JP2009053736A - Numerical controller for inputting nc command independent of machine tool and working method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a numerical controller and a working method for working by actually applying an NC command independent of a machine tool. <P>SOLUTION: This numerical controller 1a is provided with: a machine information storage part 10; a conformity determination part 20; a command conversion part 30; an NC command decoding part 40 as a configuring element necessary for TEP NC; and a CNC control part 50. In this case, 11 shows machine information, and 2 shows an NC command independent of a machine; and 3 shows a command for an individual machine converted by the command conversion part 30. The COC control part 50 is provided with various configuration means configuring a normal numerical controller. The information (requirements for working machine) of the type of a machine tool which executes the NC command and the number of shafts and necessary operation strokes is described in the NC command 2. Since those description formats are not prescribed in current ISO14649 specifications, they are described in a predetermined format in a header part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a numerical control device, and more particularly to a numerical control device and a machining method for machining a workpiece by actually applying an NC command not depending on a machine tool.

  The current NC command in the G code format in the numerical control device is created by specifying a machine tool to be executed in advance. Therefore, when another machine tool must be used because the machine tool that was planned to be used is in use, it is an abbreviation for CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing). Returning to the (supporting system), the NC command for the machine tool is created again, or the operator manually corrects the NC command on the numerical controller.

  In order to eliminate such troubles depending on machine tools for creating NC commands, ISO 14649, which is the standard for NC commands, has been established. This ISO 14649 commands the shape to be machined and the machining method, and the function on the machine tool side such as coolant is not a command method that differs depending on the machine tool manufacturer as in the current M code, but uses general-purpose commands. Although it is possible to directly command the tool path, the NC command does not include information dependent on the machine tool because the route in the coordinate system fixed to the workpiece to be machined is commanded. Is independent of the machine (hereinafter referred to as “machine neutrality”).

  With the advent of ISO 14649, the environment for realizing NC command machine neutrality has been prepared, and NC commands that execute NC commands in the ISO 14649 format (hereinafter referred to as “STEP NC”) and NC commands that are common among different machine tools. The system is expected to be put to practical use.

So far, STEP NC has been prototyped in Western countries and South Korea. Those prototype information can be obtained via the Internet. For example, as a site, there is a web site of STEP Tool (http://www.steptool.com).
However, these published examples show how to convert the NC command in ISO 14649 format into a command in G code format and input it to the numerical control device, or a method that assumes a specific machine tool to be used for machining tests. Adopted, not intended to achieve machine neutrality.

  In addition, a technique is disclosed in which information related to the performance of a machine tool is held in a numerical control device, and the machining conditions of the NC command are corrected to machining conditions suitable for the machine tool (Patent Document 1). The purpose of this technology is to avoid the trouble of creating a plurality of NC commands in which machining conditions are changed for machine tools that can use the same NC command because the performance of the machine tool is different. The scope of application of the technology is extremely limited, such as being inapplicable to different machine tools.

JP 2006-110673 A

In order for the NC command to actually realize machine neutrality, a mechanism for enabling it is necessary on the numerical control side. Even in ISO 14649, complete machine neutrality is not guaranteed, and there are some machine tools that cannot execute NC commands depending on the type of machine and the number of axes. Accordingly, it is also necessary to quickly determine whether an NC command can be executed by a certain machine tool in order to efficiently operate a plurality of machine tools.
Furthermore, in realizing a STEP NC that receives NC commands in ISO 14649 format, the interface between the STEP NC and the machine tool is the same as the current numerical control device that receives NC commands in the G code format. It is desirable to reduce the burden on machine tool manufacturers in the transition from equipment to STEP NC.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a numerical control device and a machining method for machining a workpiece by actually applying an NC command not depending on a machine tool.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present application is a machining method in which a general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on individual machine tools is input to a numerical controller, and machining is performed using the numerical controller. Storing machine specification information and information on an interface between the numerical control device and the machine tool as machine information;
Determining whether the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on the machine information;
Converting the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
It is the processing method provided with.
The invention according to claim 2 is the machining method according to claim 1, wherein the general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on each machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP238 format.
In the invention according to claim 3, the specification information of the machine tool includes the type of machine tool, the shaft configuration, the stroke of each axis, the maximum feed speed of each axis, and the maximum spindle rotation speed. It is a processing method described in one.

The invention according to claim 4 is a numerical control device for inputting a general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on each machine tool,
A machine information storage unit storing machine tool specification information and information on an interface between the numerical controller and the machine tool;
A compatibility determination unit that determines whether or not the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on machine information stored in the machine information storage unit;
A conversion command unit that converts the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
Is a numerical control device.
The invention according to claim 5 is the numerical control device according to claim 4, wherein the general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on each machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP format.
In the invention according to claim 6, the machine tool specification information includes the type of machine tool, the shaft configuration, the stroke of each axis, the maximum feed speed of each axis, and the maximum spindle rotational speed. It is a numerical control apparatus described in one.

The invention according to claim 7 is a numerical control system for inputting a general-purpose first NC command independent of each machine tool, in which an external device and a plurality of numerical control devices are connected via a communication network. ,
A machine information unit storing machine tool specification information and information on an interface between the numerical controller and the machine tool as machine information;
A suitability determination unit that determines whether the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on the machine information;
A conversion command unit that converts the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
The compatibility determination unit is disposed at least in the external device,
It is a numerical control system.
The invention according to claim 8 is the numerical control system according to claim 7, wherein the general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on each machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP238 format.
In the invention according to claim 9, the machine tool specification information includes the type of machine tool, the shaft configuration, the stroke of each axis, the maximum feed speed of each axis, and the maximum spindle rotational speed. It is a numerical control system as described in one.

With the machining method of the present invention, it is possible to use general-purpose NC commands that do not depend on individual machine tools, and it is possible to quickly find a machine tool that can execute NC commands.
According to the present invention, a general-purpose NC command independent of individual machine tools can be used.
When the NC command is created using the CAM, it is not necessary to output a command for each machine tool by the post processor, and the number of steps for creating the NC command can be reduced. Further, when the machine tool intended to be used cannot be used, there is no need to convert it into NC commands for other machine tools.
According to the present invention, it is possible to quickly find a machine tool that can execute an NC command.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a numerical control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
A numerical control device 1 a that controls a machine tool (not shown) includes a machine information storage unit 10, a suitability determination unit 20, and a command conversion unit 30. In addition to these components, the numerical controller 1a includes an NC command decoding unit 40 and a CNC control unit 50, which are essential components for STEP NC.
Further, 11 is machine information, 2 is a general-purpose NC command that does not depend on the machine tool, and 3 is an individual machine command converted by the command conversion unit 30. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the CNC control unit 50 includes various constituent means that constitute a normal numerical control device such as a decoding unit for individual machine commands 3, a distribution unit for each axis movement command, and a servo control unit. It has. In particular, when the individual machine command 3 is an NC command in the G code format, the CNC control unit 50 is a normal numerical control device itself.

The NC command 2 describes the type and number of axes of the machine tool that executes the NC command, and information on necessary operation stroke (requirements for the processing machine). Since these description formats are not defined in the current ISO 14649 standard, they are described in a predetermined format in the header portion.
FIG. 2 is a description example of requirements for the processing machine. MACHINE_TYPE represents the type of machine that can be used to execute this NC command, V_MILLING, the first argument in parentheses, is a vertical milling machine, and the second argument, 3 is the number of machine axes is 3. Indicates. MACHINE_STROKE represents a stroke required for the machine, and three arguments indicate that the strokes of the X, Y, and Z axes are required to be 500 mm, 400 mm, and 300 mm or more, respectively.
Moreover, you may describe the kind of several machine which can be used for NC command. For example, when machining can be performed with either a milling machine or a multi-task machine, the types of machines that can be used for the argument of MACHINE_TYPE are described with commas. The number of arguments is greater than 2, but the machine type is text data sandwiched between quotes "", and the last argument is the number of axes without quotes. It is possible to distinguish.

The suitability determination unit 20 determines whether the NC command 2 can be executed from the requirements for the processing machine that is a machine tool read from the machine information 11 and the NC command 2. The determination result is displayed on a display device (not shown) of the numerical controller 1a. Alternatively, it is notified to an external system connected via a communication network.
FIG. 3 shows an example of the machine information 11 used for the above determination. Since the machine information 11 can be set by the user of the machine tool, the user's own classification can be used for the machine type. By specifying the type of machine that can be used in the NC command and the set value of the machine information 11, the user's own machine operation can be realized.
For example, there are a single milling machine and a combined milling and turning machine, and if the milling function is of the same specification, the NC command 2 for milling can be executed by either of the above machines. However, in operation, if the multi-task machine is actually used only for NC command 2 including milling and turning, only milling single-function machine should be set as the type of machine that can be used for NC command 2 only for milling. That's fine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of processing executed by the suitability determination unit 20. A description will be given according to the steps of the flowchart.
[Step A1]: First, the machine type, the number of axes, and the stroke information described in the NC command header are read.
[Step A2]: The machine type is compared with the machine type described in the machine information 11, and if the former does not match the latter, it is determined that the machine type cannot be used. If the type cannot be used, the process proceeds to step A5.
[Step A3]: Next, the number of axes is compared with the number of axes described in the machine information 11, and if the former is smaller than the latter, it is determined that the machine cannot be used, and the process proceeds to Step A5.
[Step A4]: Next, the stroke is compared with the stroke described in the machine information 11, and if any of the X, Y, and Z axes is greater than the latter, it is determined that the machine cannot be used. Proceed to
[Step A5]: The determination result is set to “unusable”.
[Step A6]: The determination result is set to “usable”.
[Step A7]: The determination result is output to the display screen of the numerical controller. Note that an NC command may be sent from the outside to the numerical control device via a network, and the determination result may be received. In that case, the determination result is output to an external device via the network. And it ends.

As described in the above flowchart, when it is determined that the machine tool can be used in step A6, the NC command 2 is converted into the individual machine command 3 by referring to the machine information 11 in the command conversion unit 30.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an algorithm of processing executed by the command conversion unit 30.
A description will be given according to the steps of this flowchart.
[Step B1]: Read information on machining units (tool type Tc, feed speed Fc, spindle rotational speed Sc, machine function Mc) from the NC command.
[Step B2]: Read the upper limit values (Fm and Sm, respectively) of the feed speed and the spindle rotation speed for the tool to be used from the machine information.
[Step B3]: When the feed rate command for the machining unit exceeds the machine performance (Fm <Fc), the feed rate command is replaced with Fm.
[Step B4]: When the spindle rotational speed command of the machining unit exceeds the machine performance (Sm <Sc), the spindle rotational speed command is replaced with Sm.
[Step B5]: From the machine information, read a machine-specific command corresponding to the machine function commanded in units of machining. In the case of coolant, the machine information is described in the format shown in FIG. M08 represents that the command to turn on the coolant is converted to M08. FIRST indicates that M08 is commanded to the first block of the block group in which the processing unit is converted. FALSE indicates that M08 is commanded alone, that is, another command must not be described in the same block as M08.
[Step B6]: The processing unit information is converted into machine-specific commands. When converting to the G code format, how to move the tool → G code for interpolation, calculated tool path → multiple blocks with the end point of the tool path, feed speed command → F code, spindle rotation speed command → Convert as S code, machine function command → M code.
[Step B7]: It is determined whether or not it is the last processing unit. If it is not the last, the process returns to Step B1. If it is the last, it ends.

The processing unit described in the flowchart is “Work” in ISO 14649.
It is a unit called “instep”, and is a unit that constitutes machining for one workpiece such as pocket rough machining. For each machining unit, a shape to be machined, a tool to be used, cutting conditions, and the like are given.

  In step B1 in FIG. 5, information on the tool type Tc, the feed speed Fc, the spindle rotational speed Sc, and the machine function Mc is read, but the information is not limited to these. For example, when the G codes representing the same interpolation differ from machine to machine, information on how to move the tool is also read. In the case of NURBS curve motion, this information is used to determine the G code (eg, G06.2) that the machine uses for NURBS interpolation.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a machining control system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the machining control system, the external device 60 is a device such as a personal computer that is installed outside the numerical control device, and a plurality of numerical control devices 1a, 1b,. It is connected. Numerical control devices 1b, 1c... 1n respectively control machine tools (not shown).

  The external device 60 includes a machine information storage unit 10, an NC command decoding unit 40, and a suitability determination unit 20. Machine information 11 is stored in the machine information storage unit 10. In addition, the connected numerical control devices 1b, 1c,..., 1n include an NC command decoding unit 40 and a command conversion unit 30, respectively.

  In this numerical control system, which machine tool can execute the NC command is determined by the external device 60 of the numerical control devices 1b, 1c,..., 1n, and the NC command can be transmitted to the numerical control device that can execute the NC command via the communication network. Send. Since the machine information 11 is managed in one place and it is determined whether or not it can be executed, the operation efficiency of the machine neutral NC command is increased.

As another embodiment, only the machine information storage unit 10 is placed on the numerical control device side and the compatibility determination unit 20 refers to it via a communication network, or the machine information storage unit 10 is also on the numerical control device side. It is also possible to configure a system that can determine the suitability even on the numerical control device by placing the suitability judging unit 20.
In this way, by providing a means for checking the use of NC commands and individual machines outside the numerical controller via a communication network, a machine that can execute the NC commands can be quickly searched from available machines. it can.

  Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the NC command not depending on the machine has been described as the NC command in the ISO 14649 format. However, the method and apparatus of the present invention are not limited to the ISO 14649 format, and the NC command in the STEP AP238 format, etc. It can be applied to any type of “machine-independent NC command”.

It is a schematic diagram of the numerical control apparatus which is the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a description example of requirements for a processing machine. It is an example of machine information. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the process of a suitability judgment part. It is a flowchart which shows the algorithm of the process of a command conversion part. It is a schematic diagram of the process control system which is the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. This is machine information related to the coolant-on command.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a, 1b, 1n Numerical control apparatus 10 Machine information storage part 20 Suitability judgment part 30 Command conversion part 40 NC command decoding part 50 CNC control part 60 External device 2 General-purpose NC command independent of machine tool 3 Command for individual machine 11 Machine information

Claims (9)

A machining method for inputting a general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on an individual machine tool to a numerical control device and performing machining using the numerical control device, comprising machine tool specification information, the numerical control device, Storing information relating to the interface with the machine tool as machine information;
Determining whether the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on the machine information;
Converting the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
A processing method with   The machining method according to claim 1, wherein the general-purpose first NC command independent of an individual machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP238 format.   The machine tool specification method according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the machine tool specification information includes a type of machine tool, a shaft configuration, a stroke of each axis, a maximum feed speed of each axis, and a maximum spindle rotational speed. A numerical control device for inputting a general-purpose first NC command independent of individual machine tools,
A machine information storage unit storing machine tool specification information and information on an interface between the numerical controller and the machine tool;
A compatibility determination unit that determines whether or not the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on machine information stored in the machine information storage unit;
A conversion command unit that converts the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
A numerical control device comprising:   5. The numerical controller according to claim 4, wherein the general-purpose first NC command that does not depend on an individual machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP format.   6. The numerical control device according to claim 4, wherein the specification information of the machine tool includes a type of the machine tool, a shaft configuration, a stroke of each axis, a maximum feed speed of each axis, and a maximum spindle rotational speed. . A numerical control system for inputting a general-purpose first NC command independent of individual machine tools, in which an external device and a plurality of numerical control devices are connected via a communication network,
A machine information unit storing machine tool specification information and information on an interface between the numerical controller and the machine tool as machine information;
A suitability determination unit that determines whether the first NC command can be executed by each machine tool based on the machine information;
A conversion command unit that converts the first NC command determined to be executable into a second NC command for each machine tool based on the machine information;
The compatibility determination unit is disposed at least in the external device,
Numerical control system.   The numerical control system according to claim 7, wherein the general-purpose first NC command independent of an individual machine tool is an NC command in ISO 14649 format or STEP AP238 format.   9. The numerical control system according to claim 7, wherein the specification information of the machine tool includes a type of the machine tool, an axis configuration, a stroke of each axis, a maximum feed speed of each axis, and a maximum spindle rotational speed. .

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