Textiles: spinning – twisting – and twining – Apparatus and processes – Monitor and control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-21
2001-12-18
Worrell, Danny (Department: 3765)
Textiles: spinning, twisting, and twining
Apparatus and processes
Monitor and control
C057S014000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330787
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a monitoring and control device for an assembly machine designed to perform a winding operation of at least one wire element onto a main cable to form a wound cable, said assembly machine being equipped with actuators comprising:
a winding head which guides said wire element wound on at least one feeder coil,
a first head motor for driving the winding head in rotation,
a second motor for driving in rotation a receiver coil on which said wound cable is wound,
and means for mechanical tensioning of the wire element when the winding phase takes place,
said monitoring and control device comprising:
an optical measuring apparatus containing at least one light emitter for projection of a light beam onto the wire element, and a receiver for sensing the reflected light beam with production of a measurement signal,
a processing circuit with microprocessor designed to receive said measurement signal and to send control and/or adjustment signals to said actuators,
and an external control means comprising in particular a microcomputer for input of the automatic operation parameters of the assembly machine according to a predetermined program of the processing circuit.
The present invention relates in a general manner to an assembly machine designed to perform a winding operation of at least one wire element.
More precisely the invention relates to a monitoring and control device with real time data sampling for such an assembly machine.
The invention can apply for example to an assembly machine designed to wind wire elements together on one another or with one another, and it can also apply to an assembly machine designed to wind one or more peripheral wire elements onto a central cable. These elements can be metallic or composed of other materials.
Henceforth in the text the term wire element shall refer to any object in the form of a cable or wire whose cross section may have any shape (the wire element being able for example to be a thin strip), but is in most cases of appreciably circular general shape constant over its whole length. Such a wire element can constitute a simple wire object performing an essentially mechanical function (for example a reinforcing wire or an insulating or protective strip), or can constitute a cable including one or more wires performing transmission of an energy or a signal in electrical, magnetic, optical or any other form.
Henceforth in the text the term central cable shall refer to any wire element as defined above, but whose stiffness or tensile strength is in a general manner relatively high to enable another wire element to be wound around this central wire element.
Henceforth in the text the term ‘peripheral wire element’ shall refer to any wire element as defined above, but whose stiffness is in a general manner lower than that of the central wire element so that the peripheral wire element can be wound around the central cable.
However a central cable with a lower stiffness than that of the peripheral wire element could also be envisaged, without departing from the spirit of the invention, wherein the central cable is held with a sufficiently high tension for it to however be possible to wind the peripheral wire element around the central cable.
Henceforth in the text the term ‘winding operation’ shall refer to any operation performed by the device according to the present invention designed to cause winding of at least one wire element on or with at least another wire element or on a central cable.
Among such possible winding operations, the following examples can be given:
lapping, i.e. winding of a wire element in turns which may be joined or not in general on a central cable.
stranding, i.e. winding of several wire elements respecting a previously defined winding pitch (distance measured on the central cable between the beginning and the end of winding, having the same reference on the circumference of the cable at the beginning and end of winding).
taping, coating a central cable with one or more strips,
an operation consisting in creating a braiding around a central cable, this braiding being formed by several flat strips, a flat strip being constituted by several wire elements or by individual wire elements wound around the central cable and alternating with one another so as to form one or more braiding layers around the central cable, notably to form a coaxial cable. The braiding may constitute a meshing of several flat strips formed by several wire elements. Such a braiding can be used for example to constitute a shielding for the central cable, or any other protection for the central cable,
a braiding performed on itself, i.e. without being applied around a central cable, so as to form a solid braid or a hollow braid.
Henceforth in the text the term ‘assembly machine’ shall refer to any machine enabling such possible winding operations to be performed, even if these machines perform, instead of an assembly proper, a braiding, a taping, a lapping, a stranding, or an operation similar thereto.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The document WO 93/07330 and the document FR-A 2,739,701 describe devices for performing a winding operation of at least one wire element comprising an optical means enabling the following measurements to be made during the winding operation:
measurement, on the taut wire element drawn between the winding head and the place of winding itself, of the reflection intensity of an incident light beam;
measurement, on the taut wire element drawn between the winding head and the place of winding itself, of the oscillation amplitude of the specular reflection angle of an incident light beam, this oscillation amplitude being representative of the tension of the wire element in the course of winding;
implementation, on the taut wire element drawn between the winding head and the place of winding itself, of one of the measurements mentioned above only during a time window defined by a continuous means of the angular position of the winding head, in order to select a single specific wire element which is subjected to this measurement;
measurement, on the taut wire element drawn between the winding head and the place of winding itself, of the presence/absence of the reflection intensity of an incident light beam for continuous measurement of the angular position of the winding head.
In this prior art, use is made of an optical assembly designed to send a light beam onto the wire element, and to make the corresponding optical measurements on the reflected light, and of an electronic means which receives signals coming from the optical assembly and auxiliary signals coming from other measuring elements to deliver the required data on operation of the machine, or to automatically make adjustments to the operating parameters of the machine.
A problem arising for this type of assembly machine of the prior art in case of automation of operation requires the following operations:
selecting and adapting a specific type of optical measuring device on the machine the characteristics of which device are compatible with the type of wire element used,
selecting and adapting a specific type of power communication component on the machine the characteristics of which component are compatible with the type of functional apparatus which it is designed to control automatically,
and selecting and adapting a specific device on the machine enabling the power communication component to be made operational, during operation of the machine, while deactivating the initial manual control of the functional apparatus of the assembly machine which this component has to control automatically, and to deactivate this component while making the initial manual control operational when the user wants to perform a manual control of this functional apparatus instead of automatic control thereof.
The processing conditions can vary considerably for the following reasons:
the existing assembly machines globally represent a relatively large pool of machines, but which includes a large diversity of types of machine (for
Innocable SA
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Worrell Danny
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