JPH0792374B2 - Accident contact processing method of automatic measuring machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention automatically feeds a touch signal probe to bring it into contact with an object to be measured, and based on the position information at the time of contact, the size and shape of the object to be measured. More particularly, the present invention relates to a processing method when a touch signal probe generates a touch signal during execution of an automatic movement command.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, various types of automatic measuring machines such as a three-dimensional measuring machine and a two-dimensional measuring machine are known as automatic measuring machines for automatically measuring the size, shape, and the like of an object to be measured using a touch signal probe.

In these automatic measuring machines, such as three-dimensional measuring machines,
Gate type that is movable along three orthogonal axes with respect to the base, that is, the X and Y axes that are two orthogonal axes in the horizontal plane, and the Z axis in the vertical direction orthogonal to these X and Y axes. An arm type moving body is provided, and a touch signal probe attached to the moving body is sequentially brought into contact with the object to be measured for measurement.

Upon measurement, the touch signal probe is moved according to a movement command, a measurement command, or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the contactor 11 of the touch signal probe 10 is moved from a position on the left side of the drawing by a movement command to the object W to be measured,
As shown by the arrow P _1, P _2, is located in front position 10A to start the measurement is moved at the right and fast downward. This front position 10A
When the measurement command is received at, as shown by arrow Q ₁ , it is moved toward one side surface W ₁ of the object to be measured W at a low speed, and the contact position
At 10B, position information along the X, Y, and Z axes at the time of contact is stored.

After that, when the object W is separated from the object to be measured W in the direction of the arrow Q ₂ and comes to the standby position 10A, the next measurement point is given by the movement command again
For example, it is moved at a high speed to the other side surface W ₂ on the opposite side of the object to be measured W. This movement consists of ascending, horizontal moving to the right, and descending, as indicated by arrows P ₃ , P ₄ , P ₅ , and this movement causes the probe 10 to move to the other side W ₂ before the start of measurement. Located at position 10C. When receiving the measurement command in this front position 10C, the measuring operation is moved at a low speed in the arrow Q ₃ direction is made, the following are moved similarly towards the next measuring point.

By the way, during the movement of the probe 10 by the movement command, for example, during the movement to the arrow P _{4 in} FIG. 2, there is a possibility that the obstacle member 20 which should not exist originally exists in the middle of the path. The obstacle member 20 may be a part of the object to be measured W due to a processing error, an attachment error, or the like, or may be another member placed on the object to be measured W.

In such a case, even if the probe 10 is brought into contact with the obstacle member 20, if the movement is continued as it is, the probe 10
Not only that, the measuring machine itself may be damaged.

For this reason, conventionally, when a touch signal is output during a movement where the touch signal from the touch signal probe 10 should not have been output originally, if the touch signal is output, the measuring device is in that state as an accidental contact (accidental touch). It is stopped and awaited for inspection by the operator.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a conventional operation at the time of accident contact.

In FIG. 3, after the operation is started, it is determined in step 201 whether the operation command is a movement command or a measurement command. If it is not the movement command, a measurement operation process is performed in step 202.

During measurement operation, touch signal is generated (output) in step 203
If there is a check, the check is repeated until a touch signal is generated.

When a touch signal is generated, the touch signal probe 10 is detached from the object W to be measured in step 204, and further, in step 205, X, Y, of the contactor 11 at the position where the touch signal is generated. The position information on the Z axis is stored and the measurement points are processed. Then, the operation is terminated.

If it is determined in step 201 that the command is a move command, the process moves to a move operation process in step 206 to start the move.

During the movement process, it is checked in step 207 whether a touch signal is generated. Normally, since no touch signal is generated, the process proceeds to step 208, it is determined whether the movement is completed, and if it is not completed, the process returns to step 207,
Hereinafter, the operations of steps 207 and 208 are repeated until the movement is completed.

When the movement of a predetermined amount is completed, the operation is completed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 207 that a touch signal has been generated, a movement stop process is performed in step 209. After that, in step 210, the process of separating from the obstacle member 20 is performed, and in step 211, since the existence of the obstacle member 20 is confirmed (detected), the movement process is interrupted, the operation is terminated, and the inspection by the operator is performed. To wait for.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

By the way, the above-described three-dimensional measuring machine is generally used in a special measuring room which is constant temperature and constant humidity and has little vibration in order to obtain a highly accurate data.

However, with the spread of automatic measuring machines, their use at processing sites is also increasing. In particular, under the present circumstances where automation and high speed of measurement are required for the purpose of improving productivity, it is not practical to carry the measured object under processing into the measuring chamber and measure the temperature before measuring. is not.

On the other hand, at the time of use at the processing site, from other production machines,
There is a possibility that the touch signal probe 10 of the measuring instrument may malfunction due to the possibility of receiving vibration, electrical noise, or the like. If such a malfunction occurs during the above-described movement operation, the measuring machine interrupts the operation assuming that the obstacle member 20 exists, even though the obstacle member 20 does not exist, and the subsequent measurement process is not performed. A problem arises.

In particular, when the factory is operated for 24 hours and is operating unattended at night, even if there is no obstacle member 20, the touch signal probe 10 malfunctions and the measuring machine is stopped. , The suspension will be continued until the worker comes to work. Therefore,
There is a problem that the measuring machine is stopped for a long time and the productivity of the factory is significantly reduced.

Therefore, as a special case, an operation is performed in which the touch signal probe 10 is not operated during the movement operation and the presence or absence of the touch signal in the movement instruction is not checked.

However, in this case, if the obstacle member 20 actually exists in the movement path, not only the touch signal probe 10 but also the measuring machine itself may be damaged.

The above circumstances are not limited to the three-dimensional measuring machine, but are the same for the two-dimensional measuring machine and other automatic measuring machines.

An object of the present invention is, during a movement operation of a touch signal probe, when a touch signal is issued, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the generation of this touch signal is due to an obstacle member,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an accident contact processing method for an automatic measuring machine, which can prevent a decrease in productivity due to a malfunction.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention, when a touch signal is issued from the touch signal probe in the middle of the movement operation, temporarily stops the movement and then performs the movement operation again. When the touch signal is generated again at the same position as the touch signal generation position, it is judged that there is a true obstacle member and the operation interruption process is performed as in the conventional case. When there is no re-occurrence, the touch signal is generated due to a malfunction, and it is judged that there is no obstacle member in practice, and the moving operation and eventually the measuring operation are continued.

Specifically, in the automatic measuring machine that automatically sends the touch signal probe to contact the object to be measured and measures the size, shape, etc. of the object to be measured by detecting the contact position, during movement by the movement command. , A step of receiving a touch signal from the touch signal probe to stop the movement of the touch signal probe, a step of storing positional information of a position where the touch signal probe generated the touch signal, and a movement direction by a movement command after the stop. Is a detaching step of moving the touch signal probe by a predetermined amount in the opposite direction, a re-moving step of moving the touch signal probe again in the moving direction according to the move command after the detaching step, and a touch of the touch signal probe again after the re-moving. Check if a signal is generated, and if a touch signal is generated again within a predetermined distance range from the position where the previous touch signal was generated, When the touch signal is not generated again when it is determined that the contact is an accident, and the touch signal is not generated again, the touch signal is determined to be a malfunction and the subsequent operation is continued as instructed. It is the accident contact processing method of the automatic measuring machine.

In the present invention, the order of performing the steps does not necessarily have to be the order described, except for clearly defining the order of the steps. For example, the storage of the position information when the touch signal is generated may be performed after the separation process.

[Action]

In the present invention, when the touch signal probe generates a touch signal during the movement operation of the touch signal probe, the operation is not stopped and the movement operation is performed again. In this re-operation, it is judged that there is a true obstacle member only when the touch signal is generated again at substantially the same position.

Therefore, the measuring instrument is hardly stopped immediately by a malfunction due to external vibration or the like. At this time, there is a possibility that a malfunction may occur again at the same position, but by narrowing the range of the identity between the position where the signal is first output and the position where the signal is output a second time, the malfunction may be caused. Almost no interruption occurs.

When the touch signal is not generated at the time of re-operation, the measurement work is continued as it is, and the decrease in productivity is effectively prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
Here, the explanation of the same operation part as the conventional example is as follows.
Keep it simple.

In FIG. 1, when the operation of the automatic measuring machine is started, it is judged in step 101 whether it is a movement command or a measurement command.

If it is determined in step 101 that the command is a measurement command, a series of steps 102 for measurement operation processing is performed as in the conventional example.
To Step 105, the measurement operation process (102),
A touch signal generation check (103), a process of leaving the object to be measured (104), and a process of measuring points (105) are performed, and the operation is ended.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 101 that the command is a movement command, a movement operation process is performed in step 106 to start movement, and in step 107 it is checked whether or not a touch signal is generated.

If no touch signal is generated, the movement end is checked in step 108, and if it is not ended, the flow returns to step 107 to check whether a touch signal is generated. The operations of steps 107 and 108 are repeated until the end of the movement, and when the end of the movement is determined, the operation is ended.

When the generation of the touch signal is detected in step 107, it is determined that the touch signal probe is in contact with the obstacle member.
At 109, touch signal probe movement is stopped.

Next, in step 110, the touch signal probe is moved in the direction opposite to the moving direction, and a predetermined amount of separation processing from the obstacle member is performed.

After the disengagement process, in step 111, it is checked whether or not a touch signal has been generated previously, and if not generated, the process proceeds to step 112, and the X axis of the touch signal probe at the position where the touch signal is generated, The position information on the Y-axis and the Z-axis is fetched and stored in a control device (not shown). After the storage is completed, the process returns to step 106 and the moving operation process is performed again.

After the movement operation is started, it is checked whether or not the step signal is generated in the same step 107 as described above. If the signal is not generated, the process proceeds to step 108 and the step 107 is performed until the movement is completed.
And step 108 is repeated.

On the other hand, if a touch signal is generated, the movement of the touch signal probe is stopped and the touch signal probe is separated from the obstacle member through steps 109 and 110.

Next, in step 111, it is checked whether or not a touch signal was previously generated. In this case, since a touch signal was previously generated, the process proceeds to step 113.

In step 113, it is checked whether the touch signal generation position this time is substantially the same as the position where the touch signal has been generated previously. As a result of the check, if it is determined that the signal generation positions are the same, the process proceeds to step 114, and it is confirmed that the obstacle member is present, and the moving operation is interrupted.
The drive of the measuring machine is stopped.

When it is determined in step 113 that the current signal generation position is different from the previous signal generation position, the process proceeds to step 112, and after this current signal generation position is stored,
Returning to 106, the above operation is repeated.

Note that the determination of the identity between the previous touch signal generation position and the current touch signal generation position does not require strict identity, and is within a predetermined distance from the previous position, that is, If the current detection position is within a sphere having a predetermined radius centered on the previous detection position, it may be determined that they are the same position. If the size of the sphere having the predetermined radius is reduced, the identity becomes stricter, and as a result, the probability of malfunctioning due to vibration or the like again at the same position can be reduced during the second movement operation.

On the other hand, if it is made too small, there is a possibility that it may be determined that there is no obstacle member when the previous and current positions deviate by a small amount due to an error associated with the driving of the measuring instrument. Therefore, the range for judging the identity is set based on the balance between the error based on the measuring instrument self-confidence and the error based on external factors such as vibration.

According to this embodiment as described above, there are the following effects.

That is, in the present embodiment, even if a touch signal is generated from the touch signal probe in the middle of the movement command of the touch signal probe, the operation of the measuring instrument is not stopped immediately after the signal is generated once, and the measurement signal is moved again. It is effective that the automatic measuring machine malfunctions due to external noise etc. and stops the operation as it is when it is used at the production site etc. Can be prevented.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent unnecessary operation interruption of the measuring device, especially during automatic operation at night. Therefore, continuous operation is possible for a long time even in a bad environment, and productivity is not unnecessarily reduced.

Further, when the obstacle member truly exists, the presence of the obstacle member can be surely detected by the moving operation again, and the damage of the measuring instrument including the touch signal probe can be effectively prevented.

Furthermore, since the detection of the obstacle member can be performed by software by a simple program modification, there is no need to change the mechanical structure of the measuring machine itself, and it can be provided at a low cost.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and improvements, modifications and the like within the scope of achieving the object of the present invention are included in the present invention.

Step 109, stop operation in the above embodiment, step 1
The disengagement process from the obstacle member at 10, the presence / absence check of the previous touch signal generation at step 111, and the touch signal generation position storage process at step 112 are not necessarily in this order. For example, immediately after receiving the signal generation determination from step 107, the signal generation position of step 112 may be stored, and the following steps 109, 110 and 111 may be performed, or after the movement of step 109 is stopped, step 112 is stored. After that, the process may proceed to steps 110 and 111. In short, if the generation of the touch signal is detected in step 107, if the movement of the touch signal and the detachment of the touch signal probe from the obstacle member are performed, and the presence or absence of the previous touch signal is checked and the generation position is stored, Good. However, it goes without saying that the stopping process of step 109 is performed prior to the leaving process of step 110.

In the measurement operation after step 102, step 1
The process of leaving the object to be measured at 04 and the process of the measuring point at step 105 may be reversed.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically detect a malfunction of the touch signal probe due to vibration or electric noise during the movement operation of the touch signal probe, and it is possible to prevent unnecessary stoppage of operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an operation of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a movement state of a touch signal probe at the time of general measurement, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an operation in a conventional automatic measuring machine. Is.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic measuring machine for automatically sending a touch signal probe to bring it into contact with an object to be measured, and measuring the size, shape, etc. of the object to be measured by detecting the contact position, during movement by a movement command. , The step of receiving the touch signal from the touch signal probe to stop the movement of the touch signal probe, the step of storing the position information of the position where the touch signal probe generated the touch signal, and the movement direction by the movement command after the stop. Is a detaching step of moving the touch signal probe by a predetermined amount in the opposite direction, a re-moving step of moving the touch signal probe again in the moving direction according to the move command after the detaching step, and a touch of the touch signal probe again after re-moving. It is checked if a signal is generated, and if the touch signal is generated again within a predetermined distance range with respect to the position where the previous touch signal was generated. Is, it is determined that the accident contact stops the subsequent operation, whereas, when the touch signal is not generated again,
An accident contact processing method for an automatic measuring machine, comprising: determining a previous touch signal as an erroneous operation and continuing the operation thereafter as instructed.