METAL SPINNING MACHINE

Abstract

A metal spinning machine includes a mandrel kept in rotation, a roller tool with which a plate blank workpiece is pressed against the mandrel to form the workpiece, linear motors that generate thrust force in proportion to driving electrical current and drive the roller tool, an operating lever that gives an operator command to the linear motor and a control unit that includes a memory. Manual operation of the roller tool with the operating lever by an operator receiving a teaching of the operator command forms the workpiece in a prescribed shape. The memory of the control unit stores the operator command that is then given to the linear motor to enable a same shape to be subsequently formed relative to plate blank workpieces repeatedly.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating one example of the metal spinning machine contemplated by this invention.

FIG. 2( a) is an explanatory view illustrating the outline of the control in the teaching mode of the metal spinning machine of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2( b) is an explanatory view illustrating the outline of the control in the playback mode of the metal spinning machine of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view illustrating the concept of the target position in the teaching data of the metal spinning machine of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The object of executing a teaching operation without either using hydraulic mechanisms or possibly inducing breakage due to overload even in the presence of interference between the roller tool and the mandrel is realized by a forming device that is provided with linear motors generating thrust force in proportion to driving electrical current, an operating lever serving to give an operator command to the linear motors and a control unit including a memory and consequently, on receiving a teaching, is enabled to store the operator command in the memory and thereafter causes the operator command stored in the memory to be played back with the linear motors.

Now, one example of the metal spinning machine of this invention will be described below by reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the metal spinning machine of this invention. A workpiece 1 is centered on a mandrel 3 with a tail stock 2 and made by a main shaft motor 4 to rotate together with the mandrel 3. A roller tool 5 is made to progress or regress in the radial direction (y-direction) of the mandrel 3 by a linear table 7 driven by a linear motor 6 composed of a stator 6a and a moving element 6b. The linear table 7 is made to progress or regress in the direction of the rotation axis (x-direction) of the mandrel 3 by a linear table 9 driven by a linear motor 8 composed of a stator 8a and a moving element 8b. The workpiece 1 is pressed with the roller tool 5 against the mandrel 3 and transformed from a flat plate 1a in the initial shape finally to a shape 1b conforming to the mandrel 3.

An operating lever 10 is provided with a built-in potentiometer and enabled to enter voltage signals of speed inputs proportionate respectively to the inclinations of the lever in the x-direction and the y-direction into the A/D converters 12x and 12y of a computer (control unit) 11. The electrical current commands directed toward linear motors are output into servo amplifiers 14x and 14y via D/A converters 13x and 13y and made to generate driving electrical currents to the linear motors 6 and 8. The linear motors 6 and 8 are provided with position sensors, such as encoders, capable of detecting the positions of the moving elements 6b and 8b and the resultant position signals are entered in a counter 15. A CPU 16 of the computer (control unit) 11 brings in the relevant signals via the A/D converter 12x and 12y and the counter 15, carries out a computer processing for the sake of control, induces production of control signals from the D/A converters 13x and 13y to the servo amplifiers 14x and 14y and stores an operator command in a memory 17.

A conceptual diagram of the control contemplated by this invention is illustrated in FIG. 2. In the teaching mode of FIG. 2(a), when an operator manipulates the operating lever 10, a speed input (Vx, Vy) proportionate to the angle of the lever are generated. The electrical current commands to the servo amplifier 14 are determined by calculating the difference (Δx, Δy) between the target position (xd, yd) of the roller tool obtained by integrating the speed input (Vx, Vy) with an integrator and the current positions x and y of the roller tool input from the counter 15 and applying a position control rule, such as the proportional-plus-derivation control, thereto. In consequence of the preceding operation, it is rendered possible to move the roller tool and form the workpiece in accordance with the operator's lever manipulation. By setting the feedback gain in the proportional-plus-derivation control at a magnitude on the small side or by setting the largest electrical current control in the electrical current command to the servo amplifier, it is made possible to prevent the occurrence of overload even in the presence of interference between the roller tool and the mandrel. Further, at the same time, the target position (xd, yd) of the roller tool busy at service are stored in the form of an array of operator commands in the memory 17.

On the other hand, in the playback mode of FIG. 2(b), the target positions (xd, xy) of the roller tool stored in the memory 17 are sequentially extracted as operator commands and input in the position control side similarly to the teaching mode of FIG. 2(a). As a result, the roller tool is capable of playing back the same motion as the motion taught by the operator and forming the workpiece in the same shape. In this case, when the operator commands happen to be stored as electrical current commands to the servo amplifier or the speed commands of the roller tool in the memory 17, the accumulation of control errors as due to friction possibly prevents the same motion from being necessarily played back as in the case of teaching. When the target positions of the roller tool are stored in advance as operator commands in accordance with this invention, however, the motion of the roller tool nearly equal to the motion brought by teaching can be faithfully played back even in the presence of disturbance due to friction because the disturbance is compensated by the position control rule and the roller tool is made to stop near the target position.

In the teaching mode, when the operator is particularly unskilled or the workpiece is in an inexperienced material shape, it possibly happens that the operator is required, in the course of being taught, to stop the roller tool and observe the state of forming or continue the forming while slowing the motion of the roller tool greatly. The storage of operator commands is generally implemented at intervals of a fixed length. When such a teaching operation as mentioned above takes place, a large volume of memory is consumed by the futile data acquired while the roller tool is kept in a practically stopped state and superfluous time is spent also in the forming of playback.

For each movement of the target position of the roller tool over more than a fixed distance, therefore, the target position and the time of that instant are stored (FIG. 3). At the instant at which the expression, (x−x_n−1)²+(y−y_n−1)²≧d², wherein (x_n−1, y_n−1) denotes the target position stored last and (x, y) denotes the current target position of the roller tool, (x, y) is stored as the next target position (x_n, y_n). Also, the time of that instant is stored as Tn. The distance between the adjacent target positions so stored is approximately “d.”

In the case of playback, when Tn is assumed to denote the time elapsing from the reference time and when the roller tool is caused to follow the target position (x_n, y_n), the mode of motion of the roller tool becomes completely equal to that acquired by the playback. The correspondence between the target position (x_n, y_n) and the time of elapse may be varied. When the target position (x_n, y_n) is followed at the intervals of a fixed length, nΔT, in the place of Tn, for example, the target positions are fated to move at a fixed speed d/Δ. By doing so, it is rendered possible to eliminate the time during which the roller tool remains stopped and reduce the forming time during the course of playback.

The metal spinning machine contemplated by this invention has been described by reference to the illustrated example. Needless to say, this invention does not need to be limited to this example but may be embodied in various modes within the scope of the technical matters set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A metal spinning machine comprising: a mandrel kept in rotation;a roller tool with which a plate blank workpiece is pressed against the mandrel to form the workpiece;linear motors that generate thrust force in proportion to driving electrical current and drive the roller tool;an operating lever that gives an operator command to the linear motor; anda control unit that includes a memory;wherein manual operation of the roller tool with the operating lever by an operator receiving a teaching of the operator command forms the workpiece in a prescribed shape, and the memory of the control unit stores the operator command that is then given to the linear motor to enable a same shape to be subsequently formed relative to plate blank workpieces repeatedly.

2. A metal spinning machine according to claim 1, wherein the operator command indicates a target position of the roller tool obtained by integrating a speed input to the linear motor in proportion to an angle of the operating lever, and the driving electrical current of the linear motor is decided based on feedback of a difference between a current position and the target position of the roller tool.

3. A metal spinning machine according to claim 2, wherein for each movement of the target position of the roller tool over more than a fixed distance during the teaching of the operator command, the target position and a time of that instant are stored in the memory and a correspondence between the target position and a time of passage is variable at a time of playback.