JP2013133577A - Method and apparatus for generating knitting data for flat knitting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically generate knitting data for a flat knitting machine including a pair of front and rear needle beds, a carriage for operating needles on the needle beds, a plurality of carrier rails, and a plurality of carriers which are carried by the carriage along their respective carrier rails and feed yarns to the needles on the needle beds.SOLUTION: A method for generating knitting data for the flat knitting machine includes the steps of: obtaining, for each carrier used in knitting, data indicating the course of the carriage where the carrier is used and the movement range of the carrier in one part of a garment; determining the stop position of each carrier; and when it is detected that the stop positions of the carriers coincide with each other, automatically generating data on the stop positions of the carriers such that interference between the carriers is prevented by changing the stop positions.

Description

  The present invention relates to generation of knitting data in a flat knitting machine, and more particularly to determining a carrier stop position in knitting data so as to prevent interference between carriers.

  The flat knitting machine includes a pair of long needle beds, for example, and operates the needles with a carriage that reciprocates on the needle beds, and supplies yarn from the carrier to the needles to knit the knitted fabric. Above the needle bed, a plurality of carrier rails are arranged in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed. It is elastic enough to bend slightly along the longitudinal direction of the flat knitting machine. The carrier is entrained by the carriage, slides along the carrier rail, and stops when the entrainment is released.

  Since the yarn feeder of the carrier moves immediately above the gap between the needle beds, the yarn feeders contact each other when the carriers intersect, and at this time, the carriers are slightly deformed and the yarn feeders intersect each other. In addition to the cam for operating the needle, the carriage is provided with other members such as a stitch presser, and these members are provided above the gap between the needle beds. For this reason, when a plurality of carriers stop at the same position, the yarn feeder interferes with other members such as a stitch presser. Therefore, the carrier is prevented from stopping at the same position, and specifically, it is stopped outside the knitting width by a parameter called reset correction. If the reset correction value is made different for each carrier, it is possible to prevent a plurality of carriers from stopping at the same position. However, this requires manual input of the reset correction value. The reset correction value is a part of the knitting data because it is directly related to the movement distance and operation of the carrier.

  Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-93348) discloses that the position at which the carrier is released is corrected in consideration of the slip amount of the carrier. Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-106059) describes the arrangement of carrier rails and carriers with respect to the needle bed. However, it is not known to automatically generate a carrier stop position.

JP 5-93348 JP2011-106059

  An object of the present invention is to automatically generate knitting data including data on a stop position of a carrier so that the carrier does not interfere.

The present invention includes at least a pair of front and rear needle beds, a carriage that operates the needles on the needle bed, a plurality of carrier rails, and a plurality of carriages that are entrained in the carriage along the individual carrier rails and supply the needles to the needles on the needle beds. A method of automatically generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine comprising a carrier of
Obtaining, for each carrier used for knitting, data indicating the course of the carriage using the carrier and the movement range of the carrier in one part of the garment;
Determining a carrier stop position for each carrier based on the data;
When detecting that the carrier stop position overlaps in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in the horizontal plane, the step of changing the stop position so that the carrier does not overlap is executed.

The present invention also includes at least a pair of front and rear needle beds, a carriage that operates the needles on the needle beds, a plurality of carrier rails, and a carriage along the individual carrier rails to feed the needles to the needles on the needle beds. In an apparatus for automatically generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine comprising a plurality of carriers,
Analysis means for obtaining data indicating the course of the carriage using the carrier and the movement range of the carrier in one part of the garment for each carrier used for knitting,
Based on the data, the carrier stop position is determined for each carrier, and when it is detected that the carrier stop position overlaps in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in the horizontal plane, the carrier stop position is prevented from overlapping. And stop position determining means for changing.

  In this way, the carrier stop position can be automatically determined based on the data on the number of times the carrier is used and the movement distance, and the carrier stop position overlaps in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in the horizontal plane, Carriers do not interfere. The carrier stop position refers to the stop position closest to the knitting width immediately above the end, or the position obtained by adding the minimum value in FIG. It also includes. The analysis unit corresponds to, for example, the use number extraction unit or the block extraction unit in FIG. 2, and the stop position determination unit corresponds to, for example, the reset correction value allocation unit in FIG. In this specification, the description relating to the knitting data generation method also applies to the knitting data generation device, and the description relating to the knitting data generation device also applies to the knitting data generation method.

  Preferably, the stop position determining means determines the stop position so that the carrier having a high number of uses is stopped near the end of the knitting width and the carrier having a low number of uses is stopped at a position away from the end of the knitting width. . In this case, the distance that the carriage moves the carrier can be shortened by stopping the carrier that is frequently used near the end of the knitting width. Therefore, parts can be organized in a shorter time. Note that the number of times of use may be obtained with appropriate accuracy. For example, if the accuracy is 3 times, the number of times of use is the same as 51 times and 49 times. Also, the important carrier stop position is the value of the carrier with the highest number of uses. For the lower two carriers, etc., the stop position does not have to follow the order of the number of uses.

Preferably, the stop position determining means determines the stop position based on the number of times of use in parts. In this way, the stop position can be easily determined.
Preferably, the analysis unit divides the part into a plurality of blocks in the wale direction, and the stop position determination unit determines the stop position based on the number of times of use in units of blocks. In this way, when the carrier to be used changes along the wale direction, the stop position can be determined so that the total distance for carrying the carrier is shortened.

Top view of needle bed and carrier rail Block diagram of the knitting data generation device of the embodiment The flowchart which shows the determination algorithm of the stop value of the carrier in an Example The figure which shows the relationship between the knitting width of parts, the minimum value, and the reset correction value A diagram schematically showing the stopping positions of carriers a, b, and c with respect to parts The flowchart which shows the determination algorithm of the stop value of the carrier in a modification The figure which shows typically the stop position of the carriers a, b, and c with respect to the parts in the modified example The figure which shows typically the stop position of the carriers a-d with respect to the part of an intarsia organization in a modification

  In the following, an optimum embodiment for carrying out the invention will be shown.

  1 to 8 show an embodiment and its modifications. FIG. 1 schematically shows a carrier rail on a needle bed, 2 is a front bed, 4 is a rear bed, and a gap 6 exists between them. A plurality of carrier rails 8 to 11 exist above the beds 2 and 4, and the carrier 12 is entrained and slid along the carrier rails 8 to 11 by a carriage (not shown). In the figure, it is assumed that molded knitting is performed, 14 is the knitting width of the front body, 15 is the knitting width of the left sleeve, 16 is the knitting width of the right sleeve, and one garment consists of multiple parts, The knitting width of parts may change during knitting. The garment may have a constant knitting width, or one garment = 1 part as in the case of non-sewing knitting. Hereinafter, in this specification, the direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the beds 2 and 4 in the horizontal plane is referred to as the left-right direction, and the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the beds 2 and 4 is referred to as the front-rear direction.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a knitting data generating apparatus, and 21 is a user interface, which comprises input means such as a mouse, trackball, digitizer, keyboard, etc., and a color monitor. A network interface 22 exchanges data and programs with the network. A disk drive 23 exchanges data and programs with a disk (not shown). A memory 24 stores various data, particularly knitting data. A program memory 25 stores a program for the knitting data generating apparatus 20.

  A conversion unit 26 converts the design data of the knitted fabric input from the user interface 21, the network interface 22, or the disk drive 23 into knitting data. In this conversion, data on the carrier stop position is not generated, or an appropriate default value is assigned. A number-of-uses extraction unit 27 extracts the number of uses and the movement range for each course for each carrier used in the knitting data. Reference numeral 28 denotes a block extraction unit for executing the algorithm of FIG. 6, and divides one part into a plurality of blocks based on which carrier is used. When the algorithm of FIG. 3 is executed, the block extraction unit 28 is not necessary. The division into blocks is performed along the waling direction of the part, and a minimum value is provided for the length of the block along the waling direction, and a block having a length less than the minimum value is merged with either the upper or lower block.

  A reset correction value assigning unit 29 assigns a reset correction value to the carrier. The reset correction value may be constant during the knitting of one part, or may be changed during the knitting of one part. The interference check unit 30 checks for interference between carriers. Here, the interference is that a plurality of carriers stop at a position where they overlap each other in the front-rear direction of the flat knitting machine. When the carrier interferes, that is, when a plurality of carriers are overlapped and stopped in the front-rear direction and the carriage (not shown) moves so as to intersect the carrier, the stitch presser etc. in the carriage interferes with the carrier. There is a risk of damage.

  The reset correction value assigning unit 29 first assigns, for example, a reset correction value 0 to each carrier. When the interference check unit 30 detects interference between carriers, for example, the interference is eliminated by increasing the reset correction value of the carrier that is used less frequently so as to avoid the interference. The knitting data generation device 20 may be provided in the flat knitting machine, or may be provided in a design device that creates design data such as garment and converts it into knitting data.

  3 to 5 show a method for determining the carrier stop position. When the design of the part is determined and converted into knitting data, data such as the knitting width, the type of stitches, the number of courses, and which career is moved in which range in which course is determined. Therefore, in step 1, within one part, the course using the carrier and the movement range for each course are obtained for each carrier. This process is executed at least for the carrier actually used. The number of times the carrier is used in one part is obtained for each carrier, and the stop position of each carrier is set to a minimum value. In other words, the reset correction value is set to 0 for each carrier (step 2). A carrier that is not used is retracted to the end of the needle bed, for example.

  FIG. 4 shows the meaning of the reset correction value. The carrier reciprocates left and right of the knitting width, and the carrier stop position is a position at an interval of a minimum value of about 0 to 3 needles from the end of the knitting width. It is. The minimum value is, for example, 0 for intarsia knitting, and for two to three needles for other knitting. A value obtained by adding a minimum value to the knitting width is a carrier movement range in the knitting data. The reset correction value is 0 at a position shifted outward from the knitting width by the minimum value, which is the minimum value of the reset correction value, and the reset correction value increases toward the outside of the knitting width. The unit of the reset correction value is, for example, the width of one yarn feeder. The reset correction value is reset when the carriage stops carrying the carrier, and the correction value is a shift from the minimum value. The carrier having the smallest reset correction value stops at a position shifted outward from the knitting width by the minimum value, and stops at a position away from the knitting width as the reset correction value increases.

  For example, step 4 to step 7 are executed in order from the carrier with the largest number of uses to the carrier with the smallest number (steps 3, 7). In step 4, the position of the carrier at the time of stopping is checked for each course, and the presence or absence of an interfering carrier is detected. If there is an interfering carrier, the stop position is shifted outward, in other words, the reset correction value is increased to eliminate the interference (step 5). If the stop position of the interfering carrier is changed, interference may occur in a chain with other carriers. Therefore, the stop position of the carrier is changed until the interference is resolved. When Steps 4 and 5 are executed for all courses, for example, the same processing is performed for the carrier having the next largest number of uses, and the processing of FIG. To do.

  FIG. 5 shows reset correction values (one-dot chain line) and actual stop positions (two-dot chain line) for the carriers a, b, and c when the part 32 is knitted. The symbol indicates the carrier to be used. In this specification, the course direction is a direction parallel to the reciprocating direction of the carriage, and the wale direction is a direction perpendicular thereto. The number of times the carrier is used in the part 32 is c> a> b, in which the minimum reset correction value is assigned to the carrier c, the next reset correction value is assigned to the carrier a, and the maximum reset correction value is assigned to the carrier b. If the knitting width of the part 32 does not increase or decrease, interference between carriers does not occur when the reset correction value is determined as described above. The one-dot chain line in FIG. 5 indicates the carrier stop position according to the reset correction value.

  If the knitting width of the part 32 is increased or decreased, the carrier stop position may be equal even if the reset correction value is different. For example, the knitting width increases to the right side in the block using the carrier c, and the carriers a and b are stopped without being used in this block, so the carrier c and the carriers a and b interfere with each other. Therefore, the stop positions of the carriers a and b are automatically changed as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 in step 5 of FIG. 3, or the stop positions of the carriers a and b are changed manually. In the last block using the carrier a, the knitting width gradually decreases and the carrier a interferes with the carrier c. Therefore, the stop position of the carrier c is changed, for example, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. In FIG. 5, the carrier stop position is shifted by one carriage movement from the one-dot chain line locus to the two-dot chain locus, but the carrier stop position is gradually shifted for each course in which interference occurs. You may let them. The carrier stop position may be shifted before the course of interference. If the reset correction value is regarded as a variable that can be changed in the middle of the part, the reset correction value may be determined so as to take a two-dot chain line locus on the right side of FIG.

As above,
・ The stop positions of carriers a, b, and c can be automatically generated,
・ By shortening the distance to carry the carrier, the movement distance of the carriage can be shortened and productivity can be improved.
・ Interference between carriers can be eliminated.

  Modifications are shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 and are the same as the embodiments of FIGS. Step 1 of FIG. 3 is first performed, and then in step 11, the part is divided into a plurality of blocks along the wale direction based on which carrier is used. At this time, it is preferable to prevent a small block having a course number equal to or less than a predetermined value by setting a minimum value for the length along the wale direction of the block. In step 11, the number of times each carrier is used is obtained for each block. The subsequent processing is performed in units of blocks, and the stop position of each carrier is set to the minimum value in step 12. Then, for example, the interference in the block is eliminated in the same manner as in steps 4 to 7 in FIG. 3 (step 13).

  FIG. 7 shows a reset correction value for the part 33 by a one-dot chain line, and X in the figure indicates that the reset correction value is replaced. For the part 33, a small block that uses the lowermost carrier a and a small block that uses the next carriers a and b are combined, and the whole is, for example, 4 blocks. Then, the reset correction value is replaced in units of blocks. Since the carrier a is mainly used in the first block and the carrier b is used in addition to the carrier a, the reset correction value is 0 for the carrier a, 1 for the carrier b, and 2 for the carrier c. In the block using the next carrier b, since the carrier a is not used, for example, the reset correction value is switched between the carriers a and b. Similarly, since the carrier b is not used in the block using the next carrier c, the reset correction value is switched between the carriers b and c, and the carrier c is not used in the block using the last carrier a. Swap the reset correction value between c and a. Also, in the block using carrier b and the block using carrier c, carrier a, etc. where the stop position is constant because it is not used, and carriers b, c where the stop position shifts to the right as the knitting width increases. Interference occurs between them. Therefore, similarly to FIG. 5, the stop position of the interfering carrier is shifted to the far side as viewed from the knitting width to avoid interference.

  FIG. 8 shows reset correction values in the intarsia knitting in the modified example. The carrier for the inertia is stopped just above the end of the knitting width and just above the position where the yarn is changed so that the yarn hangs down just below the vertical direction. it can. In this case, the area knitted by one carrier is regarded as one knitting width, the part 34 is treated as having two knitting widths in the course direction, and the minimum value is 0, so the reset correction value is 0. The stop position is the boundary between the both ends of the part 34 and the area. The part 34 is divided into two upper and lower blocks. Since the carriers a and b are used in the first block, a small reset correction value is assigned to the carriers a and b, and the carriers c and d are used in the next block. , d is assigned a small reset correction value. Note that the block using the carriers a and b is larger than the block using the carriers c and d, and the reset correction value for the lower block is also effective for the upper block. The same as the embodiment.

In the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) Data on the carrier stop position can be automatically generated.
(2) Interference between carriers can be eliminated.
(3) The carriage movement distance can be shortened by determining the reset correction value according to the frequency of use of the carrier. Therefore, the time required for knitting can be shortened.

2 front bed 4 rear bed 6 gap 8-11 carrier rail 12 carrier 14-16 knitting width 20 knitting data generation device 21 user interface 22 network interface 23 disk drive 24 memory 25 program memory 26 conversion unit 27 use frequency extraction unit 28 block extraction Unit 29 Reset correction value allocation unit 30 Interference check units 32-34 Parts

Claims (5)

At least a pair of front and back needle beds, a carriage for operating the needles on the needle bed, a plurality of carrier rails, and a plurality of carriers that are entrained in the carriage along the individual carrier rails and supply a thread to the needles on the needle bed In a method for automatically generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine,
Obtaining, for each carrier used for knitting, data indicating the course of the carriage using the carrier and the movement range of the carrier in one part of the garment;
Determining a carrier stop position for each carrier based on the data;
A step of changing the stop position so that the carrier does not overlap when detecting that the carrier stop position overlaps the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed. To generate organization data At least a pair of front and back needle beds, a carriage for operating the needles on the needle bed, a plurality of carrier rails, and a plurality of carriers that are entrained in the carriage along the individual carrier rails and supply a thread to the needles on the needle bed In an apparatus for automatically generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine,
Analyzing means for obtaining data indicating the course of the carriage using the carrier and the moving range of the carrier in one part of the garment for each carrier used for knitting;
Based on the data, the carrier stop position is determined for each carrier, and when it is detected that the carrier stop position overlaps in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in the horizontal plane, the stop position is set so that the carriers do not overlap. A knitting data generating device for a flat knitting machine, comprising: a stop position determining means for changing.   The stop position determining means determines the stop position so as to stop the carrier that is used frequently near the end of the knitting width and the carrier that is used less frequently at a position away from the end of the knitting width. An apparatus for generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine according to claim 2.   The apparatus for generating knitting data for a flat knitting machine according to claim 3, wherein the stop position determining means determines the stop position based on the number of times of use in parts.   4. The flat knitting machine according to claim 3, wherein the analyzing means divides the part into a plurality of blocks in the wale direction, and the stop position determining means determines the stop position based on the number of times of use in block units. Knitting data generator.

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