Metal working – Means to assemble or disassemble – With control means energized in response to activator...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-12
2004-05-11
Bryant, David P. (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Means to assemble or disassemble
With control means energized in response to activator...
C029S738000, C029S701000, C029S428000, C029S609000, C029S596000, C029S703000, C029S03300H
Reexamination Certificate
active
06732423
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a laminated ring comprising a plurality of endless ring components, such as a belt for use in a continuously variable transmission (CVT) or the like.
BACKGROUND ART
Belts for use in continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) such as automobile transmissions, for example, comprise a pair of laminated rings each made up of a plurality of endless ring components of metal that are assembled in a laminated form in their transverse direction. Such a laminated ring is manufactured as follows:
Ring components that serve as respective layers of a laminated ring are produced and stored by a component storage facility. The ring component serving as each layer is basically manufactured such that its circumferential length and radius are of design values (which differ from layer to layer). Generally, however, the actual circumferential lengths and radii of the manufactured ring components suffer errors introduced in the manufacturing process. Therefore, the circumferential lengths and radii of the ring components are not always in exact agreement with design values, but tend to vary from design values to a certain extent. Size data representing the circumferential lengths, radii, etc. of the manufactured ring components are separately measured, and the measured data are stored by association with the individual ring components.
Then, ring components to be used for assembling a laminated ring are selected from the manufactured and stored ring components for use as respective layers, and combined into a laminated ring. Such an assembling process is repeated as many times as the number of required laminated rings. A laminated ring for use as a belt in a CVT or the like is required to meet predetermined standard requirements such that the difference between the circumferential lengths of adjacent ring components thereof fall in a certain allowable range. Since the sizes of the ring components as respective layers suffer variations, when ring components of respective layers in a component storage facility are arbitrarily or randomly selected and combined, they may not necessarily make a desired laminated ring.
Heretofore, it has been customary for the worker to select and combine ring components from a plurality of ring components of respective layers to match given standard requirements by seeing a log of measured values of size data.
Therefore, the conventional process of selecting and combining ring components of respective layers has been tedious and time-consuming, and has presented an obstacle to efforts to increase the mass-productivity of laminated rings. Size data of ring components that are selected for being combined tend to deviate from each other. As a result, the size data of the ring components in the component storage facility have a distribution which makes it difficult to produce a preferred combination of ring components, and some ring components remain uncombined over a long period of time.
The applicant of the present application has attempted to perform, on a computer, combinatorial trial calculations for combining ring components of layers under an adequate combinatorial condition based on the size data, etc. of the ring components of the layers that are stored in the component storage facility. Ring components in as many combinations as required are unloaded from the component storage facility among combinations of ring components of layers that are produced by the above combinatorial trial calculations, and then are laminated into laminated rings.
Combinatorial conditions are set to be able to assemble as many laminated rings as possible for increasing the mass-productivity of laminated rings. For selecting a combination to be unloaded among combinations of ring components of layers obtained by combinatorial trial calculations, a combination that better matches standard requirements for size is selected.
Using a computer to perform combinatorial trial calculations makes it possible to select and combine ring components of layers efficiently in a short period of time.
If, however, a combination to be unloaded is inappropriately selected among combinations of ring components of layers obtained by combinatorial trial calculations (e.g., when a combination that better matches standard requirements for size is selected), size data of ring components of layers in the component storage facility may deviate from each other and distributions of size data of layers may vary from each other. If such a side data deviation or a size data distribution variation occurs, then the total number of combinations of ring components that can be obtained by combinatorial trial calculations is likely to be reduced, and those ring components which cannot be combined continuously remain unused in the component storage facility. As a result, it becomes difficult to mass-produce laminated rings continuously and stably.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for assembling more laminated rings continuously from ring components of layers stored in a component storage facility, thus continuously maintaining stable mass-productivity of laminated rings.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above object, an apparatus for assembling a laminated ring according to the present invention is provided in first through third aspects. According to the first aspect, an apparatus for assembling a laminated ring, comprises a component storage facility for storing a plurality of endless ring components of each of layers which are to be laminated into a laminated ring, component data managing means for storing component data including size data representative of at least respective circumferential length values of the ring components stored in the component storage facility, combinatorial trial calculation means for performing combinatorial trial calculations to combine the component data of the layers, one by one for all the layers, in the component storage facility under a predetermined combinatorial condition based on the component data of the ring components stored by the component data managing means, to generate a plurality of lamination combinatorial data representing combinations of the ring components of the respectively layers which can be assembled into the laminated ring, and unloaded product selecting means for selecting lamination combinatorial data corresponding to a laminated ring to be actually assembled from the lamination combinatorial data generated by the combinatorial trial calculation means, wherein ring components of each of the layers corresponding to the lamination combinatorial data selected by the unloaded product selecting means can be unloaded from the component storage facility to assemble a laminated ring, the unloaded product selecting means comprising means for setting a target frequency distribution in a predetermined standard range of size data of ring components of each of the layers such that the target frequency distribution is of a substantially identical shape between the layers and target frequencies in all classes established in the standard range are equal to or greater than a predetermined positive minimum value, means for determining an actual frequency distribution of size data of ring components of each of the layers in the component storage facility as an actual inventory frequency distribution based on the size data held by the component data managing means, means for comparing the target frequency distribution and the actual inventory frequency distribution with each other for each of the layers and extracting a layer where an error of the actual inventory frequency distribution with respect to the target frequency distribution is maximum as a particular layer, means for correcting a deviation, from a target frequency in the target frequency distribution, of a frequency in each of classes in the actual inventory frequency distribution of the particular layer, which frequency is greater than the target frequency in the target frequency distribution,
Inaki Katsumune
Saito Koji
Sugizono Tetsuo
Suzuki Yoshihiko
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Bryant David P.
Kenny Stephen
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