contact to insert the contact into the first housing and bends the contact inserted into the first housing to a first angle by rotating the first gripper about a first axis.

2. The assembly environment of claim 1 , wherein the first clamping device includes a cable clamp clamping and fixing the cable and a contact clamp clamping and fixing the contact.

3. The assembly environment of claim 2 , wherein the robot aligns a contact slot of the first housing with the contact by adjusting a position and posture of the first housing gripped by the first gripper.

4. The assembly environment of claim 3 , wherein the robot moves the first housing relative to the contact to insert the contact into the contact slot of the first housing by moving the first gripper in a straight line after aligning the contact slot of the first housing with the contact.

5. The assembly environment of claim 4 , wherein the robot controls a depth of the contact insertion into the contact slot of the first housing to be equal to a preset depth.

6. The assembly environment of claim 4 , wherein the contact clamp is movable, after the contact is bent at the first angle the contact clamp loosens the contact and is moved to a first position where the contact clamp does not interfere with the robot continuing to bend the contact.

7. The assembly environment of claim 6 , wherein after the contact clamp is moved to the first position, the robot continues rotating the first gripper about the first axis and bends the contact inserted into the contact slot to a second angle larger than the first angle.

8. The assembly environment of claim 7 , wherein the first angle is within a range of 30-50 degrees and the second angle is within a range of 60-120 degrees.

9. The assembly environment of claim 7 , wherein the first angle is equal to 40 degrees and the second angle is equal to 90 degrees.

10. The assembly environment of claim 1 , wherein the robot assembles the second housing onto the first housing after the first housing is assembled onto the contact.

11. The assembly environment of claim 10 , wherein the first housing and the second housing are locked together by a first snap feature on the first housing engaging a second snap feature on the second housing.

12. The assembly environment of claim 11 , wherein the robot aligns the second snap feature with the first snap feature by adjusting a position and posture of the second housing gripped by the second gripper.

13. The assembly environment of claim 12 , wherein the robot assembles the second housing onto the first housing by moving the second gripper in a straight line after aligning the second snap feature with the first snap feature.

14. The assembly environment of claim 10 , further comprising a second clamping device clamping the first housing after the first housing is assembled onto the contact.

15. The assembly environment of claim 14 , wherein, after the second clamping device clamps the first housing, the robot loosens the first housing and assembles the second housing onto the first housing by moving the second gripper.

16. The assembly environment of claim 15 , wherein the second clamping device includes a housing clamp movable between a clamping position and an initial position, and a driving mechanism driving the housing clamp to move.

17. The assembly environment of claim 16 , wherein, after the first housing is assembled onto the contact, the housing clamp is moved to the clamping position to hold the first housing.

18. The assembly environment of claim 17 , wherein, after the second housing is assembled onto the first housing, the housing clamp loosens the first housing and is moved to the initial position at a distance from the first housing.

19. The assembly environment of claim 1 , wherein the robot is a six-axis robot.

Assignees

• Tyco Electronics Shanghai Co Ltd
• Te Connectivity Corp
• Kunshan League Automechanism Co Ltd
• TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH Tyco
• Electronics Shanghai Co Ltd

Inventors

• Deng Yingcong
• Zhang Dandan
• Hu lvhai
• Yang An
• Cao Jian
• Liu Yun
• Lu Roberto Franciso-Yi
• He Yuting
• Wu Haidong
• Xiao Hui

Classifications

• H01R43/20 Primary

  for assembling or disassembling contact members with insulating base, case or sleeve · CPC title

• B25J9/0084

  comprising a plurality of manipulators · CPC title

• H01R43/18

  for manufacturing bases or cases for contact members · CPC title

• H01R13/506

  assembled by snap action of the parts · CPC title

• B25J15/0052 Primary

  multiple gripper units or multiple end effectors · CPC title