JPH0550365A - Machining system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable it to judge a tool change automatically by feeding a machining unit with a necessary tool together with a work. CONSTITUTION:This machining system consists of a machining unit 1 for machining a work by a tool detachable from a body, a feeding means 2 feeding an operating range of this machining unit 1 with an object, a judging means 3 to judge a fact that either of the work or the tool is carried in, and a control means A, making the machining unit machine the work when the judging means 3 judges the work being carried in, as well as making the machining unit change the tool when the tool is judged to be carried in.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a machining system for automatically exchanging tools for machining in a machining line for cutting parts in an automobile production line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when performing machining such as cutting of mechanical parts, data concerning a workpiece supplied to a machining line and a tool to be used for the machining condition is input into a machining apparatus in advance to perform the machining. Was there. In such a processing device, an automatic tool changer called a so-called auto tool changer is attached, and based on the above processing data, the necessary tools are automatically selected from the various tools such as drills and cutters. Supply to the processing equipment. Then, machining of a preset number of works and attachment / detachment of the tool to / from the machining apparatus by the automatic tool changer are sequentially performed.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional processing apparatus, if the automatic tool changer is used when changing the processing content on the line, there is an advantage that the tool can be reliably and safely replaced. However, it also had the following problems.

(1) In a processing apparatus equipped with an automatic tool changer, a tool storage mechanism is provided in addition to a tool transfer mechanism from the changer to a processing apparatus such as a transfer arm. A place to install such an automatic tool changer is required.

(2) When the above-described automatic tool changer is attached to the processing apparatus, the entire apparatus becomes large and maintenance is complicated.

(3) On the other hand, if the tools are to be replaced manually by the processing device, the tools may be replaced at a large number of places at a time, especially when processing a large amount of a wide variety of products. It takes a lot of work and the whole line may stop.

(4) It is extremely complicated to rearrange the processing data to be input to the processing device in response to frequent changes in the processing process due to the requirements such as the type of processing and the production schedule.

In recent years, there has been a demand for a machining system capable of easily forming a line and flexibly accessing an operating line while the machining apparatus has become multifunctional.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to unnecessarily increase the occupied area of a line in a machining line for cutting mechanical parts. It is an object of the present invention to provide a machining system capable of automatically exchanging tools in a machining apparatus and easily changing machining processes.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the machining system of the present invention, a machining device for machining a work with a tool detachable from the main body and an operating range of this machining device are provided. Supplying means for supplying an object, discriminating means for discriminating whether a work or a tool has been carried into the working range of the processing apparatus, and a work for the processing apparatus when the discriminating means judges that the work is carried in. And a control means for causing the processing device to execute the replacement of the tool when it is determined that the tool has been carried in.

[0011]

In the processing apparatus in this system, a detachable tool is used, and the necessary tools are supplied to the processing apparatus main body along with the work within its operating range. In that case, since it has a determining means for determining whether a work or a tool has been carried in, it is possible to determine whether the object supplied to the working range of the processing apparatus is a work or a tool. Then, based on the information, when it is determined that the work is loaded, the processing device is caused to perform the work on the work,
Since the processing device has the control means for executing the exchange of the tool when it is determined that the tool has been carried in, even if both the workpiece and the tool are supplied within the same range in which the processing device operates,
The information obtained from them can perform appropriate actions. That is, the machining process can be changed by supplying a predetermined tool required for the next machining to the machining apparatus side in the flow of the work each time the tool needs to be replaced.

Therefore, a tool exchanging device for preliminarily holding many tools on the side of the processing device is not required, the area occupied around the processing device is small, and maintenance related to the tool is simplified only on the supply side.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The machining system according to the present invention comprises a machining device 1, a supply means 2, a discriminating means 3 and a control means A, as shown in FIG. Further, reference numeral 4a indicates an object such as a work supplied to the operating range of the processing apparatus 1, and 4b indicates an object carried out from the operating range such as a finished work.

Among them, the processing apparatus 1 is a so-called conventional machine tool, which supports a tool such as a cutter or a drill by its mounting portion in a detachable manner, and cuts a workpiece.
Perform processing such as perforation. That is, the mounting portion of the processing device 1 on which the tool is mounted approaches the workpiece at the processing reference position of the processing device 1, and the workpiece is processed from the predetermined zero point position by the predetermined feed amount and the rotation speed. ..

The supply means 2 comprises, for example, a conveyer mechanism such as a conveyor and a supply device for placing a work or the like on the conveyor.
Object 4a such as a workpiece to be machined or a desired tool, up to a predetermined position in the above-mentioned operating range of the mounting portion for gripping the tool
To supply.

Further, the discriminating means 3 discriminates whether the work supplied or the tool supplied to the working range of the processing apparatus 1 is carried in. For example, presence or absence of an object and its position are determined. It can be configured by using a sensor for detecting or a shape recognition device such as an image scanner.
As an example, the object 4a (4b) is
There are tools, jigs, jigs holding tools, etc. Based on the judgment of which of these has been supplied, the processing device 1
Is controlled. The jig is configured to receive the tool when it is inserted in an empty state, and to hold the tool when the tool is held by the mounting portion of the processing apparatus 1.

Upon receipt of the signal from the discriminating means 3, the control means A controls the machining apparatus 1 and the supplying means 2 for supplying the object 4a such as the work and tool to the machining apparatus 1. The discriminating means 3 discriminates whether a work or a tool is carried in to the work supplied to the working range of the processing device 1 by the supply means 2 as described above, and performs the machining on the work or the exchange of the tool. It is what makes them.

By the way, various sensors can be used as the discrimination means 3, and as one specific example thereof, a storage means for identifying data is provided in the work and the jig.
It is possible to read this. For example, it is possible to use a bar code reader that reads a bar code. Then, with respect to the object 4a carried into the operating range of the processing apparatus 1 by the supply means 2, a part of the tool protruding from the jig is discriminated by a reflection type or transmission type optical sensor or the like, and the presence of the tool is determined. With the presence of the jig by the barcode reader,
It is possible to determine the type of tool held by the jig. In addition, a plurality of processing devices 1, 1 are usually installed in the processing line.
However, the identification information of the supply destination can also be included in the bar code of the jig.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIG. 4 which is a flow chart of the operation, the operation and action in one embodiment of the present processing system will be described. Description will be given with reference numerals.

When the operation of this system is started, an object 4a such as a work is put into the conveyor or other conveying mechanism 2b shown in FIG. At this time, the work is loaded from the work storage 2c, the tool is loaded from the tool storage 2d, and the jig for holding the tool on the transport mechanism 2b is loaded from the jig storage 2e. Based on this, a tool is selected and a jig corresponding to the tool is selected, and the tool is held by this jig. It should be noted that these controls are performed by the supply-side control unit 2a, and normally, at the start of operation, the tool held by the jig is at the head, and then the required number of workpieces is sequentially inserted.

Next, the conveyed object 4a such as the work on the transfer mechanism 2b is detected by the sensor 3b shown in FIG. 3 (S1), and the transfer mechanism 2b is moved at a predetermined position in the operating range of the processing apparatus 1 for processing. Stop (S2). As shown in FIG. 3, at this time, at the same time, a signal from the sensor 3b including the above-mentioned bar code reader and the like is discriminated by the discrimination unit 3a.
Then, the presence / absence of the jig, the presence / absence of the tool, and the type thereof are determined. The processing side control unit 1a receives the discrimination information and controls the operations of the apparatus body 1b and the mounting unit 1c. In this way, the object 4a supplied to the operating range of the processing apparatus 1 can be discriminated by itself without a command from a higher-order control unit for the object 4a supplied to the processing apparatus 1 without requiring a command from the host control means. It becomes possible to supply the necessary tools in the flow together with the work to the operating range.

When a jig holding the tool is supplied on the line, it is determined that the jig is present (S3) and the tool is present (S9) at this time, and the processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. The mounting portion 1c approaches the jig stopped at a predetermined position (S10), grips the tool held by the jig (S11), and returns to the processing standby position in the processing apparatus 1 again (S12).

On the other hand, when the work to be processed normally is supplied, in step 3, the object 4 on the transfer mechanism 2b is
It is determined by the sensor 3b that the workpiece a is loaded (S3), the machining unit of the machining apparatus 1 approaches the workpiece stopped at the predetermined position (S4), and the information of the previously loaded jig is acquired. After performing necessary processing according to a predetermined program from the above (S5), the processing returns to the processing standby position in the processing apparatus 1 (S6).

When the processing is completed, the transport mechanism 2b is started (S7), and the processed work (object 4b) is ejected. At the same time, when it is determined that a new work is carried in,
Repeat the process from step 3.

When an empty jig is supplied on the line, the discriminator 3a receives a signal from the sensor 3b,
It is determined that there is a jig (S3) and it is determined that there is no tool (S9), and the mounting portion 1c of the processing apparatus 1 that grips the tool approaches the empty jig stopped at a predetermined position ( S1
3) Then, the tool is opened to this jig (S14), and the jig is returned to the standby position again (S15). In this way, the unnecessary tool can be removed from the processing apparatus 1.

As described above, there is provided a control means A for causing the processing device 1 to perform processing on the work when it is determined that the work has been loaded and for causing the processing device 1 to replace the tool when it has been determined that the work has been loaded. Therefore, even if both the work and the tool are supplied within the same range in which the processing apparatus 1 operates, an appropriate operation can be performed by the information obtained from them. That is, the machining process can be changed by supplying a predetermined tool required for the next machining together with the work to the machining apparatus 1 every time the tool needs to be replaced.

In general, the supply-side control unit 2a and the discriminating unit 3a shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 can be included in a control device integrally formed with the processing-side control unit 1a. And
For example, the insertion of the tool into the transport mechanism 2b in the supply means 2 is executed based on the preset machining information by the tool exchange command P1 transmitted to the supply side controller 2a, and similarly the machining side controller 1a. The machining operation of the machining apparatus 1 is performed by the machining command P2 transmitted to the workpiece.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the machining system is described as an automatic device which is controlled by the control device, but this machining system supplies both the work and the tool to the working range of the machining device. It is also possible to configure the supplying means for controlling, the means for discriminating the supplied workpieces and tools, and the control means for executing the machining of the workpieces and the exchange of tools to include manual work. In this case, The system can be configured simply and can be a system suitable for line organization which is operated for a short period of time and changed.

[0030]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

(1) Since it is not necessary to attach an automatic tool changer having a large number of tools to the processing apparatus in advance and there is no tool transfer mechanism from the changer to the processing apparatus, the construction area of the entire processing line is small. Good.

(2) Since no automatic tool changer is attached, the equipment around the processing device does not become complicated and the tools can be supplied from one place, so that the maintenance management of the processing line and the tools themselves becomes easy.

(3) The tool is replaced in the processing device every time the work is changed in the flow, and the tool is only attached / detached. Therefore, the replacement work is easy, and the processing line can be processed even in the case of processing a wide variety of small quantities. Never stop the whole thing.

(4) Since it is possible to change the work and tool supply side even if the machining contents are frequently changed, it is not necessary to change the machining data in the machining device each time, and thus line formation is easy. Becomes

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment according to a machining system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a supply side.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a processing side.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart showing an operation process according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Processing device 2 Supply means 3 Judgment means 4 Object (workpiece, tool, jig) A Control means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A processing device for processing a workpiece with a tool that is attachable to and detachable from a main body, supply means for supplying an object to the operating range of the processing device, and either the work or the tool within the operating range of the processing device. A determining means for determining whether or not the workpiece has been carried in, and when the determining means determines that the workpiece has been carried in, the processing device executes processing on the workpiece, and when it is determined that the tool has been carried in, the processing device has a tool. And a control means for executing the exchange of the machining system.