US 6,481,083 B1 · Robotic apparatus and method for mounting a vale stem on a wheel rim

Abstract

In an automated method for mounting a valve stem to the rim of an automotive vehicle wheel, rims are supplied in series by a conveyor to a gauging station where the location and alignment of a hole for receiving the valve stem is determined by a machine vision system. An electronic control system directs a robotic manipulator to grasp the rim, move it to a mounting station where a valve stem is retained, position the rim such that the hole is in alignment with the valve stem, and urge the rim toward the valve stem to insert the valve stem through the hole in the rim. If necessary, a power-actuated nut runner, mounted on the robotic manipulator or adjacent the mounting station, is used to tighten a nut over the valve stem to secure. As an alternative to the machine vision system, the gauging station may utilize a rotating table which rotates the wheel about its central axis, and an “electric eye” optical sensor which directs a beam of infrared light onto the rim. As the rim rotates through the beam, the presence or lack of a reflection of the light beam is used to detect the location of the hole, and rotation of the table is stopped when the hole is in alignment with the beam. A probe mounted on the gauging station may be extended to project into the hole to confirm that the hole is at the desired position and reposition the rim slightly to provide a precise positioning of the hole.

Claims45

Dependent claims

A method for assembling a valve stem to a wheel rim having an aperture formed therein comprising the steps of:

determining a location of the aperture relative to a gauging station;
coaxially aligning a central axis of the aperture and a longitudinal axis of the valve stem with respect to one another prior to insertion of the valve stem through the aperture;
and
moving the rim relative to the valve stem along a programmable path of travel during the coaxially aligning step and along the aligned axes to insert the valve stem through the aperture, the path of travel defined with a programmable robotic manipulator having an arm capable of compound, multi-axial movement and having a plurality of programmed paths corresponding to a plurality of different size wheel rim and valve stem combinations to be assembled.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Robotic apparatus and method for mounting a vale stem on a wheel rim

Life of this patent

Robotic apparatus and method for mounting a vale stem on a wheel rim

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims45