JPH0152500B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a group control system for a multi-head embroidery machine that controls a plurality of heads as one group.

Prior Art Conventional embroidery machines are controlled individually for each head, and each machine head can only embroider the same pattern. With this method of controlling each head, for example, two adjacent
When embroidering a large pattern across two machine heads, pause one machine head, embroider one side of the pattern with the other machine head, then pause the other machine head, and then The other sewing machine head was used to embroidery the other pattern connected to the above pattern.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, when embroidering a large pattern with a conventional embroidery machine, it is not possible to automatically stop some of the sewing machine heads, and the position of the connection between the patterns on both heads cannot be automatically stopped. The needle entries must be aligned manually, which is inefficient and impractical, and there are problems with the quality of the pattern, such as the two patterns being different, so it is not actually done. I wasn't there.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is equipped with a large number of sewing machine heads, and moves an embroidery frame covered with cloth on a table in the X-Y directions to create a predetermined pattern. In a multi-head embroidery machine that automatically embroiders, when multiple sewing machine heads from among the above-mentioned large number of sewing machine heads are grouped into one group, and the head to be used for each group is changed, the head currently being used and The present invention is characterized in that the embroidery frame is moved by the distance between the heads to be used next, and each head is sequentially controlled for each group, thereby forming a pattern on the embroidery frame for each group.

Effects According to the present invention, by treating a plurality of sewing machine heads out of a large number of sewing machine heads as one group and treating them equally as one sewing machine head, the rest and operation of the sewing machine heads are automatically performed. In addition, it is also possible to automatically align the connecting parts of patterns embroidered with different sewing machine heads, so even large patterns embroidered with multiple heads can be embroidered with one sewing machine head. The results will be as good as those embroidered with.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a group control system for a multi-head embroidery machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.The central processing unit CPU includes a read-only memory ROM,
Connected to read/write memory RAM and input/output port I/O. Further, the operation mode designation button 1 is connected to the input/output port I/O via the operation mode switching device 2, and the needle number designation button and pattern tape device 4 are connected to the input/output port I/O. The model selection button 5 selects the input/output port I/O via the model selection device 6.
The sewing machine head spacing data input device 7 is connected to the input/output port I/O. A yarn breakage sensor 9 is connected to the input/output port I/O via a yarn breakage detection control section 8, and a jump solenoid 11 is further connected to the input/output port I/O via a jump control section 10. A control unit selection section 12 is also connected to the input/output port I/O, and the output terminal of this control unit selection section 12 is connected to the thread breakage detection control section 8 and the jump control section 10, as well as the thread grip driver control section 13. A thread clamp unit 14 and a thread clamp control unit 15 are connected to the thread clamp driver control unit 13. Further, a lateral movement unit motor 17 is connected to the input/output port I/O via a lateral movement drive control section 16, and a center positioning sensor 18 is mechanically connected to this lateral movement unit motor 17. Output terminal is input/output port I/O
It is connected to the. Further, an XY pulse motor 20 is connected to the input/output port I/O via a machine frame movement drive control section 19.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained using flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 to 4. First, the operation of group control will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the operation mode switching button 1 is pressed, the operation mode setting data for whether to use it as a conventional multi-head embroidery machine or to perform group control is transferred from the operation mode switching device 2 to the central processing unit CPU via the input/output port I/O. sent to. Here, the group control mode is set and the multi-head embroidery machine is operated. Further, at this time, the desired needle is designated by the needle number designation button 3. Also, during this operation, color change data read from the pattern tape device 4 is stored in the read/write memory RAM. When a color change occurs during operation, the embroidery is stopped, the thread is trimmed, and when the sewing machine head moves laterally so that the specified needle number is set, the central processing unit CPU uses the specified logic. Calculate the actual sewing machine head number and needle number from the standard needle number,
Convert to physical sewing machine head number and needle number. That is, the needle designated by this needle number designation button 3 is set by the central processing unit CPU, for example, the number from the left of the grouped sewing machine heads. Next, the central processing unit CPU moves the frame covered with fabric based on the group sewing machine head numbers that have been used so far, the sewing machine head numbers that will be used from now on, and the spacing information between these sewing machine heads. Calculate the power direction (+, -) and moving distance.
The information between the sewing machine heads can be obtained by creating binary code data using the data stored in advance in the read-only memory ROM, or by creating binary code data using the head spacing data input device 7, or by using the data stored in the read-only memory ROM.
The calculation is performed by selecting data stored in the ROM using the sewing machine head spacing data input device 7. Then, each unit is controlled based on each data obtained in this way.

For example, the sewing machine head can be moved laterally depending on the needle number, and the control unit selection section 12 attached to each sewing machine head can be activated or deactivated based on the signal from the lateral movement drive control section 16 based on the sewing machine head number. do. This control unit selection section 1
2, the circuits of jump solenoid 14 and thread breakage sensor 11 are cut off, and they are separated from jump control section 10 and thread breakage detection control section 8, so that only the selected sewing machine head is controlled. Become.

In this way, by sequentially driving the sewing machine heads in one group, it is possible to embroider a pattern that spans a plurality of sewing machine heads in the group.

Next, an example of embroidering a larger pattern using the group control method of the multi-head embroidery machine of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. First, when this operation mode is designated by the operation mode designation button 1 as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
The pulse motor 20 is driven to move the frame to the center point in the X direction (absolute origin), and the center positioning sensor 1
The origin is determined by 8, and the data is set as θ. Next, move to the origin (relative origin) where the pattern will be embroidered, and add this movement distance data to the absolute origin data to set the embroidery origin.The distance between the absolute origin and the relative origin is calculated, and operation begins. Preparation is complete.

Next, in the flowchart of Fig. 4, when the distance traveled during operation is added to the distance between the absolute origin and the relative origin, for example, the distance between the sewing machine head A and the sewing machine head as shown in Fig. 5 a. A distance that exceeds the boundary line C-C of the embroidery range of section B appears. At this time, when connecting the pattern from sewing machine head A to sewing machine head B, sew from point a to the left side of the diagram, and from the border line C-
If you want to embroider to point b beyond point C, then return to point c, and then embroidery back and forth in the same way at several points near the boundary line, switch to head B at point b, and embroider head at point c. The head must be switched frequently, such as switching to head A and switching to head A at point e.

In order to prevent this complication, an embroidery zone D is provided between heads A and B, as shown in Figure 5b, which is shared by both heads, and the same embroidery as in Figure 5a is done on head A. When performing embroidery zone D, continue to embroidery head A.
You can embroidery including the border line on the head B side, and if you cross the embroidery zone D from point h,
It is possible to switch to head B and continue embroidering.
The same process is also performed when switching from head B to head A.

In this way, if the frame covered with cloth is moved by the X-Y pulse motor 20 and embroidery is performed by subtracting this moved distance from the absolute origin θ, a large pattern can be embroidered regardless of the size of the pattern. By repeating this process, it is possible to embroidery the size of the frame within the group.

Here, by adopting the control method in the flowchart of FIG. 2, the multi-head embroidery machine of this embodiment can be regarded as one continuous sewing machine head, but the needle numbers are the same for each sewing machine head. If you specify a needle number across groups, the same stitch number will be selected, so to avoid this confusion, use the operation mode designation button 1 to set the needle numbers across groups.

Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above description, the present invention treats a plurality of sewing machine heads as one group and treats them equally as one sewing machine head. Since alignment is done automatically, the advantage is that even large patterns created by embroidering different parts with different sewing machine heads can produce embroidery that is as good as embroidery made with a single sewing machine head. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a group control system for a multi-head embroidery machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are flowcharts explaining the control system of FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is a diagram for explaining the state in which connecting parts of embroidery patterns are sewn using different sewing machine heads. CPU...Central processing unit, ROM...Read-only memory, RAM...Read/write memory, I/O...
...Input/output port, 1...Operation mode specification button, 2...
...Operation mode switching device, 3...Needle number designation button, 4
...Pattern tape device, 5...Model selection button, 6...Model selection switching device, 7...Sewing machine head spacing data input device, 8...Thread breakage detection control unit, 9...Thread breakage sensor, 10... ...Jump control, 11...
... Jump solenoid, 12 ... Control unit selection section, 13 ... Thread grip drive control section, 1
4... Thread grip unit, 15... Thread grip control section, 16... Lateral movement control section, 17... Lateral movement unit motor, 18... Center positioning sensor, 19
...Frame movement drive control section, 20...X-Y pulse motor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A multi-head embroidery machine that is equipped with a large number of sewing machine heads and that automatically embroiders a predetermined pattern by moving an embroidery frame covered with cloth in the X-Y directions on a table. When multiple sewing machine heads are grouped into one group and the head to be used is changed for each group, the head spacing between the currently used head and the next head to be used is as described above. A group control method for a multi-head embroidery machine, characterized in that the embroidery frame is moved, each head is sequentially controlled for each group, and a pattern is formed on the embroidery frame for each group. 2 Various attachments such as a bowling scalpel are attached to each head in the group, and a different pattern is embroidered on each head, so that one large pattern with a variety of colors can be formed for each group. A group control system for a multi-head embroidery machine according to claim 1. 3. The multi-head needle according to claim 1, characterized in that it is configured to be able to form a pattern using threads of different colors that are threaded on needles of multiple heads in the group, all using different numbers of colors. Group control method for embroidery machine. 4. When connecting embroidery from one sewing machine head to the other of adjacent sewing machine heads in the above group, a shared embroidery zone must be provided between the embroidery boundaries of the adjacent sewing machine heads. , within the embroidery zone, embroidery is performed with one of the adjacent sewing machine heads, and in the embroidery zone by the other sewing machine head from the end of the embroidery zone, embroidery is performed with the other sewing machine head. A group control system for a multi-head embroidery machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: