JP2787186B2 - Dimension management device by image processing system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dimensional control device for an image processing system of a spring manufacturing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a spring is formed by a spring manufacturing machine of this type, a spring having the same size is not always manufactured. This is mainly due to the characteristics of the wire, such as unevenness of the material of the wire and unevenness of the cross-sectional shape (diameter and the like) thereof, and changes in the environment such as the temperature during molding. Of these, the wire characteristics usually vary slightly even within one lot, not to mention the difference between lots, and the elastic force of the wire itself changes constantly. In the case where a wire rod having a variable elastic force is formed in a spring as described above, it is difficult to always manufacture a spring having a constant size if the force to return to the original state changes every moment due to the change in the elastic force. So on that developed in order to increase the yield rate, Japanese Open Sho 64-2752 and Hei 3-35831
No. of prior art.

[0003] As shown in FIG. 6, the former includes a means 101 for feeding a wire, a coiling tool 102 for forcibly bending the wire by contacting the wire, and bending a wire having a bending habit by the coiling tool. It is manufactured by extruding means 103 for making a coil pitch while reciprocating in a direction substantially perpendicular to the plane, means 104 for cutting a wire in synchronization with feeding of one wire, and feeding one wire for a spring. In the spring manufacturing machine including the capacitance type detector 105 for detecting the free length of the spring, a plurality of springs are manufactured by the sampling means and optimized by the analysis means every time the free length control amount related to the spring manufacturing is adjusted. The aim is to manufacture a spring with the highest yield rate by finding a suitable control amount.

In the latter, a contact spring having a desired free length Lo as shown in FIG. 7 is periodically manufactured in the above-mentioned spring manufacturing machine, and the developed length of the wire and the diameter of the wire required for manufacturing the contact spring. The outer diameter Do of the spring to be manufactured is calculated from d, and the position of the coiling tool 102 is adjusted from the calculated outer diameter.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Open Sho 64-2752 technique, a problem that can not correspond to the coil diameter or the like other elements intended for only free length, because it further using capacitive detector,
If dust such as molding powder adheres to the sensor chip 105a, there is a problem that the sensitivity is easily lowered and a measurement error is likely to occur, and a relatively large spring cannot be used. Further, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 3-35831 is intended for an outer diameter and cannot be performed during spring molding, and a diameter must be calculated indirectly by forming a close contact spring at predetermined time intervals. There is a problem that time is wasted and it is not efficient. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to photograph a side surface of a molded spring by a camera installed at a position separated by a predetermined distance and display the photographed image on a CRT. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of continuously managing a plurality of dimensions such as a free length and a coil diameter by image processing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a dimensional management apparatus using an image processing system according to the present invention comprises a spring having a pitch adjusting member for controlling a free length of a spring and a member for controlling a position of a coiling tool. In the manufacturing machine, a camera for photographing a shape of the spring formed by the spring manufacturing machine immediately before cutting, and a CRT for displaying the image are provided, and the image immediately before cutting of the reference spring, which is formed almost in accordance with the design value, is obtained. Means for setting a reference position in the longitudinal direction and the radial direction displayed on the CRT and an allowable range width before and after the reference position are provided, and an image immediately before cutting of the forming spring is compared with the allowable range width. And means for outputting a correction amount proportional to the distance of the image of the molded spring from the reference position, and the pitch adjusting member or the coiler is used in accordance with the correction amount. And performs position correction member for controlling the position of Gutsuru.

[0007]

The image of the spring immediately before cutting during continuous machining is compared with a predetermined allowable range width before and after the reference position. If the image deviates from the allowable range width, the gate of the selector is opened to carry out the defective product port. Further, a plurality of regions are provided before and after the reference position, and different correction signals are output depending on the region where the image of the molded spring is located. For example, if the free length is too long, the forward end position of the pitch adjusting member is corrected, and if the outer diameter is too large, the position of the coiling tool is corrected.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the schematic view of the main part of the spring making machine shown in FIGS.
Is a feed roller for feeding the wire rod, which is configured to sandwich the wire rod in pairs and feed the wire rod by a drive motor (not shown). Reference numeral 2 denotes a coiling tool for forming a coil diameter by abutting a wire W sent out through a guide 3 and forming a groove cam 5 which is rotated by a coiling motor 4 (illustrated as an outer peripheral cam, not shown). Is engaged with the cam follower 6, and the coiling tool 2 can be moved in the direction shown by the arrow by the forward and reverse rotation of the motor.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a pitch tool for giving a pitch to the wire W having the coil diameter formed. The pitch tool 7 can be moved in the direction shown by the arrow through the groove cam 9 by the forward / reverse rotation of the pitch motor 8 in the same manner as the coning tool 2, and as shown in FIG.
The pitch is determined by a. Therefore, by reciprocating the pitch tool 7 in the direction of the arrow, both ends are brought into close contact and a desired spring pitch is formed in the middle. A cutter 11 cuts a wire together with a core metal (not shown).
3 and is movable in the direction shown by the arrow. The cutter 11 has a convex portion 11a on a side surface, and a proximity switch is attached as a timing sensor 14 at a corresponding position, and outputs a signal at the same time as the cutter 11 starts moving forward from the retracted end position.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a CCD camera, which is fixed to a frame 17 via a support 16 so as to be position-adjustable, and photographs a molded spring from the side. Reference numeral 18 denotes an illumination lamp for shadowing a subject in order to make the boundary of an image clear. The motors 4, 8, and 12 are all NC control servo motors. FIG. 4 is a block diagram and a configuration diagram of a main part of a dimension management device according to the image processing system of the present invention . Reference numeral 19 denotes a sorter. The shutter 21 is rotated by a solenoid 23. When all the drive signals of the solenoid 23 are zero, the shutter 21 is at a vertical position indicated by a solid line by the action of a spring (not shown). 24 is a CRT,
25 is an image processing system, 26 is a keyboard unit,
27 is an NC device.

As the image processing system 26, for example, a commercially available one such as MILZO manufactured by NS Corporation can be used. These are an A / D converter 28 for binarizing a signal from the CCD camera 15, a D / A converter 29 for converting an analog signal necessary for the CRT 24, an image processing memory 30, and an input from a keyboard unit 26. And a third CPU 32 for performing image data processing, a shared memory 33, a digital input unit 34 for inputting a timing signal, and a digital output unit 35 for outputting a signal to a spring making machine. I have.

The keyboard unit 26 has a setting mode,
This is for outputting various commands and information such as an execution mode and a display mode to the image processing system 25, and includes a first CPU 36 for an interface and a keyboard 37 for an input operation. The NC device 27 includes a pitch motor control unit 38 that controls the rotation of the pitch motor 8, a power output unit 39 that supplies drive power to the pitch motor 8, and a coiling motor control unit 41 that controls the rotation of the coiling motor. , And a power output unit 42 for supplying driving power to the coiling motor 8, and a selector control unit 43 for controlling the output of the selector 19 to the solenoid 23 is provided separately.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
Prior to continuous machining, the coiling tool 2 and the pitch tool 7 are manually input from an MDI or a pulse generator.
Is adjusted, and when the spring is almost as designed, the machine is temporarily stopped in a state immediately before cutting by the cutter 11. Turn on the image processing system,
The image of the spring captured by the CCD camera 15 is displayed on the CRT 2
4 (FIG. 5A). When the mode is switched to the setting mode using the keyboard 37, a frame indicating the measurement range is displayed so as to overlap with the image [FIG. 5B]. The two horizontal lines are displayed, the vertical line is aligned with the longitudinal end of the image (FIG. 5 (c)), and the two horizontal lines are aligned with both ends of the outer diameter (FIG. 5 (e)). .

Subsequently, when measurement parameters are inputted from the keyboard 37, -NG and + are placed on both sides of the reference position.
A vertical line (FIG. 5D) indicating the allowable width of NG and a horizontal line (not shown) are displayed, and the numerical values of the measurement parameters are stored in the shared memory 33 at the same time. Next, the distance in the direction away from the reference position is divided into a plurality of regions, the dot rates of the respective regions are calculated and stored in the shared memory 33, and the setting mode ends. Subsequently, the mode is switched to the execution mode by keyboard input, and the continuous processing is started. And cutter 1
The timing sensor 14 detects the start of movement of the spring image 1 to the wire side and outputs a signal. In response to this, the free length is calculated by the difference between the right end position of the spring image on the CRT 24 and the vertical line indicating the reference position, The coil diameter is measured by the difference between the radial end positions of the spring image and the horizontal line indicating the reference position. For example, at this time, if the longitudinal end position of the image is out of the vertical line indicating + NG, a signal is output from the digital output unit 35,
As a result, a voltage is applied to the solenoid 23 of the selector control unit 43 to open the shutter 21, and the cut spring falls from the NG port on the right into a defective storage box (not shown).

At the same time, a correction amount corresponding to the distance of the leading end of the image on the CRT 24 from the reference position to the + NG side is stored as a correction amount of the pitch motor 8, and the pitch tool is used in the next machining by this correction amount. 7 is corrected. For example, when the outer diameter of the image deviates from the reference position on the + NG side, the sum of the correction amounts corresponding to the distances apart from the reference positions on both sides is obtained, and the coiling motor control unit 41 and the power output unit 42 are determined. Immediately corrects the position of the coiling tool 2 via. Each time the spring is continuously processed in this way, its dimensions are stored each time the measurement is performed. When converted to the display mode by keyboard input, the change in the measured dimensions is represented by a line graph, and the cumulative number of each variation dimension is represented by a bar graph. Can be displayed. In addition, since all the spring images that deviate from the NG line are regarded as defectives, shape defects such as burrs or bends can also be selected. In this case, since the deviation greatly deviates from the measurement area, an error is displayed and correction is performed. Not performed.

[0016]

The present invention is configured as described above, and has the following effects. The image of the spring is displayed on the CRT by photographing with a CCD camera from a place distant from the spring forming position, an allowable range width is set in advance at the reference position and before and after the reference position, and when the image of the formed spring is out of the allowable range,
A signal is sent to the sorter to determine the quality of the product, and at the same time, a correction signal proportional to the distance away from the reference position is output, and the free length is adjusted by the pitch adjustment member, and the outer diameter is adjusted by the position control member of the coiling tool. Since the dimensions are corrected and the distance to the reference position is set, there is no restriction on the mounting space of the measuring instrument, there is no measurement error due to contamination of molding powder, etc.
Product management based on various factors such as coil diameter and shape irregularities becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main part of a spring manufacturing machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a main part of the spring manufacturing machine of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a tip of a pitch tool.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a dimension management device by the image processing system.

FIGS. 5A to 5E are diagrams illustrating changes in images for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional spring manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a contact spring made for calculating a coil diameter according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 full I Dorora 2 coiling tool 4 coiling motor 7 Pitch tool 8 pitch motor 11 cutter 14 the timing sensor 24 CRT 25 an image processing system 26 keyboard unit 27 NC device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Mitsuo Fujii 3-31-28 Osu, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi NSD Corporation (56) References JP-A-52-29460 (JP, A) (58) ) Surveyed field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01B 11/00-11/30 G01N 21/84-21/91

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A spring making machine having a pitch adjusting member for controlling a free length of a spring and a member for controlling a position of a coiling tool, wherein a camera for photographing a shape of the spring formed by the spring making machine immediately before cutting is provided. A CRT for displaying this image is provided, and an image immediately before the cutting of the reference spring, which is formed substantially as designed, is displayed on the CRT, and the reference position in the length direction and the radial direction is allowed, and the image is allowed before and after the reference position. A means for setting the range width is provided, and a means for comparing the image immediately before cutting of the forming spring with the allowable range width to determine the quality is provided, and the image of the forming spring is proportional to the distance away from the reference position. Dimension management by an image processing system, wherein a means for outputting a correction amount is provided, and the position of the pitch adjusting member or the member for controlling the position of the coiling tool is corrected based on the correction amount. apparatus.