Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-12
2004-11-23
Rodriguez, Paul (Department: 2125)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S011000, C700S019000, C718S100000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06823227
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of executing a plurality of steps that are performed sequentially in temporal order under computer control.
2. Background
The design of molds used in the injection molding of plastic and molds used in the casting of cast parts had previously required skilled work in determining the shape of the cavity used to form the mold from the design drawings for the product, and in providing slide cores and loose cores for undercut areas and opening areas. Recently, with the appearance of three-dimensional CAD, it is possible to obtain product design values as 3D digital data. If the product design values are obtained as 3D digital data, it is possible to determine the shapes of mold cavities from that 3D digital data, thereby greatly simplifying mold design. However, even if mold design is performed using 3D digital data, the current situation is such that many items that require the work of skilled workers still remain, including the design of slide cores and loose cores to handle complex product shapes.
One proposal is to divide the design work process into a plurality of steps and assign each step by specialty to a different worker, but with such a division of labor, it takes time and effort to pass work along, so it is difficult to reduce the number of days required for design. In addition, even after the design of the mold is completed, there is no guarantee that the work of preparing numerical control data (NC data) for the fabrication of molds based on the design data, and the work of machining the molds will be performed efficiently and without delay. Accordingly, the design and fabrication of molds was a problem that required a large amount of time extending to several months.
In addition, not restricting ourselves to the design and fabrication of molds, when any work consisting of a plurality of steps is performed consecutively in a specific order, the establishment of coordination among the various steps is necessary for the work to be performed efficiently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was accomplished in light of the aforementioned circumstances and has as its fundamental object to provide a method whereby, when work consisting of a plurality of steps is performed sequentially, that work can be performed efficiently under computer control.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of designing and fabricating molds that can be performed easily without particular reliance on skilled workers.
In order to achieve the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides a method whereby work consisting of a plurality of steps performed sequentially is executed under computer control. This method uses a central processing computer and a plurality of terminal computers, where each of the plurality of steps is executed by one of the respective terminal computers. Moreover, when one terminal computer assigned to a single step has completed the work in the step assigned to it and is able to execute the work in the next step, that one terminal computer sends a work completion signal to the central processing computer. The central processing computer receives this work completion signal and prepares a work item notice that indicates that it is possible to start the next step that is to be performed next after this one step such that it can be displayed on the screen of the terminal computer used for the next step which is to be assigned to the next step. The terminal computer used for the next step allows the work item notice displayed on its display screen to be clicked to start work on the next step assigned to it.
In the event that one step among the plurality of steps includes a plurality of tasks that can be performed in parallel, the central processing computer recognizes from the steps prior to this one step that this one step contains a plurality of tasks that can be performed in parallel, and when a work completion signal arrives from the terminal computer assigned to the step immediately prior to this one step, it can generate a number of work item notices corresponding to the plurality of tasks.
In one preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a method of performing the design and fabrication of molds using a central processing computer that stores three-dimensional digital data that represents the product shape, and a plurality of computer terminal units connected to this central processing computer via communication lines. This method comprises: a step of calling up three-dimensional digital data describing the product shape from said central processing computer to a first computer terminal unit, performing a three-dimensional display of the product shape on the screen of said first computer terminal unit, determining a partition line between the upper and lower mold halves based on said screen display, confirming the partition surface between the upper and lower mold halves along said partition line and the mold formation surface shapes of the upper and lower mold halves, respectively, and sending same to said central processing computer where it is saved as digital data, a step of calling up three-dimensional digital data describing the product shape including the digital data formed in said first computer terminal unit from said central processing computer to a second computer terminal unit, performing a three-dimensional display of the product shape on the screen of said second computer terminal unit, determining the locations where slide cores are necessary and the slide direction, and, based on the size of the slide cores needed at the various locations, selecting ones from among a plurality of standard core blocks of different sizes and shapes that are prepared in advance and thus determining the slide core block to be used, placing this slide core block on the outside of the molding surface in said slide direction, and when the slide block is placed, drawing slide pockets required for the sliding of said slide block in the upper and lower mold halves, respectively, providing slide cores of a shape determined based on the shape of the molding surface at the tip in the slide direction of the slide core, and sending same to said central processing computer where it is saved as digital data, a step of calling up three-dimensional digital data describing the product shape including the digital data formed in said second computer terminal unit from said central processing computer to a third computer terminal unit, performing a three-dimensional display of the product shape on the screen of said third computer terminal unit, determining the locations where a loose core is necessary, and, based on the size of the loose cores needed at the various locations, selecting ones from among a plurality of standard core blanks of different sizes and shapes that are prepared in advance and thus determining the core blank to be used, placing this core blank at the stipulated position on the molding surface, determining the shape of the tip of the loose core based on shape data for the molding surface, and sending same to said central processing computer where it is saved as digital data, a step of calling up three-dimensional digital data describing the product shape including the digital data formed in said third computer terminal unit from said central processing computer to a fourth computer terminal unit, performing a three-dimensional display of the product shape on the screen of said fourth computer terminal unit, determining the locations of ejector pins, determining the length of the ejector pins from the ejector pin locations and the molding surface shape, and sending same to said central processing computer where it is saved as digital data, a step of calling up the various data determined above from said central processing computer, preparing numerical control data for mold fabrication based on said data, and sending said numerical control data to said central processing computer where it is saved, and a step of getting said
Iwasaki Katsuji
Kuwabara Michiyo
Ohmori Tomohito
Okamoto Keiji
Sasaki Hidenori
Cohen & Pontani, Lieberman & Pavane
INCS Inc.
Rodriguez Paul
LandOfFree
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