JP3835479B1 - Ceramic green block cutting apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A cutting device capable of immediately interrupting a cutting operation without performing unnecessary cutting on a ceramic block even when the cutting blade continues to move by inertia.
A cutting apparatus includes a table 1 on which a ceramic green block W is placed, a table driving means 2 for horizontally driving the table 1 so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position, and a ceramic green block is pushed and cut. A cutter block 10 having a cutting blade 13 and a cutting blade lifting / lowering means 12 for reciprocating the cutting blade up and down, and a cutter block lifting / lowering means 20 for driving the cutter block up and down are provided. When the cutting operation is to be interrupted, the cutting blade raising / lowering means 12 is stopped and the cutter block 10 is raised at the same time, thereby preventing the cutting blade 13 from performing unnecessary cutting on the ceramic block.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a ceramic green block cutting apparatus and a cutting method for pressing and cutting a ceramic green block using a cutting blade.

When manufacturing a ceramic electronic component such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor, a step of cutting a ceramic green block (including a ceramic green sheet or a multilayer body thereof) into a predetermined size is required. As such a ceramic green block cutting apparatus, there are those shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

Patent Document 1 includes a table mounted with a ceramic green block and intermittently moved by a predetermined pitch in the horizontal direction, and a cutting blade that moves up and down vertically with respect to the ceramic green block and cuts the ceramic green block. A cutting device is disclosed.
Patent Document 2 discloses a servo motor, an air cylinder, a linear motor, a hydraulic servo motor, a cam, or the like as a drive source for moving the cutting blade up and down, and selecting and using these drive sources according to the nature of the workpiece. ing. For example, a drive source using an eccentric cam can cut at a higher speed than a drive source using an air cylinder or the like.

In recent years, the cutting process of ceramic green blocks has been accelerated, and a cutting apparatus having a very short tact time of about 300 msec, for example, has been developed. On the other hand, the size of monolithic ceramic electronic components has become smaller and the gap size between internal electrodes has become smaller along with this increase in speed. Yes. For this purpose, it is not sufficient to simply perform the cutting while moving the table at a constant pitch, and it is necessary to determine the cutting position by image processing the cut sensing mark every time it is cut as shown in Patent Document 1. There is. However, if the cut sensing mark is dirty or the cut sensing mark itself is unclear, it may take time to process the image or the cutting position cannot be detected. Before the cutting blade cuts the ceramic green block In some cases, table movement has not been completed. In that case, the cutting operation must be interrupted once. However, if the high-speed cutting is performed, the cutting blade cannot be stopped immediately, and the cutting blade may continue to move by inertia. For example, in the case of a cutting blade lifting device using an eccentric cam, even if the rotation of the motor is stopped, the eccentric cam continues to rotate for a while. Therefore, a position that is not the original cut position is cut, resulting in a defective cut.

In addition, there is another method of attaching a brake mechanism that restrains the movement of the cutting blade in order to immediately stop the raising and lowering of the cutting blade, but the device becomes complicated and the movement of the cutting blade is restrained forcibly, causing the failure There is a drawback of becoming.
JP 2005-34981 A JP 2003-136470 A

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cutting device that can immediately interrupt a cutting operation without performing unnecessary cutting on a ceramic block even if the cutting blade continues to move by inertia.

The object can be achieved by the cutting device according to claim 1 or the cutting method according to claim 6.
A cutting apparatus according to claim 1 is a table for placing a ceramic green block as an object to be cut on an upper surface, and a table driving means for horizontally driving the table so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position. , it is disposed above the table, and cutting blades for cutting the ceramic green block, the cutting blade is reciprocated up and down, and the cut blade lifting means for cutting-away press the ceramic green block above the cut edge, A cutter block elevating means for driving a cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade elevating means up and down is provided.

The cutting method according to claim 6 includes a cutting preparation step of placing the ceramic green block on the table, and horizontally driving the table so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position, and simultaneously cutting the cutting blade into the cutting blade. A ceramic green block cutting method comprising: a lowering means for lowering and cutting the ceramic green block by pressing, and when the cutting operation needs to be stopped during the cutting process, the cutting blade lifting means The cutting method of the ceramic green block is characterized in that the cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is retracted upward at the same time that the driving of the ceramic blade is stopped.

The present invention is characterized in that, apart from the cutting blade lifting / lowering means for moving the cutting blade up and down, a cutter block lifting / lowering means for lifting and lowering the entire cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is provided. When the image processing speed cannot keep up with the cutting speed due to various causes, it is necessary to stop the cutting blade lifting / lowering means. However, since the cutting blade may continue to move due to inertia, a position that is not the original cutting position is cut. There is a fear. In such a case, by stopping the cutting blade raising / lowering means and simultaneously raising the cutter block, even if the cutting blade continues to move due to inertia, the cutting blade can be prevented from cutting into the ceramic green block.
In addition, unlike the brake mechanism that forcibly restrains the cutting blade, the cutter block lifting / lowering means of the present invention does not apply an excessive restraining force to the cutting blade lifting / lowering means, so that the occurrence of failure can be suppressed.

Since the cutter block raising / lowering means needs to raise the cutter block faster than the lowering speed of the cutting blade, a drive device having a higher reaction speed than the cutting blade raising / lowering means is desirable. For example, a drive device such as a servo motor or a linear motor that has a short time during which the cutter block can be raised from a signal input to a predetermined position is preferable. Moreover, what has the positioning accuracy which can position a cutting blade accurately at a bottom dead center position is good.

According to a preferred embodiment of the cutting device of the present invention, the lifting stroke of the cutter block is preferably larger than the lifting stroke of the cutting blade.
By making the lifting / lowering stroke of the cutter block larger than the lifting / lowering stroke of the cutting blade, it is possible to prevent the cutting blade from coming into contact with the ceramic green block even if the cutting blade is inertia and descends by the entire stroke. In addition, it is necessary to periodically replace and maintain the cutting blade. By increasing the lifting stroke of the cutter block, the cutting blade can be raised to a position where these operations can be easily performed. Can improve the performance.

According to another aspect, the cutting blade raising / lowering means may include a motor, an eccentric cam that is rotationally driven by the motor, and a cam follower that is provided on the cutting blade and contacts the eccentric cam. .
In this case, since the cutting blade can be moved up and down at high speed by the rotation of the eccentric cam, high-speed cutting can be performed. However, in the case of the cutting blade raising / lowering means using the eccentric cam, even if a stop signal is output to the motor, the eccentric cam does not stop immediately, so the cutting blade may move by inertia. Even in such a case, in the present invention, by raising the cutter block, it is possible to prevent the cutting blade from cutting an unnecessary position of the ceramic green block.

According to another desirable mode, it is provided with a control means for constantly monitoring the state of the table and the cutting blade and controlling the table driving means, the cutting blade raising / lowering means and the cutter block raising / lowering means. If the movement of the table is completed before cutting into the table, the table moves horizontally by a predetermined pitch when the cutting blade rises and comes out of the ceramic green block after the cutting blade reaches bottom dead center. The table driving means and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means are controlled, and when the movement of the table is not completed before the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block, a stop command is issued to the cutting blade lifting / lowering means. Then, issue a lift command to the cutter block lifting means, and the cutting blade It is preferable to control so as not cut into the block.
Thus, since the control means always monitors whether the cut is proper or defective, it is possible to always perform a cut without failure.

In order to achieve high-accuracy cutting, a technique may be adopted in which a cut sensing mark is subjected to image processing each time it is cut to determine the cutting position. In this case, the image captured by the camera is image-processed. Thus, it is necessary to calculate the movement distance of the table and control the movement amount of the table according to the calculation result. However, before the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block, the movement of the table may not be completed by the movement amount according to the calculation result. That the movement of the table has not been completed by the movement amount according to the calculation result includes the case where the calculation itself cannot be performed. In such a case, defective cutting can be prevented in advance by stopping the driving of the cutting blade elevating means and simultaneously retracting the cutter block.

As described above, according to the present invention, the cutter block lifting / lowering means for lifting / lowering the entire cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means separately from the cutting blade lifting / lowering means for lifting and lowering the cutting blade up and down. Even if the cutting blade lifting means is stopped and the cutting blade continues to move due to inertia, the cutter block is lifted by the cutter block lifting means to ensure that the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block. Can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective cuts.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a cutting apparatus according to the present invention.
In this embodiment, a case where a ceramic green block W in which a large number of ceramic green sheets are laminated and pressure-bonded is cut in the manufacturing process of the ceramic electronic component will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

A ceramic green block W is placed on the horizontal upper surface (mounting surface) 1a of the table 1 and held by vacuum suction. The table 1 is horizontally driven by the table driving device 2 so that the ceramic green block W is at a predetermined cutting position. Cut sensing marks (not shown) are formed on the side surfaces of the ceramic green block W in advance. The table driving device 2 of this embodiment includes a motor 3, a ball screw 4 attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 3, a nut portion 5 provided on the table 1 screwed with the ball screw 4, and the table 1 in the horizontal direction. It comprises a guide rail 6 and a slider 7 for guiding. The table 1 can be positioned with high accuracy by the rotation angle of the motor 3.
The table 1 is provided with a sensor (for example, a motor encoder, a linear scale, etc.) for monitoring the movement, and the position of the table 1 can be detected with high accuracy by this sensor.

A cutter block 10 is disposed above the table 1. The cutter block 10 includes a base 11, and a cutting blade 13 is attached to the base 11 via a cutting blade lifting / lowering device 12. The cutting blade lifting / lowering device 12 includes a cutting blade holder 14 having a cutting blade 13 fixed to a lower end portion, a guide portion 15 that guides the cutting blade holder 14 so as to be movable up and down relative to the base 11, and the cutting blade holder 14 as a base 11. On the other hand, a spring 16 for generating a force for pulling upward is provided, and a cutting blade lifting motor 17 attached to the base 11 is provided. An eccentric cam 18 is attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 17, and a cam follower 19 that contacts the eccentric cam 18 is attached to the cutting blade holder 14. The eccentric cam 18 and the cam follower 19 are always in contact with each other by the spring force of the spring 16. The cam follower 19 may be omitted and the eccentric cam 18 may be brought into direct contact with the cutting blade holder 14. The cutting blade holder 14 is pushed downward by the rotation of the eccentric cam 18, and the cutting blade 13 can reciprocate up and down by a predetermined stroke. The lifting stroke of the cutting blade 13 is defined by the amount of eccentricity of the eccentric cam 18 and is set slightly larger than the thickness of the ceramic green block W. The motor 17 rotates continuously at a constant speed, and is driven to rotate at a high speed so that the tact time of the cutting blade 13 is, for example, 300 msec or less.

In addition, in order to detect the raising / lowering position of the cutting blade 13, you may monitor the position of the cutting blade 13 by providing sensors, such as a motor encoder. In this case, after the cutting blade 13 reaches the bottom dead center, the table driving device 2 is moved so that the table 1 moves horizontally by a predetermined pitch when the cutting blade 13 rises and comes out of the ceramic green block W. Can be controlled. When the position of the cutting blade 13 is not monitored, time management is performed based on the cutting tact time.

The base 11 is driven up and down by the cutter block lifting device 20. The cutter block lifting / lowering device 20 is preferably a driving device having a faster reaction speed than the cutting blade lifting / lowering device 12, and in this embodiment, a linear motion driving device capable of high-speed driving such as a servo motor or a linear motor is used. The raising / lowering stroke of the cutter block raising / lowering device 20 is set larger than the raising / lowering stroke of the cutting blade 13.

The table driving motor 3, the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17 and the cutter block lifting / lowering device 20 are controlled by the control device 21. A pair of imaging cameras 30 (see FIG. 1) are arranged on both sides of the table 1, and the cut sensing marks provided on the side surfaces of the ceramic green block W are imaged by these cameras 30. The captured image data is sent to the control device 21, and the image data is subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 22 built in the control device 21, and the moving distance of the table 1 is calculated. The control device 21 outputs a signal corresponding to the calculated moving distance to the table driving motor 3. Further, the control device 21 stores the tact time of the cutting blade 13 once according to the rotational speed of the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17, and is used for driving the table so that the table movement is completed within this tact time. The motor 3 is controlled.

Here, the operation of the cutting apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the initial state, as shown in FIG. 1, the cutting blade 13 is above the ceramic green block W, and the table 1 moves the ceramic green block W to the first cutting position. Here, driving of the cutting blade raising / lowering motor 17 is started, and the cutting blade 13 starts cutting.

When the table 1 is stopped at a predetermined cutting position before the cutting blade 13 cuts into the ceramic green block W, the cutting blade 13 is lowered by the action of the eccentric cam 18 to push and cut the ceramic green block W ( (See FIG. 3). After the cutting blade 13 reaches the bottom dead center, it is preferable to control the table driving motor 3 so that the table 1 starts horizontal movement at the timing when the cutting blade 13 rises and comes out of the ceramic green block W. During this period, the cutter block lifting device 20 is stopped.

On the other hand, before the cutting blade 13 cuts into the ceramic green block W, the table 1 may not reach the next cutting position. This is because, for example, dust is attached to the cut sensing mark provided on the side surface of the ceramic green block W, or the cut sensing mark is unclear, and the cut position cannot be clearly identified. This is the case when the calculation of the time is not in time. At this time, a stop command is issued to the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17, but the eccentric cam 18 may rotate by inertia, and the cutting blade 13 may cut the ceramic green block W unnecessarily. Therefore, the control device 21 issues a stop command to the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17 and simultaneously issues a lifting command to the cutter block lifting / lowering device 20 to control the cutting blade 13 so as not to cut into the ceramic green block W (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the cutting apparatus.
When starting, first, a cut sensing mark at the first cut position is sensed (step S1). This sensing process includes a process of capturing the cut sensing mark of the ceramic green block W with the camera 30, processing the image data, and calculating the moving distance of the table 1. Then, a movement command is issued to the table driving motor 3 to move the table 1 toward the initial cut position corresponding to the calculated movement distance (step S2). On the other hand, a drive command is issued almost simultaneously to the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17 (step S3). Once a drive command is issued to the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17, the motor 17 automatically and continuously rotates, so that the cutting blade 13 repeats cutting.
Next, the control device 21 checks whether or not the table movement is completed before cutting (step S4). This check is performed based on a signal from a sensor (not shown) that monitors the movement of the table. The cutting position may not be immediately calculated due to dirt or displacement of the cut sensing mark, and it is determined that the table movement is not completed within one tact time of the cutting blade 13, or the cutting blade 13 is ceramic green block. If it is determined that the table movement is not completed before cutting into W, a stop command is issued to the cutting blade raising / lowering motor 17 to stop the driving of the cutting blade 13 (step S5), and the cutter block 10 is simultaneously raised. Therefore, an ascending command is issued to the cutter block elevating device 20 (step S6). Thereby, even if the cutter block 10 rises rapidly and the eccentric cam 18 rotates due to inertia, the cutting blade 13 can be prevented from being cut unnecessarily into the ceramic green block W.
If it is determined by the movement completion check that the table movement has been completed, the ceramic green block W is pushed and cut at the initial cutting position by the cutting blade 13. After the first cut is completed, a cut sensing mark at the next cut position is sensed (step S7), and a movement command is issued to the table driving motor 3 to move the table 1 toward the next cut position (step S8).
Next, it is determined whether or not all cuts have been completed for the ceramic green block W (step S9). If all cuts have not been completed, the processing from step S4 is repeated, and if all cuts have been completed. Issues a stop command to the cutting blade lifting / lowering motor 17 (step S10), and ends the process.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the ceramic blade block W is pushed and cut by moving the cutting blade up and down in the vertical direction has been described. By using the fulcrum as a fulcrum and moving the other end side up and down, it may be cut off by a swinging method.
An example using a motor and an eccentric cam as the cutting blade lifting / lowering means has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an example using a fluid pressure cylinder, an example using a linear motor, a motor and a ball screw are used. Various means such as examples can be used.

It is a perspective view of the 1st example of the cutting device concerning the present invention. It is a side view of the initial state of the cutting device shown in FIG. It is a side view at the time of cutting of the cutting device shown in FIG. It is a side view at the time of cutting interruption of the cutting device shown in FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows operation | movement of the cutting apparatus concerning this invention.

Explanation of symbols

W ceramic green block 1 table 2 table driving device 3 table driving motor 10 cutter block 12 cutting blade lifting device 13 cutting blade 17 cutting blade lifting motor 18 eccentric cam 19 cam follower 20 cutter block lifting device 21 control device 22 image processing unit 30 Imaging camera

Claims (7)

A table for placing a ceramic green block as an object to be cut on the upper surface;
Table driving means for horizontally driving the table so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position;
Is disposed above the table, and cutting blades for cutting the ceramic green blocks,
The cutting blade is reciprocated up and down, and the cut blade lifting means for cutting-away press the ceramic green block above the cut edge,
A cutter apparatus comprising: a cutter block lifting / lowering means for driving a cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means up and down. The cutting device according to claim 1, wherein a lifting stroke of the cutter block is larger than a lifting stroke of the cutting blade. The said cutting blade raising / lowering means is provided with the motor, the eccentric cam rotationally driven by the said motor, and the follower which is provided in the said cutting blade and contacts the said eccentric cam. The cutting device as described. A controller that constantly monitors the state of the table and the cutting blade, and that controls the table driving means, the cutting blade lifting means, and the cutter block lifting means;
The control means includes
If the table has finished moving before the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block, after the cutting blade reaches the bottom dead center, the table moves at the timing when the cutting blade rises and comes out of the ceramic green block. While controlling the table driving means and the cutting blade lifting and lowering means so as to move horizontally by a predetermined pitch amount,
If the movement of the table is not completed before the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block, a stop command is issued to the cutting blade lifting / lowering means and a lifting command is issued to the cutter block lifting / lowering means. 4. The cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the cutting device is controlled not to cut into the green block. Cut sensing mark provided on the ceramic green block,
An imaging camera for imaging the cut sensing mark,
5. The cutting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control means includes an image processing unit that performs image processing on an image captured by the camera and calculates a moving distance of the table. A cut preparation step of placing a ceramic green block on the table;
Cutting the ceramic green block by horizontally moving the table so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position, and simultaneously lowering the cutting blade by a cutting blade lifting means to push and cut the ceramic green block. Cutting method,
When it is necessary to stop the cutting operation during the cutting step, the driving of the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is stopped, and at the same time, the cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is retracted upward. How to cut ceramic green block. The cutting process is
Imaging the cut sensing mark provided on the ceramic green block by a camera in order to horizontally drive the table so that the ceramic green block is at a predetermined cutting position;
The image picked up by the camera is subjected to image processing to calculate a table moving distance, and further includes a step of controlling the table moving amount according to the calculation result, before the cutting blade cuts into the ceramic green block, When the movement of the table is not completed by the amount of movement corresponding to the calculation result, the driving of the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is stopped and the cutter block including the cutting blade and the cutting blade lifting / lowering means is retracted upward. The method for cutting a ceramic green block according to claim 6.

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