Alignment of parts in automatic assembly using vibrations

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate theoretically and experimentally vibrational alignment of parts in an assembly position under kinematical excitement of the movably based part.Design/methodology/approach – Presents developed mathematical model for vibrational alignment when the kinematical excitement of movable part is applied along the insertion axis. Dependencies of alignment duration on stiffness of basing elements and excitation frequency were defined numerically solving the mobile‐based part alignment equations. Alignment experiments of rectangular cross‐section and cylindrical parts under kinematical excitement were carried out.Findings – The mathematical model and the experiments have demonstrated that alignment of the parts being assembled happens due to directed displacement of the movable part resulted by certain parameters of the system and excitement. In the course of the displacement, mating surfaces are aligned and the final mutual orientation of the parts before insertion is realized...