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US 5,458,443 AGranted
Automatic drilling tool especially for a robot
AssigneeDeutsche Aerospace Airbus GmbH
InventorsDavid N. Belge, Kurt Grossheim
Life of this patent
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AssigneeDeutsche Aerospace Airbus GmbH
InventorsDavid N. Belge, Kurt Grossheim
Estimating the term…
A drilling tool is adapted for incorporation into a riveting robot. For this purpose, the drilling tool with its spindle head is mounted on a slide that is motor driven for displacement in the Z-direction of an XYZ coordinate system. The slide in turn is mounted on a console provided with a flange to be secured or docked to the riveting robot. The console is rotatable about its longitudinal axis that extends perpendicularly to the drill spindle axis and intersects the latter approximately in the center of the spindle axis. The drill spindle is rotatably mounted in a spindle head and carries a drive wheel approximately in the center between the spindle ends. The drive wheel is meshing or cooperating with a power transmission train from a motor that is also secured to the slide and moves up and down with the slide and thus with the spindle head. Another motor drives the up and down movement of the spindle head. This type of arrangement permits positioning the drill bit in difficult locations. Overhead drilling, sideways drilling is possible in addition to the normal downward drilling.
An automatic drilling tool, comprising means for connecting and coupling said drilling tool to a robot, said connecting means including a support console (3), a spindle head (8), a drilling head (6) supported by said spindle head (8), a drilling spindle (12) and bearings rotatably mounting said drilling spindle (12) in said drilling head (6), a first motor (9) for rotating said drilling spindle (12), a support slide (15) on which said spindle head (8) and said first motor (9) are mounted, a guide mechanism (16, 17) for said support slide (15) for guiding a movement of said support slide (15) in a Z-direction of an XYZ coordinate system, a second motor (18) for moving said slide (15) in said Z-direction, said guide mechanism (16, 17) being mounted to said support console (3) for establishing a guide direction in parallel to a central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), a drive train (GT) connected between said drilling spindle (12) and said first motor (9) for said rotating of said drilling spindle (12), at least one device for axially holding a drill bit (13, 14) in a free end of said drilling spindle (12), said support console (3) having a longitudinal second axis (5) extending perpendicularly to said central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), and means (4) mounting said support console (3) to said robot for rotation about said second axis (5) of said support console (3), wherein said drilling spindle (12) has two free ends and a drill bit holding bore (55, 56) in each free spindle end, and wherein said second axis (5) intersects said first axis (2) substantially centrally in said drilling spindle (12).
The drilling tool of claim 2, wherein each of said drill bit holding bores (55, 56) is an integral component of the respective drilling spindle end.
An automatic drilling tool, comprising means for connecting and coupling said drilling tool to a robot, said connecting means including a support console (3), a spindle head (8), a drilling head (6) supported by said spindle head (8), a drilling spindle (12) and bearings rotatably mounting said drilling spindle (12) in said drilling head (6), a first motor (9) for rotating said drilling spindle (12), a support slide (15) on which said spindle head (8) and said first motor (9) are mounted, a guide mechanism (16, 17) for said support slide (15) for guiding a movement of said support slide (15) in a Z-direction of an XYZ coordinate system, a second motor (18) for moving said slide (15) in said Z-direction, said guide mechanism (16, 17) being mounted to said support console (3) for establishing a guide direction in parallel to a central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), a drive train (GT) connected between said drilling spindle (12) and said first motor (9) for said rotating of said drilling spindle (12), at least one device for axially holding a drill bit (13, 14) in a free end of said drilling spindle (12), said support console (3) having a longitudinal second axis (5) extending perpendicularly to said central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), and means (4) mounting said support console (3) to said robot for rotation about said second axis (5) of said support console (3), said drilling tool further comprising a measuring sensor (42) for sensing position coordinates and a protection tubular member (43) for mounting and protecting said measuring sensor (42).
An automatic drilling tool, comprising means for connecting and coupling said drilling tool to a robot, said connecting means including a support console (3), a spindle head (8), a drilling head (6) supported by said spindle head (8), a drilling spindle (12) and bearings rotatably mounting said drilling spindle (12) in said drilling head (6), a first motor (9) for rotating said drilling spindle (12), a support slide (15) on which said spindle head (8) and said first motor (9) are mounted, a guide mechanism (16, 17) for said support slide (15) for guiding a movement of said support slide (15) in a Z-direction of an XYZ coordinate system, a second motor (18) for moving said slide (15) in said Z-direction, said guide mechanism (16, 17) being mounted to said support console (3) for establishing a guide direction in parallel to a central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), a drive train (GT) connected between said drilling spindle (12) and said first motor (9) for said rotating of said drilling spindle (12), at least one device for axially holding a drill bit (13, 14) in a free end of said drilling spindle (12), said support console (3) having a longitudinal second axis (5) extending perpendicularly to said central longitudinal first axis (2) of said drilling spindle (12), and means (4) mounting said support console (3) to said robot for rotation about said second axis (5) of said support console (3), said drilling tool further comprising at least one video camera (10, 11) positioned for monitoring a drill bit (13, 14) operation, and a positioning device (21, 22) for directing said video camera onto a drill bit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.