Sheet metal bending system provided with a press brake and a sheet metal support device and a method to prepare its control data and a computer readable storage medium that stores its control data

A method of generating control data to control the action of a sheet metal bending system provided with a press brake and a sheet metal support apparatus, wherein the press brake is provided with a punch and a die which bend along a bending line on the sheet metal by mutually approaching and retreating from each other, the punch and die have a bending axis, the press brake is provided with a back gauge to position the sheet metal so that the bending axis coincides with the bending line, the sheet metal support device supports the sheet metal in front of the press brake, the sheet metal support device is provided with a support arm which rotates around a rotating axis parallel to the bending axis, and the control data is a control data for controlling the approach and retreat movement of the punch and die and at least the rotation of the support arm in a bending process which includes a plurality of bending stages to produce sheet metal parts which possess a plurality of bending lines;

• and wherein, the method comprises:
• generating an ID of a sheet metal part;
• generating a bending order that is order of bending the plurality of bending lines and generating the punch and die type for bending each bending line;
• generating a D value that prescribes a punch and die target engagement position and generating an L value that prescribes a target position of the back gauge, in each bending process;
• determining a Z direction position of the support arm at the start of the bending in each bending process based on a Z-axis direction size of the die to be used;
• and
• determining a target Z axis direction position and a target rotation position Θ of the support arm in each bending process based on the corresponding D value and a V width of the die.

A computer readable recording medium which stores control data to control the movement of a sheet metal bending system provided with a press brake and a sheet metal support device, wherein, the press brake is provided with a punch and a die which mutually approach and retreat from each other to bend the sheet metal along a bending line, the press brake is provided with a back gauge to position the sheet metal against the punch and the die, the sheet metal support device supports the sheet metal in front of the press brake, the press brake is provided with a support arm which freely rotates about a rotation axis parallel to a bending axis, and the control data is a control data for controlling the approach and retreat movement of the punch and die and at least the rotation of the support arm in a bending process which includes a plurality of bending stages to produce sheet metal parts which possess a plurality of bending lines, and wherein, the control data stored on the computer readable recording medium comprises:

• an ID of a sheet metal part;
• a process number that is related to the ID and specifies the ith bending process of a plurality of bending processes;
• a D value which is related to the process number and specifies a target engagement position of the punch and die in the ith bending process;
• a L value that is related to the process number and specifies a target position of the back gauge in the ith bending process;
• a V width of the die that is related to the process number and that is to be used in the ith bending process;
• and
• a target rotation position Θ of the sheet metal support which is related to the process number and corresponds to the D value and die and the V width of the die in the ith bending process.