JPH0610785B2 - Pen controller - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a pen control device for a drawing device such as an XY plotter or a drawing machine, and more particularly to a drawing device using a tip knock type lead pen (mechanical pencil). The pen control device.

-Prior Art- A plotting device such as an XY plotter, for example, a multi-pen type XY plotter as shown in FIG. 7 has a guide shaft 1 which is sent in the direction of arrow X by an input signal. The pen carriage 2 is supported so as to be movable in the Y direction, and the device main body 3
Selected one of the recording pens P located in the pen storage portion 3 _a of the above is picked up by the pen carriage 2, the pen carriage 2 is driven in the XY direction to the recording start position, and the pen-up provided on the pen carriage 2 is performed. The down control device contacts the pen writing surface (pen down), and the pen carriage 2
Is moved in the X-Y direction according to the drawing figure, and the pen is separated from the writing surface (pen-up) as necessary to perform recording on the writing surface.

As described above, in the drawing device that obtains a drawing according to the input data by performing the exchange control of the recording pen, the position control in the XY directions, and the pen up / down control, ink or a sharp lead is not applied to the recording pen during the writing operation. When it disappeared, there was a problem that writing failed. If the writing fails, the writing is restarted after the pen is replaced or the ink and the core are replenished, and the drawing efficiency is reduced. In particular, a mechanical pencil can store a large number of cores in the core storage portion, but the cores that follow do not always continue when the cores are switched, and even if they continue, they often cause scraping, resulting in 1 When the lead of a book is consumed, it is necessary to pull out the next lead to the tip of the pen by knocking or replace the pen. A mechanical pencil has a relatively short writing length that can be written with a single lead (for example, a writing length of 2 m /
The core length is 1 mm), the core remaining amount management and the core replacement work become troublesome, and there is a problem that writing failure easily occurs.

Further, since the mechanical pencil feeds the lead by a knocking operation of pen up and down and is easily broken, the lead comes out too much from the tip tube of the pen during the knocking operation and is broken at the time of drawing, resulting in a writing failure.

-Object of the Invention-In view of the conventional problems as described above, an object of the present invention is to automatically and accurately determine whether a tip knock type lead pen is lead-free or lead-free, and facilitates pen replacement. An object of the present invention is to provide a pen control device.

-Structure of the Invention-In order to achieve this object, the present invention is a pen control device for replacing a pen and controlling pen up / down and writing according to drawing data, and a pen for discriminating the type of a pen picked up on a pen carriage. A discriminator, a position detector that detects a pen height position with respect to the recording surface when the pen tip comes into contact with the recording surface by pen down control, and a discrimination signal of the pen discriminator indicates a tip knock type lead pen and the pen is replaced. For the first writing, the first control means for determining the presence / absence of the lead from the position signal of the position detector after waiting for a certain time with a predetermined writing pressure in the pen-down state, and the lead output from the position signal of the position detector during writing. Second control means for pen-up to bring the pen to a halt state when it is determined that there is too much, and the pen discriminator when it is determined that there is no center from the position signal of the position detector And a third control means for moving the pen when there is a pen of the same type in the pen storage unit based on the discrimination signal of (3) and moving to the vicinity of the drawing operation position of the operator when there is no pen of the same type to bring it to the halt state. Characterize.

-Embodiment- FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of a control device according to the present invention. CP
The microcomputer including the U11, the ROM 12, the RAM 13, and the input / output circuit 14 takes in the drawing data DATA via the input / output circuit 14, and in accordance with this data, provides the motor control circuit 15 with position control data in the X and Y directions. The motor control circuit 15 drives the motors (pulse motor, servo motor, etc.) 16 and 17 according to the data to move the pen carriage 2 (see FIG. 7) according to the drawing data, and the pen replacement movement according to the pen type designation used for drawing. Let Further, the microcomputer gives the current control circuit 19 a pen up / down control signal UP / DOWN and a drive current set value V _S via the D / A exchanger 18 according to the drawing data.

The current control circuit 19 sets the current of the up-down drive coil 20 of the recording pen held on the pen carriage 2 to the set value V.
_The feedback control is performed according to _S , and the detection current of the current detector 21 is fetched as a feedback signal, and the pen up / down position detection signal of the position detector 22 is fetched. Here, the pen up / down drive mechanism is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. In both figures, the pen carriage body 31 is slidable along the guide shaft 32 in the Y-axis direction, and the guide shaft 32 is attached to a slide body in the X-axis direction. The pen holding portion 33 is slidable in the Z-axis direction (pen up / down direction) by a slide shaft 34 of the pen carriage body 31. In the pen holding portion 33, the drive coil 20 and the position detector (for example, a hall element) 22 are provided in a gap between a pair of plate-shaped permanent magnets 35A and 35B (Fig. 4) which are arranged to face each other on the pen carriage main body 31. The pen holding unit 33 is provided with a pen depending on the current polarity of the drive coil 20.
Driving in the down direction and adjusting the driving force by the magnitude of the current, during this driving, the position detector 22 outputs a position signal corresponding to the position due to the change in the magnetic field due to the difference in the positions of the permanent magnets 35A and 35B in the Z-axis direction. To detect. In FIG. 3, 36 is a return spring at the time of pen-up, 37 is a stopper for determining the pen-up position, 38 is a recording pen held by the pen holding portion 33, and 39 is a recording paper.

Returning to FIG. 2, the microcomputer converts the detection signal from the position detector 22 into a digital signal by the A / D converter 23 and takes it in. This signal is the core of writing with a mechanical pencil as described later. Used for presence / absence and automatic detection. Further, the microcomputer is made to obtain a pen type discriminating signal from the pen discriminating device 24 via the input / output circuit 14, and this discriminating signal indicates the type of the recording pen picked up on the pen carriage 2 from the pen housing portion 3a. Obtain the signal to discriminate. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the pen discriminator 24 includes various types of pens 38 stored in the pen storage portion 3a in advance such as their types (tip knock type lead pens, water-based ballpoint pens, ink pens, felt-tip pens), ink colors, and the like. Coded colored tape that identifies grades (eg differences in core thickness)
38A, A38B, and 38C are provided, and the colored tape reading unit 24A optically detects the colored tape 38A, 38B, and 38C portions of the pen 38 picked up by the pen holding unit 33 and associates them with the pen 38. Get pen identification code data. As another configuration of the colored tape reading unit 24A, a part of the colored tape reading unit 24A is separately provided, and the pen type is read in advance with the pen housed in the pen housing unit 3a.

The pen type discrimination signal of the pen discriminator 24 and the position detection signal from the position detector 22 are used for determining whether or not the pen needs to be replaced in the drawing control using the tip knock type lead pen. The control by the CPU 11 will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows a main part of a flow chart of determination control by the CPU 11. When there is a writing command to start drawing, the CPU 11 first determines the type of pen held in the pen holding unit 33 from the data from the pen discriminator 24 (step S
1). If it is a pen other than the mechanical pencil in this judgment, one line is drawn using the pen and waits for the next writing command (step S2). In the judgment of the mechanical pencil, the pen is picked up from the pen storage section 3a. It is determined whether or not it is the first writing after the setting or the setting by the operator (step S3).

When it is the first writing in the determination in step S3, the CPU 11 instructs the current control circuit 19 with the pen-down command together with the D / A converter 1.
Pen down control is performed by giving a pen pressure set value that gives a predetermined writing pressure to 8 (step S4). Here, as the pen pressure set value, a value stored in advance according to the grade of the mechanical pencil from the pen type discrimination signal is used. With this pen-down control, the CPU 11 causes the mechanical pencil to drop onto the surface of the recording paper 39 with a predetermined writing pressure for a predetermined time (for example, 0.1
Seconds) (step S5), and then the presence or absence of the lead of the mechanical pencil is checked from the detection signal V _S of the position detector 22 (step S6).

In this lead presence / absence check, the position detection signal P _H in the pen-down state obtained from the detection signal V _S is a predetermined amount more than the reference pen-down position signal P _S (the pen tip cylinder 48 of the predetermined pen tip is placed in the tip cap 41). It is judged whether or not the amount of pushing is lower than α. The reason why the presence / absence of the lead can be checked by this determination will be described with reference to sectional views of the tip knock type lead pen shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B).

In FIG. 6 (A), a tip cap 41 is coupled to the tubular body 40 by screwing into an internal coupling fitting 42, and a core 43 in the tubular body 40 is passed through a chuck 45 from a tip of a lead storage portion 44 to a pen tip. It is delivered to the cylinder 46. The chuck 45 is urged by the compression spring 48 against the outer peripheral cylindrical body 47 in the direction of returning to the housing portion 44 side,
By grasping the lead 43 with a pressing force via the small sphere 49 between the lead 47 and 47, a gripping force against the return of the lead 43 is obtained. The pen tip cylinder 46 is biased in a protruding direction by a spring 50, and the tip cap 41 is applied to the pressing force (writing pressure or tip knock) against the spring 50.
It is pushed inside. A rubber 51 for gripping the lead 43 is provided at the rear end of the pen tip barrel 46, and the pen tip barrel 46 is configured to grip the core 43 by the gripping force of the rubber 51 and send the lead 43 at the time of pen-up. It

As shown in FIG. 6 (A), such a tip knock type lead pen has a tip cap in a normal pen-down state.
In contrast to 41, the pen tip cylinder 46 starts writing with the dimension H _S protruding, and the lead wears out according to the amount of writing,
At the next pen-up, rubber 51 grips core 43 and spring 50
Sending in the return force, the dimensions at the time of the next pen-down H _S
Just return to the protruding state. That is, when the pen is down, it is always in the state of FIG. 6 (A), and the dimension H _S does not change. The position detection signal V _A in this state is used as the reference pen-down position signal P _S
And a predetermined amount α is also set. on the other hand,
When the lead in the pen tip barrel 46 is consumed and the rear end thereof is below the tip of the chuck 45, as shown in FIG. It is pushed inside. Therefore, the pen position detection signal P _H corresponding to the protrusion dimension H _S is read at the time of pen down, and this signal P _H is compared with the difference (P _S −α) between the reference pen down position signal P _S stored and the predetermined amount α. , It is possible to obtain the judgment of no core before the core is completely consumed.

Therefore, by the control up to step S4 or S6, it is possible to eliminate the error of the core presence / absence check due to the vibration during the pen down, the mechanical deflection, the sinking of the core due to the pressure on the recording paper, etc., for the first writing after the pen removal. Check and get sure writing.

Returning to FIG. 1, when it is determined in step S6 that there is a lead or in step S3 that it is the first writing after pen removal, the CPU
11 checks whether the core is too out (step S7). As with the core presence / absence check, this over-centering check is determined by whether or not the pen-down position detection signal P _H is higher than the reference pen-down position signal P _S by a predetermined amount β or more. If the lead is not overly drawn by this determination, the CPU 11 performs one line drawing control (step S8), and again checks the presence or absence of the lead (step S9), and if there is a lead, waits for the next writing command. Therefore, by performing the over-centering check, even if the same core is present, it is possible to reliably prevent breakage of the core, that is, failure in drawing in the drawing in the state of over-centering.

Next, when it is determined in step S9 or S6 that there is no lead (low remaining amount), the CPU 11 is currently in the pen holding unit 3.
The mechanical pencil taken up in No. 3 is stored as a leadless core (step S10), and it is determined whether or not mechanical pencils of the same type and grade are stored in the pen storage portion 3a (step S11), and stored in the pen storage portion 3a. When a pen of the same type exists, the pen currently held is returned to the empty position of the pen storage unit 3a and the pen of the same type is picked up (step S12).
After this, the process returns to step S1. These steps S11, S12
The signal of the pen discriminator 24 is used for the control by the reading unit 24A of the pen discriminator 24 as shown in FIG.
When the pen is stored in the pen storage unit 3
The procedure is to pick up and replace each of the pens a one by one, and when a part of the reading unit 24A of the pen discriminator 24 is provided at each storage position of the pen storage unit by address correspondence, the pen storage unit The same kind of pen determination is performed and the pen carriage is moved directly to the storage position and replaced.

Therefore, the same type of pen search is performed based on the signal from the pen discriminator, and the position of the pen stored in the pen storage unit can be arbitrarily set to facilitate the operator's management and prevent the wrong pen from being picked up. .

Next, when there is no pen of the same type in the pen storage unit 3a in step S11, the CPU 11 determines that there is no core, and moves the pen currently held in the pen carriage to the lower right corner (point H in FIG. 7) by moving the pen carriage. To halt (HALT) state (step S13), wait for completion of lead replenishment by the operator (step S14), release the halt state upon completion of lead replenishment, and return to step S1 (step S15). Therefore, to replenish the lead for the leadless mechanical pencil, move to the lower right corner (move to near the drawing operation position of the operator).
This makes it easier for the operator to replenish the lead.

Finally, the CPU 1 performs the over-centering determination in step S7.
In No. 1, the pen is pen-up to bring it into the halt state, and waits until the operator's intervention (correction of excessive centering) can be determined from the disappearance of the pen discriminator signal, and the operator intervention proceeds to step S15 (step S16). Therefore, in the case of determining the centering too much, the pen is lifted up to wait for the operator's intervention, which facilitates the operator's discrimination between the halting state due to the excessive centering and the halting state due to other reasons (such as a failure).

-Effects of the Invention-As described above, according to the present invention, the presence or absence of the lead and the presence or absence of the lead are automatically determined for writing with the tip knock type lead pen, and if the lead is not provided, the same type pen in the pen storage portion is automatically replaced. Since the control means for surely and easily performing the judgment and the core replacement is provided, there is an effect that the writing work by the tip knock type lead pen having a short writing length is surely and easily performed without causing a writing failure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of judgment control in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a control device of the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are parts showing a pen up / down drive mechanism in FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view, FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the pen discriminator in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B) show changes in height position depending on the amount of lead consumption of a tip knock type lead pen. A sectional view and FIG. 7 are plan views of a multi-pen type XY plotter. 2 ... Pen carriage, 3a ... Pen storage section, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... RAM, 14 ... Input / output circuit, 15 ... Motor control circuit, 19 ... Current control circuit, 20 ...... Drive coil, 22 …… Position detector, 24 …… Pen discriminator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pen controller for replacing a pen and controlling pen up / down and writing according to drawing data, and a pen discriminator for discriminating the type of pen picked up on a pen carriage and a pen tip for recording by pen down control. Position detector for detecting the position of the pen height with respect to the recording surface when the surface is touched, and the discrimination signal of the pen discriminator indicates the tip knock type lead pen, and the pen writing state is a predetermined writing pressure in the pen-down state for the first writing. And a first control means for determining the presence or absence of a core from the position signal of the position detector after waiting for a certain time.
In writing, second control means for pen-up to bring the core into a halt state when it is determined from the position signal of the position detector that the core is too out; and when the core signal is determined to be out of the core from the position signal of the position detector, And a third control means for replacing the pen when there is a pen of the same type in the pen storage unit based on the discrimination signal of the pen discriminator and for moving to the vicinity of the drawing operation position of the operator when there is no pen of the same type to bring it into the halt state. A pen control device characterized in that