Vehicle panel roller hemming device and processing method using the same

Abstract

A vehicle panel roller hemming device includes roller hem equipment including: a positioning mechanism configured to position an outer panel on a hemming die by a locator; and a suction and fixing mechanism configured to suck and fix a lower face of the outer panel by a vacuum pad. The suction and fixing mechanism includes a pad base part; a skirt part continuously rising with a predetermined thickness from an edge of the pad base part and including an opening on an end edge thereof; a decompression space formed by an inner wall of the pad base part and an inner wall of the skirt part; and a suction through pipe penetrating the pad base part and communicating with the decompression space, and configured to suck air inside the decompression space.

1 . A vehicle panel roller hemming device for hemming a peripheral edge part of an outer panel of a vehicle panel, the vehicle panel including the outer panel and an inner panel, by a roller of a roller hemming robot, the vehicle panel roller hemming device comprising:
 a positioning mechanism configured to position the outer panel on a hemming die by a locator;   a suction and fixing mechanism configured to suck and fix a lower face of the outer panel by a plurality of vacuum pads; and   a locator retracting mechanism configured to retract the locator from a path of the roller of the roller hemming robot during roller hemming, wherein   each of the vacuum pads of the suction and fixing mechanism includes:
 a pad base part; 
 a skirt part continuously rising with a predetermined thickness from an edge of the pad base part and including an opening on an end edge of the skirt part; 
 a decompression space formed by an inner wall of the pad base part and an inner wall of the skirt part; and 
 a suction through pipe penetrating the pad base part and communicating with the decompression space, and configured to suck air inside the decompression space, and 
   a top-view shape of the opening of the skirt part is an ellipse, and a longer axis of the ellipse is substantially parallel to a direction in which a curvature of the vehicle panel is smaller.   
     
     
         2 . The vehicle panel roller hemming device according to  claim 1 , wherein a rise height of the skirt part from a surface of the pad base part is within a range of 3 to 5 mm. 
     
     
         3 . The vehicle panel roller hemming device according to  claim 1 , further comprising a swing arm device including a swing arm capable of turning, bending, and moving up and down in a space above the hemming die, wherein
 an inner panel fixing pad is disposed facing downward on a tip part of the swing arm, and   the swing arm lowers the inner panel fixing pad at a predetermined position to hold down an upper face of the inner panel by the inner panel fixing pad to prevent displacement and lift of the inner panel.   
     
     
         4 . A vehicle panel processing method comprising performing roller hemming while maintaining a state where the outer panel and the inner panel are fixed at a predetermined position on the hemming die by sucking and fixing the lower face of the outer panel by the vacuum pads and holding down an upper face of the inner panel by the inner panel fixing pad of the swing arm and a state where the locator for positioning the outer panel is retracted from the path of the roller. 
     
     
         5 . The vehicle panel roller hemming device according to  claim 2 , further comprising a swing arm device including a swing arm capable of turning, bending, and moving up and down in a space above the hemming die, wherein
 an inner panel fixing pad is disposed facing downward on a tip part of the swing arm, and   the swing arm lowers the inner panel fixing pad at a predetermined position to hold down an upper face of the inner panel by the inner panel fixing pad to prevent displacement and lift of the inner panel.