JP4804837B2 - Mold setup information creation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mold setup information creation apparatus for automatically determining the length, number of divisions, and layout of a mold stage for processing in CAD / CAM for bending a plate material.

  In general, in bending a sheet material such as a sheet metal, a bending die is formed by attaching a die having a punch and die set to a bender or a press brake, pressing the workpiece between the punch and the die and applying plastic deformation. Is going.

  Referring to FIG. 12, the bending workstation 101 used for the bending process as described above includes four important mechanical components. That is, a press brake 103 for a bending work W, a 5-degree-of-freedom robot arm (hereinafter abbreviated as a robot) 105 for handling and positioning the work W in the press brake 103, and a place where the robot 105 can be gripped A loader / unloader 107 that loads and unloads an unfinished workpiece and unloads the completed workpiece, and a reposition for holding the workpiece W while the robot 105 changes the gripping position of the workpiece W And a determination gripper 109.

  Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14 together, the press brake 103 includes a robot 105 having a robot arm gripper 111 for gripping a workpiece W, a punch 115 held by a punch holder 113, and a die rail 117. Dies 119 held in

  The press brake 103 includes at least one die 119 held on the die rail 117 and at least one punch 115 held on the punch holder 113 corresponding to the die 119. The press brake 103 further includes a back gauge mechanism 121 used for positioning the workpiece W.

  Next, a workpiece machining operation by the workstation 101 will be described. First, the material loader / unloader 107 lifts the unfinished workpiece W from a container (not shown) by the suction cup 123 and moves it to a position where it is gripped by the gripper 111 of the robot 105. Next, the robot 105 steers to a position corresponding to a specific bending stage located in the bending workstation 101. In FIG. 14, stage A is composed of the leftmost stage of the press brake 103, and stage B is positioned on the right side of stage A along the die rail 117.

  When the first bending is performed at the stage A, the robot 105 moves the workpiece W to the stage and, as shown in FIG. 13, reaches the back gauge mechanism 121 and contacts the workpiece W with the press brake 103. The operation is moved between the punch 115 and the die 119. The position of the workpiece W is supported by a contact sensor (not shown) provided in the back gauge mechanism 121 and is adjusted by the robot 105.

  Next, a bending operation is performed on the workpiece W at the stage A. During the bending operation, the die rail 117 moves upward along the D axis indicated by the arrow A in FIG. When the punch 115 and the die 119 simultaneously contact the workpiece W, the gripper 111 releases its grip on the workpiece W, and the robot 105 releases the gripper 111 from the workpiece W. The workpiece W is moved by the punch 115 and the die 119. Only the bending force is applied. Next, the press brake 103 moves the die 119 upward until an appropriate bending shape is formed, and finishes the bending process of the workpiece W.

  After the die 119 is once engaged with the punch 115 while holding the workpiece W in its bent state, the robot 105 holds the workpiece W before the press brake 103 is lowered and the die 119 is disengaged. Therefore, the gripper 111 is positioned again. When the gripper 111 holds the workpiece W, the die 119 moves downward along the D axis, and the engagement is released.

  The robot 105 then manipulates the workpiece W to re-determine its position to perform the next bend in the specific bending sequence programmed for the workpiece W. The next bend in the bend sequence is either in the same stage as stage A where the first bend was performed, or in a different stage such as stage B, depending on the bend form to be performed and the tool stand provided in the press brake 103. Can also be done.

  The position at which the gripper 111 holds the workpiece W needs to be re-determined according to the next bending to be executed or the configuration of the workpiece W. A repositioning gripper 109 is installed for this purpose, as shown in FIG. The workpiece W is moved to the repositioning gripper 109 by the robot 105 before performing the next bending that requires the repositioning of the gripper 111. Next, the repositioning gripper 109 temporarily grips the workpiece W, so that the gripper 111 can grip the workpiece W at an appropriate place for the next bend or series of bends.

  Prior to processing the workpiece W (workpiece) in the bending workstation 101 as described above, a development view of the workpiece including the bending line is created in consideration of the material, thickness, bending conditions, etc. of the plate material, Based on this development, the plate material is cut and cut by a turret punch press / laser processing machine or the like, and a workpiece before bending is formed. Further, based on the developed view, the bending order, the length of the bending mold and the arrangement thereof are determined.

  When the workpiece includes a plurality of bends, it is necessary to select a bend order with good workability and to determine the mold length and the mold arrangement, but this method is disclosed in Patent Document 1. There is provided an automatic die determination method and apparatus for bending a plate material, which can automatically determine a die length and a die arrangement by a standardized method.

By the way, the metal mold | die utilized for the bending of a board | plate material is normally 10 mm or more, and the thing of various length is supplied per 5 mm. In bending of conventional plate materials, the die length is calculated for the bending length in a single stage, taking into consideration the material, plate thickness, bending elongation value, bending order, etc. according to the development including the bend line. The calculation was based on the minimum required length. Further, the mold layout is constructed in the order of arrangement based on the mold layout creation process.
JP 2000-218321 A

  By the way, in the conventional automatic die determination method for bending a plate material, when calculating the die length, the inner radius R is not taken into consideration. However, since information is output in a short length, there is a problem of product quality degradation.

  In addition, there is a problem in that the information on the mold length composed of the number of divisions that causes a reduction in quality due to the damage to the product due to the boundary of the division mold is output.

  In addition, because the mold length was calculated without considering the number of bending molds owned, there was a problem in that the actual number of divisions was insufficient and information that could not be actually processed was output. .

  In addition, there is a problem in that the mold layout information in the order in which the worker's material handling work efficiency in the step bend is poor is output.

  In addition, when calculating the mold length, the mold length considering only one stage was output. However, at the actual site, the entire layout (multiple stages) was considered in order to eliminate the setup work. Therefore, a mold length that requires less setup work is required. However, since the above matters are not taken into account, there is a problem in that layout information that increases setup work is output.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems.

The mold setup information creation device of the present invention is configured to set a bending process order, select a mold number used in a bending process for each bending process, and perform each process by a bending process simulation based on development data. A mold setup information creation device for creating mold setup information for determining a mounting position and a mounting length of a mold to be used in
A data registration unit for registering bending mold information including at least a mold number and a mold length in a mold database;
A bending order determination unit for determining a bending process order based on the development data;
A mold selection unit for selecting a bending mold to be used in the bending process for each bending order;
A non-interference / interference object amount calculation unit that calculates a gap length that is an uninterfered area at both ends of a bending line to be processed in each bending step and an interference object amount that is an interference area;
A use mold length calculation unit that calculates a calculation mold length corresponding to the length of the bending line to be processed in each bending step;
The gap length, which is the inner dimension of the interference object, is arranged on both sides of the calculated used mold length calculated by combining the used mold length and the number registered in the mold database. A mold stage information creation unit for creating mold stage information;
A mold stage layout information creation unit for creating layout information to be arranged at an installation position in consideration of material handling work of a plurality of mold stages created by the mold stage information creation unit;
It is characterized by having.

  The mold setup information creating apparatus according to the present invention is the mold setup information creating apparatus, wherein the amount of interference is continuous between the mold stages among the plurality of mold stages arranged in the mold stage layout information creating unit. It is preferable to add a mold stage re-creating unit that re-creates a mold stage that does not exist in one mold stage.

  The mold setup information creating apparatus according to the present invention is the mold setup information creating apparatus, wherein the mold stage information creating unit is a combination of a mold length and a number satisfying a predetermined condition for creating the mold stage information. Among them, it is preferable to create the mold stage information by a combination having the smallest number of molds.

  The mold setup information creating apparatus of the present invention is the mold setup information creating apparatus, wherein the mold stage information creating unit determines the bending sequence and the mold to be used in each bending process from the already created bending data. It is preferable to extract and use the extracted use mold as a use mold in the bending order and each bending step.

  The mold setup information creating apparatus according to the present invention is such that, in the mold setup information creating apparatus, when the mold stage information creating unit creates stage information of a punch mold, the punch mold can be mounted on the punch holder. It is preferable to assign a certain position and mold length.

  The mold setup information creating apparatus according to the present invention is the mold setup information creating apparatus, wherein the mold stage layout information creating unit is configured to minimize the amount of movement of a workpiece between a series of bending processes. It is preferable to create information to be arranged.

  The mold setup information creation apparatus of the present invention is the mold setup information creation apparatus, wherein the mold stage re-creation unit creates the punch stage and the die mold independently for re-creation of the mold stage. It is preferred that

  As will be understood from the means for solving the problems as described above, according to the mold setup information creating apparatus of the present invention, the gap length and the inner radius R are taken into account when calculating the used mold length, Since the used mold having the actually required length is output as information, the contact between the mold and the bending line is improved, and the bending accuracy with high product accuracy can be obtained.

  In addition, since the number of owned molds is taken into account when calculating the length of the mold to be used, information can be output so that the number of divisions does not become insufficient.

  Further, since the number of divisions used for bending the product is reduced, it is possible to reduce the damage to the product due to the boundary of the division mold, and further reduce the setup work.

  Further, material handling minimization processing is performed, so that material handling work efficiency in step bend processing can be improved.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14 in the background section of the related art, creation of mold setup information using a bending workstation in which bending work is automated using a robot. The apparatus will be described, but this does not limit the present invention, and it is obvious that the present invention can be applied to a mold for manual bending by a conventional general-purpose machine.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the mold setup information creation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment receives development drawing data as graphic data from a sheet metal CAD system (not shown) as shown in the schematic configuration diagram of FIG. An input unit 3 for inputting and, for example, a storage unit 5 as a data registration unit for storing development view data including the position and length of the bending line and the plate thickness t of the plate material are provided.

  In addition, based on the development data, a bending order determination unit 7 that determines a bending order for a bending line including a parallel bending with respect to a plurality of bending lines arranged on the same straight line on the development view, A mold selection unit 9 for selecting a bending mold to be used in each bending process, and a development thickness data stored in the storage unit 5, the thickness t, the length BL of the bending line, and the bending elongation value Bev. And a failure detection unit 13 for detecting a failure form with respect to the selected bend caused by a preceding bend with respect to a selected bend and a region that is not a target of the selected bend. And are provided.

  In addition, a non-interference / interference object amount calculation unit 15 that calculates a gap length that is an uninterfered area at both ends of a bending line to be processed in each bending process and an interference object amount that is an interference area; A used mold length calculating unit 17 for calculating a used mold length corresponding to the length of a bending line to be processed in the process, and the used mold length registered in the mold database; A mold stage information creation unit 19 that creates mold stage information that satisfies a predetermined condition related to the calculated mold length and the gap length by combining the number of the molds; .

  The mold stage information creating unit 19 creates mold stage information by a combination of the smallest number of molds among combinations of mold length and number satisfying a predetermined condition for creating the mold stage information. Is.

  Further, the mold stage information creation unit 19 extracts the bending order and the used molds in each bending process from the already created bending data, and uses the extracted used molds in the bending order and each bending process. The mold used in

  The mold stage information creating unit 19 assigns a position and a mold length at which the punch mold can be mounted on the punch holder when creating the punch mold stage information.

  In addition, the mold setup information creating apparatus 1 includes a mold stage layout information creating unit 21 that creates layout information for arranging a plurality of mold stages created by the mold stage information creating unit 19 at an attachment position, Of the plurality of mold stages arranged in the mold stage layout information creating unit 21, a mold stage that recreates a mold stage in which the amount of interference does not exist between the mold stages in one mold stage. A re-creation unit 23, and an output unit 25 that outputs mold setup information such as the mold length and mold stage interval and layout obtained in each of the above-described components to the outside as sheet metal working data. It has been.

  The mold stage layout information creating unit 21 creates information in which the mold mounting position is arranged so as to minimize the amount of workpiece movement between a series of bending processes.

  The mold stage re-creating unit 23 creates the mold stage independently for each of the punch mold and the die mold.

  Next, the operation of the mold setup information creation apparatus 1 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the mold setup information creation apparatus according to this embodiment, and is described as an operation flow of software (program) executed on a general-purpose engineering workstation or personal computer. . These programs can be recorded and distributed on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a floppy (registered trademark) disk.

  With reference to FIG.1 and FIG.2, the detailed operation | movement of the flowchart of operation | movement of a metal mold | die setup information preparation apparatus is demonstrated.

  First, development data including bending line information is generated in a sheet metal CAD system (not shown). The development drawing data generation method includes a method of generating from the three-dimensional CAD data of the workpiece, a method of generating from the two-dimensional drawing data mainly composed of three views, and a method of manual input. Never happen.

  For example, in order to obtain the development drawing data, development drawing data created by another CAD system is obtained via a communication line, or exchangeable storage such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a magneto-optical disk (MO). The development view data stored in the medium may be read, or the development view data may be created from the 2D 3 plane view or 3D CAD data by the development view creation software.

  In the development data, it is assumed that the thickness t of the plate material, the length BL of each bending line, and the bending elongation value Bev are incorporated or attached. The development data is input from a sheet metal CAD system (not shown) via the input unit 3 to the storage unit 5 constituted by a hard disk, a semiconductor memory, etc., and is temporarily stored.

  Furthermore, mold information such as a mold number, a shape, a division length to be held, and the number of pieces owned for each division length is acquired from the mold database (DB) in the storage unit 5 (step S1).

  Next, the bending order determination unit 7 determines the bending order for each bending line included in the development data, and the mold selection unit 9 selects a bending mold to be used for each bending order ( Step S2).

  More specifically, the bending order determination unit 7 generates an internal model using the shape information of the development data, selects a matching mold number by checking interference with the part model, and sets the bending order for each bending line. This bending order is added to the attribute data of each bending line, and independent bending order information is created. At this time, the bending order determination unit 7 also determines whether or not parallel bending for simultaneously bending a plurality of bending lines arranged on the same straight line can be performed. The same bending order is given to a plurality of bending lines to be bent.

  The bending order determination method includes PCT / JP95 / 02291 and Japanese Patent Application No. 8-515914 by the applicant of the present application. This is a system that automatically determines the bending order that minimizes the working time of the robot and the press brake device (that is, the lowest cost) while satisfying various constraints, and is called a bending order planner.

  For example, the bend is bent first, the shorter side is bent first, the outer flange is bent first, the outer flange is bent, the parallel bend line is bent first, the lower flange is bent first, etc. There is. The bend order planner uses an A * algorithm to search the state space search tree for the bend order from the starting node to the target node. At this time, the sum of the cost from the starting node to a certain node and the estimated value of the cost from the node to the target node is used as the evaluation value.

  Next, the numerical value extraction unit 11 in FIG. 1 extracts the sheet thickness t, the length BL of each bending line, and the bending elongation value Bev from the development data. Next, the failure detection unit 13 selects a bend line, determines whether there is a bend failure at both ends of the selected bend line, and determines the state of the failure. Distance C1, and the distance C2 from the other end to the obstacle are obtained.

  More specifically, the failure detection unit 13 determines for each bend line whether or not there is a bending failure at each end, and takes a value of 0, 1, or 2 depending on the state of the failure. The parameter H is set, and the lengths C1 and C2 of the extension lines from the bend line ends to the obstacles are calculated. Parameter H is H = 2 when there is a flange that obstructs bending at both ends of the bending line, H = 1 when there is a flange that obstructs bending at one end, and H when there is no obstructing flange at both ends. = 0. C1 and C2 are distances from the respective ends of the bending line to the obstacle.

  Next, the non-interference / interfering substance amount calculation unit 15 uses the non-interference areas at both ends of the bending line to be processed in each bending process to be used when determining the bending order described above and when calculating the length of a used mold to be described later. The gap length, which is the length of, is calculated and output as information. Further, the amount of interference that is the length of the interference area is also calculated and output as information (step S3).

Referring to FIG. 3 as well, the bending order determination of the workpiece W as shown in FIG. This will be explained based on. The development data of the bending process example of FIG. 3 is as shown in Table 1.

As shown in Table 1, the bending order of the development data is in the order of bending lines 27B, 27C, 27A, and 27D in FIG. In this case, the bend lines 27D, bending length BL is 200 mm, the gap length _G L is a non-interference area, with 20 mm _{G R} are each ₂₉ bend not obstacles L, 29 _R ( "interferer" both for example failure amount of as an interference amount which is an interference region of say) _O L, _{O R} is 30mm, respectively. The gap length represents, for example, the distance from the both ends of the bending line 27D to the obstacles 29 _L and 29 _R. In this case, if the mold length is 240 mm or more, the left and right obstacles 29 _L and 29 _R will be interfered.

  Accordingly, an internal model is generated using shape information included in the mold information and product information, and a matching mold number is selected and a bending order is determined while performing an interference check. In addition, when determining the bending order, information on the gap length in each bending process is also output.

  Next, the used mold length calculation unit 17 calculates the used mold length in consideration of the gap length and the inner radius R (step S4).

At that time, the basic method for calculating the mold length is as follows. That is,
(1) If there is no interfering substance on both sides of the target bend line, the length is longer than the bend line and the minimum length that is divisible by 5. In this way, the minimum length is set to 5, as described in the conventional explanation, the molds used for bending the plate material are usually supplied in various lengths in units of 10 mm or more and 5 mm. Because. At this time, the bending position with respect to the working mold is assigned to the position where the bending line and the center of the working mold coincide. This corresponds to the bending lines 27B and 27C in FIG.

  (2) If there is an interfering substance on one side of the target bend line, the length is longer than the bend line and the minimum length divisible by 5.

  At this time, the inner radius R is taken into account when calculating the bending offset position (distance from the interference object to the mold end). If the inner R is equal to or greater than the thickness of the workpiece W, the mold is offset to a position where the clearance corresponding to the inner R is taken. On the other hand, when the inner radius R is smaller than the plate thickness of the workpiece W, the working mold is offset to a position where the clearance corresponding to the plate thickness is taken.

  (3) When there is an interference on both sides of the target bend line, the length obtained by subtracting the clearance (ST) from the inside dimension of the interference (bending length + left and right gap length) divided by 5 The value of the integer value of the quotient (numerical value rounded down after the decimal point) × 5 is used die length. At this time, the inner R value is taken into account when calculating the clearance (ST).

  When calculating the clearance ST, it is necessary to recognize a bend line in another process near the left and right ends of the bend line in the current process. That is, the bend line of the current process is extended to the left and right, the bend lines of other processes (other processes) are extended, and among the bend lines of other processes that intersect the bend line of the current process, The inner R value of the bending line of the other process closest to is the inner R value when the clearance ST is calculated.

  Based on the above R value, the clearance ST at the bending line in the current process is the sum of the left and right R values. However, when the inner R value is 0.0 or when there are no intersecting bending lines, the plate thickness is set as the inner R value.

For example, in FIG. 4, the left and right bend line 27 ₀ in the current step may bend lines ₂₇ L, 27 _R of the other steps, the inner R value of bend line 27 _L is R1, the inner R value of the bending line 27 _R Is R2. In this case, the clearance ST in bend line 27 ₀ in the current process is R1 + R2.

If 4 of the workpiece W is a flange _{F 0} is the bend line ₂₇ of the right and left another step together are bent L, 27 _R in the flange _F L, _{F R} is bent in advance at a bending line 27 ₀ in the current step, the current sectional view taken along fold lines 27 ₀ steps is as shown in FIG. Left and right of the gap length of the bend line 27 ₀ in the current process at this time G _L, G _R is as shown in FIG.

The flange F is the interference of the left and right sides of the bend line 27 _{0 L,} F when the inner dimension of _R is referred to as gap width GL, the maximum mold length PLmax, the gap width GL between the inner side of the left and right of the interferer Is a value obtained by subtracting the clearance ST between the left and right interference objects (PLmax = GL−ST).

  From the above, in order to calculate the mold length to be used, the mold used for bending the actual plate is usually 10 mm or more, and various lengths are supplied in units of 5 mm. In consideration of this point, the calculation is performed within the range of the maximum mold length PLmax.

For example, in FIG. 3, it corresponds to (3) If the bend lines 27A, a bending length is 300 mm, as shown in Table 1, the left and right gap length _G L, is _{G R} If the clearance ST is 6 mm, for example, (300 + 5-6) /5=59.8≈59 (integer value) mm, the calculated mold length is 59 X5 = 295 mm.

  Next, the mold stage information creation unit 19 combines the used mold length and the number registered in the mold database to obtain a predetermined condition relating to the calculated used mold length and gap length. Mold stage information satisfying the above is created (step S5).

  At this time, sharing of the mold stage based on the calculated used mold length and the gap length calculated by the used mold length calculating unit 17 is achieved. That is, in consideration of the gap length in each bending process, processes that can be bent by the same mold stage are collected. As a result, the bending range and the minimum left and right gap length in each mold stage are calculated.

For example, in the bending process example in FIG. 3, the bending order is the order of the bending lines 27B, 27C, 27A, and 27D, the bending lines 27B and 27C each have a bending length BL of 200 mm, and the left and right gap lengths G _L since G _R is infinite, respectively, using molds length of bend line 27A is, bend line 27A, 27B, are determined to be used as a common first mold stage 27C. That is, the first mold stage is 295 mm.

  On the other hand, the bend line 27D has a sum of the bend length and the left and right gap length of 240 mm, and the used mold length is smaller than that. Therefore, the bend line 27A, 27B, and 27C cannot be used on a common stage. Therefore, it becomes another second mold stage.

  However, in actuality, based on the data of the used mold length and the number registered in the mold database, the above-mentioned calculation mold stages are combined by combining the usable mold length and the number of usable mold lengths. It is necessary to match the length. In other words, it is necessary to combine the mold length and the number of molds used so that they are not less than the length of each of the above-described calculation mold stages and not more than the maximum mold length PLmax. At this time, calculation is performed so as to give priority to reducing the number of combinations of molds to be used as close as possible to the length of each mold stage as calculated above.

  In other words, this is a process of calculating the mold length that is the minimum number of divisions within the range of the maximum mold length, and this will be described in detail below as “minimum number of divisions process of mold”.

  The minimum division number processing of the mold is performed according to the following procedure. Note that even if the die and punch constituting the mold are each subjected to the minimum division number processing, the processing method is the same.

  (1) The gap width GL is calculated from the sum of the distance from the left and right ends of each mold stage to the interferer and the length of each mold stage. At this time, the minimum gap width is acquired from the gap widths of the respective bending steps performed on the target mold stage.

  For example, in FIG. 3, in the case of the bending lines 27A, 27B, and 27C, the used mold length in calculation of the first mold stage is 295 mm, and the gap width GL is in the bending process of the bending line 27A. This is the minimum value, and the gap width GL is 305 mm.

  Therefore, in the minimum division number processing of the mold, the division mold and the number are combined so that the actual length of the first mold stage falls within the range of 295 to 305 mm.

  (2) Taking into account the divided molds registered in the mold database and the number of owned molds, from the minimum gap width GL of each mold stage, the used molds of each mold stage are determined to be the minimum number of divided molds. Used in the overall layout of multiple mold stages placed on a bending workstation by executing the processing order of each mold stage based on the priority shown below when determining the mold length to be The number of divisions can be reduced.

  As a priority order, the first priority is restricted by interferences on both sides of the mold stage, and the gap width GL is small, and the second priority is restricted by interferences on both sides of the mold stage, and the gap width GL The third priority is that there is no restriction due to interference on both sides or one side of the mold stage, and the length of the mold stage is small, and the fourth priority is that there is no restriction due to interference on both sides of the mold stage. The mold stage length is large.

  (3) The processing order of each mold stage is determined based on the above priority order, and the process of calculating the mold length of the minimum number of divisions is executed from the mold stage having a high priority order.

  When calculating the mold length of the minimum number of divisions for each mold stage, the number of split molds used in the mold stage that has been processed is the number of mold databases owned (that is, usable) Subtraction). In the mold stage to be processed after the next, the mold length of the minimum division number is calculated based on the subtracted usable number.

  At this time, because there is a restriction on the number of division molds in the mold database, the division number minimum mode that prioritizes minimizing the number of divisions and the mold stage length should be minimized. Consider the two cases, the case of the minimum length mode in which priority is given.

In the case of the minimum number of division mode,
(A) The mold stage length of the minimum number of divisions is the minimum mold stage length calculated by the used mold length calculation unit 17, and is held within the range of the maximum mold length GL at 5mm pitch. It is the mold stage length that satisfies the number and becomes the minimum number of divisions.

  (B) In (A) above, when the number of divisions is the same, the shorter mold length used is the mold length of the minimum number of divisions.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, there are three combinations of the number of divided molds (a), (b), and (c) with respect to the calculated length of the mold stage 31. In some cases, (a), (b), and (c) are in descending order of priority.

In the case of the minimum length mode,
(A) The mold stage length of the minimum number of divisions is the minimum mold stage length calculated by the used mold length calculation unit 17, and is held within the range of the maximum mold length GL at 5mm pitch. It is the mold stage length that satisfies the number and has the minimum length.

  (B) In the above (A), when the number of divisions is the same, the shorter length is the mold length of the minimum number of divisions.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, there are three combinations of the number of divided molds (a), (b), and (c) with respect to the calculated length of the mold stage 31. In some cases, (c), (a), and (b) are in descending order of priority.

  Next, the above-described minimum division number processing of the mold will be described with a simple example of calculation of the minimum division number in consideration of the number of owned molds.

  Referring to FIG. 7, the used mold length calculation unit 17 calculates the used mold lengths for the two mold stages 31 </ b> C and 31 </ b> D. The stage length of the mold stage 31C is 200 mm, and both sides of the mold stage 31C are restricted by interferences. The stage length of the mold stage 31D is 40 mm, and both sides of the mold stage 31C are not restricted by interference.

  On the other hand, the length and number of owned split molds registered in the mold database are one split mold 33a having a length of 160mm, one split mold 33b having a length of 40mm, and a split having a length of 20mm. There are two molds 33c.

  Since the priority order of the minimum division number processing is the order of the mold stage 31C and the mold stage 31D, the number of divisions for the mold stage 31C is calculated.

  In order to reduce the number of divisions, the closest division mold 33a having a length of 200 mm or less and a length of 160 mm is picked up. Therefore, the remaining length is 40 mm (= 200 mm−160 mm). The length and number of owned split molds are 0 for the split mold 33a, 1 for the split mold 33b, and 2 for the split mold 33c.

  Next, the split mold 33b having the remaining length of 40 mm or less and the nearest length of 40 mm is picked up. Therefore, the remaining length is 0 mm (= 40 mm−40 mm). The length and number of owned split molds are 0 for the split mold 33a, 0 for the split mold 33b, and 2 for the split mold 33c.

  Next, the number of divisions for the second priority mold stage 31D is calculated.

  In order to reduce the number of divisions, a division mold 33b having a length of 40 mm or less and the nearest length of 40 mm is picked up. However, the number of owned split molds 33b is zero.

  Therefore, a divided mold 33c having a length of 40 mm or less and the closest length of 20 mm is picked up. Therefore, the remaining length is 20 mm (= 40 mm-20 mm). The length and number of owned split molds are 0 for the split mold 33a, 0 for the split mold 33b, and 1 for the split mold 33c.

  Further, a split mold 33c having a remaining length of 20 mm or less and the nearest length of 20 mm is picked up. Therefore, the remaining length is 0 mm (= 20 mm-20 mm). The length and number of owned split molds are 0 for the split mold 33a, 0 for the split mold 33b, and 0 for the split mold 33c.

  From the above, when calculating the mold length to be used, the gap length and the inner radius R are taken into account, and the mold that is actually required is output as information. The contact is improved, and the bending accuracy with high product accuracy is obtained.

  In addition, since the number of owned molds is taken into account when calculating the length of the mold to be used, information can be output so that the number of divisions does not become insufficient.

  Further, since the number of divisions used for bending the product is reduced, it is possible to reduce the damage to the product due to the boundary of the division mold, and further reduce the setup work.

  Next, the mold stage layout information creation unit 21 creates mold stage layout information for creating layout information to be arranged at the mounting positions in consideration of material handling operations of a plurality of mold stages created by the mold stage information creation unit 19. A creation process is performed (step S6).

  The calculation of the material handling movement distance when performing bending with a plurality of mold stages is based on the center of each bending line of the workpiece W as the movement distance from the first process to the final process. Note that the special bending (hemming, RR, FR, step bending) steps are separate steps and are not included in the movement distance.

  For example, in FIG. 8, one workpiece W is bent by the mold stages 31E, 31F, 31G, and 31H in the first to fourth steps. The first step is V bending, the second step is V bending (parallel bending), the third step is RR bending, and the fourth step is V bending. The movement distance between each process is a movement distance A between the first process and the second process, a movement distance B between the second process and the third process, and a movement distance C between the second process and the fourth process, The movement distance D is defined between the third process and the fourth process.

  However, in the above, since the moving distance B and the moving distance D with respect to the special bending process of the third step are not adopted, the total moving distance in this case = the moving distance A + the moving distance C.

  In consideration of the moving distance between the bending processes, the mold stage layout information creating unit 21 should minimize the moving amount (that is, material handling work efficiency) of the workpiece W between the series of bending processes. A calculation for sorting and arranging the order of the plurality of mold stages is performed. A so-called material handling minimization process is performed.

  For example, referring to FIG. 9A, the layout state of the mold stage is a state before the material handling minimization process of this embodiment is performed. A total of 14 bending steps are performed on one workpiece W. In the bending workstation, four mold stages 31I, 31J, 31K, and 31L are arranged in order from the left. The mold stage 31I performs the first, second, seventh, ninth to twelfth processes, the mold stage 31J performs the thirteenth and fourteenth processes, and the mold stage 31K performs the third to fifth processes. And the sixth and eighth steps are performed in the mold stage 31L. In this case, when bending is performed in the order of the first to fourteenth steps, the material handling movement is performed between the respective steps as shown in FIG. ) Is, for example, 8097.2 mm.

  Next, when the material handling minimization process of this embodiment is performed on the above-described mold stage 31 of FIG. 9A, four mold stages in order from the left as shown in FIG. 9B. Arranged as 31K, 31L, 31I, 31J, and calculated in this layout state. In this case, when bending is performed in the order of the first to fourteenth steps, material handling movement is performed between the respective steps as shown in FIG. 9B, and the movement amount (distance) of the workpiece W ) Is, for example, 3448.9 mm.

  Therefore, material handling minimization processing is performed, so that material handling work efficiency in step bending can be improved.

  Next, in the mold stage re-creating unit 23, as shown in FIG. 10, for the mold stage group having no interference between the parallel bending mold stages, the minimum in the plurality of mold stage groups. A mold stage re-creation process is performed to calculate the mold length as the number of divisions (step S7).

  For example, the workpiece W in FIG. 10 has three parallel bending lines 27M, 27N, and 27O, and the above-described mold stage information creation unit 19 creates three mold stages 31M, 31N, and 31O. Then, in this case, since there is no continuous interference amount between the two mold stages 31N and 31O that bend the bending lines 27N and 27O of the right two flanges in FIG. 10, the two mold stages 31N , 31O can be re-created on one mold stage 31P with a mold length that is the sum of the amount of interfering objects of the bending lines 27N and 27O and the amount of non-interfering objects that is the gap length.

  When the above-described mold stage re-creation process is performed, if an owned mold having a corresponding length cannot be found in the divided molds of the mold database, the process is performed as it is on separate mold stages 31N and 31O. Process as follows.

  In addition, the mold stage re-creating unit 23 performs further minimum division number processing by performing die replacement processing on a plurality of mold stages in addition to the above-described mold layout with improved material handling work efficiency. Is called. The same applies to the punch replacement process.

  More specifically, the die replacement process will be described. The mold stage information creation unit 19 performs the minimum division number process for each mold stage, and after the material handling minimization process is performed, a plurality of molds are processed. For a plurality of continuous mold stages having no interference between the mold stages, the die length and the mounting position that are the minimum number of divisions without interference are calculated.

  If the number of die divisions for a plurality of mold stages is larger than the total number of divisions after the minimum division number processing, no replacement is performed. This process is executed after the minimum number of divisions for each mold stage is processed and the punch attachment position for the punch holder is calculated.

  For example, in the initial state before the processing of this embodiment is performed, as shown in FIG. 11A, two mold stages 31Q and 31R are arranged. In the mold stage 31Q, the number of divisions of the punch 35 is 2, and the number of divisions of the die 37 is 5. In the mold stage 31R, the number of divisions of the punch 35 is 1, and the number of divisions of the die 37 is 2.

  In the state in which the initial state is processed with the minimum number of divisions and the material handling minimization processing, as shown in FIG. 11B, the number of divisions of the punch 35 remains two in the mold stage 31Q. The minimum number of divisions is processed from 5 to 3 divisions of the die 37. On the other hand, in the mold stage 31R, the number of divisions of the punch 35 remains one, and the number of divisions of the die 37 is processed from the minimum number of two to one.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11C, the punch attachment position to the punch holder is calculated. As a result, the space between the mold stages 31Q and 31R is widened.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 11D, die replacement processing is performed on the plurality of mold stages in the state shown in FIG. 11C. In this case, since there is no interfering object between the mold stages 31Q and 31R, the die length and the mounting position that are the minimum number of divisions without interference are calculated. That is, the number of dies 37 is changed from the total of 4 in FIG. 11C to the total of 2 in FIG. 11D.

  From the above, the mold stage re-creation process is performed so that the number of divisions is further reduced with respect to a plurality of mold stages, so that the contact between the mold and the bending line is further improved, and the product accuracy is high. Bending accuracy is obtained. Further, since the number of divisions used for processing one product is further reduced, an effect of further reducing the setup work can be obtained.

  The output unit outputs the mold setup information obtained as described above as sheet metal working data, and this sheet metal working data is given as CAM data to a bending workstation as shown in FIG. 11, for example.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the metal mold | die setup information creation apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the metal mold | die setup information creation method of embodiment of this invention. It is an expansion | deployment top view which shows the example of a bending process. It is a partial expansion | deployment top view which shows the relationship between the bending line of the present process, and the bending line of another process. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view when bending is performed along a bending line in the current process of FIG. 4. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the priority at the time of minimum division number mode, (B) is explanatory drawing which shows the priority at the time of minimum length mode. It is explanatory drawing for showing the example of allocation of the possession division mold with respect to the use mold length in calculation. It is a schematic explanatory drawing for showing the example of calculation of material handling movement distance. (A) is a schematic explanatory view showing the material handling movement distance between processes in the layout state of the mold stage before the material handling minimization process is performed, and (B) is a mold when the material handling minimization process is performed. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the material handling movement distance between processes in the layout state of a stage. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the mold stage recreation of a parallel bending stage. It is a schematic explanatory drawing when performing die replacement processing for a plurality of mold stages. It is an external appearance perspective view of the bending workstation which performs the bending process of a board | plate material using a metal mold | die. It is a principal part side view of the press brake device which is a component of a bending workstation. It is a principal part front view of the press brake device which is a component of a bending workstation.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mold setup information creation device 3 Input unit 5 Storage unit (data registration unit)
7 Bending Order Determining Unit 9 Mold Selection Unit 11 Numerical Extraction Unit 13 Obstacle Detection Unit 15 Non-interference / Interfering Object Quantity Calculation Unit 17 Used Mold Length Calculation Unit 19 Mold Stage Information Creation Unit 21 Mold Stage Layout Information Creation Unit 23 die stage recreating unit 25 output unit _{27A~27O, 27 0, 27 L,} 27 R bend lines ₂₉ L, 29 _R obstacle 31,31A~31R die stage 33a~33c split molds _G L, _{G R} a gap length BL bending length _{F 0, F L, F R} flange GL gap width ST clearance PLmax maximum die length

Claims (7)

By bending process simulation based on development data, setting of bending process order, selection of mold number used in the bending process for each bending process order, and mounting position and mounting length of used mold in each process A mold setup information creation device for creating mold setup information for determining
A data registration unit for registering bending mold information including at least a mold number and a mold length in a mold database;
A bending order determination unit for determining a bending process order based on the development data;
A mold selection unit for selecting a bending mold to be used in the bending process for each bending order;
A non-interference / interference object amount calculation unit that calculates a gap length that is an uninterfered area at both ends of a bending line to be processed in each bending step and an interference object amount that is an interference area;
A use mold length calculation unit that calculates a calculation mold length corresponding to the length of the bending line to be processed in each bending step;
The gap length, which is the inner dimension of the interference object, is arranged on both sides of the calculated used mold length calculated by combining the used mold length and the number registered in the mold database. A mold stage information creation unit for creating mold stage information;
A mold stage layout information creation unit for creating layout information to be arranged at an installation position in consideration of material handling work of a plurality of mold stages created by the mold stage information creation unit;
A mold setup information creating apparatus characterized by comprising:   Among the plurality of mold stages arranged in the mold stage layout information creation unit, a mold stage re-creating a mold stage in which there is no continuous interference amount between the mold stages in one mold stage. 2. The mold setup information creation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a creation unit.   The mold stage information creating unit creates the mold stage information by a combination having the smallest number of molds among combinations of mold length and number satisfying a predetermined condition for creating the mold stage information. The mold setup information creation device according to claim 1.   The mold stage information creation unit extracts the bending order and the used mold in each bending process from the already created bending data, and uses the extracted used mold in the bending order and each bending process. 4. The mold setup information creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mold setup information creating apparatus is a mold.   The mold stage information creation unit, when creating stage information of a punch mold, assigns a position and a mold length at which the punch mold can be mounted on a punch holder. 4. The mold setup information creation device according to 4.   2. The mold setup according to claim 1, wherein the mold stage layout information creating unit creates information in which a mold mounting position is arranged so as to minimize a moving amount of a workpiece between a series of bending processes. Information creation device.   3. The mold setup information creation device according to claim 2, wherein the mold stage re-creation unit creates the punch stage and the die mold independently for re-creation of the mold stage.

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