FR3054465A1 - UNIVERSAL STORE FOR FEEDING AND RECEIVING WORK PARTS OF A MACHINE TOOL. - Google Patents

Abstract

The universal magazine (10) consists of a first automaton or box (3) fixed on a machine tool (1) and controlling the machining operations performed by the machine tool (1) and a cell (2). ) independent of the generally mobile machine tool (1) itself constituted by a carriage (5) provided with drawers (7, 8) adapted to receive the blanks and the machined parts, a cooperative robot (6) allowing moving the blanks and machined parts between the machining area of the machine tool (1) and the drawers (7, 8) and finally a second controller or box (4) controlling the robot (6). The boxes (3) and (4) interact to organize the movement of the blanks and machined parts between the machine tool (1) and the cell (2). The drawers (7, 8) are oriented opposite to the machining area so as to allow their loading and unloading at any time by an operator.

Description

© Publication no .: 3,054,465 (to be used only for reproduction orders)

©) National registration number: 17 70155 ® FRENCH REPUBLIC

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

COURBEVOIE © Int Cl ⁸ : B 23 Q 7/10 (2017.01), B 23 P23 / 06, B 25 J 18/04

A1 PATENT APPLICATION

©) Date of filing: 17.02.17. © Applicant (s): PREVOST JEROME - FR. ©) Priority: @ Inventor (s): PREVOST JEROME. ©) Date of availability of the request: 02.02.18 Bulletin 18/05. ©) List of documents cited in the preliminary search report: See the end of this booklet (© References to other related national documents: ® Holder (s): PREVOST JEROME. ©) Extension request (s): ® Agent (s): PREVOST JEROME.

UNIVERSAL STORE FOR SUPPLYING BLANKS AND RECEIVING MACHINED PARTS OF A MACHINE TOOL.

FR 3 054 465 - A1

The universal magazine (10) consists of a first automaton or case (3) fixed on a machine tool (1) and controlling the machining operations carried out by the machine tool (1) and of a cell (2 ) independent of the generally mobile machine tool (1) itself consisting of a carriage (5) provided with drawers (7, 8) capable of receiving the blanks and the machined parts, of a cooperative robot (6) allowing movement blanks and machined parts between the machining area of the machine tool (1) and the drawers (7, 8) and finally a second automaton or box (4) controlling the robot (6).

The housings (3) and (4) interact in order to organize the movement of the blanks and the machined parts between the machine tool (1) and the cell (2). The drawers (7,8) are oriented opposite side to the machining area so as to allow their loading and unloading at any time by an operator.

Universal magazine for feeding blanks and receiving machined parts from a machine tool

The invention relates to the production and production management of a workshop for manufacturing parts from blanks such as a machine shop comprising lathes, milling machines, stampers, drills, etc.

The invention relates mainly to an automated store for the supply of blanks and the reception of machined parts from a machine tool in a machine shop. This store comprising a fixed programmable automaton also called box A installed in the machine tool, interacting with the latter during the machining operations and a cell independent of the machine tool placed opposite it, which cell consists of :

- a trolley, fitted with drawers to contain the blanks and the machined parts, placed in a determined location with regard to the machine tool during its operation

- a robot provided with an arm on board the carriage, the base of which is integral with said carriage allowing the movement of the blanks from the drawers of the mobile carriage to the machining area of the machine as well as the movement of the machined parts from the area d machining of the machine towards the drawers of the carriage. This robot is of the cooperative type, we also use the adjective: collaborative), commonly called "cobot". It is generally associated with a controller supplied by the manufacturer.

- another programmable logic controller or box B, integral with the carriage completing the input / output capacities of the cobot to control the drawers, manage the security elements (laser scanner, emergency stops ...) and interact with box A installed in the machine tool to ensure cell / machine tool synchronization during the machining cycles.

The invention relates more particularly to the production and production management of small parts of small or medium series, that is to say of the order of a few thousand parts, the blanks of which weigh less than about 10 kg. .

By blank or “preform” is generally understood, a piece generally of a homogeneous material, such as a metal or a plastic material, of a simple shape for example parallelepipedic or cylindrical which will lead to the finished part of more complex shape by machining c that is to say by removing material. These blanks are generally obtained by cutting standard plates, blocks or profiles from the steel or plastic industry.

We call semi-finished part, a blank having already undergone machining on a first machine tool for example a lathe and intended to be taken up by a second machine tool for example a milling machine.

These blanks and these semi-finished parts (which will hereinafter simply be called "blanks" because a semi-finished part can be considered a blank when it is processed by a second machine) are therefore distributed in the 'workshop and circulate between the different machining machines, which do not necessarily have the same cycle time.

This leads in particular in the case of small series, where it is necessary to manage the production of a large number of different finished parts simultaneously, to extremely heavy production management. Concretely, this translates into underused machines, which considerably affects the profitability of the workshop.

In an attempt to simplify this production management, the machining machines have evolved in two directions:

firstly, they have become more versatile, the same machine can fulfill several functions (turning and milling for example). They can also be equipped with a magazine with several types of tools with variable dimensions. Its tool stores can be managed by computer. These machines are often referred to as "numerically controlled machines". It is no longer systematically necessary to transport the semi-finished parts from one machine to another (for example from the lathe to the milling machine) then, they have been equipped with automated magazines for roughing. These stores are provided with drawers generally each containing a blank. These drawers are always oriented on the machine side to allow easy gripping by a gripping arm or else these drawers are an integral part of the machine as for example when the blanks are cylinders which can roll by themselves to the jaws. 'a lap. These blank stores are generally supplemented by machined parts stores of similar designs intended to store the machined parts. When we speak of the blank store of a machine tool, we generally mean both the blank store and the machined parts store. Draft store will be used in this sense later in opposition to tool store.

However, this blank store can only contain a limited number of blanks and machined parts and being inaccessible during production for obvious safety reasons, the operator cannot reload blanks or receive the machined parts according to availability but only at the end of the cycle when the roughing shop is empty. If, at the end of the cycle, the operator is employed in another task on another machine, this will inevitably lead to a loss of production. This also requires the presence of an operator when the machine is running, which can be 24 hours a day.

In addition, the robotization system is often ill-suited to gripping blanks of different sizes, which occurs in the case of very small series.

Furthermore, and by the very fact of the development mentioned above, this type of machine shop generally includes very heterogeneous machines. Indeed, the lifespan of a mechanically very robust machining machine is around 30 years.

Thus the same machine shop can include, alongside recent and sophisticated machines with tool stores and automated blanks, machines entirely with manual controls, machines initially with manual control and modified by the addition of a programmable controller, as well as numerically controlled machines but without a tool store and / or a blank store. This fleet of "old" machines must continue to be fed manually, which again means that operators have to be available.

The invention which will be described below concerns the blank store (including blanks and machined parts), its automation and its management, this independently of the automation of the tool store.

Thus, a first object of the invention is to create a universal automated blank store, in the sense that it can adapt to any type of machine tool and is particularly well suited to blanks of different sizes within the weight limits. specified above (therefore particularly for small series). It will be able to replace advantageously the robotic stores when they exist and complete the old machines which do not have them. The part of the magazine or cell, separate from the machine tool, must be compact and compact enough to be able to be easily moved by an operator from one machine to another anywhere in the machine shop. Thus the store according to the invention can be used in all contexts of existing machine shops.

A second object of the invention is to provide a universal automated blank store with an intuitive programming system supported by dedicated and inexpensive machines.

A third object of the invention is to allow continuous loading and unloading of the blank store during production by an operator so as to allow uninterrupted production and this under optimum safety conditions, the operator intervening in function of its availability to complete or partially empty a store without necessarily waiting for the end of the machining cycles.

A final object of the invention is to allow a control and an analysis of the flows of the whole workshop so that the production of each machine can be maximized and the operator interventions better defined, thus making it possible to increase the overall profitability of the machine shop.

To this end, the invention relates to a store of the aforementioned type, in which:

the drawers of the carriage intended to contain the blanks and the machined parts are oriented laterally or on the side opposite the machining zone of the machine tool.

the robot is a cooperative type robot (commonly known as a “cobot”) as defined in ISO / TS 15066.

the housing A and the housing B interact together so as to allow the supply of blanks at the start of the machining cycle and the reception of machined parts at the end of the machining cycle, to synchronize the operations, to manage the safety devices and, possibly deduce operating statistics.

According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the store also has one or more of the following characteristics, taken in isolation or according to any technically possible combination (s):

the cell is made mobile thanks to a trolley provided with displacement means and with a motorization so as to be able to be placed facing any of the machine tools of the workshop, the housing B of the cell then interacting with the housing 1 dedicated to the machine tool with regard to which the cell is positioned.

the cobot allows programming by learning, that is to say that the points of passage of the cobot arm during the production cycle are determined by positioning the arm of the cobot itself on said points during the learning phase.

the programming box can be based on a microprocessor or microcontroller powerful enough to ensure a sufficiently short reaction time and a possibly real-time operating system.

The programming unit is capable of performing both the functions of unit A and of unit B.

the programming boxes A and B are able to communicate together, the information being transmitted by Ethernet network, wired or wireless (Wi-Fi for example), with the constraints of reliability and security at the protocol level.

the programming unit B is able to communicate with a computer server of the workshop or the intranet of the company, the information being transmitted likewise by a wired or wireless network with generally complete independence with the network linking it with box A.

The invention also relates to:

a machine tool fitted with the universal magazine.

a machine shop made up of a set of machine tools totally or partially equipped with universal stores, the production of which is managed thanks to the information transmitted to the workshop's Ethernet network by the boxes A or B of said stores.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the description which follows, given solely by way of example and made with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a machine tool equipped with the magazine according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a detailed front view of the store cell according to the invention.

Figure 3 is a front view of the store cell according to the invention in operation.

FIG. 4 is a view diagramming the exchange of information between the different boxes via an Ethernet network or the company's intranet.

The invention therefore relates to an automated blank store for machine tools which is universal in the sense that it can be adapted to all types of machine tool whatever their design or level of automation.

The universal store consists of:

a fixed automaton or a fixed A 3 box associated with a machine tool. Each machine tool in the workshop has its own fixed A 3 box. This automaton is preferably a specifically designed system, that is to say optimized for this task (wide range of electrical signals accepted, total galvanic isolation, substantial number of inputs and outputs, automatic management of safety elements, easy programming without environment of complex development). However, a conventional programmable controller, associated with the ancillary elements to perform all the necessary functions is possible. In the latter case, the overall cost and complexity are higher.

of a movable cell 2 and therefore movable from one machine to another as required. Alternatively, it can constitute a permanent fixed cell associated with a machine and become a cell dedicated to this machine.

Cell 2 is made up as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of at least the following three elements:

a carriage 5 provided with drawers 7, 8 intended to contain the blanks or the machined parts a cooperative robot 6 or “cobot” adapted on the carriage an automaton on board the carriage or housing B 4

In addition to these three essential elements, the cell when it is mobile may include means to allow its movement (wheels, motorization, handles, etc.) as well as devices for fixing to the ground.

The unit B dialogs on the one hand with the unit A of the machine tool with which it is temporarily or permanently associated and on the other hand, if necessary, via the intranet network to the servers of the company. Dialogs are carried out using standard network hardware technologies (cable, wireless). Wireless links may however be preferred in the workshop provided they are sufficiently robust in terms of reliability and security standards.

We will now describe in more detail each of the components of the store according to the invention.

Cart

FIG. 2 shows the cell 2 and in particular the carriage 5 in its transport position and FIG. 1 shows the cell 2 and in particular the carriage 5 in its working position in association with the machine tool 1.

In the example chosen which is the subject of Figures 1 to 3, part of the drawers is used to store the blanks while another part is used to store the machined parts.

Thus as seen in Figures 1 to 3, the carriage 5 has 5 similar drawers. The blanks are loaded into a drawer 7, the machined parts are returned to another drawer 8.

As a variant, the drawers are used indifferently for storing the blanks and the parts machined from these blanks.

The carriage 5 can be provided with directional wheels and any other means allowing it to be easily moved between the rows of machine tools.

As seen in Figure 3 or two drawers are shown open, a draft drawer 7 and the machined parts drawer 8, the drawers are oriented laterally with the machine tool, that is to say that the drawers do not open towards the machining area of the machine tool.

As a variant, the drawers such as the drawer 7 or the drawer 8 open on the side opposite to the machining zone of the machine tool 1.

For example, the carriage 5 in Figure 1 to 3 has the dimensions of 1300 mm high, 1100 mm wide and 1500 mm deep overall and weighs 350 kg, empty drawers. It is noted that this carriage 5 can be easily moved by the operator without the need for motorization. However, if it is necessary to move the full drawer trolley or if a large trolley is necessary, a motorization can very well be envisaged.

The carriage 5 also serves as a support for the cobot 6, its associated controller and for the on-board automaton or box B 4 which can manage the positions and the states of the drawers 7 and 8.

At the start of production, the blank drawers such as drawer 7 (or a part) are filled with blanks from the side. These drawers generally include imprints linked to their shape to place them precisely in the drawer. However, an annex vision system can quite make it possible to search for parts without any particular orientation. Once machined, these blanks can return to their original location such as drawer 7 or in another drawer chosen for the occasion such as drawer 8.

Each drawer 7 and 8 is provided with cylinders and associated sensors making it possible to determine and determine its degree of opening. This degree of opening of the drawers is generally controlled by the on-board automaton or box B. Of course, all the inputs / outputs can be shared between the controller supplied with the cobot 6, if it provides input / output capacities. outlet, and box B.

Cooperative robot or "cobot"

A cooperative robot meets the ISO / TS 154066 standard. This type of robot is generally in the form of a base on which is fitted an arm provided at its end with gripping means, such as pliers (electric or pneumatic) , suction cups, magnets, etc.

FIGS. 1 and 2 represent the cobot 6 resting on the carriage 5. FIG. 3 represents the cobot in the working position in the process of depositing a machined part 9 in the drawer 8.

The peculiarity of the cooperative robot or cobot resides in the fact that the meeting of an obstacle during its displacement involves its immediate stop and this whatever the part of the cobot concerned. Its limited movement speed is coordinated with the sensitivity of its force or torque sensors so that it cannot cause any personal injury to personnel occasionally on its trajectory. The use of such a cobot therefore does not require the presence of very restrictive security devices such as protective grids or light curtain systems generally provided on machines fitted with automated magazines. However, these cobots, once integrated must continue to meet the standards in force in their entirety, which often requires, for practical reasons, security systems such as a two-zone laser scanner 11. The first zone degrades the speeds of movement, the second stops all movement (emergency stop). If the operator intervenes to empty or reload the drawers inadvertently, for example at the end of the machining cycle, while the cobot arm is moving towards the draft drawers, the movement of the arm will be immediately interrupted without prejudice to the 'operator. The latter will only have to free up space while waiting for the cobot's arm to resume its course, grab a draft and set out again towards the machining area, then it can continue its task.

Generally this type of cobot can transport loads up to 10 kg (grippers included), which is sufficient for the type of blanks targeted by the invention.

As a historical supplier of this type of cooperative robot, we can cite Universal Robots, however, a large number of manufacturers now present cobot references in their catalog.

Furthermore, some of these cobots are programmable by learning, that is to say that the movement which they will have to perform in the production phase can be determined during the programming phase by an operator guiding the arm between the locations of the drawers and the machining area. Traditional programming requiring specific skills is no longer necessary even if this learning part is generally not sufficient to finalize the complete interaction between cobot and machine tool. The advantage is to simplify integration as much as possible. The delicate part being carried out at the start (electrical integration, basic programming ...) and the subsequent adaptations necessary for each series of different, easier parts, are accessible by the operator.

The cobot cycles in the production phase are executed in collaboration with box B which ensures the necessary synchronizations by supplying all the states which can be sent / retrieved by the cobot controller via a standard industrial protocol such as MODBUS / TCP.

It is understood that the combination of the carriage 5 having its drawers opposite side or laterally to the machine tool and the cobot 6 allows loading by the operator at any time during production. Access to the drawers 7, 8 does not need to be highly secure as on a machine tool provided with an integrated automated magazine. On this type of classic secure machine, the operator's intervention could only be done after complete stopping and implementation of the intervention protocol.

Fixed PLC or Box A

The housing A3 shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 on the machine tool 1 replaces the manager machine of the blank store of the machine tool when it exists or is added when it is a machine old not or partially automated.

The operation of this PLC is determined as follows:

implant / recycle sensors to determine all relevant states of the machine, for example: state of doors, jaws, cycle, etc. These sensors are connected to universal inputs that can accept a wide range of electrical signals.

control the machine or some of its elements (jaws, door, cycle start, etc.) by integrating into the machine logic (PLC inputs, relays, switch, etc.) via isolated universal outputs (dry contacts, NPN , PNP ...) program unit A. Programming is carried out simply using a simple language describing the logic to be applied to the various inputs / outputs to generate signals which will be recovered by unit B This logic can be very simple (pass the states directly to box B) or directly generates generic signals (start of cycle, emergency stop, etc.) from multiple signals available in the machine tool. The good practice remains that each machine tool is seen by the housing B as almost identical while they are very different electrically speaking. This greatly simplifies the cobot rated program which can be as generic as possible.

Preferably, box A is a dedicated specialized programmable controller with sufficient input / output (32 of each on average) and integrated management of security, of the wired or wireless network, of the chosen communication protocols (MODBUS / TCP by example), which can integrate all standard IP options (WEB server, Wi-Fi configuration).

Indeed, a conventional commercial automat presents a complexity and a cost which is not justified in this case. Furthermore, such an automaton can be bulky and clutter unnecessarily, in particular the mobile cell.

The generated states of box A will be transmitted via an Ethernet network (cable or wireless) for example to box B of the mobile cell.

Likewise, unit A receives orders and states from unit B on the same network.

On-board PLC or Box B

This box B 4 which can be seen in FIG. 1 located on the carriage 5 of the same design as the box A 3, receives the signals coming from the box A via the network and converts them into a set of output signals adapted to management of the cart and cobot drawers (signals that can be purely wired to the inputs / outputs of the cobot controller or available on a MODBUS / TCP server that it integrates for example).

For example, a simple input signal from box A such as the end of the machine tool cycle is sent to box B via the MODBUS protocol as a client, box B notifying this state to the cobot controller who will execute the succession desired operations, for example:

opening of the machine tool door (box B sending this state to box 1) waiting for its opening state taken from the part in the machine tool by the cobot request for jaw opening removal of the part when the state of the jaws is correct (open) storage of the part in the drawer

The dialogue between box A and box B is therefore bidirectional and permanent. This is essential for safety management, the reaction times of which must be sufficiently short. It should be noted that generally the cobot is the master and the machine tool is slave (because controlled by the cobot).

Box B can also exchange with the company's intranet, independently of the network linking it with Box A, and communicate information for example on the number of pieces produced, on the number of pieces remaining in the drawers, and can alert in case of unexpected stop of the cobot. It can also report events occurring on the machine tool itself thanks to its dialog with box A. It is then possible to follow in real time the production of the workshop and organize its flows accordingly. WEB server functions integrated in the boxes allow remote monitoring adapted to the situation. In this case, the web pages are designed according to the context, transferred to the boxes and used by the integrated web server.

The existence of two boxes, on the one hand the box A fixed on the machine tool and on the other hand the box B embedded on the cell greatly simplifies the management of the entire fleet of machines. Indeed, it would have been conceivable to assign to a single fixed or mobile unit the management of all operations on the machine side and on the cell side. However, the design of a cell may vary slightly, for example regarding the number of drawers. In the same way a machine can evolve and its operating protocol modify. It is easier in such cases to reprogram only the box dedicated to the machine or the cell.

It will be noted that the design of the boxes in integrated form comprising all the elements in a single device makes their price very accessible and allows this logic of simplification because the multiplication of the boxes causes little cost.

Note also that the programming of the store is greatly simplified by the cobot programmable by learning.

The use of a cobot, cooperative robot authorizes the intervention of operators at any time and allows the optimization of flows in the workshop.

Claims (7)

1. Automated magazine (10) for feeding blanks and receiving machined parts from a machine tool (1) from a machine shop comprising an automaton or box A (3) integral with the machine tool (1) controlling the machining operations and an independent cell (2) of the machine tool (1) placed facing said machine tool (1), which cell (2) consists of: a carriage (5) provided with drawers (7, 8) intended to contain the blanks and the machined parts, placed in a determined location with regard to the machine tool (1) an on-board robot (6) on the carriage (5) the base of which is integral with said carriage (5) allowing the movement of the blanks from the drawers of the carriage (5) to the machining area of the machine tool (1) as well as the movement of the machined parts from the machining area from the machine tool (1) to the drawers of the carriage (5) an automaton or box B (4) integral with the carriage (5) controlling the robot (6) and the drawers (7, 8) of the carriage (5) characterized in that : the drawers (7, 8) of the carriage (5) intended to contain the blanks and the machined parts are oriented on the side opposite or laterally to the machining zone of the machine tool. the robot (6) is a cooperative robot or “cobot” as defined by standard ISO / TS 15066. the housing A (3) and the housing B (4) communicate continuously so as to synchronize the supply of blanks at the start of the machining cycle and the reception of machined parts at the end of the machining cycle. 2. Cell (2) according to claim 1, fixed or made mobile by means of displacement and / or of a motorization on the carriage (5) so as to be able to be placed easily and precisely with regard to any of the machine tools in the workshop, the unit A (3) of the cell then interacting with the unit B (4) dedicated to the machine tool with regard to which the cell is positioned. 3. Programming box (3, 4) according to any one of the preceding claims, capable of communicating with a box (3, 4) of the same type, the information being transmitted over a dedicated network by cables, by Wi-Fi or by any means ensuring sufficient reliability of transmission. 4. Programming unit (3, 4) according to any one of the preceding claims, capable of communicating with the intranet of the company, the information being transmitted over a dedicated network by cables, by Wi-Fi or by any means ensuring sufficient transmission reliability. 5. Cooperative robot (6) or “cobot” according to claim 1 or 2 allowing programming by learning, the points of passage of the cobot arm during the production cycle being determined by manually positioning the arm of the cobot itself on said points during the learning phase. 6. Machine tool (1) equipped with a magazine (10) according to any one of the preceding claims 7. Machine shop according to any one of the preceding claims, consisting of a set of machine tools totally or partially equipped with magazines (10), the production of which is managed using information transmitted to the company's intranet. 2/2