Patent Application
20250018544
This application claims the benefit of priority of German Application No. 10 2023 118 600.0, filed Jul. 13, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to the field of mechanical engineering and manufacturing and assembly technology. Specifically, the present disclosure is directed to assembly processes in automotive engineering.
A large number of fastening elements of various shapes are known for fastening or connecting different components or structural elements, some of which can be attached by hand in individual applications, but many of which can also be attached by automated production machines. Many fastening elements hold components together by a force fit, others by a form fit. Fastening elements with wire pins and clamps, for example, are known.
A particular challenge in this regard is the quickest use of several fastening elements one after the other by a tool, wherein the fastening elements are usually arranged one behind the other in a magazine and conveyed automatically.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,767 B2, for example, discloses a fastening tool with which fastening elements in the form of angled plates are combined with nails. These are automatically conveyed to a position from which they are fastened to a component using an impact element. On the conveying path in the magazine of the tool, the fastening elements are each held individually by a fixing element before reaching this position until the path to the impact element is free.
Against the backdrop of the state of the art, the present disclosure is based on the object of providing a fastening tool, an adjustment tool and a fastening system which allow fastening elements to be processed quickly one after the other and ensure that the fastening elements can be used reliably and without interference.
Accordingly, the present disclosure relates to a fastening tool for applying fastening elements to a workpiece, having an impact tool which is set up to convey one fastening element at a time along an impact axis from a loading position within the fastening tool to a workpiece, wherein the fastening tool is set up to accommodate a magazine in which a plurality of fastening elements are arranged displaceably one behind the other along a loading path in a conveying direction towards the loading position, wherein an adjustment tool having at least one adjustment surface is provided and is guided movably counter to the conveying direction of the fastening elements in such a way that it engages in the loading path, wherein at least one adjustment surface is set up to displace a fastening element counter to the conveying direction and/or in at least one direction perpendicular to the conveying direction into a desired position and/or to hold it in a desired position by acting forcefully on the fastening element.
The loading path refers to the region that is covered by the fastening elements on their way to the desired position. The loading path can be straight or curved and runs parallel to the conveying direction in the region of the desired position. The loading path can be defined by one or more rails on which the fastening elements are mounted so that they can be displaced one behind the other, as well as by the space that the fastening elements pass through or occupy during their movement on a rail. The rails can be dimensioned and positioned in such a way that the fastening elements are guided in the rail(s), but can be moved to a limited extent perpendicular to their conveying direction in order to allow for manufacturing tolerances that lead to varying sizes of the fastening elements.
The fastening elements can be conveyed along the loading path, for example, by the force of a spring arranged at the end of the loading path. The desired position can be arranged on the loading path upstream of the loading position so that after adjustment, when the adjustment tool is moved to the release position, a fastening element is conveyed from the desired position to the loading position. While the fastening elements can lie against each other directly and without gaps in a magazine when they are conveyed to the desired position, it can be provided that the fastening element in the desired position is moved slightly away in this position from the fastening element in the loading position in the conveying direction so that the fastening element struck by the impact tool and the impact tool itself do not collide or generally interact with the penultimate fastening element which is located in the desired position upstream of the loading position. For this reason, it can be provided to allow the fastening elements to move in the conveying direction after each actuation of the impact tool and then to push the penultimate fastening element back slightly counter to the conveying direction through the adjusting element to distance it from the loading position.
The fastening element can accommodate a magazine for the fastening elements or directly contain a magazine that can be filled with fastening elements.
An advantageous embodiment of the present disclosure can provide that the adjustment tool is arranged pivotably between an adjustment position and a release position, wherein the adjustment tool in the adjustment position is in engagement with the fastening element which has been displaced and/or is to be held in the desired position, and wherein the adjustment tool in the release position releases the movement of the fastening elements along the loading path towards the loading position.
The adjustment tool can be moved, in particular pushed, into the adjustment position by the movement of the impact tool when it conveys a fastening element to a workpiece. A part of the impact tool or a part mechanically connected or coupled thereto can act directly on the adjustment tool and move it.
When the impact tool moves back from the workpiece, it can release the adjustment tool so that it is moved into the release position by a spring drive, for example.
An adjustment tool in the form of a fixed, pivotably mounted lever is particularly suitable for being pivoted into and out of the loading path counter to the conveying direction. For example, the lever/adjustment tool can be swung into the adjustment position, i.e. into the loading path, for example by a spring force and swung out of said adjustment position by a drive, or vice versa. The impact tool can be blocked by a mechanical lock until the adjustment tool has been brought into the adjustment position. The impact tool can then be released in this position.
It can also be provided that the adjustment tool has one or more adjustment surfaces in the form of inclined surfaces which are set up to interact with parts of a fastening element and exert a displacement force thereon perpendicular to the conveying direction. One or more of the inclined surfaces of the adjustment tool can be oriented in such a way that they engage with a region of a fastening element when the adjustment tool is displaced counter to the conveying direction and displace the fastening element in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction by means of a wedge effect. All inclined surfaces of the adjustment tool can be designed at least partially as flat surfaces, but also at least partially as curved surfaces.
It can also be provided that the fastening tool is set up to process fastening elements with a base and two legs fastened to the base, wherein the adjustment tool has at least two adjustment surfaces in the form of lateral inclined surfaces which are oriented opposite one another in such a way that in each case one of the inclined surfaces comes into contact with a leg of a fastening element. For example, at least two adjustment surfaces in the form of lateral inclined surfaces can be oriented relative to each other in such a way that they or their imaginary extensions intersect in a line which runs perpendicular to the conveying direction when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position.
In the event that the fastening tool is used to process fastening elements that have two legs fastened to a base, for example metal or wire clips or sheet metal clips, two lateral inclined surfaces on the adjustment tool can be oriented in such a way that, when the adjustment tool is brought into the adjustment position, they slide into the intermediate region between the legs of the next fastening element and act on the legs from this region and center the corresponding fastening element. If only two such inclined surfaces are provided opposite each other, the centering can take place along an axis that runs transverse to the conveying direction, for example perpendicular to the conveying direction. In many cases, the fastening elements are moved within a rail and rest on the rail due to gravity, so that adjustment is primarily required perpendicular to the direction of gravity. In many cases, however, adjustment in a plurality of directions perpendicular to the conveying direction can also be useful.
In order to realize the two aforementioned inclined surfaces, it can be provided, for example, that, when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position, at least two adjustment surfaces are arranged in the form of lateral inclined surfaces mirror-symmetrically with respect to a symmetry surface in which both the impact axis and the conveying direction run. The lateral inclined surfaces can be oriented towards each other like the roof slopes of a pitched roof, wherein the upper edge of the roof is cut off. However, the inclined surfaces can also be oriented at an angle to each other in order to generate not only centering, but also a resulting contact pressure on the fastening elements in the direction of a contact surface on which the fastening elements rest on the rail.
A further embodiment can provide that the adjustment tool has an adjustment pyramid which is designed in particular as a truncated pyramid, further in particular as a 5-sided truncated pyramid, and is delimited by adjustment surfaces in the form of inclined surfaces. When the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position, the adjustment pyramid faces the desired position of the fastening elements. In addition to two lateral inclined surfaces, two adjustment surfaces in the form of two upper inclined surfaces can be provided as boundary surfaces of the pyramid, which run towards each other in the form of a ship's bow and form an edge of the pyramid in the region in which they adjoin each other, which edge faces the free, pivotable end of the adjustment tool. In the release position of the adjustment tool, this edge faces the last adjusted fastening element in its desired position, which is moved from the desired position to the loading position when the adjustment tool is in the release position and is further guided by the upper inclined surfaces during this movement. Opposite this edge, the adjustment pyramid can be limited by a further surface that adjoins the two lateral inclined surfaces.
In principle, instead of an adjustment pyramid, the adjustment tool can have an elevation which, when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position, faces the desired position of the fastening elements and which has various inclined surfaces which are oriented differently. The inclined surfaces can be rounded, but they can advantageously also have flat inclined surface regions or be designed as completely flat inclined surfaces which interact with regions of a fastening element to be adjusted.
The present disclosure can be further advantageously implemented in that the adjustment tool has at least one adjustment surface in the form of a stop surface which, when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position in which it is in engagement with a fastening element to be displaced in its desired position, is oriented perpendicular to the conveying direction and which is set up in such a way that it strikes against a surface or edge of the fastening element which is oriented in particular perpendicular to the conveying direction.
The stop surface therefore serves to push the fastening element closest to the adjustment tool back slightly counter to the conveying direction and/or to hold it in a position at a distance from the loading position.
It can also be provided that the adjustment tool has the shape of a pivoting lever and tapers towards its free end in the region of the stop surface, in particular in its projection onto a surface which is perpendicular to the conveying direction when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position.
This lever can be pivotably mounted on a pivot axis which is spaced from the loading path and runs transversely to the conveying direction, in particular perpendicularly to the conveying direction, and it can then be pivoted into the loading path from outside the loading path in such a way that its movement in the region immediately before reaching the adjustment position runs completely or approximately parallel to the conveying direction. In this adjustment position, the adjustment tool is in the way of the fastening elements and can bring the next fastening element into a desired position both laterally and in the conveying direction. From this adjusted position, a fastening element can then be moved into the loading position as soon as the adjustment tool clears the way by pivoting back. In this release position, the inclined surfaces can still, in particular exclusively, project into the loading path so that in particular the upper inclined surfaces, but also optionally the lateral inclined surfaces, can guide a movement of a fastening element in the direction of the loading position so that the adjustment in the directions perpendicular to the conveying direction is maintained.
The fastening tool can, for example, be set up to process fastening elements with a base and two legs fastened to the base, wherein the longitudinal extension directions of the legs of a fastening element enclose an angle of less than 180 degrees, in particular less than 135 degrees, further in particular less than 90 degrees. Often the legs of a fastening element or at least their longitudinal extension directions, when viewed in the conveying direction, will run parallel to each other or approximately parallel to each other, or will only enclose an acute angle with each other, in particular if the fastening elements are designed as fastening clips.
The fastening tool can also be set up to process fastening elements with a base and two legs fastened to the base, wherein both the base and the legs are in each case formed by metal sheets which extend in the conveying direction in the desired position of the fastening elements.
The longest longitudinal extension of the metal sheets or the longest side can be oriented parallel to the conveying direction.
In this embodiment, in which the fastening elements consist of metal sheets that are bent or connected at an angle to one another, the fastening elements can also have a sheet metal tongue partially punched out of the metal sheet in the region of each of the legs, which sheet metal tongue is bent out of the leg in the direction of the other leg. These sheet metal tongues can each form stop surfaces which are used with a stop surface of the adjustment tool to adjust the fastening element in the conveying direction.
In addition to a fastening tool of the type described above, the present disclosure also relates to an adjustment tool for a fastening tool for applying fastening elements to a workpiece, wherein the fastening tool has an impact tool which is designed to convey a fastening element along an impact axis from a loading position within the fastening tool to a workpiece, wherein at least one fastening element is displaceable in the fastening tool in a conveying direction towards the loading position, and wherein the adjustment tool has a plurality of adjustment surfaces in the form of inclined surfaces for adjusting a fastening element, and/or the adjustment tool has at least one adjustment surface in the form of a stop surface which, when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position in which it is in engagement with a fastening element to be displaced, limits a movement of the fastening element in the conveying direction.
The adjustment tool can be moved, in particular pivoted, in a direction counter to the conveying direction. When the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position, the inclined surfaces of the adjustment tool can be used to adjust a fastening element in one or more directions perpendicular to the conveying direction. Furthermore, the adjustment tool can be designed as a pivotable lever which, on a side surface facing the fastening elements, has an elevation, in particular in the form of a pyramid, in particular a five-sided pyramid or a truncated pyramid, which is delimited by adjustment surfaces in the form of inclined surfaces. In the position of the adjustment tool in which it engages with a fastening element, two lateral inclined surfaces of the elevation are oriented mirror-symmetrically with respect to each other in such a way that their surface normals run horizontally when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position.
In the position of the adjustment tool in which it engages with a fastening element, two upper inclined surfaces of the elevation are oriented in such a way that their surface normals run obliquely upwards at an acute angle with respect to the conveying direction so that the two upper inclined surfaces form the shape of a ship's bow. This ship's bow can point upwards in the adjustment position and towards the desired position of the fastening elements in the release position.
In a release position, the adjustment tool can release the movement of a fastening element from an adjustment position to a loading position. The elevation on the side surface of the adjustment tool can still project into the movement path of the fastening element and guide its movement towards the loading position so that at least the adjustment in directions perpendicular to the conveying direction is maintained.
In addition to a fastening tool and an adjustment tool, the present disclosure also relates to a magazine for a fastening tool for applying fastening elements to a workpiece, which magazine has an impact tool which is set up to convey one fastening element at a time along an impact axis from a loading position within the fastening tool to a workpiece, wherein a plurality of fastening elements are arranged in the magazine so as to be displaceable one behind the other in a conveying direction towards the loading position, and wherein the magazine is set up to interact with an adjustment tool of the above-described type in such a way that the adjustment tool holds a fastening element in a desired position upstream of the loading position and releases it in the course of a pivoting movement to be conveyed into the loading position.
The present disclosure also relates to a fastening system having a fastening tool of the type described above and having a plurality of fastening elements which are set up to be displaced one behind the other in a conveying direction in the direction toward the loading position.
In addition, the invention also relates to a method for conveying fastening elements arranged one behind the other within a magazine of a fastening tool to a loading position in the conveying direction, from which loading position a fastening element can be conveyed to a workpiece by means of an impact tool, wherein a force is exerted on the fastening elements by means of a drive element in the direction of the loading position, and wherein a fastening element located directly upstream of the loading position is displaced into a desired position or held in a desired position by an adjustment tool that moves counter to the conveying direction for adjustment parallel to the conveying direction, and is adjusted in particular perpendicular to the conveying direction by at least one adjustment surface in the form of an inclined surface.
In the following, the present disclosure is illustrated on the basis of exemplary embodiments in figures of a drawing and explained below. In the drawings:
The adjustment tool 11 is designed as a lever that can be pivoted about an axis 17 on the fastening tool. A longitudinal axis of the adjustment tool 11 is labeled 18. The adjustment tool 11 has a drive arm 19 which extends in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 18 and to which a pivot drive is attached. On a front side surface, the adjustment tool 11 has an elevation 11f in the form of a truncated pyramid on which various adjustment surfaces 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d are arranged. The adjustment surfaces 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d formed as inclined surfaces are each designed as flat surfaces which are inclined towards each other. In another embodiment, these surfaces can also be partially rounded and optionally have flat partial surfaces. Among the adjustment surfaces 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d designed as inclined surfaces, the inclined surfaces 11a, 11b are referred to here as lateral inclined surfaces, while the inclined surfaces 11c, 11d are referred to in this text as upper inclined surfaces.
In the region of the free end 20 of the adjustment tool 11, as can be seen in
In the region of the taper at the free end 20 of the adjustment tool, an adjustment surface 11e is also provided on the front side surface thereof, on which the elevation 11f is also arranged, which adjustment surface is designed as a stop surface and, when the adjustment tool is in the adjustment position 11, interacts with the inwardly bent sheet metal tongues 2d, 2e of the fastening elements. The two lateral inclined surfaces 11a, 11b are arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal axis 18, as are the upper inclined surfaces 11c, 11d which run towards each other in the direction of the longitudinal axis 18 and form the shape of a ship's bow.
In
In this way, the adjustment tool 11 can also be pivoted through the fastening element which has reached the loading position 7 towards the penultimate fastening element 2 which is to be held in a desired position.
The fastening elements 2, 3 which move in the conveying direction 10 along said rail in a magazine 8 pass through a space that is referred to as the loading path 9. The adjustment tool 11 partially engages in this space, i.e. in the loading path 9, in order to achieve an adjustment of the fastening elements 2, 3 in the conveying direction 10 and perpendicular to the conveying direction 10.
To clarify, it should be noted that in
In
With the described design of the fastening tool and the adjustment tool as well as the magazine suitable for the fastening tool, fast processing of fastening elements one after the other can be realized without any problems, wherein the fastening elements are each adjusted in a desirable form for the use of an impact tool in a loading position. The described design largely prevents incorrect positioning and therefore interference when the fastening elements are moved forward, which could block the fastening tool.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2023 118 600.0 | Jul 2023 | DE | national |
