JPH0541388B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic grinding device for removing surface flaws in metal materials such as steel materials.

[Conventional technology]

For example, surface flaws may occur in steel pieces such as blooms, billets, and slabs obtained by blooming or continuous casting. If these surface flaws are left untreated, they will directly lead to defects in the various steel products obtained by rolling these steel billet materials, so they must be removed at the billet stage.

Conventionally, surface flaws on steel slabs have generally been removed by scarfing, grinding, etc., for example, there is a device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-82667, but in most cases it has been done manually. However, there are quite a few. This has led to problems such as accidents caused by scattering of chips and cracking of the grindstone during grinding operations, diseases such as silicosis due to the inclusion of chips, and costs associated with hiring workers.

As a solution to this problem, it may be possible to apply a grinding robot such as the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-187485, but this alone leaves the following problems.

In other words, although a general-purpose robot that moves by specifying coordinate axes can be applied to relatively regular burr grinding,
It is not possible to follow changes in the surface flaws of various steel materials and wear of the grindstone that occur over a wide range of areas. Since the positioning accuracy of the robot is lower than the grinding accuracy, it is difficult to perform consistent grinding. Furthermore, since the evaluation function for the flaw removal results is not sufficient, it is difficult to say that the system is sufficient as an automatic grinding device for flaws on the surface of metal materials.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention solves the problems that occur when using such a general-purpose robot, and the grinding mechanism is capable of handling changes even if conditions such as the shape, size, location of surface flaws, and wear of the grinding wheel occur. By combining detection, grinding, grinding evaluation, additional grinding, and actuation mechanisms so that they can follow the grinding process, the aim is to improve the accuracy of grinding work, save labor, improve safety, and prevent health problems.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention is equipped with a residual flaw detector after flaw grinding, a flaw grinding grinder, and a contact degree detector of the grinder whetstone against the metal surface at the tip, and within a predetermined range. A grinding robot equipped with a hand that can be moved and raised and lowered, a camera installed at a position that can capture the range of movement of the robot's hand, and a camera that processes images taken by this camera to determine the range of movement of the robot's hand. an image processing device that detects surface flaws on a metal material placed in the interior, a flaw position signal based on coordinate values from this image processing device, a flaw remaining position signal from a flaw detector after flaw grinding, and grinder grinding wheel contact. A processing unit that calculates the grinding range of the grinder wheel on the metal surface and the degree of contact of the grinder wheel with the metal surface based on the grinding wheel contact level signal from the degree detector, and a processing unit that calculates the grinding range of the grinder wheel on the metal surface and the degree of contact of the grinder wheel with the metal surface; The present invention is characterized by comprising a robot control device that controls the movement of the hand section and the operations of the various parts up and down to control the grinding range of the grinder and the amount of cut into the surface flaws of the metal material by the grinder whetstone.

[Effect]

With the above configuration, the operation of the grinder can be controlled in accordance with changes in conditions such as the shape, size, and location of surface flaws on the metal material, wear of the grindstone, and the like.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a system that constitutes the entirety of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 designates a grinding robot. An arm base 2 is rotatably mounted on the grinding robot 1. An arm 4 is rotatably supported on the arm base 2 via a support 3. A distal arm 6 is rotatably connected to the distal end arm 6 via a support pin 5. A hand portion 8 is rotatably suspended from the tip of the tip arm 6 via a support pin 7. A flaw detector 9 and a grinder 10 are provided at the lower part of the hand portion 8, and a mounting portion 14 of a support 13 that supports the rotating shaft 12 of the whetstone 11 of the grinder 10 is provided with a flaw detector 9 and a metal material. S
A strain gauge 15 is attached to detect the degree of contact with the surface. 16 is an image processing device equipped with a camera that photographs the surface of the metal material S, and processes the image taken by this camera to detect the position and shape (size) of a flaw.The camera detects the operating range of the grinding robot and the grinding work. It is arranged at a position where the entire surface of the metal material S on the floor can be captured.

The image processing device 16 is configured to be able to identify and detect surface flaws at each position from areas without flaws by processing images taken by a camera in correspondence to each position on the surface of the metal material, and to identify the position, shape, and size of the surface flaw. It is now possible to detect the height.

The image processing signal from the image processing device 16 includes position signals corresponding to each position on the surface of the metal material, and these signals include a residual flaw signal after grinding and a contact degree detection signal from the flaw detector 9. (strain gauge) 1
It is sent to the arithmetic processing unit 17 together with the grinder grindstone contact degree signal from the grinder grinder 1, where the required grinding operation range of the grinder is calculated according to the position and shape (size) of the surface flaw.
The degree of contact with the surface flaw of the first metal material S, that is, the depth of cut is calculated. Then, this arithmetic processing signal is sent as a drive instruction signal to the drive control device 18 that controls the operation of each part of the grinding robot 1, and the grinder operates in the required range with the required degree of contact to automatically remove the surface flaws on the metal material S. It's starting to grind. 19 is a conveyance roller that conveys the metal material S to a predetermined position, and 20 is a positioning stopper.

Next, the grinding procedure will be explained.

The metal material S is conveyed by the conveyance roller 19 to a predetermined position near the grinding robot 1, and the stopper 20
position and start automatic grinding.

First, the metal material S is photographed by the camera of the image processing device 16, and this image signal is processed to detect the shape, size, and position of the surface flaw on the metal material, and the recognition number ( The coordinate values) are sent to the arithmetic processing unit 17, which is synthesized (coordinate value synthesis) to determine the position, shape, and size of the surface flaw, and the operation pattern of the grinding robot 1 is determined according to the shape and size of the flaw. That is, the grinding direction, range, etc. are calculated, the operation pattern is instructed to the drive control device 18, the drive device is operated to operate the grinding robot 1, and the hand section 8 is operated.
move.

Then, the flaw detector 9 and the grinder 10 of this hand section 8 move to predetermined positions, and the grinder 10 moves to a predetermined position.
is started, and the hand portion 8 is further lowered until the grindstone of the grinder 10 comes into contact with the surface of the metal material S. At this time, the degree of contact between the grinding wheel 11 and the surface of the metal material S is detected by detecting the reaction force using the strain gauge 15, and when the degree of contact between the grinding wheel 11 and the surface of the metal material S reaches a value corresponding to the preset grinding depth of cut, the hand portion 8 The grinding robot 1 is then moved in an operation pattern corresponding to the position and size of the surface flaw to perform grinding work on the surface flaw within a predetermined range. During this movement, the flaw removal result is evaluated by a flaw detector 9 using an overcurrent sensor, and if surface flaw cutting is incomplete, the operation pattern of the grinding robot is corrected and the grinding work is repeated.

Further, the degree of contact between the grinding wheel and the surface of the metal material S is detected by the reaction force value by the strain gauge 15, but for example, by monitoring the grinder drive current, torque, etc.
Detection may also be performed by contact sound detection using an accelerometer or a vibration sound collecting microphone. Also, the amount of cutting by the grinder may be fixed, but
Cutting efficiency can be increased by adjusting it to some extent.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the work of grinding surface flaws on a metal material is automated. Therefore,
Various problems such as accidents, illnesses, and costs associated with manual work can be solved, and grinding accuracy and efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the overall configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1: Grinding robot, 2: Arm base, 3: Support body, 4: Arm, 5: Indicator pin, 6: Tip arm, 7: Support pin, 8: Hand part, 9: Flaw detector, 10: Grinder, 11: Grindstone, 12: Rotating shaft, 13: Support body, 14: Mounting section, 15: Strain gauge, 16: Image processing device, 17: Arithmetic processing device, 18: Drive control device, 19: Conveyance roller, 2
0: Stoppa.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A grinding robot equipped with a residual flaw detector after flaw grinding, a flaw grinder, and a contact degree detector of the grinder whetstone against the metal surface at the tip, and a hand part that can move and move up and down within a predetermined range. A camera is installed at a position that can capture the range of movement of the robot's hand, and the images taken by this camera are processed to detect surface flaws on metal materials placed within the range of movement of the robot's hand. An image processing device, a flaw position signal based on coordinate values from the image processing device, a flaw remaining position signal from a flaw detector after flaw grinding, and a grindstone contact degree signal from a grinder whetstone contact degree detector A processing unit that calculates the grinding range of the metal surface and the degree of contact of the grinder wheel with the metal surface, and signals from this processing unit that control the movement of the hand section of the grinding robot and the movements of the various parts of the elevator. An automatic grinding device for surface flaws on a metal material, characterized in that it is equipped with a robot control device that controls the grinding range of the grinder and the amount of cut into the surface flaw portion of the metal material by the grinder whetstone.