JPH05277866A - Machine tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time of tool exchange and to decrease the cycle time by providing a means to convert to arrange tools in a tool housing means depending on the processing times of the tools by the processing order and the processing means of a processing program. CONSTITUTION:Depending on the processing times of the tools by the execution order and the processing means 15a and 15b of a processing program, the tools housed in a tool housing means 17 are converted to arrange by an arrangement converting means. When the processing time by a tool is longer than a specific time, for example, the tools used thereafter are converted to arrange so as to get near the tool change positions in order of use, according to the execution order of the processing program. Consequently, the time to change tools is reduced, and the cycle time is decreased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machine tool, and more particularly to a machine tool having a tool accommodating means for accommodating a plurality of tools.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a turret punch press machine having a plurality of tools in a turret portion so that one punch press machine can punch a plurality of shapes. Further, a twin head punch press machine provided with a tool accommodating portion (tool magazine) and a tool changing device (ATC) is also provided so as to have more tools than the turret punch press machine.

In this type of punch press machine, tool exchange can be performed by rotating the turret section or by operating the tool accommodating section and tool exchanging device during machining based on the tool information designated by the NC program. Done. But,
Since there is no relation between the execution sequence of the NC program and the storage position of the tool, if the storage position of the tool to be mounted is far from the tool replacement position, it takes a long time to replace the tool. Therefore, the processing cycle time becomes long as a whole.

An object of the present invention is to shorten the time for tool change and the cycle time.

[0005]

A machine tool according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a tool accommodating means, a selecting means, a machining means, and a rearranging means. The tool storing means stores a plurality of tools. The selecting means selects the tool accommodated in the tool accommodating means according to the machining program. The processing means processes the work with the tool selected by the selection means. The sorting means is
The tools accommodated in the tool accommodating means are rearranged based on the execution sequence of the machining program and the machining time of each tool by the machining means.

A machine tool according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises tool accommodating means, selecting means, machining means and changing means. The tool storage means stores a plurality of tools. The selecting means selects the tool accommodated in the tool accommodating means according to the machining program. The processing means processes the work with the tool selected by the selection means. The changing unit changes the execution order of the machining programs according to the arrangement order of the tools housed in the tool housing unit.

[0007]

In the first aspect of the invention, the tools accommodated in the tool accommodating means are rearranged based on the execution sequence of the machining program and the machining time of each tool by the machining means. For example, when the machining time with a certain tool is longer than a predetermined time, during the machining with the tool, the tools to be used thereafter are rearranged in the order of use so as to be closer to the tool exchange position according to the execution sequence of the machining program. As a result, the time required for tool replacement can be shortened and the cycle time can be shortened.

In the second invention, for example, the machining program is divided into a plurality of interchangeable blocks, and the execution order of each block of the machining program is changed according to the arrangement order of the tools accommodated in the tool accommodating means. Therefore, the machining is performed so that the tool replacement time is the shortest, and the machining cycle time can be shortened.

[0009]

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a twin head punch press according to an embodiment of the present invention. The punch press machine is provided with a punch press machine body 21, a tool tower 22 arranged behind the punch press machine body 21 and accommodating a large number of tools, and between the punch press machine body 21 and the tool tower 22. A tool change robot 23 for exchanging tools between them is provided. The tool tower 22 is configured by stacking a plurality of rotatable cylindrical tool holding portions in a plurality of stages,
A large number of tools can be accommodated in each tool gripper.

The punch press machine main body 21 includes a tool magazine 17 for accommodating a plurality of tools, and a tool exchanging device for exchanging tools between the punching machining heads 15a and 15b and the tool magazine 17 (hereinafter referred to as "tool magazine"). ATC)
16 and. The tool magazine 17 is a motor,
It has a circulation drive device composed of a sprocket, a chain, and the like, and a plurality of tools can be arranged at predetermined intervals and circulated.

As shown in FIG. 2, the punch press main body 21 is mainly composed of a lower frame 1, an upper frame 2 and a throat portion 3 for supporting them rearward. The lower frame 1 is provided with a fixed table 4 and left and right movable tables 5 and 6 as work tables on which works are placed. Left and right moving tables 5, 6
Can be moved in the front-rear direction of the device together with the carriage 7. The carriage 7 is provided with a cross slide 8 which is movable in the left-right direction of the device. A work holder 9 for holding a work is attached to the cross slide 8.

The upper frame 3 is provided with a motor 10 for driving a punch, a flywheel 11, and a crank mechanism 12. At the front end of the upper frame 2, two punch heads 13a and 13b are selectively reciprocated by a crank mechanism 12 via a selection mechanism 20.
Is provided. In addition, each punch head 13a,
13b and the die head 14 on the lower frame 1
a and 14b are provided. With these two sets of punch heads and die heads, two sets of processing heads 15a,
15b is configured.

The throat section 3 is provided with a main controller 20 for controlling the whole of these devices. The main controller 20, as shown in FIG.
A main control unit 31 that mainly performs C control and a tool control unit 32 that performs control for tool exchange are provided. Main control unit 3
1 and the tool control unit 32 are provided with independent microcomputers, respectively, and can operate independently. The main control unit 31 includes a punch press machine body 21,
The tape reader 33, the keyboard 34, and other input / output units are connected. Further, the tool control unit 32 includes a use order memory 35, a tool information memory 36, a tool tower 22,
Tool change robot 23, tool magazine 17, A
The TC 16 and other input / output units are connected. The use sequence memory 35 stores the use sequence of the tools used and the machining time of the tools described in the NC program read by the main control unit 31 when machining the first sheet. Tool information memory 36
The information of the tools accommodated in the tool magazine 17 is stored in. Here, the storage position and the type of storage tool are stored.

Next, the control operation of the punch press machine thus constructed will be described. In the main controller 31, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, first, in step S1, each part is initialized. Here, the processing flag described later is reset. In step S2, the operator waits for the work start switch arranged on the keyboard 34 to be pressed. When the work start switch is pressed, the process proceeds to step S3. In step S3, the processing program is read from the tape reader 33, the processing program is temporarily stored in the memory in the main control unit 31, and the content thereof is further read. In step S4, the first step of the read machining program is read.

In steps S5 to S7, the content of the read step is determined. That is, in step S5,
It is determined whether or not the read step command means machining. In step S6, it is determined whether or not it means another command. In step S7, it is determined whether or not the step means the end. YES in step S7
If it is determined that the above, the process proceeds to step S8. In step S8, it is determined whether or not the same processing is repeatedly performed on the next plate material, that is, whether or not all the processing has been completed on the planned number of plate materials. If the plate material to be processed remains, the determination in step S8 becomes YES,
Control goes to step S9. In step S9, the machining flag is set and the address for step reading is reset so as to return to the first step of the machining program, and the process returns to step S4. Step S8
If the determination is NO, the process ends. If the determination in step S7 is no, the process returns to step S4 and the command for the next step is read.

If the command read in step S4 means machining, the process moves from step S5 to step S10. In step S10, it is determined whether the processing flag is set. If the processing is the first processing, the processing flag is not set, and thus the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, the tools to be used are stored in the usage order memory 35. Step S1
In step 2, the machining time of the tool used is calculated and stored in the usage order memory 35 as well. This processing time is calculated, for example, from the number of punches of the processing heads 15a and 15b and the moving distance of the work. The processing time may be stored by measuring the actual processing time. Step S1
In 3, the commanded processing is performed. When this processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S6. In this way, steps S11 to S11 are performed until a series of processing is completed for one plate material.
The step S13 is repeatedly executed, and the order of tools used in the machining program and the machining time of each tool are stored in the usage order memory 35.

When a series of processing for the first plate material is completed, steps S8 and S9 are executed, so that the processing flag is set for the second and subsequent plate materials, and YES is determined in step S10. It In this case, the process proceeds from step S10 to step S14.
In step S14, the machining time of the used tool stored in the use order memory 35 is read based on the use order of the tool.
Next, in step S15, it is determined whether the read processing time exceeds the predetermined time T _S. This predetermined time T
_S is a sufficient time for rearranging a certain number of tools, for example, about 5 to 10 minutes. If the determination in step S15 is yes, the process moves to step S16. In step S16, a pause signal is output to the tool control unit 32, and the process proceeds to step S13. If the processing time does not exceed the predetermined time, step S15
To S13.

If the command read in step S4 is another command, the process proceeds from step S6 to step S17. In step S17, another process according to the command is executed, and the process proceeds to step S7. On the other hand, in the tool control unit 32, as shown in FIG.
Then, the tool information input by the operator is registered in the tool information memory 36. In step S22, the main controller 3
It is determined whether the pause signal is received from 1. When it is determined that the pause signal has not been received, the processing ends as it is. When the pause signal is output in step S16 in FIG. 4 and is received, the process proceeds from step S22 to step S23. Step S23
Then, the use order of the tools is read from the use order memory 35.
In step S24, the arrangement of the tools in the tool magazine 17 is changed based on the read order of use of the tools so that the tools can be replaced most efficiently in the subsequent processing, that is, in a short time.

FIG. 6 shows how the tool arrangement is changed. Here, it is assumed that the tools are used in the order of the tools T ₁ to T ₆ . Further, it is assumed that the tool indicated by the slanted lines in the figure is a tool being machined. Then, it is assumed that the machining time of the tool T ₃ is longer than the predetermined time T _S. Therefore, a pause signal is output when the tool T ₃ is machined, and the tool arrangement is changed according to the order in which the tool is used thereafter. That is, when machining the tool T ₃ ,
First, the tools T ₂ and T ₄ are exchanged. And the tool T
The tool A next to ₅ is moved to the tool exchange position, and the tool A and the tool T ₄ are exchanged using the machining head 15b which is not under machining. As a result, the tools T ₄ and T ₅ are adjacent to each other. Next, the tool T ₆ is moved to the tool exchange position, and the tool A and the tool T are moved.
Replace with ₆ . Next, the tool B arranged next to the tool T ₄ is moved to the tool exchange position, and this tool B and the tool T ₆ are moved.
And replace. As a result, the tool T ₆ , the tool T _4, and the tool T ₅ are arranged adjacent to each other.

After that, the tool T ₄ is set on the machining head 15b and machining is performed. Then, the tool T ₃ and the tool T ₅ are exchanged for the processing head 15a during the processing with the tool T ₄ . By changing the arrangement of the tools in this way, it is possible to reduce the movement distance of the tool magazine 17 at the time of exchanging the tool and shorten the tool exchanging time.

In step S25, the rearranged state is registered in the tool information memory 36, and the tool information is updated.
In step S26, it is determined whether all the tool exchanges have been completed. If the tool exchange has not been completed, the process returns to step S23 to read the next tool use order. When the tool exchange is completed, the process proceeds to the next process. Embodiment 2 In the above-described embodiment, when changing the arrangement of the tools, the head which is not processed among the processing heads 15a and 15b is used for the tool replacement, but this tool replacement can be performed easily. As shown in FIG. 7, a tool take-over device 37 dedicated to rearrangement may be arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the tool magazine 17. The tool stealing device 37 may be configured by the tool robot 23 and the tool tower 22.

Third Embodiment In the first and second embodiments, the arrangement of the tools in the tool magazine 17 is changed according to the order of use of the tools, but the order of use of the tools, that is, the processing order is changed according to the arrangement of the tools. May be. In addition, here, when creating a machining program, considering that such as machining using a single tool or machining using a plurality of tools in a fixed order, the entire machining program is , The processing order is divided into blocks that can be exchanged and created.

A control flow chart in this case is shown in FIG. First, the main controller 31 initializes in step S31. Next, in step S32, the tool information memory 36
Read tool information from. In step S33, the processing block that uses the first tool is read based on the read result of the tool information memory 36. For example, when the tools T _{1 to} T ₉ are arranged in the arrangement shown in FIG. 9 and the machining program shown in the left side of FIG. 10 is created,
In step S32, the tool information of the tool T ₁ is first read. In step S33, the processing block B ₁ the use of tools T ₁ is read.

In step S34, the first step of the read machining program is read. Step S35
Then, in step S36, the content of the read step is determined. That is, in step S35, it is determined whether or not a processing command has been issued. In step S36, it is determined whether or not another command is issued. Further, in step S37, it is determined whether or not all the steps for the processing block have been read. If all the steps have not been read, the process returns to step S34 and step S34.
35 to step S37 are repeatedly executed. Further, in step S38, it is determined whether or not the entire machining program has been completed. If not completed, the process returns to step S32, and steps S32 to S37 are repeated. When all the machining programs have been executed, the processing ends.

When the command read in step S34 is a machining command, the process proceeds from step S35 to step S39 and the machining process is executed. If it is another command, the process proceeds from step S36 to step S40, and the process according to the command is executed. In this way, when the machining program shown on the left side of FIG. 10 is created by changing the machining order according to the arrangement order of the tools, actually,
Processing is performed in the order shown on the right side of FIG. As a result, it is possible to reduce the moving distance of the tool magazine 17 when exchanging tools, and it is possible to shorten the tool exchanging time.

Particularly in the turret punch press, as shown in Examples 1 and 2, it is difficult to exchange the tools during machining to change the arrangement of the tools.
As shown in FIG. 7, changing the processing order can be easily performed even in the turret punch press machine.

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the arrangement of the tools is rearranged according to the order of use, so that the tool exchange time can be shortened and the overall machining time can be shortened. Further, in the second aspect of the invention, since the order of use of the tools is changed according to the arrangement of the tools, the tools can be exchanged in the shortest time according to the arrangement of the tools, and the overall machining time can be shortened. In particular, it is effective when it is difficult to change the arrangement of tools during processing, such as a turret punch press.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a twin head punch press according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a twin head punch press machine.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a main controller.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a main control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a tool control unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of tool exchange.

FIG. 7 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 4 of the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a tool arrangement order according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of rearrangement of machining programs according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15a, 15b Processing head 17 Tool magazine 20 Main controller 21 Punch press machine main body 31 Main control unit 32 Tool control unit 35 Use sequence memory 36 Tool information memory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tool accommodating means for accommodating a plurality of tools, a selecting means for selecting a tool accommodated in the tool accommodating means according to a machining program, and a machining for machining a work with the tool selected by the selecting means. A machine tool comprising: means, and a rearrangement means for rearranging the tools accommodated in the tool accommodating means based on a machining sequence of the machining program and a machining time of each tool by the machining means. 2. A tool accommodating means for accommodating a plurality of tools, a selecting means for selecting a tool accommodated in the tool accommodating means according to a machining program, and a machining for machining a work with the tool selected by the selecting means. A machine tool comprising: means and a changing means for changing an execution order of the machining program according to an arrangement order of tools housed in the tool housing means.