JP2003170336A - Machine tool having flexible structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lightweight machine tool capable of high-speed machining, accurately machining into an arbitrary shape and reducing cost. <P>SOLUTION: The machine tool is constructed to detect the position of a tool tip of the machine tool by means of a laser beam, to detect the amount of deformation of a main body of the machine tool and to control machining of a workpiece by moving the position of the tool tip based on information about the position of the tool tip and the amount of deformation of the main body of the machine tool. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machine tool such as a machining center for processing large composite material parts such as ships, automobiles, aircraft, rockets, spacecraft such as artificial satellites.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a machine tool for manufacturing such a large-sized composite material part, position control of three or more axes is performed by NC control, and the composite material part is automatically machined into a predetermined shape. Various machine tools such as machining centers are used.

[0003]

By the way, in a machine tool for machining a large-sized component, it is necessary to make it large.
Conventionally, the main body of such a machine tool generally places the highest priority on rigidity, and is made of a metal having rigidity such as steel in order to prevent vibration. Furthermore, in conventional machine tools, the three-dimensional position of the cutting edge is managed by each control axis (X, Y, Z, etc.) of the machine tool, so it is essential that each structure / axis has high rigidity. Also from this point, the conventional machine tools are made of metal having rigidity such as steel.

As described above, as the machine tool main body is made of metal, the weight of the machine tool itself becomes large, and the deformation due to its own weight is an important problem for the machine accuracy of the machine tool. Furthermore, in the conventional machine tool, the accuracy of the machine tool is affected by the foundation (base), thermal expansion, deformation of the cutting edge due to reaction force, and the like.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a machine tool which is lightweight, has a high processing speed, can be machined into an arbitrary shape with high precision, and can be reduced in cost. And

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the problems and objects in the prior art as described above, and the flexible machine tool of the present invention controls the tool position. However, a machine tool for processing a workpiece, wherein the machine tool body is made of a resin / reinforced fiber composite material, the position of the tool tip of the machine tool is detected by laser light, and the tool tip is It is configured to control so as to process the workpiece while moving the position of.

As described above, since the main body of the machine tool is made of the resin / reinforced fiber composite material, the weight of the machine tool is light, the weight of the movable part is small, and the position of the tool can be moved quickly. It can be done and the processing speed is improved. In addition, unlike the past, it is not necessary to configure the machine tool body with metal such as steel, so the cost of the machine tool body can be reduced,
It is easy to carry and install machine tools.

Moreover, since the position of the tool tip is detected by laser light and the workpiece is controlled while moving the position of the tool tip, a flexible resin (having a lower elastic modulus than steel) is used. -Even if the machine tool body made of reinforced fiber-based composite material is deformed, it can be corrected and the tool tip position can be moved to an accurate position, enabling precise machining to be performed accurately. It is possible.

As described above, according to the machine tool of the present invention, the machine shape is managed and captured in the absolute coordinate system by using the laser non-contact position measuring device independent of the machine tool structure. This can be solved by controlling all the factors that affect the accuracy of the machine, such as the foundation (base), thermal expansion, and deformation due to the reaction force of the cutting edge, in the absolute coordinate system.

In the flexible machine tool of the present invention, the position of the tool tip of the machine tool is detected by laser light, and the deformation amount of the machine tool body is detected to detect the position information of the tool tip and the machine tool. It is characterized in that it is configured to control so as to process the workpiece while moving the position of the tool tip based on the deformation amount of the apparatus main body. In this way, the position of the tool tip is detected with laser light, the amount of deformation of the machine tool body is detected, and the position of the tool tip is moved based on the position information of the tool tip and the amount of deformation of the machine tool body. However, since it is controlled to process the work piece, even if the machine tool body made of flexible resin / reinforced fiber composite material is deformed, it is corrected and the tool tip position is accurately adjusted. Can be moved to, and more precise processing can be performed with high precision.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments (examples) of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire machine tool of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the machine tool of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a machine tool as a whole. The machine tool 1 includes a machine tool body 2 and a tool position detection laser device 4. The machine tool body 2 is movable on a pedestal 6 on which a workpiece A such as a large-sized component such as an aircraft is placed, and on the pedestal 6 in the front-rear direction on a guide rail (not shown). It is composed of a work mechanism section 8.

The working mechanism section 8 includes the left and right flanges 1.
0 and 12, an arch portion 14 spanned between the left and right flanges 10 and 12, and a tool portion configured to be freely movable vertically and horizontally along the arch portion 14 by a moving mechanism (not shown). 16 and 16. on the other hand,
In front of the pedestal 6, the tool position detection laser device 4 for detecting the tip position of the tool of the tool portion 16 is provided on the left and right.

The machine tool 1 of the present invention thus configured
Then, the machine tool body 2 is formed by compounding a polymer material such as a plastic made of a thermosetting resin such as an epoxy resin or a polyimide resin and a reinforcing fiber material such as glass fiber, carbon fiber or aramid fiber. For example, fiber reinforced plastic (FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plas
stic)), glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP (Glass Fis
ber Reinforced Plastic), carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic)), aramid fiber reinforced plastic (AFRP (Aramid Fiber Reinf)
orced Plastic), PMC (Polymer Metrics Composit
Uses resin / reinforced fiber composite materials such as e).

As described above, the machine tool body 2 is made of a flexible material such as a resin / reinforced fiber composite material which is smaller in rigidity than the conventional machine tools. That is, when a structure is made of a resin composite material for the purpose of weight reduction, the elastic modulus is smaller than that of steel, so that the structure becomes flexible. Therefore, the structure is made to have a high rigidity to some extent, but since the machine is large, elastic deformation is large, which affects the work.

Therefore, in the machine tool 1 of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
Precise machining can be performed by controlling as shown in. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the tool position detection laser device 4 irradiates a laser to detect the tip position of the tool of the tool unit 16 using the absolute coordinate system. The detection result is input to the control device 60.

Then, the tool position information input to the control device 60 is compared with the work information of the workpiece A stored in the control device in advance, and the tool position instruction information indicates the tool position of the work mechanism section 8. It is output to the moving mechanism of the part 16 and the tool part 16
Is moved to the exact work position using the absolute coordinate system,
Precise work is being done. With this configuration, the position of the tool tip of the tool unit 16 is detected by the laser beam using the absolute coordinate system, and the workpiece A is machined while moving the position of the tool tip using the absolute coordinate system. Therefore, even if the machine tool body 2 formed of a flexible resin / reinforced fiber composite material is deformed, it is corrected and the tool tip position is moved to an accurate position. Therefore, it is possible to carry out precise processing with high precision.

That is, since the system is a system that manages and captures the shape of a workpiece in an absolute coordinate system by using a laser non-contact position measuring device independent of the machine tool structure, it is an element that affects the accuracy of the machine tool. This can be solved by controlling all elements such as the foundation (base), thermal expansion, and deformation due to the reaction force of the cutting edge in the absolute coordinate system.

[0019]

According to the machine tool of the present invention, since the machine tool body is made of the resin / reinforced fiber composite material, the machine tool is light in weight and the movable part is small in weight. The position of the tool can be moved quickly and the processing speed can be improved. Further, unlike the conventional case, since it is not necessary to configure the machine tool body with metal such as steel, the cost of the machine tool body can be reduced, and the machine tool can be transported and installed easily.

Moreover, since the position of the tool tip is detected by laser light and the workpiece is controlled while moving the position of the tool tip, it is formed from a flexible resin / reinforced fiber composite material. Even if the machined device body is deformed, it can be corrected to move the tool tip position to an accurate position, and precise machining can be performed with high accuracy.

Further, according to the machine tool of the present invention, the position of the tool tip is detected by the laser beam, and the deformation amount of the machine tool body is detected to obtain the positional information of the tool tip and the deformation amount of the machine tool body. Based on this, it is controlled so that the work piece is processed while moving the tool tip position, so even if the machine tool body made of flexible resin / reinforced fiber composite material is deformed, this is corrected. As a result, the tool tip position can be moved to an accurate position, and more precise machining can be performed with high accuracy.

Further, according to the machine tool of the present invention, the machine shape is managed and captured in the absolute coordinate system by using the laser non-contact position measuring device independent of the machine tool structure. It is extremely excellent in that it can solve many factors that affect the accuracy of, such as the basic (base), thermal expansion, and deformation due to the reaction force of the cutting edge, by controlling all in the absolute coordinate system. It is an invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an entire machine tool of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a machine tool of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 Machine tool 2 Machine tool body 4 Tool position detection laser device 6 pedestals 8 Machinery Department 10, 12 flange 14 Arch 16 Tool Department A work piece

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A machine tool for machining a workpiece while controlling the tool position, wherein the machine tool body is made of a resin / reinforced fiber composite material, and the position of the tool tip of the machine tool is controlled. Is detected by laser light,
A machine tool having a flexible structure, which is configured to control so as to machine a workpiece while moving a position of a tool tip. 2. A position of a tool tip of the machine tool is detected by a laser beam, a deformation amount of the machine tool body is detected, and based on position information of the tool tip and a deformation amount of the machine tool body, The flexible structure machine tool according to claim 1, wherein the machine tool is configured to control the workpiece so as to machine the workpiece while moving the position of the tool tip.