Machine and cell for the assembly of valve seats and guides

Abstract

The machine comprises: a first station (4) for loading and unloading said cylinder head (9) and for loading said guides (13) and seats (12) in an upper mask (11) and a lower mask (10), respectively; a second pressing station (5) for the assembly and pressing of said guides (13) and seats (12) in the cylinder head (9); a rotating table (6) that comprises a first support tool (8) and a second support tool (8), the first and second tools are configured to support a cylinder head (9) and the aforementioned table is configured to rotate so that the first tool (8) and the second tool (8) are arranged alternatively and simultaneously at the first station (4) and at the second station (5); a first manipulator (7) configured to place said guides (13) and said seats (12) in the upper mask (11) and in the lower mask (10), respectively, at the first station (4); at least one pressing head (21) configured to snap the seats (12) and guides (13) on to the cylinder head (9) at the second station (5).

Claims

1. Machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in a cylinder head comprising: a first station for loading and unloading said head and for loading said guides and said seats at least one upper mask and at least one lower mask, respectively; a second pressing station for the assembly and pressing of said guides and said seats in the cylinder head; a rotating table comprising a first support tool and second support tool, the first and second tools configured to support the cylinder head and being said table configured to rotate so that the first tool and the second tool are arranged alternatively and simultaneously at the first station and the second station; a first manipulator configured to place said guides and said seats in the at least one upper mask and lower mask respectively at the first station; and at least one pressing head configured to snap the seats and the guides on to the cylinder head at the second station.

2. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head, according to claim 1, in which the first tool and the second tool are arranged at 180 on the rotating table.

3. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one upper and lower mask comprises two upper masks and two lower masks.

4. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, in which the first tool and the second tool have tilting means allowing tilting the cylinder head so axes of the valves remain in a vertical position for the placement of the guides and seats in a vertical position.

5. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, in which the at least one lower mask is affixed to the rotating table and comprises at least one line of seat housings configured to house the valve seats, said housings arranged in a vertical position.

6. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one upper mask is assembled on the first tool or the second tool in an extractable manner to allow loading and unloading of the cylinder head, and the at least one upper mask comprises at least one line of guide housings configured to house the valve guides.

7. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein the first manipulator is a manipulating robot arranged on a rotating axis of the rotating table.

8. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein at least one pressing head comprises an electric press assembled over a C-shaped structure to withstand reaction forces during the insertion of the guides and the seats, the C-shaped structure vertically displaceable relative to said rotating table.

9. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one pressing head, comprises displacement means in two perpendicular directions to allow positioning the cylinder head in different positions in the guides and the seats.

10. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claims 9, further comprising braking and blocking means for vertical displacement of the C-shaped structure.

11. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one pressing head comprises a lower pusher for pressing the seats and an upper pusher for pressing the guides.

12. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 8, wherein said pressing head comprises a top blocking retractile element.

13. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 1, further comprising a second manipulator that places the cylinder head in said first loading and unloading station and removes the cylinder head from said first loading and unloading station, and loads and unloads the at least one upper mask at the loading station.

14. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 13, comprising an oiling unit and wherein said second manipulator places said cylinder head at the oiling station prior to the placement of the cylinder head in said first loading and unloading station.

15. The machine for the assembly of valve guides and seats in the cylinder head according to claim 13 or 14, further comprising a cylinder head infeed and outfeed conveyor and an inspection conveyor for out of tolerance cylinder heads.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Next, in order to supplement the description and with the purpose of achieving a better comprehension of the characteristics of the invention according to a preferred practical embodiment of the same, a set of figures are joined to this description, as an integral part thereof by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, in which the following is represented:

(2) FIG. 1 is a plan view of the assembly cell of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a plan view of the assembly machine of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a plan view of the peripherals of the assembly cell of the present invention;

(5) FIGS. 4 to 7 are perspective views of a part of the assembly machine in which the placing and pressing steps of the guides and seats in the engine cylinder head can be observed;

(6) FIGS. 8 to 13 are elevation views of the pressing steps with the pressing head of the invention, in which the manner in which the guides and seats are placed in the engine cylinder head can be observed.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(7) FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the components of the assembly cell of the present invention.

(8) The assembly cell comprises the following: an assembly machine, generally identified by means of the numeric reference 1, which, in turn, comprises a first station 4 for loading and unloading engine cylinder heads 9 and a second pressing station 5, at which the valve seats 12 and guides 13 are snapped on to said engine cylinder heads 9; a seat feeder 2, supplying the seats 12 to said first station 4; a guide feeder 3, supplying the guides 13 to said first station 4; a engine cylinder head 9 infeed/outfeed conveyor 19, providing the cylinder heads 9 to the assembly machine 1 and evacuating the cylinder heads 9 once the guides 3 and the seats 2 are assembled. A second manipulating robot 17 is in charge of loading the cylinder heads 9 from the infeed/outfeed conveyor 19 to the assembly machine 1 and of the unloading from the assembly machine 1 to the infeed/outfeed conveyor 19; an oiling station 18 in which the cylinder head 9 is oiled before being placed in the assembly machine 1; and an inspection conveyor belt 20, by means of which the out of tolerance cylinder heads 9 are removed.

(9) In FIG. 2, the components of the assembly machine 1 can be observed in more detail, which comprises a rotating table 6 on which a first support tool 8 and a second support tool 8 are assembled, so that the tools 8 and 8 can rotate 180 regarding a vertical rotating axis arranged at the center of the rotating table 6.

(10) The first tool 8 and the second tool 8 have tilting means 22 (for example, an engine) for tilting the cylinder head; a lower mask 10 to place the seats 12, arranged under the tool 8, 8 and affixed to the rotating table 6, so that the cylinder head 9 is located above the lower mask 10, as observed in FIG. 4; and an upper mask 11 for the guides 13, which is located above the cylinder head 9.

(11) The guides 13 are loaded in the upper mask 11, which is extractable at each cycle to load and unload the cylinder head 9. The upper mask 11 will arrange the housings for the guides 13 according to the geometry of the engine cylinder head 9 (position and angle) and will include tools to determine the precision in the insertion height of said guides.

(12) The valve seats 12 will be loaded at the lower mask 10, which will be provided with one or two housing lines (admission and escape), depending on the type of cylinder head 9 (in-line or inclined valves). These housings will be arranged in a vertical position and will be activated independently by insertion unit (or units) and will have an independent return to an at-rest position.

(13) The assembly machine 1 also comprises a first manipulating robot 7, arranged according to the rotating axis of the rotating table 6, whose purpose is to place the seats 12 and the guides 13 at the lower mask 10 and the upper mask 11, respectively.

(14) The feeding of the first station 4 (seats 12, guides 13, cylinder head 9 and the upper mask 11) can be manual or automatic. The automatic feeding means were represented in the attached figures.

(15) Option 1: Manual feeding

(16) The operator will carry out the following functions: Loading seats 12 and guides 13 to the lower mask 10 and upper mask 11; Loading/unloading the engine cylinder head 9; Loading/unloading the upper mask 11.
Option 2: Automating feeding

(17) The following functions are carried out: Feeding of guides 13: automatically, by means of one or several vibrators, depending on the amount to be assembled or on the time required to change batches; Feeding seats 12: automatically and according to two main options: a) by means of vertical housings arranged circularly or in line; b) by means of staggered feeders. Loading/unloading the cylinder head 9: by means of a second manipulating robot 17 (six-axis) arranged at the cell and outside of the assembly machine 1; Loading/unloading the upper mask 11: carried out by the same manipulating robot manipulating the cylinder head 9.

(18) The feeding of these components (guides 13 and seats 12) will be carried out at the same assembly height, so that no blowing or transportation system by means of flexible conduits is required. With the solution presented, there are savings in air consumption and in the maintenance of feeder tubes.

(19) Prior to loading seats 12 and guides 13 to the masks 10 and 11, the recognition of type and position must be carried out. The type of solution adopted will depend on the amount of components to be controlled, with the option of choosing a mechanical, laser or vision measuring device.

(20) The second station 5 comprises a pressing head 21 that snaps the seats 12 and guides 13 on to the cylinder head 9. For this purpose a pusher 14 for the seats 12 and pusher 15 for the guides 13 is used. Said pressing head 21 also comprises a mechanical blocking element 16 to withstand the insertion force of seats 12.

(21) The pressing head (or heads) 21 is assembled on a table 23 with a horizontal

(22) Cartesian movement in two axes XY to displace the pressing head 21 to the different insertion positions (each one of the admission and escape valves), while also correcting the misalignment between the admission and escape originated during the rotation of the cylinder head 9 to position the axes of the vertically-arranged valves.

(23) The pressing head 21 is based on an electric press, which will be integrated into a C-shaped structure that will withstand the contrary reaction of the insertion forces. The structure will be guided vertically 24 and balanced in weight to reduce the influence that the weight itself could exert on the resulting insertion forces, while speeding up the process.

(24) The insertion of the components (seats 12 and guides 13) is carried out with a single press, but by controlling the force and insertion height of the seats 12 and guides 13 independently. For this purpose, the pressing head 21 is provided with a mechanical blocking element 16 to liberate/activate the support, for pressing the seat 12, or to liberate/activate the guides 13 pusher 15. The C-shaped structure is also provided with an external lock to immobilize the structure during the process of liberating/activating the support/pusher.

(25) The operating steps of the pressing head 21 would be the following:

(26) AIntroduction of the Seats

(27) a1. The C-shaped structure is placed in the corresponding position regarding the cylinder head 9 (this position is observed in FIG. 8);

(28) a2. The upper blocking element 16 descends until entering into contact with the upper mask 11. This blocking element 16 withstands the pushing force during the insertion of the seats 12 (this position is observed in FIG. 9);

(29) a3. The C-shaped structure moves vertically (upwards) so that the lower pusher 14 introduces a seat 12 in its corresponding housing of the cylinder head. The blocking element 16 withstands the insertion force during this operation. The external lock of the C-shaped structure is activated in this position (this position is observed in FIG. 10).

(30) BIntroduction of the Guides

(31) b1. The upper pusher 15 descends, beginning the introduction of one guide 13 into the corresponding housing of the cylinder head 9 (this position is observed in FIG. 11);

(32) b. The insertion of the guide 13 is completed, pushing against the seat in the housing of the cylinder head 9 and unlocking the external lock of the C-shaped structure (this position is observed in FIG. 12);

(33) c. The C-shaped structure begins its descent liberating the upper pusher 15 (this position is observed in FIG. 13).

(34) The model changes are carried out simply through the mechanical change of the pusher 15 of the guides 13, in addition to the necessary programming.

(35) In this text, the word comprises and its variants (such as comprising, etc.), should not be interpreted in an excluding manner, that is to say, they do not exclude the possibility that what is being described includes other elements, steps, etc.

(36) On the other hand, the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments that have been described; it also includes, for example, the variants that could be carried out by anyone with an ordinary skill in the art (for example, regarding the choice of materials, dimensions, components, configuration, etc.) within the scope of the claims.