Device for and method of preventing accidents in hand-operated machine tools due to tool jamming

• US 5,914,882 A
• Filed: 09/15/1997
• Issued: 06/22/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hilti Aktiengesellschaft (Hilti Martin Family Trust)
• Original Assignee: Hilti Aktiengesellschaft (Hilti Martin Family Trust)
• Inventors: Yeghiazarians, Vaheh Khachatouri
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garland, Steven R.
• Application Number:
  US08/937,272
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• Field of Search: 364/474.01, 364/474.02, 364/474.1, 364/474.12, 364/474.17, 364/474.19, 408/1 R, 408/6, 408/9, 408/8, 318/602, 318/17, 706/900, 706/904, 706/912, 706/52
• US Class Current: 700/177
• CPC Class Codes: B25D 2250/221 Sensors
• CPC Class Codes: B25F 5/00 Details or components of portable power-driven tools not particularly related to the operations performed and not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/00 Safety devices acting in conjunction with the control or operation of a machine; Control arrangements requiring the simultaneous use of two or more parts of the body F16P5/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0275 using fuzzy logic only
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/90 Fuzzy logic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 408/03 Processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 408/14 Responsive to condition of Tool or tool-drive
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 408/165 to control Tool rotation

Abstract

A device for and method of preventing accidents caused by jamming of a tool when working with hand-operated machine tools driving a rotating tool, especially hammer drills, is outfitted with an interrupter device for interrupting the action of the driving motor on the rotating tool depending on the operating state detected by a deflection sensor (1). The device includes a computer unit (R) in which a probability for an expected accident is determined from the sensor signals supplied by the deflection sensor (1), and in that the interrupter device (5, 6) can be activated when a preset accident probability is exceeded. In the method rotational movement values are determined from the measurement signals supplied by the deflection sensor (1), these rotational movement values are converted in a computer unit (R) by nonlinear logic operations to form accident probabilities and activating the interrupter device as soon as the estimated accident probability exceeds a preadjustable threshold value.

Claims

1. Device for preventing accidents caused by jamming a rotating tool (8) in hand operated machine tools (M), said machine tool (M) comprising an interrupter device (5,6) for interrupting the operation of a motor for driving said rotating tool (8) depending on the operating conditions of the machine tool (M) detected by a deflection sensor (1) in said machine tool (M), a computer unit (R) within said machine tool (M) connected to said deflection sensor (1) for converting measured values received from said deflection sensor into rotational movement values characterizing the operating conditions of the machine tool and for processing the rotation movement values according to presettable criteria by nonlinear signal processing to form accident probabilities, and a comparison device (14) connected to said interrupter device (5, 6), so that said comparison device generates a signal for activating said interrupter device (5, 6) when the accident probability determined by said computer unit (R) exceeds an adjustable threshold value.

2. Device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said computer unit (R) comprises a fuzzy controller (3).

3. Device, as set forth in claim 2, wherein said deflection sensor (1) comprises an angular accelerometer (1).

4. Device, as set forth in claim 3, wherein two band limited integrators (11, 12) are connected in a cascade arrangement, whereby said fuzzy controller (3) receives the output signal of said angular accelerometer (1) and the output signal of the integrators (11, 12) as input signals.

5. Device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said angular accelerometer (1) is one of a piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and micromechanical accelerometer.

6. Device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said angular accelerometer (1) comprises an electrical micromechanical composite chip having a pendulum forming a middle electrode of a differential capacitor.

7. Device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said fuzzy controller (3) comprises a program in a microprocessor.

8. Device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said fuzzy controller (3) comprises a lookup table.

9. Device, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said fuzzy controller (3) comprises a fuzzy processor.

10. Device, as set forth in claim 3, wherein a bandpass filter (10) and two band limited integrators (11, 12) are connected and located downstream from said angular accelerometer (1), said bandpass filter and said band-limited integrators being connected in a cascade arrangement, whereby said fuzzy controller (3) receives the filtered output signal of said angular accelerometer (1) and the output signal of said integrators (11, 12) as input signals and whereby the limiting frequencies of the overall useful frequency band processed by said fuzzy controller (3) and the two band-limited integrators (11, 12) connected in cascade arrangement lie between a lower limiting frequency ω

.sub.μ

in a range of 0.5 Hz<

ω

.sub.μ

<

10 Hz and an upper limiting frequency ω

₀ in a range of 100 Hz<

ω

₀ <

1000 Hz.

11. Device, as set forth in claim 3, wherein said interrupter device (5, 6) comprises a clutch (5) arranged in a drive train between said drive motor (7) and said rotating tool (8).

12. Method of preventing accidents caused by jamming a rotating tool (8) driven by a hand operated machine tool (M) and comprising an interrupter device (5, 6) in said machine tool for interrupting a rotational action on said rotating tool (8) depending on the operating state of the rotating tool detected by a deflection sensor (1) in said machine tool comprising the steps of determining rotational movement values characterizing the operating conditions of the rotating tool (8) obtained from measured values provided by said deflection sensor (1), and processing the rotational movement values in a computer unit (R) based on presettable criteria by nonlinear signal processing for forming accident probabilities, and activating said interrupter device (5, 6) as soon as the accident probability determined by the computer unit (R) exceeds an adjustable threshold value.

13. Method, as set forth in claim 12, comprising the further step of effecting nonlinear processing of the rotational movement values to form accident probabilities by a fuzzy controller provided in the computer unit (R).

14. Method, as set forth in claim 12 or 13, wherein said deflection sensor (1) is an angular accelerometer (1) having measured values and converting the measured values by double integration into an angular velocity (phid) and a deflection angle (phi) with a preset time constant.

15. Method, as set forth in claim 14, comprising the further step of fuzzifing by a fuzzy controller an angular acceleration (phidd), the angular velocity (phid) and the deflection angle (phi) and receiving estimated values for an anticipated accident by inferencing by means of linguistic rules, and converting the estimated values into a probability (μ

_k) of an accident by means of defuzzification.

16. Method, as set forth in claim 15, wherein linguistic variables for fuzzification are defined as follows:

angular acceleration (phidd) small;

up to a value of 150 rad/s², a truth value μ

=1 which drops linearly between 150 rad/s² and 350 rad/s² to μ

=0, where it remains for higher values;

angular acceleration (phidd) medium;

up to a value of 150 rad/s², a truth value=0 which increases linearly between 150 rad/s² and 350 rad/² to μ

=1, where it remains for higher values until it drops linearly between 1500 rad/s² and 2,000 rad/s² to μ

=0, where it remains for higher values;

angular acceleration (phidd) large;

up to a value of 1500 rad/s², a truth value μ

=0 which increases between 1500 rad/s² and 2,000 rad/s² to μ

=1, where it remains for higher value;

angular velocity (phid) small;

up to a value of 0.25 rad/s, a truth value μ

=1, which drops linearly between 0.25 rad/s and 19.75 rad/s to μ

=0, where it remains for higher values;

angular velocity (phid) medium;

up to a value of 0.25 rad/s, a truth value μ

=0 which increases linearly between 0.25 rad/s and 19.75 rad/s to μ

=1, where it remains until a value of 20 rad/s and then drops linearly between 20 rad/s and 29 rad/s to μ

=0, where it remains for higher values;

angular velocity (phid) large;

up to a value of 20 rad/s, a truth value μ

=0 which increases linearly between 20 rad/s and 29 rad/s to μ

=1, where it remains for higher values;

deflection angle (phi) small;

up to a value of 0 rad, a truth value μ

=1 which drops linearly between 0 rad and 5.5 rad to μ

=0, where it remains for higher values; and

deflection angle (phi) large;

up to a value of 0 rad, a truth value μ

=0 which increases between 0 rad and 5.5 rad to μ

=1, where it remains for higher values.

17. Method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein fuzzy variables at the output are defined as follows:

clutch out (μ

0) is a fuzzy singleton at 0; and

clutch in (μ

1) is a fuzzy singleton at 1.

18. Method, as set forth in claim 17, wherein the following linguistic rules apply:

IF angular velocity (phid) small THEN clutch out (μ

0),

IF angular velocity (phid) medium AND (angular acceleration (phidd) NOT large) THEN clutch out,

IF angular acceleration (phidd) small THEN clutch OUT (μ

0),

IF angular velocity (phid) large THEN clutch in (μ

1),

IF angular acceleration (phidd) large AND deflection angle (phi) large THEN clutch in (μ

1),

IF angular acceleration (phidd) medium AND deflection angle (phi) large AND (angular velocity (phid) NOT small) THEN clutch in (μ

1).

19. Method, as set forth in claim 18, comprising the step of carrying out inferencing by means of Min-max inference.

20. Method, as set forth in claim 19, comprising the further step of effecting defuzzification according to the following equation:

space="preserve" listing-type="equation">μ

.sub.k =μ

,1(μ

.sub.0 +μ

.sub.1)

where μ

₀ .di-elect cons.(0,1) stands for the truth value for clutch out, μ

,.di-elect cons.(0,1) stands for the truth value for the clutch in, and μ

_k .di-elect cons.(0,

     1) stands for the probability of an accident.