JPS6316761B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention is an NC machine tool that controls the operation of NC machine tools.
This invention relates to an NC data division and editing device that instantaneously creates new NC data that is required due to changes in workplace conditions based on data. In recent years, machining centers,
Many NC machine tools such as turning centers have been introduced. These machine tools can perform a wider variety of processing than conventional single-purpose machines, contributing to improved productivity. Figure 1 is a perspective view of such a machining workplace, with three NC machine tools, for example.
M ₁ to _{M 3} , numerical control devices 1 to 3 for controlling each NC machine tool, an automatic guided vehicle 4, a stocker 5, and a control computer 6. Each NC machine tool M ₁ ~
_M3 includes an automatic tool changer (hereinafter referred to as ATC) 7 that automatically changes tools according to commands from numerical control devices 1 to 3.
~9. An automatic pallet exchange device that automatically exchanges the pallet 10 on which processed parts are placed.
Pallet changers (hereinafter referred to as APC) 11 to 13 are equipped. These devices are all controlled based on instructions from the control computer 6. Here, an outline of the machining work at the above-mentioned machining workplace will be explained. First, the processed parts set on the stocker 5 are transported by the automatic transport vehicle 4 to the machines (M ₁ to _{M 3} ) that perform the processing, and are transferred to the APC
(11-13). When the machining of the part that is already being processed by the machine is completed, the APC (11~
13) is automatically reversed, the processed part that was transported earlier is set on the machine, the NC data necessary to process that processed part is sent from the control computer 6, and processing is started. . The tools required for machining are selected by ATC and various machining operations are performed.
The processed parts that have been processed by the machine are returned to the stocker 5 by the automatic transport vehicle 4. Through such a procedure, various parts set in the stocker 5 are processed one after another. Automated programming languages such as APT and EXAPT are used to create the NC data required when machining workpieces. This is a system in which a part programmer creates a part program according to the design drawing, and creates NC data by processing this with an automatic programming device. The machine tools and NC equipment that will process the parts are assumed and created from the beginning. Now, each of the above-mentioned NC machine tools M ₁ to _{M 3} is
Each type of machine can perform many different types of processing, so when processing a single part, there are several alternatives regarding the machine to be used and the processing order. Therefore, it is necessary to decide which work should be performed by which machine in response to changes in the workplace situation, such as changes in the product mix of processed parts, the occurrence of urgent items, excess or deficiency in the amount of work performed by each machine, machine tool failure, tool damage, etc. If you can change work assignments, you can operate your workplace more efficiently. However, with conventional NC data creation methods, when changing the machine used, machining order, etc., it is necessary to recreate the part program in order to obtain the necessary NC data.
The disadvantage was that it was time consuming and, as a result, it was not possible to adapt to changes in the workplace situation. The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and to respond to changes in workplace conditions by
Enables data to be created instantly. N.C.
An object of the present invention is to provide a data division editing device. A feature of the present invention is that a series of NC data is divided into multiple work units in order to process one part.
This is achieved by providing an NC data division processor and an NC data editing processor that combines and edits the divided data according to the workplace situation at the time. This allows machine tools and
Once you have created a part program without having to fix the NC device, you can instantly create NC data for changes in work assignments depending on workplace conditions. The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 to 8. Prior to describing the examples, terms used in this specification will be defined as follows. (1) Processing element: The smallest unit when assigning work to machines. That is, a range of work that can be processed with one type of tool is called a processing element. Further, the NC data regarding this machining element is called machining element data. (2) Work precedence relationship: When there is a machining element that must be executed before a certain machining element is executed, the relationship between the former (preceding applied element) and the latter (preceding machining element). For example, in a tap making operation, pilot drilling is a processing element that precedes the tap making operation. Furthermore, the processing order that reduces burrs is also expressed by the work precedence relationship. (3) Work group...Depending on load, setup, operating rate, etc.
A set of ordered machining elements that is work distributed to one machine. (4) Records: NC data, tool path information temporarily stored in a storage device for creating NC data, and command information for various functions of the machine. This is classified into the following definition statements and operation data. (5) Definition statement...Name of part program, machine used,
Define the tools used. (6) Operation data: This is data that specifies the actual operation of the tool, and includes data such as the moving direction, speed, and stop of the tool. Also, the position of tool change,
It shall also include condition data that specifies conditions for machining, such as the rotation angle of the table that supports the part, the clearance between the tool tip and the processed part, the type of cutting agent and its ON/OFF, etc. FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration diagram when the present invention is applied to a jib shop type processing workplace consisting of NC machine tools _M1 to _M3 . Part program 21 created for each part to be machined according to the design drawing without assuming the machine tool or NC device
is processed by the main processor 22 of the automatic programming device and stored in the total machining data file 23 as a series of all machining data from the first machining to the final machining. The NC data division processor 24, which is one of the features of the present invention, divides the entire machining data for each tool used, creates machining elements, and stores them in the machining element file 25. On the other hand, the work assignment processor 34 takes in the state of the workplace through the sensor or the data input terminal 33, determines the work assignment according to this, and sends the information to the NC data editing processor 26.
Instruct the person to edit. According to this work allocation instruction, the NC data editing processor 26, which is another feature of the present invention,
Combine and edit predetermined machining elements for each machine. Post processor 2 for each machine
7 to 29, each machine
NC data 30 to 32 related to M ₁ to _{M 3} are created. Next, the operation of the NC data division processor 24 in FIG. 2 will be explained using the data configuration diagram shown in FIG. 3 and the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. All the machining data 40 necessary to machining one part is composed of a part program number 41 corresponding to the part and a definition statement 42, as shown in the upper part of FIG.
In order to call tools by multiple sets of ATC,
Tool specification data 43a, 43b, 43c, 43
d...... and operation data 44a, 44b, 44c, 44d... including the operation and conditions of the specified tool.
…and the FINI code 4 indicates the end of the data.
It is composed of 5 and 5. Here, multiple sets of tool specification data and operation data are provided.
This is because multiple tools are generally used when machining one part. NC data division processor 24
The total machining data 40 corresponding to this part is 1
Divide the data of the range to be machined with one tool as one machining element data, for example, disk,
The processing element file 5 is stored in a storage device such as a drum. The machining element data is arranged as 50, 60, and 70 on the lower left side of FIG. Machining element data 5
0, 60, and 70 are machining element number, definition statement, start condition data, tool specification data,
It includes operation data and termination condition data. Next, from the total processing data 40 shown in FIG.
How to process element data 50,6
How to divide and create 0, 70, etc. will be explained using FIG. Note that the number 80 shown on the lower right side of FIG. 3 represents the condition table 81, part program number table 82, and definition statement table 83.
This indicates a storage area consisting of a part of the storage device in which the machining element file 25 is stored, or a part of the storage device built into the NC data division processor 24. May be used. All data 41 to 45 in total processing data 40
When reading out, all tables 81 to 83 in storage area 80 are first cleared in step 90. Steps 91 and 92 convert all machining data 40 into one
It reads each data and identifies what kind of data it is, and based on the identification results,
Step that data 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 100
Proceed to one of the following. First, the part program number 41, specifically, "P0001" is read out, and this data is stored in the table 82 in the storage area 80 in step 93.
is memorized. Next, the definition statement 42 is executed in step 94.
The information is stored in the table 83 in the storage area 80. Next, the tool designation data 43a is sent to step 95, where the number of inputs of the tool designation data is checked. Since this is the first time the tool designation data is input, this data 43a is sent to step 96.
In step 96, the following processing is performed. First of all, a series number is added to the part program number 41 ("P0001") stored in the table 82, and a machining element number 51 is added.
(for example, "P0001-1") is created. This machining element number 51 is stored in the first stage of the machining element file 25. Second, the definition statement 42 stored in the table 83 is stored after the processing element number 51 as a definition statement 42a. Thirdly, the condition data of the table 81 is stored as the start condition data 52 after the definition statement 42a. Fourthly, the tool designation data 43a that has just been input is stored after the start condition data 52. Next, the operation data 44a includes a plurality of records consisting of pure tool operation data and condition data specifying machining conditions as described above. is identified and sent to step 97 or 98. In the case of motion data, the motion data is created in step 97, and the tool specification data 43 is
It is stored after a. In the case of condition data, the condition data is created in step 98,
It is stored after the operational data. This condition data is stored in the condition table 8 in the storage area 80.
Update the contents of 1. In other words, the total processing data is 40
The motion data 44a in the table 81 is transferred as is after the tool designation data 43a of the machining element data 50, and the data in the table 81 is updated each time condition data therein is extracted. Next, the tool specification data 43b is entered in steps 91 and 92.
This tool specification data 43b is inputted to step 95 via step 95, but since this is the second tool specification data after the data 43a, this tool specification data 43b is sent to step 99. In step 99, the following processing is performed. That is, the data of the condition table 81 that has been updated in the process up to now is created as the end condition data of the first machining element, and is added to the tail of the machining element data 50 as the end condition data 53. . With the above steps, the creation of the first machining element data 50 is completed. Furthermore, the end of the creation of the first machining element data 50 means the start of the creation of the second machining element data 60, and step 96 is executed subsequent to step 99. That is, in step 96, as in the case of the first machining element data 50 described above, the machining element number 61 ("P0001-2"), the definition statement 42b,
Start condition data 62 and tool specification data 43b are respectively created, and machining element file 25
The above data 61, 42b, 62 and 43b are successively stored in the second row. Here, of course, the data of the table 81 is stored as the start condition data 62, and the second designated tool data is stored as the designated tool data 43b. Hereinafter, as in the case of the first machining element data 50, this second machining element data 6
0, 61, 42b, 62, 43b and 63, and third machining element data 70, 71, 42c,
72, 43c and 73, . . . are created one after another. When the FINI code 45 is finally read, the data in the condition table 81 is added as end condition data to the end of the machining element data in the last stage, and the division of all the machining data 40 is completed. The work allocation processor 34 receives information from the sensor or data input terminal 33, that is, each machine M ₁ , M ₂ ,
Work assignments are made based on the M ₃ workload status, presence or absence of machine failure, tool installation status, etc., and work precedence relationships between each machining element. Here, when there are multiple machines equipped with multiple tools, the search method for finding the most efficient way to assign what kind of work to which machine is, for example, the bifurcation threshold method (BB) or A search theory called branch search method (BP) is well known. For example, the machining of one part consists of six machining elements, the machining capacities of machines M ₁ , M ₂ , and M ₃ are as shown in Table 1, and the work precedence relationship of each machining element is as shown in Figure 5. Suppose it was on the street.
In Table 1, ○ marks indicate machining elements "P0001-1" to "P0001" that can be worked on by modified machines M ₁ to _{M 3} .
-6'', and the x mark indicates something that is impossible. In addition,
Whether it is possible or not depends on the specifications of each machine M ₁ to _{M 3} and the tool K that executes each machining element on each machine M ₁ to _{M 3.}
102, K215......depends on whether or not they are installed. Furthermore, in Table 1, the right end shows the machining time of each machining element.

[Table] Furthermore, the arrows in the work precedence relationship diagram in Figure 5 indicate that, for example, machining element (P0001-4) must be processed after machining of machining elements (P0001-2) and (P0001-3) is completed. This means that processing cannot be started. The various kinds of information shown in Table 1 and FIG. Allocate work to each machine _M1 to _M3 . In this example, machining elements "P0001-1" and "P0001-2" are handled by machine _M2 , machining elements "P0001-3" and "P0001-4" are handled by machine _M1 ,
Furthermore, processing elements “P0001-5” and “P0001
It is easy to understand that if machine M ₃ were to work on "-6" respectively, the processing time for each machine would be 60 minutes, and the work could be done most efficiently. This work allocation diagram is shown in Figure 6A, and the number of the machine is written in the circle. Now, suppose that machine M ₂ breaks down. In this case, the work that was previously handled by machine _M2 will be replaced by machine M2.
It must be divided into M ₁ and M ₃ , and each machine M ₁ ,
The machining time for _M3 must also be reconsidered. Now, let's simply look at the machine's performance in the capacity table shown in Table 1.
When the O mark of M ₂ is replaced with an × mark, processing elements that can only be worked on by machines M ₁ and M ₃ are automatically assigned as shown in Table 2.

[Table] In this case, the machining time for both machines M ₁ and M ₃ is 80 minutes each, and the remaining machining element "P0001-4"
can be assigned to either. However, what must be considered here is the number of times parts are transferred from one machine to another. The longer the time spent on the transfer, the more important this factor becomes. Figures 6B and 6C show the case where the above machining element "P0001-4" is assigned to machine _M1 , and the machine
The layout diagram when allocated to M ₃ is shown. As is clear from the figure, the layout shown in FIG. 6C, which requires fewer parts to be transferred, is more advantageous than the layout shown in FIG. 6B. NC data is edited using the work assignment processor 34.
The NC data editing processor 26 performs the work in accordance with the work allocation instructions from the NC data editing processor 26. FIG. 7 shows an example of editing, and FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the NC data editing processor 26 for this purpose. The upper part of FIG. 7 shows six processing elements 50 obtained by the division process as shown in FIG.
60, 70, 110, 120, and 130, and each processing element number corresponds to that shown in Table 1. As explained in FIG. 6C, an example of the editing process will be shown assuming that the machine _M2 has failed. The NC data for machine M ₁ is compiled by machining element data 50, 70, and the NC data for machine M ₃
NC data for machining element data 6
0, 110, 120 and 130. First, due to a failure in the machine M ₂ , when failure information is transmitted from the sensor or data input terminal 33 of the machine M ₂ to the work assignment processor 34 , the work assignment processor 34 executes the aforementioned work assignment, and The allocation result and editing command are transmitted to the NC data editing processor 26. The NC data editing processor 26 reads the above allocation result and editing command in step 160, and proceeds to step 161.
In step 161, predetermined machining element data (work groups 140, 60, 110, 120 and 13 consisting of 50 and 70) is extracted from the machining element file 25 shown in FIGS.
0 and 150) are taken out and arranged. Let us describe the first work group 140. In step 162, from the machining element data 50 and 70 arranged in step 161,
First, the start condition data 52 of the machining element data 50 and the end condition data of the previous machining element data are compared. In this case, since there is no data before the machining element data 50, the start condition data 52 is directly set as the initial state. Next, the start condition data 72 of the machining element data 70 and the previous machining element data 50
If there is any difference, the different data is inserted after the start condition data 72 as condition change data 141. When many machining elements exist in one work group, the above-mentioned operation of inserting condition change data is performed one after another. After that, in step 163, the start condition data 52, 72, the end condition data 53, 73, the second and subsequent part program numbers 71, and the definition statement 42
c is removed. And in step 164,
A FINI code 142 is added to the end of the data, and all processed data 140 of the first work group is completed. Similar processing is performed for the second work group, new condition change data 151 and 152 are inserted, a FINI code 153 is added, and all processed data 150 of the second work group is
is completed. Note that there are various methods of dividing the machining element data from the total machining data 40.
For example, each machining element data consists of only tool specification data 43a, 43b, 43c... and operation data 44a, 44b, 44c..., and the part program number and definition statement are stored in one machining element. and further, add 1 FINI statement to
The starting conditions 52, 62, 72, etc. for each machining element are stored in the machining element file.
... and end conditions 53, 63, 73, . . . are stored in a storage area in association with machining elements. According to this method, when editing, first extracts a machining element consisting of a part program number and definition statement, compares its end condition with the start condition of the first specified machining element, inserts condition change data, and then Since the editing work can be performed by repeating the procedure of combining element data, the dividing editing work is simplified. Above, we considered the range to be machined with one type of tool as a machining element, but due to constraints such as machining accuracy,
Since there are some items that must be machined in the same machine after being clamped once, it is possible to handle them as one processing element by specifying this condition. The NC data division and editing device according to the present invention can also be used to improve the line balance of a transfer line that performs mixed production. In an unmanned machining system, many types of parts can be machined without replacing the tools attached to each machine. Further, for example, even if a certain tool is damaged during machining, if the same tool is attached to a machine that can replace the work, machining can be continued by using that tool. Further, it is possible to efficiently allocate work so as to minimize the number of tool exchanges. All of the above effects are due to the fact that work can be assigned in units of machining elements, and this is due to the fact that the present invention combines machining elements.
This is because it has become possible to quickly create NC data. In addition, when processing multiple small parts of various types on one pallet, all the NC data when changing the combination can be created using the NC data division and editing device of the present invention without having to save them individually. can. As described above, according to the present invention, the entire machining NC data for machining one part is divided into multiple machining elements and combined.
Since NC data can be created freely, it is possible to allocate work to each machining element in response to moment-to-moment changes in the workplace, thereby improving equipment utilization rates, reducing setup time, and shortening component lead times. It is possible to improve production efficiency, such as shortening the time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventionally known machining workplace, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a machining workplace to which the NC data division and editing device of the present invention is applied, and FIG.
Figures 4 and 4 are data configuration diagrams and flowcharts for explaining the operation of the NC data division processor used in Figure 2, Figure 5 is an example of a work precedence relationship diagram, Figures 6A and 6B 7 and 8 are data configuration diagrams and flowcharts for explaining the operation of the NC data editing processor used in FIG. 2. . M ₁ to M ₃ : NC machine tool, 1 to 3: Numerical control device, 4: Automatic guided vehicle, 5: Stocker, 6: Control computer, 7 to 9: ATC, 10: Pallet, 11
~13: APC, 21: Part program, 2
2: Main processor, 23: All machining data file, 24: NC data division processor, 25:
Machining element file, 26: NC data editing processor, 27-29: Post processor, 3
0 to 32: NC data, 33: Sensor or data input terminal, 34: Work assignment processor, 40: All machining data, 50, 60, 70: Machining element data, 80: Storage area, 110, 120, 13
0: Machining element data, 140, 150: All machining data, 141, 151, 152: Condition change data, 142, 153: FINI code.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The operation is controlled by NC data
In an NC data creation device that creates NC data for an NC machine tool, a series of all machining NC data is divided into multiple machining elements, and all machining NC
By analyzing the condition data included in the motion data in the data, start condition data for starting machining of each machining element and end condition data for the time when machining ends are created, and together with the motion data of each machining element. When editing a predetermined one or more of the divided machining elements with the NC data division processor to store,
Compare the end condition of a machining element and the start condition of the machining element that will be edited subsequently, create new condition data based on the difference, insert it between the end condition and start condition, and edit it jointly. N.C.
An NC data division editing device equipped with a data editing processor.