Assembly Part Positioning on Transformable Pin Array Fixture by Active Pin Maximization and Joining Point Alignment

Abstract

Designing and installing jigs and fixtures for new products are very costly tasks. In order to rapidly respond to frequent product changes in a manufacturing system, we developed a transformable pin array fixture system including reconfiguration planning software that finds the optimal position for mounting an assembly part and automatically generates a pin height control code. We first classified main fixturing quality factors such as type of contact, distance between a pin and a joining point, and part shape. We then formulate the part positioning problem as an alignment problem between the joining point set and the pin point set in the xy plane in consideration of the fixturing quality factors. A car door trim assembly module was used to verify the proposed method. Finite-element analysis results showed that in a car door trim assembly process such as ultrasonic welding and screwing, relocating an assembly part at the optimal position reduces its deformation.