Numerical control method

Abstract

An axis position is commanded according to data stored in a memory table where the axis position is stored in association with a reference value consisting of time or spindle position. For commanding the shape of a circular arc, a start and end points, a center position, and a radius of the circular arc and designation of sine or cosine are set in advance in the memory table. Then, a movement command for connecting the start point and the end point with the circular arc is output to each of axes, using a trigonometric function defined by the center position of the circular arc, the radius of the circular arc and the designation of sine or cosine, which have been set.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned and another objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating one example of operation using table format data and performed by a numerical control method of the present invention and a conventional numerical control method;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating one example of an X-axis path table used for operation based on data in conventional table format;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the X-axis path table of FIG. 2 in graph form;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process for connecting two points with a circular arc, in operation based on the data in the conventional table format;

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an X-axis table used for the process to connect two points with a circular arc, in operation based on the data in the conventional table format;

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing the X-axis table of FIG. 5A in graph form;

FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating a Y-axis table used for connecting two points with a circular arc, in operation based on the data in the conventional table format;

FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the Y-axis table of FIG. 6A in graph form;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a process for connecting two points with a circular arc, in operation using table format data and performed by the numerical control method of the present invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating an X-axis table and Y-axis table used for a process to connect two points with a circular arc, in operation using table format data and performed by the numerical control method of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one aspect of a numerical controller for executing the numerical control method of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an X-axis path table interpolation processing to be carried out by a CPU in the numerical controller shown in FIG. 9 during path table operation; and

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a Y-axis path table interpolation processing to be carried out by a CPU in the numerical controller shown in FIG. 9 during path table operation.

Claims

1. A numerical control method for driving each of axes by commanding an axis position according to data stored in a memory table where the axis position is stored in association with a reference value consisting of time or spindle position, comprising: setting up a start point and end point of a circular arc, a center position of the circular arc, a radius of the circular arc and designation of sine or cosine in the memory table when the shape of the circular arc is commanded; andoutputting a movement command to each of axes for connecting the start point and the end point with the circular arc, using a trigonometric function defined by the center position of the circular arc, the radius of the circular arc and the designation of sine or cosine, which have been set in the memory table.

2. The numerical control method according to claim 1, further comprising: setting an initial angle of the circular arc, and an amount of change in angle of the circular arc with respect to unit change in the reference value, in advance, in association with the circular arc command, whereinthe trigonometric function is processed based on the initial angle of the circular arc, the amount of change in angle of the circular arc with respect to unit change in the reference value, the center position of the circular arc, the radius of the circular arc, and designation of sine or cosine, which have been set, and the movement command is output to each of axes for connecting the start point and the end point with the circular arc.

3. The numerical control method according to claim 2, wherein when a table to be stored for operation using table format data is stored in a numerical controller, the numerical controller calculates the initial angle of the circular arc and the amount of change in angle of the circular arc with respect to unit change in the reference value and sets them, based on the data stored in the table.