Welding device and method of welding automobile parts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9937591-B2
Application number	US-201514807955-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2015
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

A welding device provided for welding automobile parts received in a pallet to a vehicle body includes: an aligner configured to grip and align the parts received in the pallet; a mover configured to move the aligner to take out the parts and let the taken out parts adhere to an installation position of the vehicle body; and a welding machine configured to weld the adhering portion between the parts and the vehicle body.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A welding device for welding a plurality of parts received in a pallet to a vehicle body, the welding device comprising:
an aligner configured to grip and align the parts received in the pallet;
a mover configured to move the aligner to take out the parts and let the taken out parts adhere to an installation position of the vehicle body; and
a welding machine configured to weld an adhering portion between the parts and the vehicle body
wherein the aligner includes:
an aligning main body configured to be coupled with an articulated robot;
a gripping member configured to be provided at one side of the aligning main body and grip one end of the parts received in the pallet;
an aligning member configured to be provided at the other side of the aligning main body and fix and align the other end of the parts received in the pallet; and
wherein the aligning member includes:
a rotating part configured to have both ends each rotatably coupled with the other side of the aligning main body; and
at least one index pin configured to be mounted on the rotating part and fix and press the other end of the parts received in the pallet to align the parts.

2. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the gripping member includes:
a support plate configured to be fixed to the aligning main body and support an upper surface of one end of the parts;
a pressing piece configured to be rotatably coupled with a hinge part of the support plate and have one side provided with a pressing part which presses a lower surface of one end of the parts; and
a cylinder configured to be connected with the other side of the pressing piece and rotate the pressing piece to allow the pressing part to press the lower surface of one end of the parts.

3. The welding device according to claim 2 , wherein the pressing piece and the cylinder are provided on the support plate, and
the support plate is mounted on the aligning main body and has a height controlled to be mounted toward the gripped parts or in an opposite direction thereto.

4. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the rotating part is configured of two rotating bars longitudinally connected to each other, the two rotating bars having different diameters and each being provided with the index pin.

5. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein an outer circumferential surface of the rotating part is provided with a plurality of the index pins having different sizes and shapes, and the index pins fitting the parts according to a kind of gripped parts are positioned while the rotating part rotates.

6. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the rotating part is configured to be rotated by a motor.

7. The welding device according to claim 6 , wherein the rotating part has a square pillar shape and has each surface provided with the index pin having different sizes and shapes, respectively, and
the motor rotates the rotating part by 60 to 120° to position the index pin fitting the kind of parts.

8. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the mover is an articulated robot arm.

9. The welding device according to claim 1 , wherein the welding machine includes:
a welding member configured to press the parts to form a protrusion adhering to the vehicle body; and
a current member configured to include a positive current unit supplying a positive current to the parts and a negative current unit supplying a negative current to the vehicle body, and
the positive current supplied to the parts and the negative current supplied to the vehicle body are concentrated on the protrusion which is the adhering portion between the parts and the vehicle body to generate heat so as to weld the protrusion to the vehicle body.

10. The welding device according to claim 9 , wherein a pressing force of the welding member is 50 to 70 kgf.

11. The welding device according to claim 9 , wherein the welding member forms the protrusion having a size of 0.5 to 2.0 mm in height and 2.0 to 8.0 mm in width on a surface of the parts.

12. The welding device according to claim 9 , wherein the welding machine includes a fixing member which presses the end of the parts to be arbitrarily fixed to the vehicle body.

13. A method of welding a plurality of parts received in a pallet to a vehicle body, the welding method comprising the steps of:
gripping and aligning the parts received in the pallet and fix and press the other end of the parts received in the pallet to align the parts by an index pin of an aligner;
moving the aligned parts to take out the aligned parts from the pallet and let the aligned parts adhere to an installation position of the vehicle body; and
welding a protrusion to the vehicle body by forming the protrusion adhering to the vehicle body by pressing a surface of the parts, supplying a positive current to the parts and a negative current to the vehicle body and concentrating the positive current supplied to the parts and the negative current supplied to the vehicle body on the protrusion which is an adhering portion between the part and the vehicle body to generate heat.

14. The welding method according to claim 13 , wherein in the welding step, the parts are welded to the vehicle body by a welding machine.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Hyun Woo

Classifications

• B23K2101/006

  Vehicles · CPC title

• B23K11/00

  Resistance welding; Severing by resistance heating · CPC title

• B23K37/04 Primary

  for holding or positioning work · CPC title

• B23K37/0452 Primary

  Orientable fixtures (B23K37/0461 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B23K37/0211

  travelling on a guide member, e.g. rail, track · CPC title