JP2004083321A - Method and apparatus for cutting sheet-like body - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method in which decision as for acceptance or rejection in a rectangular semi-finished product assumed in a ribbon-like glass sheet on the line is flexibly performed, and the reduction of possibility for claims by customers and the improvement of yield are realized. <P>SOLUTION: With a defect located in front of the flowing direction of a ribbon-like glass sheet, as a starting object, successively, cutter lines in a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction are set so as to evade each defect. When the cutter line in the longitudinal direction is set, a pair of rectangular regions are demarcated side to side with the cutter line as a border. In the case of the cutter line in the transverse direction, a pair of rectangular regions are demarcated up and down. As for each pair, the rectangular region larger than a reference area is selected and registered in a memory. The defect as the object is changed, and, with the registered rectangular region as the object, in the case the rectangular region comprises the defect, the longitudinal and transverse cutter lines are set so as to evade the defect. Then, in the rectangular regions demarcated by the cutter lines, the one larger than the reference area is selected and registered. The treatment is repeated to a final defect. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of cutting a glass plate containing defects as a semi-finished product from a ribbon-like glass plate flowing on a line, and particularly to a method for determining whether a defect-free rectangular region larger than a reference area is included in a semi-finished region. The present invention relates to a method for determining the pass / fail of a semi-finished product based on the information.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The production of a glass sheet product is performed by flowing a ribbon-shaped glass sheet pulled out of a kiln on a conveyor at a constant speed, and cutting and collecting the sheet on the conveyor (sampling). Although there are various product size requirements as customer requirements, it is difficult to flexibly cope with cutting of various types because of cutting on the line. Therefore, in order to respond to the various product size requirements of customers, the line is cut at a certain standard size (primary cutting), sampled (semi-finished product), and then the semi-finished product is made according to the product size requirements. In many cases, a process of disconnecting again offline (secondary disconnection) is performed to obtain a final product.
[0003]
However, there are cases where defective portions such as air bubbles and foreign matter are mixed in a glass plate (semi-finished product) of a standard size to be sampled. It is never desirable that a product containing such defects be shipped as a product. This defect is found by a defect detector or visually and is known in advance. Therefore, it is possible to cut while avoiding these defective portions, but the yield of semi-finished products is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to efficiently insert a cutter line into a ribbon-shaped glass plate and cut it. This is because considering that only glass sheets that do not contain defects are to be shipped, customer satisfaction will be maximized, but there is a problem that the yield will drop significantly from a manufacturing standpoint. If you think about it, there is a trade-off between customer satisfaction and yield). Therefore, a standard for sampling is set, and a glass plate with no defects (hereinafter, complete plate), and a glass plate that includes the defect part but satisfies the standard (hereinafter, a product that passes the standard) is taken as a semi-finished product (hereinafter, “plate”) Do that. The criterion is that "from a semi-finished glass plate, a rectangular glass plate having a predetermined size or more and having no defect, which can be reliably cut out in the secondary cutting process" is to be sampled. ing.
[0004]
Conventionally, as a method of satisfying this criterion, there has been only a method of explicitly designating the vertical and horizontal dimensions (reference dimensions) of a rectangular area. Specifically, when the ribbon-shaped glass plate flows on the line in the reference size, the defect-free glass plate having the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the rectangular region which is the predetermined reference size is set in the region of the semi-finished product candidate to be cut. It is decided whether or not to make a semi-finished product depending on whether it can be secured by the.
[0005]
A conventional cutting method will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a semi-finished product candidate area 2 and a planned glass cutting line 4 are set for a ribbon-shaped glass sheet flowing on a line, and a reference dimension (α) is set from the semi-finished product candidate area 2 while avoiding the defective portion 6. × β) A semi-finished product candidate that can be cut out from the glass plate 1 is sampled in the form of a standard passing product. Note that reference numeral 8 is the previous cut surface.
[0006]
As an example of cutting a glass plate having the standard size, for example, in the case shown in FIG. 2, it is seemingly impossible to take the glass plate from the downstream side of the ribbon-shaped glass plate. It becomes a standard passing product. In addition, in the case shown in FIG. 3, it is apparently impossible to adopt the dimensions of the vertical α and the horizontal β, but if the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the standard dimensions are exchanged, an area 1 satisfying the standard dimensions can be secured. Become.
[0007]
In this way, when the current semi-finished product candidate area becomes a semi-finished product, the process proceeds to the next semi-finished product candidate area, and the determination is repeated one after another. On the other hand, if the current semi-finished product candidate area does not become a semi-finished product, the semi-finished product candidate area is taken out of the first defect or the smallest dimension that can be cut (for convenience in equipment environment) and cut therefrom. The same determination process is repeated.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above-mentioned prior art has a problem that it lacks flexibility. This is because the reference dimension is fixed to the maximum dimension in the vertical and horizontal directions of the rectangular area, so that the degree of freedom of whether or not the sampling is possible is low. That is, since the vertical and horizontal dimensions are fixed, there is a case where there is glass that satisfies the area standard but is cut out and discarded.
[0009]
Next, there is a problem that the yield is greatly reduced depending on the state of occurrence of defects. The reason for this is that when the number of defects increases, the fixed vertical and horizontal dimensions become a constraint.
[0010]
Further, due to the above two problems, the reference must be set relatively low to improve the yield. However, in this case, the quality may vary depending on the large lot and the small lot. In a normal defect occurrence situation, it is experienced that the completion rate is enough to meet customer requirements, but if you look closely, there is a possibility that a small lot of customers may purchase glass containing many defects, which is a complaint there is a possibility.
[0011]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to be able to avoid the above-mentioned conventional problem, that is, a small lot of customers may purchase glass containing many defects. Cutting glass whose maximum area without defects is always more than the specified area of semi-finished product surface area. In other words, reducing yield loss while reducing the possibility of customer claims. An object of the present invention is to provide a cutting method for realizing this by real-time control.
[0012]
Another object of the present invention is to provide control logic for online cutting of a ribbon-shaped glass plate, and to provide control logic for minimizing program execution time and memory.
[0013]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, the control for cutting the glass sheet having the defect is changed from the reference dimension to the reference area%. That is, it is a method of determining whether or not a semi-finished product is obtained based on whether or not a percentage of the defect-free glass plate of the semi-finished product candidate surface area can be obtained by the secondary cutting process from the glass plate.
[0014]
Instead of using the reference dimensions for the pass / fail judgment of the semi-finished product, it is confirmed that there is an area without defects of the rectangular area with respect to the surface area of the semi-finished product (hereinafter referred to as "reference area%"). The vertical and horizontal sizes of the maximum size of the area are free. As described above, since the processing is performed in terms of area%, it is possible to avoid the above-described conventional problem, that is, a small lot of customers may purchase glass containing many defects, and also suppress a yield loss.
[0015]
Specifically, a rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is assumed on a ribbon-shaped glass plate flowing on the line. Then, the position of the defect existing in the semi-finished product candidate area is obtained. Next, cutter lines in the vertical and horizontal directions are set so as to sequentially avoid the defects located in front of the defects located in the flow direction of the ribbon-shaped glass plate. When a vertical cutter line is set for one defect, a set of rectangular areas is defined on the left and right of the cutter line as a boundary. In the case of a horizontal cutter line, a set of rectangular areas is defined vertically above and below the cutter line. For each set, a rectangular area larger than the reference area is selected and registered in the memory. If the target defect is changed and the registered rectangular region is targeted, and the rectangular region includes the defect, vertical and horizontal cutter lines are set so as to avoid the defect. Then, of the rectangular areas defined by the cutter line, an object larger than the reference area is selected and registered. Such processing is repeated until the last defect. In the present invention, such setting of the cutter line is performed for all the defects, so that a defect-free rectangular area is finally defined by these cutter lines (and / or the semi-finished product candidate area division line). The Rukoto.
[0016]
In this way, a defect-free rectangular area larger than the reference area can be calculated. By setting the reference area to 50% or more, calculation can be performed with a short processing time and a small memory amount.
[0017]
More specifically, one aspect of the present invention relates to a method for cutting a rectangular semi-finished product having defects from a ribbon-shaped plate flowing on a line on-line. A method of judging the acceptability of a product candidate area and cutting the product,
Assuming a rectangular semi-finished product candidate area on the ribbon-shaped plate-shaped body flowing on a line,
Obtaining a position of a defect included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area,
Regarding the defects included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area, as targets sequentially from the defects located in front of the flow direction of the ribbon-shaped plate,
(A) A step of setting a vertical cutter line and a horizontal cutter line in the target area with the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area as a target area, and with the first defect as a target so as to avoid the target defect. When,
(B) selecting a rectangular area larger than a reference area from a set of rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines, and selecting a rectangular area defined by the horizontal cutter lines; A step of selecting a rectangular area larger than the reference area and registering it in the memory;
(C) performing a step (a) and a step (b) on a rectangular area registered in the memory as a target area and on the following defects.
(D) repeating step (c) until the last defect located behind in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is processed;
Among the rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines and the rectangular areas defined by the horizontal cutter lines set for the last defect, when there is a rectangular area larger than the reference area, Determining the candidate area of the rectangular semi-finished product as acceptable.
[0018]
Further, the invention of the above method is also realized as an invention of a glass cutting machine control device. Further, the above-described invention is also realized as a program for causing a glass cutting machine control device or a computer to realize a predetermined function, or a recording medium on which the program is recorded.
[0019]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
First, the step of cutting the glass plate will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a glass plate cutting process, and shows a production line from a defect detector to a glass cutting machine. This production line includes a line conveyor 100 extending in the Y-axis direction, and a ribbon-like glass sheet pulled from a kiln flows into the line conveyor 100.
[0020]
The defect detector 32 is, for example, a flying spot type defect detector that scans a light spot in the X-axis direction perpendicular to the Y-axis direction. The defect detector 32 detects a defect present on the ribbon-shaped glass plate, and outputs defect data indicating, for example, the position of the defect, the type of the defect, the size of the defect, and the like. This defect data is sent to the control device 10 constituted by a computer, for example.
[0021]
When receiving the defect data from the defect detector 32, the control device 10 recognizes the position of the defect existing on the ribbon-shaped glass plate and starts tracking the position.
[0022]
The glass cutting machine 34 cuts a cutter line in the X-axis direction at predetermined intervals on a ribbon-shaped glass plate. The glass cutting machine 34 includes, for example, a skew cutter. This skew cutter has a cutter that travels in an oblique direction in synchronization with the speed of the ribbon-shaped glass sheet in the Y-axis direction, and the travel and the cutter line setting position are controlled by the control device 10.
[0023]
Next, a process flow will be described. When the ribbon-shaped glass plate pulled up from the kiln flows on the line conveyor 100 to the defect detector 32, the defect detector 32 detects a defect existing in the ribbon-shaped glass plate, and detects the position of the defect and the like. Is sent to the control device 10.
[0024]
The control device 10 obtains the position of the defect, performs pass / fail determination of the semi-finished product candidate area as described later, determines the glass cutting scheduled line, and instructs the glass cutting machine 34. Subsequently, the glass cutting machine 34 inserts a cutter line in the X-axis direction according to the designated glass cutting line.
[0025]
Next, the control device will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the control device. As shown in FIG. 5, the control device 10 includes a main body 12, an input / output device 14, and an external storage device 16.
[0026]
The main body 12 includes a CPU and memories such as a RAM and a ROM. The main body 12 calculates the position of the defect by a program executed by the CPU, performs pass / fail determination processing of the semi-finished product candidate area, determines the scheduled glass cutting line, and instructs the glass cutting machine 34 on the glass cutting position.
[0027]
The input / output device 14 includes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device such as a display. From the input device, standard dimensions of the semi-finished product are input and set. The output device displays a ribbon-shaped glass plate on a screen, and displays a semi-finished product candidate region, a defect position, a rectangular region and its area, a glass cutting line, and the like.
[0028]
The external storage device 16 stores a program executed by the main body 12, standard size data, defect data from the defect detector 32, rectangular area data, and the like.
[0029]
Next, an outline of the cutting method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams for explaining the outline of the cutting method according to the present invention. This method, which uses the reference area% for the pass / fail judgment of a semi-finished product, is preset when a ribbon-shaped glass plate flows on the line, while avoiding a defective portion detected by a sensor or visually on the glass. It is determined whether or not the defect-free rectangular area for the reference area% falls within the semi-finished product candidate, and whether or not the product is a product is determined.
[0030]
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the semi-finished product candidate area 2 is set on the ribbon-shaped glass plate flowing on the line with reference to the immediately preceding cut surface 8. Then, a scheduled glass cutting line 4 is provisionally set at the end of the semi-finished product candidate area 2. Next, the cutter line 9 is set so as to avoid the defect 6. Specifically, the cutter line 9 is set on or near the defect 6 to avoid the defect 6. Further, two types of cutter lines 9 are set in a vertical direction (X-axis direction) and a horizontal direction (Y-axis direction). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the area of the rectangular area 1 defined by the cutter line 9 is larger than the reference area (semi-product surface area × reference area%), and whether the semi-finished product candidate area 2 is acceptable or not is determined.
[0031]
On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, when there are a plurality of defects 6, the rectangular region 1 having the maximum area that can be cut out from the semi-finished product candidate region 2 while avoiding the defect portion 6 is targeted. If the reference area is larger than the set reference area, the board may be sampled including defects.
[0032]
In the case of a semi-finished product, the glass cutting scheduled line 4 is determined, the process proceeds to the next semi-finished product candidate area, and the determination is repeated one after another. If it does not become a semi-finished product, the scheduled glass cutting line 4 is cancelled, and the glass is cut once to the first defect or the smallest dimension that can be cut (for reasons of equipment environment), and a semi-finished product candidate area is taken therefrom. The same determination process is repeated.
[0033]
(Constraints)
Next, in a preferred embodiment, it is preferable that the reference area% to be set is larger than 50%. Further, it is preferable that the number of defects contained in one semi-finished product is up to ten. The reason why the reference area% to be set is larger than 50% is to suppress an explosive increase in the number of data. Unless the 50% limit is provided, four area candidates are created with one defect, as will be described later. Therefore, for n faults, the data is up to 4 ⁿ Since it becomes a huge number of pieces, processing in real time becomes difficult. In practice, it is rare that the set value is less than 50%. If the setting is set to more than 50%, it is possible to suppress up to two area candidates with one defect, and the number of data points is reduced to 4 as described above. ⁿ 2 for ⁿ And the number of processed data can be greatly reduced.
[0034]
The reason that the number of defects is limited to 10 is that even if the area% is larger than 50%, the maximum is 2 defects for n defects. ⁿ There is a possibility of swelling, and the amount of memory and the weight of processing become severe (data amount 4 ⁿ From two ⁿ This is because even if the number of defects is 10 or more at present, it is discarded because it is not recognized as a product. It should be noted that the criteria of 50% and 10 pieces do not limit the present invention to this, and it goes without saying that the criteria can be arbitrarily set according to the required quality of the semi-finished product. For example, when the reference area% is less than 50%, the number of necessary buffers is larger than two, but it is not necessary to always register all of the four cut rectangular areas. It has the effect of reducing.
[0035]
(Overview of logic)
Next, the logic of the present invention will be described. On-line processing is indispensable because the ribbon-shaped glass flows continuously in the glass production line. Glass flows from upstream to downstream, and glass has drawbacks. Other logic might be possible if you know the location and number of all faults from the beginning, but faults are detected one after the other from the downstream side. For this reason, the logic becomes the target of calculation in order from the downstream fault (when the calculation is no longer necessary (when the complete board is found or the area cannot be secured), the processing of the next board can be started).
[0036]
Here is a simple example. 8 and 9 are conceptual diagrams illustrating the control processing logic of the present invention. Two defects (f in the figure) ₁ , F ₂ ). A cutter line candidate is represented by a broken line 9. First, the first disadvantage f ₁ In order to avoid this, a case where a vertical cutter line is inserted and a case where a horizontal cutter line is inserted can be considered. As shown in FIG. 8, a set of rectangular regions is created for each cutter line. That is, rectangular regions L1 and L2 are generated at the boundary of the vertical cutter line, and rectangular regions H1 and H2 are generated at the boundary of the horizontal cutter line.
[0037]
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, four area candidates are generated with one defect. However, only cuts larger than the specified percentage of the surface area of the semi-finished product are to be left as candidates (however, the specifiable percentage is larger than 50%). Therefore, a maximum of two cuts are selected for each defect. In the case of FIG. 8, the rectangular areas selected by the first defect are only L1 and H2.
[0038]
Next, the second disadvantage f ₂ Set the cutter line to. As shown in FIG. 9, the second defect f ₂ For the first disadvantage f ₁ A cutter line is set for each of the rectangular areas (L1, H2) selected in. Then, based on the same idea as above, the rectangular area selected by the second defect information may have L1 ′ and L1 ″ as candidates from the L1 plate (L1 ′ and L1 ″ are the reference). Since it is not selected unless it is larger than the area). Similarly, H2 ′ and H2 ″ may be selected as candidates from the H2 plate. In other words, in this example, four types of rectangular regions may be finally selected.
[0039]
In the case of this example, one having the largest area is selected from the maximum of four types. The result is the final result. This logic is applied to all defects in the semi-finished product candidate to calculate the maximum area without defects.
[0040]
Next, the relationship between the rectangular areas selected for the respective defects will be described. Here, FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams illustrating an example of the arrangement of the defects, and FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the mutual relationship of the rectangular areas. As shown in FIG. 10A, a case is assumed where three defects are included in the semi-finished product candidate area.
[0041]
For such a defect arrangement example, the first defect f ₁ Set the cutter line in order from. f ₁ In, a vertical cutter line and a horizontal cutter line are set. Then, a rectangular area larger than the reference area is selected from the rectangular areas defined by the respective cutter lines and registered in the memory. Here, the vertical cutter line is expressed as 0, and the horizontal cutter line is expressed as 1. In the first drawback, there are two rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter line 0, and any one is selected (greater than 50%). Therefore, the first defect—the vertical cutter line—the selected rectangular area is represented as zero. Similarly, the rectangular area selected for the horizontal cutter line is represented as 1.
[0042]
In the present invention, in order to obtain a defect-free rectangular area, in principle, a cutter line is set again for a defect included in the selected rectangular area, a rectangular area is selected and registered again, and this is registered in the rectangular area. Must be repeated until the defect disappears. Therefore, then the first drawback f ₁ The second defect f for the rectangular area registered in ₂ Set the cutter line for. In this example, vertical and horizontal cutter lines are set for each of the rectangular areas 0 and 1, a rectangular area is selected, and registered in the memory. For rectangular area 0, the second drawback—vertical cutter line—the selected rectangular area is represented as 00. On the other hand, regarding the rectangular area 0, the second defect—the horizontal cutter line—the selected rectangular area is represented as 01. The rectangular area 1 is similarly represented as 10 and 11.
[0043]
Next, for the third defect, similarly, the second defect f ₂ The cutter line is set for the rectangular area registered in. In this way, when the third defect f3 is processed, as shown in FIGS. 10B to 10F and FIGS. ³ = 8 types of rectangular areas are registered in the memory. The eight types of rectangular areas can be identified as 000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111 based on the direction of the cutter line.
[0044]
Each rectangular area registered in this example can be finally represented hierarchically, for example, as shown in FIG. In this figure, layer 0 is a semi-finished product candidate area. The first layer is a rectangular area selected as a result of first processing a defect in the semi-finished product candidate area. The second layer is a rectangular area selected as a result of first processing a defect included in the rectangular area of the first layer. The third layer is a rectangular area selected as a result of first processing a defect included in the rectangular area of the second layer. The data (coordinates and area) of the semi-finished product candidate area and the selected rectangular area may be registered in the memory based on such a hierarchical structure.
[0045]
(Flow of control processing)
Next, a specific control processing flow will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the glass plate cutting control process, FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the setting of the semi-finished product candidate area, and FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the determination of the defect position. FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing stored defect data.
[0046]
First, the control device 10 assumes a rectangular semi-finished product candidate area 2 of a standard size from the downstream (front end of the glass) of the ribbon-shaped glass plate (step 101). Then, the next scheduled glass cutting line 4 is temporarily determined (step 102). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, a semi-finished product candidate area 2 having a standard size is defined on a ribbon-shaped glass plate with reference to the previous glass cutting line 8. Then, a scheduled glass cutting line 4 is provisionally set at the end of the semi-finished product candidate area 2.
[0047]
Next, the control device 10 determines a defect position based on the defect data on the ribbon-shaped glass plate (step 103). Specifically, the defects existing on the ribbon-shaped glass plate are sequentially detected by the defect detector 32, and the X coordinate of each defect is transmitted to the control device 10. The control device 10 calculates the Y coordinate of each defect based on, for example, the traveling speed of the glass. As a result, as shown in FIG. ₁ , F ₂ , F ₃ , F ₄ Is determined. The coordinates of each defect are stored in the memory in ascending order as shown in FIG. In addition, regarding the defects in one semi-finished product candidate area, f is in order from the defect located in front of the flow direction of the glass sheet. ₁ , F ₂ , F ₃ , ... f _n Expressed as
[0048]
Next, the control device 10 determines whether or not the number of defects in the semi-finished product candidate area is less than 10 (Step 104). If the number of defects is 10 or more, the semi-finished product candidate area is rejected, so the glass plate is cut at the first defect as described later (step 108).
[0049]
If the number of defects is less than 10, the control device 10 next calculates a defect-free rectangular area (step 105). Specifically, a cutter line is sequentially set with respect to each defect existing in the semi-finished product candidate area, and a rectangular area defined by the cutter line or / and the semi-finished product candidate area division line and the inside thereof is defined. A rectangular area having no defect is calculated.
[0050]
Next, the control device 10 determines whether or not the defect-free rectangular area is larger than the reference area (step 106). For example, when a plurality of defect-free rectangular areas are obtained in step 105, it is determined whether the largest defect-free rectangular area is larger than the reference area.
[0051]
If the defect-free rectangular area is larger than the reference area, the semi-finished product candidate area passes, so the control device 10 determines the expected glass cutting line 4 (step 107), otherwise, the first defect f ₁ Is set again so as to cut off (step 108). If there is no end command, the same determination is repeated for the next semi-finished product candidate area.
[0052]
(Defect-free rectangular area calculation processing)
Next, the processing of the above-described steps 105 and 106 will be described in detail using a semi-finished product candidate area including two defects as shown in FIG. 18 as an example. FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a method of determining a semi-finished product candidate area, and is a diagram illustrating a process performed on one glass plate of a semi-finished product candidate. FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining an example of the arrangement of defects, FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining the process of calculating and registering the area of the rectangular region, and FIG. 20 is a flowchart for explaining the process of updating the region of interest. .
[0053]
First, the first defect in the semi-finished product candidate area is determined. The control device 10 determines whether there is a defect to be processed (remains) (step 201). If there is a defect, the control device 10 next determines whether or not the defect is in the semi-finished product candidate area ( Step 202). This corresponds to f in FIG. ₃ This is because the defect may exist outside the semi-finished product candidate area as described above, and this must be excluded from the target. If the defect is within the semi-finished product candidate area, the process proceeds to the next step; otherwise, the process proceeds to the next defect.
[0054]
The main routine may be executed after the positions of all the defects existing on the glass sheet downstream of the tentatively set glass cutting line are temporarily stored in the buffer. In this case, it is checked whether or not defects found in the buffer in order from the downstream exist in the buffer.
[0055]
In this case, it is checked whether or not the positions of the defects found in order from the downstream exist on the semi-finished product candidate in order from the first defect (the defects in the defect buffer are not necessarily those in the semi-finished product candidate). Not necessarily).
[0056]
Next, the control device 10 checks a region of interest to be processed for the defect of interest, and if there is a region of interest to be processed, sets the region of interest one by one (step 203). The attention area is an area to be processed which is determined in correspondence with the defects to be sequentially processed. The attention area is updated with a new rectangular area selected by the defect processing. The first is a semi-finished product candidate area, which is sequentially updated by a rectangular area selected as a result of processing a defect. For example, the attention area to be processed from the first defect information is only one of the entire semi-finished product candidate areas. In the case of the second defect information, at most two regions are regions of interest to be processed. At most 2 for the n-th defect information ^n-1 Are the regions of interest to be processed. Here, since the first defect is targeted, the attention area is only one whole semi-finished product candidate area.
[0057]
If there is a region of interest to be processed, the process proceeds to the next step. If all the regions of interest have been processed, the process returns to step 201 to process the next defect.
[0058]
Next, it is checked whether the current defect exists in the area of interest (step 204). This is because, for example, as shown in FIGS. 24D and 24E to be described later, the selected rectangular area (area of interest) may not include a subsequent defect. If there is no defect in the area, the attention area to be processed is changed (step 206), and the process returns to step 203. On the other hand, if there is a defect in the area, the process proceeds to the next step.
[0059]
Next, the area of the rectangular area to be obtained in the area of interest is calculated based on the defect information of interest (step 205). More specifically, as shown in FIG. 19, areas are calculated for four types of rectangular regions considered for the defect (steps 301, 304, 307, and 310) and compared with a reference area (steps 301, 304, 307, and 310). Steps 302, 305, 308, 311), and store only those larger than the reference area in the primary storage buffer (steps 303, 306, 309, 312). Finally, if a rectangular area is stored in the primary storage buffer, it is extracted and registered in the memory (step 313).
[0060]
As described above, when a defect of interest is considered in a processing target area (attention area), a new rectangular area of four patterns can be considered. For that purpose, the area is determined for each region. However, the area to be left in the buffer can be narrowed down to two from the constraint that the reference to be set is greater than 50%. That is, as shown in FIG. 19, there are only two primary storage buffers because the reference area% is set to be larger than 50%, and the data that may be stored in the buffer is a maximum of two. Because it is one.
[0061]
Returning to the example of FIG. 18, since the first defect is processed here, two rectangular regions 0 and 1 are registered in the memory. Thereafter, the attention area is changed, and the process returns to step 203. Here, since the attention area is only one of the semi-finished product candidate areas, no unprocessed attention area remains. Therefore, the processed attention area is updated (step 207), the defect to be processed is changed to the next defect (step 209), and the process returns to step 201 to proceed to the processing of the next defect.
[0062]
Here, the update process of the attention area in step 207 will be described with reference to FIG. After the processing of one defect is completed, the attention area updating process is performed on each area set as the attention area to be processed for the defect.
[0063]
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 20, first, the control device 10 determines whether or not the first region of interest includes a defect to be currently processed (step 401). If the attention area does not include this defect, the attention area is not updated (step 405), and the next defect is treated as the attention area. On the other hand, if the attention area includes the current processing target defect, it is next determined whether or not there is a rectangular area generated and registered by the combination of this attention area and the current processing target defect (step 402). . Specifically, it is determined whether or not there is a rectangular area selected in step 205 and registered in the memory.
[0064]
In step 402, an identification code is used to identify a rectangular area generated and registered based on a combination of a predetermined attention area and a predetermined defect. Specifically, in the data of the rectangular area selected in the processing of step 205, the identification code (0, 00, 01, etc.) of the rectangular area as shown in FIG. (F ₁ , F ₂ , F ₃ Etc.) in the memory.
[0065]
The identification code of the rectangular area shown in FIG. 12 is configured by adding the direction of the cutter line to the end of the identification code of the attention area on which the rectangular area is based. For example, the identification code of the rectangular area obtained by setting the horizontal cutter line 1 to the defect included in the attention area of the identification code 00 is 001. Therefore, by referring to a part other than the end of the identification code of the registered rectangular area, it is possible to identify the attention area that is the basis of the rectangular area.
[0066]
Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 20, if it is determined in step 402 that there is a registered rectangular area, the area of interest is updated with the registered rectangular area (step 403). If not, the attention area is cleared (empty) (step 404).
[0067]
Next, it is determined whether or not there is another region of interest (step 406). If there is another region of interest, the region of interest to be updated is changed (step 407), and the update process is repeated. . Then, when the update processing of all the attention areas is completed, the process ends.
[0068]
As a more specific description, the attention area update process will be described with reference to the example of FIG. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating the transition of the attention area. As shown in FIG. 21, the first region of interest is a semi-finished product candidate region. The first region of interest is updated by the rectangular region 0 and the rectangular region 1 which are selected and registered as a result of processing the first defect. Then, the attention area 0 is updated by the rectangular area 00 and the rectangular area 01 selected as a result of processing the second defect. On the other hand, the attention area 1 is updated with the rectangular area 10 and the rectangular area 11 selected as a result of processing the second defect. Therefore, the final regions of interest are the rectangular regions 00, 01, 10, and 11.
[0069]
Referring back to the flowchart of FIG. 17, regarding the second defect, the setting of the cutter line and the rectangular area selection processing are performed using the rectangular area 0 and the rectangular area 1 as the attention areas. Finally, as shown in FIGS. 18B to 18E, four types of rectangular areas are registered and become the attention areas.
[0070]
Since two defects are included in the example of FIG. 18, it is determined in step 201 that no defect to be processed remains in the semi-finished product candidate area, and the process proceeds to step 211. Here, it is determined whether or not the finally selected defect-free rectangular area is larger than the reference area. Then, in the case of OK determination, the process returns to step 101 to cut the glass at the scheduled glass cutting line determined in step 102 and process the next semi-finished product candidate area. If the determination is NG, the glass is cut with the first defect or the smallest dimension that can be cut out ignoring the glass cutting line determined in step 102, and the process returns to step 101 to process the next semi-finished product candidate area. . The determination result of OK or NG may be displayed on the input / output device 14.
[0071]
Specifically, in the area check routine, only the rectangular area larger than the reference area is selected and registered in the memory, so the determination here is that the area check routine finally registers the area as a defect-free rectangular area. Alternatively, the determination may be made based on whether or not an area exists. That is, in the present method, the defects are processed in order from the downstream of the glass, so that each rectangular area set by each defect may include only the subsequent (upstream) defects. Therefore, in the case of the last defect, there is no subsequent defect, and the rectangular area set by the last defect has no defect. Only the rectangular area larger than the reference area among the rectangular areas set by the last defect is registered in the memory. Therefore, the presence of the rectangular area registered by the area check routine for the last defect means that the semi-finished product includes a defect-free rectangular area larger than the reference area. Further, after the update processing using the rectangular area selected by the processing of the last defect, the determination may be made based on whether or not the attention area exists (whether or not all the attention areas are not empty). This is because the attention area existing at this point has no defect and is larger than the reference area.
[0072]
Further, by optionally providing step 210 before step 211, it may be determined whether or not the area of the largest defect-free rectangular region satisfies the standard. In this case, after all defects in the semi-finished product candidate have been processed, the process proceeds to step 210. In order to find the largest rectangular area having no defects in the semi-finished product area, the (selected and registered) rectangular areas are rearranged in descending order of area. After updating the attention area, the attention areas may be sorted in descending order of area (step 208), and the area% of each rectangular area may be displayed on the input / output device 14.
[0073]
(Second embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 22 is a diagram for explaining an example of the arrangement of the defects, and FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining the transition of the attention area. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. ₂ The glass cutting control process will be described for a case where exists in the center position in the width direction of the semi-finished product candidate region.
[0074]
In this example, since the rectangular areas 01 and 11 cannot exceed 50% of the area of the semi-finished product candidate area, two kinds of defect-free rectangular areas 00 and 10 are finally selected. Transition is made as shown in FIG.
[0075]
(Third embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining an example of the arrangement of the defects, FIG. 25 is a diagram for explaining the transition of the attention area, and FIG. 26 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the third embodiment. In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. ₂ The glass cutting control process will be described for a case where is located above the first defect.
[0076]
In this example, the first drawback f ₁ When the cutter line 1 in the horizontal direction is set, the second defect f ₂ Is not included. That is, the rectangular area 1 is a defect-free rectangular area. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25, when the second defect is processed using the rectangular area 1 as the attention area, the attention area 1 remains without being updated and becomes the attention area for the next and subsequent times. Further, in addition to the two drawbacks of this figure, a third drawback f ₃ Is above the first defect as well as the second defect. Also in this case, the rectangular area 1 is a defect-free rectangular area and remains as the attention area.
[0077]
In such a case, it is preferable to determine the defect-free rectangular area early and terminate the process before reaching the last defect. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 26, when it is determined in step 204 that the defect position is not in the attention area, the control device 10 determines whether the attention area has no defect. (Step 212).
[0078]
Specifically, the coordinate position of the subsequent defect is acquired, and it is determined whether or not any of the subsequent defects exists in the attention area (for example, the rectangular area 1). If there is a subsequent defect, the process returns to step 203. If there is no subsequent defect, the attention area is determined to be a defect-free rectangular area, and the process proceeds to step 211. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the coordinates of all the defects in the semi-finished product candidate area being processed have been obtained in advance.
[0079]
As a result, it is possible to determine that the semi-finished product candidate area has a defect-free rectangular area larger than the reference area without continuing the processing to the last defect, and it is possible to reduce the processing time.
[0080]
(Fourth embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining an example of the arrangement of the defects, and FIG. 28 is a diagram for explaining the transition of the attention area. In the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. ₁ The glass cutting control process will be described for the case where is located at the center of the semi-finished product candidate area.
[0081]
In this example, the first drawback f ₁ Since all of the rectangular areas set in the above cannot exceed 50% of the area of the semi-finished product candidate area, the selected rectangular area is zero. Also, as shown in FIG. 28, the attention area is emptied after the processing of the first defect. Therefore, in the processing of the second defect, the attention area determined in step 203 becomes zero. Since there is no rectangular area registered in the processing of the last defect, the result of step 211 is NG. In this case, a glass cutting line is set at the first defect position as shown in FIG. 27F (step 108).
[0082]
(Fifth embodiment)
Next, a fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 29 is a diagram for explaining an example of the arrangement of defects, and FIG. 30 is a diagram for explaining transition of the attention area. In the fifth embodiment, as shown in FIG. ₁ The glass cutting control process will be described for a case where is located near the center in the width direction of the semi-finished product candidate region.
[0083]
In this example, the first drawback f ₁ The area of the rectangular region 1 obtained by setting the cutter line in the horizontal direction is slightly more than 50% of the area of the semi-finished product candidate region. Therefore, the second disadvantage f ₂ In either case, the area of the obtained rectangular area is less than 50% regardless of which of the vertical and horizontal cutter lines is set. In this case, neither 10 nor 11 is registered. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 30, the attention area 1 is cleared to E (empty), and the updated attention areas become 00 and 01.
[0084]
The subject of this method is a method (logic) of performing a defect-containing sampling by using a reference area% when a plate containing a defect is sampled as a semi-finished product from a ribbon-shaped glass plate flowing in a line under online real-time control. As I said, it can be applied to ribbon-shaped and sheet-shaped objects without being limited to glass.
[0085]
For example, in a case where the present invention is applied to a sheet-like device, as a defect detecting device, it is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-100553, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-152416, or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-55054. The defect of the sheet-like object may be detected using a simple defect detection device.
[0086]
In addition, we propose that it is a sampling board with defects in glass, but if there is a situation where the defective part is known without sticking to glass, it is not an idea to take the product with defects, but remove the defect. Also, the present invention can be applied to a case where a rectangular object having a maximum size is collected. In this case, it is possible to select a defect-free rectangular region having the maximum area in step 210 described above.
[0087]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the flexibility of the pass / fail determination criteria for the semi-finished product candidate area. This is because the reference area% does not fix the maximum dimension in the vertical and horizontal directions of the rectangular area, and thus has a high degree of freedom as to whether or not sampling can be performed. In other words, the conventional problem that there is a glass which meets the criteria because the vertical and horizontal dimensions are free but is cut out and discarded does not occur.
[0088]
Further, a large decrease in yield due to the state of occurrence of defects can be suppressed. This is because even if the number of defects is increased, the vertical and horizontal dimensions are free and can be dealt with.
[0089]
Further, it is not necessary to set the reference relatively low in order to improve the yield by the above two methods. Therefore, the possibility that the quality varies between the large lot and the small lot is reduced. Since glass having a maximum area free from defects and always at least a specified percentage of the glass surface area can be reliably obtained, any customer can supply the same quality.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional method for cutting a glass plate.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional method for cutting a glass plate.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a conventional method for cutting a glass plate.
FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a glass plate cutting step.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a cutting method according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a cutting method according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the control processing logic of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the control processing logic of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of defects.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of defects.
FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a mutual relationship between rectangular regions.
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a glass sheet cutting control process.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the setting of a semi-finished product candidate area.
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating the determination of a defect position.
FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing stored defect data.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a method for determining a semi-finished product candidate area.
FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a defect arrangement.
FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a process of calculating and registering the area of a rectangular region.
FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a process of updating a region of interest.
FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating transition of a region of interest.
FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of a defect arrangement.
FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating transition of a region of interest.
FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining an example of a defect arrangement.
FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating transition of a region of interest.
FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the third embodiment.
FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of the arrangement of defects.
FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating transition of a region of interest.
FIG. 29 is a diagram for explaining an example of a defect arrangement.
FIG. 30 is a diagram for explaining transition of a region of interest.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 rectangular area
2 Semi-product candidate area
4 Planned glass cutting line
6 shortcomings
8 Cutting surface
9 Cutter wire
10 Control device
12 body
14 Input / output device
16 External storage device
32 Defect detector
34 Glass Cutting Machine
100 line conveyor

Claims (5)

In order to online cut a rectangular semi-finished product having a defect from a ribbon-shaped plate flowing on a line, a method of determining whether or not a candidate region of a rectangular semi-finished product assumed on the ribbon-shaped plate is acceptable and cutting the same. And
Assuming a rectangular semi-finished product candidate area on the ribbon-shaped plate-shaped body flowing on a line,
Obtaining a position of a defect included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area,
Regarding the defects included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area, as targets sequentially from the defects located in front of the flow direction of the ribbon-shaped plate,
(A) A step of setting a vertical cutter line and a horizontal cutter line in the target area with the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area as a target area, and with the first defect as a target so as to avoid the target defect. When,
(B) selecting a rectangular area larger than a reference area from a set of rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines, and selecting a rectangular area defined by the horizontal cutter lines; A step of selecting a rectangular area larger than the reference area and registering it in the memory;
(C) performing a step (a) and a step (b) on a rectangular area registered in the memory as a target area and on the following defects.
(D) repeating step (c) until the last defect located behind in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is processed;
Among the rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines and the rectangular areas defined by the horizontal cutter lines set for the last defect, when there is a rectangular area larger than the reference area, Determining the candidate area of the rectangular semi-finished product as a pass. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reference area is 50% or more of a surface area of the candidate region of the rectangular semi-finished product. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ribbon-shaped plate is a ribbon-shaped glass plate. Apparatus for determining the acceptability of candidate rectangular semi-finished products on the ribbon-shaped plate in order to online cut a rectangular semi-finished product containing defects from the ribbon-shaped plate flowing on the line, and cutting the same. And
Means for assuming the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area on the ribbon-shaped plate-shaped body flowing on a line,
Means for determining the position of a defect included in the candidate region of the rectangular semi-finished product based on data from the defect detector,
Determining means for determining whether the candidate area of the rectangular semi-finished product is acceptable,
The determination means, for the defects included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area, as a target sequentially from the defects located in front of the flow direction of the ribbon-shaped plate,
(A) setting the candidate area of the rectangular semi-finished product as a target area, setting a vertical cutter line and a horizontal cutter line in the target area so as to avoid the target defect, with the first defect as a target;
(B) selecting a rectangular area larger than a reference area from a set of rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines, and selecting a rectangular area defined by the horizontal cutter lines; Select the larger rectangular area than the reference area, register it in memory,
(C) A rectangular area registered in the memory is set as a target area, and (a) and (b) are performed on the following defects.
(D) repeating (c) until the last defect located behind in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is processed,
(E) When a rectangular area larger than a reference area exists among a rectangular area defined by a vertical cutter line and a rectangular area defined by a horizontal cutter line set for the last defect. A cutting device that determines that the candidate region of the rectangular semi-finished product is acceptable. Apparatus for determining the acceptability of candidate rectangular semi-finished products on the ribbon-shaped plate in order to online cut a rectangular semi-finished product containing defects from the ribbon-shaped plate flowing on the line, and cutting the same. Computer to control the
Means for assuming candidate areas for the rectangular semi-finished product on the ribbon-shaped plate-like body flowing on a line,
Means for determining the position of a defect included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area based on data from the defect detector;
A program that functions as a determination unit that determines whether or not the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is acceptable,
The determination means, for the defects included in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area, as a target sequentially from the defects located in front of the flow direction of the ribbon-shaped plate,
(A) setting the candidate area of the rectangular semi-finished product as a target area, setting a vertical cutter line and a horizontal cutter line in the target area so as to avoid the target defect, with the first defect as a target;
(B) selecting a rectangular area larger than a reference area from a set of rectangular areas defined by the vertical cutter lines, and selecting a rectangular area defined by the horizontal cutter lines; Select the larger rectangular area than the reference area, register it in memory,
(C) A rectangular area registered in the memory is set as a target area, and (a) and (b) are performed on the following defects.
(D) repeating (c) until the last defect located behind in the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is processed,
(E) When a rectangular area larger than a reference area exists among a rectangular area defined by a vertical cutter line and a rectangular area defined by a horizontal cutter line set for the last defect. A program for determining that the rectangular semi-finished product candidate area is acceptable.

Images