JPH0422806B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a sorting and stacking control method for a sorting and stacking device in a plate processing machine.

[Prior Art] As an example of a product sorting system in the field of sheet metal processing, there is an example of sorting products by size, as shown in "Mashin" August 1984.

However, conventional sorting methods, including these methods, require manual intervention, and complete automation is impossible except for the processing of a single product.

With the recent advancements in FMS, it is necessary to process a variety of products with one machine, and we are developing a method to efficiently and fully automatically sort the products to be processed in a variety of ways. This is what is desired.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

During the processing of nested products and the sorting and accumulation of products after processing, parts were sorted manually. The aim is to automate this process and improve yield.

In view of these demands, the present invention aims to efficiently and fully automatically sort sheet metal products produced in various ways.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sorting and stacking control method for a sorting and stacking device disposed between a plate processing machine that creates a large number of products and a product storage device that has a variety of product storage positions. At the start of machining, a list of products in lots to be processed by the machine is referred to, and state commands for operating the sorting and accumulating device according to each process are made to correspond to the product rows to be processed in sequence, and when actual machining is started, The sorting and accumulating device is controlled to the state determined by the state command to sequentially control the sorting work.

〔Example〕

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

First, to briefly explain the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a system for applying the present invention to a turret punch press, and Fig. 2 shows a nesting situation of plate materials provided to the turret punch press. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the control device of the system, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of floppy information input to the control device, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the schedule information file, which is the main part of the sorting and accumulation work, Figures 6 to 8 are flowcharts showing the process of creating the schedule information file, and Figure 9 is a time diagram showing an example of the operation of the accumulation device. It's a chat.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system shown in this example includes a turret punch press 1 and an unloader 3.
, two stacking devices 5R and 5L, two multi-stage stockers 7R and 7L, a multi-level warehouse 9, and a stacker crane 11.

The turret punch press 1 is the same as the well-known one, and receives a nested plate material W as shown in FIG. , B, C, etc. are created sequentially.
Note that the symbols , . . . shown in FIG. 2 indicate the processing order.

The unloader 3 includes the turret punch press 1
The parts created in the above-mentioned accumulation device 5R or
It is carried onto the palette Pi or Pj (both i and j are variables) placed on L.

The accumulating devices 5R, 5L collect pallets Pi, Pj between the unloader 3 and the multistage stockers 7R, 7L.
It is a matter of choosing. The pallets Pi and Pj transported by the stacking device are transferred to multistage stockers 7R and 7L as appropriate.
After being taken out from a predetermined position in the multi-stage stocker 7R, 7L and moved directly below the unloader 3 to place a predetermined part thereon, it is returned to its original position in the multi-stage stockers 7R, 7L.

The multistage stockers 7R and 7L are both formed in multiple stages and store predetermined pallets Pi and Pj at predetermined positions.

The stacker crane 11 is for carrying out pallets stored in the multistage stocker 7R or 7L to the warehouse 9.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 13 includes a schedule information reading section 15 and an NC data information reading section 17 connected to a floppy disk FD, a schedule information file section 19, an NC data information file section 21, and a multi-stage storage unit. Position determining section 23
, a pallet conversion flag determination section 25 , and a warehouse storage flag determination section 27 . Furthermore, the schedule progress management section 29, the NC turret punch press control section 31, the stacking device control section 33, the multi-stage stocker control section 35, the stacker crane control section 37, and the multi-stage stocker inventory file section 39 are have.

As shown in Figure 4, the floppy disc FD is
For processing plate material W as shown in Figure 2.
It contains NC machining data and schedule information consisting of the lot number and the name of the number of parts to be machined. NC machining data includes an unloader command (M53) added to each machining data that is attached to the machining data for machining unit parts.

The schedule information reading section 15 is for reading the schedule data portion from the floppy disk FD.

The NC data information reading section 17 is for reading the NC processing data portion from the floppy disk FD.

As shown in FIG. 5, the schedule information file section 19 stores schedule information and three types of status designation information (each multi-stage stocker position, warehouse storage flag, pallet exchange flag) in correspondence with each part name in the schedule information. It is something to do. These 3
The seed status designation information is multi-stage stocker 7R, 7L,
These are used to regulate the operations of the stacker crane 11 and the stacking devices 5R and 5L, respectively.

The multi-stage stocker position determining section 23 is for writing information specifying the position of each multi-stage stocker into each multi-stage stocker position storage area of the file shown in FIG. The positioning logic of the multi-stage stocker is detailed in FIG.

The pallet exchange flag determining section 25 is for setting a flag indicating whether or not pallet exchange is to be performed in the pallet exchange flag area of the file shown in FIG. The flag determination method will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The warehouse storage flag 27 is used to set a flag indicating whether or not warehouse storage is necessary in the warehouse storage flag storage area of the file shown in FIG. The flag determination logic is detailed in FIG.

The schedule management section 29 includes a schedule information file section 19 and each control section 31, 33, 35,
37 to control the operation timing of each control section. Further, the schedule management section 29 is connected to each of the decision sections 23, 25, 27 and the NC turret punch press control section 31, and outputs a decision command signal to each decision section. Furthermore, the schedule progress management section 29 is connected to the multistage stocker inventory file section 39, and updates the contents of the inventory file every time a pallet is stored in the warehouse.

Next, the operation of the control device 13 configured as described above will be explained.

First, as shown in Figure 4, the floppy disc
The schedule data stored in the FD is read into the schedule information file 19 via the schedule information reading section 15, and the NC data also stored in the floppy disk FD is read into the NC data information file section via the NC data information reading section 17. 2
1.

At this time, the schedule information includes the multi-stage stocker position, warehouse storage flag,
This is stored in correspondence with the storage area for the pallet exchange flag. Further, the NC data (processing data and unload command) is stored in a file in association with the part name.

Next, the multistage stocker position determining section 23, the pallet exchange flag determining section 25, and the warehouse storage flag determining section 2
7 operates as follows.

As shown in FIG. 6, the multi-stage stocker position determination section 23 extracts schedule information for one lot in step 601 and executes position determination for each part in step 602.

In step 602, the part name is extracted, and in step 603 it is determined whether it is the same as the part name already extracted.

If it is determined in step 603 that the parts are the same, the same position as the already set part is set in step 604, and if it is determined that it is a new part, the process moves to step 605, where the A new stocker position will be set. position n
is 1 for each maximum part type nmax for 2 lots.
This is a value that is set cyclically in the range of ~nmax.

In step 606, it is determined that all parts are completed for the one lot, and then in step 607, the settings for the two lots are confirmed.

In this way, in this example, schedules are taken out for two lots so that it is possible to judge the status of the next lot operation following the current lot operation.

In the example shown in Fig. 5, the plate material shown in Fig. 2 is
This is an example of how to use lot LOO1. As shown in FIG. 5, each multi-stage stocker position is assigned so as not to mix different types of parts. Note that the numbers shown on the right side of FIG. 5 indicate the order of the extraction lots.

As shown in FIG. 7, the warehouse storage flag determination unit 2
7, in steps 701 and 702, the schedule information for the current one lot and the next one lot is extracted, and
Move to step 703.

In step 703, part names are extracted from the current lot, and in step 704, it is determined whether there are any names that match all the part names in the next lot.

If a match is found in step 704, the process skips step 705 and moves on to step 706 in order to place the matching parts on the same pallet (without setting the flag), but in step 704, there is no match. If it is determined that the part is stored in the warehouse, a warehouse storage flag "*" is set for the part in step 705.

In this way, in this example, by monitoring two lots together with the next lot, it is considered that many identical parts can be placed on the same pallet. However, if the same parts appear in many lots consecutively, it is necessary to limit the number according to the pallet placement limit.

As shown in FIG. 8, the pallet exchange flag determination section 25 extracts the schedule information of the current lot in step 801, and proceeds to step 802.
In step 802, the part name is retrieved, and in step 803, with reference to the multistage stocker position in FIG.
Regarding the corresponding column (7Ror7L), it is determined whether or not it is the same as the next part name.

In this example, the judgment for each column is made for two accumulation devices 5R and 5.
This is necessary because L is used to enable alternate and efficient accumulation work.

If it is determined in step 803 that the part is the same as the next part, there is no need to move the pallet, so the process moves to step 805 without setting the pallet exchange flag.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 803 that the part is different from the next part, the pallet exchange flag "*" is set in step 804, and then step 804 is performed.
Migrate to 805.

At step 805, it is determined that one lot is completed, and then the process moves to step 806.

In step 806, it is determined whether the last part of the current lot matches the first surrounding part in the corresponding column. If they do not match, the process moves to step 809, where a pallet exchange flag "*" is set. Ru.

Also, if a match is determined in step 806,
The process moves to step 807, where it is determined whether the part name is the same as the first part name in the corresponding column of the next lot.

If it is determined in step 807 that the part is the same as the first part in the corresponding row of the next lot, there is no need to replace the pallet, and the process ends here.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 807 that the part is different from the first part in the corresponding column of the next lot, the pallet of the part must be replaced only when the current lot is completed. Set the corresponding special flag (marked with a circle *).

When the multi-stage stocker position, pallet exchange flag, and warehouse storage flag are created as described above, next, the schedule progress management section 29
is activated, and the schedule information aisle section 19
, the NC turret punch press control section 31, stacking device control section 33, multi-stage stocker control section 35, and stacker lane control section 37 are activated.

The movement of an actual object will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5, 9, etc.

When the plate material W shown in FIG.
Starting from 1, NC data corresponding to the lot number is transmitted.

As a result, the NC turret punch press 1 starts machining. Since the NC data has an unload command (M53) inserted at the end of machining one part (see Figure 4), this command causes the unloader 3 to
is activated and the processed parts are transferred to the accumulator 5R or 5.
Carry it to L.

As shown in FIG. 9, a command to pull out an empty pallet is output to the stacking devices 5R and 5L at the same time as the NC turret punch press 1 starts processing, and for example, the first empty pallet Pj is set on the stacking device 5L. Then, the processed part A is placed on this pallet Pj.

Here, part A is on the pallet on the accumulating device 5L.
Once placed on Pj, the pallet exchange flag for the part A is then referenced. In this example, the replacement flag for part A (the first part) is marked as "*" as shown in Figure 5, so the pallet carrying part A is returned to the original multi-stage stocker position, and then , carry out the pallet for the next part.

On the other hand, when the unloader 3 completes loading part A (first) onto the accumulating device 5L, at this point the NC
Turret punch press 1 is part B (second)
processing.

Therefore, part B is stacked on the pallet Pi of the other stacking device 5R. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, since the pallet exchange flag for the second part B is "0", the pallet Pi remains set in the stacking device.

In these operations, the unloader 3, the two stacking devices 5R and 5L, the two multi-stage stockers 7R and 7L, and the stacker crane 11 perform synchronous work in conjunction with the operation of the NC turret punch press 1. . In this example, the schedule progress management section 29 manages each connection member while referring to the file shown in FIG. 5, so that all the materials are synchronized and efficient sorting and accumulation work is performed. become.

As described above, in this example, products punched from plate materials can be sorted and accumulated in a highly efficient and fully automatic manner.

In addition, in the above embodiment, an automatic warehouse consisting of a stacker lane and a warehouse was attached to the multi-stage stocker, but in this invention, these automatic warehouses are omitted,
Instead, various design changes can be made, such as increasing the number of stages of the multi-stage stocker or increasing the number of rows of the multi-stage stocker to store a variety of products.

Furthermore, although the above embodiments have been shown as an example of a turret punch press, the present invention can be applied to product sorting work of any sheet processing machine such as a shearing machine, a general-purpose Kepress machine, or a laser processing machine. be.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the sorting and stacking work is performed in synchronization with the processing work of unit products, so that a wide variety of products can be highly efficiently and fully automatically sorted and stacked.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a system for applying the present invention to a turret punch press, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing a nesting situation of plates provided to the turret punch press, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the system. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the floppy information input to the control device, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the schedule information file that forms the main part of the sorting and accumulation work, and FIGS. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the schedule information file creation process, and FIG. 9 is a time chart showing an example of the operation of the accumulation device. 19... Schedule information file section, 21...
...NC data information file section, 23...Multi-stage stocker position determining section, 25...Pallet exchange flag determining section, 27...Warehouse storage flag determining section, 29...
Schedule progress management department.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A sorting and accumulating control method for a sorting and accumulating device disposed between a sheet material processing machine that produces a large number of products and a product storage device having various product storage positions, which Referring to a list of products in lots to be processed by the machine, state commands are created to operate the sorting and accumulating device according to each process in accordance with the rows of products to be processed in sequence, and during actual processing,
A sorting/accumulating control method characterized in that the sorting/accumulating device is controlled to a state determined by the state command to sequentially control sorting work. 2. The sorting/accumulation control method according to claim 1, wherein the status command is created with reference to a list of products for two lots. 3. The sorting and stacking control method according to claim 1, wherein the status command is a command for all members that are linked to sorting and stacking. 4. The sorting/accumulation control method according to claim 1, wherein the member interlocked with the sorting/accumulation includes a stacker crane. 5. The sorting/accumulating control method according to claim 1, wherein the sorting/accumulating device is an unloader and a pallet conveying device.