Method and apparatus for roller type processing
AssigneeTri Engineering Company Limited
InventorMasazumi Sawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a prior art roller type processing apparatus for processing a workpiece by roll pressing a roller, the roller is roll-pressed at the same location a number of times. Thus, longer processing time is required compared to processing using pressing dies. It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to reduce the processing time by providing a roller type processing apparatus. Therefore, in the present invention, rollers 13, 14 are attached to a plurality of independently controllable robot arms 11, 12, respectively, and the rollers 13, 14 are successively roll-pressed along a portion to be processed We of a workpiece W in different rolling positions.
Claims29
A roller type processing apparatus for roll-pressing a flange of a workpiece, comprising at least first and second multi-articulated type robot arms that can be controlled independently of each other, a first roller rotatably attached to the first robot arm and a second roller rotatably attached to the second robot arm, wherein the first and second rollers are closely spaced so that the second roller closely follows the first roller such that the second roller presses the workpiece flange before spring back occurs after the first roller has pressed the workpiece flange and the roll press operation of the workpiece flange is performed without causing distortion, depression or peripheral slippage of the workpiece flange, and a controller for continuously roll-pressing the first and second rollers in different rolling positions relative to each other along the workpiece flange and for roll-pressing the first and second rollers with their respective axes of rotation always maintained normal as viewed in a plane.
A roller type processing apparatus, comprising a plurality of multi-articulated type robot arms that can be controlled independently of each other, a roller rotatably attached to each respective robot arm, and a controller for arranging the plurality of rollers side by side in a width direction of a portion of a workpiece being processed, wherein the controller is arranged and constructed to perform the respective roll press operations before spring back occurs in the workpiece portion being processed so that the workpiece portion being processed does not distort, depress or peripherally slip during the roll press operation, to roll-press the rollers along the workpiece portion being processed, and to roll-press the plurality of rollers with their respective axes of rotation always maintained normal as viewed in a plane.
A roller type processing method, wherein a plurality or rollers rotatably attached to a plurality of independently controllable robot arms are continuously roll-pressed in different rolling positions along a portion of a workpiece being processed and are roll-pressed with their respective axes of rotation always maintained normal as viewed in a plane, wherein the rollers are closely disposed in a side-by-side relationship so that the respective roll press operations are performed before spring back occurs in the workpiece portion being processed and the workpiece portion being processed does not distort, depress or peripherally slip during the roll press operation.
An apparatus for hemming a flange of a panel, comprising:
- a first hem roller having a peripheral surface adapted to press the flange of the panel;
- a first robotic arm rotatably supporting the first hem roller;
- a second hem roller having a peripheral surface adapted to press the flange of the panel;
- a second robotic arm rotatably supporting the second hem roller;
- a controller operably coupled to the first and second robotic arms and operating a stored program that independently operates the first and second robotic arms, wherein the controller causes the robotic arm to position the first hem roller at a first orientation with respect to the panel and causes the second robotic arm to position the second hem roller at a second orientation with respect to the panel, so that the first hem roller performs a preliminary bending operation on the flange and the second hem roller performs a substantially complete or final hem of the flange, and the controller causes the first hem roller to be closely disposed with respect to the second hem roller in a side-by-side relationship so as to prevent the flange from springing back after the first hem roller presses the flange and before the second hem roller presses the flange.
A method for hemming a panel flange, comprising:
- roll pressing the panel flange, thereby preliminarily bending the panel flange;
- and
- further roll pressing the portion of the panel flange that was preliminarily bent before the panel flange springs back, wherein the panel flange does not distort, depress and peripherally slip during the hemming operation.
A method as in claim further comprising moving the panel during the roll pressing steps while the panel is mounted on a fixing jig.
An apparatus for hemming a panel flange, comprising:
- means for roll pressing the panel flange, thereby preliminarily bending the panel flange, and
- means for further roll pressing the portion of the panel flange that was preliminarily bent before the panel flange springs back, wherein the panel flange does not distort, depress or peripherally slip during the hemming operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.