MACHINING MONITOR

• US 20040251238A1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fanuc Ltd (Fanuc Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fanuc Ltd (Fanuc Corporation)
• Inventors: Ogata, Toshiyuki, Suzuki, Koji
• Granted Patent: US 6,897,398 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 219/69.12
• CPC Class Codes: B23H 7/20 for programme-control, e.g. adaptive programme-control systems in general G05B19/00

Abstract

A machining monitor has a depicting function for depicting the machining status of a wire electric discharge machine controlled by a numerical control device. The machining monitor has current position depicting means for depicting a current position according to current position information obtained during machining by the wire electric discharge machine and/or during an operation check by depicting, and has workpiece shape depicting means for depicting a workpiece shape according to workpiece shape information obtained during machining and/or workpiece shape information during an operation check by depicting. The machining monitor displays the workpiece shape and current position concurrently.

Claims

1. A machining monitor having a depicting function for depicting a machining status of a wire electric discharge machine controlled by a numerical control device, comprising:

position information obtaining means for obtaining, from the numerical control device, current position information at the time of machining by the wire electric discharge machine and/or current position information at the time of an operation check by depicting;

current position depicting means for depicting a current position according to the current position information obtained by the position information obtaining means;

workpiece shape information obtaining means for obtaining workpiece shape information during the machining and/or during the operation check by depicting; and

workpiece shape depicting means for depicting a workpiece shape according to the obtained workpiece shape information;

wherein the machining monitor draws the current position and the workpiece shape concurrently.

2. The machining monitor according to claim 1, wherein the current position information includes information about a position of an upper guide and/or a position of a lower guide.

3. The machining monitor according to claim 1, wherein the workpiece shape information is obtained from a numerical control program supplied to the numerical control device.

4. The machining monitor according to claim 3, wherein the workpiece shape information is obtained from a numerical control program generating apparatus that generates a numerical control program supplied to the numerical control device or from the wire electric discharge machine driven by the numerical control device.

5. The machining monitor according to claim 1, further comprising:

wire position obtaining means for obtaining a wire position from the current position information;

monitoring means for monitoring presence and absence of interference between a wire and a workpiece according to the obtained wire position information and the obtained workpiece shape information; and

display means for displaying a monitoring result.

6. The machining monitor according to claim 1, wherein the position information obtaining means, the current position depicting means, the workpiece shape information obtaining means, and the workpiece shape depicting means are disposed in a numerical control program generating apparatus that generates a numerical control program supplied to the numerical control device.

7. The machining monitor according to claim 1, wherein:

the position information obtaining means obtains current position information on a plurality of wire electric discharge machines;

the workpiece shape information obtaining means obtains workpiece shape information on a plurality of workpieces; and

a pair of current position of a wire electric discharge machine and workpiece shape in association with the wire electric discharge machine, selected from among a plurality of the above pairs, is drawn concurrently.

8. The machining monitor according to claim 1, wherein the machining monitor and the wire electric discharge machine are interconnected via a network.

9. The machining monitor according to claim 8, wherein the network interconnection enables an operation check by depicting to be performed at a remote site.