JP2006172020A - Information processor and its control method, program, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately simulate a distance from a flexible medium which is conveyed within a conveyance path to a component which constitutes a conveyance path. <P>SOLUTION: An information processor 1900 which simulates the behavior of a flexible medium which is conveyed within the conveyance path is equipped with; a processing section 1902 which computes the distance from the flexible medium to the component which constitutes the conveyance path in time series; and a display section 1904 which displays the distance computed by the processing section 1902 in time series. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a design support application. More specifically, in a device such as a copying machine or an LBP (laser beam printer), a sheet-like member when a sheet-like member including paper, film, etc. is conveyed in the conveyance path. The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a control method thereof, a program, and a storage medium that can be suitably used for optimal design of a conveyance path by analyzing the behavior of the apparatus by computer simulation.

  In designing the transport path, it is preferable to examine the function of the design under various conditions before actually making the product, because the man-hours required for manufacturing and testing the prototype can be reduced, and the development period and cost can be reduced. As a technology for simulating the behavior of paper in the transport path for this purpose, flexible media is expressed by finite elements using the finite element method, contact with guides and rollers in the transport path is determined, and the equation of motion is numerical. A design support program for evaluating the conveyance resistance and the contact angle with the guide of the flexible medium by solving the above is proposed. (For example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  In addition, a technique for improving the calculation speed by expressing a flexible medium more simply by a mass and a spring is disclosed.

For example, when solving the motion of a flexible medium, as described above, a motion equation of the flexible medium expressed discretely by a finite element or mass-spring system is established, and the analysis target time is set to a time step having a finite width. This is achieved by numerical time integration that sequentially calculates acceleration, velocity, and displacement, which are unknowns at each time step from time 0. Newmark's β method, Wilson's θ method, Euler method, Kutta-merson method, etc. are widely known. It has been.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-195052 JP-A-11-116133

  The design support program as described above can evaluate the conveyance resistance and the contact angle between the flexible medium and the guide, but cannot evaluate the distance between the flexible medium and the guide as a result. . For this reason, the distance between the part to be evaluated and the flexible medium can only be determined by the designer, and if the linear distance from a certain point to the paper is not appropriate, a problem may occur in the transport system.

  For example, if the paper does not contact the transport belt and the desired transport efficiency cannot be obtained as a result of simulation when designing the transport path, or if the image surface contacts the guide after transfer and the image is disturbed, the position of the belt or guide Need to improve the distance from the paper. However, there has been a problem that quantitative improvement measures cannot be proposed for these transport paths.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and an object thereof is to simulate the distance between a flexible medium transported in a transport path and components constituting the transport path.

  A first aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus that simulates the behavior of a flexible medium transported in a transport path, wherein an arbitrary position on the component is defined as an evaluation point, and the evaluation point is The distance from the evaluation point to the intersection of the vector and the flexible medium is calculated in time series as the distance between the defining means for defining the vector as the starting point and the flexible medium and the components constituting the transport path. It is characterized by comprising processing means and control means for displaying the distance calculated by the processing means on the display unit in time series.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus control method for simulating the behavior of a flexible medium conveyed in a conveyance path, wherein an arbitrary position on the component is defined as an evaluation point, and As a distance between the defining step for defining a vector starting from the evaluation point and the flexible medium and the components constituting the transport path, the distance from the evaluation point to the intersection of the vector and the flexible medium is expressed in time series. It includes a processing step of performing arithmetic processing and a control step of displaying the distance calculated by the processing step on a display unit in time series.

  A third aspect of the present invention relates to a program and is characterized by executing the control method for the information processing apparatus.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a storage medium, and stores a program for executing the above-described information processing apparatus control method.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the distance of the flexible medium conveyed in the conveyance path | route and the component parts which comprise a conveyance path | route can be simulated accurately.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus 1900 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 19, a control unit 1901 controls the operation of the entire system of the information processing apparatus 1900 and executes a program stored in the storage unit 1905. The processing unit 1902 is configured by a CPU or the like, and calculates the distance between the flexible medium conveyed in the conveyance path and the components constituting the conveyance path in time series. The processing unit 1902 further divides the flexible medium into a plurality of mass points and connects the plurality of mass points with an elastic body by dividing the flexible medium into a plurality of mass points with a conveyance path defining unit 1906 that defines the arrangement of the conveyance path and the component parts. Flexible medium model creation unit 1908 expressed as an elastic body, conveyance condition setting unit 1909 for setting a conveyance condition when the flexible medium is conveyed in the conveyance path, and movement when the flexible medium is conveyed in the conveyance path A motion calculation unit 1910 for calculating The conveyance path definition unit 1906 is an evaluation point definition unit that defines an evaluation point serving as a reference when calculating the distance between the soft medium and the component part constituting the conveyance path at an arbitrary position on the component part constituting the conveyance path. 1907 is included. The input device 1903 includes, for example, a mouse and a keyboard. The display unit 1904 includes, for example, a monitor, a printer, and the like, and displays the distance between the flexible medium calculated by the processing unit 1902 and the components constituting the conveyance path in time series.

  Next, an example of an operation procedure of the information processing apparatus 1900 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described using a flowchart. As shown in FIG. 1, the operation procedure of the information processing apparatus 1900 of the present embodiment is as follows: transport path definition procedure S101, flexible medium model creation procedure S102, transport condition setting procedure S103, motion calculation procedure S104, and result display procedure S105. The following five procedures are executed sequentially. Details of the processing flow will be described below.

  Next, FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen configuration diagram of a program that executes this operation procedure. The screen mainly includes a menu bar 1 for switching the procedure, a sub-configuration menu 2 for each procedure, a graphical screen 3 for displaying the defined transport route and result, a command column 4 for outputting a program message and inputting a numerical value as necessary. Consists of.

  First, the transport route definition procedure S101 executed by the transport route definition unit 1906 will be described. When the “transport route” button in the menu bar 1 is pressed to define the transport route, the sub-configuration menu 2 of the transport route definition procedure S101 displays a desired range area on the left side of the screen as shown in FIG. Is displayed. The sub-configuration menu 2 includes a roller pair definition button 2A for defining a pair of transport rollers with two rollers, a roller definition button 2B for defining one roller independently, and a straight guide definition button 2C for defining a straight transport guide. An arc guide definition button 2D for defining an arc conveyance guide, a spline guide definition button 2E for defining a conveyance guide with a spline curve, and a flapper definition button 2F for defining a flapper (point) for branching a path along which a flexible medium is conveyed , Sensor definition button 2G for defining a sensor for detecting whether or not the flexible medium is at a predetermined position in the conveyance path, evaluation for defining an evaluation point when outputting the distance from the evaluation point on the conveyance path to the paper A point definition button 2H or the like can be displayed. Each of these buttons 2A to 2H is a part that constitutes a conveyance path of an actual copying machine or printer. Therefore, it is desirable that all the parts necessary for configuring the conveyance path of the flexible medium such as paper are prepared. When the definition of each component is performed using the sub-configuration menu, the position shape is reflected on the graphic screen 3.

  More specifically, when the roller pair definition button 2A is selected, the diameter, material, position, pressing force and the like of the two rollers can be selected or set as necessary. Similarly, when the roller definition button 2B is selected, the diameter, material, position, etc. of the single roller can be set.

  When the straight guide definition button 2C is selected, the guide length, position, material, and the like can be set. Similarly, the arc guide definition button 2D can set the center position, radius, and the like of the arc. When the spline guide definition button 2E is selected, the guide shape is determined by defining several points on the curve, and the material and the like can be set.

  When the flapper definition button 2F, the sensor definition button 2G, and the evaluation point definition button 2H are selected, the respective positions can be selected or set.

  After the definition of the conveyance path by the conveyance path definition procedure S101 is completed, the process proceeds to the flexible medium model creation procedure S102 executed by the flexible medium model creation unit 1908.

  In this embodiment, it is possible to shift to flexible media model creation by selecting a “medium definition” button provided in the menu bar 1 of FIG. FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen display when transitioning to flexible medium model creation. On the flexible media model creation screen implemented by pressing the “medium definition” button in the menu bar 1, a media type selection screen 2 I and a division method selection screen 2 J are displayed in the sub-configuration menu 2.

  Here, in order to determine the position of the flexible medium in the transport path, a message prompting input of the coordinate values of the both ends 31, 31 'of the flexible medium is displayed from the command column 4. The coordinate value can be input by inputting a numerical value in the command field 4 or by directly instructing the graphic screen 3 with a pointing device attached to a computer such as a mouse. When the coordinates of both end portions 31 and 31 'are defined, a straight line (broken line) 32 connecting both end portions 31 and 31' is drawn on the graphic screen 3, and how the flexible medium is installed in the transport path. Can be confirmed.

  When the flexible medium is arranged, a message prompting the input of the division number n for discretizing the flexible medium represented by the straight line (broken line) 32 into a plurality of spring-mass systems is displayed in the command column 4. Therefore, the desired division number n is entered in the command field 4. In this embodiment, an example in which 10 is input as the division number n is shown.

  A typical paper type name registered in advance is displayed on the medium type selection screen 2I, and it can be selected by clicking the type of the flexible medium to be calculated.

The calculation parameters necessary for calculating the motion of the flexible medium in the transport path are information such as the Young's modulus, density, and thickness of the flexible medium. The paper type displayed on the medium type selection screen 2I includes The above parameters are assigned as a database. In FIG. 3, EN100DK, which is a representative recycled paper, is selected as the medium type. By this selection operation, the Young's modulus of EN100DK is 5409 Mpa, the density is 6.8 × 10 ⁻⁷ kg / mm ³ , the paper thickness. A value of 0.0951 mm is selected from the database.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of creating a flexible medium model by equal division. The flexible medium arranged can be equally divided by selecting “Equal division” in the division method selection screen 2J of the “Medium definition” screen shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.

  Specifically, by this operation, the mass point 33 is arranged at a position that divides the straight line (broken line) 32 shown in the graphic screen 3 of FIG. 3 into 10 at equal intervals, and at the same time, the rotation spring 34 and the translation between the mass points 33 are arranged. A model connected by the spring 35 is created and displayed on the graphic screen 3 (FIG. 4).

  The rotation spring 34 connecting the mass points 33 represents the bending rigidity when the flexible medium is regarded as an elastic body, and the translation spring 35 represents the tensile rigidity. Both spring constants can be derived from elasticity theory. The rotation spring constant kr and the translation spring constant ks are given by the following equation (1) using the Young's modulus E, the width w, the paper thickness t, and the distance ΔL between the mass points.

The mass m of the mass point is calculated by the following equation (2), where the length L, width w, paper thickness t, density ρ, and division number n of the flexible medium.
m = Lwtρ / (n−1) Formula (2)
With the above operation, the flexible medium is model-defined as an elastic body that responds to bending and pulling forces on the program.

  After discretization into spring-mass elements is performed by creating a flexible medium model, the process proceeds to a transport condition setting procedure S103 executed by the transport condition setting unit 1909. In the transport condition setting procedure S103, transport conditions such as a transport roller driving condition, a flapper control for branching the transport path, and a friction coefficient when the transport guide or the transport roller contacts the flexible medium are defined.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the carrying condition setting procedure S103. When the “Conveyance condition” button in the menu bar 1 is pressed, a screen for defining the drive condition and the friction coefficient appears in the sub-configuration menu 2. FIG. 5 shows an example of input for driving control of the roller, and when the driving condition “roller” in the sub-configuration menu 2 is selected (in FIG. 5, the “roller” portion of the sub-configuration menu 2 is highlighted. ). With the roller in the sub-configuration menu 2 selected, a roller that defines a driving condition is selected from the transport rollers displayed on the graphic screen 3. When the selection of the necessary rollers is completed, if the time and the number of rotations of the roller are input to the command field 4 as the feature points, a graph showing the number of rotations of the roller with respect to time is displayed on the graphic screen 3 as shown in FIG. Is displayed.

  For example, if a feature point consisting of a set of (time, number of revolutions) is input from the command field 4 as needed, a graph can be created and displayed on the graphic screen.

  In this embodiment, the rotational speed of the roller is linearly increased from 0 to 120 rpm from 0 to 1 second, maintained at 120 rpm from 1 to 3 seconds, and decelerated from 120 rpm to 0 during 3 to 4 seconds. The feature points were input to As a result, a graph with time on the horizontal axis and the number of roller rotations on the vertical axis is displayed on the graphic screen 3 in FIG.

  The control definition of the flapper used for the branch path is basically the same as that of the roller, except that the vertical axis is an angle from the rotational speed. In the case of a flapper, the angle may be input with an initial angle of 0 degrees and a displacement angle therefrom, or may be input with an angle relative to an absolute reference line. From the viewpoint that it is easy to understand visually and intuitively, and the amount of movement is easy to understand, it is preferable to use the normal angle of the flapper as a reference.

  For the definition of the friction coefficient, the roller or guide displayed on the graphic screen 3 is individually selected while “friction coefficient” in the driving condition of the sub-configuration menu 2 is selected, and for each selected roller or guide. The friction coefficient μ with the paper is input from the command column 4. If the vertical drag obtained by the contact calculation between the mass point of the flexible medium and the roller or guide is N, the frictional force μN acts in the direction opposite to the paper conveyance direction as shown in FIG. Set to

  Next, an example of the exercise calculation procedure S104 executed by the exercise calculation unit 1910 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S41, a real time T for calculating the motion of the flexible medium and a time step Δt for numerical time integration used when numerically finding the solution of the motion equation are set.

  Thereafter, steps S42 to S47 are a loop of numerical time integration, and the motion of the flexible medium is calculated every Δt from the initial time, and the result is stored in the storage device.

  In step S42, initial acceleration, initial speed, and initial displacement necessary for calculation after Δt seconds are set. As for these values, the calculation result (that is, the calculation value of the previous cycle is set as the initial value) is input every time one cycle ends.

  In step S43, a force acting on each mass point forming the flexible medium is defined. The force includes, for example, rotational moment, tensile force, contact force, friction force, gravity, air resistance force, Coulomb force, etc. After calculating the force acting on each mass point, the resultant force is finally converted into a flexible medium It is defined as the force applied to.

  In step S44, the force acting on the mass point obtained in step S43 is divided by the mass of the mass point, and the initial acceleration is added to calculate the acceleration after Δt seconds.

  In step S45, the product of acceleration and Δt is obtained, and the speed is calculated by adding the desired speed.

  In step S46, the product of the speed and Δt is obtained, and the displacement is calculated by adding the displacement.

  In this embodiment, Euler's time integration method is used for the physical quantity calculation after a series of Δt seconds in steps S43 to S46, but other time such as Kutta-merson, Newmark-β method, Willson-θ method, etc. An integration method may be adopted.

  In step S47, it is determined whether or not the calculation of all the mass points has been completed. If completed, the process proceeds to step 48. If not completed, the process returns to step 43 to calculate the next mass point.

  In step S48, it is determined whether or not the calculation time has reached the real time T set in step S41, and if so, the motion calculation procedure is terminated. If not, the process returns to step S42 again to repeat the time integration.

  In the result display procedure S105, when the “result display” button in the menu bar 1 is pressed, a moving image menu and a plot menu are displayed in the sub-configuration menu 2 of the display unit 1904. FIG. 9 shows an example of a moving image menu screen in the present embodiment. In the sub-configuration menu 2, a moving image and a plot can be largely selected. The moving image menu has a play button 91, a stop button 92, a pause button 93, a fast forward button 94, and a rewind button 95. With these buttons, the behavior of the flexible medium can be visualized on the graphic screen 3.

  After the result display procedure S105, the process proceeds to the graph display procedure. FIG. 10 shows a plot screen in the present embodiment. When one of the calculation results of acceleration, velocity, displacement, and resistance of a mass point to be graphed is selected from the plot menu, a time series graph is displayed on the graphic screen 3 of the display unit 1904.

  Here, when it is desired to graph the distance from an arbitrary point on the conveyance path to the flexible medium, the evaluation point / inter-paper distance is selected from the plot menu.

  An embodiment in which a conveyance belt is used will be described with reference to a conveyance route diagram schematically shown in FIG. The conveyor belt 51 sucks the flexible medium 52 such as paper from the side opposite to the side of the conveyor belt 51 where the flexible medium 52 contacts and conveys the flexible medium 52 to the conveyor belt 51. However, in the flexible medium 52 having elasticity as illustrated in the flexible medium 52, there is a case where a large gap is left between the conveyor belt 51 and the flexible medium 52, and the designed conveying force may not be obtained. .

  This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is used to measure a gap between a flexible medium such as paper and a conveyance belt and propose a correction plan for the conveyance path. Hereinafter, a method for outputting the evaluation points and the inter-paper distance will be described.

  First, as shown in FIG. 12, when the instruction of the evaluation point definition button 2H is detected in the sub-configuration menu 2 of the transport path definition procedure S101, the point on the part where the pointing device is placed in the graphic screen 3 of the display unit 1904. A marker 53 is displayed on the screen. When an instruction for the point is detected by clicking the mouse or the like, the point is defined as an evaluation point for calculating the distance from the flexible medium. The evaluation point is defined at an arbitrary position on the conveyance guide, belt, and roller, and the position is stored in the storage unit 1905.

  After the evaluation point 53 is defined, a vector for detecting the passage of the flexible medium starting from the evaluation point (the direction of the half line having the evaluation point as the starting point and the intersection with the flexible medium) is defined. After setting the evaluation point 53, a message for prompting selection of the end point is displayed. As shown in FIG. 13, the end point 54 and the evaluation point 53 are detected by detecting an instruction of a desired position on the screen by clicking the mouse. A vector 55 as a base point is defined. Then, the position and direction information of the defined vector 55 is stored in the storage unit 1905.

  As a function for automatically defining the normal vector from the part, when the pointing device is placed on the vertical line from the part passing through the evaluation point as shown in FIG. 14, the vertical line 56 and the marker are automatically displayed on the screen. The normal vector 57 can be defined by detecting the indication of the marker displayed by a mouse click operation or the like.

  After defining the evaluation point 53 and the vector 55 or 57, the distance from the evaluation point to the paper (the distance from the evaluation point to the intersection of the vector 55 (57) and the element vector of the flexible medium) is calculated by the following procedure.

  First, as shown in FIG. 15, an element vector 58 that connects the mass points constituting the flexible medium is calculated from the displacement calculation result of the mass points.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 16, the intersection 59 between the vector 55 or 57 for detecting the passage of the paper and the element vector 58 is calculated.

  Finally, a distance 60 from the evaluation point 53 to the intersection of the vectors 55 or 57 is calculated.

  The evaluation point / paper distance calculated in this way can be obtained by selecting the evaluation point / paper distance from the plot menu on the result display screen of the display unit 1904 as shown in FIG. Like the displacement, it is displayed in a time series graph.

  In this embodiment, a normal vector is defined from evaluation points on the conveyor belt, and an output result such as a graph 61 shown in FIG. 16 is obtained. Based on the graph 61, it is possible to determine a correction plan for the conveyance path such that the evaluation point / paper distance becomes smaller as in the graph 61 ′, and to easily correct the path like the conveyance belt 62 in FIG. it can.

  By such a distance calculation procedure between parts and flexible media and a graph display procedure, it is possible to quantitatively evaluate the conveyance path, and to efficiently design the conveyance path. As a result, not only the position, speed, and acceleration at the mass points, which are discrete points, but also the distance between the continuous paper and the parts can be obtained as a result. In particular, in the process of passing a sheet-like flexible medium such as paper (passing paper) through the transport path, the locus of the mass point of the paper, which is a flexible medium, varies across the entire paper, so the linear distance from a certain point to the paper always varies. However, if this amount is not appropriate, problems may occur in the transport system. However, since the distance from a certain point to the flexible medium between mass points can be measured by the above method, the distance between the parts and the flexible medium can be measured more accurately. Can be calculated.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

  It is possible to evaluate the function of the transport path under various conditions before actually making an object, and even a designer who does not have detailed knowledge on simulation regarding the modeling policy of flexible media has relatively high accuracy. Calculation results can be derived.

  In addition, it is possible to grasp a variation in the distance between the paper and the part and quantitatively evaluate a defect occurring when the paper is passed, so that it is possible to propose a quantitative improvement measure for the conveyance path.

  Further, by realizing the distance calculation procedure and the graph display procedure between the component parts and the flexible medium, it is possible to propose a quantitative improvement measure for the transport path.

It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a screen configuration of a transport mechanism definition procedure. It is explanatory drawing of a flexible medium definition procedure. It is explanatory drawing of the division | segmentation operation | movement of a flexible medium definition procedure. It is explanatory drawing of a conveyance condition definition procedure. It is explanatory drawing of control operation | movement of a conveyance condition definition procedure. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of friction coefficient (micro | micron | mu). It is a flowchart of an exercise | movement calculation procedure. It is explanatory drawing of the moving image menu in a result display procedure. It is explanatory drawing of the plot menu in a result display procedure. It is explanatory drawing of the conveyance belt in the procedure for calculating the distance between parts and flexible media. It is explanatory drawing of the evaluation point definition in the distance calculation procedure between components and flexible media. It is explanatory drawing of the vector definition which detects passage of a flexible medium. It is explanatory drawing of the normal vector definition which detects passage of a flexible medium. It is explanatory drawing of the element vector definition of a flexible medium. It is explanatory drawing of the calculation method of distance between components and flexible media. It is explanatory drawing of the plot screen of distance between components and flexible media. It is explanatory drawing of the improved conveyance belt which applied the distance calculation procedure between components and flexible media. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the information processing apparatus which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1900: Information processing apparatus 1902: Processing unit 1904: Display unit

Claims (5)

An information processing apparatus for simulating the behavior of a flexible medium transported in a transport path,
Defining means for defining an arbitrary position on the component as an evaluation point and defining a vector starting from the evaluation point;
A processing means for calculating the distance from the evaluation point to the intersection of the vector and the flexible medium in time series as the distance between the flexible medium and the components constituting the transport path;
Control means for displaying the distance calculated by the processing means on the display unit in time series;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flexible medium is a sheet-like member. A control method for an information processing apparatus that simulates the behavior of a flexible medium transported in a transport path,
A definition step of defining an arbitrary position on the component as an evaluation point and defining a vector starting from the evaluation point;
As a distance between the flexible medium and the components constituting the transport path, a processing step of calculating a distance from the evaluation point to the intersection of the vector and the flexible medium in time series,
A control step of displaying the distance calculated by the processing step on the display unit in time series;
A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, comprising:   The program which performs the control method of the information processing apparatus of Claim 3.   A storage medium storing a program for executing the control method of the information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

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