JP2013215825A - Workpiece conveyance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a workpiece conveyance system capable of positioning a workpiece W placed on a loading device with a high degree of accuracy to set it at a desired processing position of a press brake.SOLUTION: Marking is performed with an ultraviolet ray ink at prescribed two positions of a workpiece W when the workpiece W is subjected to blanking processing with a laser beam machine 104. The workpiece thus marked is placed on a loading device 103. When it is conveyed to a desired processing position of a press brake 101 by a robot arm 21, the workpiece W is subjected to photographing while being irradiated with an ultraviolet ray by an ultraviolet ray light 25a, and a marking point is detected from the shot image. Then, a detected marking point is compared with a reference marking point to detect a displacement amount at a position of the workpiece W, and the displacement amount is taken into consideration for positioning at conveyance by means of a robot arm 21.

Description

  The present invention relates to a workpiece transfer system for automatically transferring a workpiece placed on a loading device to a processing position of a plate material processing machine, and more particularly to a technique for setting the workpiece at a processing position with high accuracy.

  For example, in a plate material processing machine such as a bending processing machine, a plurality of workpieces (for example, blank materials) placed on a loading device are sequentially taken out from the upper side and conveyed to a desired processing position. Bend. At this time, the workpiece is automatically conveyed from the loading device to the processing position using the workpiece conveyance device.

  Such a workpiece transfer device lifts a workpiece placed in order in the loading device by a robot arm having, for example, a vacuum pad, and controls the robot arm based on coordinate data of a preset processing position. Then, the work is conveyed to a desired processing position. At this time, although the work is placed orderly in the loading device, the placement position may be displaced. In such a case, the work is moved to the installation position of the conveyed work based on the coordinate data. Will occur. That is, the accuracy in setting the workpiece at a desired processing position of the bending machine is lowered. For this reason, there arises a problem that accurate processing cannot be performed.

  Therefore, conventionally, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-173814 (Patent Document 1), a workpiece is photographed using a camera, the edge of the workpiece is detected from the photographed image, and the detection result is obtained. Based on this, a technique for correcting a position where a workpiece is set has been proposed.

  However, since the technique described in Patent Document 1 is configured to detect an edge using an image of a work photographed by a camera, when the whole material is dark, such as when the material is black skin. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the difference in contrast with the surroundings, and there is a problem that an edge is erroneously detected.

JP 11-173814 A

  As described above, in the conventional example disclosed in Patent Document 1, a work is photographed using a camera, and the position of the work is detected by extracting the edge of the work from the photographed image. When used, it is difficult to determine the contrast, the edge of the workpiece cannot be detected with high accuracy, and the position where the workpiece is set cannot be accurately adjusted.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to position a workpiece placed on a loading device with high accuracy, and to obtain a desired plate material processing machine. An object of the present invention is to provide a workpiece transfer system that can be set at a machining position.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 of the present application is a workpiece that is blanked by a blanking machine and then picks up a workpiece placed on a loading device and conveys it to a desired processing position of a plate material processing machine. In the transport system, a robot arm that lifts the work and transports the work to the processing position based on preset coordinate data, and a marking unit that is provided in the blank processing machine and marks at least two positions of the work Photographing means for photographing the marked workpiece; correction means (CAM) for detecting a marking position included in an image photographed by the photographing means and correcting the coordinate data based on the marking position; And the robot arm is based on the coordinate data corrected by the correction means. Characterized by conveying the over click to the processing position.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the marking means obtains blank processing data of a workpiece from the controller of the blank processing machine, and based on the blank processing data, sets a marking position in an area that is not blanked. It is characterized by setting.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the plate material processing machine is a bending machine, and the marking means obtains bending data from a controller of the bending machine and performs bending processing based on the bending data. An area not exposed to the surface later is set as a marking position.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the marking means performs marking using an ink that reacts with ultraviolet rays, and the photographing means photographs the workpiece by irradiating the workpiece with ultraviolet rays.

  In the invention of claim 1, when blanking a workpiece with a blank processing machine, marking at least two positions of the workpiece by the marking means, and then photographing the marked workpiece when placed on the loading device, Based on the captured image, the position coordinates of the marking point are obtained. Then, based on the obtained position coordinates and the reference position coordinates, a deviation amount of the workpiece is obtained, and based on the deviation amount, movement when the workpiece is conveyed to the machining position is corrected. Therefore, it becomes possible to convey the workpiece to a desired position of the plate material processing machine with high accuracy.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, an area that has not been blanked is searched based on the blanking data, and a marking point is set in this area, so that it is possible to reliably set the marking point.

  In the invention of claim 3, when the bending process is performed, a region that is not exposed on the surface is searched and a marking point is set in this region, so that the marking point can be reliably set.

  In the invention of claim 4, since marking is performed on the workpiece using ink that reacts with ultraviolet rays, and the workpiece is photographed with ultraviolet rays, the marking point is not visually recognized and the appearance is improved. Can do.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the workpiece conveyance apparatus and press brake of the workpiece conveyance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the laser processing machine with which the workpiece conveyance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention is used. It is a network block diagram of the workpiece conveyance system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows processing operation | movement of the workpiece conveyance system which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the position coordinate of the marking point detected with a point detection arm, and a reference | standard position coordinate. It is explanatory drawing which shows the area | region used as a marking point of the workpiece conveyance system which concerns on the 2nd modification of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a press brake (plate material processing machine) including a workpiece transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a laser processing machine (blank processing of a plate material to generate a workpiece). FIG. 3 is a network connection diagram showing a connection state of the press brake and the laser processing machine.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the press brake 101 includes an upper stage 11 and a lower stage 12. The upper stage 11 is provided with a punch 13, and the lower stage 12 is provided with a die 14. Further, on the front side of the press brake 101, a work transfer device 102 for transferring a work to be processed to a desired processing position of the press brake 101 is provided, and further, blank processing is performed on the front side. A loading device 103 for loading and storing a plurality of workpieces W (blank materials) is provided.

  The workpiece transfer device 102 takes out the workpiece W placed on the loading device 103 and transfers it to a desired processing position of the press brake 101, and a slide mechanism 22 that slides the robot arm 21 in the lateral direction. And a robot controller 23 for controlling the operation of the robot arm 21 and the slide mechanism 22.

  The robot arm 21 has three joints, and by appropriately operating these joints, the work W placed on the loading device 103 is taken out by the hand 24 provided at the tip. Specifically, a plurality of vacuum pads are mounted on the hand 24, and the workpiece W is lifted upward and conveyed to a predetermined processing position by setting the air pressure in the vacuum pads to a negative pressure.

  The loading device 103 loads and stores a workpiece W which is blanked by a laser processing machine used in an upstream processing step and is conveyed by a belt conveyor (not shown). In addition, the loading device 103 includes a point detection arm 25 for detecting a mark point (details will be described later) written in the ultraviolet ink written on the workpiece W. The ultraviolet ink is an ink that has a function of being visually recognized when irradiated with ultraviolet rays, although it cannot be visually recognized with normal light when the ink is dropped.

  The point detection arm 25 includes an ultraviolet light 25a that irradiates the workpiece W with ultraviolet rays and a camera 25b that photographs the workpiece W that has been irradiated with ultraviolet rays. The point detection arm 25 is illustrated in a state in which ultraviolet rays are irradiated by the ultraviolet light 25a. It moves in the direction shown by the arrows Y1 and Y2 in the middle, and the image of the workpiece W is taken by the camera 25b. Then, based on the photographed image, the position coordinates of the marking point by the ultraviolet ink are detected.

  Then, the position coordinate data of the detected mark point is transmitted to the robot controller 23. The robot controller 23 controls the workpiece transfer device 102 based on the position coordinate data, and controls the workpiece W taken out by the hand 24 to be set at a desired processing position of the press brake 101.

  Next, the configuration of the laser processing machine will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main part of the laser beam machine. As shown in the figure, the laser beam machine 104 has a work table 31 and a U-shaped support member 32 provided so as to straddle the work table 31, and the support member 32 includes a Y-axis. A carriage 33 is provided. The Y-axis carriage 33 is movable in the Y-axis direction (left-right direction) when the ball screw 34 attached to the support member 32 rotates. Further, a ball screw 35 is attached to the Y-axis carriage 33, and a processing head 36 is provided on the ball screw 35. Therefore, the machining head 36 can be moved in the X-axis direction (front-rear direction) by rotating the ball screw 35.

  The Y-axis carriage 33 is provided with a bend mirror 37, and the machining head 36 is provided with a bend mirror 38. When the laser beam LB enters, the laser beam LB is reflected by the bend mirrors 37 and 38. Then, the laser beam LB is irradiated toward the workpiece W from the laser nozzle 39 provided in the processing head 36. As a result, the workpiece W can be laser processed into a desired shape. Further, the laser processing machine 104 includes a controller 41, and the laser processing of the workpiece W is controlled by the controller 41.

  A marker 40 for marking a desired position of the workpiece W is provided on the lower surface of the machining head 36. The marker 40 is filled with ultraviolet ink, and at least two positions of the workpiece W are marked by a process described later. For example, a small circle is attached using ultraviolet ink. At this time, the marking point can be set at a desired position on the workpiece W by controlling the ball screws 34 and 35 under the control of the controller 41.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the robot controller 23 provided in the workpiece transfer apparatus 102 and the controller 41 provided in the laser processing machine 104 are connected to a CAM (Computer) via a network line such as Ethernet (registered trademark). Aided Manufacturing) 51. When marking the workpiece W under the control of the controller 41 of the laser beam machine 104 shown in FIG. 2, the coordinate data of the marking point is transferred from the controller 41 to the CAM 51 via the network line 52. The Further, this coordinate data is transferred to the robot controller 23 of the work transfer device 102 via the network line 52. That is, the robot controller 23 can recognize the coordinate data of the marking point marked with the ultraviolet ink on the workpiece W. The CAM 51 is connected to an input operation unit 53 that accepts an operation input by an operator, and a display 54 is connected.

  Next, the processing operation of the workpiece transfer system according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S <b> 11, the operator operates the input operation unit 53 of the CAM 51 to set two marking positions on the workpiece W (blank material) to be processed by the laser processing machine 104. For this input operation, for example, a method of displaying an image of the workpiece W after laser processing on the display 54 and operating the input operation unit 53 to visually set a marking point of the workpiece W is used. .

  In step S <b> 12, the CAM 51 acquires the coordinate data of the marking point input by the input operation unit 53, and transfers this coordinate data to the controller 41 of the laser processing machine 104 and the robot controller 23 of the workpiece transfer device 102. To do.

  In step S <b> 13, the laser processing machine 104 moves the marker 40 provided on the processing head 36 to the marking point set by the CAM 51, and performs marking with the marker 40 at this position. Specifically, the marking point of the workpiece W is marked with the ultraviolet ink contained in the marker 40. Then, by performing this process twice, two places on the workpiece W are marked. At this time, since marking is performed using ultraviolet ink, the marked mark is not visually recognized by human eyes.

  In step S14, the workpiece W after laser processing is conveyed by, for example, a belt conveyor, and is sequentially placed on the loading device 103 shown in FIG. As a result, a plurality of workpieces W are loaded on the loading device 103.

  In step S <b> 15, the workpiece transfer apparatus 102 detects the marking point on the surface of the workpiece W by operating the point detection arm 25 shown in FIG. 1. At this time, the ultraviolet light 25a provided on the point detection arm 25 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and the surface of the workpiece W is photographed by the camera 25b. Therefore, the point detection arm 25 can acquire the coordinate data of the mark point attached to the workpiece W. Then, the coordinate data is transferred to the robot controller 23.

  In step S <b> 16, the workpiece transfer apparatus 102 is based on the coordinate data of the mark point detected in the process of step S <b> 15 and the coordinate data set in the CAM 51, that is, the position coordinate of the marking point marked by the laser processing machine 104. The current position of the workpiece W is measured. That is, the position of the workpiece W relative to the hand 24 when the workpiece W is sucked and fixed by the hand 24 shown in FIG. 1 is obtained as current position data.

  In step S <b> 17, the CAM 51 transfers the current position data of the workpiece W to the robot controller 23. In step S <b> 18, the robot controller 23 transports the workpiece W to a desired processing position of the press brake 101 based on this position data.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of displacement between the reference position of the workpiece W and the current position of the workpiece W actually placed on the loading device 103. FIG. FIG. 4B shows a state where the workpiece W is placed at the reference position, and FIG. 5B shows a state where the workpiece W is placed with a positional deviation from the reference position. That is, as shown in FIG. 5A, the position coordinates of the two marking points at the reference position are (X0, Y0) and (X1, Y1), respectively. Are coordinate positions (X2, Y2) and (X3, Y3), respectively.

  The two coordinates (X0, Y0) and (X1, Y1) are recognized by the CAM 51, and the two coordinates (X2, Y2) and (X3, Y3) are detected by the point detection arm 25. Therefore, by transmitting data of two coordinates (X2, Y2) and (X3, Y3) from the robot controller 23 to the CAM 51, the CAM 51 calculates the positional deviation amount of the workpiece W by comparing each coordinate. Can do. Then, this positional deviation amount is output to the robot arm 21.

  Then, the robot arm 21 corrects the position coordinates of the workpiece W based on the positional deviation amount, acquires the current position data, and sets the workpiece W to the processing position of the press brake 101 based on the current position data. As a result, even if the workpiece W placed on the loading device 103 is misaligned, the misalignment can be corrected and the workpiece W can be set at a desired processing position.

  Thus, in the workpiece conveyance system according to the present embodiment, when the workpiece W is blanked by the laser processing machine 104, marking is performed using the markers 40 at two desired positions on the workpiece W. Thereafter, when the workpiece W loaded on the loading device 103 is conveyed to the processing position of the press brake 101, the marking point is detected by the point detection arm 25, and the position of the workpiece W is determined based on the position coordinates of the marking point. Detect deviation. Then, the robot controller 23 controls the robot arm 21 so as to correct the amount of displacement and conveys the workpiece W to a predetermined processing position, so that the displacement of the workpiece W placed on the loading device 103 is displaced. Even when this occurs, the workpiece W can be set at a desired processing position with high accuracy.

  Moreover, since the ultraviolet ink is used as the marker 40 and the ultraviolet ink is not visually recognized by humans, it is possible to avoid the problem that the appearance of the workpiece W is deteriorated due to the marking.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the marking point is detected in a state where ultraviolet ink is used as the marker 40 and the ultraviolet light 25a provided on the point detection arm 25 is irradiated with the ultraviolet light has been described. However, the marking may be performed using normal ink, the marked workpiece W may be photographed by the camera 25b, and the marking point may be detected from the photographed image data. In this case, when setting the marking coordinates in the process of step S11 of FIG. 4, it is possible to avoid the problem that the appearance is deteriorated if an inconspicuous position on the workpiece W is selected.

  Next, a first modification of the present invention will be described. In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the marking point on the workpiece W is set by the input operation by the operator has been described. However, in the first modification, the marking position is automatically set by the control of the CAM 51.

  That is, in step S11 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, the example in which the marking point is set manually by the operator in the CAM 51 has been described. In the first modification, the processing by the laser processing machine 104 is performed by the processing of the CAM 51. Based on the data, two positions that are not blanks (positions of areas that are not cut by laser processing) are set, and these two positions are set as marking points, respectively. Then, the marking point is marked with ultraviolet ink. Subsequent processing is the same as in the above-described embodiment.

  And by setting it as such a structure, since the operator does not need to perform operation which sets a marking point position in CAM51, the effort by an operator can be reduced. Moreover, since the position (area | region which is not cut off by laser processing) which does not become a blank is detected and this position is marked, it can mark on the workpiece | work W reliably.

  Next, a second modification of the present invention will be described. In the second modification, data of bending processing by the press brake 101 is acquired from the CAM 51, and an area not exposed to the outside is set as a marking position by bending processing. In the second modification, the ink used for marking with the marker 40 is not the ultraviolet ink described above but a normal ink.

  Therefore, for example, when there is a development view of the workpiece W as shown in FIG. 6, when bending is performed at the dotted line portion in the drawing, the regions indicated by reference numerals R <b> 1 and R <b> 2 (regions indicated by oblique lines) are bent. This is the area that becomes the inner surface when Therefore, even if marker ink (colored ink) is attached in these regions R1 and R2, it cannot be seen from the outer surface side, so that the appearance does not deteriorate. Therefore, under the control of the CAM 51, such inner regions R1 and R2 are searched, and two arbitrary points in the searched regions R1 and R2 are set as marking positions.

  And by setting it as such a structure, since an operator does not need to perform operation which sets a marking position in CAM51, the effort by an operator can be reduced. Moreover, since the position which does not become a blank is detected and this position is marked, it can mark on the workpiece | work W reliably. Furthermore, in the second modified example, since normal ink can be used without using ultraviolet ink, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to provide the point detection arm 25 with the ultraviolet light 25a, the configuration can be further simplified and the cost can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although the workpiece conveyance system of this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment of illustration, this invention is not limited to this, The structure of each part is replaced with the thing of the arbitrary structures which have the same function. Can do.

  For example, in the embodiment and the modification described above, two points are set as marking points for the workpiece W, but it is also possible to set the marking points to three or more. By increasing the number of marking points, it is possible to measure the amount of displacement with higher accuracy.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for setting a workpiece at a processing position with high accuracy when bending with a press brake.

11 Upper stage 12 Lower stage 13 Punch 14 Die
21 Robot arm 22 Slide mechanism 23 Robot controller 24 Hand 25 Point detection arm 25a Ultraviolet light 25b Camera (photographing means)
31 Work table 32 Support member 33 Y-axis carriage 34, 35 Ball screw 36 Processing head 37, 38 Bend mirror 39 Laser nozzle 40 Marker 41 Controller 51 CAM
52 Network Line 53 Input Operation Unit 54 Display 101 Press Brake 102 Work Transfer Device 103 Loading Device 104 Laser Processing Machine

Claims (4)

In a workpiece transfer system that takes out a workpiece that has been blanked by a blank processing machine and then placed on a loading device, and transfers it to a desired processing position of a plate material processing machine,
A robot arm that lifts the workpiece and conveys the workpiece to the processing position based on preset coordinate data;
Marking means provided on the blank processing machine and marking at least two positions of the workpiece;
Photographing means for photographing the marked workpiece;
A correction unit that detects a marking position included in the image captured by the imaging unit and corrects the coordinate data based on the marking position, and
The said robot arm conveys the said workpiece | work to the said processing position based on the coordinate data correct | amended by the said correction | amendment means. The workpiece conveyance system characterized by the above-mentioned.   The marking means acquires blank processing data of a workpiece from a controller of the blank processing machine, and sets a marking position in a region not blanked based on the blank processing data. The workpiece transfer system according to 1.   The plate material processing machine is a folding machine, and the marking means obtains bending data from a controller of the folding machine, and based on the bending data, marks the regions not exposed on the surface after folding. The workpiece transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece transfer system is set as follows.   4. The marking device according to claim 1, wherein the marking unit performs marking using ink that reacts with ultraviolet rays, and the photographing unit irradiates the workpiece with ultraviolet rays to photograph the workpiece. The workpiece transfer system according to item.

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