Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-08
2002-01-22
Gordon, Paul P. (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S145000, C700S206000, C700S097000, C072S420000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06341243
ABSTRACT:
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
This application includes a microfiche appendix for appendices A-D. The microfiche appendix consists of one fiche including 32 frames.
Copyright Notice
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to methods and subsystems which may be provided in an intelligent bent sheet metal designing, planning and manufacturing system and the like.
2. Discussion of Background Information
FIGS. 1-3
illustrate, in a simplified view, an example conventional bending workstation
10
for bending a sheet metal part (workpiece)
16
under the control of a manually created program downloaded to various control devices provided within the workstation. The illustrated bending workstation
10
is a BM100 Amada workstation.
(a) The Hardware and Its Operation
FIG. 1
shows an overall simplified view of bending workstation
10
.
FIG. 2
shows a partial view of a press brake
29
, positioned to perform a bend on a workpiece
16
. The elements shown in
FIG. 2
include a robot arm
12
having a robot arm gripper
14
grasping a workpiece
16
, a punch
18
being held by a punch holder
20
, and a die
19
which is placed on a die rail
22
. A backgage mechanism
24
is illustrated to the left of punch
18
and die
19
.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, bending workstation
10
includes four significant mechanical components: a press brake
29
for bending workpiece
16
; a five degree-of-freedom (5 DOF) robotic manipulator (robot)
12
for handling and positioning workpiece
16
within press brake
29
; a material loader/unloader (L/UL)
30
for loading and positioning a blank workpiece at a location for robot
12
to grab, and for unloading finished workpieces; and a repositioning gripper
32
for holding workpiece
16
while robot
12
changes its grasp.
Press brake
29
includes several components as illustrated in
FIGS. 1-3
. viewing
FIG. 3
, press brake
29
includes at least one die
19
which is placed on a die rail
22
, and at least one corresponding punch tool
18
which is held by a punch tool holder
20
. Press brake
29
further includes a backgage mechanism
24
.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, robot arm
12
includes a robot arm gripper
14
which is used to grasp workpiece
16
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, material loader/unloader
30
includes several suction cups
31
which create an upwardly directed suction force for lifting a sheet metal workpiece
16
, thereby allowing L/UL
30
to pass workpiece
16
to gripper
14
of robot
12
, and to subsequently retrieve a finished workpiece
16
from gripper
14
and unload the finished workpiece.
In operation, loader/unloader (L/UL)
30
will lift a blank workpiece
16
from a receptacle (not shown), and will raise and move workpiece
16
to a position to be grabbed by gripper
14
of robot
12
. Robot
12
then maneuvers itself to a position corresponding to a particular bending stage located within bending workstation
10
. Referring to each of
FIGS. 1 and 3
, stage
1
comprises the stage at the leftmost portion of press brake
29
, and stage
2
is located to the right of stage
1
along die rail
22
.
If the first bend is to be made at stage
1
, robot
12
will workpiece
16
to stage
1
, and as shown in
FIG. 2
, will maneuver workpiece
16
within press brake
29
, at a location between punch tool
18
and die
19
, until it reaches and touches a backstop portion of backgage mechanism
24
. With the aid of barge mechanism
24
, the position of workpiece
16
is adjusted by robot arm
12
. Then, a bend operation is performed on workpiece
16
at stage
1
. In performing the bend operation, die rail
22
moves upward (along a D axis), as indicated by the directional arrow A in FIG.
2
. As punch tool
18
and die
19
simultaneously contact workpiece
16
, so that workpiece
16
assumes a relatively stable position within press brake
29
, gripper
14
will release its grasp on workpiece
16
, and robot
12
will move gripper
14
away from workpiece
16
. Press brake
29
will then complete its bending of workpiece
16
, by completing the upward movement of die
19
until the proper bend has been formed.
Once die
19
is engaged against punch tool
18
, holding workpiece
16
in its bent state, before disengaging die
19
by lowering press brake
29
, robot arm
12
will reposition its robot arm gripper
14
to hold workpiece
16
. Once gripper
14
is holding workpiece
16
, die
19
will be disengaged by releasing press brake
29
. Robot
12
then maneuvers and repositions workpiece
16
in order to perform the next bend in the particular bend sequence that has been programmed for workpiece
16
. The next bend within the bend sequence may be performed either at the same stage, or at a different stage, such as stage
2
, depending upon the type of bends to be performed, and the tooling provided within press brake
29
.
Depending upon the next bend to be performed, and the configuration of workpiece
16
, the gripping position of gripper
14
may need to be repositioned. Repositioning gripper
32
, shown in
FIG. 1
, is provided for this purpose. Before performing the next bend, for which repositioning of robot gripper
14
is needed, workpiece
16
will be moved by robot
12
to repositioning gripper
32
. Repositioning gripper
32
will then grasp workpiece
16
so that robot gripper
14
can regrip workpiece
16
at a location appropriate for the next bend or sequence of bends.
(b) The Control System
The bending workstation
10
illustrated in
FIG. 1
is controlled by several control devices which are housed separately, including an MM20-CAPS interface
40
, a press brake controller
42
, a robot controller
44
, and a load/unload unit controller
46
. Press brake controller
42
comprises an NC9R press brake controller, and robot controller
44
comprises a 25B robot controller, which are each supplied by Amada. Each of press brake controller
42
and robot controller
44
have their own CPU and programming environments. Load/unload unit controller
46
comprises a stand alone Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), and is wired to respective consoles provided for press brake controller
42
and robot controller
44
.
Each of controllers
42
,
44
, and
46
has a different style bus, architecture, and manufacturer. They are coordinated primarily by parallel I/O signals. Serial interfaces are provided for transporting bending and robot programs to the controllers, each of which is programmed in a different manner. For example, logic diagrams are used to program the PLC of the load/unload controller
46
, and RML is used to program robot controller
44
.
(c) The Design/Manufacture Process
The overall design/manufacture process for bending sheet metal includes several steps. First, a part to be produced is typically designed using an appropriate CAD system. Then, a plan is generated which defines the tooling to be used and a sequence of bends to be performed. Once the needed tooling is determined, an operator will begin to set up the bending workstation. After the workstation is set up, the plan is executed, i.e., a workpiece is loaded and operation of the bending workstation is controlled to execute the complete sequence of bends on a blank sheet metal workpiece. The results of the initial runs of the bending workstation are then fed back to the design step, where appropriate modifications may be made in the design of the part in view of the actual operation of the system.
In the planning step, a plan is developed for bending workstation
10
in order to configure the system to perform a sequence of bending operations. Needed hardware must be selected, including appropriate dies, punch tools, grippers, and so on. In addition, the bending sequence must b
Bourne David Allan
Hazama Kensuke
Kim Kyoung Hung
Krishnan Sivaraj Sivarama
Williams Duane Thomas
Amada America, Inc.
Gordon Paul P.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
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