DEVICE AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATIC ASSEMBLY OF A PAIR OF WIRES

Abstract

The device and the method are used for the automatic assembly of an in particular twisted pair of wires, wherein the pair of wires has two wire elements each with a contact element arranged at one end of a wire end. The respective contact elements are brought into a predetermined rotary position by gripping the wire pair with a main gripper which has an axis of rotation about which it can rotate, and wherein the wire ends are each gripped by a gripping element. The respective contact element is brought into the predetermined rotary position by rotating the pair of wires by way of the main gripper.

Claims

1. Device for the automatic assembly of a pair of wires, which has at least two wire elements each with a contact element arranged at the end, comprising: a control unit for controlling the operation of the device, a main gripper for gripping the pair of wires, which is rotatable about an axis of rotation extending in a longitudinal direction, two gripping elements for respectively gripping a wire end of the respective wire element, and a control unit for controlling the main gripper and the two gripping elements in such a way that in operation the wire ends are gripped by the gripping elements the wire pair is gripped with the main gripper, the respective contact element is brought into a predetermined rotary position by rotating the main gripper, the two gripping elements are arranged laterally next to one another with respect to the longitudinal direction, the control device and the two gripping elements are designed in such a way that during operation of the device a movement of the gripped wire ends takes place, said movement is selected from a translational alignment and a rotary alignment of the gripped wire ends relative to one another.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein the gripping elements are designed in such a way that said movement of the gripped wire ends within a projection plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is made possible.

3. Device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is designed such that it controls the device during operation in such a way that the two contact elements are successively brought into the predetermined rotary position byfirstly bringing one of the contact elements into the predetermined rotary position by rotating the pair of wires by means of the main gripper, this contact element is subsequently held non-rotatably by the gripping element which is assigned to this contact element subsequently the further contact element is brought into the predetermined rotary position by rotating the pair of wires by means of the main gripper.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the main gripper and the gripping elements are arranged on a common support.

5. Device according to claim 4, wherein the support is designed for attachment to an adjustment mechanism.

6. Device according to claim 1, having a linear guide for a lateral alignment of the wire ends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

7. Device according to claim 1, having a kinematic unit for each of the two gripping elements, the kinematic units enable the gripping elements to move independently of one another.

8. Device according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the kinematic units being designed to execute a rotary movement about a pivot axis parallel to the axis of rotation.

9. Device according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the kinematic units is adapted to perform a tilting movement with respect to the longitudinal direction.

10. Device according to claim 7, wherein the kinematic units have six axes of movement.

11. Device according to claim 1, wherein the gripping elements each comprise a gripping arm, and the gripping arms are oriented towards each other in the direction of the axis of rotation.

12. Device according to claim 11, wherein a respective gripping arm is divided into two partial arms which are movable relative to each other for gripping the respective wire end.

13. Device according to claim 12, wherein the partial arms are jointly linearly movable.

14. Device according to claim 1, wherein the gripping elements are movable in the longitudinal direction.

15. Device according to claim 1, which is designed to perform a pull-out test after the contact elements have been inserted into a connector housing.

16. Device according to claim 1, wherein the gripping elements are force-monitored.

17. Method for the automatic assembly of a pair of wires with the aid of a device, the pair of wires having two wire elements each with a contact element arranged at one end of a wire end, the respective contact element being brought into a predetermined rotary position by the following steps the pair of wires is gripped by a main gripper, the main gripper having an axis of rotation about which it is rotatable, the device having two gripping elements and the wire ends are each gripped by one of the gripping elements, the respective contact element is brought into the predetermined rotary position by rotating the pair of wires by means of the main gripper, the two gripping elements are arranged laterally next to one another with respect to the longitudinal direction and an alignment of the gripped wire ends is performed, said alignment is selected from a translational and a rotary alignment.

18. Method according to claim 17, wherein by means of the gripping elements the alignment of the gripped wire ends is performed within a projection plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

19. Method according to claim 17, wherein, after the contact elements have been aligned in a respective predetermined desired position, the contact elements are inserted into a connector housing with the aid of the gripping elements.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0069] The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitive of the present invention and wherein:

[0070] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device,

[0071] FIG. 2 is a top view of the device and

[0072] FIG. 3 is a side view of a longitudinal section of a sketched connector housing with contact element arranged therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0073] The device 2 according to FIG. 1 is designed for the correct feeding of contact elements 4, which are only shown schematically, into a plug housing 6 (see FIG. 3). The contact elements 4 are each arranged at the end of a wire element 8 of a particularly twisted wire pair 10.

[0074] The device 2 has a main gripper 12, which in the design example is designed like pliers with two gripping legs. The main gripper 12 serves to grip the wire pair 10 and can be rotated about an axis of rotation D extending in a longitudinal direction L (see FIG. 2).

[0075] Furthermore, the device 2 has two gripping elements 14a, b, for gripping one end 16 of the respective wire element 8 The two gripping elements 14a, b are each arranged on a movable kinematic unit 18, which in turn are arranged in the design example on a support 20, which is in particular designed in the form of a plate.

[0076] The gripping elements 14a,b preferably each have a holding arm 21, which is attached to a front support plate 19 of the respective kinematic unit 18. The holding arm 21 runs perpendicular to the longitudinal direction L. The holding arm 21 and thus the respective gripping element 14a,b is also assigned a guide, in particular a linear guide 23. In particular, the respective holding arm 21 is attached to the kinematic unit 18 so that it can be moved via the guide. Via the linear guide 23, a transverse displaceability perpendicular to the longitudinal axis L and perpendicular to a longitudinal orientation of the holding arm 21 is possible. The holding arm 21 is preferably divided in the direction of its longitudinal orientation into two partial arms 21a, 21b, which can be displaced relative each other via the linear guide 23. Preferably, only one partial arm 21a, 21b can be moved. This allows them to be adjusted towards each other, e.g. to clamp or release the wire element 8. The respective wire element 8 is guided or held at the end of the holding arm 21, especially between two gripper jaws. Due to the movability of the partial arms 21a, 21b relative to each other, wire elements 8 with different diameters can be gripped.

[0077] The main gripper 12 is also arranged on the common support 20. In particular, the main gripper 12 is arranged centrally between the two gripping elements 14a, b.

[0078] The movable kinematic units 18 are designed as hexapods in the shown embodiment. In general, they are designed for several degrees of freedom of movement and preferably have translational and rotary degrees of freedom. For example, they have six axes of motion Xt, Yt, Zt, Xr, Yr, Zr. This makes it possible that the gripping elements 14a,b and thus also the wire ends 16 they grip with the contact elements 4 can be moved in six directions of movement, namely three translational directions Xt, Yt, Zt and three rotary directions Xr, Yr, Zr (see FIG. 2).

[0079] The kinematic units 18 are not limited to the design as hexapods. In general, the kinematic units 18 permit a rotary movement about a respective rotary or swivel axis d and preferably also a tilting movement, especially about the X-axis and/or the Y-axis. This allows the support plate 19 and thus the gripping elements 14 to be tilted relative to the longitudinal direction L. This allows an angular position, i.e. a longitudinal orientation of the contact elements 4, to be adjusted with respect to the longitudinal direction L. In particular, this allows the contact element 4 to be aligned axially parallel to the longitudinal direction.

[0080] Due to the kinematic units 18, in particular also in connection with the linear guide 23, the gripping elements 14a, b and thus the contact elements 4 can be moved, in particular within an X-Y plane E (see FIG. 2), which extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction L. This enables a lateral alignment of the contact elements 4. The angular position can also be adjusted.

[0081] All in all, the device described here is characterized by the fact that, in addition to an alignment of the contact elements 4 in a desired rotary position, a further alignment (lateral, tilting) is also possible. This means that the device can be used universally for a wide range of applications, types of connector housings, wire types, etc. In addition, the same unit can also be used for infeed or plug-in movement. It is therefore not necessary to additionally grip the aligned wire elements 8 or contact elements 4 one more time in a second step.

[0082] During operation of the device 2, the two wire ends 16 of the wire pair 10 are gripped by the gripping elements 14a,b, while the wire pair 10 is preferably gripped in a twisted area by the main gripper 12. Then the respective contact elements 4 are brought into a predetermined rotary position by turning the main gripper 12 and thus by turning the wire pair 10. A further alignment is also carried out to bring the contact elements into a target position.

[0083] This design is based on the idea that the contact elements 4 must have a preferred and predetermined orientation (target position) in order to be inserted into the connector housing 6. The predetermined target position is understood to be a position of the contact elements 4 in which they can be inserted into the connector housing 6 for assembly. The two contact elements 4 must usually be aligned parallel to each other, in particular parallel to the axis of the plug openings, in the desired (same) rotary position and with a specified lateral distance (corresponding to the grid dimension of the plug openings).

[0084] The contact elements 4 are now brought into the specified rotary position in such a way that preferably only one of the gripping elements 14a (first gripping element 14a) releases a gripping force on the wire end 16, which it preferably holds in a rotary fixed manner, with the contact element 4 arranged thereon, so that the first gripping element 14a only loosely guides the wire end 16. Then the main gripper 12 and thus the wire pair 10 is rotated about the axis of rotation D so that the now only loosely guided wire end 16 also rotates. This brings the contact element 4 into the specified rotary position. Once this has been done, the first gripping element 14a fixes the contact element 4, which has been brought into the specified rotary position, by increasing the gripping force and this process is repeated with the contact element 4, which is held by the (second) gripping element 14b in the same way. The alignment of the contact elements 4 into the specified rotary position is thus preferably done by a purely rotary movement.

[0085] Then, for example, the contact elements 4 brought into the specified rotary position are further aligned by a translational and/or rotary movement of the kinematic units 18 and brought into a specified target position, for example in front of a plug opening (not shown here) of the connector housing 6. After this alignment, the contact elements 4 are inserted into the connector housing 6 by a movement in longitudinal direction L.

[0086] FIG. 2 shows a top view of fixture 2. Also shown in FIG. 2 is the arrangement of device 2 on a robot arm 22. The previously mentioned insertion of the contact elements 4 into the connector housing 6 is either done by a translatory movement of the kinematic units 18 along the longitudinal axis L. Preferably, the insertion is carried out (only) with a complete movement of the device 2 along the longitudinal axis L caused by the robot arm 22. Furthermore in FIG. 2 the control unit 24 is shown as a schematic rectangle. It is designed to control the device 2 and preferably also the robot arm 22 in such a way that the movements of the main gripper 12, the two gripping elements 14 a,b and the kinematic units 18 required to carry out the previously described assembly process are carried out.

[0087] In particular, this control is carried out fully automatically, i.e. without manual interaction by an operator. This has the particular advantage that a fully automated assembly of twisted pairs of wires is possible.

[0088] For the detection of a current position and for checking whether the contact elements 4 are each in the specified target position, the device 2 has a sensor unit 26. In the design example, this comprises two cameras that monitor a front area 28 of the device from two opposite directions. Preferably, it is also conceivable to arrange several cameras in such a way that the front area 28 is monitored from several directions. Within the front area preferably the movement of the contact elements 4 into the specified rotary/target position and the insertion of the contact elements into the connector housing 6 take place. The control unit 24 is designed in such a way that, depending on the sensor information generated by the sensor unit 26, the alignment of the contact elements 4 is carried out by translational and rotary movements of the elements 12, 14a, b and 18.

[0089] FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section through a connector housing 6 with a contact element 4 inserted into it. FIG. 3 thus shows a final state of the assembly. A pull-out test is carried out in this state before the device is released. FIG. 3 only shows a schematic diagram of a gripping element 14a of device 2, which grips the wire element 8 like a pair of pliers. During the pull-out test, the contact element 4 inserted into the connector housing 6 is subjected to a pull-out force F by a movement of the device 2 against the longitudinal direction L. This serves to test whether it is possible to pull the contact element 4 out of the connector housing 6 with a pull out force which is below specified pull-out force F. Especially this serves to test if a latching element 30 arranged, for example, on the contact element 4, is latched to a latching contour 32 formed within the connector housing 6.

[0090] The invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. Rather, other variants of the invention can be derived from it by the person skilled in the art without leaving the subject matter of the invention. In particular, all individual features described in connection with the embodiments can also be combined with each other in other ways without leaving the subject matter of the invention.