Method and apparatus for clearing faults at work station of a textile machine
AssigneeRieter Machine Works, Ltd.
InventorsUrs Meyer, Stefan Huppi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Identical robots are disposed on a common track along a textile machine having a plurality of spinning stations. The robots are controlled by a central control unit so as to be allocated to a respective sub-section of the track with each sub-section comprising the same number of faults which require clearing. The allocation of the robots to the respective sub-sections is performed periodically so as to optimize the operation of each robot for fault clearing purposes.
Claims16
A method of clearing faults at fault-reporting work stations of at least one textile machine with the assistance of at least two centrally controlled robots movable along a track alongside the machine, said method comprising the steps of
- determining the position and number of faulty work stations;
- determining the position and number of robots for clearing the faulty work stations;
- uniformly distributing the number of faulty work stations to be cleared to the robots numerically;
- allocating a respective sub-section of the track to each robot;
- thereafter directing each robot to a respective allocated sub-section;
- and
- clearing the faulty work stations of each sub-section solely by the robot allocated to said sub-section.
A method of clearing faults at fault-reporting work stations of a textile machine with the use of fault-clearing robots comprising
- determining the position and number of faulty work stations at the beginning of a set time period;
- determining the number of robots for clearing the faulty stations;
- uniformly assigning the faulty stations to be cleared to the robots numerically while allocating each robot to a respective sub-section of a common track along the work stations;
- thereafter moving each robot to the respective allocated sub-section;
- and
- clearing the faulty stations in each sub-section by the robot allocated to said sub-section during the remainder of said set time period.
In combination
- at least one textile machine having a plurality of work stations, a track disposed along said work stations and at least two robots for clearing faults at said work stations movable along said track;
- a plurality of stationary yarn monitors, at least one of said monitors being disposed at a respective work station to emit a fault signal indicative of a fault thereat;
- a central control unit for receiving fault signals from said yarn monitors within a set time period;
- a first counter for receiving and counting the number of fault signals emitted from said monitors in said set time period;
- a second counter for counting the number of robots in operation for clearing faults at said work stations during said set time period;
- a division module connected to said counters to receive signals therefrom indicative of the number of faulty signals and the number of robots in operation for said set time period, said module being connected to said central control unit to deliver a signal thereto corresponding to the number of faulty signals per robot to be corrected;
- said central control unit being connected to said robots to direct each robot to a predetermined sub-section of said track for clearing of the faults in said sub-section in response to said signal from said division module whereby the same number of faulty stations appear in each sub-section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.