JPH04238631A - Automatic tube working system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the precision and efficiency for tube working by utilizing the CAM data produced by a computer. CONSTITUTION:The bending simulation is executed following the tube working schedule based on the CAM data, and the result is fed back to a host computer. The worked tube shape is measured with a three dimensional measuring machine, this shape data is compared with the CAM data, the above CAM data is updated corresponding to the deviation amount, and the tube working is executed again.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic pipe processing system, and in particular, measures the shape of a machined pipe based on CAM data created by a computer, and feeds back deviations from the shape data to the CAM data. This invention relates to an automatic pipe processing system that enables efficient production of highly accurate pipes.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, pipes for various types of piping are bent into predetermined shapes using a bending machine based on design specifications. For example, a pipe 50 with a complicated bending shape as shown in FIG.
To process 50a, 50b, 5 in order from the end.
0c and a bending machine to bend the bending side of the tube at a predetermined angle with respect to the fixed side of the tube. For this reason, some tube shapes have become difficult for workers to handle in terms of three-dimensional grasping and accuracy.

[0003] Furthermore, even if the bending device is capable of handling the above-described bending procedure, it may be difficult to check the locus of movement of the tip of the tube as it bends during the bending process. For example, in the aviation and space industries, various complicated structural members and piping are incorporated inside aircraft and rockets. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in advance the interference when installing the pipes, the interference between pipes, and the interference with peripheral equipment during bending.

[0004]Furthermore, since the above-mentioned piping passes between complicated structural members, it inevitably has a complicated piping shape with many bends, and as a result, tolerances during processing accumulate and the required shape in the drawings may not be satisfied. . This requires many trial bending processes. Moreover, in piping design in the aviation and space industries, etc., in order to effectively utilize a small amount of space, changes are often made to the drawings many times, and the processing time required for these changes is enormous.

[0005] In addition, hydraulic piping for aircraft, etc., differs from ordinary pipe products in that design specifications prohibit the modification of pipes that have been bent once, and bending them again is not permitted. For this reason, it is necessary to perform trial bending many times in advance, resulting in a complicated and inefficient operation.

By the way, in order to solve these problems, the processing system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-262431 calculates the trajectory of the pipe during bending and checks for interference. There is a way.

Furthermore, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1-9581, there is a work process in which the tip of a pipe is to be machined in which direction, and only one bend is made in continuous bending, or both bends are included. A piping processing system has also been proposed that has a function to make a decision as to whether or not to use the pipe.

[0008]

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, the purpose of the above-mentioned piping processing system is to prevent the tip of each pipe from interfering with the building floor, piping processing machine, etc. It is not possible to check in advance for interference between piping and other members such as structural parts and functional parts. Furthermore, when a drawing is changed in the production department, the system is not designed to immediately change the data and output the changed drawing. For this reason, it takes a lot of time to prepare for machining before starting work, and the number of trial bends increases in order to ensure that the shape of the workpiece satisfies the drawing, taking into account the cumulative tolerances during machining. There is a problem with putting it away.

[0009]Furthermore, there is another problem in that it takes a great deal of time to check for interference problems with mating members when installing the piping. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a piping system that solves the problems of the conventional technology described above, facilitates data correction from the production line, and updates piping processing information to enable more accurate piping processing. Our goal is to provide processing systems.

0010

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention processes CAD data input from a terminal using a host computer to create CAM data for a processing machine, and uses this CAM data to In an automatic pipe processing system that sets a processing order, predetermined interference checks are performed by bending simulation according to the processing order, and the results are fed back to the host computer. The shape of the pipe is measured with a three-dimensional measuring machine, this shape data is compared with the above CAM data, the above CAM data is updated according to the amount of deviation, and the pipe is processed again to obtain a pipe with the specified accuracy. It is characterized in that it is made to be manufactured.

[0011]

[Operation] According to the present invention, predetermined interference checks are performed by bending simulation according to a set processing order, and the results are fed back to the host computer, and the shape of the pipe processed by the processing machine is Measured with a three-dimensional measuring machine and combined this shape data with the above C
Compare with AM data and adjust the above CA according to the amount of deviation.
Since we updated the M data and processed the pipe again to manufacture the pipe with the specified accuracy, we were able to check in advance for various interference conditions related to the piping, and also measure the shape of the processed product and check its accuracy. It is possible to quickly determine whether the measurement results match the drawing data, eliminate work such as matching the pipe shape to the actual machine, and improve pipe processing efficiency and pipe processing accuracy.

0012

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the automatic pipe processing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the general configuration of the system of this embodiment will be explained.

The automatic pipe processing system according to the present invention is comprised of a host computer, a terminal, an automatic bending machine, and a three-dimensional measuring machine. The host computer and the terminal are connected online, and the terminal is equipped with an interactive graphics function. Thereby, drawing output information for each drawing number of each production drawing can be input as CAD data. This CAD data allows design and manufacturing data such as piping routes, bending angles, piping lengths, coordinate values of bending intersections, fittings, etc. to be easily changed in accordance with design policy and site change requests.

[0015] Furthermore, the changed drawing can be immediately output on the display of the terminal. Furthermore, the above-mentioned CAD data after the change is processed through a predetermined calculation function to determine the bending radius,
It is converted into CAM data such as bending angle, bending position, twisting angle, outer diameter, total length, number of bends, coordinate values, or joint shape (type) and stored.

On the other hand, piping processing data is created in conjunction with the above CAM data, and furthermore, when installing structures, functional parts, other piping, etc., there is no interference with parts related to the piping or with the automatic bending machine main body during processing. It is possible to check the piping shape for interference. By performing this check before bending, the feasibility of bending can be determined.

Furthermore, the above processing data can be input to an N/C bending machine or the like to perform a predetermined bending process. After the bending process is completed, the processed product is measured using a three-dimensional measuring machine. At this time, the above-mentioned CAM data and processed product data are compared to make a pass/fail determination. If it fails, the processed product data is fed back to the host computer, the amount of deviation is calculated by arithmetic processing, the above CAM data is corrected based on this result, and the bending process is repeated until it passes. It is supposed to be done.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic system configuration of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a host computer that inputs CAD data and performs predetermined arithmetic processing. This host computer 1 is normally installed in a design department, and numerals 2 and 3 indicate terminals installed in the same department, and numerals 4 and 5 indicate terminals installed in the production department, respectively. The terminals 2 and 3 create piping system diagrams for aircraft, automobiles, etc., and the graphic data of the created piping system diagrams are registered in a data file 1A in the host computer 1. Further, the graphical data of the piping system diagram registered in the data file 1A is transmitted online to the terminal 4 via the transmission circuit. By operating this terminal 4, the host computer 1
can be operated online, and the host computer 1 performs calculations to create work procedure data and CAD and CAM data for interference checking. In addition, the CA created on the above terminal 4
The M data is output to a working floppy disk in the terminal 5. Furthermore, by setting the floppy disk in the workstation 6, the above CAM
Convert/edit the data and process it into N/C data suitable for N/C equipment. The N/C data thus obtained is transferred to the NC control device 7. This NC control device 7 controls the pipe 3 of the pipe bending machine 8 based on the above N/C data.
It is possible to control processing such as dimensional bending, exact size cutting of both ends of piping, and beveling.

Next, the shape of the bent product is measured using a three-dimensional measuring machine 9. This processed product shape and the above C
Compare with AM data and judge whether the machining accuracy of the processed product is acceptable or not. If the result is not acceptable, input the processed product data into the workstation 6 in order to match the processed product shape with the above CAM data, convert/edit the above CAM data again in the calculation section of this workstation 6, and pass. The process is repeated until the end.

FIG. 2 shows a processing flow executed by the host computer 1 by operating the terminal 4. As shown in FIG. This processing flow is stored in a storage unit 1A such as a disk of the host computer 1, and is executed each time in response to an arithmetic instruction from the terminal 4. This processing flow will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.

First, drawing data such as the drawing number of the manufacturing drawing for specifying the piping is inputted from the terminal 4 (step 1).
01). Based on this input drawing data, the host computer 1 calls piping drawing data from the data file and displays it (step 102). Then, data such as the outer diameter, bending radius, and end shape of the target pipe are input from the production department via the terminal 4 (step 103). Thereby, the host computer 1 determines whether the called drawing has been changed based on the input data such as the outer diameter (step 104). At this time, if it is determined that the drawing needs to be changed, the CAM data is updated based on the input data such as the outer diameter, bending radius, and end shape of the piping (step 105). If it is determined that the drawing does not need to be changed, CAM data is created based on the graphical data of the piping diagram displayed on the display of the terminal.

[0022] Next, if it is determined that the drawings do not need to be changed or if the CAM data has been changed, the operator inputs the bending method (single bending or double bending) and the machining start direction on the terminal 4. (step 106). These inputs and CAM data (number of bends for each piping diagram, outer diameter, length of each piping, bending angle, bending radius, twist angle, coordinate values (
The host computer 1 determines an appropriate processing procedure based on the X, Y, Z) and end shape (step 107). At this time, the above-mentioned CAM data is obtained by arithmetic processing of three-dimensional bending shape data of piping diagrams, etc., and the processing procedure is stored in a data file 1A in the host computer 1 in a predetermined format.

Furthermore, once the above processing procedure is determined, a pipe bending simulation is performed according to the processing procedure, and various pipe interference checks can be performed based on the results. If the interference check determines that there is no interference, the above bending direction, machining start direction and CAM
The data is registered in the data file 1A of the host computer 1 and the floppy disk (step 109).
.

On the other hand, if it is determined that interference will occur in the bending simulation, the bending method is changed and rechecked (step 110 (1)), and then the stored structural members, functional parts, and other piping are Check for interference with other members (step 110(2)). If this recheck determines that no interference occurs,
It is registered in the host computer 1 and floppy disk (step 109). If interference still occurs after rechecking, it is determined that the pipe cannot be bent (step 111), and the drawing is changed (step 112).

Furthermore, when the above CAM data is used on a production line, the CAM data is transferred and registered in the production data file. Then, each process is performed based on the CAM data registered in this production data file (step 114). This CAM data is used by the workstation 6 to select processing conditions to suit the production system, such as whether to bend multiple types of pipes simultaneously as a series of pipe shapes (step 115) or to bend them as a single pipe. do. In addition, processing information such as the amount of springback for each material is also accumulated in the production data file, and the accumulated data and CAM data are edited (step 116) to generate new data. The data updated as new CAM data is further converted into N/C data (step 117),
A pipe of a predetermined shape is manufactured by bending with the pipe bending machine 8 (step 118). If this piping product has a complicated piping shape with subtle differences in material, outer diameter, plate thickness, etc. and many bends, tolerances during machining may accumulate and the piping may not match the design requirement.

Therefore, this pipe processed product was measured using a three-dimensional measuring machine 9.
Check the dimensions of each part (step 119)
. Measurement data obtained by this three-dimensional measuring machine 9 and CA
The shape difference of the M data is input to the workstation 6, numerical calculation processing is performed, and the CAM
Edit/generate data (step 116). and,
After changing to new CAM data, pipe bending is performed again. This series of work steps is repeated until the product passes the test. Note that the CAM data at the time of passing is registered in the production data file as master data (step 116),
From the next time onwards, that data will be recalled during processing, allowing each product to be manufactured. Also, based on this master data and other master data registered in the production data file, a list of processed drawing numbers, bending specifications, etc. can be output from the editing file to the printer (steps 120 and 121). .

Next, the above interference check will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 shows a case where the pipe 20 is bent in a direction perpendicular to the pipe axis and may interfere with the pipe 21 near the IV-IV cross section. In this case, it is possible to offset the outer diameters of the pipes 20 and 21 by 1/2 of the required design separation and perform a simulation taking this offset 22 into consideration to determine whether interference will occur. can. Figure 4 is an example of piping, but the mating member is a structure,
In the case of functional products, etc., determination can be similarly made by offsetting 1/2 of the required separation on the outer diameter.

Note that the judgment results of the above simulation are displayed on the display in real time. At this time, a wire frame diagram is displayed in the form of an isometric diagram on the screen of the terminal device 5 along with the three-dimensional coordinate values of the tube, the bending angle, etc. as reference data. If there is an interfering part in the pipe, that part is displayed in red or the like, so that the interfering part can be visually understood.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram showing the system configuration of another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows a state in which a workstation 6 is directly connected to a terminal 4 in a production department. A standard serial interface 10 such as RS-232C is used for connection, and the workstation 6 can generate N/C data. This N/C data is then transferred to the FA personal computer 11 etc. connected to the NC control device 7 via a floppy disk. According to this system, since there is data compatibility between the host computer 1 and the workstation 6, a series of arithmetic processing can be performed quickly. Further, each processing machine may be equipped with an inexpensive personal computer 11.

[0030]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a predetermined interference check is performed by bending simulation, and the shape of the pipe processed by the processing machine is measured by a three-dimensional measuring machine. The above CAM data is updated according to the amount of deviation from the above CAM data, and the pipe is machined again to produce a pipe with the specified accuracy. It is possible to significantly improve the working efficiency during pipe processing, and also to improve the accuracy of pipe processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic pipe processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow diagram showing an example of a processing procedure of the system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a state of adjacent piping.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic system configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the automatic pipe processing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a state in which a tube is bent.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Host computer 2 Terminal 3 Terminal 4 Terminal 5 Terminal 6 Workstation 7 NC control device 8 Pipe bending machine 9 3D measuring machine

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic pipe processing system in which CAD data input from a terminal is processed by a host computer to create CAM data for a processing machine, and an appropriate processing order is set using this CAM data. A predetermined interference check is performed by bending simulation according to the above processing order, and the results are fed back to the above host computer, and the shape of the pipe processed by the above processing machine is measured with a three-dimensional measuring machine, and the shape data is and the CAM data, the CAM data is updated according to the amount of deviation, and the pipe is processed again to produce a pipe with a predetermined accuracy.