JP2006290579A - Sheet material conveyance simulation system and sheet material conveyance simulation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system capable of simulating the minimum behavior of a sheet material required for sheet material conveyance sequence verification at high speed. <P>SOLUTION: This sheet material conveyance simulation system is composed of a sheet material conveyance path, a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism generating means 102 for generating a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism defined by a sheet material conveyance means set on the sheet material conveyance path and a sheet material detection means in a computer, and a simulation conveyance execution means 103 for calculating a tip position, a rear end position, and amount of loosening of a virtual sheet material conveyed on the virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism by length of a sheet material defined in advance and conveyance speed of the sheet material conveyance means existent between a tip and a rear end of the virtual sheet material on the sheet material conveyance path and simulating sheet material conveyance operation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a sheet material conveyance simulation for virtually simulating how a sheet material behaves according to a control sequence in order to design and verify a control sequence of a conveyance mechanism that conveys a sheet material such as paper. The present invention relates to a system and a sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus.

  Conventionally, as such a sheet material conveyance simulation system, the sheet material is defined by the front end position, the rear end position, and the length, and is moved by a predetermined unit according to the control sequence in the conveyance simulation apparatus, and data is calculated every time it moves. A method has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In addition, a method for reproducing the behavior of the sheet material in more detail using Young's modulus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 09-309665 A JP 2003-014598 A

  However, in the control sequence examination of the sheet material transport mechanism, it is difficult to predict the behavior of the sheet material across a plurality of rollers as shown in FIG. 5 by analyzing only the position of the leading and trailing edges of the sheet material.

  In addition, when an advanced analysis method of sheet material behavior is used, a behavior closer to the actual operation can be reproduced, but the simulation speed becomes slow due to an increase in analysis load. Such a simulation system is suitable when the partial function of the transport mechanism is examined in detail. However, in order to examine the control sequence of the entire transport mechanism, a more schematic simulation device that can identify the loose portion of the sheet material accompanying the control sequence of the transport mechanism is desired.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a sheet material conveyance simulation system and a sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus which can operate at high speed and have a minimum sheet material behavior prediction function for examining a control sequence of a sheet material conveyance mechanism. It is an object.

  The present invention can solve the above problems by the following configuration.

  (1) Virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism generating means for generating in a computer a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism defined by a sheet material conveyance path, a sheet material conveyance means set on the sheet material conveyance path, and a sheet material detection means. The leading edge position, the trailing edge position, and the slack amount of the virtual sheet material conveyed on the virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism, the predefined sheet material length, and the virtual sheet material on the sheet material conveyance path. A sheet material conveyance simulation system comprising simulation conveyance execution means for simulating a sheet material conveyance operation by calculating from a conveyance speed of a sheet material conveyance unit existing between a leading end and a rear end.

  (2) a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism generating unit that generates a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism defined in the sheet material conveyance path and a plurality of sheet material conveyance units set on the sheet material conveyance path in the computer; Simulation transport execution means for simulating the transport operation of the sheet material by calculating the transport state of the virtual sheet material transported on the virtual sheet material transport mechanism based on the transport speed of the plurality of sheet material transport means A sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus.

  According to the present invention, a minimum necessary sheet material behavior simulation can be performed by a simple control algorithm, and a system effective for verification of a sheet material conveyance sequence can be provided.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below based on examples.

  The sheet material conveyance simulation system of the present invention is realized as a program executed by a personal computer, a workstation or the like (hereinafter collectively referred to as a computer system), and a schematic diagram of the hardware configuration is shown in FIG. . A computer system 201 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU), a main storage device (hereinafter referred to as a RAM), a main body unit 202 having a built-in hard disk and the like, and a display device 203 that performs screen display according to instructions from the main body unit 202. A keyboard 204 for inputting user instructions and character information to the computer system 201, a mouse for inputting an instruction corresponding to an icon or the like displayed at that position by designating an arbitrary position on the display device 203 205.

  The hard disk stores a program realizing each function of the device control simulation system and various data for simulation including information on the device to be simulated. In the simulation, the program and various data are loaded into the RAM, and the program is executed by the CPU of the computer system 201.

  These basic operations of the computer system 201 are executed via an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) which is a basic program. Hereinafter, in this embodiment, the OS of the computer system 201 will be described as an example of a Windows (registered trademark) OS of Microsoft (registered trademark). However, the present invention is not limited to a system on a Windows (registered trademark) OS.

  FIG. 1 shows a functional configuration of a sheet material conveyance simulation system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in the figure, the sheet material conveyance simulation system of the present invention comprises a sheet material conveyance simulation unit 101, a GUI unit 104, and a conveyance sequence generation unit 105. Further, the sheet material conveyance simulation unit 101 is a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism generation unit. 102 and simulated conveyance execution means 103.

  The sheet material conveyance simulation unit 101 generates a virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism in the computer system 201 and simulates the behavior of the virtual sheet material according to a conveyance sequence output from a conveyance sequence generation unit 105 described later. The virtual sheet material and the behavior of the transport mechanism are shown as graphical information to the operator via a GUI unit 104 described later.

  The virtual sheet material transport mechanism generation unit 102 is provided on a sheet material transport path such as a sheet material transport path, a roller, or the like defined by the operator via a GUI unit 104 to be described later. A virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism is generated in the computer system 201 based on the arrangement of the sheet material sensors for detecting the sheet material and the conveyance speed definition of the sheet material conveyance means.

The simulated conveyance execution unit 103 simulates the behavior of the virtual sheet material from the operation instruction of the sheet material conveyance unit sequentially output from the conveyance sequence generation unit 105 and the conveyance speed information defined for each sheet material conveyance unit. The simulated conveyance execution unit 103 will be described in detail later.
The GUI unit 104 mediates the setting of the conveyance path definition and conveyance sequence for the sheet material conveyance simulation system by the user.

  The conveyance sequence generation unit 105 issues a drive instruction for various mechanisms to the sheet material conveyance simulation unit 101 according to the conveyance mechanism drive control sequence set by the user.

  Since various types of basic functions of the above-described sheet material conveyance simulation system have been proposed, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  Here, in the present invention, in the simulation conveyance execution unit 103 of the sheet material conveyance simulation unit 101, the leading edge position, the trailing edge position, and the slack amount of the virtual sheet material after the next one unit time are calculated for each unit time on the simulation. By calculating, the behavior of the sheet material on the conveyance path is simulated.

  The calculation method will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 6, the number of sheet material conveying means such as rollers existing on the sheet material conveying path between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the virtual sheet material at a certain time t in the simulation is N, and each sheet material conveying means is set to the maximum. _R 1 from the downstream (distal most) in _order, R _{2, ···,} and _{R N,} the conveying speed which is predefined each sheet material conveying means _{vd 1, vd 2, ···,} vd N, actual transport The speeds are the same v ₁ , v ₂ ,..., V _N , and the slack amounts on the downstream side of each sheet material conveying means (between the previous sheet material conveying means) are L ₁ , L ₂ ,. , L _N. Here, the amount of slack is determined from the length of the sheet material existing between the target sheet material conveying means and the sheet material conveying means arranged one downstream (near the tip), and the conveying path between the two conveying means. Is the value obtained by subtracting the distance. However, _{L 1} is always set to 0.

  In this system, the actual transport speed vn of the nth sheet material transport means Rn from the leading end is obtained as follows.

L _n = 0... V _n = MAX [vd _m , vd _n ]
L _n > 0... V _n = vd _{n
Here, MAX [vd x, vd y} ] indicates the maximum value of _vd x _{~vd y.}

Further, the conveying means _{R m} where the speed of vd _m is defined a satisfying conveying means _L n> 0, which is closest to the downstream of the _{R n} from _{R n.}

Next, L _n is obtained from the difference between v _n and v _n−1 as follows.

L _n = L _n + (v _n −v _n−1 ) · t
Here, t is one unit time. In the above equation, when L _n is 0, v _n−1 ≦ v _n is always satisfied by the speed determination algorithm. Therefore it is no L _n after the change is made to a negative value.

As described above, after obtaining the actual conveying speed of each sheet material conveying means and the amount of slack in each section, the leading end position is a conveying distance of one unit time obtained from the conveying speed v ₁ of the most downstream conveying means. It is obtained as the position on the downstream side on the conveyance path by the amount. Further, the sheet rear end position is obtained as a position upstream by l from the sheet front end on the conveyance path.

Where l is
l = lp−ΣL _n (lp: paper length)
The meaning of the above formula is to obtain a value obtained by subtracting all the slack amounts from the sheet length.

  The algorithm of the above arithmetic processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S301 (hereinafter simply referred to as S301), the slack amount L1 on the downstream side of the most downstream sheet material conveying means R1 is set to 0, and n and m are each set to 1 for processing from the most downstream sheet material conveying means. Initialize to. Next, in S302, it is determined whether Ln is 0 or larger than 0. If Ln is 0, the maximum conveyance speed MAX defined by the sheet material conveying means Rm to Rn as the actual conveyance speed vn [MAX [ vdm, vdn] are set. On the other hand, if it is determined that Ln is greater than 0, a predetermined conveying speed vdn is set as the actual conveying speed vn in the sheet material conveying means Rn, and n is substituted for m. After setting the actual conveying speed Vn of the sheet material conveying means Rn in S303 to S305, n is increased by 1 in S306. In step S307, n is compared with the number N of conveying means related to the sheet material. If n ≦ N, the process proceeds to step S308, Ln is obtained according to the above formula, and the process returns to step S302. When n> N in S307, the leading edge position and trailing edge position of the sheet material are obtained by the above-described method, and the process is terminated.

  With the processing as described above, the behavior of the sheet material necessary for verification of the sheet material conveyance sequence can be simulated by simple arithmetic processing.

  In the first embodiment, the rear end position of the sheet material is obtained from the front end position and the slack amount.

  However, in this method, for a while after the trailing edge of the sheet material passes through one downstream conveying means, the calculated trailing edge position of the sheet material becomes upstream of the conveying means.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, as a method for more accurately reproducing the operation after the trailing edge of the sheet material passes through one conveying means, a virtual conveying means having a defined conveying speed of 0 is always placed at the sheet material trailing edge position.

That is, in the definition of the first embodiment, the conveying means of RN _{+ 1} is always set at the sheet material rear end position,
Vd _{N + 1} = 0
And

Then, when the rear end of the sheet material passes through a certain conveying means, the slack amount _LN is taken over by the slack amount before the virtual conveying means after one unit time.

  The above processing algorithm is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

First, in the initial setting of S401, the steps by the most upstream sheet conveying means obtained by the previous calculation to the slack amount LN + 1 downstream of the virtual conveying means are S401 to S406, S408, and S409 are S301 to S306 and S308 of the first embodiment. Since it is the same as S309, description thereof is omitted. Further, S407 is the only difference that the processing is performed up to n = N in S307 of the first embodiment but is performed between n = N + 1. The major difference from the first embodiment is that in S410 and S411, if the trailing edge of the sheet material is expected to pass through the final conveying means at that time, the virtual conveying means RN + 1 (however, the final conveying) in the next processing This is where the slack amount _LN of the final roller at that time is taken over by the slack amount defined as “the virtual conveying means becomes RN when passing the means”.

  By processing as described above, it is possible to simulate the behavior of the sheet material after passing through the conveying means with the trailing edge of the sheet material closer to the actual state.

It is a block diagram explaining the function structure of the 1st Example of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of a computer system which is an execution environment of the sheet material conveyance simulation system of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control algorithm of the simulated conveyance execution means which concerns on 1st Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the control algorithm of the simulated conveyance execution means which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. Explanatory drawing showing paper behavior across multiple rollers Explanatory drawing showing the calculation method of the paper behavior of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

101 sheet material conveyance simulation unit 102 virtual sheet material conveyance mechanism generation unit 103 simulation conveyance execution unit 104 GUI unit 105 conveyance sequence generation unit

Claims (8)

A virtual sheet material conveying mechanism generating means for generating in the computer a virtual sheet material conveying mechanism defined by a sheet material conveying path, a sheet material conveying means set on the sheet material conveying path, and a sheet material detecting means;
The leading edge position, trailing edge position, and slack amount of the virtual sheet material conveyed on the virtual sheet material conveying mechanism are defined as the predefined sheet material length and the leading edge of the virtual sheet material on the sheet material conveying path. A sheet material conveyance simulation system comprising: a simulation conveyance execution unit that calculates a sheet material conveyance operation by calculating from a conveyance speed of a sheet material conveyance unit existing between the rear end and the sheet.   The simulated conveyance execution means conveys the leading edge position, trailing edge position, and slack amount of the virtual sheet material between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the virtual sheet material one unit time before each unit time in the simulation. 2. The sheet material conveyance simulation system according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material conveyance simulation system is obtained from a conveyance speed of the means, a slack position of the sheet material, and a slack amount.   The simulated conveyance execution unit is configured to convey the actual conveyance speed of each sheet material conveyance unit between the sheet material slack position and the sheet material conveyance unit at the closest position downstream of the sheet material conveyance unit. 2. The sheet material conveyance simulation system according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material conveyance simulation system is set to the fastest speed among the initially defined conveyance speeds of the sheet material conveyance means including the means.   The simulated conveyance execution means obtains the sheet material rear end position by a relative distance from the sheet material front end position, and the relative distance from the sheet material front end position to the sheet material rear end position is a total slack from the sheet material length. The sheet material conveyance simulation system according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material conveyance simulation system is obtained by subtracting the amount.   The sheet material conveyance simulation system according to claim 1, wherein the simulated conveyance execution unit always defines a virtual conveyance unit having an initial definition speed of 0 at a sheet material rear end position. A virtual sheet material conveying mechanism generating means for generating in the computer a virtual sheet material conveying mechanism defined by the sheet material conveying path and a plurality of sheet material conveying means set on the sheet material conveying path;
Simulation transport execution means for simulating the transport operation of the sheet material by calculating the transport state of the virtual sheet material transported on the virtual sheet material transport mechanism based on the transport speed of the plurality of sheet material transport means;
A sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus comprising:   The simulated conveyance execution unit is configured to calculate a leading edge position, a trailing edge position, and a slack amount of the virtual sheet, a predetermined sheet material length, and a leading edge and a trailing edge of the virtual sheet material on a sheet material conveyance path. The sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the calculation is performed based on conveyance speeds of the plurality of sheet material conveyance units existing therebetween.   The simulated conveyance execution means sets the leading edge position, trailing edge position, and slack amount of the virtual sheet material between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the virtual sheet material one unit time before each unit time in the simulation. The sheet material conveyance simulation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the sheet material conveyance simulation device is obtained from a conveyance speed of a plurality of sheet material conveyance units, a slack position of the sheet material, and a slack amount.

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