Method and apparatus for engine piston installation by use of industrial robots

Abstract

A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeezes the rings, finds the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for stuffing a piston assembly into an associated bore of an engine block, said piston assembly comprising:
 a rod cap; and   a piston subassembly comprising a connecting rod suitable for coupling to said rod cap and a piston head, the apparatus comprising:   a first robot having a gripper for picking up said piston subassembly and inserting said piston subassembly into said associated bore of the engine block, said gripper comprising a pushing/suction unit for picking up said piston subassembly, said pushing/suction unit extendable outwardly from said gripper to pick those ones of said piston subassemblies that cannot be picked by said gripper when said pushing/suction unit is not extended outwardly from said gripper; and   one or more tools for inserting said rod cap into said bore and allowing said rod cap to be fastened to said connecting rod.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said pushing/suction unit comprises a suction cup mounted on said pushing/suction unit to engage with a top surface of said piston subassembly when said pushing/suction unit picks up said piston subassembly.