JPH0579991A - Breakage detecting system for tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically detect the breakage of a tool by comparing the digital data A/D-converted with the reflected laser beam from the tool to be inspected with reference data. CONSTITUTION:A laser beam generator 1 casts a laser beam to a die 2 via the operation signal of a personal computer 5, for example. The reflected laser beam is received by a CCD camera 3, the light intensity distribution of the converted electrical signal is A/D-converted by a frame memory 4 and transferred to a computer 5. The image data consisting of the digital signal are compared with the reference data prepared from the reflected normal laser beam of the die 2 by the computer 5. If there is no discrepancy on the data, the die 2 is judged as normal, if there is a discrepancy, the die 2 is judged as defective. If the die 2 is judged as defective, the computer 5 sends a signal to an NC control device 7, and an automatic die exchanging device exchanges the die 2 via the control of the device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tool breakage detection system, and more particularly to a tool breakage detection system which is preferably used for detecting breakage of a die in various press machines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a press machine such as a turret punch press machine, the presence or absence of damage such as abrasion or chipping of a die is detected by visual inspection of the die or the occurrence of burrs on a workpiece.

[0003]

However, such a human visual detection method requires an extremely large number of man-hours each time the mold is regularly maintained, and the metal detection is required during unmanned operation such as at night. When the mold is broken, many defective products are produced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to automatically detect the breakage of a tool such as a mold in various machines such as a press machine, and preferably the breakage is detected. An object of the present invention is to provide a tool breakage detection system capable of automatically changing tools.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a tool damage detection system of the present invention includes a laser beam generator for irradiating a tool to be inspected with a laser beam and a reflected laser beam from the tool. A CCD camera, a frame memory for analog / digital conversion of the reflected laser light data received by this CCD camera, and a computer for comparing the digital data converted by this frame memory with reference data to judge whether or not there is any damage. It is provided as a configuration.

If necessary, an automatic tool changer,
And an NC control device for controlling this automatic tool changer,
When the breakage of the tool is detected, the NC control device controls the automatic tool changer to replace the damaged tool.

[0007]

According to the tool damage detection system having the above-described structure, the reflected light of the laser light emitted to the tool to be inspected by the laser light generator is received by the CCD camera and converted into an electric signal, and then this electric signal is converted into an electric signal. By converting the analog signal into a digital signal in the frame memory and comparing the image data consisting of this digital signal with the image data of a sound tool by a computer, it is automatically determined whether the tool is damaged or not. Can be inspected.

Therefore, it is possible to automatically detect the breakage of the tool without requiring a lot of man-hours for the periodical maintenance of the tool.

Further, by combining this tool breakage detection system with an automatic tool changer and an NC controller for controlling the automatic tool changer, the tool is automatically replaced when a tool breakage is detected. You can Therefore, even if the tool is damaged during unmanned operation such as at night, it is possible to prevent defective products as much as possible.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a tool damage detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system
It is installed in the turret punch press machine as a die damage detection system.
A CD camera 3, a frame memory 4, and a personal computer 5 are provided.

The laser light generator 1 irradiates the mold (seal) 2 with laser light, and is not particularly limited, but a He-Ne laser is usually preferably used. The laser light applied to the mold 2 by the laser light generator 1 is reflected by the mold surface and received by the CCD camera 3.

The CCD camera 3 receives the reflected laser light reflected on the surface of the mold 2 and converts it into an electric signal. Then, this electric signal is sent to the frame memory 4.

The frame memory 4 is adapted to convert the intensity distribution of light converted into an electric signal by the CCD camera 3 from an analog signal to a digital signal at a high speed and to transfer it to the personal computer 5.

An image processing program is incorporated in the personal computer 5, and the data from the frame memory 4 is processed in accordance with this program, and this is compared with reference data created from the reflected laser light of a normal mold. It is designed to judge the presence or absence of damage.

The personal computer 5 also controls the start and stop of the system.
The laser generator 1 irradiates the mold 2 with laser light, and the system is activated.

A floppy disk drive 8, a display 9 and a printer 10 are connected to the personal computer 5. The floppy disk drive 8 can input reference data created in advance by the floppy disk to the personal computer 5 or can save the created data in the floppy disk. In addition, the display 9 can display the intensity distribution of the reflected laser light from the mold 2 that has been subjected to data processing, the operating conditions of the system, and the like, and these can be printed from the printer 10 on paper or the like. There is.

Here, this die damage detection system is
It is connected to a magazine 6 in which normal molds are stored, an automatic mold changing device (not shown) included in the turret punch press machine, and an NC control device 9 for controlling the automatic mold changing device. Then, the NC control device 9 incorporates a macro of a preliminary tool calling function, and this system is activated by a signal from the NC control device 9 side.

Next, the operation of this system will be described. First, an operation signal is sent from the personal computer 5 to the laser generator 1, and the mold 2 is irradiated with laser light from the laser generator 1. The reflected laser light is received by the CCD camera 3, converted into an electric signal and sent to the frame memory 4. Then, the frame memory 4 converts the intensity distribution of light converted into an electric signal from an analog signal to a digital signal at high speed, and transfers it to the personal computer 5.

The image data consisting of this digital signal is compared with the reference data created by the personal computer 5 from the reflected laser light of a normal mold, and if there is no difference in the data, it is judged that there is no damage, and there is a difference. If there is, it is determined that the damaged individual is owned. As a specific example, FIG. 2A shows reference data composed of surface data of a sound mold, and by referring to this, it is checked whether or not there is a difference in the obtained mold data. The personal computer 5 makes the determination, and FIG.
If there is a difference (broken point) 11 as shown in FIG.

When it is determined that the mold is damaged as described above, a signal is sent from the personal computer 5 to the NC control device 7, and the automatic mold changing device controls the mold 2 by the control of the NC control device 7. To replace.

In this operation, the irradiation of the laser beam by the laser generator 1 is performed when the mold is stored in the mold stocker by the auto tool changer 6. In addition, from the macro of the preliminary tool calling function incorporated in the NC control device 9, this system is activated by a signal from the NC control device 9 side every time a machining operation is performed several times. It is designed to detect die damage.

As described above, according to this die damage detection system, when the die is damaged due to wear or the like,
The damage can be automatically detected and the mold can be replaced. Therefore, it does not require a great number of man-hours for periodical mold maintenance. Further, even if the mold is damaged during unmanned operation at night, the mold is automatically replaced, so that a large number of defective products will not be manufactured.

The tool breakage detection system of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and, for example, a display, a printer, etc. are not necessarily essential constituent elements and may be omitted as appropriate. Further, its application is not limited to the damage detection of the mold in the press machine, and it can be applied to the damage detection of various tools.

[0024]

As described above, according to the tool damage detection system of the present invention, it is possible to automatically inspect whether or not a tool is damaged during maintenance of various processing machines. A large number of man-hours are not required for regular tool maintenance.

By combining an automatic tool changer and an NC controller for controlling the automatic tool changer, damage of the tool can be detected in-process, and when the damage of the tool is detected, the tool is automatically operated. Can be exchanged. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective products as much as possible even if the tool is damaged during unattended operation of the processing machine at night.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a tool damage detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is an explanatory diagram showing data of a healthy mold used as reference data in the system, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram showing image data of a damaged mold detected by the system. ..

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Laser generator 2 Mold for turret punch press (tool to be inspected) 3 CCD camera 4 Frame memory 5 Computer 6 Automatic tool changer 7 NC controller 8 Floppy disk drive 9 Display 10 Printer 11 Damaged part

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H04N 7/18 B 8626-5C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam generator for irradiating a tool to be inspected with a laser beam, a CCD camera for receiving a reflected laser beam from the tool, and analog / digital conversion of data of the reflected laser beam received by the CCD camera. A damage detection system for a tool, comprising: a frame memory for storing data and a computer for comparing the digital data converted by the frame memory with reference data to determine whether or not there is damage. 2. An automatic tool changer and an NC control device for controlling the automatic tool changer, and when the damage of the tool is detected, the NC control device controls the automatic tool changer to replace the damaged tool. The tool damage detection system according to claim 1, configured as described above.