Weld line-detecting method and industrial robot

Abstract

The present invention is a weld line-detecting method when fillet welding by an industrial robot including a welding torch is taught. The welding torch on which an angle sensor having a contactor is attached is moved toward a welding object, angle information obtained when the contactor is in contact with the welding object is transmitted to the industrial robot, and the industrial robot moves the welding torch based on the angle information so that the angle of the contactor becomes zero. These operations are repeated, and the welding torch is moved toward a fillet part along the surface of the welding object. When the contactor arrives at the fillet part, a signal indicating that the contactor is pressed in the axial direction of the contactor is transmitted to the industrial robot. The industrial robot detects that the contactor arrives at the position to be welded on the weld line.

Claims

1. A weld line-detecting method for fillet welding the weld-line detecting method comprising: measuring first angle information when a contactor of an industrial robot is not in contact with a surface of a welding object, wherein (i) the industrial robot includes a welding torch and an angle sensor having the contactor, (ii) the angle sensor is attached to the welding torch, and (iii) the first angle information indicating a tilted direction of the contactor with respect to the surface of welding object when the contactor is not in contact with the welding object; moving the welding torch in a first direction toward the welding object so that the contactor is in contact with the welding object; measuring second angle information when the contactor is in contact with the surface of the welding object, wherein the second angle information is different from the first angle information, and the second angle information indicates a relative angle between (i) a tilted direction of the contactor with respect to the surface of the welding object when the contactor is in contact with the welding object and (ii) the tilted direction of the contactor with respect to the surface of the welding object when the contactor is not in contact with the welding object; making the industrial robot move the welding torch in a second direction based on the first angle information and the second angle information, wherein a combination of the movement of the welding torch in the first direction and the movement of the welding torch in the second direction causes the relative angle to become zero; and causing the welding torch to move along the surface of the welding object toward a fillet part of the welding object in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction as a result of a combination of (i) the movement of the welding torch in the first direction and (ii) the movement of the welding torch in the second direction; and causing the industrial robot to detect that the contactor arrives at the fillet part of the welding object when the contactor is pressed in an axial direction of the contactor.

2. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, further comprising, stopping, after the detecting step, a movement of the welding torch.

3. The weld line-detecting method of claim 2, further comprising, after the stopping the movement of the welding torch, releasing a pressed state of the contactor by moving the welding torch by a pressed amount of the contactor in a direction opposite to a pressed direction of the contactor.

4. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein the angle sensor includes a sensor section for detecting an angle of the contactor, the angle sensor includes a central processing unit for periodically reading the angle of the contactor detected by the angle sensor, and the weld line-detecting method further comprises stopping a movement of the welding torch when the contactor comes into contact with the welding object to make the angle of the contactor larger than a predetermined angle.

5. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein the angle sensor further includes a radio communication section for angle sensor use for outputting angle information of the contactor and information indicating that the contactor is pressed, the industrial robot includes a manipulator to which the welding torch is attached, a robot controller for controlling an operation of the manipulator, and a teaching device for communicating with the robot controller, and the robot controller acquires information output from the radio communication section for angle sensor use via the teaching device or directly from the angle sensor.

6. The weld line-detecting method of claim 5, wherein the teaching device further includes an attachable/detachable radio communication section for teaching device use, the teaching device receives information output from the angle sensor via the radio communication section for teaching device use, and the teaching device transmits the information received from the angle sensor to the robot controller.

7. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein the moving the welding torch in a first direction is performed based on an operation program stored in a controller of the industrial robot.

8. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein the moving the welding torch in a first direction is performed by a manual operation of the industrial robot by a worker using the teaching device connected to the industrial robot.

9. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein in a state where a nozzle and a feed chip are detached from the welding torch, instead of the feed chip, the angle sensor is attached to the welding torch.

10. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein a peripheral dimension of the angle sensor to be attached to the welding torch is not greater than a peripheral dimension of a nozzle to be attached to the welding torch.

11. The weld line-detecting method of claim 1, wherein the angle sensor includes a sensor section for detecting an angle of the contactor, the angle sensor includes a central processing unit for periodically reading the angle of the contactor detected by the angle sensor, and a movement of the welding torch is stopped when an angle of the contactor becomes a predetermined angle or larger.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a robot system in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an angle sensor in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the welding position detecting operation in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 3 is another explanatory diagram of the welding position detecting operation in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 4 is yet another explanatory diagram of the welding position detecting operation in accordance with the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(6) FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the appearance of a teaching device in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram of the movement of a welding torch in accordance with the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(8) FIG. 6B is another explanatory diagram of the movement of the welding torch in accordance with the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 7A is an explanatory diagram of the movement of a welding torch in accordance with a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(10) FIG. 7B is a diagram showing the appearance of a teaching device in accordance with the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(11) FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram of the movement of a conventional welding torch.

(12) FIG. 8B is another explanatory diagram of the movement of the conventional welding torch.

(13) FIG. 8C is a diagram showing the appearance of the conventional welding torch.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(14) Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 1A through FIG. 7B.

First Exemplary Embodiment

(15) FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a robot system. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an angle sensor.

(16) In FIG. 1A, the robot system mainly includes an industrial robot, namely manipulator 10, robot controller 11, and teaching device 17. Manipulator 10 has a plurality of joint axes, and each of the joint axes is constituted by a motor (not shown) and a speed reducer (not shown). Robot controller 11 contras the entire robot system. Teaching device 17 is used in order that a worker operates manipulator 10 to create a teaching program, for example.

(17) Teaching device 17 includes second CPU (central processing unit) 19 for controlling the communication with robot controller 11, and second radio communication section 18 as a radio communication section for teaching device use for performing radio communication with an external apparatus. Second radio communication section 18 is attachable to and detachable from teaching device 17.

(18) Robot controller 11 includes first CPU 12, RAM (random access memory) 13, driving section 14, first radio communication section 15, and ROM (read only memory) 16. First CPU 12 performs control or the like of the entire robot system. The teaching program created by the worker is stored in RAM 13, and can be read or written at any time. Driving section 14 controls the motor of manipulator 10 and controls the position and attitude of welding torch 21. First radio communication section 15 is a radio communication section for robot controller use, and performs radio communication with an external apparatus. ROM 16 is a read only memory in which a robot control program for controlling robot controller 11 is stored.

(19) Welding torch 21 is attached on manipulator 10. Angle sensor 1 shown in FIG. 1B is attached on welding torch 21.

(20) Welding torch 21 applies arc voltage to a welding wire to generate arc, and supplies the welding wire to a welding object to continuously generate arc. Generally, on the tip of welding torch 21, a welding chip (not shown) for applying arc voltage to the welding wire and a nozzle (not shown) for supplying welding gas are attached. When angle sensor 1 is attached to welding torch 21, the welding chip and nozzle are detached, and angle sensor 1 is attached instead of them.

(21) At this time, the dimensions of angle sensor 1 and contactor 22 are determined so that the tip position of the welding wire before the attachment of angle sensor 1 and the tip position of contactor 22 after the attachment of angle sensor 1 indicate the same position. This determination is intended to produce the following condition:

(22) when the worker performs the teaching work, the teaching work is performed so that the tip of the welding wire indicates the position to be welded of the welding object, but, even when angle sensor 1 is attached, the teaching work can be performed at the same position as that of the case of the indication by the welding wire.

(23) The peripheral dimension of angle sensor 1 to be attached to welding torch 21 is not greater than that of the nozzle to be attached to welding torch 21.

(24) As shown in FIG. 1B, angle sensor 1 attached to welding torch 21 includes, as components, contactor 22, sensor section 23, third CPU 24, third radio communication section 26, and battery 25. Contactor 22 comes into contact with the welding object. Sensor section 23 detects the angle and pressed state of contactor 22. Third CPU 24 reads information from sensor section 23. Third radio communication section 26 is a radio communication section for angle sensor use, and transmits the information read by third CPU 24 to robot controller 11. Battery 25 supplies power to sensor section 23, third CPU 24, and third radio communication section 26.

(25) Third CPU 24 reads angle information from sensor section 23, and transmits the angle information to robot controller 11 via third radio communication section 26.

(26) Robot controller 11 includes first radio communication section 15 for receiving the angle information transmitted from angle sensor 1, and first CPU 12 in robot controller 11 reads the angle information via first radio communication section 15.

(27) Next, using FIG. 2 through FIG. 4, the operation of the robot system of the present exemplary embodiment is described. FIG. 2 through FIG. 4 are explanatory diagrams of the welding position detecting operation of the present exemplary embodiment. In FIG. 2, when a worker performs the teaching work by operating manipulator 10 using teaching device 17, welding torch 21 is moved toward welding object 30, namely in the Y direction. This operation is set as a first moving step. Welding torch 21 of FIG. 1A is attached on manipulator 10, and angle sensor 1 of FIG. 1B is attached on welding torch 21.

(28) When contactor 22 is not in contact with welding object 30, contactor 22 is in the state of angle =0, and the angle information read by sensor section 23 of FIG. 1B is angle =0. Third CPU 24 transmits the angle information to robot controller 11 via third radio communication section 26. When contactor 22 is in contact with welding object 30 and contactor 22 is tilted from the state of angle =0, namely when angle is not 0 but the angle information of sensor section 23 is not angle =0 but relative angle = from the state of angle =0. Third CPU 24 transmits angle = as the angle information to robot controller 11 via third radio communication section 26. This operation is set as a transmitting step.

(29) Angle as the angle information transmitted from angle sensor 1 is received by first CPU 12 via first radio communication section 15 disposed in robot controller 11. First CPU 12 moves welding torch 21 in shift direction Tz so that the angle of contactor 22 becomes 0 from angle as the received angle information.

(30) The relationship between welding torch 21 and the shift direction depends on the direction in which angle sensor 1 is attached to welding torch 21. In other words, when the tilted direction of contactor 22 of angle sensor 1 is represented by X-Y, the angle information is input as X-Y information likewise, and the X-Y information indicates the tilted direction of contactor 22. The attached direction of angle sensor 1 to welding torch 21 uniquely determines the tilted direction of contactor 22 and the shift direction of welding torch 21. When contactor 22 is tilted, angle sensor 1 is required to be attached to welding torch 21 in the direction for releasing the tilted state. The operation amount in the shift direction varies in proportion to the input amount from angle sensor 1. When the angle of contactor 22 is small, the input amount decreases and the shift amount in the shift direction also decreases. When the angle of contactor 22 is large, the input amount increases and the shift amount in the shift direction also increases.

(31) At this time, the worker continues the operation for moving welding torch 21 toward welding object 30, namely in the Y direction. Therefore, the combination of the movement in the manual operation direction (Y direction) and the movement in shift direction Tz becomes movement in the Tn direction. This operation is set as a second moving step.

(32) By repeating the first moving step, transmitting step, and second moving step, welding torch 21 moves toward fillet, part Q along the surface of welding object 30. This operation is set as a repeating step.

(33) The tilted direction of contactor 22 and the shift direction of welding torch 21 are uniquely determined. Therefore, in order to move welding torch 21 toward fillet, part Q, the worker is required to bring welding torch 21 into contact with welding object. 30 at the forward angle of welding torch 21 with respect to the direction of fillet part Q. The forward angle means the angle between welding torch 21 and welding object 30 shown in FIG. 2.

(34) Then, as shown in FIG. 3, when contactor 22 arrives at fillet part Q of welding object. 30, contactor 22 is pressed in the axial direction. Sensor section 23 of FIG. 1B detects the pressed state of contactor 22, and third CPU 24 transmits information to robot controller 11 via third radio communication section 26. The information that is transmitted from angle sensor 1 and indicates the pressed state of contactor 22 is received by first CPU 12 via first radio communication section 15 disposed in robot controller 11. Thus, robot controller 11 detects that welding torch 21 arrives at the position to be welded on the weld line. This operation is set as a detecting step.

(35) Examples of the mechanism of detecting the angle information of contactor 22 with sensor section 23 are a mechanism and the like of detecting the position of contactor 22 with a Hall element sensor using a Hall effect. Thus, a general sensor can be used.

(36) First CPU 12 stops the movement, of welding torch 21 based on the received information indicating the state where contactor 22 is pressed. This operation is set as a first stopping step. Thus, the detection of fillet, part Q of welding object 30, namely detection of the weld line, is completed. In this state, when the worker performs a teaching point registering operation using teaching device 17, the angle information of each joint of manipulator 10 is stored as positional information in RAM 13 of robot controller 11. Thus, teaching point registering processing is completed.

(37) After first CPU 12 stops the movement of welding torch 21 based on the received information indicating the state where contactor 22 is pressed, sensor section 23 of angle sensor 1 detects pressed amount of contactor 22. Third CPU 24 reads pressed amount from sensor section 23, and transmits pressed Amount to robot controller 11 via third radio communication section 26. First CPU 12 of robot controller 11 reads pressed amount via first radio communication section 15, and moves manipulator 10 by controlling driving section 14. Thus, welding torch 21 is moved by pressed amount in the Tx direction opposite to the torch direction, as shown by the arrow of FIG. 4. After the movement by pressed amount in the Tx direction is completed, the operation is stopped. At this time, the pressed state of contactor 22 is released. This operation is set as a releasing step.

(38) In the present exemplary embodiment, thus, robot controller 11 moves welding torch 21 by controlling manipulator 10 based on the angle information from angle sensor 1 so that the angle of contactor 22 becomes zero. Thus, the weld line can be easily detected.

(39) In the above-mentioned example, the angle information from angle sensor 1 is taken into first CPU 12 of robot controller 11 via first radio communication section 15 of robot controller 11. However, the following example may be employed:

(40) teaching device 17 includes second radio communication section 18, and second CPU 19 in teaching device 17 reads the angle information via second radio communication section 18 and transmits the angle information to first CPU 12 in robot controller 11.

(41) Second radio communication section 18 may have a structure attachable to and detachable from teaching device 17. Examples of the attachable/detachable structure are a USB (universal serial bus) radio module and an SD (secure digital) card radio module.

(42) A general radio communication method is used as the method of radio communication between angle sensor 1 and first radio communication section 15 of robot controller 11, or the method of radio communication between angle sensor 1 and second radio communication section 18 connected to teaching device 17. Examples of the general radio communication method are a radio LAN (local area network) communication conformable to IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 standard and a near field radio communication conformable to IEEE 802.15 standard.

(43) As the mechanism of the battery of second radio communication section 18, a general battery such as a coin-type battery or an electrical double layer capacitor can be employed. When a rechargeable battery is employed, a charging connector may be disposed in the battery, and the battery may be charged from a general-purpose power supply such as a domestic power supply or USE power supply.

(44) Alternatively, a connector for power supply may be disposed in teaching device 17, and the battery may be charged.

(45) Alternatively, a USB connector may be disposed in teaching device 17, and the battery may be charged from the USB power supply.

Second Exemplary Embodiment

(46) In a second exemplary embodiment, elements similar to those in the first exemplary embodiment are denoted with the same reference marks, and the descriptions of those elements are omitted. The second exemplary embodiment differs from the first exemplary embodiment mainly in that sensor mode and normal mode, which are described later, are disposed and switched.

(47) Teaching device 17 is described using FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the appearance of teaching device 17. Teaching device 17 includes mode switch 52 for switching the modes described later, display screen 53, mode display section 54, and operation key 55.

(48) In FIG. 5, when mode switch 52 is switched to the SENSOR side, the sensor mode is selected, and the detection of the weld line described in the first exemplary embodiment is performed. At this time, mode display section 54, which is a part of display screen 53, indicates that the sensor mode is selected. For example, SENSOR is displayed as the displayed contents.

(49) When mode switch 52 is switched to the NORMAL side, the normal mode is selected. At this time, mode display section 54, which is a part of display screen 53, indicates that the normal mode is selected. For example, NORMAL is displayed as the displayed contents.

(50) The normal mode is described hereinafter. As described using FIG. 2, the worker performs the first moving step of moving welding torch 21 on which angle sensor 1 of FIG. 1B is attached. When contactor 22 comes into contact: with welding object. 30 and contactor 22 is tilted from the state of angle =0, namely when angle is not 0, robot controller 11 stops the movement, of welding torch 21 if the angle of contactor 22 becomes larger than predetermined angle . This operation is set as a second stopping step. At this time, movement to fillet part Q is not performed. In other words, contactor 22 is in contact with welding object 30 and is kept in the stopping state. This is set as normal mode. The value of predetermined angle can be set by the worker using teaching device 17.

(51) When the worker switches mode switch 52 from NORMAL side to SENSOR side in the state where the movement of welding torch 21 is stopped and angle of the contactor is not 0, the sensor mode is selected. This operation is set as a mode switching step. In the sensor mode, the detection of the weld line having been described in the first exemplary embodiment is performed. The processing at this time is described hereinafter.

(52) When mode switch 52 is switched to SENSOR side in the state where the movement, of welding torch 21 is stopped and the worker stops operating welding torch 21, the moving amount in the manual operation direction, namely in the Y direction, does not occur. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6A, the moving amount only in shift direction Tz occurs, and welding torch 21 moves in shift direction Tz. As a result, contactor 22 comes into the state of angle =0 and the movement of welding torch 21 in shift direction Tz is stopped. This state is shown in FIG. 6B. Thus, contactor 22 comes into the state of angle =0, and the tip of contactor 22 is located on the surface of welding object 30. The worker can continue a desired teaching work from this state. The weld line may be detected while the sensor mode is kept. Alternatively, the mode may be switched to the normal mode, and the teaching work may be continued or the teaching point registering operation may be performed.

(53) In the SENSOR mode, if contactor 22 is tilted, the tilted state of contactor 22 is released by a shift operation by welding torch 21. When welding torch 21 is brought into contact with welding object 30 at a certain high speed, however, contactor 22 is significantly tilted in a short time. In this case, the shift operation for releasing the tilted state of contactor 22 is too late for the action where welding torch 21 comes into contact with welding object 30 at the high speed, and hence the possibility of damaging angle sensor 1 is high. Therefore, the worker usually operates welding torch 21 in the NORMAL mode. In the NORMAL mode, even when welding torch 21 is brought into contact with welding object 30 at a certain high speed, robot controller 11 stops the movement of welding torch 21 if the angle of contactor 22 becomes larger than predetermined angle . Then, the worker switches the mode to the SENSOR side and operates welding torch 21 at a low speed, thereby performing the weld line-detecting operation without damaging angle sensor 1.

Third Exemplary Embodiment

(54) In a third exemplary embodiment, elements similar to those in the first exemplary embodiment and second exemplary embodiment are denoted with the same reference marks, and the descriptions of those elements are omitted. The third exemplary embodiment differs from the first exemplary embodiment and second exemplary embodiment mainly in that the movement of welding torch 21 is stopped immediately after the angle of contactor 22 becomes larger than predetermined angle .

(55) The angle information of contactor 22 is periodically transmitted to first CPU 12 of robot controller 11. As shown in FIG. 7A, when contactor 22 comes into contact with welding object. 30 and the angle of contactor 22 becomes larger than predetermined angle , angle information is transmitted to first CPU 12 of robot controller 11. Then, first CPU 12 immediately stops the movement, of welding torch 21.

(56) The purpose of this is to prevent damage of contactor 22 or angle sensor 1. The damage preventing processing is effective in both of the sensor mode and normal mode that have been described in the second exemplary embodiment.

(57) The value of angle is set larger than the value of angle . The value of angle can be set by the worker using teaching device 17.

(58) With the timing when first CPU 12 of robot controller 11 stops welding torch 21, LIMIT STOP is displayed on display screen 53 of teaching device 17 as shown in FIG. 7B, and the worker can recognize that welding torch 21 is stopped for damage prevention.

(59) When the worker switches mode switch 52 to the SENSOR side in this state, the sensor mode is selected, and the detection of the weld line described in the first exemplary embodiment is performed.

(60) In the normal mode, two thresholds, predetermined angle and predetermined angle , are set. Thus, safety such as damage prevention can be further increased.

(61) In the sensor mode, predetermined angle is a threshold for the stop and damage prevention can be performed. In the sensor mode, after the stop for a predetermined time, the operation of the sensor mode may be started without keeping the stop.

(62) Thus, in the present exemplary embodiment, by stopping the movement of welding torch 21 when the angle of contactor 22 becomes larger than predetermined angle , the damage of angle sensor 1 or welding torch 21 can be prevented.

(63) The first exemplary embodiment through third exemplary embodiment have described the detection of the weld line when the worker continues the first moving step using teaching device 17. However, the following operation may be employed:

(64) based on an operation program, for example, stored in robot controller 11, the first moving step is continued automatically and the weld line is detected.

(65) The present invention is industrially useful as a weld line-detecting method when fillet welding is taught, for example, and as an industrial robot for performing the teaching.