Dynamic conveyor control system
AssigneeHaas Automation, Inc.
InventorJacob Steven Aldridge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyor in a machine tool system is dynamically controlled. A volume of material to be conveyed by the conveyor is iteratively determined. During each iteration, a current position of a tool is determined. An intersection of a tool model representing the tool at the current position and a workpiece model representing a workpiece is determined and a nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece by the tool based on the intersection of the tool model and the workpiece model is determined. The volume of material to be conveyed is updated based on the nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece and an operating state of the conveyor. The operating state of the conveyor is controlled based on the updated volume of material to be conveyed.
Claims21
A method of dynamic conveyor control in a machine tool system, the method comprising:
- iteratively determining a volume of material to be conveyed by a conveyor, wherein each iteration of a plurality of iterations comprises:
- determining a current position of a tool;
- determining an intersection of a tool model representing the tool at the current position and a workpiece model representing a workpiece;
- determining a nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece by the tool based on the intersection of the tool model and the workpiece model;
- and
- updating the volume of material to be conveyed based on the nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece and an operating state of the conveyor;
- and
- controlling the operating state of the conveyor based on the updated volume of material to be conveyed, wherein controlling the operating state of the conveyor comprises:
- comparing the undated volume of material to be conveyed to a threshold value;
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to a running state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed satisfies the threshold value;
- and
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to an idle state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed does not satisfy the threshold value.
A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method of dynamic conveyor control comprising:
- iteratively determining a volume of material to be conveyed by a conveyor, wherein each iteration of a plurality of iterations comprises:
- determining a current position of a tool;
- determining an intersection of a tool model representing the tool at the current position and a workpiece model representing a workpiece;
- determining a nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece by the tool based on the intersection of the tool model and the workpiece model;
- and
- updating the volume of material to be conveyed based on the nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece and an operating state of the conveyor;
- and
- controlling the operating state of the conveyor based on the updated volume of material to be conveyed, wherein controlling the operating state of the conveyor comprises:
- comparing the updated volume of material to be conveyed to a threshold value;
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to a running state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed satisfies the threshold value;
- and
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to an idle state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed does not satisfy the threshold value.
A machine tool control system, comprising:
- a processor-readable storage medium storing instructions;
- and
- processor circuitry configured to execute the instructions stored in the processor-readable storage medium to perform a method of dynamic conveyor control comprising:
- iteratively determining a volume of material to be conveyed by a conveyor, wherein each iteration of a plurality of iterations comprises:
- determining a current position of a tool;
- determining an intersection of a tool model representing the tool at the current position and a workpiece model representing a workpiece;
- determining a nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece by the tool based on the intersection of the tool model and the workpiece model;
- and
- updating the volume of material to be conveyed based on the nominal volume of material removed from the workpiece and an operating state of the conveyor;
- and
- controlling the operating state of the conveyor based on the updated volume of material to be conveyed, wherein controlling the operating state of the conveyor comprises:
- comparing the updated volume of material to be conveyed to a threshold value;
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to a running state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed satisfies the threshold value;
- and
- setting the operating state of the conveyor to an idle state if the updated volume of material to be conveyed does not satisfy the threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.