Agile robotic headlamp assembly with sonic fastening and injected lens adhesive

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11878475-B2
Application number	US-202217964174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 12, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2020
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

A system and method for assembling a plurality of components into an assembly is provided. The system includes an assembling robot and an adhesive dispensing robot. The assembling robot is configured to attach a first sub-assembly to a second sub-assembly. The first sub-assembly includes at least one of the plurality of components, and the second sub-assembly includes remaining ones of the plurality of components. The adhesive dispensing robot is configured to apply an adhesive between the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly, after the first sub-assembly is attached to the second sub-assembly, to bond the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for assembling a plurality of components into an assembly, comprising:
a first transfer robot for assembling some of the plurality of components into a first sub-assembly in a cell;
a second transfer robot for assembling remaining ones of the plurality of components into a second sub-assembly in the cell when the first transfer robot assembled the some of the plurality of components into the first sub-assembly in the cell;
an assembling robot for attaching the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly; and
an adhesive dispensing robot configured to apply an adhesive between the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly in the cell, after the first sub-assembly is attached to the second sub-assembly, to bond the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first transfer robot is configured to assemble the some of the plurality of components into the first sub-assembly at a first site in the cell, and the second transfer robot is configured to assemble the remaining ones of the plurality of components into the second sub-assembly at a second site in the cell.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the first transfer robot and the second transfer robot respectively transfer the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly from the first site and the second site to an installation site in the cell.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein at least one of the first site and the second site includes a tilting table.

5. The system according to claim 2 , further comprising at least one of a first welding robot and a second welding robot, wherein the first welding robot is configured to weld the some of the plurality of components into the first sub-assembly and the second welding robot is configured to weld the remaining ones of the plurality of components into the second sub-assembly.

6. The system according to claim 2 , further comprising at least one of a first welding robot and a second welding robot, wherein the first welding robot is configured to sonically weld the some of the plurality of components into the first sub-assembly and the second welding robot is configured to sonically weld the remaining ones of the plurality of components into the second sub-assembly.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first sub-assembly is a carrier assembly including a peripheral trench, and the second sub-assembly is a lens assembly including a peripheral rib.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the adhesive dispensing robot is configured to inject the adhesive into the peripheral trench after the peripheral rib is inserted into the peripheral trench.

9. A method for assembling a plurality of components into an assembly, comprising:
assembling some of the plurality of components into a first subassembly in a cell, and assembling remaining ones of the second sub-assembly into a second subassembly in the cell when the some of the plurality of components are assembled into the first subassembly;
attaching, by an assembling robot, the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly in the cell; and
applying, by an adhesive dispensing robot, an adhesive between the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly in the cell, after the first sub-assembly is attached to the second sub-assembly, to bond the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising assembling, by a first transfer robot, the some of the plurality of components into the first sub-assembly when the remaining ones of the plurality of components are assembled, by the second transfer robot, into the second sub-assembly in the cell.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising welding the remaining ones of the plurality of components into the second sub-assembly.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising inserting a rib of the second sub-assembly into a trench of the first sub-assembly.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising injecting the adhesive into the trench after the rib of the second sub-assembly is inserted into the trench of the first sub-assembly.

14. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising assembling the remaining ones of the plurality of components into the second sub-assembly by sonic welding.

15. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising sonically welding the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly by a welding robot.

16. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising assembling the first sub-assembly by a first robot at a first tilting table and assembling the second sub-assembly at a second robot at a second titling table.

17. A method for assembling a plurality of components into an assembly, comprising:
preparing a first sub-assembly and a second sub-assembly, wherein the first sub-assembly includes at least one of the plurality of components, and the second sub-assembly includes remaining ones of the plurality of components;
transferring the first sub-assembly by a first transfer robot to an installation table and transferring the second sub-assembly by a second transfer robot to the installation table; attaching, by an assembling robot, the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly; and
applying, by an adhesive dispensing robot, an adhesive between the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly, after the first sub-assembly is attached to the second sub-assembly, to bond the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising attaching the first sub-assembly to the second sub-assembly on the installation table.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the adhesive is applied between the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly after the first sub-assembly and the second sub-assembly are transferred to the installation table.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Dry Alan George
• Brown David A
• Miller Robert William

Classifications

• F21S41/2805

  Cover glass · CPC title

• F21S41/28

  Cover glass · CPC title

• B29C65/72 Primary

  by combined operations {or combined techniques}, e.g. welding and stitching · CPC title

• B23K20/10

  making use of vibrations, e.g. ultrasonic welding · CPC title

• B23P19/04

  for assembling or disassembling parts · CPC title