JPH06292930A - Method for allotting tool to sheet metal processing drawing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a tool allotment even to the combination shape of registered patterns and perform the optimum tool allotment without losing an allocation even with a few number of registered patterns to a complicated processing shape. CONSTITUTION:This is a method (S4) in which a graphic form pattern Pa with a tool allotment set previously, is registered (S1), and a tool T is allotted by retrieving a part coinciding with the registered graphic form pattern Pa from a graphic form A for sheet metal processing. The following each process is included. That is, the graphic form of a part where a tool allotment is completed by a coincidence with the graphic form pattern Pa, is filled up (S5), the part which has coincided with the graphic form pattern (Pa) is retrieved again to a graphic form A' after filling up, and a tool is allotted. There retrieval, allotment and filling up (S5) are repeated (S6) until a filled-up graphic form becomes almost the shape of a base stock. In this case, a priority order is hierarchically set to the registered graphic form pattern Pa, and the retrieval and the tool allotment of the part which coincided, are first performed from a graphic form pattern Pa with a high priority order.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for allocating tools to a sheet metal working pattern which is applied to a CAD / CAM system such as a punch press machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The most important function of an ideal CAD / CAM system is to automatically convert machining figure data drawn by the CAD system into an NC program. However, the existing ones on the market are far from this, and automatic conversion is not possible except for simple figures, for example, figures with a circular hole or rectangular outer peripheral shape. Therefore, all conventional CAD
In the / CAM system, it is necessary for a person to select a tool, instruct a machining line, and put the tool on the line, which requires time and skill for automatic programming.

In order to solve such a problem, the present applicant has developed the following pattern tool allocation method. That is, when allocating the optimum machining tool to the sheet metal machining figure, the figure line is searched to find a portion that matches the figure pattern previously defined and registered.
For each figure pattern, since the tool allocation and the processing method have been set for each pattern, the processing can be easily determined for the found pattern. As a result, even with a complicated sheet metal working pattern, it is possible to perform automatic tool allocation with a high degree of completion.

[0004]

However, it is desired to further improve the efficiency of the allocation method. That is, there is room for improvement in the following points. Most industrial products in the world are designed in a limited and constant manner. Therefore, each local shape pattern is limited to hundreds of kinds. For example, in the boxes required in the switchboard industry, a bent product of sheet metal as shown in FIG. 18 (A) or FIG. 18 (B) and FIG. 19 (B). In the bent sheet metal product shown in FIG. 20 (A), the developed plate material has a shape as shown in FIG. 20 (B).
However, in reality, since a product is made up of a combination of the above-mentioned patterns of hundreds, patterns such as cutouts will change.

For example, in the developed shape of FIG. 20B, there is a shape pattern of a range F surrounded by a chain line.
When the tag 50 is provided as in (A), the developed shape shown in (B) of FIG. In this case, the registration pattern shown in FIG.
If only the patterns shown in FIGS. 2 (A) and (B) are dealt with, the tools will be assigned to the portions d1 and d2 shown by the chain line in FIG. 21 (B), but the portion d3 will be the assignment omission. In order to make this possible with automatic tool allocation, refer to FIG.
It is necessary to register the pattern as shown in (C), that is, the combination pattern of FIGS. 22 (A) and (B).

It is not practical to prepare all such combination patterns of patterns, because of the huge number of patterns, the registration work of the patterns, the limitation of the storage capacity of the automatic programming device, and the like. Therefore, FIG.
The portion of the allocation omission such as the portion d3 in (B) has no choice but to rely on a manual correction operation.

An object of the present invention is to perform tool allocation to a combination shape of registered patterns, and with a small number of registered patterns, it is possible to perform tool allocation with a high degree of optimality even with a complicated machining shape without causing allocation omission. It is to provide a method for allocating tools to machining figures.

[0008]

The method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 corresponding to an embodiment. As for the method of allocating tools to this sheet metal working figure, the figure pattern (Pa) in which the tool allocation is preset is registered (S1), and the registered figure pattern (P
It is a method (S4) of searching the sheet metal working figure (A) for a portion matching a) and allocating the tool T, and includes the following steps. That is, the process of backfilling the figure at the position where the tool allocation is completed due to the matching of the figure pattern (Pa) (S5).
And a step (S4) of re-searching a matching part of the figure pattern (Pa) for the figure A'after backfilling and allocating a tool, searching, assigning (S) and backfilling (S5). Repeat until almost the material shape is reached (S
6).

According to the allocating method of claim 2, in the method of claim 1, priorities are set for the registered graphic patterns (Pa), and a matching part is searched for and a graphic pattern (Pa) having a higher priority is searched first. Assign tools.

[0010]

According to this allocation method, the figure (A) at the location where the tool allocation is completed is backfilled, and the figure (A ') after backfilling is completed.
Again, since the matching portion of the figure pattern (Pa) is searched again, tool allocation can be performed even for the combination shape of the registered pattern (Pa).

In the case of the allocating method according to the second aspect, by appropriately setting the priority order, the allocation omission can be prevented, and the tool allocation with a higher degree of optimization can be performed.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows a process of automatically executing an executable NC program from a CAD pattern for sheet metal working by a punch press machine. That is, CAD
By executing the tool placement by adding the tool information of the punch die to the figure, the non-executable NC data is generated once, and the machining control conditions of the machine and the optimization conditions are added to this. An execution type NC program is generated. In the process of arranging the tools, the method of allocating the tools to the sheet metal pattern of this embodiment is applied.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a hardware system of an automatic programming device to which this tool allocation method is applied.
In this example, a central processing unit (CPU) 1, a fixed disk device 2, a floppy desk device 3, an IC card device 4 are provided.
And a graphic display 5, a tablet 6, and a graphic printer 7 are connected.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual block diagram of an automatic tool allocating apparatus which embodies the tool allocating method of this embodiment by the system of FIG. Data files prepared in advance include a graphic pattern registration file 8 and a pattern-based tool placement file 9, and the processing means is a continuous linearization processing means 1
0, shape pattern matching means 11, backfilling means 1
6 and automatic tool allocation means 12 are provided. Also,
A backfill graphic data file 17 is provided as a work file.

The stored data of the original figure CAD data file 13 is line data of the sheet metal working figure to be processed, and the continuous line processing means 10 pre-processes the continuous line file 14 in order to perform pattern matching efficiently. Then, by the processing of the shape pattern matching means 11 and the automatic tool allocation processing means 12, an overall tool placement file 15 which is an output file is created. In addition, the backfill data file 17 is created and updated during this process. The shape pattern registration file 8 and the pattern-based tool placement file 9 can be added with the registered contents later as appropriate. For details on each processing method and file,
A description will be given later with a specific graphic example.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic procedure of this tool placement method. As shown in step S1 of FIG. 3A, as a preparation step, various graphic patterns Pa (step R1 of FIG. 3B) are defined and registered, and tool allocation (necessary for each graphic pattern Pa is necessary). In that case, the machining order of the tool is also included) and registered. Further, a backfill line (indicated by a broken line in the figure) La for the graphic pattern Pa is also defined and registered. Each figure pattern Pa is defined as line data, as will be described later with reference to FIG. The same applies to the backfill line. The graphic pattern Pa and the backfill line La are registered in the graphic pattern registration file 8 of FIG. 5, and the tool allocation is registered in the pattern-specific tool allocation file 9.

In this case, each figure pattern Pa is hierarchized to set the search priority. FIG. 6 shows examples of registered graphic patterns for each priority. In this example, the priority is changed from the first order to the fourth order, and the graphic pattern Pa is assigned to the first order.
1 to Pa3, the figure pattern Pa4 in the second order, the figure pattern Pa5 in the third order, and the figure pattern Pa in the fourth order.
6 are registered respectively. The number of patterns actually registered is
For example, it is about tens to hundreds.

The priority order is determined by the following criteria. This enables efficient tool allocation. That is, the first priority is a pattern with a small versatility that can be machined with one punch, or a graphic pattern that modifies the basic graphic rather than a basic graphic (for example, a chamfer or corner R pattern, Alternatively, it is a pattern having a vertex escape e). Next, the pattern is descended from the pattern having the largest number of strokes to the pattern having the smallest stroke number. If the number of strokes is the same, the one with high versatility is ranked lower.

After the preparation is completed in this way, the data of the sheet metal working figure composed of CAD data is loaded into this automatic tool allocating device (step S2 in FIG. 1). The data format of the fetched CAD data is converted into single continuous line data as preprocessing so that pattern matching can be easily performed later (S3). That is, the figure created by CAD is
Since the line data is stored in the order of input and the order is fixed,
This is later aligned as shown in FIG.

When the pretreatment is completed, automatic tool allocation (S4) by pattern matching and backfilling (S5) are repeated until the sheet metal working figure becomes the material shape (S6). Tool allocation by pattern matching will be described later as an example of a specific method.
From (step R2 of FIG. 1B), a part a that matches any of the registered graphic patterns Pa is searched, and a tool corresponding to a preset pattern is assigned to the matching part a. is there. The symbol T in step R4 of FIG. 1B indicates each assigned tool.

In the backfill process (S5), the sheet metal working pattern of the portion where the tool allocation has been carried out is repaired by a pre-registered backfill line La, and the backfill pattern A '(step R3 in FIG. 1B) is repaired. ) Is automatically created. The next tool allocation by pattern matching is performed on this backfilled figure A '. When the backfilled figure A ′ becomes the material shape by repeating such a process, the entire automatic tool allocation is completed.

Specifically, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 2, the steps from S4 to S6 are performed first according to the set priority order from the graphic pattern Pa having the higher priority order. That is, from the sheet metal pattern A, first
The registered figure pattern Pa having the priority order of (T1),
If there is a matching graphic pattern Pa, the tool placement (T2) and backfilling (T4) are performed. This process (T
1) to (T4) for the sheet metal working figure (or the backfill figure A '), the matching figure pattern P of the first priority
Repeat until a is gone.

After this, the graphic pattern Pa of the second priority is given.
The search (T5), tool placement (T7), and backfilling (T8) are repeatedly performed as described above. The process of such a process is performed up to the figure pattern Pa having the lowest priority (fourth in this example). In the case of the lowest rank, each step (T13 to T16) is repeated until the backfilled figure A'becomes a material shape (T17) or there is no matching figure pattern Pa (T14), and the process is ended. The search order of the graphic patterns Pa in the same priority order (same hierarchy) is the registration order of the registered graphic patterns Pa.

FIG. 9 shows an example of tool allocation for an actual sheet metal working figure. With respect to the sheet metal working figure A in FIG. 7A, first, a figure pattern (for example, Pa1) of each chamfered portion having the first priority is searched, and a tool allocation is performed for that portion. A backfill figure A'repaired with the backfill line La is automatically created for the tool assigned portion as shown in FIG.

Pattern matching is performed again on the backfilled figure A ', a figure pattern Pa4 of the second priority, which is a figure with a high degree of peculiarity, is searched for, and a tool is assigned to that part. This tool allocation part is the backfill line L
After being repaired by a, the backfilled figure A ′ has a shape as shown in FIG. From this backfilled figure A ′, a figure pattern Pa5 of the third priority, which is a highly versatile simple pattern, is searched for and tool allocation is performed, and the tool allocated part is backfilled as shown in FIG. Repaired with line La.

As a result, the backfilled figure A'becomes a rectangular material shape, and the tool allocation by pattern matching is completed. Part (E) of the same figure shows an example of the result of the overall tool allocation. In this way, optimum tool allocation is performed on the entire sheet metal working pattern A without omission.

By setting the priority as described above,
We show that the optimum degree of tool allocation is high, in comparison with an inappropriate example. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, the pattern matching is performed with the figure pattern Pa4 as a higher priority than the figure pattern Pa5, so that the optimum tool placement can be performed as shown in the processing steps of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 12, if the figure pattern Pa5 is pattern-matched before the figure pattern Pa4, the tool allocation procedure and the backfilling step are performed as shown in FIG.
In the order shown in 3 (A) to (D), tool allocation is performed for the three parts B1 to B3. According to the tool allocation method of FIG. 11, the divided parts B1 and B2 are parts where tool allocation is performed as one part, and machining can be efficiently performed using a large tool. However, when the tool is divided into two parts B1 and B2 as shown in FIG. 13, since tool allocation is performed in a narrow range, a small tool is used, and the machining efficiency is reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, pattern matching is performed with the figure pattern Pa1 as a higher priority than the figure pattern Pa5.
For the corner portion of the sheet metal working pattern of FIG. 5 (A), tool allocation is performed by dividing it into three portions C1 to C3 as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, if pattern matching is performed in the order of the graphic patterns Pa6 and Pa1 as shown in FIG. 16, the corner portion of the same sheet metal working pattern A (FIG. 17A) is shown in FIG. As shown in D), the tool allocation is performed by dividing into five parts C1, C2, C3a, C3b, C3c. As described above, in the tool allocation of FIG. 15, the tool allocation is performed on the wide part C3 where the three parts C3a to C3c of FIG. 17 are gathered,
A large tool can be assigned to the portion C3 for efficient machining. In this way, by setting an appropriate priority and performing tool allocation by pattern matching, automatic tool allocation with a high degree of optimization can be performed.

Next, an example of a specific method of pattern matching will be described. FIG. 8 shows an example of registration of a graphic pattern. The figure (A) shows the above-mentioned figure pattern Pa5, and the points P of three straight lines are arranged, and it is specified by the outside angle of each point P being the value added in the figure. The outside angle has a positive value in the counterclockwise direction. The figure (B) is the data registered in the figure pattern registration file 8 as the data D of the figure pattern Pa5 of the figure (A), and is the pattern identification data Db which is a table of the types of points and the outside angles.
And the heading section data Da with a pattern name for identification by the operator attached to the shape pattern and a code for identification by the machine.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the data structure of the continuous line file 14. Each closed figure A1, A2 is described in order as a plurality of lines of single continuous line data, and one line or arc line segment data is described in each line. Each line segment data in each single continuous line data is described in a continuous order. Similar to the example shown in FIG. 8, these line segment data include the type of point (the straight line is indicated by P and the arc is indicated by C), the external angle, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate of the point, and other data (for example, In the arc, the data of radius) is described.
Further, in each single continuous line data, discrimination data indicating whether it is an outer peripheral line or an inner line is described.

In the pattern matching process (S4 in FIG. 1, T2 in FIG. 2, etc.), a data arrangement that matches each pattern identification data Db in the figure pattern registration file 8 from the data arrangement in the continuous line file 14 in FIG. Search parts in order. In the example of FIG. 7, the data arrangement portion Na1 is
Each matches the pattern identification data Db of FIG. 8 (B), and the pattern pattern of FIG. 8 (A) is recognized. In this way, pattern matching of the entire sheet metal working figure is sequentially performed.

Although the above embodiment has described the case where the tool is allocated to the contour line portion of the sheet metal working figure, the present invention can also be applied to the case of the inner cut line in the same manner as described above.

[0035]

According to the method of allocating a tool to a sheet metal working figure of the present invention, a figure pattern in which the tool allocation is preset is registered,
A method of allocating a tool by searching the sheet metal working figure for a part that matches the registered figure pattern, and backfilling the figure at the location where the tool allocation is completed, and matching part of the figure pattern again for the figure after backfilling Since the search is performed, tool allocation can be performed not only on the registered pattern but also on the combined shape of the registered patterns. Therefore, with a small number of registered patterns, it is possible to perform tool allocation with a high degree of optimization, without causing allocation omission even for complicated machining shapes.

In the case of the second aspect of the present invention, the priority order is set, and the matching portion is searched and the tool allocation is performed in order from the graphic pattern having the higher priority order.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a tool allocation method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of a part thereof.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an automatic programming process using the tool placement method.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example of a hardware system that performs the automatic programming.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual configuration diagram of an automatic tool allocation device that implements the tool placement method.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a registered graphic pattern.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a data structure example of a continuous line file.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a data structure example of a graphic pattern registration file.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a procedure of this tool allocation method together with a sheet metal working pattern.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a graphic pattern priority order.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of pattern matching and tool allocation according to the priority order.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the search order of graphic patterns.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of pattern matching and tool allocation according to the same search order.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of priority of graphic patterns.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of pattern matching and tool allocation according to the priority order.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the search order of graphic patterns.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of pattern matching and tool allocation according to the same search order.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of an example of a sheet metal product and a developed view of a part thereof.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of another sheet metal product example and a developed view of a part thereof.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of still another sheet metal product example and a development view thereof.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of still another example of sheet metal product and a development view thereof.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a graphic pattern.

[Explanation of symbols]

8 ... Graphic pattern registration file, 9 ... Pattern-based tool allocation file, 11 ... Shape pattern matching means, 12
... automatic tool allocation processing means, 13 ... original figure CAD data file, 16 ... backfilling means, 17 ... backfilled figure data file, A ... sheet metal working figure, A '... backfilled figure, La ...
Backfill line, Pa, Pa1 to Pa6 ... Graphic pattern, T ...
tool

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for allocating a tool by registering a graphic pattern with preset tool allocation, searching a portion matching the registered graphic pattern from a sheet metal working graphic, and allocating the tool by matching the graphic pattern. The process of backfilling the figure at the specified location, the process of re-searching for the matching part of the figure pattern for the figure after backfilling, and allocating the tool,
A method for allocating a tool to a sheet metal working figure, which comprises the steps of repeating the above-mentioned search, allocation and backfilling until the material shape is almost obtained. 2. The method for allocating tools to a sheet metal working figure according to claim 1, wherein priorities are set for the registered figure patterns, and a figure pattern with a higher priority is searched for a matching portion and a tool is assigned.